The Nation September 23, 2012

Anti-Islam movie: Thousands protest in Kano –Page 4

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.06, No. 2257

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

N200.00

North kicks against new state for South East Kwankwaso alleges plot to alter constitution to appoint ministers on zonal basis –Page 2

Arik denies corruption allegation against Aviation Minister •Resumes flights –Page 4

•Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (middle), Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon. Justice Ayotunde Adeyoola Phillips (left) and Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, Hon Sanni Agunbiade (right) dancing at a dinner to climax the celebration of commencement of 2012/2013 Legal Year at the City Hall, Lagos, at the weekend.

Floods: Food Why PDP Boko Haram: scarcity looms, govs are angry Damaturu under experts warn with Tukur fresh curfew –Page 2

–Page 4

–Page 4

NEWS

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Anger in Imo over Shell oil spill, neglect From Okodili Ndidi, Owerri

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HE people of the oilproducing communities of Ohaji-Egbema and Oguta in Imo State are angry.

They are angry, like many oil -bearing areas of the country, that their rich deposits are not yielding them the desired joy and good life.

Instead of the good things of life that should ordinarily flow in their direction they say all they have to show for 48 years of oil exploration are pain, death, deprivation and environmental abuse.

They are accusing Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in particular, of hazardous environmental practices and refusal to give something back to the society under the principle of Social Corporate Responsibility.

Such was the frustration of the people that some youths and elderly women from in Umudike, Etekwuru and other adjoining villages in Ohaji Egbema Council Area recently publicly protested their plight, taking over the Umudike-Assa-Etekwuru delivery pipeline.

They also stopped the maintenance team sent by Shell to clean up a crude oil spillage along the pipeline.

The angry protesters who displayed placards with various inscriptions like ‘SHELL stop killing our people’; ‘Compensate victims of the 2001 pipeline explosion’; ‘SHELL activities have destroyed our environment’; “We demand an end to SPDC marginalization’; “SPDC has turned our oil into a curse’, among others, refused all entreaties by the SPDC team to allow them clean up the spilled oil.

Leader of the youths, Mr Reginald Egini, said the spill was a disaster too many for the communities, having rendered hundreds of acres of farmland unproductive.

“This is not the first time we are suffering as a result of oil spillage. In 2001, there was a pipeline explosion that killed about 13 people with several others severely burnt and eventually incapacitated and SHELL promised to pay compensation but nothing has been done up till today,” he said.

The youth leader who vowed that the people would resist repair of the pipeline or clean up of the spilled oil until the company properly negotiates with the people added: “There should first be an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to ascertain the level of damage on the environment because we are farmers and any damage on the soil will drastically affect our means of livelihood”.

He said the communities have nothing to show for all the oil sourced from the area since 1964.

“There is no single hospital, school, market built by SPDC in the community. Neither has it given our youths employment or scholarships but they have kept making promises they never cared to fulfil.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

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HE path to the planned amendment of the 1999 Constitution appears already mined even before the commencement of the journey.

There are fears in the North of a plot to create a new state from the South East without recourse to the rules.

It also believes there is a plan to alter the constitution such that the President could appoint ministers on geo-political basis as against the present state basis.

Both allegations, if they turn out to be true, are capable of eroding the perceived political advantage enjoyed by the North over the years and put it on an equal political footing with the South.

Governor Rabiu Kwankwanso of Kano State who raised the alarm yesterday spoke of a plan by the National Assembly Committee on Constitution Review to create a new state under the table.

He named the Chairman of the committee, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, as the brain behind the agenda.

He also allaged plan by the committee to alter the 1999 Constitution to empower the President to appoint ministers on the basis of the nation’s six geopolitical zones.

Kwankwanso, who bared his mind in an interview in Abuja, said some politicians are trying to take advantage of the present weak position of the North to cheat the region.

He spoke against the backdrop of comments attributed to

North kicks against new state for South East •Kwankwaso alleges plot to alter constitution to appoint ministers on zonal basis FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

the Deputy President of the Senate at a recent presidential retreat on Constitution Review at the Presidential Villa.

The governor asked the National Assembly Constitution Review Committee to lay the criteria for state creation on the table for all Nigerians to consider and weigh.

He said he could not understand why the South-East deserves an additional state when its population is not up to that of the North-West.

Armed with the result of the 2006 Census, the governor said the population of the NorthWest alone is 35,786, 944 compared to the 37,396,384 combined population of the SouthEast and South-South.

He claimed that the population of Enugu State (3, 257,298) where Ekweremadu comes from is about one-third of Kano State’s 9,383,682 He queried why Ekweremadu would be scheming for a new state from Enugu and leave out Kano State which deserves three new states.

He said going by the Census figures, “some states ought to be merged.”

The governor pleaded with members of the Senate and House of Representatives from the North to be vigilant in respect of the planned constitution review.

He also asked the Constitution Review Committee to be more transparent in state creation and other issues.

He said: “As far as we are concerned, if we have to go for constitution amendment, all issues should be on the table. We do not want a situation where state creation would be a matter of yes or man-know- man or I have this or I have that.

“Kano has 44 local governments because we are over 9.4million population by the last census and we have the landmass. Now if you want to change things, let us come up with criteria, don’t just do it under the table on the pretence that they have five states in the South-East.

“They (the South-East) should not have five in my opinion. What is the population of the South-East?

•Protesters burn US and Israeli flags and a portrait of US President Barack Obama at the end a protest march against the US-produced anti-Islam movie in Kano yesterday.

Photo: AFP

Flooding: Food scarcity looms, expert warns T

HE unprecedented flooding sweeping across many states of the federation is a threat to food security in the country and a sign of possible food scarcity next year, the Managing Director, Upper Niger River Basin Development Authority (UNRBDA), Professor Paul Shaba Marley warned yesterday.

Marley, a professor of crop production, told reporters in Minna, Niger State, that the floods have washed away many farmlands, especially in the North.

He said the country should therefore brace up for possible food scarcity on account of the devastating effect

Jide Orintunsin, Minna

of the flooding.

The river basin authority boss pointed out that the volume of water associated with flood is inimical to crop production adding that except the water in the submerged farmlands recedes quickly, especially in places where cereals are grown in the North, next year may be unpleasant for the country.

He said: ‘’Except for rice that is highly tolerant of water, other cereals are not. Horticulture corps and other food corps in flood affected areas are being lost and these will cause the country big problem in food production next

year because it may take long for the water to recede.”

He observed that, “most town planning regulations are being flouted in the name of development. People build houses, shops and parks on water ways and whatever happens, water must find its way out and find its level and whatever is on its way becomes a victim as such obstacles are washed away by the flood.

“Flash flood is very dangerous; it washes anything that is on its path. We recorded the highest devastation from flash flooding this year. It washed away thousands of houses and farmlands.”

“I am saying this with all sense of responsibility; I am not playing any regional or ethnic politics. But you see, I am representing a state now. I will not allow anybody to go and make nonsense of what we have. If you want to create your state, go and create, do not call Kano anyhow.

“Let us have criteria, there have to be criteria for creation of states. I am telling you the population of some states, local governments and some zones should be on the table.

You don’t just say because you want to contest an election or make a name to create state. We have been yearning for more states in Kano; we want to have three states.

“If you divide Kano State into three states, each state is more than Enugu State in terms of landmass, population and any criteria you can think of.

They were lucky because offer at that time was from their side.

“If you want to go and create local governments in Enugu or in the East, don’t call Kano by any name. If you call Kano, you stand the risk of getting your answer.

And Ekweremadu should learn from experience. He is still a young man; hopefully he still has 20 or 30 years of politics.

“That is why we are suggesting that they should mind their language. If they want their state, let them get it but not to be abusing Kano by claiming that it has 44 local governments.

“I decided to speak on this issue simply because I realized that people are not being fair. I am an advocate of supporting state creation but not the way and manner these people are trying to do it because they are biased, they are unfair.

“Go and check the 2006 census. You see, people will want to eat their cake and have it.

Where they have advantage, they will say it is no go area, do not go there. We are disadvantaged. If there is any state that should be divided into more states, it is Kano.”

Kwankwanso asked lawmakers in the National Assembly to be more careful and pay attention to constitution review.

He added: “That is why I

want to advise our own people to be more careful. They should not go to the National Assembly and do something else. You are on paper representing us and you go there and you are voting for others.

“I want to challenge our members (from the North) to stand up. That is why I will support Northern governors to empower Arewa House, where they keep history, to go and put table in the gallery of the House of Representatives and in the gallery of the Senate. Any member of the House of Reps or Senate who is voting for any position should be recorded, his father, his constituency should be recorded.”

Responding to a question, the governor said he raised the debate on onshore /offshore dichotomy because opinions on it are needed now.

He said: “I am not talking about onshore /offshore because I wanted to abuse anybody. But this is the junction, this is the point to talk. People are going for constitution review, things are now on the table. I did not say it last year or year before but now things are on the table.”

Kwankwanso also expressed concern over alleged plan to alter Section 147 of the 1999 Constitution on the appointment of Ministers.

He said some people are pushing for the appointment of ministers on the basis of the six geopolitical zones instead of each of the 36 states having a representative in the Federal Executive Council.

He said: “Another issue that is very important is zoning. In the review, we are aware that some people want zones to be recognized and they want appointment of ministers to be based on zone not on states. We say no to that. We cannot accept that.

“What they want is to change the status quo where ministers will come three states in each of the six geopolitical zones. The issue is that when it comes to selection of ministers, it will be based on zone. It means the President may avoid certain states if he or she so wishes. This side of the country will not accept that.

“We have to be careful, we have to understand the politics of now and we have to understand the politics of tomorrow.”

He said his fears stemmed from the fact that if ministers are appointed on geopolitical zone basis a President would be at liberty to decide his preference for states or candidates.

He gave example of the appointment of the present Minister from Kano with the state having no input.

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Column

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Victor Ludorum

(An evening with the great Victor Abimbola Olaiya)

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HILE we are still on the subject of great and good Nigerians, it is meet to celebrate the quiet departure of Pa Olabode Olatunde Vincent, the former Central Bank Governor, who joined the ancestors earlier this month. He was a model banker and exceptional administrator: quiet, self-assured, discreet and compassionate but also tough-minded and rigorously committed to fiscal discipline.

He was cut in the finest tradition of the profession. He was too confident of his natural ability to become a toady of errant governments. But neither did he turn himself into a public nuisance and self-advertising poseur as a result of misplaced selfregard. In these days of garrulous but comprehensively challenged economic shamans, his tenure remains a memorable benchmark for prudent husbandry of national resources.

Urbane, ever curious, intellectually alert and ever ready to grapple

nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

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HE problem with Nigeria is not an absence of human resources but an embarrassment of human riches. It is arguable that no other nation on earth is so spectacularly endowed in terms of human capital. The prodigious capacity to excel no matter the adversarial circumstances is part of the Nigerian narrative. Yet it is also an integral part of the Nigerian paradox that at every turn, particularly in national politics, we keep throwing up our third eleven.

The fact remains that in all spheres of human endeavours, a nation must always put forward its best foot if it were to make any showing in the comity of nations. A nation must constantly showcase its great exemplars if it must cultivate a cult of heroic examples. What you plant is what you harvest. If you showcase nonentities as your national heroes, then you are cultivating a cult of nonentities.

Last Sunday inside the commodious bowel of the excellently refurbished Lagos City Hall, Snooper witnessed all that was great and good about great and good old Nigeria. It is so appropriate that it was this iconic monument that was chosen as the venue of the occasion. The building itself has survived several manmade disasters, including an attempted obliteration by fire. So last Sunday, indestructible Nigeria caught up with the ineluctable genius of the nation.

It was the celebration of sixty years on stage of the great musical ace and avatar, Dr Victor Abimbola Olaiya. The historic showstopper was the brainchild of the cultural entrepreneur, tireless promoter of good music and notable Highlife musician himself, Femi Esho. From humble beginnings, the indefatigable and irrepressible Esho has firmly established himself as the most notable cultural Czar in contemporary Nigeria.

Ably comperéd by Aremo Olusegun Osoba, assisted by his musical enthusiast wife, Beere Derin Osoba, it was, needless to add, a moveable musical feast. It was a cultural extravaganza. Nostalgia invaded the entire hall. There was excitement and enchantment in the air.

The magic and aroma of great music filled the place like some excellent fragrance.

Victorian and Edwardian Lagos came alive once again. For connoisseurs and aficionados of great music

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•Olaiya

and good breeding, it was time to savour what Nigeria was before the apocalyptic blackout. Where and when did we get it so catastrophically wrong in this potentially great country?

As to where and when, there will be many contending answers. But one fact is incontrovertible, and that is the pre-eminent status of the guest of honour at the Lagos City Hall last Sunday. Without doubt, Victor Olaiya is the doyen, the primus inter pares and the Victor Ludorum of Nigerian Highlife music. In a country wracked by ethnic animosities and contending cultural rivalries, this claim may open one to charges of Yoruba irredentism or even sub-ethnic sabre-rattling. Highlife, we must remember, was the nearest thing to our national music and hence a site of fierce intellectual contestation.

Let us now use the concept of Victor Ludorum to elaborate the signal importance and pre-eminent status of Victor Olaiya. In its Roman instance, Victor Ludorum means the victor of the games or the overall winner of the competition. Overall is the operative word here. In other words, other competitors may surpass the eventual winner in some departments, but when the overall aggregate is taken, the winner is clear.

Celestine Ukwu will continue to dazzle with the sheer poetry and musicality of his compositions and the philosophical profundity of thought. Rex Lawson , the Kalabari crooner, will continue to thrill and astound with his masterly cadences, the poetic sonority of his voice and the bewitching originality of rhythm.

When it comes to John

Ademulegun Akintola, a.ka Roy Chicago, the urbane self-assurance, the metropolitan swagger and breathtaking lyrics, particularly the infusion of his native Ikare folksongs into highlife, will surely outlive him.

Fela will be justly celebrated for the genius of his innovations, particularly the hectic syncopation of the post-Lobitos era, and his political and ideological bravura. Victor Uwaifo trumps all with his electrifying rhythm and mastery of the guitar.

But among this stellar array of musical giants, Victor Olaiya is the true prodigy of musical engineering.

Possessing most of the attributes of his rivals and contemporaries, he could blend disparate elements together to create truly memorable and mellifluous music. Yet he makes it look so simple and deceptively easy. True genius is often such a formidably disruptive phenomenon that it must wear the mask of ordinariness. On an ordinary day, Olaiya could pass for your average uncle next door. It takes true genius to mask true genius.

Famously described as the evil genius of highlife music by another prodigious exemplar, the great and unassuming Allah De, Olaiya was born in Calabar of Ijesha Isu parentage, schooled in the east before coming to live in Lagos. This seeming cosmopolitan rootlessness was to turn out a great source of strength, allowing Olaiya’s genius to roam far and wide for musical fodder, borrowing freely from Highlife’s origins in the old Gold Coast and its ashiko variant from Sierra Leone’s exslave coastal community. Like so much grist for a musical mill, Olaiya’s genius worked over the chaotic potpourri producing a unique blend and

an even more unique brand.

It can now be said that what Olaiya has going for him more than anyone else is the sheer accumulated heft of experience, the sheer longevity of career and the professional gravitas accruing from this. No other Nigerian musician, dead or alive, could boast of sixty years on stage and the glittering accolades. As the Chinese would say, if you stay long enough by the river side, the bodies of your enemies would wash by.

Olaiya played for the queen of England on a visit to Nigeria in 1956 and four years later at the Independence Ball. For a musician, it doesn’t get more royal than this. Olaiya is a royalty among the nobility of Nigerian musicians. This much was evident last Sunday as great musicians such as Sunny Ade, Dele Ojo, Orlando Julius, Tunde Osofisan and the octogenarian but mysteriously agile Fatai Rolling Dollar, fell over themselves to pay homage to his dandy majesty.

Yet the beginning was not so propitious or flattering. True enough, Olaiya was born into immense riches.

True enough, there was music in the family, the father being an accomplished lay organist and the mother a singer of repute. But to the Olaiya pere, music was what you play in your spare time and not what you choose as a profession. Professional music was for the flunkies and junkies; the no-hopers and casual riffraff on the margins of society. It was not for scions of the new merchant class.

Having passed his matriculation examinations in 1951, the young Victor was expected to proceed to Howard University for a course in Civil Engineering. But Olaiya rebelled and chose music and a different kind of Engineering.. It was a decision that was to cause much sorrow and gnashing of teeth. In cocking a snook at his family, Olaiya joined Bobby Benson and Sammy Akpabot in rebellion, just as they were to be joined later by the then Fela Ransome-Kuti. It is doubtful if as an engineer, Olaiya could have brought more fame and historic importance to his family.

The irony of pre-Independence highlife music in Nigeria was that many of its leading exponents were from affluent well-heeled background that rebelled against their class in order to create the music appropriate and befitting for their class.

If they showed great determination and force of character in this rebel-

A banking titan departs… with the immense complications and difficulties of Economics as a living science for living people, he could have served with distinction even in old age in the hallowed sanctuaries of the Federal Reserve Bank or any other apex institution of western banking.

Regrettably, Snooper came to know and associate with the great man in his very last decade when we

I

NFORMATION is requested about the Labaran Maku who so heroically led the great anti-SAP students uprising at the University of Jos in 1989. Of late, a charlatan and masquerade posing as the Minister of Information has assumed the identity of the missing person.

The impostor has been fluidly and fluently, and with poker-faced temerity, defending government’s

both served as members of the shortlived Coalition for Better Society. He was in every material respect, a gentle giant; tall, dignified, unfailingly polite and ever solicitous of one’s wellbeing. His contributions were always thoughtful and well-considered. There was a ring of compassion for the less privileged in his voice.

He radiated an inner sense of selfworth which found expression in his

calm composure and patrician bearing. Snooper found him a great repository of Yoruba history, particularly the post-empire Mfekane which saw to the great dispersal of the tribe. According to him, his grandmother’s house in Abeokuta had the inscription, “Ile Apomu” which spoke to epic migration and great inter-mingling. All that is ethnically solid often melts into thin air.

Missing persons index anti-people and autocratic policies.

In January, this morbid joker supported the unjust taxation of the poor that they called fuel subsidy removal. This past week even as the government was beating a hasty retreat in the face of unprecedented public hostility and nation-wide disapproval of the planned intro-

duction of the 5,000 naira bill, this unelected apparatchik of transient power was dismissing the resolution of the elected representatives of the Nigerian people as not binding on the government. This repugnant fascism is unimaginable even in the worst days of military dictatorship. The great fox of Minna

lion, they were to show greater integrity by refusing to kowtow to the arriviste new class or pander to the crude taste of the parvenus. Till date, highlife music remains a class act, but also music for a class in ascendancy.

But everything has its time and place. Even while highlife music was recording its magnificent successes, the material conditions for its possibility were being eroded by new dominant and emergent realities.

First, the coastal elite lost economic and political power to the hinterland elite. Then the military overran both..

In a touch of mesmerising irony, Olaiya himself was given the field rank of Colonel to entertain soldiers fighting the civil war. It was like a man playing at his own professional funeral. Military and police bands may play excellent highlife music at ceremonial balls but in real life, the new military aristocracy and their emergency contractor buddies do not care a hoot for the sedate languor and the kusimilaya ballet of highlife music. They would need praise singers and a more pulsating beat to reflect new social and martial exigencies.

Perhaps the most delectable piece of irony of this glorious evening with the master musician was when Sunny Ade reminded him of how as a boy, he held his trumpet for him at the Fakunle Major Hotel Oshogbo. But more importantly, Sunny Ade reminded the great musician that when decades later his band’s musical equipment was impounded after defaulting on terms of payment to Olaiya’s musical equipment company, it was Olaiya who quietly ordered that the equipment be released. It was like a general handing over a cache of arms to an ambitious major. Juju music killed highlife As historic empires rise and fall, so do musical empires. Whether highlife would come back in a modified form is besides the point. Such things do not depend on an individual genius but on the configuration of material, social and historical forces. But for Nigeria to rise again, it will require the genius, the nobility of heart and the generosity of spirit evident in Dr Victor Olaiya.

It has been a memorable evening at the Lagos City Hall. Here is wishing the greatest of them all many happy returns, sir.

If the old man personified honour, simplicity and grace while alive, he was even more so in death. He had decreed that his earthly remains should be committed to mother earth within days of his demise. He did not leave room for the protocol of the idle and wannabe, the social lunchers and other morbid parasites to feed on the house. They were already beginning to gather when thunder struck. It is a lesson for his well-heeled compatriots. May the soul of this great man rest in peace. must be chuckling to himself.

Anybody who has information about the missing person must forward it to Okon who is now busy compiling a list of missing persons in Nigeria from the presidency downwards for onward submission to the United Nations Refugees Commissioner.

Maku was last seen at a pepper soup joint in Gindirin, or is it Didinrin?

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Arik resumes local flights today From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja Kelvin Osa-Okunbor

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

News

RIK Air is due back in business today.

Its planes have been off the sky since Thursday in the heat of a strike by workers unions in the aviation sector over alleged indebtedness to regulatory authorities.

Arik is the nation’s biggest airline. The disruption of its operations in the last 72 hours by the Air Transport Service Senior Staff Association (ATSSSAN), the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) and the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) left thousands of domestic travellers stranded across the country and threw the sector into confusion.

The federal government waded into the dispute yesterday with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, giving the airline the green light to resume operations from today.

In a statement at the end of a meeting between Arik , Aviation Minister Stella Oduah and Chairmen of the Aviation Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives, Anyim said besides resolving all the issues, the two –hour meeting also agreed on a road map for smooth working operation among the warring parties.

The meeting appealed to the two parties to cease all hostilities and apologised to all travellers for the inconveniencies the dispute may have caused them.

He said:”We are pleased to announce that Arik Air can now resume operations.

“All issues in contention were discussed and resolved. On behalf of the Ministry of Aviation and the Management of Arik Air, we apologise to all travellers for the inconveniencies this unfortunate misunderstanding may have caused them.”

Shortly after the Abuja peace meeting, Arik Air declared that at no time did it allege that the aviation minister wanted five per cent equity in the carrier.

The managing Director of the company, Mr.Chris Ndulue, told newsmen in Lagos that attributing any such allegation to Arik Air was frivolous.

On the Abuja peace talks, he said: “In the next two weeks another meeting will be scheduled.

That was why in the initial instance, we called for federal government’s intervention in the matter. We have received commitment from the agencies that we will continue to work together. It was a reconciliation meeting where all issues were resolved.”

He described the Central Bank’s exclusion of some airlines from further bank loans until they clear outstanding ones as unhealthy for the business.

He said the airline business is capital intensive and wondered how airlines could operate without loans.

He explained that all the loans taken by Arik came from foreign banks and that Nigerian banks merely guaranteed such.

The aviation minister is already considering going to court over the allegation that she demanded bribe from Arik.

Her media assistant, Mr Joe Obi, dismissed the allegation as a fabrication, saying: “The five percent equity story is without any foundation whatsoever. It is absurd, malicious and ultimately laughable. “The Minister of Aviation could not have contemplated acquiring a stake in any airline.”

T

HOUSANDS of Muslims marched through the popular Kantin Kwari Road and Ibrahim Taiwo Road in Kano yesterday, protesting the film, Innocence of Muslims, which they said insults Prophet Muhammed.

The protest was peaceful all through.

The protesters marched from the Fagge Mosque to the palace of the Emir of Kano, with the crowd growing larger on the way.

The crowd denounced the brains behind the video and the USA where it was made.

Some of them brandished American and Israeli flags, chanting ‘Death to America’, ‘Death to Israel’.

They made a bonfire of the American flag at the Emir’s palace.

One of the protesters, Amin Kabir, vowed that they would keep “protesting until the video producers are brought to book.”

Another protester, Mohammed Turi said: “Whatever you say against our religion and our beloved Prophet will not discourage us from spreading his teachings to the

Thousands protest in Kano over anti-Islam film

•Fresh curfew imposed on Damaturu, Potiskum •25 Boko Haram members arrested Kolade Adeyemi, Kano/Joel Duku, Damaturu

world. There is no going back loving Prophet Muhammad and his teachings.

“This (protest) is to send a message to halt the production of any other offensive film against Islam.”

Some traders hurriedly closed their shops for fear that the situation might get out of hand but there was no ugly incident.

Heavily armed security men were on alert while the protest lasted to ensure that it did not get out of hand.

And ahead of a house-tohouse search for Boko Haram members, the Yobe State Government yesterday imposed a fresh 24-hour curfew on Potiskum and Damaturu, the

state capital.

The measure was taken to allow the Joint Task Force (JTF) commence a comprehensive house to house search in Damaturu. The JTF spokesman in the state, Lt. Eli Lazarus, stated that the entire state capital has been cordoned off by troops to prevent suspected Boko Haram members from fleeing the town.

Soon after the commencement of the curfew suspected insurgents of the sect were said to have engaged JTF troops in a shoot-out, but were subdued by the superior firepower of the military men.

At the end of the operation, Lazarus said, 25 suspected Boko Haram members were arrested. He added that in the course of the operation, seven

women and 12 children were used as shield by the insurgents to prevent their capture, but stated that the JTF succeeded in arresting the women and the children without recording any casualty.

Items recovered from the suspected Boko Haram members include two Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG), three General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG), 700 rounds of ammunitions of 7.62 millimetres and 34 rounds of 5.56 millimetres, 29 handsets, three Motorola walkie-talkies, one GPRS, one binocular, seven laptops, one HP printer, one satellite decoder and one Army bulletproof jacket.

Others are one camouflage raincoat, one transistor radio, eight empty cartons of RPG,

•Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbeshola, with Consul of Republic of Sudan to Southern States of Nigeria, Hon. Ibrahim Bahari, during his visit to the governor in Osun State recently.

Why Tukur, PDP governors are at war

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HE 2015 elections and alleged unconventional leadership style of the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Bamanga Tukur, are responsible for the frosty relationship between him and the party’s governors, it was learnt, at the weekend.

The cold war hit the roof last weekend when majority of the governors snubbed a book presentation to mark Tukur’s 77th birthday in Abuja.

President Goodluck Jonathan was at the event.

Only three PDP governors were in attendance. Those who attended were Alhaji Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Chief Theodore Orji (Abia), and Patrick Yakowa (Kaduna).

Governor Ibrahim Shema (Katsina) and Jonah Jang (Plateau) sent their deputies.

Party sources told The Nation yesterday that the issue of who flies the party’s flag in 2015 is at the heart of the cold war.

A party chieftain from one

By Augustine Avwode

of the South-South states, who craved anonymity, said from day one, many of the governors, especially those from the North have interpreted Jonathan’s insistence on making Tukur national chairman to be for no other reason than 2015.

He said once they were unable to stop Tukur’s emergence they are not ready to allow that sole objective for his emergence to materialise.

“It is all about 2015. The governors want one of their own, which is a tradition they want to establish in this country. Already, there are two or three governors from the region who are known to harbour presidential ambition and they have succeeded in reaching out to some of their colleagues in the South-South region to run as vice president. But in all, the issue is that the North wants to produce the president in 2015 but from all indications, the chairman is not favourably dis-

posed toward the idea and that is the crux of the matter”.

The source also revealed that the style of the national chairman has tended to “erect a wall that the governors find uncomfortable.

They think that it was never like this, there is a visible sign of alienation or keeping one’s distance, if you know what I mean”, the source stated.

But media aide to Tukur, Alhaji Ujudud Sheriff debunked the insinuation as untrue. In a telephone interview with The Nation yesterday afternoon, Sheriff said: “To the best of my knowledge, that is not true because, coincidentally, this morning, I don’t know whether you listened to the Voice of Nigeria (VON) or not, he was asked to comment on a similar question. So it is not true. As far as we are concerned the governors were all present because they sent representatives of theirs. Let’s face it, there is no way all the governors of the party would be

there at the book presentation. They also have very pressing programmes, don’t forget.

“Those who were available came. So it has nothing to do with 2015. But this is democracy; you must allow people to express their minds.”

He said the chairman has always maintained that it is not time to talk 2015 and that it is time to sit down and work to satisfy the aspirations of Nigerians who voted for the governors and the president.

Sheriff also said the issue of the manner of running the party being a source of friction is totally false as he has never heard anything like that before.

At the presentation of the book, ‘The Global Villager,’ a biography on Tukur, written by Eddie Aderinokun, Orji apologised on behalf of his colleagues and claimed that he had their mandate to pick few copies for each of them.

one tripod, five Compact Disk plates and one tricycle, popularly known as Keke Napep.

The JTF spokesman said the laptops and CDs will be analysed with a view to assisting the task force in its investigation of the activities of the sect.

He said the curfew will remain in place until the end of the ongoing investigation.

He appealed to residents not to panic and also cooperate with the JTF by offering useful information that could lead to the restoration of peace in the state.

Get ready for 2015 presidency, Ezeife, Madubuike tell Ndigbo

By Sam Egburonu

A

S the debate over the fate of the South-East geo-political zone in

the 2015 presidential race gathers momentum, two Igbo leaders, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, a former governor of Anambra State and Dr. Ihechukwu Madubuike, a former minister of health and education, have called on the zone to get its house in order, in preparation for the race.

The two political leaders, who spoke to The Nation in Lagos, when they led other Igbo leaders to pay a solidarity visit to the management of Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on the recent appointment of Mr. Calistus Obi, as Executive Director of the federal government agency, said it has become necessary for Ndigbo to be ready for the 2015 race.

Ndigbo, Ezeife said, “should prepare and be ready as an interest group. We are not out to haunt President Goodluck Jonathan, but at the appropriate time, we will make the necessary negotiation.”

Madubuike spoke in the same fashion, saying that “Ndigbo are aware there is an incumbent president, a president that was supported by the zone during his election into office.”

They, however, pointed out that the support the president got from the zone was based on some expectations and that at the appropriate time the president’s fulfilment of his promises to Ndigbo and the expectations of the people will count.

They said the leaders and people of South-East zone are not toying with the 2015 presidency. “We are meeting and preparing. As you know, Ndigbo deserve, more than any other, to produce the next president of Nigeria.”

Recently, there have been mixed reports on the position of Ndigbo on whether to support President Jonathan’s presidential bid in 2015 or to insist on Igbo presidency.

Speaking at the event, NIMASA Director-General, Patrick Akpobololokemi, said it would be difficult for Nigeria to make progress without the Igbo nation, primarily because of their contribution in trade and technology.

He assured the visitors that Obi will serve as a bridge between Ndigbo and NIMASA

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

NUC chief charges Ford fellows to help develop education From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

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HE Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Julius Okojie, has called on the International Ford Fellowships Programme Alumni Nigeria (IFFPAN), to square up to the challenges of national development.

Speaking in Calabar, Cross River State, he called on the beneficiaries of the fellowship to make available the expertise they have garnered over the years to the country.

Okojie, who was represented by a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Uyo, Professor Akaneren Essien, said the NUC would work with the association in areas of common interest for the good of the Nigerian University System and attainment of national objectives in the various professions.

IFFPAN is an association of 175 Nigerian beneficiaries of the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Programme (IFP), who have completed their Master’s and doctoral degrees in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada.

He challenged them to move from being passive recipients to active participants in the development of their communities.

Earlier, Country Representative of the IFP, Dr Yemisi Akinwande, lauded the successful graduates for completing their programmes without any negative reports.

She called on them to make sure they work hard to distinguish themselves as they integrate themselves into the community, and also ensure the society benefits from them. “I am proud of you, but I am sure I would be prouder of your achievements in future. Our vision is to be a platform for credible leaders, who will influence policy and decision making at national and regional levels and also support the emergence of new change agents in Nigeria and West Africa,” she said.

Community development conference postponed HE Western Region Conference of Community Development has been postponed. A statement by the regional chairman, Evangelist Sarumi said the conference would now hold from October 24 to November.

He said the need arose to shift the date because of the time was needed to “sensitise the elected representatives who are to assist in providing sponsorship for the delegates” adding that the workshop is to assist government in promoting development of the neighbourhoods.

Meanwhile,the organisers are to visit directors of community development of the six participating states to finalise the arrangements.

T

News

Fed Govt rules out new capital projects in 2013 budget T

HE federal government may not embark on new capital projects next year, Information Minister Labaran Maku, has said.

The minister who dropped the hint in Abuja during the inspection of government projects in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the National Good Governance Tour said gov-

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

ernment has decided to concentrate on the completion of all critical and on-going projects in 2013.

He said: “For 2013, hardly will any ministry initiate new projects. We want to complete existing and on-going projects.”

“What we are doing is concentrating efforts on on-

going projects. In the past, when new administrations came on board they would abandon on-going projects and start new ones.

“But this administration is committed to continuity.

We want to complete critical, abandoned and on-going projects.”

“In less than half way of this tenure, we have started to see transformation projects

in the country.”

He cited the abandoned N18 billion Lower Usuma Dam project in the FCT which he said is now being revived by the administration.

The FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, said the dam would pump 20 million cubic meters of water per hour to the city when the project is completed by December.

•Officials of Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA) presenting relief materials to internally displaced persons at Bidoma development area of Lamurde LG of Adamawa State on Saturday.

PHOTO: NAN

Sambo calls for religious tolerance

V

ICE President Namadi Sambo yesterday stressed the need for religious tolerance among Nigerians irrespective of their religious affili-

From Kazeem Ibrahym, Uyo

ations.

Speaking at the opening of the two-day Unity Conference for the South-South and

South-East Muslim Ummah at Le’ Meridien Hotel and Golf Resort, Nwaniba, Akwa Ibom State, he stressed the need for unity among the different ethnic groups in the country.

Jonathan leaves for New York for UN meeting

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan is to leave Abuja today for New York at the head of Nigeria’s delegation to the 67th General Assembly of the United Nations.

The President of the 67th Assembly, Mr. Vuk Jeremic of Serbia, announced at its opening on Tuesday that having consulted widely on the matter, he has chosen “bringing about adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations by peaceful means” as the overarching theme for the General Assembly’s work over the next 12 months.

On the president’s entourage are Governor Isa Yuguda (Bauchi State), Godswill Akpabio(Akwa Ibom), Senator Philip Aduda, Isa Ashiru Mohammed, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr.Ngonzi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs.

Deziani Alison-Madueke, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN) and Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Segun Aganga.

In addition to participating in the 67th Session of the General Assembly, President Jonathan is also scheduled to meet with other world leaders including the Presidents of China, France, South Korea, Brazil, Bulgaria, Finland and Switzerland in New York.

He will also deliver a statement to the high-level meeting on the Rule of Law at the United Nations Headquarters and join the Prime Minister of

Norway, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg with whom he currently serves as co-Chairperson of the UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children in presenting its report to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon.

President Jonathan will also attend a high-level meeting on the Nigerian economy, meet with the Chairman and top executives of the global oil giant, Exxon-Mobil, attend a reception hosted by President Barack Obama of the United States and the SecretaryGeneral’s High-Level event on the eradication of Polio.

Ronnie to partner Resource Centre

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ONNIE Schools, Ojodu, Lagos, is to partner with the Lagos State Educational Resource Centre to offer training for teachers in the area of production and utilisation of instructional materials.

The three-day training is

to hold at the centre’s ultra modern complex, Ogunnusi Road, Isheri Ojodu Berger, Lagos.

The training is to build capacity of teachers as well as assist in teaching practice and help students build confidence.

The Vice President urged Nigerians to support President Jonathan in the implementation of his transformation programmes in the power sector and security of life and property.

Also speaking, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar asked citizens to embrace peace and unity irrespective of their religious beliefs.

The Sultan emphasised that unity and peace are panacea for the development of the country. He said: “Whether we are Christians or Muslims, we must live in peace with one another in whatever part of the country we find ourselves. If we are united, we would contribute better to the development of the country. So, we must put aside our differences and embrace peace and unity’’.

Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom called for unity and peace not just across the inter-faith but among the ethnic groups in the country.

He said unity and peace could be possible when Nigerians learn to work with people outside their faith and ethnic groups, saying, ‘’Intolerance breeds extremism, while the latter breeds conflict’’.

5

Floods: Mark, Foreign Minister meet Camerounian envoy FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation

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IGERIA has launched a diplomatic initiative to encourage Cameroun to check the raging water from its Lagdo Dam which has wreaked havoc in several states.

Dozens of Nigerians have been killed, thousands rendered homeless and farmlands and livestock washed away by the flood triggered by excess water released from the dam.

Worst hit are Adamawa, Benue and Cross River States.

Senate President, David Mark and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru, on Thursday evening met with the Camerounian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Salahuddeen Ibrahim Abbas in Abuja on the issue.

Mark and Ashiru asked the envoy to prevail on the authorities in Yaounde to manage the release of water from Lagdo Dam. Also, there were indications last night that the federal government might send a Mission to Cameroun next week for technical talks on the situation.

It was gathered that the Senate President and the Foreign Affairs Minister conveyed the displeasure of the federal government to the High Commissioner on how more than 200,000 Nigerians have been displaced in seven states.

The states affected by the release of water from Cameroun are Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna and Bauchi.

Others flooded by water from River Niger are Kwara, Kogi, Kebbi, Anambra and Kano.

A reliable source said: “The Camerounian government sent a note verbal to Nigeria on the situation in Lagdo Dam and we decided to meet with the High Commissioner on the way forward.

“But as a responsible government, there is no way we will sit by and watch Nigerians lose their lives and property to floods created from the release of water from Cameroun.

“I think the two nations will jointly find solutions to the challenge of floods.”

Ambassador Ashiru, who confirmed the session, last night, said the federal government has stepped into the flood problems.

The Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, also spoke with our correspondent, and said: “We have sent our team right to the dam to take stock of the situation. We will send a Mission to Cameroon next week for talks on how to manage the release of water from the dam.

“They told us that the release of the water is important to avoid the collapse of the dam which can wreak more havoc.

We have observed that when they release water from Lagdo Dam, after some days, it will recede. But this has not been so this year because of the structures that have been built.”

6

News

NDLEA nabs single mother, four others •Suspects swallowed 398 wraps of narcotics

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor

A

28- year- old single mother and four other suspected drug traffickers have been apprehended for alleged ingestion of 398 wraps of narcotics.

The drugs, weighing 7.1kg, consisted 1.1kg of methamphetamine and 6kg of cocaine.

The suspects were arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja.

NDLEA Commander at the Abuja Airport, Mr. Hamisu Lawan, said one of the suspects is the 28year-old single mother, Udoka Egbuchelam, who ingested 73 wraps of methamphetamine weighing 1.1kg.

Others, according to him, are 45-year-old Ezechi Nwabueze, who ingested 95 wraps of cocaine weighing 2kg and 54-year-old Uzoukwu Joel, who ingested 85 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.5kg.

Others are 36-year-old Obiora Okechukwu, who ingested 91 wraps of cocaine weighing 1.6kg and 32-year-old Eze Everest, who swallowed 54 wraps of cocaine weighing 900 grammes.

Hamisu said apart from Egbuchelam and Nwabueze caught while boarding Ethiopian Airline flights to Malaysia and Istanbul, other suspects arrested during inward screening of passengers.

Egbuchelam said she needed money to pay the tuition of her 5- year- old daughter.

“I wanted to pay the school fees of my daughter. Since my arrest, I have been worried because I do not know how she is coping without me.

The people that gave me the drug promised to pay me $2, 700,” the indigene of Mbaitolu Local Government Area of Imo State, stated.

Nwabueze, who was selling shirts in Benin Republic, said: “I am the only child of my parents.

My problem began when my shop got burnt and nobody was willing to help me. I was to deliver the drugs in Istanbul, Turkey.”

He hails from Uzowani Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade said that the single mother would have been killed if she was caught in Malaysia, which practises capital punishment for traffickers.

He urged members of the public to avoid trafficking, stating: “We are happy to prevent the untimely death of another Nigerian.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

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PERATIVES of the Police Special Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism Unit, Force Headquarters Annex Lagos, have arrested six suspected vandals alleged to have participated in the incident that led to the killing of three Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) staff at Arepo Village, Owode in Ogun State.

Those arrested are Posibi Ruben, Imerepmamu Ijebu Joel, John Aye Isaiah, Saheed Onisa Mudashiru, Ineye Okpose and Timi Gnungunu.

Joel told investigators he knows where they buried the NNPC officials.

He said: “I don’t know the exact spot where the killed NNPC officials were buried but my friend called Showebune told me the NNPC official were killed and buried at a land across the river.

“I know the land where they were buried but I don’t know the exact spot.

“Shortly after the incident, my landlord told me to be careful that my Ijaw brothers have caused trouble in the area by killing the NNPC officials who came for maintenance.’’

He confirmed Tokuwa, Egbe, Egbekowhea, John Togo and Bashiru killed the NPPC officials, adding, “I know their

Sudanese envoy Arepo NNPC killing: seeks bilateral ties with Osun Police arrest six suspects T

By Jude Isiguzo

houses and I can take the police there.”

Last August, suspected vandals burst pipelines to siphon petroleum products at Arepo village, leading to a fire outbreak.

Maintenance engineers sent by the NPPC to repair the ruptured pipeline were killed while carrying out the exercise.

The hoodlums, using canoes and speedboats, reportedly descended on the engineers and other security operatives at the scene.

The Assistant Commissioner of Police –in- Charge of the Task Force, Friday Ibadin, confirmed the arrests.

Ibadin said the police have been on the trail of the suspected vandals since the incident occurred.

According to him: “We got a tip- off that the same vandals who escaped after the incident were back to continue their normal business of vandalisa-

tion.”

Policemen led by the Lagos Sector Commander, Mr. Onaghise Osayande, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), stormed the area and arrested those suspected vandals.

About 200 gallons of 25 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) were recovered with hundreds of abandoned empty gallons.

It was discovered the suspects knew what happened to the dead NNPC officials during investigations.

Another suspect, John Aye Isaiah, popularly known as JTF, said: “Two weeks ago, I came back from a church programme and heard that some guys went to quench the fire.

“I heard they exchanged fire with them and they killed the NNPC, the security and people that went there for the operation.

“I know some of the people involved. They include Nduka, who stays around Isawo in Ikorodu and Beekay Austin, who lives at Ikorodu.

“Others are Pasco, Epeu and Peresi, who all stay in Ikorodu.”

He added: “I am not a vandal but sometimes I do buy PMS from them at cheaper prices.”

Another suspect, Ineye Okpose, popularly known as pastor, advised the police to direct their search to Ondo State as he understood the remaining suspects have relocated.

“They should look out for one notorious vandal called Togo, who happens to be my neighbour. I overheard when they were arguing with his boys that it’s time to relocate to another state as the police is coming for an arrest,” he said.

Force Police spokesman, Frank Mba, a Chief Superintendent (CSP), said that police are on the trail of the other suspects still at large.

He called on the Arepo community to help fish out the hoodlums.

The suspects, he said, would soon be charged to court after completion of investigations.

HE Consul at the Sudan Embassy in Nigeria, Hon. Ibrahim Bahari, has advocated for closer relationship with Osun state.

The envoy spoke during a courtesy visit to Governor Rauf Aregbesola at the Government House, Osogbo.

Bahari stated that the bilateral relationship between his country and Osun will focus on areas like education, science, agriculture, tourism and culture.

While congratulating Aregbesola on the restoration of his electoral mandate, Bahari also commended the governor on his leadership style, which he said has endeared him to the people of the state.

He commended the governor for transforming the state in less than two years of his administration.

Bahari further used the occasion to extend an invitation to the governor, while promising to bring an official letter in this regard from Sudan in the next couple of weeks.

Aregbesola thanked the envoy for the visit, while also promising to accede to the request of an official visit to Sudan as soon as the invitation is formalised.

One killed in cult clash in Calabar From Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

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•L-R: Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu; Timi Alaibe; Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Kingsley Kuku, Vice Preisdent, Namadi Sambo; former Governor of Rivers State, Diete Spiff at the public presentation of Remaking the Niger Delta: Challenges and PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE Opportunities by Kuku in Lagos... at the weekend.

P-H/Enugu express: Abia Assembly puts pressure on Fed Govt

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EMBERS of the Abia State House of Assembly have resolved to put pressure on the federal government to fix its roads in the state as many of them have become death traps.

The House in the resolution urged the federal authorities to declare a state of emergency in respect of its roads in the state.

Ndukwe Ojukwu, repre-

Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

senting Bende North, said the Assembly had earlier summoned the state controller of the Federal Road Maintenance Authority (FERMA), the federal controller of works and the commissioner for works on the bad state of the roads to no avail.

“We had fruitful discussions but unfortunately nothing has happened,” he said.

Ojukwu recalled that the Assembly at a point even called a strike to protest the poor state of the roads during which a member of the House collapsed.

He added:”Now the fifth House has written to the minister of works; nothing has been done because of kidnappings. But now our governor has provided security yet they are not back”.

Also speaking, the mem-

‘How to tackle crises in Nigeria’

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RESIDENT of the Peace and Conflict Resolution Organisation of Nigeria, Bishop Goodluck Akpede, yesterday stated that addressing ownership, control and management of the nation’s natural resources is crucial to maintaining peace and stability in Nigeria.

Speaking at the World Peace Day celebration in Kaduna organised by the National Peacemakers Initiatives,

From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

Akpede said most of the crises in Nigeria are related to wealth and resource control.

The cleric said good natural resource management can play a central role in building sustainable peace in the country.

He said Nigeria must develop capacity for non-violent conflict resolution to avoid frequent clashes.

President General of the

Nigeria Football Supporters Club, Rafiu Ladipo, called for provision of social amenities and job opportunities to engage youths.

He argued that when youths are engaged, they will not embrace violence.

Ladipo called on the ruling class to emulate the virtues of Nigeria’s founding fathers, stating, “this nation cannot be divided no matter what happens.

This nation must remain one”.

ber representing Ukwa West state constituency, Tony Mezie Nwubani said the people of the state gave President Goodluck Jonathan 100% of their votes during the 2011 presidential election and wondered why the state should now be abandoned by the present administration.

He described the Enugu/ Port Harcourt express way as a death trap, saying: “We are calling on the federal government that promised to turn the road into six lanes to just maintain what is there now to stop our people from dying”.

The member representing Ikwuano, Emeka Osoagbaka said Abia is strategic because it connects the rest of the country with states like Cross River, Akwa Ibom and others in the South South. “ Osoagbaka said that it is time for the state to shout for the people to hear and know what is happening, pointing out that it is the right of the people of the state to have all federal roads in the state reconstructed.

N unidentified man was shot dead at the weekend in the latest outbreak of cult clashes in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

Eye witnesses said the man was killed around 4pm along Ekondo Street in CalabarSouth by a six-man armed gang operating with commercial tricycle, popularly known as Keke Napep.

The assailants, who reportedly chased the deceased, shot him in the eye at close range.

Though the cause of the conflict could not be ascertained, it was gathered the clashes ensued after inauguration of ward executives of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Calabar-South at the cultural centre complex.

The Police Public Relations Officer, John Umoh, could not be reached but a top official of the State Police Command confirmed the incident.

He said investigations are on to fish out the culprits.

NANS honours Ayinde Barrister

By Tunde Busari

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HE National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has honoured the late Fuji music icon, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde, popularly known as Barrister with a post-humour award as Nigeria’s most celebrated Musician of the 21st century.

The students described the award as the late musician’s reward for his contribution in Nigeria and beyond.

Samsondeen Balogun received the award on behalf of their deceased.”The award is no doubt well deserved and it is coming at a time music lovers all over the world are asking for more laurels for the Inimitable Doyen of Music,‘’ he said.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23 , 2012

News

‘We can’t stop protest against amnesty programme’

Green family wins Maltina Dance All

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From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

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HE Urhobo Youth Council, UYC, yesterday said it will not be intimidated by a frivolous allegation of plotting a protest against the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, by the Presidential Amnesty Office over their non inclusion in the programme, insisting that the urhobo should be given her share instead of resorting to blackmail.

The group in a statement by its National President, Mr. Henry Baro, said they had no option but to respond to press statement by the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) office about allegation of threat of mayhem by Urhobo and Itsekiri youths billed to commence at far away Akwa Ibom State.

Baro said, ”For the avoidance of doubt we wish to restate our position to disabuse the minds of all well meaning Nigeria as follows; Urhobo Youth Council has no armed youth in its fold but as the apex youth body, the Urhobo nationality has many youth who took active part in the Niger Delta militant armed struggle by fighting alongside the Ijaw brothers who followed the procedure of the amnesty programme and laid down their arms and were well documented by the authorities, but are being denied participation and training on ground of their ethnic nationalities.

“We call on our PAP and our Ijaw “Overlord” to give Urhobo what is due them without recourse to blackmail and sabre rattling that only scare away foreign investors and distract the president,” they said.

Why Mimiko must rule Ondo fagain From Damisi Ojo, Akure

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HE Ondo State Commissioner for Works, Mr. Gboye Adegbenro yesterday said the present Labour Party [LP] administration has impacted positively on the citizenry.

He said Mimiko’s government has touched every sector of human endeavour, including health, education, agriculture, sports development, infrastructure and others.

The commissioner said political sentiments apart, Mimiko’scontribution to the rapid development of the state is unprecedented, stressing that his legacy would remain indelible in the history of the state.

Adegbenro spoke to reporters during the campaign rally held in various communities of Ifedore local government, including Ilara-Mokin, Ijare, Igbara-Oke and others The commissioner also said, “For us in IlaraMokin, we will ever be grateful to Governor Mimiko, he gave us a befitting public service Training Institute and appointed two of us as commissioners in Ifedore local government.

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•Ifeanyi N. Okwakpam a newly promoted Chief Superintendent of Immigration being decorated by Alhaji S. Ahmed, Comptroller PHOTO: ABAYOMI OGUNTUWASE of immigration Lagos State Command, assisted by Comptroller of prisons, Lagos State Command.

Corruption charges: Bafarawa raises new posers F ORMER governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa has alleged political motive in the recent withdrawal of charges against six persons who are facing trial with him for corruption.

Bafarawa and 15 others, including the six against whom charges were dropped, were arraigned before the Sokoto State High Court in December 2009.

He said the names of the six were removed from the charge sheet after joining “the political camp of the incumbent governor.”

The former governor accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the state government of playing politics with the case.

In a petition through his lawyer, Mr. Rickey Tarfa (SAN) to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, Bafarawa protested the handling of

• Says EFCC can’t sustain viability of charges again

By Sam Egburonu

the case and called for proper investigation of the matter.

He spoke of “other political factors at play, using the instrumentality of the EFCC and manipulating same to achieve a specific political agenda.”

He said the evidence of the former co-accused can no longer be relied upon to be the truth and therefore “the charge can no longer be viably sustained in the absence of these key co-accused persons.”

He added: “We urge that you use your good office to investigate the above and order that the charges be dropped if the facts are as we

have stated, so that the impression be not given to the general public that the machinery of the commission is in this instance being used to further certain political interests instead of to fight corruption.”

Bafarawa’s trouble started when, Governor Aliyu Wamako of Sokoto State, in his inaugural speech, alleged that the much-celebrated N13 billion or N11 billion “purported to be bequeathed by the outgoing administration could not be traced, instead, almost all the major government accounts were found to have been overdrawn to the tune of over N2 billion.”

Reacting to the open al-

legation, Bafarawa wrote a letter to the chairman of EFCC on May 30, 2007, narrating how Wamako allegedly refused to honour invitations he extended to him before the hand-over to enable them discuss details of the handing over account and the actual amount his administration would be handing over to the incoming government.

However, Bafarawa was invited by the commission a year after, through a letter dated 6th May, 2008 for an interview on the issues he raised in his letter.

On turning up to honour the invitation, he was arrested and detained for about seven days and his international passport seized before he was taken to Sokoto State, where he was arraigned on 16th December, 2009 alongside 15 others.

They were arraigned on a 47-count charge of conspiracy, criminal misappropriation and criminal breach of trust.

Sacked NIMC workers bemoan fate A BOUT 4000 workers of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) sacked by the Director-General, Chris Onyemena, have threatened to hand over the DG to God, if his decision is not rescinded even as some have been recalled and directed to attend a workshop in Asaba Delta state.

Some of the recalled workers, who went for the

From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

workshop at Hotel Benieza Asaba, The Nation gathered, were those who have higher degrees. They were tutored on registration of National Identity card and management of data base as anchored by the Deputy Director in charge of training, Mrs. Florence Igboke.

One of the victims who

did not want to be named said, ‘’We are not against his sack but let him follow the due process of sack. Some of us have worked for 15 years, 20 years and 29 years Last year, the commission said it had discovered 4,000 “ghost workers” in its fold and was planning to reduce its personnel cost which rose from N3.3 billion in 2011 to N4.2billion in 2012.

The Labour Adviser to the

Director-General of the commission, Ayo Olorunfemi, said the organisation was one of the few offices in the country with majority of its workforce in the junior cadre.

The affected staff members were inherited by NIMC from the defunct Department of National Civic Registration (DNCR), under the former Ministry of Internal Affairs, now Ministry of Interior, the commission said.

Ogun to wage war against HIV and AIDS, says Amosun

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GUN State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has restated the determination of his administration to fight the HIV-AIDS epidemic in the state.

The governor disclosed this at the Governor’s Office, Abeokuta, during a courtesy call by the officials of the World Bank, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) and Enhanc-

ing Nigeria’s Response to HIV-AIDS (ENR).

He said the determination to curb the disease led to the creation of 35 HIV counselling and testing centres centres and 16 Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) sites across the state.

These centres, according to the governor, take care of people living with HIV/ AIDS.”Free drugs are also

provided for people living with the disease and the state has continued to pay its counterpart funds to the State Action Committee on AIDS (SACA),” the governor said..Speaking earlier, the leader of the delegation, Dr (Mrs.) Ayo Akala, commended the state government for prompt payment of its counterpart funds to SACA. She called for more

sensitisation of Nigerians, noting that knowledge of the disease was minimal especially in the rural areas.She said federating states in the country needed to improve on funding of their respective committees and agencies as “donors are experiencing fatigue due to economic meltdown.”Dr Akala called for concerted efforts against stigmitization of those living with the disease.

HE Green family, last night, lifted the trophy for the best dancer in the grand finale of the popular Maltina Dance All competition, which held at the Expo Hall of Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos.

The sixth edition of the epic dance competition, sponsored by Nigerian Breweries Plc, came to a climax with the Green family defeating Efiokwu, Eghovie, Zibe and Boyle families with whom it made it to the finals.

The winning family went home with the prize of a brand new Toyota Avensis car in addition to a cash prize of N6m, while the first and second runners up; Efiokwu and Eghovie families, got N1million and N500, 000 respectively.

The night, which had a crowd of fun seekers and supporters of the competing families, was full of anticipation.

Anxiety heightened when the anchor person, Kemi Adetiba, called for scheduled performances by each family.

Curtain drew on the show following closing of voting line at exactly 7:45pm. The SMS results were determined by supporters, who were the sole determinants of the last leg of the competition.

Maltina Dance All (MDA) family reality television show is being sponsored by Maltina, a premium malt brand from the stable of Nigerian Breweries Plc.

House leader charges women on cooperation From Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja

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AJORITY leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Mulikat Akande-Adeola has urged Nigerian women to unite and act as one to enable them take their rightful position in the scheme of things in the country.

According to her, having proved their mettle worldwide, Nigerian women stand to gain a lot if they stick together and help themselves in getting to the top.

Akande-Adeola while speaking to a delegation of 2012 Gazelles/Total Women Initiative for Communication and Exchange who came on a courtesy visit to her office at the weekend, she debunked the notion that women naturally bicker amongst themselves, adding that from experience, women need to hoist other women along for them to be comfortable and operate optimally as they climb their career ladder.

She said: “I make bold to say that women and indeed Nigeria stand to gain a lot if women in this country take their destinies in their hands, rally round each other and offer a hand of fellowship to themselves especially in individual and collective advancement.”

She lauded the Gazelles as good ambassadors of the country at an endurance competition recently held in Morocco, adding that their participation in the event showed exemplary bravery on their part.

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News

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Hajj leader praises airport facilities

Ijaw youths to Chevron: Employ our graduates or…

By Adetutu Audu

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USTICE Umaru Abdullahi,Amirul Hajj and leader of Katsina State delegation to this year’s Hajj has expressed satisfaction with the facilities put in place at the Umaru Yar’adua International Airport, Katsina.

Justice Umaru Abdullahi made the expression shortly after he led other members of his delegation to inspect facilities at the airport.

He was particularly happy with report that Katsina International Airport has the best landing and take-off facilities in the country.

While commending the state governor for his foresight in appointing capable hands in the delegation, the Walin Hausa promised to do their best to ensure the successful Hajj operation.

Conducting the Amirul Hajj round the Airport, the Head of Operations, Alhaji Saddiq Gusau said the management of the airport is putting in place security network to ensure a hitch-free airlift of intending pilgrims.

He lauded the state government for supporting the authority in an effort to make this year’s airlift a success.

Meanwhile, government officials to this year’s Hajj in Katsina State have been called upon to work hand in hand to ensure success of Hajj exercise.

Resuscitate moribund water schemes, CD tells Obi

From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

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•L - R: Mr. Oluyele Delano, SAN, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, SAN and Deji Sasegbon, SAN at the special service held recently to mark the opening of the 2012/2013 Lagos State Legal Year at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos

• Chief Adegboyega Awomolo(SAN) (Left)and a newly conferred Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ahmed Raji in Abuja recently

Itsekiri community, others protest dissolution of DESOPADEC •Commissioner vows to stay put

From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

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NAMBRA State chapter of the Campaign for Democracy (CD) has urged Governor Peter Obi to resuscitate moribund water schemes in the state.

The human rights organisation specially tasked Obi to revive the Greater Onitsha Water Scheme.

In a statement at the weekend by its chairman, Comrade Vincent Ezekweme, CD said: “water issue has been neglected in the state.

“Urgent steps must be taken to ensure restoration of pipe-borne water in the state especially in a cosmopolitan place like Onitsha and its environs”.

The body added: “This is the only way to achieve the sanitation target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the state since greater number of the residents of the state reside within the Onitsha axis.

“CD is also calling for the revamping of the Anambra Water Corporation to play its role and ensure that potable and safe water gets to houses of the residents of Onitsha and its environs to ensure good hygiene.”

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HERE were protests over the weekend at the Warri office of the Delta State Oil Producing Communities Development Commission (DESOPADEC) against dissolution of the body by the Delta State House of Assembly.

The protesters numbering over hundreds besieged the office carrying placards with different inscriptions such as “We’ll not take this decision by the state house of assembly” and “marginalisation can cause ethnic crisis,” among others.

They expressed anger over the lawmakers’ action, saying the agency had not received any

From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

allocation to execute projects.

Heavily-armed soldiers and mobile police officers were quickly deployed to secure the premises of the commission opposite the Navy base.

Spokesman for the protesters, Omulubi Newuwumi, said the Assembly acted in bad faith by dissolving the board.

The Vice President of the Itsekiri National Youths Council, said: “The House rushed to dissolve this board that was fighting to bring development

to the people of Delta State.

“The board was not even allowed to approve any budget before it was dissolved.

“The right of the legislators also borders on the right of the people and we are of the view that the sacking of the board was anti-people.”

The commissioner representing the Itsekiri ethnic nation in the dissolved board, Chief Michael Diden, yesterday vowed not to leave office.

He said he was appointed to the board by the Assembly, saying only the governor has the right to hire and fire board members.

GROUP, The Niger Delta Indigenous Movement for Radical Change (NDIMRC) at the weekend issued a seven-day ultimatum to Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) to provide employment for Ijaw graduates from Egbema and Gbaramatu Kingdoms in Warri North and Warri SouthWest Areas of Delta State.

It threatened to disrupt operations of the oil-giant if it does not change its hard stance towards unemployed Ijaw graduates from the two oilproducing communities in Delta State.

A statement signed by its President, Nelly Emma, Secretary, John Sailor and Public Relations Officer, Mukoro Stanley, accused Chevron of marginalising Ijaw graduates from Egbema and Gbaramatu communities in its employment policy.

The youths demanded immediate employment of 39 Egbema-Gbaramatu successful applicants in the Ogere training programme and Project Operating Team (POT) for the Escravos-Gas-To-Liquid (EGTL) Project.

The statement reads: ”We are very sad about the treatment of unemployed Ijaw graduates from Egbema and Gbaramatu Kingdoms by Chevron Nigeria Limited.

“We are aware that the company has been employing applicants from the other parts of Nigeria, especially the Yoruba and Igbo extraction and instead of CNL employing successful Egbema and Gbaramatu kingdoms graduates, the company is busy depleting the numbers of those already in her employment by the indiscriminate sack of Niger Delta indigenes for labour related issues, which occurred 7th February, 2011.”

The group warned the oilgiant against blindfolding the communities with the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMOU) signed with the Egbema/Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation (EGCDF), alleging the company is conniving with some selfish leaders to undermine the interest of the indigenes.

It said: “The imposition of certain individuals on the communities by the company through its GMoU must stop.

“The GMoU is no longer serving the interest of the two kingdoms but that of few selfish leaders and others in Chevron.”

‘Why parties lack internal democracy’

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FORMER Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC), Elder Power Aginighan, has advised the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to direct the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and other parties to conduct internal democracy audit.

He said the move is necessary to ensure compliance with internal democracy and avoid overbearing influences of some political bigwigs.

Aginighan, a stalwart of the PDP, also called for a re-

By Shola O’Neil, Port Harcourt

view of the Electoral Act 2010 to ensure that the PDP and other parties toe the line of internal democracy.

He said: “After perusing the Electoral Act, 2010, I am constrained to call on the National Assembly to amend the Act to ensure that all political parties practise full blown internal democracy in Nigeria.”

The PDP stalwart noted that Section 85 of the Act provides that registered political party shall give the Commission at least 21- day notice of any convention, congress,

conference or meeting convened for the purpose of electing members of its executive committees, other governing bodies or nominating candidates for any of the elective offices specified.

According to him: “I can boldly say that there is no party that has fully complied with this provision in the conduct of its congresses and primaries.

“At best, the provision has only been observed mainly in the breach. The impunity with which political parties violate this very important provision of the law is traceable to the

lack of sanctions for non-compliance in the Act.” He said the situation has led to the emergence “of handpicked executives from the Ward to Local Government to State and National levels.”

Aginighan added: “Most of the parties are run as private companies of some influential members who subvert the will of the generality of the members of their parties and impose their preferred executives, delegates and candidates on the party.

“This has in turn led to the emergence of factions in many of the parties.”

Community laments abandoned vocational centre From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

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ESIDENTS of Ndikelionwu Community in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra state have appealed to the British American Tobacco Company of Nigeria (BATN) to revive its abandoned Vocational Enterprise Institution in their domain.

The vocational centre is a multi -disciplinary institution fully equipped for trainings in ICT, cookery and soap- making.

The President General of the community, Hon. Fabian Nwosu, said it is unfortunate the centre is not being optimally utilised.

He appealed to the BATN to come to the aid of the community to ensure the project is not packed up.

According to him: ‘’We need the assistance of BATN for the project to continue to be in motion.

“We need help to pay the tutors but the major problem there is lack of fund to accelerate its function.

“The community lack funds and BATN is not helping out.

We are waiting for their assistance to put the place in order.

The centre was built and equipped by BATN about three years ago shortly after Eze Professor Chukwuemeka Ike (OFR) was inaugurated as Igwe of Ndikelionwu.

It was allegedly handed over to a committee set up by the monarch with assistance from National Directorate of Employment (NDE).

Efforts to get comments from the BATN proved abortive.

Anambra 2014: It is Anambra North or revolution, says Rep From Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, Nnewi

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HE member representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency, Hon Afam Ogene, yesterday vowed to lead a civil disobedience march if Anambra North senatorial zone is not allowed to produce the next governor in 2014.

Addressing political actors in a monitored media talk show in Awka, Ogene said he would do whatever it will take to fight the injustice against the people of Anambra North.

According to him: ‘’I will lead a civil disobedience in this state to fight the injustice of denying us from Anambra North an opportunity to govern our state after all the appeals.

“Equity and fairness demand that somebody from Anambra North be given a fair chance of governing this state.”

He added: ‘’Political offices must go round. It will be absurd for two political zones to continue to enjoy what belongs to the three zones of the state.

“Anambra is 21 years old now and time has come for somebody from Anambra North to be Governor of Anambra State.

The legislator also said: ‘’No Anambra North citizen will take the Deputy Governorship position from anybody.

“We are serious about our agitation to govern Anambra state come 2014 and we are not kidding.”

NEWS REVIEW

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

ke •Iheanacho

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IL and oil products have generated a lot of income for the nation and they continue to generate so much money. It's our national wealth, and those who have access to it would do everything to hold on to it forever.

Unfortunately, the benefits accruing from oil wealth hardly go round. Instead, it has been traced to the pockets of the high and the mighty while the poor only hear tales and hope that one day they would enjoy benefits accruing from the black gold.

Some, however, are not so patient and they are not willing to hang on to the tale of the proverbial patient dog eating the fattest ‘oil bone’. Instead, they join the league of oil thieves, working for oil merchants who are always planning and re-planning their oil theft strategies.

Last year, Nigeria's military seized a vessel carrying stolen diesel along a river that flows through the nation's oil rich southern Delta. The crew members were arrested aboard the vessel that carried 5000 tons of illegally refined diesel.

Just before this encounter, the military had also arrested 46 suspects accused of trying to offload stolen oil products from 15 smaller boats into a vessel along river Akasa. It is indeed a booming trade, and oil

•Madueke

Tale of a vessel, its content and 'thieves' Last week, the former Minister of Interior, Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho, was arrested over alleged oil theft and this came with some other revelations in the sector. Yetunde Oladeinde reports there are many unanwered questions. products along this axis have stymied oil production in the area. In fact, oil theft in the region actually runs into hundreds of thousands of barrels on a daily basis.

On the cross at the moment is the former Minister of Interior and CEO of Integrated oil and Gas Limited, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho. While those who are on his side believe that he is being targeted, others argue that nobody should be above the law.

Iheanacho was arrested in Lagos last Friday by security operatives with some senior officials

of his company on charges of oil theft and involvement in illegal oil dealings. After questioning, the ex Minister was taken to Kirikiri where he was detained.

Miffed by the actions taken against Iheanacho, the Jetty and Petroleum Tank farm Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON) gave the Federal Government a 24-hour ultimatum to vacate the business premises of Integrated oil occupied by NIMASA and warned that failure to vacate the facility would result in the shutdown of all petroleum product depots.

"The question to ask is: who made NIMASA the policeman of the industry?" queried Enoh Kanawa, the National Executive Secretary of JEPTFON. According to him, Integrated Oil has done nothing unusual by receiving a third party product under a throughput arrangement. In shipping parlance, throughputting means storing products for third party customers.

He further explained that in the usual course of their business, products belonging to a third party were received at the

company facility, only for a truck load of army to invade the business premises of the company, claiming that the product was stolen.

"The same product was cleared both at sea and the port by relevant government agencies of DPR, NPA, the Nigerian Navy and Customs who are traditionally saddled with the responsibility of regulating the downstream with none blinking an eye, except NIMASA." His arrest and shutting of his company by officials of the National Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) have opened can of worms.

Some argue that if the issue was the alleged stolen petroleum products and vessel, NIMASA had the necessary information to arrest those involved.

The rumour mill was agog and one of the questions that needed to be answered urgently was the identity of the owner of the vessel, M. T Grace. On Thursday, September, 21st 2012, NIMASA's spokesperson on Channel's Sunrise informed viewers that Gbenga Olagoke, the Managing Director of PDR Ventures, owns the vessel and he had gone into hiding.

According to the Director General of NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolemi, the search for the sponsors of pirates on the nation's coastline led to the tracing of the stolen products to Integrated Oil and Gas tank firm.

The big question that we need to ask is whether the nation's maritime laws are being implemented and adhered to. Naturally, the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act, No 5 of 2003, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria and other related Laws take care of such matters. Here, issues about the carriage of petroleum products and ancillary services, application to foreign vessels, navigation in inland waters, granting of license to foreign and domestic vessels, conditions for suspension, cancellation and variation of license are spelt out.

A few months ago, the Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada, had stated that Nigeria had begun the move to domesticate the Maritime International Law to ensure maximum security of her vessels on the high seas. The essence of the action is to protect Nigerian water ways against the pirates and other hoodlums on the high seas.

"We are working hard to ensure the domestication of the maritime convention with a view to guaranteeing our vessels on the high seas. The law allows the use of private security personnel to carry firearms in any of our vessels and this would guarantee their security against the pirates."

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

News Review

JTF terminates Abu Qaqa and Boko Haram kingpin, 20 others killed in bloody weekend clashes

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CABINET MEETING THE VENEZUELAN WAY

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kingpin of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, widely believed to be its spokesman, Abul Qaqa, was killed last Sunday in Kano in a major offensive against the sect by the Joint Task Force (JTF).Two field commanders of the group were arrested by the soldiers during the operation at a checkpoint at Mariri,Kano.

The Boko Haram members were driving in a car which was stopped for routine security check, only for one of the occupants attempted to flee the scene. He was shot and died.

The previous night, members of the sect unleashed terror on Bauchi, killing nine residents while a gun duel in Maiduguri between members of the group and soldiers claimed 10 lives. The exchange of fire followed a bomb explosion at Gwange ward in Maiduguri metropolis.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez playing the guitar during a meeting with ministers at the Miraflores presidential palace in the capital, Caracas on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Unworthy awardees to lose national honours

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OLDERS of national honours found to be of questionable character now risk being stripped of such honours, President Goodluck Jonathan warned in Abuja on Tuesday. Speaking at the 2012 National Honours Award Investiture for 155 Nigerians, the president said he had directed the National Honours Committee to compile a list of people already honoured but later found wanting. All holders must not fall short of expectation, he stressed.

The prestigious Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) was conferred on eminent businessman, Dr.Mike Adenuga Jnr.

Fuel scarcity hits Lagos, Ogun

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UEL scarcity hit Lagos last weekend, the consequence of the destruction of the NNPC's pipeline at Arepo, Ogun State, by bunkerers. For several days, there were long queues of vehicles at filling stations in the metropolis. In many cases, motorists were made to pay as much as N110 for a litre of petrol, N13 more than the official price.

Senate, House warn CBN to stay action on N5000 note

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HE Senate and the House of Representatives resumed from their annual recess on Tuesday with a warning to the Central Bank (CBN) to stay action on the planned introduction of N5000 notes. The Senators unanimously adopted a motion asking the apex bank authorities to respect the wishes of the generality of Nigerians on the issue and halt the plan forthwith. The House of Reps not only told the CBN to put the plan on hold, it mandated its Committee on Banking and Currency to urgently propose an amendment compelling the apex bank to pass through the National Assembly before printing or restructuring of currency.

Oando, Vigeo, 19 others approved for 10 PHCN discos

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HE Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) on Tuesday released the names of 21 companies it shortlisted for the acquisition of 10 electricity distribution companies (discos).They include Oando Consortium, Vigeo Holdings, Gumco and Honeywell. A total of 54 companies submitted bids for the discos which are part of the 18 successor companies unbundled from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). The sale of the 11th disco - Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company - is to wait for now because none of the bidders met the bid requirement.

SUICIDE

Somalia suicide bombing hits Mogadishu - 14 killed

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WO suicide bombers have blown themselves up in a restaurant in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, killing at least 14 people, officials say.

The attack - not yet claimed by any group - took place in the city centre, near the presidential palace.

The dead included the former editor of Somali National TV, Liban Ali Nur, two other journalists and two policemen.

Somali government troops say they are advancing on the port of Kismayo, held by the Islamist group al-Shabab.

The Islamist militants were pushed out of Mogadishu last year, but they have frequently staged attacks in the city since then.

The UN refugee agency has reported a sudden spike in the number of civilians fleeing Kismayo, from a few dozen to more than 1,000 a day.

Although al-Shabab has lost ground recently, it still controls large swathes of southern and central Somalia.

Why Nigeria must be restructured, ORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar is all for the restructuring of the country. He wants the President's power reduced, the adoption of regionalism

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based on the six geo-political zones and the introduction of state police by those that can afford it. He spoke in Abuja on Tuesday at the annual awards and lecture of Leadership newspapers. He stressed the need for

CAPTURED

Top Colombian drug lord captured in Venezuela

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ANIEL "El Loco" Barrera, alleged to be Colombia's last major drug lord, has been caught in neighbouring Venezuela in an international sting operation, Juan Manuel Santos, the country's president, has said.

"The last of the great capos has fallen," Santos announced on national television and radio late on Tuesday, declaring that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Britain's MI6 foreign intelligence service had provided support.

Barrera, whose outfit is estimated to have sent more than 900 tonnes of cocaine to the US and Europe, was caught in the Venezuelan city of San Cristobal, said Santos, who listed the drug lord as having criminal ties to FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels and paramilitaries.

"This is perhaps the most important capture of recent times," the president said, thanking the Venezuelan government for its help.

Tareck El Aissami, the Venezuelan interior minister, confirmed the arrest on Twitter, calling it a "major coup" for his country and adding that "images" and "details of the operation" would be released on Wednesday.

the decentralisation of power at the Federal level and the conferment of more power on the confederating units. He called the Nigerian president the most powerful in the world, who, according to him, "could

PROTEST

Children chant 'Death to America' following video protest

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HIS comes a day after about 100 small children in Karachi repeated anti-American slogans during a protest in the coastal Pakistani city, a police official said.

Video showed children repeating an adult voice, "Death to America" and "Any friend of America is a traitor."

"Punish the blasphemer," children chanted Thursday. One placard read, "Shut down website of blasphemous film."

The film reference is to the "Innocence of Muslims," which mocks Mohammed as a womanizer, child molester and killer. A 14-minute trailer for the movie was first posted online in July, though it wasn't until this month that it came to the global consciousness.

Since September 11, Muslims have staged a wave of protests in more than 20 countries decrying the film and the nation in which it was privately produced, the United States.

The children in Karachi -- seemingly between the ages of 6 and 8 -- demonstrated across from the Karachi Press Club.

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d,

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

News Review

curtains for N5000 Boko Haram kills Borno commissioner, ex-prisons boss

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USPECTED members of Boko Haram struck again on Tuesday, killing the Borno State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr.Zanna Malam Gana in Bama, about 100 kilometres from Maiduguri, and a retired

Comptroller General of Prison, Alhaji Ibrahim Jarma in Bauchi.

The acting chairman of Maiha Local Government in Adamawa State, Mr.Lawan Datti, was also shot dead on Monday night in Mubi, Adamawa State.

House uncovers plot to unseat Tambuwal

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plot to unseat Honorable Aminu Tambuwal as Speaker of the House of Representatives was nipped in the bud on Wednesday, just24 hours after the Reps resumed from a twomonth recess. The plot was allegedly hatched by first term members of the House with Mallam

Sani Idris Kutigi from Niger State as the arrow head. Speaker Tambuwal summoned an executive session of the House where Kutigi and his group were challenged about their mission. He denied plotting against the House leadership and decided to soft pedal.

Hackers attack DHQ's website

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HE websites of the Defence Headquarters and the Nigerian Navy have been attacked by hackers. The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshall Oluseyi Petirin, speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, noted a surge

in high-profile hacking of the websites of top corporations and institutions across the world. He called for the deployment of cyber technology and space research to tackle the country's contemporary security challenges.

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THE WEEK IN QUOTES "The problem with Nigeria is how to move from the syndrome of the termite to that of the bee. The termite goes to a tree or structure, eats the very roots and everything until the thing collapses. But the bee waits for the trees to flower, picks the pollen, produces the honey. But it leaves the tree alive."

—Chief Philip Asiodu, former 'Super' Federal Permanent Secretary, on why Nigeria's development is stunted.

"Should we abolish the Nigerian Police because it is often abused by those in power at the federal level?Should we abolish the state treasuries because governors abuse them?And shoud we abolish local governments for the same reason?No." —IFormer Vice President Atiku Abubakar dismissing claims that state police would be abused by governors.

"A new but formidable evil has now combined with old and familiar perils to present our nation with perhaps the greatest challenge to its corporate existence since the civil war."

—Senate President David Mark on the Boko Haram menace

CBN suspends introduction of N5000 note

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by Atiku

quite literally unleash all security agencies on an individual or organisation, undermine the National Assembly, and turn the judiciary into an almost progovernment and conformist organ."

EELING from a barrage of public anger, disagreement and threats, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has buckled under pressure and suspended the planned introduction of the N5000 note, following a directive from the presidency.

This is coming after the presidency, through the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, on Thursday declared that President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered that the planned introduction of N5,000 note be put on hold.

The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) had also on Thursday called for the immediate sack of the governor of the CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, over the planned introduction.

Announcing the change in policy, a statement by the director of corporate communications of the apex bank, Mr

Ugochukwu Okoroafor, however, explained that "it is indeed within the powers of the bank to print new currencies as provided in Section 19(1) of the CBN Act 2007."

The statement further explained that "it also provides that such introduction of the Naira denominations shall be approved by the president upon recommendation of the board."

"In line with this provision, the CBN had proposed and obtained the approval of the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to embark on the currency restructuring exercise, codenamed 'Project Cure' on December 19, 2011.

"The CBN hereby informs the general public that the President, on Thursday, September 20, 2012, directed that further action on the approved restructuring exercise be stopped."

•Asiodu

SACKED China sacks official for smiling at accident scene

BANNED

s a f e t y official in China who sparked a public outcry after images showed him grinning at the scene of a fatal bus crash has been sacked, officials say.

Yang Dacai has been stripped of all his official duties for "serious wrongdoing", Shaanxi province officials said in a statement.

Pictures of Mr Yang smiling while visiting the site where 36 people died on 26 August were posted online.

A French court has banned Closer magazine from any further publication or resale of topless pictures of Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, who is the wife of Britain's Prince William.

An injunction, granted by the court on Tuesday, also ordered the magazine to hand over all files of the pictures in its possession to representatives of the royal couple within 24 hours and said it would be fined 10,000 euros ($13,000) for every day's delay.

The ruling prevents Closer, which published the pictures on Friday, from re-using them in print or on its website, as well as from selling them to markets where they have not been published.

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UK royals win injunction over topless photos

A Outrage grew when netizens found images of him wearing luxury watches.

An investigation into Mr Yang's "inappropriate behaviour of 'grinning' as well as wearing luxurious watches" found him guilty of "serious wrongdoing", the Communist Party's discipline commission in Shaanxi said.

Officials are still further investigating "trails of [Mr Yang's] other wrongdoing", according to the online statement.

Lawyers for the royal couple are s e e k i n g damages from the weekly g o s s i p magazine over its publication of the photos in a five-page spread.

•Atiku

•Mark

SWORN-IN Desalegn sworn in as Ethiopian prime minister after death of Zenawi

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THIOPIA'S new l e a d e r , Hailemariam Desalegn, has been sworn in after the death of long-time leader of 21 years, Meles Zenawi, in August. "I am very happy to take the responsibility of being prime minister," said Mr Hailemariam, 47, as lawmakers banged on their desks in support, AFP news agency reports.

Mr Hailemariam had been deputy prime minister and foreign minister. Mr Meles died last month in Brussels after more than two decades in power.

He had been praised for bringing economic growth to Ethiopia but criticised for not tolerating opposition.

He was also a key Western ally in the volatile Horn of Africa - twice sending troops into neighbouring Somalia to tackle Islamist groups.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

13

COMMENT and ANALYSIS THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Festus Eriye efestus2003@yahoo.com 08052135878 (SMS only)

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CONFESS that while it lasted I found the brouhaha over the Central Bank’s plans to introduce the N5, 000 note something of a hurricane in a very tiny tea cup.

But on the positive side, the passion it ignited was such that for the first time since the Super Eagles were thrown out of some tournament, we forgot whether were from South-South or North-West!

Sure, there were all the arguments about how the anticipated currency reforms could set off an inflationary spiral. Many who had these worries were not only critical of the big note, but also pointed to plans to coin the lower end denominations below N100.

Over the years Nigerians have developed a strange resistance to coins. This manifests in the form of traders simply ignoring the metallic money and fixing prices for the cheapest of items beginning with the lowest of notes.

This irrational behavior, like most things in the Nigerian economy, has nothing to do with the basic laws of economics. The artificial and opportunistic price hikes are not triggered by demand and supply factors, but by a mindset that cannot be supported by anything in our history.

From Independence and well into the 80s, our people embraced the coins that were in circulation. It is equally revealing that the same Nigerians, who supposedly have a cultural aversion to coins, gladly use and carry them around when in the UK, US, Italy, South Africa and many other places.

So is the problem the coin, the evaporation of its value, or some strange mentality we have acquired? I believe that even the irrational has triggers that can be traced.

Primary blame must go to the CBN which over the last two decades has allowed the bizarre thinking that paints coins as an inferior repository of value, to take hold.

When other factors set off inflationary pressures in the economy, and the existing coins were rendered nearly worthless, the apex bank ought to have released not just a new set of notes, but also coins responding to our new reality.

They should have put in place policies and rules that counter the notion that only paper denominations that count. Traders, business people and public transportation owners should have been encouraged to have coin boxes in place.

The CBN gave the impression it was not really interested in coins because banks were never sanctioned when they discouraged bank hall transactions in coins.

As for the elephantine N5, 000 note, I believe the CBN never made the case why it was such a compelling proposition at this point in time. Countries usually resort to printing such huge bills when hyperinflation has rendered their currencies useless.

We’ve seen this happen in the likes of Zimbabwe and Ghana. But surely, inflation in Nigeria is not yet running at 1,000%.

As has been argued by many, the aborted note would most certainly have exacerbated graft, money laundering etc. Rather than help the CBN’s vision of a cashless society, it would have made it even easier for people

N5, 000: Who’s the bad economist now?

Lekan Otufodunrin Otufodunrin@thenationonlineng.net 08023000621 (SMS only)

One magic note, irrespective of its utility, will The lure for not pull us out of the economic slump Ghana Universities

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• Obasanjo

• Sanusi

to hoard millions under their beds or tote it around.

The apex bank’s governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, would have us believe that those who opposed his bright idea were either illiterates or voodoo economists.

He made this point in his now infamous put-down responding to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s criticism of the controversial note. For suggesting that it will cause inflation and worsen hardship, Sanusi dismissed him as “a very successful farmer, but a very bad economist.”

Obasanjo was not the only VIP who flayed the big bill. Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon and several other high profile figures did. The Senate and House of Representatives were set to ask for Sanusi’s head on a platter if he defied them by going ahead.

But OBJ’s comment particularly irritated the CBN governor because according to him Obasanjo introduced more high currency denominations in Nigeria than any other head of state.

Still, for all of Sanusi’s knowledge of economics, I thought his comments were rather impertinent. For one thing, he was dismissing the knowhow of a man who presided over some of Nigeria’s better economic times. Surely, such a person would know a thing or two.

This whole N5, 000 episode is another useful lesson for the CBN governor. He was convinced that having made his economic argument and sold same to the President and cabinet, the whole country would just fall in line.

Sanusi forgets that economics is often not black and white, and economists are just like

politicians – each one has a different prescription for the same malady. Some of the most vociferous critics of the N5, 000 note are economists of unimpeachable pedigree.

Now, President Goodluck Jonathan, barely a fortnight after signing off on the proposed note, has executed a 360 degree pirouette by putting Sanusi’s plans on hold – ostensibly to allow more time for public education.

Opponents of the note are already performing its burial rites. Who can blame them?

Back in January the government pulled the plug on the policy of total deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry, again, to allow more time for people to be better schooled on the joys of living without subsidised petrol.

Eight months after, there’s not a single half-hearted tutorial going on. Rather we are staggering around in the morass of a fullblown fuel subsidy payment scandal. That is why it will be quite a surprise if Sanusi ever gets to print his cherished note before his tenure runs out.

Lesson for the governor: on certain matters economics is not enough. Remember how late President Umaru Yar’Adua stopped Prof.

Chukwuma Soludo – another bright economist –from executing his own currency experiment?

What has stopped the N5, 000 are not economic factors but political ones. Jonathan simply checked the Richter scale of political criticism and decided there was no point making himself even more unpopular. Sanusi may sneer at this, but in real life this is how it works.

Once upon a time there was another brilliant economist who used to see what the rest of the less-endowed populace could not see.

His name was Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu and he served as Finance Minister in President Ibrahim Babangida’s regime. As Nigeria struggled to overcome her economic woes in the mid-80s he pressed for the nation to take an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan. In the end he was overruled by Babangida in the face of strident national opposition.

It is good the ghost of the N5, 000 note has been laid to rest: not necessarily because it is bereft of merits. But one magic note, irrespective of its utility, will not pull us out of the economic slump. There are fundamental issues to be addressed if we mean business about turning the economy around. Let’s tackle the basics and put the drama to one side.

“It is good the ghost of the N5, 000 note has been laid to rest: not necessarily because it is bereft of merits. But one magic note, irrespective of its utility, will not pull us out of the economic slump. There are fundamental issues to be addressed if we mean business about turning the economy around”

HE Chairman, Committee of ProChancellors of Nigerian Universities, Dr Wale Babalakin, recently disclosed that no fewer than 75,000 Nigerian students are currently studying in three Ghanaian universities incurring a total of N160billion expenditure annually.

In this report, The Nation Online reports on why Nigerian students are trooping to Ghana for university education.

The obvious reason why many are opting for Ghana is the limited spaces available especially in public universities. Many applicants are unable to get admission even when they perform well in the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board examination and have to wait for years. It should bother us that Nigerians are spending so much to get university education not only in Ghana but in some other countries that don’t even have better resources.

There is an urgent need to provide adequate budget for education to substantially meet the desire of Nigerians for quality university education at minimal cost.

LACK OF ADMISSION OPPORTUNITIES IN NIGERIA With the large number of qualified students who are unable to get university admission in Nigeria, Ghanaian universities and others in neighbouring West African region have become major attractions. According to a Nigerian student studying in a Ghanaian university, “it’s not that Nigerians prefer Ghanaian Universities... it’s just that to gain admission into Ghanaian universities is relatively easier than our universities in Nigeria.

Trying to get admission in Nigeria is like gambling, which is not the case in Ghana. If you are qualified and you can pay for it you will get admission.”

In acknowledgement of the increasing number of Nigerians seeking admission in Ghana, President Goodluck Jonathan during a visit to the country said, “despite the number of federal, states’ and private universities in Nigeria, yet we do not have enough. So if Ghana can provide solid education for our people and other African countries they should do it.”

UNINTERRUPTED ACADEMIC CALENDAR Regular disruption of academic calendar due to frequent strikes by both academic and nonacademic staff of Nigerian Universities has necessitated students spending more years than expected for various courses. In Ghana, it is reported that there is hardly cases of strikes in Universities making it possible for students to graduate on schedule. The academic session is said to be stable and predictable.

BETTER PERCEPTION OF GHANA’S EDUCATION SYSTEM Despite having more universities with acclaimed academicians and professionals home and abroad, the Ghanaian educational system is still perceived to be better than that of Nigeria globally. The rising image of Ghana as a stable democracy has obviously rubbed off on the rating of its educational institutions whose certificates are said to be well respected globally. For some Nigerians, studying in Ghana is like studying abroad and getting an international certificate which can enhance their chances for post graduate studies and job search.

Nigerian students interviewed were divided on the question of the standard offered by Ghanaian universities compared with that of Nigeria. Some said the standard is the same while others noted the Ghanaian lecturers are more thorough in their teaching and the curriculum is more diverse.

COST IS NOT A FACTOR Except for a few top range private universities in Nigeria, it is comparatively more expensive to study in Ghana. The average tuition fee for private universities in Ghana attended by majority of the Nigerian students in the country is put at about $2500, while international students pay much higher in public universities. Many parents are ready to pay the high cost as long as their children can get the admission and quality education.

Culled from www.thenationonlineng.net

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Ogochukwu Ikeje ohgeeoh@gmail.com 08084235961 (SMS only)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Comment & Analysis

EING so wonderfully made, the human body hosts a pair of ears, one hanging on either side of the head.

But just one mouth is enough, judged the maker. There are also two eyes.

The reason is simple and well known.

We should hear better, see more and speak less. ButI the world is full of men and women who break this divine order.

Relationships have been destroyed because of scanty information picked up by the ear. Marriages have crashed beyond repair owing to what was not properly heard or what was stubbornly shut out of the ear. International relationships have suffered the same fate for pretty much the same reason. The ambition of Mitt Romney, the United States Republican presidential candidate, for instance, may well go up in smoke, thanks, partly, to what he heard or chose to hear about his rival, President Barack Obama. A country’s leadership has been alienated because leaders refused to listen to their longsuffering people.

To the grief of Nigerians, their progress has, for decades, been frozen by the insensitivity of their leaders. Many have come and gone, leaving little more than horror in the memory of the people they so brazenly disdained and overlooked. They never listened when their spoke. They did nothing when their people shouted.

Two developments suggest, however, that the insensitivity ice may have begun to thaw. Consider the national honours recently awarded a large number of Nigerians and friends of Nigeria.

Nigerians across the board poured out their criticism of the exercise, not because

The joy of listening It is good to revisit the national awards and suspend the N5,000 note there were no worthy recipients but rather because the standards have been so distressingly lowered that we can no longer tell the hero from the villain, the hard-worker from the slothful, or friend of the country from its foe.

The awards went on as planned but President Goodluck Jonathan has, thankfully, said unworthy awardees will have their honours recovered and that a committee will screen recipients and ascertain their bona fides or otherwise.

Many see this as bowing to the people’s wish. I see it as listening to the people to whom it is often said power belongs.

Among recipients of the honours were our victorious physically challenged athletes fresh from London with Paralympian medals. The striking thing about this is the fact that the athletes were not originally on the honours list, a fact that many criticised before the awards.

You would be justified to ask why the honoured were not first screened to select the worthy among them and cast aside those with dodgy profiles. Nonetheless, setting up the vetting committee is a good

move. It represents a start. We can hope, though, that the committee will indeed do its work, pencil down awardees with unprincipled backgrounds and hand the list to the President. What next? The Presidency should chalk up the courage to ask the unworthy awardees to step forward and hand over their unmerited medals. That is the right thing to do. It may not look like the tidiest thing but in the circumstances, it is a good way to begin to correct a messy national pastime, and credit, I believe, will go the commander-in-chief. It is in the same way that he will get plaudits for including sports heroes and heroines living with disability. I see it as moving forward even if the fuel of propulsion is supplied by those labelled critics, those who sought to be heard for the right reasons.

The second indication that leadership insensitivity may be giving way is the reported presidential directive that the N5,000 naira note matter be put on hold.

Ever since Central Bank Governor Mallam Lamido Sanusi made public his intention to introduce the jumbo currency at the

“The awards went on as planned but President Goodluck Jonathan has, thankfully, said unworthy awardees will have their honours recovered and that a committee will screen recipients and ascertain their bona fides or otherwise. Many see this as bowing to the people’s wish. I see it as listening to the people to whom it is often said power belongs”

dizzying printing cost of N40b, Nigerians of all stripes have not ceased to condemn it. Some feared it will trigger inflation. Not necessarily, said a few of those we call economists who should know. Then the fear was also expressed that the proposed heavyweight note will simply help our traditional treasury looters and the corrupt to do what they do better. But neither Sanusi nor the government has dismissed this fear. Nor has the CBN chief nor the government convincingly explained the imperatives of the N5,000 note, anyway. Will the economy crash without it? Will the naira gain any weight with its introduction? Will it bring jobs?

What inspired the idea? For as long as it lasted, the matter further distracted the country and its people.

Now, the President’s directive will calm nerves, another pointer to a new direction.

Still, there is something to ponder. One report said the suspension was to enable Sanusi to carry out enough publicity on the new note. That will be unhelpful. I hope the word suspension, in this case, is only an official expression for termination or dead and buried, as one newspaper put it.

If that is the case, it will indicate that the people have a voice and can indeed be heard when they speak. If we are stepping into a new era of healthy national awards, it points to a new Nigeria where leaders and those they lead are not necessarily always at loggerheads. It is inspiring and productive for both parties.

That is the joy of listening to the people. .Reactions to this column will be printed next week

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Comment & Analysis

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Judges with ‘fat accounts’ EFCC should be careful the way it is handling the matter

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ANY Nigerians hold the view that many of the judges in the country are corrupt.

Indeed, a few years ago, a lawyer openly accused some Justices of the Supreme Court of corruption. This public perception is also applicable to some judges at the Court of Appeal and the High Courts. So, the recent news report that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is closing in on five judges who allegedly have ‘fat bank accounts’ may ordinarily elicit, ‘we have always said so’ from commentators. Yet, we worry that an investigation preceded by such an unnecessary public show may have unintended consequences.

Criminal investigations should be covert, to catch the culprits unawares and ensure that necessary evidence is not destroyed. Again, when media trial prefaces an investigation and trial in accordance with our laws, it is possible that suspects, who turn out to be innocent, may have lost their reputation for no just cause. Unfortunately in the current instance, with the investigation leaked to the press, the advantage of a covert operation is lost, and if not properly handled, the integrity of the process may also be affected. Indeed, there is the possibility that dubious officials of the agency and conmen may have been gifted an opportunity to descend on the judiciary for blackmail and extortion.

The EFCC apparently also did not take into consideration the effect that indiscriminate corruption tar will have on the already besmirched integrity and public perception of the judiciary.

Without the names of the judges concerned made public, the public perception will be that it could be any of the judges. It also brings to public enquiry, questions as to what standards the EFCC used to determine judges with ‘fat account’. Again, questions may arise whether a similar standard is being applied to every other

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HE National Honours award which was established in 1964 empowers the President to honour deserving citizens. Since 1963 a total of 4,426 awards have been given to deserving and undeserving citizens.

Time without number the awards have come under destructive criticisms.

Many of the recipients have questionable characters yet

public officer, just because of this unnecessary public show.

For the purposes of clarity, we, like most Nigerians believe that there is enormous corruption in the judiciary. Indeed, when a judge with no other means of livelihood has millions of unaccountable sums of money in his account, such a judge may have rightly raised a prima facie case of corruption against him or herself.

Also, because of the sensitive nature of the judiciary with respect to the wellbeing of the society, judges more than any group of persons, must be persons clearly above reproach in their conduct. So it may be necessary that a tab is kept on those who show the proclivity for corrupt enrichment in the judiciary, in other to have a better society.

But in doing that, circumspection must be the rule. To do otherwise is to expose the entire judiciary to unnecessary pressure. Indeed, as things are, the upright judges will be worried that while

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye •Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile •Associate Editors Taiwo Ogundipe Sam Egburonu

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Kunle Fagbemi

LETTERS

they have not corruptly enriched themselves, they have not escaped the fate of those who are corrupt. This is because the greatest asset of a judge is his or her integrity. Where that is taken away, what is left is a hollow, instead of a hallow chamber of justice. In practice, when a judge’s integrity is correctly questioned in his conduct of a matter before him, such judges quickly hands off such matters, to restore the sanctity of a law court.

A wholesome destruction of group integrity we think may happen to the judiciary, unless the EFCC quickly restores the integrity of the innocent, by naming the judges involved in the alleged corruption. The EFCC may also have to find out who and why the information was leaked to the press, for internal discipline. Unless of course our political leadership has resorted to the era of using the EFCC to try perceived opponents through the media, even when no result will be achieved thereafter. On this point, we hope that the EFCC will not allow itself to be used by the executive to intimidate the judiciary or browbeat judicial officers to engage in unconscionable conducts in the name of fighting corruption.

While the law enforcement agencies should keep an eye on the judiciary, like every other arm of government, the judiciary must also fight corruption among its members. The constitution amply gives the National Judicial Council (NJC) the constitutional prerogative to discipline those, who through corruption bring the entire system to disrepute. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the general public must also take up the challenge to expose corrupt judges, to ensure justice for such judges. The judiciary can establish secure opportunities for whistle blowers to help sanctify the system. In our view, all necessary steps must be taken to return integrity to the judiciary that is rightly referred to as the ‘last hope of the common man’.

National awards and its falling integrity the government fails to take corrections.

The literary icon, Prof Chinua Achebe twice rejected the award in 2004 and 2011 while the legal luminary and human rights activist the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi also turned

down the offer in 2008 and so did former Minority leader of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila in 2011. The Noble laureate Prof Wole Soyinka threw his away during military rule.

These are Nigerians

who have contributed immensely to the society. The late Fawehinmi was awarded the Senior Advocate of Masses (SAM) before the Judiciary board finally crowned him with Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) after many years of denial.

The fact remains that rightful people are not honoured, rather people with questionable characters and pedigrees who have milked out Nigeria’s resources without considering the poor masses.

Some of the past recipi-

Esa Oke deserves local council headquarters

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ITHOUt mincing words, History and posterity will continue to judge the incumbent Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for his administration’s agenda.

In fact, the wind of positive change blowing across the state is bringing progressive traits with the resolve of the government to create new local government councils.

In practical demonstration of the need for more local governments which invariably is designed for grassroots development, the Aregbesola administration has put in place a committee saddled with the responsibility of looking into the creation of new third tier administration under the chairmanship of the former Speaker of the House of Assembly, Prof. Mojeed Alabi.

Although as it is customary when opportunity like this comes, every community is bound to agitate, but there are many factors those in charge should consider. The present Ijesa North Federal constituency comprising, Obokun and Oriade local governments has a complex structure with many big towns, villages and land mass. To be realistic, Esa Oke, the host community of the Osun State College of Technology (OSCOTECH), according to available records, is bigger than many present local government headquarters in the state in terms of population, infrastructure, land mass, adjoining villages and hamlets of more than 40 with their separate community heads.

The ancient town of Esa Oke which produced the first

Executive Governor of old Oyo State and leader of the progressives, the late Bola Ige and many other illustrious sons and daughters has all the wherewithal including economic power, high political profile and available structures to become an independent local government or as the headquarters of one of the proposed councils in the present Obokun local government. A critical assessment of the present population of Esa Oke shows that it overwhelms all the others particularly in Obokun local government comprising Ibokun, Imesi Ile, Ilare, Otan Ile, Ikinyinwa, Idominasi, Ilowa, Iponda, Ilase, Idoka, Esa odo, Eesun, Ido Oko, Ipetu Ile etc while its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is higher than all other towns put together. Esa Oke

has a vibrant historic records particularly with its immediate past monarch, Oba Isaiah Ajayi Adeniran, Owa Omiran(JP) serving as the only traditional ruler who was a member of House of Chiefs in the old Western Region that represented the entire Obas in that axis during an international conference in England.

It is endowed with a large fertile land that will ginger the laudable agricultural instinct of the incumbent Aregbesola administration. The community has about seven public and private secondary schools and many elementary schools. In fact, government needs little or nothing to add to the existing infrastructure in Esa Oke community for the effective take-off of the proposal. It is interesting that Ikenne, the country home of

the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, is today, headquarters of a local government in Ogun State. Were it not because of “Cicero of Esa Oke”s selfless politics when he was Governor of the old Oyo State, Esa Oke would have been a local government headquarters several years back. Governor Aregbesola has been a friend of the community for many reasons, and will continue to be, considering the support many of its citizenry to him during the 2007 election and his period in trenches when he battled to reclaim his stolen mandate from political usurpers. Chief Ige will rejoice in his grave if Esa Oke is granted a status of local government headquarters.

By Damisi Ojo, Akure.

ents have been enmeshed in one scandal or the other.

These include Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) chieftain, Chief Olabode George, former InspectorGeneral of Police, Tafa Balogun and former Chief Executive of Oceanic Bank (now acquired by ECO Bank) Mrs Cecilia Ibru. Another recipient is standing trial for corruption charges, former Chief Executive of Intercontinental Bank (now merged with Access Bank), Mr Eratus Akingbloa, is yet to be convicted.

It is sad that only people with questionable traits and public office holders are great beneficiaries of the national award. Though the enormous performance of the Paralympics and Falconets motivated President Jonathan to add some athletes to it. It was a deserved honour for out great sports men and women.

Lastly, the purpose of setting up the national award has been totally defeated as only those in top positions in government are honoured.

By Godday Odidi Ajegunle, Lagos

SEND TYPEWRITTEN, DOUBLE SPACED AND SIGNED CONTRIBUTIONS, LETTERS AND REJOINDERS OF NOT MORE THAN 500 WORDS TO THE EDITOR, THE NATION, 27B, FATAI ATERE ROAD, MATORI, LAGOS: sundaynation@yahoo.com

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Ropo Sekoni ropo.sekoni @thenationonlineng.net

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HIS column once described Nigeria as leaning more toward a Union of Policy than a Union of Affection, a conceptual distinction borrowed from Daniel Defoe’s comment on the Act of Union that brought England, Scotland, and Wales under one flag in 1706. The recent Yoruba Assembly in Ibadan raised new issues that need to be addressed, if the Nigerian Union is to become a union of affection and thus a functional and sustainable union. Many of the issues to be raised in the next few weeks of this column are by no means original. Most of them were ventilated at the recent Yoruba Assembly by conferees that passionately want Nigeria to survive as Africa’s largest country.

There is no doubt that Nigeria started as a union of policy.

Frederick Lugard’s amalgamation of 1914, once characterised by Sir Ahmadu Bello as the Mistake of 1914, did not consider the feelings of the diverse peoples the Act fused into one country. But with time, those now being referred to as founding fathers of the country forged some understanding among themselves to the point that they agreed to seek independence from

Femi Orebe femi.orebe @thenationonlineng.net 08056504626 (sms only)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Comment & Analysis

T a time like this, we need leaders not looters, leaders, not rulers. We need leaders with the fear of God; those who will not lie; leaders who will accept in public what they can accept in private; leaders who are not corrupt; leaders who will not steal; leaders who look in the eyes of the common man with compassion and not eyes of the privileged few. May I congratulate you on behalf of the nation because the nation needs leaders like you” –Elder statesman, Alhaji Maitama Sule, former Nigerian Ambassador to the United Nations, congratulating Dr Kayode Fayemi, the Ekiti State governor and this year’s winner of the prestigious Leadership newspaper’s Man of the Year award.

While dignitaries, far and near, have since been celebrating the quietly efficient governor of Ekiti state, a man not given to empty selfglorification, some, especially nearer home, have left nothing undone in trying to equate the award to the likes of ‘honour’ a segment of the Nigerian students union once bestowed on a professor who conducted the worst ever election, not only in Nigeria, but the world over as was eloquently attested to by the foreign election monitors amongst who were former Heads of State.

Like the latter, they even have the temerity to suggest that it was bought.

Questions, largely out of ignorance and an unbelievable insularity, if not self-inflicted limited choices of what they choose to read, have been asked, for instance about Leadership Newspaper which they claim they do not know. I have elsewhere lumped those who ask such questions with those whose newspaper choices most probably do not go beyond the soft sell magazines.

Piercing the fog of revolution It is uncritical to think that all the policies of unification established by military governments are good for all seasons and contexts the United Kingdom as one country, even though after several threats from the colonial government that no section would be given independence outside the framework of Amalgamation.

Building on the understanding that cultural diversity was not enough to throw away the Nigerian baby of Lugard with the bathwater, the founding fathers agreed to seek independence as one federation. In the process, two of the three regions fused in 1914: Eastern and Western Regions sought self-government two years before the third one, Northern Region. All of them received independence in 1960 on a duly negotiated constitution that gave each of the three regions substantial political autonomy to develop its economy, enforce its laws, and cooperate with other regions to sustain the country’s territorial unity.

Unification policies emerged on the country’s political landscape after the emergence of military governments in 1966. Pre-1966 local and native authority police systems were abolished by federal military governments under the excuse that the police systems in existence during the colonial pe-

riod and for six years after independence were abused by state governments, thus giving the impression that the Nigerian Police Force was not abused by trustees of federal power. It is often forgotten that the military rulers at that time needed to have an unchallenged military and police force(s) to sustain their unelected government. The federal monopoly over law enforcement decreed by military government is what is being cited today by apologists for a central police as the only way to police a multicultural federation.

Most of the defenders of federal monopoly over law enforcement today are from the northern part of the country which also supplied most of the military rulers at the federal level between 1966 and 1998.

A few retired police officers from the western part of the country are re-echoing passionately the view championed by northern leaders that Nigeria is not ready for state police. That former police officers from the North and the West have the courage to say that the force they served is an indispensable model should not worry citizens. Such statement is a way of defending the job they did or did not do. What is

irrational is the view by northern cultural and political leaders that a state police is synonymous with disintegration of the country. Is the vehement opposition to decentralisation of law enforcement by several northern leaders an indication that the current federal police system provides hidden advantages to the North?

The question of the moment, which also came up at the Yoruba Assembly, is whether one central police force can protect life and property in the country or sustain public order all over the federation.

The facts on the ground with respect to the intimidation of Nigerians from all parts by the Boko Haram terrorist sect do not support an affirmative response. One central police system may be effective to sustain military dictatorship in a multiethnic society; it is not likely to be effecient in sustaining public order in a democratic context, as the rampant insecurity generated by Boko Haram has demonstrated.

The imposition of one central police in the country, which started as a Unification Policy after 1966, has now become one of the sources of division in the country. Southern governors want decentralization

while northern governors want continued centralisation of law enforcement. The feeling of insecurity all over the country and the ongoing division between the North and the South over methods of maintaining public order demonstrate that fortysix years of one central police force has neither produced an effective police system nor created lack of suspicion among different regions. One policy that military dictators believed was capable of unifying the country has turned out to be a source of controversy that requires a national conference to resolve much better than northern leaders’ bogey regarding state police as a sure bet to break the union.

It is uncritical to think that all the policies of unification established by military governments are good for all seasons and contexts.

There is an urgent need to demilitarise the polity. While it is appropriate for leaders in a post-military era to repeat the mantra of indivisibility of the country, it is unimaginative to insist on non-negotiability of the distorted federation and ineffectual unification policies left behind by military governments.

To be continued next week.

Leadership governor of the year: No amount of ‘bad belle’ will desecrate this honour In two short years, Dr Fayemi has permanently changed the face of Ekiti Also, in an attempt to square up with those of us who criticize undiscerning recipients of just any ‘honour’, some have laid us up to charges of political partisanship whereas what underpins our abhorrence of ‘honour’ for honour sake, simpli cita, is the sure knowledge that there are too many such ‘honours’ being peddled around the country today that a governor Fayemi will not as much as touch with the longest pole. Of course we could not have so easily forgotten awards of ‘Best Banker in Africa’, Banker of the Year and such like ‘honours’ whose recipients were, within a year of such awards shown for what they truly are. The lesson we preach here is: let would-be awardees beware.

A word or two then about the three most critical elements in this discourse since we must not attach any undue importance to the critics who may have been motivated by whatever considerations: political, an eagerness for a pound of flesh or what former President Obasanjo would rather describe as ‘bad belle’. They will always be entitled to their self-inflicted grumbles.

Of the three, Sam Nda Isaiah comes first.

After reading his ramifying 50th birthday anniversary interview sometime around May, 2012, I tried never to miss his weekly column and when I got news of this award, I reached out to my good friend and University of Ife contemporary, Dr Femi Adebanjo, who not only taught Sam Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Great University, but was his Project supervisor for the B.Pharm degree to validate what things I knew about him. It was a learning curve..

Hear Femi Adebanjo: Sam Nda

Isaiah was an exceptional student.

Son to a former editor of the Nigerian Herald, he came from a journalistic background; a fact which helped him perform brilliantly as the youngest ever Editor-in-Chief of the Pharmaceutical Association in the 81/82 session. He graduated in the 2nd class (Upper) Division and although he subsequently went to read Law at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Sam refused to defend his project, strictly on principle.’

Continued Dr Adebanjo: ‘Mr Nda- Isaiah has been a phenomenon since leaving school. A complete tee-to- taler, Sam buys books like Nigerians buy recharge cards and has several thousand volumes in his library. Sam, he says, is bolder than bold itself, and is hugely respected throughout the length and breadth of Nigeria.

Concluding, Dr Adebanjo said ‘both Sam and Kayode Fayemi are two stars born to shine, and shine they always will.’ Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, former Health Minister, who also knows Sam very well, would later confirm Dr Adebanjo’s views of the publisher.

You do not come from such a laudable background to join the crowd of award hawkers.

The Leadership newspaper worships no creed, race, or persons, and, had late President Yar Adua had his way, the publisher and his editors would probably still be in jail for the paper’s objective assessments of that lacklustre administration. Nothing demonstrates the paper’s single-minded uprightness than its credo which reads as follows: ‘Leadership is not a regional or sectional paper. It is a national paper symbolically embedded in the nation’s capital. We shall stand up for good governance.

We shall defend the interests of the Nigerian state even against its leaders and we shall raise our pen at all times in defense of what is right.

These are the values by which we intend to be assessed and we shall never, ever, for any reason forget the noble reason of our coming into being. For God and Country.’

The paper has studiously been honest to its raison detre.

The third, and most critical in this discourse is governor Kayode Fayemi. For me, writing about him, as regular readers of this column must know by now, is like eating Eko with Akara –two popular Yoruba foods.

A few weeks ago on this page, I treated readers to the efforts of a highly concentrated mind, and his enormously committed team, in turning around the fortunes of a beleaguered state which, for nine cheerless years, was in the throes of some thoroughly vacuous PDP governments, one of which lasted all of one day. That article was in continuation of the series I called: ‘FAYEMI’S QUIET REVOLUTION IN EKITI’, a subject which the Leadership award has further confirmed. Ordinarily, one will expect most people to see and appreciate his yeoman’s efforts in transforming a once beleaguered state but we must be gamely enough to concede that some are so occluded they will deny the evidence of their very eyes.

It is permitted. But for the honest and objective observer, it should be about the easiest thing to conclude that in two short years, Dr Fayemi has permanently changed the face of Ekiti. The Ekiti of his dreams, no doubt, remains a work in progress as no one man will ever be able to do it all.

Dr Fayemi is a far cry from the types who will not only accept but

will luxuriate in cheap awards, the kind being marketed around political office holders and which many are eager to sign up to. In contrast to those, the Leadership awards are very credible, the process of award transparent and the criteria independently verifiable. The cheer calibre of eminent Nigerians who graced the occasion is proof positive of how highly Nigerians rate the Leadership awards and that, in itself, should be enough to shut up busy bodies.

In conclusion, and paraphrasing Hakeem Jamiu, ‘the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Research and Documentation, governor Fayemi was the first to sign into law, the Freedom of Information Bill, after it had been domesticated by the state House of Assembly, sign the bill against gender- based violence as well as the Social Security bill courtesy which Ekiti elderly citizens now receive N5, 000 monthly support.

In spite of the state’s meagre resources , and a debt overhang of N42 billion from the immediate past administration, Fayemi has embarked on a massive transformation of the State through road construction, urban renewal, provision of pipe-borne water, streetlights, traffic lights and the general beautification of the state capital. He has done a lot to improve the quality of education and the administration is currently renovating 100 schools in the first phase of the Operation Renovate All Ekiti Schools. Health care delivery is in top shape with children and the elderly enjoying free health and old, moribund industries to which the last two regimes paid no regard are now being aggressively resuscitated just as agriculture and tourism are receiving appropriate attention’ Need I say more?.

Comment & Analysis

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Tunji

Adegboyega tunjade@yahoo.co.uk 08054503906 (sms only)

“P

REVENTION”, we have always been told, “is better than cure”. In line with this wise saying therefore, one would have expected that the Federal Government would have sifted the wheat from the chaff before announcing people to get the national honours.

But the wise saying was inverted with President Goodluck Jonathan’s announcement at the presentation of the awards to recipients last Monday when he said undeserving people who were given the awards would lose such whenever the government finds reason to withdraw it from them.

“In the light of the foregoing, I have directed that the National Honours Committee compile a list of persons conferred with the national honours but that their current credibility is questionable. If they are found wanting, our prestigious honours will be withdrawn.” This is not good enough.

Granted that it is possible for some people to misbehave after being honoured, the fact remains that we do not need any special committee to know that some of the recipients did not merit it. And we would have expected the government to know that. Or, do we need foreign countries to help us select people who merit national honours as they have done with the cases of some of our big thieves who used to be walking our streets free but who are now languishing in some foreign prisons? How, for instance, could we

Postscript, Unlimited!

By

Oyinkan Medubi 08187172799 (SMS only) puchuckles7@gmail.com

O

H, for the days of great passion! No, not the type that makes your breast heave in rapturous wonder at the creation standing before you. I’m thinking more of the type that makes men to go out in search of great discoveries for the benefit of mankind. I’m thinking, for example, of scientists who offered not just their time but their bodies for science out of passion for the job. Take Humphrey Davy for instance. (No, please, don’t admire my science savvy; I got it off the internet.) He was said to have sometimes performed all kinds of experiments with nitrous oxide (or laughing gas) on himself, his pets, his friends and his friends’ friends just to get to the answer he was looking for. Ho, ho, my friend, all I can say is that I’m glad I was not his friend, for with friends like that, you don’t need enemies.

I bet you there are many husbands conducting unrecorded, unacknowledged experiments on their wives right now. When half of the month’s salary has gone on engaging activities like the pool or the bar, then out will come the test tubes, beakers, tripods and the pronouncements. ‘Listen, Mama Bisi, we have to tighten our belts this month. Our employer has cut our salaries into two this month.’ He then watches for her response to

17

Honoured today, dishonoured tomorrow It is better to scrutinise awardees’ credentials before honouring them have honoured people that were suspected to have swindled the country through fuel subsidy? Yes, we might argue that suspects are deemed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, the fact remains that the awards are not running away. They are too many to go round. So, why must we rush to give people with question marks against their names? Why can’t such people wait till sometime in the future?

The honour, unless we are being told otherwise, is supposed to be conferred on people who have contributed meaningfully to the country’s development and who are of impeccable character. It is an annual event; that presupposes that it should not be a ‘fire brigade’ thing. If the awards are truly important, there should be sufficient time for selection and screening of the nominees such that by the time the list is released, it would be accepted by a wide spectrum of Nigerians and there won’t be need for the kind of medicine after death that President Jonathan has in mind. But the kinds of confusion that trailed the event, especially last year, and even the last exercise, did not show that even the government that is conferring the awards appreciates its essence. Last year, the medals did not go round. This year, accommodation

and other arrangements were shoddy as many of the recipients had to make personal arrangements for their stay in Abuja last Sunday, on arrival for what was supposed to be a major national event. Or, is the shoddy preparation part of the statement that the thing has become more of an annual ritual that no one thinks should warrant any especial care for essential details?

These are some of the things that President Jonathan does that attract criticisms from Nigerians. With due respect to the president, many of these policies were hardly well-thought out. That is why, unfortunately Nigerians protest when such are made public. It has nothing to do with whether they like the President’s face or dislike it. But, as I have always argued, if the same Nigerians who voted overwhelmingly for him last year now find his policies reprehensible, then he should know that there must be reasons for that. And it would be better for him to see it from this point of view rather than keep assuming that it is the handiwork of some political detractors as he tried to rationalise last week on the fuel subsidy protests that rocked the country in January. Were these same detractors not around when Nigerians voted for him last year? President Jonathan has to wean himself off this

“If the awards are truly important, there should be sufficient time for selection and screening of the nominees such that by the time the list is released, it would be accepted by a wide spectrum of Nigerians and there won’t be need for the kind of medicine after death that President Jonathan has in mind”

misconception and change for better. Has the President seen any child that is being flogged that would not cry? That was what removal of fuel subsidy amounted to; it is what also the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) plan to introduce N5000 note amounts to; any wonder then that Nigerians cried foul before they were dispatched to untimely graves while some fat cows keep ripping them off in the name of fuel subsidy, or before the country embarks on a journey of no return if the N5000 note had seen the light of day? It is good that the President has suspended action on this poison! President Jonathan would do well by not taking, hook, line and sinker, the advice of so-called experts on such a serious matter because they have wider implications. He should not allow himself to be bamboozled by high-sounding theoretical assumptions that would fall flat in the face of reality or our peculiar socio-cultural circumstances.

I am not someone to be fanatical about all things foreign. But I believe we should copy whatever is good from any part of the world. What stops us from copying a country like the United States of America which has given, in its 200 years of existence, national honours to less than 3,000 people, whereas Nigeria has in more than 40 years of the awards, given to more than 2,000 Nigerians?

If the awards truly have meaning, that is if it is all about patriotism and contributions to national development, Nigeria may not be as developed as the United States today, but it also has no excuse to be in this sorry pass.

What this tells us is that the so-called

awards are not worth more than the pieces of paper on which the awardees are listed. The thing has become too cheap, such that it is even believed it is sometimes sold to people with the means.

For the awards to have meaning, we have to depart from the past. And that we can start by drastically reducing the number of honorees and giving it to those who actually merit it. It doesn’t make sense that people get award just for being made Senate President or Speaker, House of Representatives. As a matter of fact, being elected President should not be automatic qualification for the award. Neither should one’s fat bank accounts. Contributions to the country should be the essential prerequisite. President Jonathan can start the revolution because it can only take a revolution to do that, and he would see that Nigerians would stand solidly behind him. The important thing is that the thing should be fair and should be seen to so be. This is in line with his view that “… holders of national honours are truly worthy representations of our national values and honour, and especially are patriotic Nigerians or real friends of Nigeria.”

We have to recognise and reward good deeds, but the way we have carried on with the national honours is apparently not the way to go. Giving honours to 155 Nigerians and friends of Nigeria in just one year is rather unwieldy. That explains why some eminent Nigerian have rejected the ‘honour’ over the years. The honours need not be debased as we have many chieftaincy titles.

So, madness is good for you, eh?

The moral of this story is that men ought always to go more in search of madness than money determine whether to cave in and simply hand over his life (you know, as in, ‘Your money or your life’ and you say ‘My life’) or whether he will get away with it. For response, there may be no response. Mama Bisi may just tighten her mouth in determination: there is time to conduct her own experiment in the market.

Finding a need to somehow provide herself with the required intimate articles, she wonders aloud if she may not just cream a little off the top of the housekeeping, as they say, and see what effect it would have on the family. Whoever used to eat ice cream may find himself/herself eating a finger of banana and whoever used to eat two pieces of meat may have to make do with one. I’m not sure but I think it is on that last note that the various experiments may break down and substitutions may become restitutions – gambling given up for articles. Don’t you just love this free market economy where everyone goes home happy?

Anyway, back to our scientists.

You have just got to admire their sense of total commitment to the cause which, you’re quite sure, can only be propelled by madness. What else but madness would prompt a man like Davy to go in search of tuberculosis by inhaling carbon monoxide to his heart’s content just to be able to find a cure for it? If my dressmaker were to be as committed as he was, believe me, I would be better dressed and all those love letters I am getting now would probably double. Or, if my housekeeping allowance were to be doubled, I would take the house to greater heights. There, I digress again. Com-

mitment means totally giving over one’s mind to a cause in a way that can raise suspicion in others. I would imagine that friends of Davy or Joseph Priestly would be mightily suspicious of them and would only associate with them if they needed their services, such as when they had to go through surgery. But there cannot be any doubt that their efforts resulted in something that benefits mankind today. Now, people need not go through amputations again without anaesthesia, unlike before when they had only a bottle of whiskey between them and the surgeon’s blade, although I can hear a few people mumbling, ‘I’ll pick that bottle any day.’

That is the problem. Many of us Nigerians, including me, are choosing too many easy ways over trying to create something beneficial to mankind. Many of us have only one vision – a picture of Aso Rock – and we can be heard mumbling in our sleep: ‘Just help me get into Aso Rock.’ All of us, to a man, have lost our ability to pursue our dreams with the required zeal and necessary passion. Too many of us are pursuing either money (ask our politicians) or our enemies (ask our religious zealots), even if those enemies reside right inside us. And so, we go on living with our potentials untapped, unexplored, unexcavated, and mankind waiting for us.

You see, for dreams to rise to the surface, one needs a good measure of madness, without which nothing can be achieved. The madness will take you through days of hunger, poverty, deprivation and any other effects your tests may wish to visit

on your little body. This madness will also mean a great deal of aloneness, aloofness and total lockin. Finally, the madness we are talking about will mean a readiness to burn down the house. I guess this is difficult to achieve in Nigeria.

Well, to begin with, there are your relations. I believe the major problem Nigerians have is this inability to divorce themselves from their relations. This is why, come every weekend, caps and geles are criss-crossing the country to attend ‘a relative’s’ burial or marriage ceremony. Then, there is, of course, the most important relation to you who would refuse, on point of death, to allow you burn down the house because you are conducting one ‘yeye’ experiment. If you persist, she would simply go to the village, ferry in your eldest, dying relatives to come and convince you to see the error of your ways. And, of course, if you insist on going on with your mad desire to discover something beneficial to mankind, your relatives may cease all arguments with you. You would just wake up one morning in Aro Hospital to find that you have been wrapped and parcelled there in the dead of night while you were sleeping.

So, this madness thing is difficult in Nigeria, but not impossible.

First, select your dream. Scroll down the road of your mind and pick that activity you love doing which brings that special joy to you and benefit to mankind. Please note that adding more people into this already over-populated world hardly counts as beneficial. Painting, experimenting to invent, writ-

ing, or just making things like radios, TV sets, computers are more acceptable. No wait, those have been discovered. So, go find your own article to invent. Then, assemble your materials as cheaply as possible. Note that expensive materials cannot be discarded in times of failure without you bursting into tears. Now, select a quiet spot around you where you can carry out your experiment in peace.

Lastly, gently persuade your spouse or parent that you are full of good intentions, you only want to discover something beneficial to mankind, and no, you hope the house will not burn down.

I do agree with you; the government’s yo-yo economic policies are right now not very favourable to us all. Nevertheless, we can still do a great deal in spite of it. Let the government carry on with its unseriousness, let the citizens carry on with their own seriousness; and one day, with a great deal of luck, the serious citizens will leave the unserious government behind.

The moral of this story is that men ought always to go more in search of madness than money. Just listen. When you have madness, you will be pushed beyond the point of endurance to go chasing your dream that leaves humanity a little better than before and men will remember you always for your efforts. Today, we credit and remember Priestly and Davy for what they did for mankind, not for how rich they managed to get through access to government coffers. No one remembers such.

18

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Comment & Analysis

Nigeria: What went wrong? (3) I

N continuation of this series, it is pertinent to poignantly ask and keep asking like Dr Jide Oluwajuyitan in the Nation newspapers of 19th July 2012: “how did we get to this sorry state of affairs?”

The writer in the course of the series highlighted some issues such as impatience of followers to follow and flow along with leaders especially in the first republic; incessant military incursions; ingrained systemic institutionalization of corruption in our polity. There are other vital points that will be equally be highlighted in this third part.

Citizens’ Value System “Organizationally, and personally, you are what you value”Howard Whitten The aforementioned quotation is apt and accurate in depicting our parlous state in Nigeria. In simple terms, I will state that an individual is what he or she values. Like someone said one time: “if you stand for nothing, then, you can fall for anything!” As a nation, what are our core values? What do people of other nations perceive in the name Nigeria or Nigerians? I was opportune to live in Singapore for about four years during which I featured in the “Expat” column of the most popular newspaper: The Strait Times. The first question the journalist interviewing me put forward was: “What line will you use on those who referred to Nigerians as scammers?” I quipped by saying that they are naïve as a few bad apples do not make the whole basket rotten; and that in any case,

T

HE deliverables in the education sector have been pouring in for Nigerians over the last six months at a sustained tempo. In the recent past, no administration has made more positive impact on Nigerians as regards improvements in this sector than the Jonathan administration.

To say that the quality impact of the present administration is most felt in the basic education sector is to merely emphasize the obvious. Beyond using basic education as a source of enlightening the teeming less privileged Nigerians, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has taken this subsector as a veritable tool towards addressing the employment and economic needs of the people.

In the last seven months, the Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has been building synergy with international development partners to ensure that a workable framework is developed to achieve the administration’s goals as regards technical and vocational education.

For the Minister and officials of the Federal Ministry of Education, the challenge of ensuring that the teeming unemployed Nigerian youths benefit from a government programme has gone beyond the realm of rhetoric. He had explained to implementing officials and stakeholders that the zeal with which the government is pursing the actualization of the almajiri and girl-child education programmes is the same zeal that will be used to achieve the goals of vocational and technical education programme.

In January this year, the Minister of State for Education led the team of the Federal Govern-

By John Ekundayo

every nation on earth has good as well as bad people among them.

That was the end of the story.

Many Nigerians residing in Singapore were happy that I responded well. Be that as it may, I knew within me where the journalist was heading to. Internationally, Nigeria and Nigerians have lost our place, pride and position!

That is the home truth!! There are indeed few Nigerians who are out there engaging in scamming and drug peddling. Please, before you heap blame and probably curses on these few bad eggs, take some time to think: if they have been gainfully employed in their nation, will some of them ever got involved in this mess? However, I will state that it is because these Nigerians do not imbibe proper values.

Where are proper values of speaking and sticking with the truth; selflessness; humility; endurance; goodness; kindness; self reliant; diligence; tolerance; forgiveness, etc? Comrade Adams Oshiomole was returned as Governor recently in Edo State, still basking in the euphoria of his victory, he stated in the Guardian newspapers of Tuesday 17th July 2012: “The reason Nigeria is not making progress is that we are afraid to tell the truth. It is not a big deal to be a governor. But it is a big deal to tell the truth and to harass anyone who is responsible for dragging Nigeria backward.”

In the course of my PhD research, I was opportune to interview Governor Babatunde Raji

Fashola of Lagos State. I pointedly put it across to him: “What is your greatest value?” He responded by saying: “It is the ability to tell the truth”. Any wonder these two leaders are making waves in their states and getting reelected by winning up to 74% (Oshiomole) and 80% (Fashola) (sic) of total votes cast?

This actually corroborates two scholars in the field of leadership research: Kouzes and Posner, the author of “The Leadership Challenge” (a book written as a result of over 25 years of research study spanning all the continents of the world). In the said book, many qualities were used to describe good leaders all over the world. In careful analysis, it was discovered that one trait mostly admired by followers in leaders was TRUTH. Religion: “Too much religion without God leading to moral laxity and materialism…This has resulted in the society worshipping and wining with wealthy individuals. We, as Christians…use the Scriptures as justification for our actions.”

There is too much profession with little practice of real religion in Nigeria whether in Christianity, Islam or any other religion. Many Nigerians are too religious but practice lies, deceit, killing, stealing, kidnapping, etc. Which of the religions depict any of these traits of callousness and wickedness? In essence, there is much religion with much evil in our land as the motive of many Nigerians is crass materialism. Reading the lips of Richard

Branson, the Chairman of Virgin Atlantics to decipher the tip of the iceberg in our value system: “Nigeria people are generally nice but the politicians are very insane... …The joint venture should have been the biggest African carrier by now if the partnership was allowed to grow, but the politicians KILLED it...Nigeria is a country we SHALL NEVER consider to doing business again..’’. “ There was an instance, while studying in Malaysia for my PhD and things were tough for the first two years, I and my wife took a job in a call centre to augment our income. The first day at work, our Malaysian boss, after some few hours seeing our frustration as no one was virtually responding positively to our calls knowing we are Nigerians, called me aside. He told me: “Do not say you are a Nigerian, when the people asked about your nationality, just tell them, you are a South African”, I retorted by saying NO without a second thought.

That was my last and only day there while my wife continued but also with a firm resolve NEVER to deny her nationality.

Materialism or Mammon One point worth mentioning is that in the churches, mosques and universities, most of the leaders are no more interested in where the money comes from anymore. Once you have money, you can have the post or title; you can take the forefront seat; that honorary degree is for you, etc. It is like the Nigerian society worships money and material acquisition. It is so bad that par-

Strengthening technical and vocational education

By Simeon Nwakaudu

ment to fashion out modalities of implementing the technical and vocational education framework at the Highbury College, Portsmouth in United Kingdom. The essence of developing this programme was to ensure that technical and vocational education becomes relevant to the nation and is appreciated amongst the people, especially those seeking employment in an increasingly challenging economy.

The focus of the minister in the technical and vocational education sub-sector is create a practical environment which would transform the existing the Federal Science and Technical Colleges into centres for the impartation of lifelong entrepreneurial skills into Nigerian youths to make them contributors to the nation’s economy by being employers of labour or qualified technicians with capacity required by existing companies.

The Minister also indicated to the international partners at Highbury College, Portsmouth, the intention of the Federal Government to establish Technical and Vocational Centres of Excellence in parts of the country with the aim of serving as models to states and private proprietors on the need to promote this form of education to the benefit of the nation.

Since that tour of the facilities of Highbury College, Ports-

mouth, officials of the Federal Ministry of Education and their counterparts at the United Kingdom based college have collaborated to ensure that a practical framework is put in place for the programme.

On Tuesday, September 17, the Minister of State for Education and the leadership of the College met at the Federal Ministry of Education headquarters in Abuja to finalise the processes for the implementation of the partnership programme targeted at developing employment opportunities for Nigerian youths. The officials of Highbury College led by the school’s principal, Stella Mbubaegbu and Deborah See, Executive Curriculum Development and Quality Assurance presented a programme for enhancing the facilities and curriculum of the new Technical and Vocational Centres of Excellence. They also presented a training schedule for teachers and facilitators at the existing Federal Science and Technical Colleges.

The Principal of Highbury College, Portsmouth had indicated that the school would bring its wealth of experience to bear as regards assisting the nation to build a viable economic base to tackle employment needs of the massive Nigerian youth population. She pointed out that even in the United Kingdom, vocational and technical education is now being encouraged as a source of em-

ployment generation due to the increasing drop-out from school by the youth.

At that meeting, the Minister of State for Education stated that in line with the focus of employment generation for the youth through development of entrepreneurial skills, the Federal Government has started the process of establishing new vocational and technical education centres across the country.

Wike said that new vocational training centres would be used as practical platforms to groom a viable workforce to develop the economy of the nation.

He said that the new vocational and technical centres will train Nigerian youths in line with the employment needs of existing companies.

“We are partnering with Portsmouth Highbury College to develop these new Vocational and Technical Colleges across the country because of the expertise of this school. We have been to the various campuses of the school in the United Kingdom and we are convinced that this partnership will achieve the desired result.

“We are further committed to capacity building for our existing technical and vocational teachers to assist us achieve the goals of practically training our children to make them employers of labour, instead of job seekers”, Wike said.

The planning process for the enhancement of vocational and technical education is over.

ents no longer blush (apology to Professor Niyi Osundare), so far as their children or wards buy SUV, possess fat bank accounts, and build big mansions in cities and villages. These are the evidence of being “arrived”. No one is asking like the late father of Prof Niyi Osundare used to ask: “ibi sa ti re o re?” (Ekiti dialect interpreted to mean: where did he get his money from?) In essence, many want to now get money through any means and methods knowing virtually no one will query them as to the source of their wealth so far as it can be shared among friends, fans and family members.

Conclusion: “If everyone will sweep their own doorstep, the whole world would be clean.”- Mother Theresa My appeal: let us all take time to reflect and honestly question our role in what went wrong with Nigeria in our own little way. In that wise, before you throw a stone at someone, examine yourself. It is imperative to point out that followers cannot “siddon look” (apology to late Chief Bola Ige) any longer.

In essence, if followers will get the positive change envisaged, they need to rise up as a courageous bunch of followers with a strong voice to blow the whistle against bad leaders and stand up for good leaders. There is hope for Nigeria. · Dr Ekundayo, an organizational management and leadership researcher/consultant can be reached via: drjmoekundayo@hotmail.com.

Now, the Federal Ministry of Education has entered the implementation stage of the programme. The Federal Government has already started the funding of the revival of facilities, training equipment, workshops and laboratories in 22 existing Federal Science and Technical Colleges. This is a top priority.

The additional investment in the provision of vocational and technical education training facilities underscores the significance that the Jonathan government attaches to the creation of employment opportunities for Nigerian youths.

Aside the partnership that has been consummated with the Highbury College, Portsmouth, the Federal Government has a working relationship with the Korean International Cooperation Agency, KOICA, to develop the nation’s technical education sub-sector.

The essence of the reform that has gone into this sector is to ensure that the existing and about-to-be established technical colleges in Nigeria transit from centres where theoretical learning take place to practical centres where Nigerian youths are groomed in viable technical trades which would empower them to be players in the economy of the nation.

It goes without saying that the current economic realities in the nation dictate a more pragmatic approach towards transforming education into an avenue for resolving the development challenges of the nation. That is what the Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has brought to the table.

Nwakaudu is the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of State for Education.

POLITICS

19

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

E

VEN before members of the National Assembly proceeded on their two months annual recess, which ended early in the week, most of the issues have generated intense debate and bad blood within and outside the hallowed chambers.

So, as the lawmakers resumed on Tuesday, September 18, 2012, the issues have expectedly resonated across the length and breadth of Nigeria, literarily punctuating the pulse of the country’s polity. According to informed observers, most of the issues under contention are of special interest to majority of Nigerians because they are both delicately explosive and likely to determine the path of the country’s future political direction.

Will Mr. President be impeached?

The first of these issues is the controversy trailing alleged poor implementation of the 2012 budget, which made members of the House of Representatives to issue threats to commence impeachment moves against President Goodluck Jonathan. The angry lawmakers had in July 19, 2012, before going on recess, sworn that if by the time they resume this September, Jonathan has not ensured 100 per cent implementation of the budget, they will immediately put in motion impeachment proceedings against Mr. President. They have resumed and reports show that Jonathan-led federal government has not achieved the set target of 100 percent implementation.

The controversy over budget implementation began after the last oversight functions of lawmakers, when most committees of the House of Representatives scored virtually all the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) very low.

Insiders told The Nation that Presidency and leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were particularly worried when they received reports that most House members, including PDP lawmakers had passionately and openly blamed the poor performance of the federal government primarily on poor budget implementation and therefore urged the federal government to empower the MDAs for greater effectiveness before September or the House would be compelled to commence impeachment proceedings.

Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, representing Surulere, Lagos State, gave teeth to the feelings of co-sponsors of the impeachment threat when he said: “The President had come to the floor of the House with a budget which he called transformation budget but it is a budget of abracadabra and voodoo…The president is not doing anybody any favour as constituency projects are done all over the world… so come September, if the budget is not 100 per cent implemented, we will start to throw articles of impeachment at the president.”

The temper of lawmakers at the lower chamber peaked when, in his contribution to the debate, Hon. John Enoh (PDP, Cross River), the chairman of Appropriation Committee, revealed that the total release for capital projects of N400 billion was effected in the first quarter, admitting gravely that out of this, the cash backing was only N200 billion, which generally translates to abysmal 35 percent.

At first, some top government officials and presidential aides dismissed it as a blank threat from empty vessels. But it did not take long before the Presidency, realising the interest of other Nigerians and likely danger, responded and began aggressive, though largely behindthe-scene mobilisation of support aimed at frustrating all impeachment plans.

Given the current temper however, it seems clear that majority of the lawmakers are utterly dissatisfied with the level of budget implementation so far, and are therefore still bent on carrying out the threat.

So, today, even at the senate, the term impeachment is no longer totally strange. The Nation gathered that many senators are also openly showing dissatisfaction over budget implementation and other matters. One of them is Senator Uche Chukwumerije, who, while contributing to the debate on a Bill for an Act to Amend the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act Cap (2004) sponsored by Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, also threatened to move motion for impeachment.

At the House, another major issue that will

Landmines in the legislative chambers As federal lawmakers resumed this week after their two months annual leave, Sam Egburonu examines the issues poised to heat up debate at the hallowed chamber and reports that they are also likely to shape the polity in the next few months

• Mark

certainly generate red-hot controversy is that of committee chairmanship positions and the long awaited shake-up in the House.

During the recess, members and top leaders in the House were involved in intense lobby over this matter, as secret meetings were held in different parts of the country, where the issue of House committees and the interest of various stakeholders were discussed. A source said in one of the meetings, held in Governor Babangida Aliyu’s domain, it was agreed that the area must not lose out in upcoming committee shake up.

Also, a source at the National Assembly, who described this matter as “extremely sensitive,” and would therefore not want to be named, said during the week that the recently reported plot to impeach Speaker Aminu Tambuwal or to make the leadership of the House uncomfortable, is more because of this matter than any other. “The Speaker and other top leaders in the House are aware of the sentiment of members and other political interests over this matter and are therefore careful to handle it diligently. You know what happened and how some of these positions became vacant.

Everybody is interested,” the source said.

Before the resumption from the long recess, observers, noting the moves from the executive to water down the temper of lawmakers on the impeachment threat and other issues, had postulated that the threat will die a natural death. But signals that the impeachment matter is still on the top burner was confirmed when a Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, declined to stop the House of Representatives from commencing impeachment proceedings against Mr. President.

It remains to be seen how the matter would be finally treated. But even as the lobbying continues

• Tambuwal

in Abuja, Nigerians are expressing diverse opinions.

According to Dr. Godswill Ufort, “The call may be explained but I think it is not necessary at this point of our national life to distract the president with threats of impeachment. I agree that the current government will need to brace up to the challenges of our time and let Nigerians enjoy dividends of democracy. That being the case, I will prefer that Jonathan take the current outbursts as a signal that he will need to do more. Impeachment of the president at this time will however distabilise Nigeria and so I urge our lawmakers not to think in that direction.”

But for Udochukwu Madubueze, a lawyer and public notary, “The grounds on which these threats are being made are germane, so if the current leadership of the federal government cannot do better than it is doing now, it is the responsibility of the National Assembly to consider impeachment.”

Other issues that will expectedly heat up debate at the legislative arm of the federal government and outside, as the lawmakers resume, include: the N700 billion pension scam, the N1.7trillion oil subsidy controversy, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), and the 2013 budget.

So, the senate also promises to be hot. In fact, when the Senate Committee on Banking first asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to put on hold, the proposed introduction of N5, 000 note and conversion of N20, N10 and N5 into coins, it became obvious, even to the Presidency that lawmakers were this time around ready to fight against the policy.

Although President Goodluck Jonathan saw through the mood and stopped the proposed CBN policy, thereby denying the lawmakers a fertile opportunity of gaining public acclaim, the seem-

ing decision of lawmakers to redeem their battered image before Nigerians was however demonstrated few days after resumption when they quickly launched some fresh probes at the upper chamber, like that of sales of some Navy assets.

Also, The Nation gathered that for senators, intense lobby commenced long before resumption over the screening of new ministerial nominees for Defence and Power. These plum positions, it would be recalled, became vacant following the sack of the former Minister and past Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Haliru Bello Mohammed and the resignation of Prof.

Barth Nnaji, the former minister of power.

Another major issue of general interest is the proposed amendment of the 1999 Constitution. Already, the entire polity is abuzz with sensitive issues like state creation and state police which are expected to be tackled by the lawmakers.

Close to the contentious issue of constitutional amendment, in terms of wide interest, is the question as to what the lawmakers will do to the reports by Senators Uzodinma, Abe, Etok-led committees and others, which are supposed to be tabled before the Senators for discussions.

Dr. Ufort summarized what he described as the expectation of Nigerians, when he said, “Nigerians are happy that the lawmakers are back to do the business of lawmaking, for which we elected them. We want results, not more scandals from them. I think what the current federal lawmakers make of all the burning issues beside them will determine our future political fate.”

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Politics

Cracks over Ekiti PDP governorship ticket F

OR the Ekiti State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), it seems a done deal that the incumbent governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, would be the party’s candidate for the next governorship election taking place in 2014.

But not so in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as its party leaders, both in the state and at its national headquarters in Abuja, are presently mulling over who would fly the governorship ticket in the next polls.

Among influential gladiators of PDP in Ekiti, there is a brewing discontent and dilemma on the best candidate to put forward to challenge Fayemi, who assumed the reins in 2010 after the Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, declared him the actual winner of the last governorship election in the state, as against Engr. Segun Oni, who the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), announced the winner of the 2007 general elections and the re-run election in 2009.

Early signs that the primaries for the PDP ticket would be keenly contested emerged a few weeks ago with the entry of Senator Gbenga Aluko into the race.

Weeks before he declared his intention, speculations were rife that some unnamed chieftains of the party in the state had endorsed the candidature of Aluko, who they believe, has the stature and the pedigree to match the profile of the incumbent governor.

One of the sons of late revered economist, Professor Sam Aluko, the senator served in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2003. He was the only senator elected on the platform of the PDP in the entire South West during this period.

A mechanical engineer by training, Aluko retired into a quiet private life after he left the senate and worked as a consultant to oil giant, Chevron, until he announced his re-entry into partisan politics recently.

Can Aluko upset the applecart?

One major factor working in Aluko’s favour and which his promoters are trumpeting aloud is that he is, arguably, the only non-controversial aspirant among the multitude jostling to win the PDP ticket.

Powerful interests backing his candidature, according to sources, also readily point to his family pedigree, which they believe, needs little or no introduction to party members and the electorate.

Other factors also working for Aluko, aside his educational background is the fact that he is no greenhorn, who needs any tutelage in politics and workings of government.

However, opponents of Aluko allege that he has lost touch with the power base of the party in the state since 2003, a factor they stated, will work against him when real politicking for the governorship race sometime next year begins.

They have alleged that the former senator had abstained from affairs of Ekiti PDP for almost eight years, with not a few politicians in the state even suggesting at some point that he may have quit politics for good. A source said, “24 hours is a long time in politics, what more a solid eight years. Aluko has a lot to do if he is to warm himself back into the hearts of PDP members in the

A quiet discontent is brewing in the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), over the governorship ticket of the party in 2014, writes Remi Adelowo

•Olubolade

• Oni

• Fayose

•Arise

state.”

Ayo Fayose factor and the crisis within Much as PDP leaders in Ekiti and Abuja will dismiss any report of an internal rift in the party, The Nation gathered that there is indeed a serious crisis of confidence among leading lights of the party, as some are vehemently working against others’ interests.

Presently, the Ekiti PDP is heavily polarized. For example, we gathered that a faction is now loyal to the Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade and other two factions are loyal to two former governors of the state, Ayo

Fayose and Olusegun Oni, respectively.

A source told The Nation that there is no-love lost between Oni and Fayose. While the former served as governor, Fayose was one of his most strident critics who did not see anything good in the Oni-led administration. It would also be recalled that during the rerun election in the state in2010, Fayose openly campaigned for Fayemi, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate. Oni, sources revealed, has not forgiven Fayose for this.

An opportunity for both men

to test their political strength came early this year during the election to elect officers of the state executive. At the end, Fayose took Oni to the cleaners with members loyal to him coasting to victory.

For most PDP members in Ekiti, the result was shocking to say the least. Oni, they had reckoned, would use his privileged position as the National Vice Chairman (South-West) of the party to sway the result in his favour.

Expectedly, Oni kicked against the outcome of the election, but his countless attempts to compel the

national headquarters of the party to declare the Makanjuola Ogundipe-led executive illegal, were futile.

Several peace meetings convened by stakeholders of the party, particularly Olubolade, to resolve the rift between Oni and Fayose, have also failed, our sources confirmed. Oni, according to sources, is aware that Fayose is plotting to stage a comeback to the Ekiti Government House in 2014 and has allegedly vowed to stop at nothing to scuttle this ambition.

Has PDP endorsed Fayose?

The announcement last week by the PDP national headquarters that Fayose, who was impeached as governor in 2006, has been formally readmitted into the party, said sources, is a tacit endorsement that he is the man to beat for the 2014 PDP governorship ticket.

Fayose had decamped to the Labour Party early 2011, on which platform he contested for a senate seat but lost. His opponents had hoped to use this against him, alleging that he was yet to be fully reabsorbed into PDP. His major drawback, however, is his image as a controversial figure, which his opponents argue may further polarize the party, a development that may not augur well for the party at the polls.

This seeming weakness notwithstanding, Fayose is forging ahead with his aspiration, said sources close to him.

On Sunday, September 23, a reception is being held in his honour by a committee of friends at Fayose’s Afao Ekiti country home, where the former governor may formally announce his intention to contest for the 2014 governorship polls in the state.

Is Borisade Obasanjo’s anointed candidate?

Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, The Nation’s findings have revealed, is believed to be seriously interested in who becomes the PDP governorship standard bearer come 2014.

Sources disclosed that the former president’s anointed candidate is Professor Babalola Borisade, who served in his administration, first as the Minister of Culture and later as the Minister of Aviation. This claim has however been denied by some top Pdp stakeholders in the state.

Other aspirants in contention Other aspirants that may slug it out for the PDP ticket are Senator Ayo Arise from Oye Ekiti and Mr. Dayo Adeyeye, a former chairman of the state’s Universal Basic Education Board, who is alleged to be the preferred candidate of Segun Oni. Like Fayose, Arise’s major flaw is his image as a controversial figure, while Adeyeye is alleged not to flaunt any electoral value that could threaten ACN’s iron grip on the politics of the state.

The former Ekiti SUBEB boss had contested for the senate in 1999 under the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) but was the only candidate of the party that lost in the South-West.

He also contested for the governorship ticket of the Action Congress (now ACN) in 2007, but lost to Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

Alleging that he was not fairly treated, Adeyeye decamped to PDP in 2007, where he hopes to resurrect his long time ambition of ruling Ekiti State.

But how far can he and the other aspirants go in the battle to unseat Fayemi? The picture will become clearer before 2014.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Politics

Non-indigenes are welcome in Katsina - Sada Rumah Alhaji Sada Salisu Rumah is the Senior Special Assistant, Diplomatic and Society Relations to Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema of Katsina State. The journalist cum politician tells Adetutu Audu how the state governor is maintaining peaceful co-existence between indigenes and non-indigenes in the state. Excerpts

W

HAT motivated the state tour you conducted recently?

Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema has charged my office with the responsibility of sensitising people on government activities and bringing them closer to the government.

We are doing our best to discharge this responsibility and the recent tour is part of this effort to build a bridge of understanding among the diverse people resident in Katsina State on one hand and between the people and government on the other.

During our tour of the thirty four local government areas, we made consultations, listened to the opinions, views and aspirations of the different ethnic, social, cultural and religious groups of Nigerians resident in the state. The aim was to make every Nigerian feel at home

and have a sense of belonging. It is also to make every one understand that despite our differences, God has ordained us to live together as brothers and sisters and we can do this comfortably once we are committed to mutual respect and understanding.

In what way is the tour going to impact on the people?

Our interaction will promote understanding among Nigerians from various parts of the country living in Katsina State. It will also reassure non indigenes that they are accepted and at home in Katsina State. We want to leave no one in doubt •Rumah that Katsina State is truly the ‘Home of Hospitality’ and in our state, every one is involved in the effort to promote political, socio-economic, religious and cultural harmony. Just as every one is equally involved, so also every one is equally entitled to the benefits of programmes and policies of government.

That is why in Katsina both indigenes and non-indigenes benefit from fee education, free healthcare services for children under five years, pregnant and nursing mothers and treatment for diseases such as malaria and kidney problems.

Another important component of the tour is to consolidate the peace and security enjoyed by the state especially in the face of the security challenges faced in the country. We have enjoyed peace through prayers and deliberate effort to promote understanding among the people. Peace and security is important as an enabling en-

Political

ripples Orji Kalu back in the news

A

LMOST four years after he went into a political sabbatical of sorts in the aftermath of his fallout with his erstwhile godson, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State, former Abia Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, seems to have found his groove again. In the last few weeks, Kalu has been in the news granting media interviews, a development some have interpreted as Kalu’s readiness for the post2015 political dispensation.

Unconfirmed reports has it that the former governor is poised to test his political relevance once again by sponsoring a candidate for the Abia governorship seat on the platform of his political party, Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) to challenge the candidate of the ruling PDP.

•Kalu

vironment for people to pursue their livelihood.

But some people feel you are placing non indigenes as top priority. How accurate is this?

I think in the modern world, no society can develop socially and economically without the influx of people from other parts of the world.

Rather than placing so much emphasis on the term ‘nonindigene’, I think we should focus on making people feel free, secure and at home, so that we move toward eliminating the feeling of being a stranger. This is important because going by history even the Sullubawa, who are currently heading the traditional institutions in Katsina, came from somewhere. Today, it is inconceivable that we can think of them as non-indigenes.

What government is doing here is to give room for every body regardless of

ethno-religious differences to contribute his quota toward the development of the state.

This is part of our culture and tradition. If you go round states in the East, West, South or South-South, in cities such as Lagos, Enugu , Onitsha and the Niger Delta region, you will see our people conducting their daily businesses peacefully.

One of the governor’s top priorities, according to reports, is youth empowerment. Is your office involved in it?

The administration of Governor Ibrahim Shema has contributed immensely toward making the youths and other people in the state to become self reliant. The government has improved agricultural activities through the provision of fertilizer, soft agricultural loans, farming implements and insecticides to farmers. These are geared to ensure food security.

Business Apprenticeship Training Centres (BATC) have been established in some local governments to train youths in skills and trades.

Soft loans have been provided to small scale and medium traders. Even local businessmen and women have benefited from government intervention.

The department of Diplomacy and Societal Relations has opened a door to listen and act on complaints of inadequacy, cheating or abuse of office among government organizations and staff.

Secondly, this office has also been carrying out sensitization on the importance of peaceful co-existence among the people. This is important because peace is pivotal to the success of any government policy or programme, so we are assisting by promoting the enabling environment for government policies and programmes to succeed.

Ndoma -Egba plans for 4th term

T

HAT the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, is one of the most influential lawmakers at the National Assembly is an acknowledged fact.

A third term senator, representing Cross River Central and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ndoma-Egba, according to sources, will not be contesting for the governorship of his state in 2015, contrary •Ndoma -Egba to speculations making His priority, Ripples gaththe rounds that he is ered, is to return to the Senplotting to succeed the ate for a record fourth incumbent governor, term, the first ever in Cross Senator Liyel Imoke . River state.

Andy Uba vs. Ifeanyi Ubah ?

T

•Uba

HE latest news about Chief Andy Uba in the Anambra State’s political circles is his rumoured interest and that of Capital Oil boss, Ifeanyi Ubah, to contest for the state governorship in 2014.

The reports suggest that while Uba, who reigned

briefly as governor for two weeks in 2007 before he was sent packing for Governor Peter Obi by the Appeal Court, will be vying for the exalted seat on the ticket of the PDP, Ubah, revealed sources, is the alleged anointed candidate of Obi.

21

Political Politics turf

with Bolade Omonijo boladeomonijo@yahoo.com

Towards a new Nigeria

I

N the wake of the seizure of allocations due to the local government councils of Lagos State in 2003, I wrote then that something must be done about the powers attached to the President and the presidency by the 1999 Constitution. I called attention of all patriots to the need to whittle down the powers. The call went unheeded. It is interesting that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has picked up the call.

Last week, he told a distinguished audience at the Leadership lecture about the need to get the legislature to prune down the presidential powers if Nigeria is to move forward.

One way this may be done now is to restructure along the lines suggested by Professor Pat Utomi at the forum: the states should give way to regions and the load on the exclusive legislative list drastically reduced.

At the moment, the President could literally decide anyone’s fate in the country. He controls more than half of all the resources available and commands the armed and civil forces. He appoints the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the President, Court of Appeal and Justices of the Supreme Court. He also determines who is made the Inspector General of Police as well as heads of all security agencies.

No other person or body has any say in this. He is the benefactor of whoever is handed the power to organise elections. The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), other national commissioners and even the State Resident Commissioners owe their appointments and renewal of terms to him.

Reproduced below is the article published almost a decade ago.

As it was then, so it is now. This constitution review exercise is another opportunity to look beyond narrow partisan interests in deciding the way forward. Unless we take decisions that could radically alter the national equation, we would be back to this point in another 10 years.

What manner of democracy is this?

One question that must of necessity agitate the mind of anyone sufficiently knowledgeable about the working of democracy is whether there is a Nigerian brand of democracy. Democracy has been defined in many ways but what is important to note is that there are some universal principles that define the system. One, there are periodic elections. Two, there is a grundnorm binding on all operators within the system. Three, there is a due process (call it the Rule of Law) that must be followed to the letter. Four, and perhaps the most important of all, the will of the people must prevail at all times.

In this country, all the rules have been breached. It has been demonstrated over and over again that the will of the people amount to nothing in the court of politicians. The most ingenious among them are busy at all times devising means of thwarting the will of the people. When elections are held, meetings are held late into the night right from the compilation of the voters register with a view to discarding with the masses’ choice.

Just a few weeks after the hotly disputed elections held in April, the government has started unfolding its own interpretation of the mandate purportedly received at the polls. Last week, it unveiled a new regime of petroleum products prices. In a sense, it is a way of showing that the people might have endorsed the plan to hike prices of such basic commodities. No one bothered explaining how the extra money to be “saved” from the exercise would be spent.

The 1999 Constitution makes the Nigerian President the most powerful in the world. He is really not accountable to anyone. He is, indeed, like the emperors of yore. He is the Chief Legislator, the most powerful judicial officer and, of course, the Chief Executive.

Did you say how? Under the Constitution, the President proclaims, inaugurates and dissolves the National Assembly and most Bills are initiated by him. As we have seen over and over again since 1999, the President also, in unofficial capacity, appoints principal officers of the National Assembly and they enjoy office at his pleasure. With regard to the Judiciary, he appoints the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

And, another appointee of his, this time, one responsible to him and him alone, the Attorney General, plays a crucial role in the National Judicial Council which administers the judiciary.

By virtue of Section 315 of the Constitution, the President could make and unmake laws. This power was first demonstrated over the fate of the Petroleum Trust Fund inherited from the military.

The President simply scrapped the body without recourse to the legislature. When the legislators asked questions about the source of his power to abolish a statutory body without a repeal of the relevant law, he brandished Section 315. Looks more like 419.

Again, only last week, the President in what appears a flagrant disregard of the Constitution, decided to set aside the law by seeking to abrogate the Local Government Councils by fiat. To the best of this writer’s knowledge, Section 7 of the Constitution has not been abrogated. But the President has exercised his power to make and unmake. Makes him look more like the French King Louis XIV of the 17th Century.

As time rolls by, with a former military leader as president, more of such powers would be exercised to the discomfiture of the electorate. In Nigeria , the electorate is certainly not the king.

This article was first published in Vanguard June 27, 2003

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Politics

22

I ‘m not finished yet -Titi Ajanaku Chief (Mrs.) Titi Ajanaku, a nurse by training but better known as a foremost political activist, first came into national limelight when she emerged, against all odds, as chairman old Abeokuta Local Government under the zero- party arrangement and was in the vanguard of the G-34, which metamorphosed into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). She has dared where some of her male counterparts dared not to thread, as her political activities had sent her to the lion’s den. The top politician, who was arrested and arraigned before the Patrick Aziza’s Tribunal for her alleged involvement in the 1995 phantom coup, spoke with Adetutu Audu, on her career, politics and national issues. Excerpts

W

HY did you join party politics?

I actually joined politics in 1977 with the aim of improving the lot of the people of my community and Nigeria at large and to also serve as a catalyst to our women who are interested in politics; who can learn from my experience and not go through what I passed through. My objective in politics is about service. I have contested some elective posts and won and others I lost but I am not deterred because I have a vision. The people of Ogun State in particular and Nigeria in general need to encourage the women who have the wherewithal and the vision to participate so that they can be mentored.

I joined politics not because I wanted to contest election. I retired as a nurse, when I was in service; I started a mobile clinic, when I discovered the high mortality rate then in Ilesa.

During the Obasanjo’s transition programme, after the demise of the late Murtala Mohammed, I have been hearing about the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo then, but I have never met him. So, I said if this man, who wanted to contest, has the interest of the people at heart, then let us go and see him.

That was how we went to Ikenne and after appreciating our effort, he said I give you this challenge that you should come on board as we are going to include the programme in our manifesto.

That is how I came into politics; it has not been easy though. In this game, most men are chauvinistic and if they see a woman rubbing shoulders with them, they become jittery.

The first thing they would do, as they have done to some women, is that they want to befriend you. They will say they will settle you. I have not gone through that because most of them are afraid to look me in the face.

It is not me, but it is God’s doing. When that one fails, then they start harassment, a lot of women have fallen by the way side through that. When that fails again, they will resort to blackmail. They will send people to your husband to blackmail you that you did all manner of things at night meetings.

But it is not all political meetings you hold in the nights. Sometimes, you need to bring people home to sell your ideas. And once you are not intimidated, people see you as a leader they can follow.

But I thank God that politics gave me opportunity to give my best at every opportunity. Women are the best managers of resources than men. The system is already corrupt, but before a woman could have the heart to steal like these men are doing, it will take the devil in her because I cannot do anything I cannot defend in the presence of my family.

What is in vogue now is that when men get position, they begin to look for trouble. For instance, that is when they would realise that the woman at home is not good again. They now look at all these six-inch Stilettos ladies and spoil them with material things.

They go as far as selling their properties because they want to contest elections. Women cannot do that.

But I have always said that people will always get the kind of government they deserve.

Any woman who knows her mission in politics would not fall prey to the antics of her male counterparts. Once they know that you are the frivolous type, they won’t have any iota of respect for you. Again, you can be swayed, easily. Once they have something they can always flaunt to blackmail you, you can’t stand on any principled position. Yes, on any issue you feel strongly against, you lose your voice in the crowd. Suddenly, your political career becomes a flash in the pan. You stand for nothing. In fact, I can tell you, one of the antics of our male counterpart: once they know you are the principled type, they try to lure you for sex.

Once you start sleeping around, you have provided them the instrument they can use to break you on a platter of gold.

It has been a long journey but I am not at the end of the road yet.

Are you satisfied with the level of women participation in politics?

Women are in large quantities in politics. But unfortunately a larger part of them are clappers and dancers. Somehow, when you talk of women, we gossip; we are jealous and envious. Always, the

•Ajanaku question is, is it only her? But what we lack is the opportunity and unfortunately there is no independent candidate in the constitution yet. When you offered yourself and the party says no, who are the party? To some of the members, it is the highest bidder. There is slight improvement in-between 2007 and 2011. Those of us, who want to stand, do not have the wherewithal like the men.

When Dame Patience Jonathan took it upon herself to canvass for 35 percent affirmative action the President supported it. We will fare better when women are in the structure of the party because it is party hierarchy that nominates you or influences A or B. When you are given appointment you are at the mercy of the person who appointed you. I am an incurable optimist; I know things will get better.

We are not saying the men are not the head. We are saying we are partners in progress. You will realise out of selfishness, men don’t support women.

From 2009 when former President Obasanjo appointed six women in his administration and gave them challenging opportunites, we told ourselves, that was a window that has been opened; don’t close it by your attitude. The window opened further, that is why the President gave women opportunities too. Things are changing and will continue to change.

You left PDP for AC and now you are back in PDP. Is that not political prostitution?

No it’s not. I did not join AC, we formed it. It was because of the circumstances between 2005 and 2007. When I am dealing with someone, I deal wholeheartedly, just because the party was afraid of somebody they changed rule. How can a party say they should deregister someone? I left the party in protest. In fact, some people told me you formed the party together, how can you leave the house you built.

When they start carrying cudgels and guns, if you don’t excuse yourself, you may not be alive to tell the story.

Initially, we wanted amalgamation with other political parties and that was what led to the change of AC to ACN. But again, there were so many intrigues. After that, reconciliation moves were made.

Given the crisis in PDP, what would you say

is the problem with your party?

It is mainly because of lack of discipline and lack of internal democracy. Once you become the President, you automatically become the leader of the party. Then, what happens to the party structure? You are elected as the governor, maybe you just came in, after all the structures had been put in place, but because you are lucky or because you spent this and that amount of money, you become the governor of the state and then you automatically become the leader of the party in the state.

So, where is the discipline? And you know power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

And when you are the governor and the leader of the party, you can tell anybody to go to blazes.

And that was what happened that we were unable to manage the success that we had. And God in His infinite mercies has humbled everybody. And that itself is food for thought. It is only God that is ‘I am that I am.’

Do you think President Jonathan will deliver the change Nigerians expect?

The President has been through a lot. From deputy governor till now and because of his humility, he has the mandate to do that which will benefit the people.

I pray he does that. If he can wriggle himself from the hawks around him, he will deliver.

The issue of insecurity has been a major challenge in the country. What is your view?

Without security, there is no peace, there is no progress and there is no prosperity. When people start leaving in fear, then you know what that means. That is why I would ask everybody to keep praying for this country. Things have gone beyond human understanding. It is my belief that the government at all levels will continue to do their best and even go an extra mile to make sure that Nigeria and her people are safe. People can no longer sleep with both eyes closed. Even walking in the afternoon has become something frightening.

The Boko Haram issue is becoming scarier.

When they started, it was killing people, now they have graduated to bombing the telecomm mast and if we cannot communicate with each other, you know what that means. It should be priority

of government. The populace too has a role to play.

Some said it is fire for fire, while others are calling for dialogue. What do you think is the best approach to tackle the Boko Haram issue?

To be quite honest, I don’t have the answer.

That is because the security officers and the government see more than we see and know more than we know. And since it is their responsibility to protect us, though the only protector is the Almighty, we have to pray and work. I am not quite comfortable with dialogue, dialogue with whom?

It means we know who these people are, they are not faceless. If they know who they are, they can talk with them. But innocent lives have been wasted.

What is even more frightening is the condition they are giving the president.

Nigeria is not an Islamic state, it is a secular state. There is no way you can enforce any religion on anybody. I am really at a loss as far as that one is concerned.

Dame Patience Jonathan was appointed as Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State recently even as Nigerian First Lady. What is your position on this?

How can a First Lady of Nigeria be an employee of a state? It beats my imagination; I honestly don’t understand the reason behind it. I understand what her functions as a permanent secretary is supposed to be. I don’t know whether she would be in the office, directing the affairs under the commissioner for whatever ministry she is put and still remains the Nigerian First Lady.

Can you recount your experience in the 1995 phantom group?

I was arrested for being part of a group, attempting to topple the regime.

I was in my house when, armed men came around 3 am and I was taken away, to be detained. I was moved around various detention centres, later arraigned along with General Obasanjo, the late Sheu Musa Yar’ Adua, Col Bello Fadile and many others and tried before General Patrick Aziza. I was exonerated, discharged and freed of all the charges; likewise the late Chief Adisa Akinloye.

While in detention, I became worried for several reasons. One, I tried to examine myself: Was I fraternising, innocently with people, who had sinister motives against the government? Well, my conscience was clear on this and I became less worried, because I knew nothing of such ever happened. Again, what if they found me culpable, in their own judgement and did the worse?

You know, they said the military will give us lawyers. But for us, our lawyers were Colonels downwards and the prosecutor, Generals upward.

As you know, ‘who born Colonels to start arguing with the Generals?’

I became worried: My father who was very old was still alive then and I had promised him, prayed to God that he would smile to his grave, that I will bury him. My son was also in Hungary, studying Medicine.

My father also prayed that I am going to bury him and that I would not be shown his grave and at that time, he was 100 years old.

That was my most trying period. Of course, it drew me closer to God till today. You know, I had the opportunity of being a counselor to other prison inmates, especially those with children. The cell is so congested. But we thank God, where is Abacha today?

In all these, how have you been able to manage your matrimonial home?

I am luckier than most people. From day one, because of my upbringing and the urge to serve, I will say, if I do nothing, I will be most difficult to be with. So, everybody supported and encouraged me. Besides, I have only one son, now 44, who was brought up as if tomorrow I may not be there.

But my advise to young women who are nursing baby and interested in politics is not to go into active partisan politics, because if your home suffers, there will be no where to run back to. There is nothing wrong in being interested but they should start from their immediate environment.

23

INSIGHT THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Flood, flood everywhere

• The River Niger overflows its banks, flooding the Lokoja-Abuja road.

PHOTO: Dupe Olaoye-Osinkolu

F

ROM Kogi to Benue, and Edo to Ebonyi and Bauchi to Kano the story is the same. Floods, water, destruction, displacement, death and agony. In fact, across all the regions of the country- North, South, East and West- the story is the same. The heavens have opened up as if a fury and the water have fallen ceaselessly, dams have been bursting, some have been opened up to forestall collapse and the fury of the waters have been wreaking havoc.

The latest spot is Bauchi where scores of hapless villagers and rural dwellers have died. Thousands of homes, farm lands, personal effects and domestic animals and birds have been washed away while several communities have been displaced. Yet the flood has just begun according to Meteorologists. Thus, a resource, rain that should have been used as a source of wealth and bountiful harvest, is threatening the very existence of citizens.

The case of Bauchi in the North East is complicated with the fact that it is already under the threat of desertification and now faced with acute floods. This year's rainy season has brought untold hardship to millions.

Heavy rains across the country have wreaked havoc in the last few weeks, Austine Tsenzughul in Bauchi reports on how the state is coping.

Threats of food shortage The heavy downpour has cast a dark and gloomy shadow over the expected joy of bumper harvests by farmers across the country. This is besides the threat to lives and properties as well as displacement leading to serious health hazards. This is coming on the heels of warnings by weather forecasters in 2011 and 2012 that heavy rains are expected.

It is a common knowledge that when such water bursts out, it literally takes

control over level grounds and valleys, but not the hills. And so it came with all its force washing away, houses, farmlands, stripping families of their abodes and belongings. It has become a regular sorry-sight that each time the waters receded, it leaves a terrible sight of death and destruction and trails of dissolution and despair on the faces of surviving victims and communities.

The people of the state and the government have tied their

“The heavy downpour has cast a dark and gloomy shadow over the expected joy of bumper harvests by farmers across the country. This is besides the threat to lives and properties as well as displacement leading to serious health hazards.

This is coming on the heels of warnings by weather forecasters in 2011 and 2012 that heavy rains are expected.”

developments to agriculture, being an agrarian community. However, this is now under threat as huge investments in this direction might have been washed away by the flood.

The concept of wealth from the soil was to develop the rivers into dams and turn their basins into market places for agricultural produce and generate activities that will produce enough food, cash crops and ensure food security for the state and the rest of the country. By so doing, it was the government's agenda that agriculture will not only ensure abundant food in the state and country, it will further boost farmers' income and generate foreign earnings as the food and cash crops produced will be either domestically processed and sold to foreign lands or sold as raw materials.

Based on this noble prospect, the state government as far back as the 80s during the administration of Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Shagari under the political platform of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) conceptualised the Kafin Zaki Dam Project and even began excavating the site. Although the dam project could not be completed before the overthrow of the government of theThird Republic, subsequent •Continued on Page 26

24

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

THE SUNDAY INTERVIEW

‘Ours is not yet a democracy’

D

O you think that what the Civil Right Groups fought against during the military have been achieved today?

I think when you look back you find out that, all we did together was to get the military off the stage. There were then the two ‘wes’, okay.

The first ‘we’ were groups of people who were already in active politics.

These were people who were in party politics then and were really fully involved in it. These were those who were in MKO Abiola’s party then; there were those who were in NADECO. All these already had party affiliations, yet they were members of the Civil Rights Groups. These were people who took advantage of party politics to swim through to the other side.

Then there were the group who had a larger view of what was needed to get Nigeria on the path of progress.

There were the people who we saw as the socialists and who were also on the broad left. Those people decided that it was necessary to free the country in order to advance to the next level. That time, there was a coalition of the civil rights people. There was the late Beko Ransome-Kuti who was later joined by the late Gani Fawehinmi and so on.

All these were led by people who had their antecedents on the left – that is the socialists group. Now, I am saying this because, when you look at it now, what we were fighting for was to be able to get not just the nebulous idea of the people, trying to chose their own type of government, we were also fighting for a situation in which people would be able, generally, to advance the cause of workers. That was the general idea and concept behind the struggle and the motivation to liberate the society. We needed to produce the ordinary people who would build their own society, where there would be at least a minimum welfare state.

However, coming out of the defect of military rule, we now found out there was not really unity of goals. As far as that other group was concerned, all we needed to do was to get the military off our backs and then life continues. After that there would be party politics so that they would get into power.

And another said, well, after the defeat of the military, the forces will be reorganized so that we would advance and improve the cause of the working people.

Now, what has happened is that those who just saw that anti-military struggle as a way of just getting political power are the ones who have benefited from the status quo. They are the people who now claim and cling to the leadership of the state. You’d be surprised that when you now hear the history of the anti-democratic struggle you only hear about people who were in NADECO. And that is not quite correct.

NADECO is now what is on the lips of people. Yet there were the CD, the JACON, etc, etc. After the military struggle, it was easy for our patriots who also struggled to enter into the mainstream politics, win governorships, establish political parties and all that. That is where we are presently.

That other ‘we’ is still trying to reorganise itself. We knew what we wanted to do – to build a socialist country, not to build a Nigeria that is ruled by the same forces who now behave as the military did. Now they are being influenced and controlled by American government,

international funders and so on. These are the people who funded the so-called democratic forces and they are now in total control of the affairs of the nation and the people.

Some Southern leaders of thought have been advocating for state police. Do you think Nigeria is ripe for that now?

Usually in Nigeria when there is a problem, people will say okay it was there before, that there was regional police before and it was later dismantled. And why not bring it back now? You see, I find those arguments rather light-headed, because, unless you ignore history, you’ll not get to the root of these problems. You have to really analyse history to see what it was like in the past. When we had state or regional police, what was it like, what was the situation then? Why was it dismantled and so on?

What was the situation in which we had regional police? And what is the situation now? Now where are we going? For me, right now, honestly it is not that I want to dodge the question. It is to get the fundamental problems in proper perspective. What is the police force for? What function does it play in Nigeria today?

In Nigeria now, as I am talking to you, do the police protect the people, the masses of the nation? Do the police advance the interest of those millions who are suffering in the society? What is the state of the police itself? When you look at it, our police is a rag– tag force. It is badly equipped, badly paid; it is without any doubt in a bad state.

Clearly from the way the police has been stretched – bad condition of service, We knew what we corruptive tendencies, you don’t expect them to operate wanted to do – to better. Now, again, when build a socialist you look at it, when the police come out to do a func- country, not to build tion, it is basically to oppress.

To quell riot, to collect a Nigeria that is money, that is the main funcruled by the same tion of the police as it is today. forces who now For me, instead of saying how do we create a society behave as the military where we will transform the did. Now they are police, to play the role that it ought to play, we are not talk- being influenced and ing of a police that is so controlled by badly run and equipped, badly treated and all it can American do is to serve the function of government, the rulers. This is not proper at all. international funders There is no general universal answer to the ques- and so on. These are tion of the state police. No, the people who there is none. With the way the Nigerian police is right funded the so-called now people are talking democracy, but there is no class democratic forces and now that is truly committed they are now in total to democracy. Or is there?

That includes the governors. control of the affairs What the governors believe is that all you need is to of the nation and the keep power by all means. For people. me, the question is badly put – a state police issue now, it may turn out that someone wants to use it in the hands of corrupt people and anti – democratic elements. I don’t think that it is historically justified to have a situation when state police can be the answer. It has to be based on the historical function under which we are now in this society. I am answering the question whether or not police should be in state hands or not. I am basing my views on the historical parameter in which we are.

NUPENG threatened to go on strike based on the oil subsidy probe and other cases of corruption in the system. How do you assess this vis-à-vis the level of corruption in Nigeria?

“

“

During the heady days of the military rule, Dr. Dipo Fashina and a host of others in the civil rights groups fought to free Nigeria from dictatorship. Fashina, a senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU) Ile-Ife, Osun State, is also a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Edozie Udeze met him recently.

•Continued on Page 25

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

THE SUNDAY INTERVIEW

25

•Fashina

The question of the oil subsidy thing is a question I think the working class people of this society who are the ones at the receiving end should be able to defend.

Let me say one thing –we are here because of political and economic choices, not by a group of people who have been installed there to lead. It is not a question of who is there now. When we told people that EFCC, ICPC and so on are not our ideas, that they were what they were out of the conditions that we were given, many people did not believe us.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala being there now in government is not an accident. It is not at all. The subsidy probe is part of the agenda why she is there. And you saw all the futile arguments she presented over there about the oil subsidy removal. Now Nigerians know better.

The question that rises today is: the way we pose this question needs to be re – examined. Should we prosecute the Faruk Lawans or the Femi Otedolas and so on?

Should we now have a new PIB bill? Those questions are important; yes we can prosecute them. The first thing we have to do is if we begin to talk about prosecution in a country where the judiciary is bad, even if the judiciary were the best, the question for me still remains how do you punish the offenders. How do you punish people who have been found guilty of fraud? A serious country will of course punish those found guilty.

But the harder question is, what is the root of this oil theft? How did we get to this level? It is that history we have to look at first to be able to get it right. In this country, many people have been saying that our problem is that the people who are running this country are the same people who are interested in power for the sake of amassing wealth. And as long as power is in the hands of these people, this cannot be called a country.

So, that is the fundamental question. Those who are in the habit of enabling them – the IMF agents here, the civil servants who join them in this situation… Come to the history of it all. When we removed the military, President Olusegun Obasanjo who took over was the one who created the basis and foundation for all this. When he created all these conglomerates; when he created what he termed captains of industries. And then he created Transcorp through which he created the policy of selling

all public institutions to private ownership.

So, if you want to clean up this mess, you cannot start from here. You have to start from the Obasanjo era.

They are all alike; the same set of people. We are talking of a class of rulers all of whom are involved in this melee of corruption. Then you go into it and the task is big. I am not against taking people to court. But taking people to court and appearing to punish them here and there seem to be the In some federal same to me. They seem to exchange batons and, universities, there therefore, there seems to be is no one who will no progress at all.

People are talking tell you that you about corruption daily and cannot fail a course. …

Oh yes, people are Of course, where criticising it, calling for a final solution. Yes, it is an you fail, you either enfeebled government. But have a re-sit or it is an enfeebled government because it is the latest carry-over. This is stages of a system of a reto maintain a gime of fraud that started with Obasanjo. That is standard. But in what all of us should remember. So while we are some private dealing with it, we should universities that I remember it is the latest in an ancestry of the same know, you do not corruptive tendency by the fail. same people.

I am saying this because we move from one illusion to the other. And we still come back to the same thing. People should be striking for what they feel is a fraud and it is legitimate.

Those who want to solve the problems of this country must put into consideration that all we have are the same class of people who hold the country by the jugular. Until we wriggle free from their tendency to continue to tie us down perpetually, we will continue to run in circles.

“

“

•Continued from Page 24

What is your take on private universities that produce so many first class graduates every year?

Let us also talk about federal universities. In most federal universities there are certain disciplines where you can hardly produce first class graduates. The history is there and it is justified. And nowadays when you produce just one or two first class there after many years, people will know their worth.

But these days, when I hear of a private university producing dozens and dozens of first class materials, I wonder how and why. Sometimes they produce, double or even triple what a federal university has not produced since its inception or in the past twenty years.

When we hear this, of course, we know that something is wrong.

In some federal universities, there is no one who will tell you that you cannot fail a course. Of course, where you fail you either have a re-sit or carry-over. This is to maintain a standard. But in some private universities that I know you do not fail. No, you do not and this is unorthodox. I also know some people who think private universities are not up to standard. And in order to make the world see them as better, they have to produce many first class to justify their existence.

I know that if there is any federal university that produces as many first class as the private ones do, you’ll ask what is wrong. It is not a healthy development for education in the country, too many first class is not a tea party and it is not an everyday thing.

Without prejudice that there are many bright students in the private universities, that is not a guarantee that first class materials are that many. Remember also that they do not have the kind of quality staff we have.

Most of them still borrow lecturers from here where we have better qualified teachers and professors. So how come they now do better than federal universities? It is really difficult to imagine how they now train extremely high quality students who garner first class at random.

Generally, many of us are now very critical of the standard being set for our young graduates by the private universities. We are also worried that this too may not be too healthy for our society, where people with first class cannot easily prove what they are worth. We need to really, really look into it for the benefit of our educational standard and the future of this country.

26

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

INSIGHT

Floods of fury •Continued from Page 23

administrations decided to go on with the project. But with the spate of floods the fate of the project now hangs in the balance.

Now the fate of the Kafin Zaki Dam project is between the communities in the upstream and the downstream as well as politicians who, apparently, and perhaps out of pride in the name of "fighting for our people" feel they need to assess the Environmental Impact Assessment (EPA) or the effect of the existence of the dam on their people's lives.

Even with a clearly painted picture of developing the dam that will stem the flooding of communities along the river banks and valleys in the areas it appears those concerned are not ready to come to a round table discussion with the protagonists of the dam who, must have done their homework well enough before proclaiming the positive potentials of the dam project.

The devastating flood facing several communities in Bauchi State and other communities across the country is unprecedented catastrophe that requires proactive measures because most of these communities and thousands of hectares of land have been submerged in 14 out of 20 local government councils of Bauchi State alone.

In the grip of disaster In Desina Village, a predominantly peasant settlement, 220 houses have been destroyed while in Zigau in Shira Local Council over2,000 farmlands and food crops worth millions of Naira have been washed away by the flood. In the 13 other local government areas, the story is not different as over 30 people have been drowned across the state.

In the wake of the disaster, hundreds of communities are still struggling to come to terms with this grim reality which of course is the first of its kind in the state created in 1976. Residents of the affected areas have been compelled to seek refuge at various public buildings such as primary and secondary schools built on high level grounds. Community efforts have been focused on relief operations in a race against time so as to save more lives, houses and farmlands while those affected in such areas wait with painful impatience for government's intervention to reach to the survivors with assistance.

However, the survival of the victims depend on how quick the authorities are able to respond to their plights as they continue to entertain fear of getting infected by diseases from an unhealthy environment in which they have found themselves and the ensuing environmental degradation.

Not left out of the flood menace are public infrastructures particularly roads, a situation that is not limited to the 14 local governments alone but across all the 20 councils in the state. The flood has cut off more than 100 communities from either the local government headquarters or even Bauchi, the state capital, thus delaying deliverance of relief materials in some areas.

While on a tour of the affected areas to assess and determine the extent and the increasing damages occasioned by the flood, the Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda, called for the immediate intervention of all the relevant agencies to fix the roads so that relief materials could be delivered promptly.

Visibly touched by the conditions of the victims in their temporary quarters, Yuguda assured that government will continue to cater to their needs while the federal government would be appealed to, to properly rehabilitate them.

It was in view of the disaster and the cries of the victims that the federal government recently sent a technical team to the state to assess the extent of the damage caused and recommend how best

•Governor IsaYuguda of Bauchi State, Minister of Environment, Hadiza Mailafiya and Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochepe with their entourage on an inspection tour of flooded areas in Bauchi where some vil

•(L-R) Hajiya Hadiza Mailafiya,Minister of Environment and Governor Isa Yuguda. Pictures by Austine Tsenzughul

•Part of a submerged farm with the road cut off.

•L-R Sarah Ochepe Minister of Water Resources,Hadiza Mailafiya, Minister of Environment and Governor Isa Yuguda shortly after a tour of some flooded areas.

•A village cut off with corn farm sunmerged in Zaki lga, Bauchi State

to sort them out. Incidentally, when the team arrived in the state, there was no way the assessment could be carried out by road because all the roads leading to the 16 villages have been washed away.

The team had to use helicopter to get to them.

Speaking on behalf of the communities, Yuguda suggested to the federal government the need to expedite action on the construction of the Kafin Zaki Dam as a lasting solution to the menace of the flood, besides the relief assistance.

The Presidential team was made up of the Minister of Environment, Hajia Hadiza Mailafiya, her Water Resources counterpart, Mrs. Sarah Ochepe and

Alhaji Mohammed Sani Sidi, the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). They assured the victims of the willingness of the federal government to intervene in their plight.

But how soon will the intervention come, remains the question the embattled flood victims are asking even as more areas are being flooded almost on hourly basis as dark clouds continue to gather to send down the rain.

The Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency (BASEPA) last week estimated that the state needs about N8 billion to address the environmental damage caused by the flood. While the rampage of the flood continues, some

seasonal rivers and streams within the affected councils have been deepened and expanded through erosion by at least 5.5 meters, thus spreading more fear.

While it is a common knowledge that flooding expands and increases the depth of eroded areas, causing damage to lives and properties, the quick intervention by the state government will serve as a stabilising factor for the continued existence of the villages.

In addition, the reclaimed and eroded parts of the villages, construction of the washed away roads and hoeing out standard drainages to facilitate free flow of water when next it comes will serve as a breather while such will save over 1,000 houses allegedly built along water ways or channels.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

My heade r u t a n g n o r st got me sent away from home Page 43

—Chika Chukwu

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Glamour

Kehinde Falode Tel: 08023689894 (sms)

E-mail: kehinde.falode@thenationonlineng.net

High waisted trend T

HE high-waisted skirts, and pants are super trendy and are rocking this season. Many celebrities are now using this piece and are flattening out. There are several designs of these skirt and pant, and they promise to be very successful among women because they can be used on many occasions, both on hot days, as in the coldest days.

The high-waisted skirt is a stylish number that is very popular in stores.

An interesting tip is to use high-waisted pants and skirts with high-heeled shoes, it gives a charm and lets the woman quite elegant. This type of skirt can also be used with low heels, which is also very cool and stylish. The highwaisted denim skirts are in fashion and therefore tip bet this super fashion.

One of the reasons that the high waist trend is so favoured by many women, young and old, is that it suits almost every body type and is such a versatile piece of fashion.

How to wear the high waist trend

O

NE of the hottest ways to wear this trend is with a cropped top. Many celebrities and fashion houses have been seeing wearing this trend.

Wear your skirt with a loose top tucked, topped off with a blazer for a laid-back yet smart look. This is one of the most popular ways to wear this trend.

Mix and match different colours, think of the colour blocking trend, wearing numerous bright and bold colours together for a funky look.

For a more casual look, pair the skirt with a tank top or tshirt. A solid colour skirt with a print or pattern top is a fun look.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Glamour

29

•Lilian Unachukwu

•Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde

•Jumai Shaba

Lean to the skinny side

I

T is time to nestle up to a pair of skinnies considering the way they are flooding all fashion areas and you will always find a pair that fits.

Preferably, pick out a coloured denim trousers as we have a lot of rich colours. People wear their skinnies in different styles and creating different looks and you cantake pleasure in

Wumi Oguntuase matching them to unique stylish looks.Pair with classic jackets, romantic blouses, shirts, tops, trendy comic tees etc. The list is endless. This season, coloured skinnies have been trending a lot and you cannot go wrong with them as they are suitable for anywhere so stay loyal to them.

•Skinny trousers

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Glamour

Get the

jump g

n i k c o l b r u on colo

By Wumi Oguntuase

•Toolz

•Bola Fadina

•Michelle Dede

•Dolapo Oni

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Glamour

31

1

Stella Monye dominated the entertainment scene with her Afro-pop style of music in the 80s. Many will remember her evergreen songs, “Oko Mi Ye”,” Ife “, to name just two. She's still very much around and shares her favourite things with Wumi Oguntuase.

Favourite shoe designer Ferragamo-Italy

2

Favourite perfume Louis Vituion

3

Favourite Jewellery piece Beads, and sometimes Maubosins jewellery

4

Favourite Book Danielle Steel

5

Favourite Quote It takes two to Tango

6

Favourite cloth designer Sean John.

I wear a lot of his Jeans

7

Favourite food and drink Wheat flour and Vegetable soup and Tea

8

?????’s

p o t

10

Favourite hair accessory Beads

9

Favourite Fashion Adire batik made into trousers and waist coat

10 Favourite Pet Baby Tiger

32

Glamour

WYCLEF JEAN

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

My affair with “

Lauryn Hill

broke the Fugees In his new autobiography, Wyclef Jean, recounts in vivid detail the story of his climb to the top with the Fugees, the affair with Lauryn Hill that brought an end to the groupand the two men he wanted to murder in Haiti. Melissa Leon writes.

Courtesy: The Daily Beast

THEATRE

With VICTOR AKANDE

t

BIGSCREEN

Tel: 07029013958

SOUND TRACK

E-mail:

GISTS

PAGE

33

plus

victor_akande@yahoo.com

Project Fame kids honour Waje performs at NEA awards, Whitney Houston, ses new singles a le re Marvin Gay

S

•Marvin Gay

•Whitney •Contestants performing on stage

T

HEY brought sweet memories when they played the hit songs of legendary American stars, Whitney Houston and Marvin Gay. The popularity of these stars and how well their songs were presented, added to the credit which these young stars seek as contestants in the MTN Project Fame Academy.

The session, which sent the crowd into great emotion inside the Ultima Studio, was followed by the probation process that saw Didi and Ella being evicted from the academy.

The crowd became slightly moody, but soon regained its excitement following an extraordinary decision among the judges to recall Ella.

The show, in recognition of the impact of the late Houston, deemed it fit to perform a session of condolence.

Thus remaining season five

I

contestants in the academy, Marvelous, Ayo, Musulyn, Adetoun, Oyinkansade, Ella, Didi and Christian performed some songs by Whitney Houston and Marvin Gay. The special tributes gave way to the elimination process in which owing to low vote scores, Christian, Adetoun, Oyinkansade, Didi and Ella were placed on probation. However, where the judges, the faculty and the contestants not on the probationary list have the power to save a contestant each, the two unsaved contestants are declared evicted. The rule nonetheless witnessed a creative twist last weekend. The judges saved Adetoun, the faculty saved Oyinkansade, and the other

Top comedians for Nite of A Thousand Laughs Xtra

T promises to be loads of fun this According to the organisers, Independence as Opa Williams' Lagosians will have a rare Nite of A Thousand Laughs Xtra is opportunity of seeing legendary pop poised to make this season of national star, Mike Okri, perform after about celebration a memorable one as always. a decade's sojourn in the United States. Afro hip hop stars, Brymo This year's Nite of A and Omawumi, are also on the bill Thousand Laughs Xtra set to in an evening that promises to be be staged on October 1, will explosive. parade a collection of comedians from Nigeria and “Lagos edition of Nite of A across Africa who are set for Thousand Laughs Xtra is always the performances as of their something different because this lives. Leading the trio from is where we started the whole across Africa is Eric Omondi, thing from in 1995 and as part the hottest comedian from of appreciation to the Kenya with Patrick Lagos crowd that has Salvador from kept us going for 16 Uganda and years, we always go Cotilda from out of our way to Zambia. Seasoned reward them with stand-up comic, prizes and special Okey Bakassi, is performances ‘captain’ of the every October 1,” Nigerian side said Opa with top ‘players’ Williams, the such as Bovi, organiser of the Funny Bone and •Opa williams annual show.

Akpororo.

contestants voted Christian. The twist, however, was that the judges, for the first time used their powers of recall to bring back Ella from elimination.

TyMix, one of the judges gave reason for the unusual recall when he said: “Seeing that Ella has potential, it's just fair that she be given a chance, as she has barely spent up to two weeks in the academy.” Ella joined the academy three weeks ago after being picked from the Youtube Wide Card Entry that had about hundreds of video entries from all across West Africa.

The competition has just two weeks to come to climax.

Organisers say there will be no elimination in the remaining weeks.

Lara George expecting baby

S

HE made her debut as a solo artiste with the hit track Ijoba Orun.

According to reports, the singer is on a nine months course and is expecting baby number two before the year runs out.

Lara George was formerly with the music group, Kush. And is an architect turned singer.

When it comes to gospel music in Nigeria, Lara has shown that she's a force to reckon with and has continued to make hit after hit, that endear her to a lot of Christian music lovers.

The show this weekend is expectedly tough, as this is the determinant for who wins at the closing gala, scheduled for next weekend.

•Lara

OUL sensation, Waje, hit the airwaves a week ago with two singles from her upcoming self titled album titled W.A.J.E (Words Aren't Just Enough). The released songs are the brand new single 'Oko Mi' and the previously leaked heartbreaking song 'I wish'.

The songs received a massive welcome, spending the whole day as one of the trending topics on social networks, Twitter and Facebook.

The song also currently enjoys airplay across radio stations in the country.

It has been a busy period for the

multi-talented singer as she co-hosted The Future Awards on August 26. Last weekend, Waje outdid herself in New York in her trademark show stopping style as she performed at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards. After her performance, Waje celebrated her birthday with friends in New York.

•Waje

November date for TOP10MICS concert

K

OGA Studios, organisers of TOP10MICS, have announced that the second edition of the highly publicised concert will hold at the exquisite Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The maiden edition which was adjudged a success featured top notch entertainers such as 2face Idibia, Eldee Tha Don, Wizkid, MI, P Square, Mocheedah, Femi Kuti, Duncan Mighty, Sir Shina Peters and Abass Akande Obesere.

The event held last year at the famous Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in the heart of Lagos Island brought many youths and adults together in their numbers.

Judging by the line-up of

entertainment merchants paraded last year, the question on the lips of many fun lovers is which artistes will make the event at Eko Hotel this year?

Names like Dbanj, Davido, Wande Coal, Dr Sid, Chuddy K are however being speculated.

•Wizkid

Sport&Style THE NATION

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Babalade's best kept secret

Why I fell for my wife at first sight

Fabrice Muamba set for marriage

Michael Odibe opens us

Nigerian

girls

more romantic than whites!

By Morakinyo Abodunrin

F

OR Michael Odibe, Nigerian youngster plying his soccer trade in Ukraine, the taste of the pudding is indeed in the eating.

Now in serious relationship, Odibe said he can never trade his Nigerian beauty with the most beautiful white gal on earth for obvious reasons.

“There is no way I would have settled for a white babe because my parents would not even approve of it, but personally, I think Nigerian girls are more romantic,” he said, without blinking his eyes. “Though white babes look sexy and beautiful, I don't see them as romantic as Nigerians. Well, I can say that my fiancée is romantic enough for me than any white babe.”

Odibe actually caused a stir recently when riveting pictures of him with a white damsel found their way into the local media, fuelling speculations that he is set to tie the nuptial knot with a non Nigerian. “ I doubt if my parent would allow me to bring a white

Contd. on page 38

PAGE 35

Sharapova dumps Vujacic again

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37

NATION SPORT & STYLE SUNDAY, September 23, 2012

NATION SPORT & STYLE

NATION SPORT & STYLE

LOOKING

ACE!

S

Physical fitness enhances my mental alertness

T

Meanwhile, Kim, looked more at home with the London fashion pack, with her sophisticated cream V-neck dress with tan double belt detail seemingly paying homage to her boyfriend's tennis whites.

The artist accessorised with a tan clutch bag and nude stilettos, with her trademark light brunette locks tumbling around her shoulders.

The couple, who have been dating for seven years, looked like love's young dream as they cuddled up on the white carpet - before making their way inside to the best seats in the house.

While Kim and Anna Wintour cast a discerning eye over the spring/summer 2013 Burberry looks being showcased, Andy looked a little baffled as the models made their way down the red carpet.

Fabrice Muamba set for marriage M

Kalafite Adeyemi, CP Osun State, declares

HE news that Sasha Vujacic, of all people, had won Maria Sharapova's heart elicited more grunts and squawks than an average women's singles match when the relationship began a few years ago.

But the men of the world appear to have resigned themselves to Sharapova's fate too soon, for the Russian tennis star, who was at one point engaged to marry Vujacic in November, is single again -- and has been for quite some time.

Sharapova confirmed that she and Vujacic are not only no longer engaged but also are not dating.

"I was waiting for someone to actually ask me that question, but nobody did directly," Sharapova said.

While some had speculated that Vujacic and Sharapova were no longer together, Sharapova said she didn't see the need to make it official.

"I have never really been the person to announce things," she said."I never announced when we were together or never announced that we were engaged. I never have in any of my previous relationships as well." Sharapova said she and Vujacic broke up in the spring, with the travel demands on their schedules and Vujacic now playing professional basketball in Turkey meaning they just didn't get to see each other too much.

Sharapova has been plenty busy with both her tennis career and her off-court ventures. She took silver at the London Olympics after winning the French Open this past spring, which gave her a career Grand Slam. She also launched a candy line called Sugarpova and is aiming to nab another U.S. Open title.

Andy Murray's gal dazzles at fashion show

HE'S usually seen cheering on her boyfriend from the side of the tennis court in relatively dressed-down attire.

But fresh from Andy Murray's win at the US Open earlier this month, Kim Sears has swapped sport for style by joining the fashion pack at Burberry Prorsum's London Fashion Week show.

The 24-year-old English Literature graduate looked simply stunning in a chic white dress as she posed up a storm at London's Kensington Gardens.

A great pair of doubles: Andy Murray and Kim Sears swapped the tennis And despite her partner being dressed relatively casually, Kim and the tennis champion even managed to bag a coveted front row seat alongside US Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

CELEB FITNESS

Maria Sharapova dumps Vujacic again

HELLO NAMIBIA!

Sports Illustrated beauty Kate Upton flies to Namibia for dirt bike shoot

S

HE'S known for her flawless showing whenever she features in magazines or takes to the red carpet.

But currently in Namibia as she gets stuck into a shoot for Redemption Choppers, Kate Upton is showing that she very different from the average model.

Not afraid to show the world what she looks like in a pair of sweats and an oversized jumper, the 20-year-old has steadily been uploading make-up free pictures of herself to Twitter. Kate, who is became an internet sensation following her Cat Daddy dance, touched down in South Africa on Wednesday.

Keen to let her followers know off her arrival to arid land, she quickly uploaded a picture of the sanded area with a caption that read: 'Hello Namibia!'

Taken back by the beautiful scenery, one on image which she took using the

IRACLE football star Fabrice Muamba has revealed his next challenge: A boozy stag do.

Muamba, who “died” for 78 minutes after a heart attack on the pitch, will wed Shauna Magunda, 27, next month.

The ex-Bolton ace, 24, said: “I am enjoying spending time with my family and getting ready for the wedding, it's not long now.

“Now we are just getting all the preparation together, including my stag do.

“I know the boys are getting together something nice. I am allowed a drink; I can do everything apart from physical activity.

“I am looking forward to it because I know I won't be going to football the next day!”

Muamba collapsed after 41 minutes at White Hart Lane in March during Bolton's FA Cup quarter-final with Tottenham.

Shocked players looked on helplessly as he was given 15 defibrillator shocks and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation before being rushed to the intensive care unit at London Chest Hospital.

He announced his decision to quit football after travelling to Belgium for a minor heart operation and seeking medical advice from a top cardiologist. The star was told his beloved sport would put too much pressure on his heart.

Muamba, who was guest of honour at Tuesday's game between ex-clubs Bolton and Birmingham, is currently working on his autobiography.

Despite her tight schedule as the Commissioner of Police of Osun State Police Command, Kalafite Adeyemi still has passion for reading books as well as her favourite pastime: jogging.

She can aptly be called a bookworm on account of her addiction to academic works, yet she has not lost touch with sporting activities which she cultivated during her undergraduate days at the University. Fit and trim, Adeyemi shares the secret of her sturdiness in this interview with TUNDE BUSARI

Instagram application on her phone, she wrote: 'No filter needed #namibia' The breathtaking snap showed directorial chair in front of a backdrop made up of mini cacti in clay pots, dusty mountains and blue skies. Refocusing the attention back on herself, Kate also posted a picture of herself sitting in a white bath tub which was positioned in the sand in front of a derelict building.

Getting into the flow of things on set, the Sports Illustrated beauty tweeted a picture of herself sitting on a Can-Am 250 wearing a helmet on her head and a pair of protective goggles.

Enjoying the shoot, her caption which accompanied in the photo read: 'Just 4 wheeling the dunes of Namibia. I love shooting for @redemptionbikes!!'

Redemption Choppers build motorcycles and design sports gear, while giving 50 per cent of their net profits to charitable foundations.

NFL star set to avoid jail after agreeing plea deal over Evelyn Lozada 'headbutt'

H

E has lost both his job as an NFL star and his wife. But it seems Chad Johnson will not be going to jail for head butting his now ex-wife Evelyn Lozada after he reached a plea deal with prosecutors.

The sacked Miami Dolphin is set to plead either guilty or no contest to misdemeanour battery in return for avoiding a spell behind bars. According to TMZ, sources close to the former Dancing with the Stars contestant say he has agreed to be placed on probation and complete extensive anger management counseling

He has also agreed to a no-contact order that would block him from talking to Evelyn.

The pair's divorce was finalised on Wednesday, after he had initially refused to sign the papers.

In a desperate move to win the Basketball Wives star back, he even had her face tattooed on his right leg and a posted a picture of it on Twitter. A hearing has been scheduled, during which a judge is expected to rubber stamp the deal and make it official.

It comes after Johnson took full responsibility for his actions in an interview on Showtime's Inside the NFL, and admitted he had enrolled in

anger management classes.

He said: 'I'm trying to find out how can I channel my anger when I'm in situations to where I would pop off.

'How can I diffuse those situations, trigger points? Right now I need to work on Chad.

'I had an altercation with my wife. I take full responsibility for it. I apologise for it. I'm human and I made a mistake.'

Evelyn, 36, left the 34-year-old following the incident, while the Miami Dolphins also dropped him from the team following his arrest for domestic battery on August 11 in Davie, Florida.

What is your fitness routine?

Fitness routine? I don't think there is a deliberate pattern regarding this question of fitness routine. But I take time out to exercise my body by engaging in jogging exercise at the weekend. This is not regular though, but right inside my room I subject myself to all forms of exercise.

What impacts have exercises contributed to your fitness?

If you do it, you feel it. I remember and am strict with the popular sports slogan 'No pain, no gain'. As you can see (emphasising her huge frame) I am fit as a fiddle, and I can take you on jogging, especially.

How many kilometres do you cover?

Since the exercise is not meant for a formal sporting competition, I observe it as the time I schedule for it can permit. But as I said if you do it, you feel it. I am not the one that will recommend that you go on several kilometres. No, you do according to what your body strength can absorb so that it won't be counter-productive.

Do you observe exercise to shed weight?

Which weight am I shedding? I am lucky to always be in control of my weight. I don't think I can add weight unnecessarily when my work is fully engaging. By the time I enter this office in the morning I don't leave until late in the evening. So, how am I going to add any weight?

But is exercise good?

It is very, very good not only for physical development but for mental alertness too. In fact, it is because of this reason I led my officers out last weekend on jogging exercise along the Ring road here in Osogbo.

How was it?

It was very interesting as we all dropped our uniform for sport wears and sweated it out. It is an exercise that has come to stay. I have made this clear to my officers and men that it is going

PPRO, Folashade Odoro (L), CP Kalafite Adeyemi to be a routine thing to boost their performance at work. Even before now our Volleyball team had won Osun State Governor's Cup held in Osogbo here, among other tournaments they participated in.

Do you like football which is general?

I like football like other sports.

Honestly, if other sports can be given the kind of attention

enjoyed by football, Nigeria would have made an impact at the last London Olympics. But I think the result is an eye-opener for us to do something. See how the athletes that participated at the Paralympics did us proud. What this says is that even development of sports, including special sports, will boost the image of our country.

‘Why I fell for my wife at first sight’ From page 38

Babalade with children

too,” added Babalade.

Living in Ibadan, the tall defender said, has impacted strongly on his style of dressing.

“I love the local attire ,buba & sokoto, and l have so many of them. I love kaftans too especially to be made from Guinea Brocade. As a Yoruba man, it makes you to be respected. I, however, still wear a lot of shirt and trousers to appear smart and this is due to western influence. As for jewelleries, l am not so crazy about it, l wear necklace sometimes and love good wristwatches,” he said, as he spoke on sundry issues. Excerpts....

Growing up I am from a polygamous family, so we are a large family. My late dad had four wives and l have many siblings. But before my father died, he called me and told me that polygamy is not a good

thing, so l should run from it. However, we have a very close, though big, family. We enjoy that bond even though we are not from same mothers.

I was always playing football while growing up through to my primary school days at Seventh Day Adventist Primary School, Akoka to Igbobi College in Lagos. It's all about football and that is why it is not a surprise that I ended being a footballer. Football is my life.

Soccer Career I started playing for Golf FC now Chevron FC; then Ajibulu FC in Lagos but we played all our league matches in Ogun State. I ran away to Akure and played for both Investment Corporation and Housing of Akure. I came back to join Stationery Stores in 1989 and we won the F.A. Cup in 1990. I joined Iwuanyanwu Nationale of Owerri in 1997 and then Shooting Stars Sports

Club in 1992. I played for Africa Sports of Abidjan in 1993 and returned to Shooting Stars in 1995. Then we won the F.A and the Charity Cups. In 1996, we were in the CAF Champions League finals, where we lost to Zamalek of Egypt.

In 1997, I was in South Korea for two years. I also went to Austria and had the opportunity of playing in the UEFA Champions League. My club was in the same group with Inter Milan of Italy, Sparta Moscow and Real Madrid of Spain. I had the opportunity of playing against the likes of Ronaldinho de Lima of Brazil, Raul Gonzalez of Spain, and Clarence Seedorf of Netherland. I was capped 27 times for the Super Eagles, though I didn't score any goal for the national team.

I was in the 1992 African Nations Cup hosted by Senegal as well as featured in both the 1994 World Cup and Nations Cup qualifiers.

Sport&Style SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

PAGE 38

From page 35

lady home,” he stated. “Those pictures were modelling stuff and everything ends there.

“Frankly, I have no reason to opt for foreign babes when there are one thousand and one beautiful girls in Nigeria. I prefer Nigerian babes to foreigners and the truth is that I'm in a good relationship with a Nigerian babe now.

“There is no way you will model for any club even in Nigeria and you will not get attention from ladies - every girl wants a piece of you but I am a reserved guy, reserved with total submission to a girl in my life. Of course, I do modelling part time, but that does not mean I'm a man about town.

“Everyman has his choices but I like decent babes. Beauty is not the only quality I look for in a girl. Nothing is as good as integrity and my girlfriend knows that I'm for her alone. I am not a womaniser and I cherish my girl like gold.

“I actually met her when I was still playing for First Bank FC of Nigeria just before I left for Europe. I won't say it was love at first sight, but I noticed her decency. It wasn't long for me to note her kindness and generosity too. She is twice as nice! She’s still schooling in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

“I will settle down soon since I have found the person that I love. I'm waiting for the best time from God. I'm getting tired of bachelorhood,” he revealed, as he spoke on sundry issues.

On Modelling We all know that David Beckham is the most attractive model footballer in the world and I am building my dream around him. Football can go but modelling will always be there for me and I am dreaming big on it. It is something I would do as long as I have the time.

I haven't done any modelling job since I joined Dnipro. The club President and the manager told me to concentrate on my football career for now. In effect, I can say that the club stopped me for now but I am really looking forward to some contacts from Nigeria. I am still discussing it with the management because companies have also sent me their proposals but I can't go against the rules of the club.

Between Italy and Ukraine Italy is full of fun, while some people see the country as rugged country with many activities everywhere. You have nice designers coming from the country and other things.

Ukraine is also a lively country, but I love

Italian lifestyle. There is no way you stay in Italy and you will not know the best clothes for each occasion.

Sincerely, I don't have specific one but I go for something stylish that fits my stature. I love kitting up every time I'm off the pitch. There are thousands of designers out there but I always go for easy and unique wears I don't bother about the names. I can spend more on any fitting clothes I like, be it D&G, Nike or Gucci, but it must be up to my style and taste. I like good wrist watches, particularly Italiandesigned watches.

Tattoo, cars, music and wine I have tattoos that signify the cross of Jesus Christ. I made the tattoo and write my name on it. It's a nice one and my babe loves it. I like luxury cars as well but I am not a car-crazy guy. I have cars but X35 which I bought recently is my favourite.

I love music a lot; I can be in my house or go out to any musical base to enjoy myself. I do play P-Square a lot and I like red wine too.

Parental Influence My mum fought my dad a lot because of me.

She wanted me to go to school while my dad categorically told me to choose what I believd would be good for me in the future. But what my mum wanted was schooling, schooling, schooling. My dad bought me a lot of clothes, boots and shin guard, and he sometimes gave me money to go for tournaments.

First professional salary I sent all the money to my family because my dad was on the sick bed. The money was useful for his medical care and the entire family.

‘Nigerian girls more romantic than whites!’

Babalade's best kept secret

Why I fell for my A wife at first sight

Babalade with wife

LMOST two decades after being married as husband and wife, Ajibade Babalade, former Super Eagles defence Trojan, has exclusively told The Nation Sport & Style his absorbing lovey-dovey story!

His was a classic stuff of love at first sight and the expression, 'first impression last long' takes a whole new meaning as he spoke enthusiastically about his 18-year marital bliss with his other half, Ngozi Babalade.

Though not without its challenges, which are characteristic of every marriage, the famous defender, who made his name as the highest paid defender in the land at one time, said he has not regretted dragging his spouse to the altar on June 12, 1994!

While June 12 has gone down in Nigerian history as the day evil triumphed over good, following the annulment of the Presidential election between Late Chief Moshood Kolawole Olawale (MKO) Abiola and Alhaji Bashir Torfa in 1993, Babalade said the anniversary of that iconic date is usually full of good memories.

Their love story was set in the ancient city of Ibadan, and the ex-Super Eagles' defender who is the current Team Manager of 3SC, has sensationally said he found the 'bone-of-my-bone' in his adorable wife.

“I cannot forget that incident that actually led me to my wife because it was a funny scenario,” revealed the rugged former Shooting Stars' defender. “Dotun Alatishe (a former teammate at 3SC) and l were driving through Onireke axis of Ibadan when l saw her standing on the road side.

“I was instantly impressed with her

height and good looks. l guess this is because l am extremely tall and huge too.

That was sometime in 1992.

So I asked Alatishe to stop and l asked her to join us so we could drop her off wherever she was headed. She politely rejected our offer but l insisted. So when she realised we won't go without her, she obliged and we dropped her off in her house. I visited her place again and that was when l realised she was from the Igbo part of the country which came as a surprise because she speaks Yoruba language fluently.

“Frankly, it was love at first sight. She is a very beautiful woman, and her height and beauty was the first attraction. Later when we got to know each other better, I discovered that she is industrious, hardworking and respectful. “She was working with her mum in her shop. The way she does her things, endeared her to me. And from there, we started dating and within two years, we got married on June 12th, 1994. It is one date l can't ever forget.”

Babalade explained that the union has been productive physically and spiritually.

“I have learnt a lot from her because she is very religious, faithful and very hopeful,” he said. “Whenever things are not working out for us, she would remain cool and optimistic and l have come to imbibe that spirit too.

“We are blessed with three lovely children: Segun Chukwuemeka (16), Yemisi Chinyere (13) and Tosin Nnamdi (8). They are all living in the United States of America as well as my wife because l want the best of education for them. If they want to play any sport l would encourage them

Contd. on page 37

40

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Bimbo Akintola, others lead celebrities to Hoodru sh

‘Skailey didn’t stab anyone’

O

NE of the yet-to-behost of others. premiered movies creatin Directed by Dimeji Aji a buzz on the movie sceneg a, Hoodrush is produced bybol in Nigeria, Hoodrush will Flipsyde go to the Stu dio s where Dimeji is the cinemas on its day of premi ere.

Technical Director.

Scheduled for Friday, Octob Several industry stakeh 12, 2012 at the popular Silver er bird celebrities and film journaolders, Galleria, VI, Lagos, the mu expected at the October 12 lists are thriller features talented sical pre miere and cinema releas Nollywood actors like Bim of the movie which has beee date Akintola, O.C Ukeje, Gabribo n tipped by many as one of the Afolayan, Bolanle Ninalowoel , blo ckbuster movies to watch out Ijeoma Agu, Lee Lee Byom a and a for this year.

—Publicist posits

I

N less than a week after the social media was abuzz with the news that lewd singer, Adeyemi Lawal Quadri, popularly known as Skaliey Mental, reportedly stabbed his friend simply known as DJ Kelvin, the dreadlocked singer has come out to deny the claim.

Reacting to the claim, Skailey's publicist, Osaremen Ehi James, claims that his client wasn't the person that stabbed Kelvin but a mutual friend of the victim named Walex.

“Our attention has been drawn to reports claiming our client Adeyemi Lawal Quadri popularly known as Skaliey Mental allegedly stabbed a certain DJ Kelvin also known as Kelvin.

“We hereby wish to debunk such reports about our client. There was no time Skaliey did such act as reported.

He is a law abiding citizen of the country and also a very jovial person to be with.

“However, there is no doubt about Skaliey being aware of the incident, but he was not the one that stabbed Kelvin as it is being reported. A mutual friend of both Skaliey and Kelvin known as Walex was the culprit of the act.

“This was also confirmed by statements taken by police from

Here comes Independent Fashion Expo

A

new initiative tagged Independent Fashion Expo has made its debut in Lagos. A project of E-zone Africa Group, the pan-Africa event is set to host an Independent Fashion Expo and Award.

Organisers say it will parade African top designers including Modela Couture, Steve Ray Couture, Generation Consciente (Benin) Dinal Fashion(Haiti) and some emerging designers including Sxgab •Skailey Couture, Fatfate Design, Fountain Stitches on a run-way in Lagos State.

Supported by Z-Mirage Multimedia Ltd, Kelvin, Skaliey and T Blaze, whose get their own sides of the story.

Lorna Nigeria Ltd, makers of studio the ugly incident happened “Those who ever put calls through Amigo/Darling Hair, Veleta Fruit Drink that day at Agbado area in Lagos. to Skaliey know that whenever his and MIIT Technology Services, with the “On the report that Skaliey and his number is not reachable or at network primary aim of establishing the fact that manager were contacted by the writer range, his (Skaliey) phone calls are raw talents originate from Africa, the show of the story, we wish to say that there always diverted to his manager's is said to be a deliberate effort to herald was no time they were contacted to (Tayo) phone number.” He said.

Nigeria's 52nd Independence Day anniversary. it is expected to create a platform for budding talents and to project them to mainstream global fashion industry. life rapper, Tiffany, Kofi Adjorlolo, Married stars Yvonne Nelson, Nadia The show, according to the convener, Kweku Elliot, Eddie Watson and Anita Buari and Chris Attoh all playing lead Oredola Adeola, will hold by 4p.m on Erskine alongside Nigerian TV roles.

Sunday, September 30, 2012, at Jocason Presenter turned actress, Tana Adelana Hotel Event Centre, Amje, Lagos/Abeokuta and a host of others.

Express Way, Lagos State.

The flick was produced by Media GH Expected at the event are ace in partnership with Yvonne Nelson cinematographer, Tunde Kelani and other Productions. Among Nigerian artistes celebrities like Benjamin Joseph, Yinka expected at the premiere include Davies, Ayanbirin, Tunde Joseph (Host Nyanya, DJ Jimmy Jatt and a host of Artiste), Sound Sultan and other top music others. and nollywood stars.

Told in a narrative form with Anita Erskine as the narrator, the movie centres on the drama, the intrigue and the dirty little secrets of three male friends, their sex lives, marital status and the whole works. Single and •Nadia Buari, Yvonne Nelson and friend

September 28 for Single and Married premiere

F

OLLOWING a successful showing of the movie, Single and Married in Ghana last weekend, sultry Ghanaian actress, Yvonne Nelson has said that come Friday, September 28, the flick, her debut production, will be premiered at the Silverbird Galleria.

According to the actress, it will be a blend of Ghanaian and Nigerian stars as they come together to grace a red carpet reception preceding the premiere.

Yvonne described the movie as one loaded with excitement which movie enthusiasts should look out for. Among the lineup of cast in the flick are Yvonne Nelson herself, Chris Attoh, Nadia Buari, Afro neo-soul singer, Efya, hip

Kamsee celebrates AkwaIbom@25

1

2 year-old music star, Kamsee is celebrating with others from his home state, as Akwa-Ibom •Kamsee clocks 25 years of creation.

The music star revealed that the village road. It is a great he is happy that he is achievement on the part of witnessing the silver jubilee the governor and that's the anniversary of his state. reason why I am celebrating “I am proud of my home with his Excellency who is state and especially the like a father to me,'' the present governor, Godswill young musician said.

Akpabio, who is doing well In another development, in the state. The governor Kamsee who was signed on has really transformed the by world leading music state from what it used to be label, Sony Music, has just to one of the most beautiful shot the video of his hit song states in Nigeria, he built an titled 'My world' which airport in my father's village features D' Banj in South as well as the construction of Africa.

Inception summer beach party gets support

T

HE Inception 2012 beach party is gathering momentum and all is now set for the ultimate summer party in Nigeria as YDx, a youth marketing company and its partners, SoundCity, Beat FM and Naija FM organises this once in a lifetime occasion.

The summer beach party is billed to attract several people across the country, ranging from university students to young business professionals into the cosmopolitan city of Lagos. It is billed to take place at the popular Elegushi Private Beach in the heart of Lekki next Saturday.

The summer beach party which is tagged “Inception 2012” is the 2nd edition of an interactive initiative designed with the goal of making Lagos State the preferred summer break destination for African students because of its legendary Nightlife and fantastic beach-line. It will also create opportunities annually, where students from all over the continent can enjoy discounts in luxury hotels, holiday parties and exotic moments with beach excursions in the centre of excellence.

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Nnena & Friends for Independence show

R

EADY for a double show, popular children brand Nnena & Friends, is putting every necessary thing in place for an Independence Day performance scheduled for September 30 at Blue Roof Hall, LTV 8 Agidingbi, Ikeja, and October 1st at the National Theatre, Iganmu, both in Lagos.

The organisers, who say this is the first time that the show will be taking place at two different venues, promise that that the shows will be a potpourri of entertainment like never before.

“This will range from music to dance, comedy, games and lots more. There will be one show at 12-4pm on Sunday at Blue Roof Hall, LTV 8 Agidingbi, Ikeja and two shows at 12pm and 3pm on Monday, October 1st at the National Theatre, Iganmu Lagos,” said Wale Adenuga Jr. In her words, the face of Nnena & Friends brand, Yinka Olukunga noted that “the shows will feature artistes like Jaywon, DJ-Zeez, The Oshadipe Twins, the super hilarious Papa Ajasco & Company, Sheyi Law, Uproarious Apkororo and the versatile M.C Prince. The shows, being a celebration of children, will also feature performances by child stars including N-Stars, Kamsee, Whitney Wonder and Lolly kid.”

She said several prizes await the children from sponsors like Indomie and Ribena.

•Nnena

Femi Kuti endorses

The Headies I

N a bid that confirms the popularity of the Hip-hop World Award otherwise called The Headies, frontline Afro Beat star, Femi Kuti has been announced as a leading performer at the awards night on October 20, 2012.

Holding at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, Femi Kuti, who is undoubtedly one of Africa's greatest music exports, will make an unusual

performance for a Nigerian contemporary music award scheme. The feat for The Headies is that, it is blazing the trail as a new generation scheme that has the endorsement and partnership of veterans.

The award-winning artiste and multiple Grammy-nominee began his career in 1988 when he was invited by the French Cultural Centre in Lagos and Christian Mousset to perform at the

Festival d'Angoulême (France), the New Morning Club in Paris and the Moers Festival in Germany.

The son of the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo- Kuti, has shown strong commitment to social and political causes in the course of his career. “My career is not based on awards. I sincerely mean what I sing about. My music is truly fighting for electricity, good healthcare service, good roads, equal education for my people and African unity.

It's neither a love song, nor commercial and it still gets headlines and good reviews. I'm especially touched when young people appreciate what I am doing,” the artiste said.

Organisers say that Femi Kuti will be inducted into The Headies Hall Of Fame. “It's a kind of privilege, its good. I mean I would drink a bottle of champagne when I get it, we will celebrate here,” says the Afrobeat legend.

According to Ayo Animashaun, Executive Producers of The Headies, the feat is extremely exciting. “Every year, our target is to surpass our very best efforts. With notable artistes such as Femi Kuti and many more gracing The Headies this year, our fans should expect to watch the most exciting awards ceremony to be held in recent times.”

Alarming rise of Ultimate Search applicants

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HE ninth edition of the popular Gulder Ultimate Search appears to have broken registration record, as an unprecedented number of applicants are gunning to participate in the adventure reality show which is billed to commence airing on October 20, 2012.

Reports say more than 30,000 young men and women have been registered to participate in the show, following the closure of registration penultimate Thursday. Officials of the Nigerian Breweries plc, sponsors of the contest say the registration figure is the highest since the show commenced in 2004. Interested individuals had registered on-line, via the Gulder Ultimate Search website and the official Facebook page.

In addition, walk-in registration booths were set up in selected locations across the country to ease the registration process for interested individuals.

According to Walter Drenth, Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, the reason for the increase in registration is nothing short of the popularity of Gulder Ultimate Search: “The Gulder Ultimate Search status as Nigeria's first one hundred percent local reality TV show is legendary. It is no

Skyfall takes James Bond to Heineken

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secret that the programme influenced other brands to leverage on reality TV to promote their brand awareness.

What makes it more interesting is the fact that GUS is adventure-based, which makes it one of a kind, thereby appealing to a wider audience.”

The huge number notwithstanding, only 12 individuals will eventually make it to the forest of Usaka in Obot Akara, Akwa Ibom State, where the contest will be taken to this year.

Criteria for selecting the finalists include medical and physical fitness which will be

•Some of the applicants

HE 23rd James Bond adventure, Skyfall, is at the centre of desire for world premium beer brand, Heineken, which, penultimate Friday, announced a thrilling new TV and digital campaign, in anticipation of this edition of the popular James Bond adventure.

The movie stars Daniel Craig alongside actress, Bérénice Marlohe, in this innovative new campaign.

The work which sees Daniel Craig bring his explosive portrayal of James Bond to a Heineken advert for the very first time, charges the consumer to defy his enemies and 'Crack the Case'. Viewers will be taken on an epic train journey alongside stunning Bond newcomer, Bérénice Marlohe.

The experience begins exactly

41

ascertained during the regional screenings in Benin, Makurdi, Owerri and Lagos.

It would be recalled that the organisers have revealed that the twist to this year's edition is the inclusion of three past winners to play the role of Gatekeepers in Gulder Ultimate Search 9 which runs under the theme: The Gatekeeper's Fortune.” The three past champions include Dominic Mudabai (Gulder Ultimate Search 4 winner), Michael Nwachukwu (Gulder Ultimate Search 5 winner), and Christopher Okagbue (Gulder Ultimate Search 8 winner).

Sunday Are gets new acts

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ORMER Mo'Hits Records artistes' manager and CEO of List Entertainment, Sunday Are, has listed two new acts, Ashley Stephanie and J Royalty under his management company.

Are has gone further to release fresh materials from the newly signed acts. While J Royalty, it is said, can do different genres of music, Ashley Stephanie has rebranded her music from hiphop to Soukous (also known as Lingala and Congo), a dance music style that would capture the Africa market.

J Royalty new single, 17 Voices introduces his musical concept to the world, his melodious hit, Eko Ile expresses the beauty of the city called Lagos. Ashley's Oupe Decale and Ale Ale are club bangers.

Ashley, otherwise called Big Mammy, has been representing the Africa continent overseas with her captivating lead role in a group known as "The Spanish Girls". She stood out as the only black African girl in the where the TV advert leaves off, Spanish girls band (the Latin with viewers invited onto a train by version of the Spice Girls in the smouldering Bérénice before it the UK) touring embarks on a voyage through a the whole spectacular vista of snowy Europe, mountains. Putting viewers through North their paces, a series of gruelling America, tests will lead them to 'Crack the South Case' whilst protecting its contents America, from ferocious Bond villains.

America and The 'Crack the Case' campaign sharing the was launched worldwide last stage and Thursday on multiple platforms, glory with through a combination of a new 60s international film (TVC & online) with a stars like personalised interactive experience.

Destiny The 'Crack the Case' campaign Child, was created by advertising agency, Pussycat Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam dolls, and directed by award winning Shakira, Dutch filmmaker, Matthijs Van Rihanna •Sunday Heijningen Jnr. and more.

42

Entertainment

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

CINEMA GUIDE

BIG

LAGOS

PICTURE

Supported by: SILVERBIRD CINEMAS

Savages: Soldiering for a lover in distress

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N this Oliver Stone's latest effort, two friends, Chon (Taylor Kitsch John Carter) and Ben (Aaron Johnson Kick Ass), are entangled with a mutually shared lover, O (Blake Lively Gossip Girl). But suddenly, the peaceful life of the three is interrupted by the Mexican “Baja Cartel”. Demanding on their partnership, the merciless Mexicans don't take no for an answer and resort to the most heinous powers of persuasion. Leading the BC is the feisty Elena (Salma Hayak) and her vicious enforcer, Lado (Benicio Del Toro), who will go to any lengths to convince the boys to unite with them on their proposed “joint” venture.

After Elena and the BC commit foul play, resulting in O's kidnap, Chon and Ben are forced to pool their contacts and talent in order to repatriate their damsel in distress. John Travolta plays

the reluctant DEA agent, as dirty and bent as they come, but whose insider knowledge comes into good use with Chon and Ben's rescue mission. Along with Chon's sniper friends, the duo look set to conquer Elena and the BC, and thus the blood and gore commences.

An enjoyable to watch, the shock of a torture scene with Stone's close-ups of mutilated flesh and decapitated bodies

makes for a gruesome show.

Both Kitsch and Johnson do an excellent job as their juxtaposed personalities, whilst any actress picked for the role of O was likely to annoy the audience because of her position as the lover of not one good looking chap, but two, and also her incessant narration over the top of the film, explaining what was going on, and how “it's that kind of a story.”

Resident Evil: Fights in futuristic universe eo ELEASED based on a popular vid ie is mov the that h suc game, the idea is big evil a re whe tury Cen 21st the in set such as DNA company is doing naughty things in the name ion erat manipulation and virus gen The virus gets . arch rese y itar mil of top secret the secret loose, and a computer controlling And that's e. wir hay s goe ety soci d oun undergr special ops a in d sen to p setu just about enough h eating fles e som response team and give them shoot. to s ture crea ng tati mu er oth zombies and gs, enin scre ss pre t hou The film opened wit tactic since ble ona reas rely enti an s seem which d viewers will only the most video-game obsesse ces that do uen seq le appreciate the endless batt the ting lica rep of job ific terr dly an admitte and a ans hum live h wit als games' artificial visu cts. prodigious amount of CGI effe n, the movie Directed by Paul W.S. Andersothe popular which stars Milla Jovovich, and ures cartoon character, Alice also feats of previous appearances by enough veteran many sequences installments. The film featurescitie s as Moscow, h suc of s ion vers in simulated not ch, whi of all Tokyo and New York, r. wea for se wor the rge eme y, ngl surprisi e lith the for se excu an ch mu It's all pretty of es seri t stan Jovovich to engage in a con a futuristic gravity-defying fight scenes in carb ohydrates of oid dev universe apparently accompanied for 's She . sics phy of s law t mos and by a new much of these violent exercisesng), whose dress sidekick, Ada Wong (Li Bingbi venient for her cut up to the waist makes it cond to her upper to access the firepower strappe thigh.

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Ice Age 4 Featured Actors: Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo Genre: Action/Adventure Running Time: 94 min Ice Age 4 (3D) Featured Actors: Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo Genre: Action/Adventure Running Time: 94 min Madagascar 3D Featured Featured: Actors Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo Genre: Action/Adventure Running Time: 94 min Snow White Featured Actors: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron Genre Action/Adventure Running Time 127 min Bol Bachchan (Indian) Featured Actors: Ajay Devgan,Abhishek Bachchan,Asin Thottumkal Genre: Comedy Running Time: 150mins The Amazing Spider-Man 3D Featured Actors: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans Genre: Action/Adventure Running Time: 136 Mins The Amazing Spider-Man (Rating: 15) Featured Actors: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans

Genre: Action/Adventure Running Time: 136 Mins The Past Came Calling Featured Actors Chioma Chukwuka Akpotha, John Dumelo, Marie Gomez, Oliver Jolliffer, Penelope Bouchot Humbart Genre Drama Running Time 110mins Think Like A Man Featured Actors: Chris Brown, Gabrielle Union and Kevin Hart Genre :Romance Running Time: 122 min Madagascar 3D Featured Actors: Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith and Chris Rock Genre Action/Adventure Running Time 93 min Men In Black Featured Actors Will Smith,

ABUJA

The Amazing Spider-Man Featured Actors: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans Genre: Action/Adventure Married but Living Single Featured Actors: Funke Akindele, Joke Silva, Joseph

Benjamin, Tina Mba, Femi Brainard, Kiki Omeili, Yemi Remi Genre: Action/Adventure Men in Black III Featured Featured Actors: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin Genre: Action/Adventure Dark Shadows Featured Featured Actors: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Eva Green Genre: Action/Adventure Running Time: 113 min The Avengers Featured Featured Actors: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson Genre Action/Adventure Running Time 142 min The Hunger Games Featured Featured Actors: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth Genre: Action/Adventure Running Time: 142Mins

PORT HARCOURT Ice Age: Continental Drift Featured Actors: Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo Genre: Action/Adventure Running Time: 94 Mins Snow White and the Huntsman (Rating: 15) Featured Actors: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron Genre: Action/Adventure Running Time: 127 Mins Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted Featured Actors: Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith and Chris Rock Genre: Action/Adventure Running Time: 93 Mins The past came calling (Rating: 18) Featured Actors: Chioma Chukwuka-Akpota, John Dumelo, Nigerian actors, Nigerian actresses, nigerian movie directors, Nigerian movie producers, Nigerian movies, Ruke Amata Genre: Drama Running Time: 110 Mins The Amazing Spider-Man (Rating: 15 )

Featured Actors: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans Genre: Action/Adventure Running Time: 136 Mins Think Like a Man (Rating: 18) Featured Actors: Chris Brown, Gabrielle Union and Kevin Hart Genre Comedy Running Time122 Mins Ties That Binds (Rating: 18) Genre: Drama Running Time: 92 Mins

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Glamour

43

‘I am living my

dreams’ hugged Tinsel star, Gideon Okeke, took part stardom in 2006 when he reality in the M-net television ge ria . sh ow , Bi g Br ot he r Ni he left Although he did not win, viewers' an indelible print in the an acting minds. Gideon longed for coming career, and like many up ions. Not actors, he went to audit role of long after, he landed the spoilt, Philip Ade-Williams, the althy egoistic, only son of a we the Nigerian movie mogul on . He M-NET TV series, Tinsel on du spoke with Adetutu Au his journey to stardom.

I

NITIALLY, you did not set out to be an actor, and suddenly you have turned into a star. How do you feel?

My parents and my friends who know me quite well were not surprised; I started acting since age 6. I started directing and writing my own stuff when I became a teenager. My father knew from the beginning. It's just that I studied sciences, I think it is my call to do this.

Acting for me is inborn, until you are given a chance to prove yourself, people may not know what you can do. The project will take you; you don't take the project, when the job comes, I will know which is good for me or not. It is a career path I am charting. Thankfully today I would say that I have transcended fighting to prove a point, to staying in business to tell the truth.

What would you say is your unique selling point?

The God that is in me.

You are in an industry where women get attracted to you, how have you been coping?

Well I am still single but they come in droves.

How many calls do you get per day from ladies?

No comment on that.

What impact has Tinsel had on you as a person?

Tinsel has made it possible for me to prove that I can act. It has given me commercial value. I was lucky to be among the starting eleven artistes that began the show. This project has inspired me to always chase my dreams harder; it has given me maximum visibility. People see me on the street and say, 'see you later in the night.' Sometimes, I don't even understand what they mean, until I say, 'oh, they are going to watch the show.'

Would you say Big Brother Nigeria provided the platform for you?

We can't divorce me from BBN; it was my opening into the limelight.

Of all the Big Brother Nigeria housemates, you seem to be the only one still active on TV? The fact that I seem like the most visible is actually a thing of choice because all these other guys are happy and contented with what they are doing. However, I still consider myself lucky and favoured to be living my dream. I didn't stumble on where I am now; I prayed for it, I asked for it, I fasted for it, and I'm here today.

Did you ever wish you won the show?

The cross of a winner; everybody turns

on you, everybody expects something from you. I thank God that I didn't win. No disrespect to Katung, Uti and the likes of them, they have made well for themselves. But you have to work extra hard, because now you are not doing it for yourself, but to feed the perception of people because they know you have won. They work for the people's perception, the good thing is I didn't win, so I wasn't working to impress anybody. I am working to impress myself first and it has been beautiful.

You studied sciences and now you are practicing art. Do you have any regret?

You mean if I want to change anything? The more I am in the wrong place, the more I knew who I wanted to be. So I would have not changed anything. Bagging a degree in Applied Biochemistry for me was only perfunctory. I went to university to fulfill my dad's wishes. I should have been properly advised about my performing talent.

But thanks to life and the way it plays tricks on you, Big Brother happened to me just while I was in my final semester at university. That was my moment to use the platform as my grand showcase.

After Big Brother, my focus totally changed. I was more compelled to look within me to find my life support and use my talent. To be honest, after that moment I wasn't so keen on living my life by the offerings of my degree, after all I had been told too

many times that I was in the wrong class. I'd been acting since age six. And throughout school I aspired to be a performer. I was always in preparation for this place, though I never considered it a “preparation” of sorts.

How has life been as a star?

I don't consider myself a star yet because I believe my best is yet to come.

What is next for you after Tinsel?

It is more work and w o r k ; productions, film, TV and commercials. I will be busy with films. I am working on a project now which is still under wraps. I want to move seamlessly from TV to the big screen. While I'm keeping that in mind, I'm also praying that the picture of Nigeria cinema changes as fast as the audience is getting aware Can you share your memorable moment(s) with us?

That day, the Big Brother crew came to my house in Ajegunle to interview me; they were nine white guys and three blacks. Why I made particular mention of the colours is that in Ajegunle then, when you see a white guy, it's a big deal. Then nine of them came with equipment and set up in my father's house to talk to me.

That's my biggest moment; it has not even been erased in the minds of people in that area. They still see me as that guy who could bring nine white guys to come talk to him in Ajegunle.

Were you at any point deterred because of your background?

The fact that I come from where I come from is a huge driving force in my life; I have no reason not to be humble. I have no reason to be proud. I have no reason to relax. It is that situation in life when

you come from the worse, you see, you feel, live, breath and talk the worse, the only place you want to be is the best; it is an inspirational starting point.

You're an only child in your family, just like Phillip is Fred's only son in Tinsel.

Are there any similarities between you two?

I draw from the influences and experiences of my personal life a lot in playing the character Phillip. Some things come easy to me, like being a big baby, hence the character/actor mend is seamless in the sense that we both feed from each other. Although I am more patient than he is, playing Phillip is a tough job which comes easy. But I just wonder what sort of guy he is sometimes though. I also admire the character Phillip. As regards his drive, his dress sense, we have those in common.

He is spontaneous and I am the most spontaneous person you know. I feed from him and he feeds from me, the things I admire in him I take, I wear the toga on Gideon and the things that I don't really quite admire on Gideon, I lend them to Phillip to help the character and give it something. Don't forget Phillip Ade Williams is a living, walking character in the city of Lagos or anywhere in the world.

There are people that actually are like him.

What does style mean to you?

Freedom. Whatever takes away my freedom has probably killed me, which is why I buy boli on the road and not care what people say.

You still do that?

I don't care. People expect this and that, forgetting that I am someone's child, someone's lover, someone's cousin and someone's friend. You call me the star, you conferred stardom on me. I am working as an actor, same way you are working as a bank manager or okada rider. You are trying to make ends meet, put food on the table; I am doing the same too. I grew up in AJ, so why should I be different? I don't have a reason to be proud, arrogant, and I don't have to be anything you say, which is why I do things that I feel like doing. Once it makes me happy, As regards fashion, as far as I look good in it, I am okay.

How would you describe yourself?

Very ambitious.

Where will you be in the next five years?

I should have made much money to start my own company and have my staff. I am also planning to establish an art institute where knowledge can be shared and gained from people from all works of the industry.

44

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Glamour

Social

ADETUTU AUDU (E-mail: crownkool@yahoo.com, Tel: 08023849036)

Jasmine Murray-Bruce rocks her world Akin Adeoya's talk •Akin

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NTIL a year ago, many did not know that the Chairman of Silverbird Group, Ben Murray Bruce has a beautiful daughter, Jasmine. In her 20s, the damsel calls the shots at Monae Spa, which is located inside the Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, Lagos, and she is the only daughter of the showbiz guru.

Apart from running a spa on the island, she is also works with the Silverbird TV. No doubt, she had been influenced by her father's success in broadcasting and the entertainment industry, and that might explain why she is also towing the path of her father. Jasmine is a graduate of Chapman University in Orange Country, USA, with a B.A in Communication. Her love life, which has been shielded from prying eyes, has dominated discourse, with speculations about the identity of her date making the rounds. Many months ago, there was a rumour that she was romantically involved with hip-hop star, D'banj. But the rumour was later dispelled.

The epitome of beauty made her first showbiz appearance when she compered The Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria, which took place at the Concorde Hotel in Owerri, Imo State with the popular TV presenter, IK Osakioduwa. Though it was first time, more of an experimental one, she, however, registered her presence with her stunning looks and lovely figure.

A frequent reveler, Jasmine graces red carpet events where she dazzles with her awesome clothes and matching accessories.

-of-the town baby christening

A-

KIN Adeoya, Chief Executive/Lead Consultant of Marketing Mix, drew who's who in the marketing communication and public relations to his palatial home in Magodo, to join him in celebrating the arrival of another bundle of joy to his family and also christening the tiny tot.

The event which started from 12 noon dragged late into the night till about 11pm as friends and well-wishers trooped in to be part of the joyous occasion with enough to drink and eat, some people, we gathered, had left-over to take home.

The party held last week has been the talk-of the town ever since.

The baby is the third child of the family. Akin, a man-about-town himself, apart from Marketing Mix also owns 1960 Eagles Park, Ikeja. He got hooked to Florence who came to Marketing Mix then, as a National Youth Service Corps member.

Mike Adenuga's double celebration

•Jasmine

Tundun Abiola now a christian

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UNDUN Attah , the daughter of the late MKO Abiola and Chief(Mrs.) Adebisi Abiola, if information available is anything to go by, may have accepted the Christian faith. We gathered that she has also dropped her Muslim name, Hauwa, for Victoria, a name she adopted at conversion.

Sources who should know disclosed that Tundun's decision in converting to Christianity was fired by her love for her husband, Atama. It will be recalled that Tundun and Atama got married in London in May 2009. Their marriage has since been blessed •Tundun with a son.

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HESE are definitely the best of times for the Chairman of Globacom, Otunba Mike Adenuga Jnr. It is no longer news that he was conferred with the nation's highest honour, the Grand Commander of the Order of Niger (GCON). Those in the know squealed that the billionaire businessman saw it as a welcome development, since the telecoms company marked his ninth year anniversary of contributing to the economic development of the country and the Africa continent few weeks back.

Though the consummate businessman aptly dubbed 'the bull' is not plotting any party to celebrate the award cum the Globacom milestone, there are feelers that he will leave no stone unturned for its 10th year anniversary next year. Globacom caused a volcanic eruption in telecoms through affordable packages to the masses and the company provided endorsement opportunities to celebrities and entertainers with mouth-watering deal offers.

Tosin Dekalu mellows

F

ORMER lawyer turned shoe cobbler, Tosin Dekalu, relocated to Nigeria few years ago. The graduate of the University of Westminster, London, shocked most when she quit the practice of law to take over the business from her mom and actually transformed the business by injecting new ideas into it, pushing the new Lady Cobbler into the market. Along the line, she even expanded the business by opening another outfit on the Island to serve their numerous Island customers, while the Ikeja branch was also doing so much.

She has been romantically linked with Emeka Odogwu, son of Asaba born billionaire, Chief Sonny Odogwu, and news of her getting married filtered around town few years ago, but marriage has been elusive and since then she has withdrawn into her shell.

•Adenuga

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Glamour

45

Iyabo Obasanjo on sabbatical •Lara

Lara George rocks baby bump

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OPULAR gospel singer, Lara George formerly of the defunct music group, Kush, is rocking baby bump.

The architect turned singer artiste, who stormed the music scene as a solo artiste with her hit single, 'Ijoba Orun', is on nine month course and may put to bed soon going by information available.

Lara is married to Gbenga George, who is a legal practitioner and also her manager. The couple already has a child.

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OR many who have been asking for the whereabouts of the former Ogun State Health Commissioner and Senator, Iyabo Obasanjo, we can tell you for free that the exPresident Obasanjo's daughter is on sabbatical.

The lawmaker, who has since sunk into

obscurity after failing to return to the Senate last year, has adopted a new lifestyle. Those in the know claimed she intentionally kept off public glare and has found a new interest that takes her occasionally out of the country.

Leke Alder finds love again

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IGERIAN branding maestro and principal of Alder Consulting, Leke Alder is a happy man again. Four years after the crash of his first marriage, the public speaker has found love again.

Multi-talented Alder had a quiet wedding with Morenike Popoola, a Corporate Brand Manager, with only few family •Leke members in attendance.

Leke Alder's name naturally evokes thoughts on branding, strategy and creativity. A widely travelled man, his company is credited with introducing branding as a discipline to Nigeria. He has consulted on policy, politics and business at the highest levels at home and abroad. He recently served on the Board of •Iyabo Obasanjo Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

Pact between Jay Jay Okocha and Tony Ezenna I MO State born-businessman and CEO Orange Drugs Limited, Sir Tony Ezenna, is trying to broker a deal with one-time Nigeria's attacking midfielder, Austin JayJay Okocha, to become the brand ambassador of his recent sachet energy drink, Extra Joss .

Already,we gathered that talks are on between the pharmaceutical company boss and the footballer. Though we could not really ascertain how much is involved in the deal.

We learn that the businessman and his Indonesian partner, Didik Novandi, of Kalbe International, chose Okocha for his humility and the claim that no Nigerian or African living or dead displayed the same level of skills and techniques that Okocha gave to football..

Real Madrid star, Cristiano Ronaldo, was the ambassador of the brand in Indonesia in 2006, and the company, we gathered, is considering JayJay Okocha as the face of the brand in Nigeria

Sola Laditi soars higher F

UNKY Sola Laditi, the daughter of Globacom chairman, Mike Adenuga's pal, Niyi Adewunmi, is no doubt moving higher.

After years of being in operation, the better half of Tayo Laditi, the co-owner of Liberty Digitals has revamped her upscale salon and spa, Touch of Glamour, and also added a jewelry line.

The beautiful ebony skinned lady has a degree in Mass Communication from Harold University, United Kingdom, but she is not resting on her oars to take her business to another level amid stiff competition. Touch of Glamour is the first Nigerian salon to establish and have its own personalised debit card in association with Zenith Bank and Interswitch.

Highly cerebral Sola, is always on point when it comes to her dress sense and she is always dazzling her admirers in classy events.

•Okocha

•Tony

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Glamour

&

OLUSEGUN RAPHEAL (08033572821) raphseg2003@yahoo.com

Senator Babalola Akin Odunsi gives out daughter in marriage

By Olusegun Raphael

Adebimpe •Bride’s parents, Senator Babalola Akin Odunsi and wife,

D

ignitarie s across the nation gathered to celebrate with Senator Odunsi as his daughter Wonuola joined Felix Okoye in holy matrimony. The wedding took place at Land mark village, Victoria Island, Lagos.

•L-R: Vice Chairman, Rosabel Advertising, Otunba Tunde Adelaja and Chairman, STB-Macann, Sir Stive Omojafor

•Couple, Felix Okoye and Omowonuola

•L-R: Senator Gbenga Obadara and Chairperson, Arabel Fashion Home, Shereefat Andrew

•L-R: HRM, Oba Mukaila Salako, Olu of Ilaro and Paramount Ruler of Yewaland, HRM, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle and HRM, Oba Gabriel Olukunle

•L-R: Former Minister for Information and Culture, Prof. Walter Ofonagoro, Chiarman, OJCOH Group, Chief Josiah Okoye and Prof. Roland Onyeonium

Tunji Braithwaite celebrates at 79

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ational Chairman, Nigeria Advance Party, Dr.Olatunji Braithwaite, was honoured by who is who in Nigeria on Tuesday at his book launch. The book,“The Jurisprudence of living Oracle” was to mark his 79th birthday in Lagos, and among those who witnessed the day were President Goodluck Jonathan; Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN); Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor; Oba of Lagos, HRM, Oba Rilwan Akiolu ; Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade; Obi of Onitsha, IgweNnaemeka Achebe; King Jaja of Opobo; Emir of Bauchi, HRH, Rilwan Suleman Adamu and Emir of Shangha, Dr. Yahaya Haliru.

•Celebrator, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite (right), President Goodluck Jonathan(middle), Lagos State Governor, BabatundeFashola(SAN)

•L-R: Mrs. Grace Braithwaite, President, Christain Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ayo Oritsejafor and EmekaAnyakwu

•L-R: Oba of Lagos, HRM, Oba RilwanAkiolu, and Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade

•L-R: Musiliu Obanikoro and Senator Olorunibe Mamora

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

47

VOL 1 NO. 037

Outdoor advertising practice

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ORLD over, national growth and development is predicated upon same indices, predominantly dependent upon Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Calculating any nation's GDP, draws inputs from simple evidences such as the nationals' overall standard of living which in turn is broken down into little details that includes literacy level, life expectancy, employment rate, standard of infrastructural development and such other seemingly distant indicators not readily considered in frontal calculations in the determination of a nation's wealth.

Looking at the various World Bank literatures on national growth on the basis of economic activities could be knotty, so, for the purpose of this article, we shall limit ourselves to the broad framework of global appreciation of national development. National development is a summation of the various activities of economic value that happens within any given nation, within a given year, and a value-interpretation of the natural and human resources of economic value as well. That is why the World Bank has described Economic Development as “QUALITATIVE CHANGE AND RESTRUCTURING IN A COUNTRY'S ECONOMY IN CONNECTION WITH TECHNOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS''.

Interestingly, economic development is given expression by a culmination of many other indicators building up to economic growth, namely: labor force, life expectancy at birth, living standard, productivity and literacy level, prevalent. In modern economy, nations are getting more competitive of one another in their quest for economic development and growth. Primary among the reasons for the heightened aggressive drive for development and growth, among nations, is the aim for status of respectability at the comity of nations, worldwide.

The strength of any nation is determined by her economic power. Hence the TIGER NATIONS earned a good level of respect for themselves through economic power as against military might.

The gradual but steady global power shift to Asia is influenced by economic growth and development.

Suffice, therefore, that nations, world over are getting pettier in their quest for economic growth and development in the face of openness and growing inter-dependence and co-operation, because at the end of the day, survival is an individual ambition.

Like other nations in the world, Nigeria exists for itself, drawing from her natural and human resources, exploiting inherent opportunities and competitive advantages among other nations, to drive economic growth and development. But we must as a nation, appreciate that high growth rate correlate systematically with a number of variables that describe the economic and political environment. The two important trends in the world economy today are: (A) Technological innovations – it is becoming ever more important contributor to economic well-being (B) Global co-existence and interdependence among nations So, communication and close contacts among innovators in different countries facilitate the process of invention and the spread of new ideas.

Secondly, rapid changes in technology intensify the motives for trade and the consequences of integration into the world trade system. It is, therefore, not surprising that increasing attention is being paid to issues of productivity and technology on the one hand, and to national competitiveness and the world trade system, on the other.

Given that Nigeria does not possess the sophistication for technological advancement, the question remains how can we now play in this competitive world, among nations? Yet, we must, as a nation, compete, survive and grow. Nigeria must appreciate the fact that the contemporary society is competitive, aggressive and increasingly discriminatory of one another on the basis of evident capabilities demonstrated in what is known as economic growth and development. In the face of our obvious limitations, we must draw from our appreciation of our advantages and opportunities, protect the little we have and can trade with, and optimize such resources to our advantage.

Our natural resources have resilient in sustaining us since we evolved into a nation. Evidently, it is upon the strength of our natural resources that we have registered the little progress made so far. A lot has happened since 1960/63, in our quest for growth, but the most evident of progress so far made by our country is the slow but steadily progressive sophistication of her human resource.

That is why, over time, we have owned top quality professionals

the area technological advancement in today's world. The strength and industry of our people (our human resource) count for us as our resource for competitive advantages in pursuit of economic growth and development.

So, we like to emphasize the importance of outdoor advertising as a profession, as business practice and enterprise, in the over-all growth and development of Nigeria at the micro and macro levels. Outdoor industry is a big employer of labor and an avenue for inflow of advanced technology, helping the growth of commerce, trade, advertising and marketing communication. Add to that is its added value as a trainer of professionals and appreciation of human resource.

However, we are not unaware of the points of conflict between outdoor advertising practice and some other change agents such as government agencies and institutions. Put succinctly, outdoor advertising practice in Nigeria today, is grueling under heavy burden brought upon it by State governments regulatory policies, geared towards drive for internally generated revenue. Pursuant to identified objective, most state governments have evolved innovative administrative systems that seek to achieve the following: Optimize revenue earnings from outdoor advertising and signage Environmental beautification Regulation and control of outdoor advertising within their individual states To achieve the above, state governments now have agencies established for stated purposes.

On the face of these changes or innovations, outdoor advertising practice and their professional association, Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), are agreed on the purpose and good of the industry. However, there are areas of conflict that needs to be resolved by the state governments, for the good of all.

Outdoor advertising practitioners represented by OAAN, thinks harmonizing those areas of differences as below, will help the objective of the governments and their agencies on the one hand and still enable a friendly environment for profitable outdoor advertising practice.

SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION: from a professional stand-point, governments will gain more from their new system if they appoint heads and other staff of their various agencies for outdoor advertising regulation and control, from among professionals or practitioners. That way, professional competence will come to play at the point interaction between the industry practitioners and the government agency. Secondly, professionals will better appreciate the stop-points and areas needing of caution against making decisions that will result in negative outcome, advising the government properly on issues of rates determination, regulation and control, in line with practice code and ethics.

We make this suggestion because it has become evident that where such agencies are headed by non-professionals, rules based on the peculiarities of outdoor advertising practice (open to a professional only) are not applied. Consequently, governments are misled into taking decisions detrimental to all.

RATES & LEVIES: again, from our professional stand-point, we know there has to be a fine balance between cost and benefits.

As in all transactions, cost influences market performance delicately. So, one of the troubling issues presently is the new rates (and levies) regime coming from some state government agencies. These rates are rather threatening to the business because the present and prospective clients are beginning to consider alternatives to outdoor media with the new rates.

So, we ask that the new state governments' initiatives reconsider their new rates, advised by a professional.

Still on rates and levies, there is also the need to harmonize the system of collection because there are incidences of mixup in the system and method of collecting rates and levies from practitioners that amount to double-taxation.

The issues are legion, but I will like to sum up by establishing the fact that outdoor advertising is pivotal in our quest for economic growth and development, and an integral part of our resources as a nation. Therefore, permitting policy decisions inimical to the survival of outdoor advertising practice will have a direct negative effect on the nation's economic growth and development. OAAN and her member-agencies will continue to work hard to keep millions of Nigerians in employment and in business, stimulating trade and commerce and enabling technological advancement in critical advertising and marketing communication.

In contemporary society across industries such as banking, medicine, academics, communication and communication technology, among others. These are evidences pointing to some level of investment of readily available resources in pursuit of development, in this case, education.

It is by reason of good quality education we invested in as a nation, in the past that we grew good quality human resources that enabled that level of international interaction and communication that led to aspirations such as technology transfer from the technologically advanced nations to Nigeria, in so far as we have experienced (we know our short-comings).

From my standpoint as a practitioner in communication, I like to appreciate the nation's growth and development from my perspective. Our focus here is on the importance of productivity

of Nigeria's human resource, to the over-all economic growth and development, leading on to the specific contribution of OUTDOOR ADVERTISING PROFESSION to the nation's development.

Outdoor advertising in Nigeria predates her independence, having been in practice since 1928 (August 13). Suffice that outdoor advertising has been for 84 years. It started as a foreign intervention in the development of trade and commercial activities in our local market environment, through its unique method of (1) helping manufacturers connect with the market and making known that which they have on offer in form of goods and services, and (2) to enlighten the market/consumers on the available options and their inherent benefits.

In 84 years and still running, Nigerians –men and womenhave committed themselves to growing the contribution of outdoor advertising to our national growth and development by dedicating their intellect, time and resources to advancing the practice of outdoor advertising, keeping in line with global technological, creative and strategic standard, and practice. As in technology, education, medical sciences, Nigeria can be said to have advanced in professional know-how, in the area of outdoor advertising. From the early days of static display board, we now have technologically advanced digital display panels that have effectively combined interactive audio and visual impact in outdoor advertising. Today, brands are better appreciated, manufacturers are enabled the new technology to help them do and stay in business profitably through efficient channel of reaching the market with their offers In outdoor advertising, we now talk of ENVIRONMENT BEAUTIFICATION instead of hoardings and placement of outdoor advertising boards. Individual practitioners now invests hundreds of millions of naira in providing outdoor advertising services and products, to keep Nigeria at par with other nations of the world, not minding their technological advancement. Over 8million Nigerian men and women are today gainfully employed by outdoor advertising industry.

Now, all of these come through as the fundamentals that add up for a nation such as ours, not competitively on the advantage in

48

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

C

Family and work:

OMING from your background in International Development, how do you think the introduction of N5000 notes will affect the average Nigerian?

From a personal perspective, I think it is a misplacement of priority. We do not need that at this moment because Nigeria is still an economy where we trade with paper money.

If they say we are going cash-less, I do not see any reason why they should continue to Yemisi Joel-Osebor, an international development professional and encourage cash transactions. social entrepreneur, has made her mark working on global and domestic Another problem projects with the World Bank and the United Kingdom's arm of the with printing the N5000 notes is the fact that CBN Department for International Development (DFID). wants to make coins in parallel with paper This graduate of Economics speaks with Rita Ohai on vital issues money. They tried it last affecting society. year and it did not work so I wonder why they are doing it again!

There is a growing trend where parents y title.

Nigerians do not have a coin culture and so pay for special exam centers and results for For a woman who has achieved this it will just lead to inflation. their children, what do you think is the much, what are the things you think young cause?

There are more important things for the ladies should do to walk in your shoes?

CBN to concentrate on such as bringing It is pure laziness! There are some parents Also, we live in an environment where it d o w n t h e h i g h i n t e r e s t r a t e s f o r that go as far as buying question papers for entrepreneurs to loan money for business so their children in primary school. Parents is difficult for people to achieve. Look that they can contribute to the growth of the who do this have no moral right to correct beyond the problems and focus on your goals and then economy. their kids when they misbehave and those understand that They only thing I like about the note is the children will grow up thinking that he or she l i f e i s i n fact that they are using emotional can always cut corners. phases intelligence to persuade people by putting My parents taught me dignity. When I a n d women on the notes for the first time, that's was writing my WAEC exams, my mum all. saw me taking coffee and she scolded me.

Do you think a woman's tendency to Instead, she went and fried meat with value family over work is a career tendons, we call it Ison, she cut it into pieces impediment? and asked me to be chewing it to stay If I place family over work, I think I am in awake. That was a mother's way of encouraging her child to study. The order. Women have reproductive roles.

Our people need to know that they have policy in my house was that we had to to pay a social read a chapter ahead of the class and cost. If women that helped. “Enjoy every I can vouch that throughout my do not procreate step along the the world will go education, I never cheated. You can e x t i n c t a n d check my records. I am a Christian way because needs to and I have spiritual principles. In everything you are society p r o v i d e t h e the university because I did not going through in e n a b l i n g want to be tempted, I would sit in life is contributing environment to front on the class with the make sure that invigilator so that the urge to ask to the global women perform anybody would not be there. I had picture. Now t h a t f u n c t i o n to re-sit two papers but I am better when I talk and I easily. So if I get for it today and God has helped me tell people where I pregnant and I so far. to take time It is believed that corruption is am coming from, need off work to do at the root of Nigeria's problem, they listen to me that, I should be from your experience in social because they can given that room enterprise development, what are ways in which it can be identify with it so without hassles. the eradicated?

W o m e n do not take any combine work Corruption is Nigeria's greatest experience for a n d c h i l d challenge but to be honest I do not know granted� bearing and they the complete answer to this question. add value to the The situation has gotten so bad that it society, for that has become a part of the Nigerian culture to they need to be cut corners. You see this decay at all levels loved and respected instead of complaining of society and it is worrisome. about her competence.

Before this time, if a person Some population control advocates have was corrupt, people would called on government to imitate Asian scold you unlike now countries by taxing parents with more than where it is the fad. If you two children as a control measure, how are not shady then feasible is this idea? you are not normal.

I think everybody has a right to have as An example of many children as they want but do not make h o w w e e x a l t your quest to reproduce become a burden on c o r r u p t i o n i s other people and the environment. seen where If I am in a monogamous family setting s o m e b o d y and the Nigerian constitutions says that we goes, steals must not have more than four children so our money, that I can have access to basic amenities and comes back welfare packages, I should know that if I a n d w e exceed this limit, they extra burden is on me give him a chieftainc and cannot be passed on to the State.

Procreation is a woman's role

•Bidemi Mark-Mordi

stages.

Believe in yourself because if you don't, nobody will. Identify your God-given natural abilities. For example, when I was young they used to call me parrot but I have realized that I am a natural communicator and I had to develop myself. If you wake me up at night and as me to talk on a topic, as long as I know what the topic is about, I will speak.

Right now, I am a bit comfortable and I do not have financial needs but at a point in time in my life, I had to support my family because my dad's business was down the drain and my mother was taking care of the home so I hawked rice. Before, I would see yam and corn in my story books but by the time poverty hit the family I learnt how to plant corn and yam.

Enjoy every step along the way because everything you are going through in life is contributing to the global picture. Now when I talk and I tell people where I am coming from, they listen to me because they can identify with it so do not take any experience for granted.

Finally, invest in yourself, set standards and strive for excellence. You must read and you must travel. The first time I travelled out of this country was for training and I bought my passport myself. While my friends were buying gold, I was investing in my future.

What kind of books, songs and movies do you enjoy?

I hate horror movies. I love comedy and romance because they excite me.

For the songs, I enjoy inspirational ones and a few secular songs. I think Michael Jackson's albums are great.

Every time I listen to Heal the world , I cry. I also like Whitney Houston's songs.

In terms of books, I read things that stimulate my financial interest like Robert Kiyosaki and D o n a l d T r u m p ' s books. I actually watch all the Apprentice s e r i e s because it teaches business dynamic s.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23 , 2012

New WOMAN

Today's obsession with perfuming everything from candles to bin liners could be to blame. Nearly a third of people may suffer adverse health effects from being exposed to scents. Victoria Lambert reports.

49

with

YETUNDE OLADEINDE

Cupid's metre can run out

F

Is your scent making you ill?

T

HE smell of fresh air is becoming something of a distant memory, thanks to our increasing use of fragrance. From air fresheners to scented candles, perfumed loo roll and bin liners, in-car scents and even scented socks, we live in a miasma of scent.

Share a lift or train carriage and the aroma of spray deodorant and perfume can be overwhelming. Recent figures show seven in ten use air fresheners or scented candles to keep our homes smelling sweet.

Yet recent reports suggest that perfumed products could affect our health, causing problems including allergies, asthma and migraine, and even interfere with sexual desire.

One leading expert suggests nearly a third of people suffer adverse health effects from being exposed to scents. A major problem is so-called 'contact' allergy where perfumes and scented products trigger eczema and dermatitis when they come into contact with skin.

Molecules in the product trigger an immune response, causing itchiness and even scaly, cracked skin. About one in 20 is thought to be affected by fragrance allergy though this number may be growing.

'Allergies are on the increase, and the amount of perfumed products is also on the rise,' says Dr Susannah Baron, consultant dermatologist at Kent & Canterbury hospital, and BMI Chaucer Hospital.

'Fragrance allergy can show up as contact dermatitis in the site a perfumed product is applied, or as a flare-up of existing eczema. It can be a real problem.'

In July, the EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety asked perfume manufacturers to list potential allergens in their product after reports that they triggered skin reactions.

Earlier this year, the U.S. state of New Hampshire banned workers from wearing scents to protect their coworkers.

Often it may not be immediately obvious that you've developed a fragrance allergy, says Dr Baron.

'You don't react immediately; the body notes that it does not like the chemical and develops “memory cells”, which cause inflammation when the body is next exposed to this chemical.

‘Gradually, as you are exposed more

and more, the body ramps up its reaction, until it becomes more noticeable to you.'

People with pre-existing eczema are particularly vulnerable. 'The eczema worsens in areas in contact with perfumes or perfume- containing shampoos, conditioners and shower gels,' says Dr Baron.

But even those without allergies can be at risk of fragrance allergy. 'You can become suddenly allergic to perfumes and personal care products that you have been using for years.You can also have problems with unexpected products such as scented toilet roll and scented wipes which can cause irritation.'

And strong scents can also cause headaches. According to Dr Vincent Martin, a headache specialist at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, fragrances activate the nose's nerve cells, stimulating the nerve system associated with head pain.

UK charity Migraine Action warns that intense or penetrating smells can even trigger migraine for the same reason. To minimise risks, migraine sufferers are advised to keep diaries of all triggers including scent, so they can minimise contact.

Meanwhile, products such as plug-in deodorisers and even mild air fresheners contain chemicals that could trigger asthma attacks, experts have warned.

Charity Asthma UK says that perfumes can irritate the airways in those with asthma, causing breathing problems.

Dr Stanley Fineman, of the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic in the U.S., says those with asthma are especially sensitive, and that his research indicates a change in lung function when exposed to certain chemical fragrances.

People with eczema are particularly vulnerable to perfumes and should wash with non-fragranced emollient products The fashion for scented intimate products can be linked to health issues, too, says Dr Sovra Whitcroft, a gynaecologist at the Surrey Park Clinic, Guildford.

'The problem with perfumed products is that they change the natural pH or acidity of the vagina. The normal pH is four to five. If this is altered and made less acidic, it loses its natural protection and bacteria are allowed to thrive and

multiply. The very product designed to improve body odour can, in a short space of time, do the opposite by contributing to an overgrowth of odour-producing bacteria.

'And many strong chemicals and perfumes can have a direct irritant effect on the sensitive mucosal lining of the vagina as well as the relatively thin and delicate skin, causing contact dermatitis or inflammation. This can make the area more prone to harbouring bacteria, causing secondary infections.

'In the longer term, if products containing talcum powder are sprayed around the vaginal area, the tiny particles can be driven up into the female reproductive system.

'There have been many studies suggesting a link between these talcum particles and ovarian cancer and while it is difficult to know whether these results are true, it is important to steer clear from anything which can cause such potential harm.

'The truth is as long as a woman is healthy, washes thoroughly with soap and water frequently and changes her underwear every day there should be no need for cover-up deodorants. Using a chemical perfume to cover potential odours may mask an underlying infection or even cause one.'

Commonly used chemicals in fragrances include synthetic musk, linked to hormone disruption.

A 2009 study of Austrian college students published in the journal Science of the Total Environment found that those who used the most perfume and scented lotion also had the highest levels of synthetic musks, including Galaxolide and Tonalide, in their blood.

These can bind to and stimulate human oestrogen receptors; they have also been shown to affect male hormone receptors.

'Fragrance suggests cleanliness yet people are smelling a potentially hazardous chemical mixture,' says Anne Steinemann, professor of civil and environmental engineering and public affairs at the University of Washington, who has investigated the effects of scents on public health for more than a decade.

'We often use them to mask one problem as with air fresheners but create a greater one adding toxic chemicals to the air.’

Continued on Pg 65

OR some minutes Biodun was on the other side of the line. He frantically tried to convince the love of his life to hang on to love, to stay close to the one who cherished her and was ready to spend the rest of his life with her. It was a very convincing speech, and for those of us who were eavesdropping, that was enough to melt the hardest of hearts. Just when he thought he had hit the love nail on the head, the centre of his affection cut off the line abruptly.

It was so obvious that she had made up her mind about this relationship. As far as she was concerned they had come to the end of the road. Was she fair to the guy? From the gist making the rounds she was the one who put a spanner in the wheel of their love progress. She had been unfaithful, she had been too adventurous and had always taken him for granted.

If this is the case, why is he still so keen about this carefree lover? Why is he so emotionally attached to this character who does not merit the attention and affection that he is doling out? When there are other beautiful, more attractive and caring babes out there, why must he waste precious love energy in the wrong direction? Why can't he just cut off this strong emotional link and move on with his life?

Well, it is obvious that the gentleman is too involved to let go. As for his dear princes, she is operating in a different love direction. Her metre of love and affection has run out, and her heart is in a leaking love basket. No matter how much attention he gives, this blind lover just cannot appreciate it. It is only when she finally loses this golden heart that she is likely to understand that she had been fooling around all this while.

Conversely, it is also possible that her love metre has run out. It's like a current, and when it is fully charged, you can feel the energy radiating all over.

Here, you enjoy the service when you have enough current at the right time. The electricity metres are, therefore, typically calibrated in billing units, like the kilowatts hour. Therefore, the periodic reading of electricity metres establishes billing cycles and energy used during a cycle. If there is nothing in her reservoir then she can't give anything back to him. You can compare Cupid's metre to the electricity or energy metre. This normally is a device used to measure the amount of electricity energy consumed by a residence, business or an electrically-powered device.

These days the trend is to go for the prepaid metre.

Here, once you have exhausted the units, then it's all over. You move on from that point only when you make a move to add more units and make a difference.

You only get want you put in - garbage in garbage out. It also reminds us of the GSM's 'pay as you go' service strategy. So, in relationship, you can opt for the old trend of using up so much energy or the love as you go. In the past, lovebirds were at liberty to use up so much love energy and run into emotional debts.

Hopes were very high and the expectation was that, to whom much was given, much was to be expected.

Old school lovers hung on to the-patient-dog-eatsthe-fattest-bone scenarios and somehow it did work for them. But unfortunately the signs of the love times are quite different.

Naturally, the metre would be a useful guide. It would help to reduce wastage, help to measure demand, as well as identify your maximum and minimum use of power at different intervals. It would also help you to record usage during peak and offpeak periods. This is essential so that you do not use your love energy in the wrong direction. Once you have identified the high and low points in a particular relationship, then you can think of shedding emotional loads where it is necessary.

So, it is important to read your love metre from time to time. Try and see if you are in touch and whether the love units that you have can provide the emotional energy required. Naturally, the women are almost always on the receiving end and so they need to read the metre more often to assess where they stand in the relationship. Try and find out if the current would take you right into his heart and not go out just when you think you are in fantasy land. Also remember that a man craves for a woman who would let him adore her and, women absolutely love it when they do.

If this is how men think, then there shouldn't be a problem. Well, there are exceptions to the rule. The biggest dilemma on the love current is that men find it hard choosing from the pool of female resources that they have stored up in their love dam. BUT when he does find her, he definitely wants to keep her forever.

Just prove your worth.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

50

Ondo Guber 2012: Akeredolu's vision for healthcare delivery W

ITHOUT an iota of doubt, the general consensus amongst well-meaning people of Ondo State is the progressive degeneration of the quality of life of the average citizen, especially under the administration of the outgoing governor, Olusegun Mimiko. Contrary to the erroneous perception in some quarters that much has been achieved to change the socioeconomic landscape over the past three years, the bare facts on ground is that of monumental waste of resources running into billions of naira. All the hoopla has been propelled as it were by a flurry of undeserved awards and undue publicity blitz.

This is characteristic of his government' strange style of leaving the substance of good governance to chasing the shadows of selfaggrandizement. This has got to stop! Therefore, as an article of faith hinged on sacred trust with the people, the ACN candidate, Barrister Rotimi Akeredolu has firmly reiterated accountability in his manifesto, aptly entitled Creed for Action. The focus of course, would be to justify the allocations accruing to the state with the AKETI mantra.

The acronym simply means sustained emphasis on Agriculture, Knowledge, Entrepreneurship, T e c h n o l o g y a n d Infrastructure.

Within this context, there is going to be the upgrading of facilities and human capacity building in the health care sector, arresting the drift in the field of education and rekindling the people's hope for a vibrant economy, one that would be in tandem with the vision of the founding fathers of the state such as late Pa Adekunle Ajasin.

Currently, primary healthcare delivery remains one of the greatest challenges facing the state. For instance, in 2008 the World Bank Health Statistics ranked Ondo State as recording the highest maternal deaths of all the states in the South-West geo-political zone. The report revealed that only 16 per cent of pregnant women who registered for ante-natal programme eventually delivered there. As a result, many pregnant women died at childbirth.

Similarly, in 2009 the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) raised alarm that Nigeria's infant mortality stood at a scary rate of 800,000 children dying before their fifth birthday. The country was responsible for half of the global deaths of under-5 children.

For this reason, the Federal Government intervened with the introduction of Midwife Service Scheme (MSS) by employing 5,000 midwives and health care workers.

But reviewing the programme in 2011 Dr. Mohammed Jibril Abdullahi, the Director of Planning and Health care of NPHCDA commended states such as Lagos, Bayelsa, Rivers, Kebbi, Jigawa, Katsina and Sokoto in their efforts to upgrade and assist in primary health care delivery. This was stated by Winifred Ogbebo writing for Nigerian Health Journal. Our dear Ondo State was not listed for commendation. That is, in spite of the much publicised Abiye Safe Motherhood programme. What this means in essence is that healthcare delivery in the state is still not accessible and available to the rural populace.

Though Mimiko promised to replicate the Mother Care initiative in the three senatorial districts, he woefully failed to do so, in his trademark tendency to dish out endless lies. On his part, Akeredolu, knowing full well that health is wealth will let primary health care delivery percolate to the rural areas. To strengthen its impact on the people, there will be adequate personnel, training and retraining them, as well as providing relevant equipment and drugs.

In line with international best practices, there will be a

By Idowu Ajanaku sustained public enlightenment on preventive healthcare delivery. Efforts will be geared towards letting the citizens be aware that keeping their homes and surroundings spick and span would save for them precious resources and their irreplaceable lives. They would not have to wait for days earmarked for sanitation to rid their surroundings of weeds and pools of water which usually provide fertile breeding grounds for vectors of communicable diseases.

Besides, there will be a holistic appraisal and review of the healthcare situation in the state. How many women and children are here in Ondo state and what are their health challenges? How many of them are aware of health-protecting efforts they could undertake by themselves? How many of them currently have access to healthcare delivery within a kilometer or two from where they live or carry out their businesses? What is the number of midwives and nurses on local government basis? Is that enough, or in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO)? What manner of infrastructure, in terms of hospital/clinic buildings, potable water supply, drugs, and related medical equipment are required? What efforts from the international bodies on health care delivery can we benefit from because we shall not pretend that we know it all? The pro-active and practical answers to all these pertinent questions would stand the good people of Ondo State in

“As Akeredolu rightly noted that 37 years after its creation, there is no city in the state where water runs from the tap. Is it not curious to visitors that there is a fanciful water fountain in Akure but residents of the state capital cannot boast of quality water delivery? It is the same sordid scenario in Ore, Akoko, Owo and several parts of the state, not the least being the riverine Okitipupa axis close to the vast Atlantic Ocean.�

good stead.

In a related manner is the critical issue of the supply of safe water in the state. For instance, the World Health Organisation/United Nations Children's Fund Joint Monitoring Program, in its 2012 progress report on drinking water and sanitation, ranked Nigeria third behind China and India on the list of countries with the largest population without access to improved drinking water. The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program report which covered between 1990 and the end of 2010, noted that about 66 million Nigerians lacked access to drinking water, while 34 million, about 20 per cent of the country's population practised open defaecation.

Unfortunately, Ondo State is still one of those with inadequate access to safe, potable drinking water. It was for this reason that Japan in February this year listed Ondo State as one of those to benefit from its N2.42 billion donated to improve water supply in the country. Others included Enugu, Kebbi, Niger and Taraba States. The money is supposed to be used in constructing 1,250 water boreholes with hand pumps as well as borehole rig equipment.

Has this donation being judiciously expended by Mimiko's government?

It is highly regrettable, as Akeredolu rightly noted that 37 years after its creation, there is no city in the state where water runs from the tap. Is it not curious to visitors that there is a fanciful water fountain in Akure but residents of the state capital cannot boast of quality water delivery? It is the same sordid scenario in Ore, Akoko, Owo and several parts of the state, not the least being the riverine Okitipupa axis close to the vast Atlantic Ocean. The question begs for credible answers. Why should we stand beside the Atlantic and yet wash our hands with spittle?

Water is life. The ACN administration will therefore, make it available and affordable across the state. The longsuffering citizens of Ondo State can count on AKETI's promise.

Ajanaku is director of media and publicity for Akeredolu campaign

THE ARTS

51

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Life study of the master

•Artists at work

• Onobrakpeya sitting (middle) with the artists

A

S he turned 80 years, a number of visual artists in Nigeria came together to celebrate him. They all described him as an icon, one of the very first generation of visual artists to give voice to the profession. And so he is seen not only as great artist, he is also regarded as an iconoclastic enigma who braved the odds early enough to liberate himself from the clutches of neo-colonial artistic mentality.

When on August 30, Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya, turned 80 years, it was not only an occasion that made the artists to jump start a two-month celebration of him, it was also to showcase his many strides in the profession as someone who has trained and influenced many artists in Nigeria and abroad.

Last weekend, the duo of Olu Ajayi and Sam Ovraiti, two artists who have consistently followed and admired the exploits of Onobrakpeya over the years organised a life study of him. In it, the master was made to sit on an elevated platform for other artists to draw,

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T was a day full of reminiscences and power-packed emotions as soloist and monodrama exponent, Greg Mbajiorgu, took time off the annual conference of the Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists (SONTA) in University of Calabar to re-visit the premises of the State Secretariat of The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) where he conceived, wrote and premiered his enigmatic solo artist play, The Prime Minister’s Son 21 years ago.

Greg Mbajiorgu was accompanied on the historic re-visit by foremost theatre scholar, Professor Kalu Uka, who incidentally was part of the premiere of the play in 1991 as artistic /technical adviser alongside the late pioneer Nigerian playwright, James Ene Henshaw. Also on the visiting entourage were Sola Balogun,arts editor of The Sun Newspapers, Obi Okoli, popular Nollywood actor and Denja Abdullahi, poet, playwright and National Vice President of the Association of Nigerian Author(ANA).

The visiting team found themselves in the warm embrace of the management staff of the NYSC Cross River State secretariat and

To honour art legend, Bruce Onobrakpeya, who just turned 80, visual artists in Nigeria did a life study of him and other forms of celebrations, writes Edozie Udeze paint and sculpt. For six hours, Onobrakpeya sat there, with his gaze, staring at nothing, while his right hand rested on his lap. With the right hand on the arm of a cushion chair, Onobrakpeya posed like a tin-god with no care in the world.

After every 45 minutes, the drawing would break; the master would then stand up to address his people.

He told them of how they did their own drawing at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in the late 1950s.

“Then, we would begin to draw as early as 8 o’clock in the morning,” he said, as artists listened with rapt attention. “We would go for tea break by 10 o’clock and come back immediately. We would then continue till 4p.m .”

Onobrakpeya encouraged the artists to continue to do what they know best. After a cursory look at

the different postures of him from different angles by the artists, he exclaimed, “Yes, that is what it should be. Each face here is mine because every artist gives life study his own orientation and form. Yes, they all represent me,” he said, nodding his head repeatedly.

For him, it was an honour for other artists to recognise his worth and ask him to come around to be so remembered. “What each and everyone of you has done today, will remain a legacy,” he said. “A legacy no one can take away from you for ever. Keep it up,” he said further.

About fifteen artists were involved in the exercise. They included two sculptors and thirteen painters.

Some of the artists were Olu Ajayi, Sam Ovraiti, Tony Okunjeni, Tunde Soyinka, Uche Nwosu, Victoria Udodighan and Juliet Pearce. Ajayi

said the idea was to document and celebrate a master, an icon who has been the cynosure of the profession for more than five decades. At 80 years, Onobrakpeya is still actively involved in his textile and printmaking works.

Born on August 30, 1932, Onobrakpeya (MFR), was among the ‘Zarian rebels’ who discouraged their white teachers from forcing them to be euro-centric in their artistic works.

He organises the famous Agbarhaotor Harmattan workshop every year to train and indoctrinate other artists in the society. This has impacted on a lot of artists who owe him a lot of gratitude.

To date, he has received over 30 national and international awards and appointments. These include MFR, and in 2002, an Art Master for Excellence was conferred on him.

•Horns of freedom by Onobrakpeya

Also in 2005, he received the Living Human Treasure Award by the Federal Government in collaboration with UNESCO and lots of other awards and recognitions.

Homecoming for the Prime Minister’s Son

By Denja Abdulahi

serving corp members, led by the State Director, Engr.Nkereke Ibangha. Greg Mbajiorgu, now a senior lecturer in the department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, set the tone for the visit when he reminiscence on how the then State Director of the scheme in 1991,one Mr Ajayi, encouraged him to follow his passion and approved his desire to adopt the one man theatre show as his primary assignment and community development activity. According to Greg Mbajiorgu, in spite of opposition from certain quarters, the then NYSC State Director, gave him an office space and an accommodation within the secretariat complex as a corp resident dramatist, from where he unleashed his talent as a solo drama artist culminating in the conception, writing and performance of the mono actor drama The Prime

Minister’s Son; which was taken round schools and communities in Cross River State. Speaking to a roomful of entranced corp members of the drama and dance community development group and management staff of the NYSC State Secretariat, Greg ,in an emotional laden voice, declared that the NYSC scheme defined his career and served as launch pad for his later endeavour as a theatre enterprenuer. According to him ,he had it so good as a travelling solo theatre artist as a Corp member that while his colleagues visited banks to make cash withdrawals, he regularly went there to make deposits and later bought a car from proceeds of his performances and was financially disposed to buy a cow for his colleagues to party with. At the end of his inspiring speech to the corp members and an appreciaContinued on page 52

•Mbajiorgu on stage

52

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Arts/Reviews

Books

A bleeding nation

A breezy service memoir T

HE entirety of a man’s life is often described as a book, scripted by some mysterious force. And then the belief is that every phase of that life makes up the chapters in the book. But now, the story of only a phase of his life (which is just supposed to be a chapter) is what Agbro ingeniously tells in a whole book. Indeed, many experiences can culminate in a ‘novel’, but then, there’s always a touch to some experiences that give them an edge in being relayed in the pages of a book.

A whole year is undoubtedly a wealth of experience for anybody that has observed the National Youth Service Corps, a scheme designed in 1973 to foster the unity of the country by encouraging youths to have a feel of another part of the country other than their areas of study, domicile and study. And it is the experience of this one year that Agbro tells in this work.

But then, like every other art of story-telling, there’s usually a beauty to each that gives it a voice of its own, distinct, even in the midst of many voices screaming to be heard. Indeed, everybody has a story, but not everybody can tell their story in an equally creative manner.

Agbro regales us with his prowess of story telling; in fact, I daresay you might easily forget that you’re not under the tree, below some full moon, listening to tales, as you read through here.

Even though it does not achieve so much particularly in the extensive delineation of characters, a feature prominent with the novel genre, this entertaining, engaging, and educating work

of Agbro’s sufficiently fulfils the seeming motivation behind it; plainly sharing the author’s experience of NYSC. A reading of Agbro’s work provides you with so much knowledge of the NYSC camp and the many activities that go down there in the spate of three weeks. The bugle-wake-up-call, morning drills, mealtimes, lectures, dance, drama, the beauty pageant, the Bonfire night, the endurance trek and many more are vividly relayed so that even a primary school pupil can easily have the feel of NYSC. What’s more, such frivolities these things afford one such as flirting around a girl like Mariama are also there!

There’s, truthfully, no end to the adventures of Federal Government pikin as Agbro’s narrator describes himself and his fellow corps members. Even parleying with a native doctor, and earning some cash and other benefits for a translation ‘contract’ in the process was there for this narrator and his pals.

What’s more, there is the chase for bush allawi; indigenous females nicknamed according to their sophistication- FBI (fully blown indigene), CIA (common indigenes around) etc.

The esprit de corps amongst corpers is extensively explored herein. The relations among batch A and B corps members as portrayed in this work shows another plus for NYSC; the love that Nigerian youths are capable of sharing regardless of differences in their religious and/ or ethnic affiliations or backgrounds.

There’s something about the way the author plays up the peaceful life of rural liv-

ing which is not obtainable in busy cities like Lagos.

From those pliant neighbours who are ever ready to attend to his needs, to the villagerfriends that keep his head bubbling at the palm-wine joint, to the indeed “studious” students, the narrator’s stay in the village of Izzikworo in Ebonyi State easily reminds city dwellers of the ‘life’ they are missing.

For a scheme that has been trailed by a plethora of controversies lately, it is rather a very bold act for a book to venture into lauding it. Not so much of lauding anyway, as the author equally brings to bear the many ills bedevilling the scheme, prominent amongst which are mismanagement and corruption. The author brings these issues to the fore with the bicycle allowance scheme that was corruptly managed apart from the fact that funds released for it were grossly inadequate to achieve its aim. “For an establishment that was rumoured to have contracted the dress kit for about fifty thousand naira, it was shameful that such pittance was allocated for such an important position,” the author comments of the scheme.

Impressively, and telling a story relevant to this period too, the author displays the hydra-headed fault of the Nigerian education system. So that apart from the thrills and frills of NYSC, the narrator is able to experience, first hand, these critical issues facing the nation. Community Second-

The Prime Minister’s son

ary School, Izzikworo, the narrator’s place of primary assignment, is iconic of the Nigerian educational system; grappling with inadequate infrastructures to cater for a teeming population of students, examination malpractices, dearth of teachers, poor academic curricular and so on; all of which remind him of the situation in his university.

In the end, Agbro’s work successfully serves two divergent yet complementary functions. It tells a story, sharing an experience as interestingly as it could be done. And then, it lends its voice to the call, reminding us of our complacencies and showing us that our contentment with the social status quo needs to be rethought.

Title: Served; memoir of a youth corps member Author: Joe Agbro Jr. Date of publication: September 2012 Publishers: Grasshill Books, Lagos Reviewer: Kayode Odumboni

POEM

Wanderer

I

Continued from page 51 tive NYSC staff, Greg was on the verge of tears and Prof Kalu Uka, had to step in to convert as he said “Greg’s tears to joy” with a powerfully rendered praise song and an inspiring speech that bordered on showing gratitude and aiming for excellence. Engr Ibangha, the NYSC State Director responded to the speeches by thanking Greg Mbajiorgu for appreciating the contributions of the scheme to his successful career as an artist while noting that stories such as that of his highlight the relevance of the scheme to youth development. He called on the corp members present to take a cue from the import of the visit to discover their talents and pursue their dreams.

The visit ended with the presentation of copies of the 20th anniversary edition of the monodrama The Prime Minister’s Son by Greg Mbajiorgu to the State NYSC and the performance of a drama sketch entitled “Co-

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•Papa Ajasco and Nnena on stage

nundrum” by the state’s NYSC drama troupe within the same quadrangle where The Prime Minister’s Son was premiered 21 years back.

The Calabar visit thus marked the beginning of a series of events already scheduled to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the play, The Prime Minister’s Son, across Nigeria. The anniversary activities are conceived to highlight the past

contributions of soloists such as the late Funso Alabi and others to the theatrical form which is in need of reinvention in Nigeria. The next stop will be in Abuja on the 27th of September 2012 at the Korean Cultural Centre where a play reading, performance and a critical session have been scheduled for The Prime Minister’s Son under the auspices of the Arojah Royal Theatre.

SOUGHT for love, care, and attention; But none came forth…….

I gazed upon the cloud and asked; Where is my origin?

How was I formed?

Tears gushed like a raindrop…..

Oh! What a life without a home; Each time I see families expressing happiness, But where is my family?

Do I know the worth of a family?

Do I know the worth of a family?

Do I know the originator of a family?

I wandered! Wandered!! Wandered!!!

Miserable without a happy home…..

Before nature takes me.

“Cherish the worth of your home.” I say.

I chased shadow for a rainbow Don’t wander like me….

By Samuel Adobi

F it is more apt to say so; Nigeria is indeed like Dolly Paton’s evergreen song which eulogises her coat of many colours.

This society operates on the basis of many colours, colours of deceit, colours of confusion, colours of indecision, colours of cheating and many more.

And what Soji Omotunde is saying invariably is that a nation founded on a loose foundation is bound to make no concerted progress. This is basically the thrust of the book – This Country, our nation, which is a collection of newspaper articles he wrote over the years, from 1986 to 2006.

The titles of the articles are easy to discern. They show a society in the quagmire of rigmarole like Fela Anikulapo-Kuti used to sing. There is plenty of executive confusion and disorderliness in the socio-political and economic spheres of the nation. Today Nigeria is neither here no there in terms of its defined goals to lead the people to Eldorado.

Those issues Omotunde raised and tackled 30 years ago when the military junta were in power, still prevail today. It is as if they are all alive and breathing and staring the people in the face with renewed vigour and profusion as time goes on.

Not even this era of democracy has tended to change anything. Where then, lies the future?

The author had warned in an article entitled: Adieu!

The middle class, in the 1980s that the middle class was on its way out. And if that was allowed to happen, Nigeria would never be a pleasant place to be. And so it finally happened and the author is vindicated. With the exit or demise of the middle class which Omotunde blamed for parts of the ills of the time, gap now exists between the super rich and the nascent poor. Poverty rings with ignominy in the society and no one has got the nerve to challenge the status quo. And so poverty continues abated and the leadership is happy to see it so!

With the advent of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which the author aptly nicknamed Stomach Adjustment Programme in 1988, and with the bastardisation of the Naira by Ibrahim Babangida, Omotunde promptly raised an alarm to alert the nation. These two issues nailed the hopes of the people and dashed their driving zeal to remain focused ever since.

Hear the author: “So, if 1988 which initially prom-

By Edozie Udeze

ised so much, especially with the inflationary budget which was so heartily hailed by all those economic analysts, gurus, wizards, et al, could go kaput so soon after its takeoff, what are the chances for a 1989 that has already been threatening us that it will not pretend to wear any face similar to those of the gaunt masses? I am already trembling.” This was in 1989 and one wonders if the situation is any better today.

As the author progressed in his bemoaning of the fortunes of a society so blessed and well endowed by God, so do his many articles. There is no single write-up in it that harps on hope; none either shows that the leadership of the country have any clear vision of how to make the country better. As the gloom and bleak state of affairs increased, so do the pen of Nigerian journalists and social critics who do not even escape the ire of the people in power. So where is the salvation? asks the author.

Divided into three periods in the troubled life of the nation, 1986 – 1989, 1990 – 1999, and 2000 – 2006, each section dwells on the tropical issues prevalent at that moment. A title like The Wobbling Goliath demystifies a nation that only assumes larger – than – life status without recourse to its myriad of failures.

Today it is from grace to grass and no one knows where the nation is headed.

The articles are deep and provocative and historical in their assessment of a turbulent country. There are errors in the book but they are few and far and between.

An example is on page 11 where Westerhof was, and he is right. The repetition of ‘and’ gives certain level of sluggishness to the statement. Besides all that, the author’s many years in the journalism profession gave him the needed expose to do justice to the problems of a nation in deep sea of confusion, crises and the like.

53

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

SALMAN RUSHDIE

Life and love in the shadow of the fatwa O

N Valentine's Day 1989, Salman Rushdie was telephoned by a BBC reporter and told that the Ayatollah Khomeini had sentenced him to death.

When asked how he felt, he told the female journalist: 'It doesn't feel good.' What he actually thought was: 'I'm a dead man'.

Only now can he tell the full story of living under the fatwa in an extraordinarily candid memoir, serialised by The Mail on Sunday.

In it he also reveals his secret lovers, his marriage breakdowns, his despair at being forced underground, and the fierce behindthe-scenes battles to keep his novel The Satanic Verses the reason for the fatwa in print.

For a decade he felt unable even to write about his experiences.

In an exclusive interview he tells me: 'I had come out of this very dark place and the idea of re-immersing myself in the mood of those years, when I had just come out of it, felt awful. I thought, I don't want to go back there. I want to leave that behind and shut that door and think about new things.'

But now the 65-year-old British author of the most controversial book of the 20th Century is ready to talk, clearly relishing his freedom after ten years of living in constant fear of being assassinated by an Iranian hit man.

'To walk without a guard, to go into a shop, to visit my family, to fly on a plane, all

Author of the controversial book, The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie tells of painful and dramatic secrets in nine years of hiding from Iranian Ayatollahs hitmen.

Geordie Greig reports. these things were at times impossible,' he says.

Rushdie was forced into hiding for more than nine years until the fatwa was lifted by the Iranian government in 1998 with everchanging safe houses, constant armed guards and a new identity. His alias, Joseph Anton, was a combination of the first names of two of his favourite writers Conrad and Chekhov. To his bodyguards he was simply known as Joe. 'When I became free I was glad to end Joseph Anton's existence and let Salman Rushdie live once again. It was a joyous moment,' he says.

In the book, titled Joseph Anton and written in the third person, he readily exposes his own failings and infidelities.

'There was only one point and that was to be nakedly honest, all my mistakes as well as better judgments are included, even if it showed me in a bad light,' he says.

Rushdie tells of being unfaithful to his wives, early on hoping in vain that his first wife Clarissa Luard would not realise that

he was betraying her.

'In retrospect, he was amazed that he could have been so vain. Of course she knew,' he writes about himself.

He reveals in detail how his marriages fall apart, the most bitter relationship being with his second wife, the American writer Marianne Wiggins, whom he accuses of lying and jeopardising his security. They have never spoken a word since their acrimonious split.

He falls in love with his third wife, Elizabeth West, when they meet in a hastily organised safe house, where their courtship is carried out in the greatest secrecy.

They have one child, a son Milan, and lose another, but later he leaves her for the actress Padma Lakshmi. They marry but she eventually dumps him. He recounts in astonishing detail his rollercoaster romantic life.

The only constant is his son Zafar, by his first marriage. He calls him every day at 7pm until one day there is no answer.

The police go round and find the front

door open and fear that terrorists have broken in to try to kill him. In a heartstopping description he finds that the police have mistakenly gone to the house next door, and that Zafar is fine.

'This was what happens when you are living under police protection, the agony of simply being unable to rush to your son even when you fear his life is in danger,' he says.

The book is also often comic. Four of his bodyguards were called Piggy, Stumpy, Fat Jack and Horse. He also describes being filmed for the movie Bridget Jones's Diary in which Hugh Grant kissed him on the mouth.

He retells the most famous fatwa joke.

'What's blond, has big tits and lives in Tasmania? Salman Rushdie!' He is encouraged to wear a wig himself, but he is immediately spotted and never tries it again.

The book also covers Rushdie's early life and tells of bullying and racism at his public school.

The one devastating lesson he learned at Rugby was 'there would always be people who just didn't like you, to whom you seemed as alien as little green men or the Slime from Outer Space'.

He reveals how shamed he was by his father's drunken bullying of him as a teenager with 'nights of foul language and

Contd. on page 54

54

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Miscellany

Rushdie: In the shadow of the fatwa

Salman Rushdie and fourth wife, Padma Lakshmi

Protesters in Lahore, Pakistan demonstrate against Rushdie's knighthood in 2007

Contd. from page 53 unprovoked, red-eyed rage' but also movingly tells of their final reconciliation on his father's death bed.

Throughout his life in hiding, Rushdie was often criticised by people who resented the £1million a year it cost to keep him under police protection.

He says now: 'My biggest problem, I used to think, was that I wasn't dead.

'If I were dead then nobody in England would have to fuss about the cost of my security and whether or not I merited such special treatment for so long.

'But if you were to balance out the taxes I've paid in the years when I was protected by the British police you would find it was a pretty even balance sheet.

'Remember, the police who were protecting me were on a salary. They were not specially paid to protect me. No extra people were taken on.'

Rushdie's books have sold more than 25 million copies in 40 languages. That success, he says, allowed him to fund part of the security protection he needed.

He stresses that he paid for all the safe houses, which needed four bedrooms for the detectives.

'The cost for myself has been hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. So a very large proportion of the money that the books were making me was going to finance the protection I was paying for. Not, of course, the police salaries. I was never offered a government safe house.'

He is aware that his rare public appearances while under guard most famously he appeared on stage with his friend Bono at a U2 concert may have given some people the wrong impression.

'Being under the fatwa was a jail, but I think that one of the problems is that from the outside it looked glamorous, as I sometimes showed up in places in Jags with people jumping out to open the door and make sure you get in safely and so on. Looks of who the hell does he think he is? Well, from my side it felt like jail,' he says.

'There was this crude argument that I did it in some way for personal advantage, to make myself more famous or to make money. At its most unpleasant it was levelled at me from the Islamic side that the Jews made me do it.

They said my [second] wife was Jewish. She wasn't, she was American.

'If I had simply wanted to trade on an insult to Islam I could have done it in a sentence rather than writing a 250,000-word novel, a work of fiction,' says Rushdie.

'What you have to remember is that The Satanic Verses is not called Islam the Prophet, it is not called Mohammed, the country is not called Arabia it all happens in the dream of somebody who is losing their mind.'

What still shocks him is that no radical Muslims in Britain who backed the call for his assassination were ever prosecuted.

'There were these occasions, like in Manchester, where Muslim leaders said to their congregation, “Tell me who in this audience would be ready to kill Rushdie?” and everyone in the audience raised their hand. And the police thought this was OK.' He says: 'Supposing I had been the Queen and an iman said to his congregation, “Who

would be ready to kill the Queen?” and everybody raised their h a n d .

Would you think the p o l i c e would not act?

'I only use the Queen as an example to dramatise this but it seems odd that when it is a novelist of foreign origin, therefore not completely British in some way, that it was allowed to happen with impunity.

'If this had happened to Alan Bennett the response would have been completely different.'

Rushdie remembers his split from his wife Marianne as being a particularly traumatic time. She claimed that the CIA was aware of Rushdie's whereabouts and so his cover was blown. When he realised that she was lying he decided to end the relationship.

'It was very shocking. There simply was a point at which I had to choose whether to be alone in the middle of this hurricane with nobody there for companionship or whether I somehow had to put up with this person in whom it was difficult to have faith.

'It was horrifying to be told by a policeman that they believed that your wife was lying to you. It is an experience most of us don't have.

And then for her to say that it was the police who were to be blamed and that I shouldn't trust them sets a kind of mindf*** and I had to make my judgments. It became impossible for me to have faith in her veracity. So in the end I thought it was better to separate,' he says.

'In the course of 65 years I have been in love with four women, one of whom certainly was a bad mistake. But to have had three long relationships is not so bad.

'I think I am due for a nice, long stable one.

Certainly, I am not in the market for anything else. I think it is a silly thing to say that I'll never get married again.'

He discovered that the common link between all his women is that they had missing parents. His first wife Clarissa's father committed suicide, his long-term lover Robyn Davidson's mother committed suicide and Marianne's mother committed suicide. Even Elizabeth's mother died when she was very young. And in Padma's case her father left her mother when she was only about one.

'I seem to have fallen for women with missing parents. Goodness knows what it signifies,' he says.

'There have been two kinds of relationship in my life, very long and very stable ones and relatively short and rather unstable ones. But

I am very proud of the fact that my relationshi ps with t h e Author mothers Salman o f m y Rushdie children with his remain close. I sons Milan, still talk to 15, and Elizabeth 33-year-old every day.

Zafar 'To walk without a guard, to go into a shop, to visit my family, all these things were at times impossible' 'I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.'

The most volatile was Padma Lakshmi.

'The thing with Padma is that we were really in love with each other. I have to say that.

There was nothing fake. It was also a very painful finish. I didn't want it to end. She said that the marriage had come to an end.'

When they met he was married to his third wife Elizabeth but had gone to a showbiz party in New York on Liberty Island under the Statue of Liberty with his son Zafar.

'I just ran into this girl who I had read one newspaper article about and I remember thinking, “Who is this beautiful Indian girl?” I thought, “God, what a very gorgeous girl.”

'We talked to each other only for a few minutes but clearly something happened in that we exchanged phone numbers, which I wasn't in the habit of doing with anyone really, as I was married.'

A key strand to his book is his fight to be published, as he sees it, a basic fight for the freedom of expression. He does not think that any publisher today would have taken on The Satanic Verses.

'No. The dangers of attack are greater now than they were then. I think it is because of the internet, the enormous feed of global mass media. If you attack a work of art now you can do it instantaneously on a global scale. There is more fear now than there was then.’

Rushdie is torn as to whether, in the end, he achieved victory. 'On the one hand we managed to keep the book in print but on the other there was a colossal chilling effect on my life and that fear of being critical of Islam is very great now. It means the situation is more constrained now.

'It wouldn't be published now. I just think the publishers would say it is too frightening and it would give them too much of a security problem.'

So would you have changed a word in order to get it published? 'No. No. Don't bother to write if that is what you do. It seems that nobody is asking you to write a

book. The world will do just fine without any books by any of us and if you are going to write a book, say what's in your head.'

Was it meant to attack Islam? 'No. It wasn't particularly reverential towards Islam but most of it is not even about Islam,' he says.

He remains passionate about his role as a writer. 'There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to take issue with any ideology, elite system, political system, social idea that's what a writer is for. Writers are not there just simply to tell pleasing tales that you can read on the beach and forget. They are there to try to shape the world they live in.'

Books as well as friends were his chief solace when in hiding.

'I've got into lots of trouble by saying I have never finished Middlemarch. I've cheated and looked at the end. I just got bored.'

And Jane Austen? 'Well she is just sitting there. It's a little samey. It doesn't matter which of the books you're reading. It is worth reading one but the others are all the same.'

The books came and went, but the police were uncomfortably ever-present.

'It was horrifying to be told by a policeman that your wife was lying to you. In the end it was better to separate' 'I was isolated but I was surrounded by people all of the time. And that was a kind of claustrophobia that was very difficult to deal with.

Some of the places we were in had enough room for us to get away from each other, because it was difficult for them, too. Four large men living in a house for two weeks at a time and these are men of action, they are not men who sit in chairs and contemplate the world.'

And yet his praise for his minders is unreserved.

'The last thing in the book is if it were not for the activities of the British police and intelligence services I wouldn't have been able to write this book,' he says. 'I am very grateful. Nobody was put on this job unless they volunteered for it. They were asked in Special Branch who was prepared to do it, so everybody was a volunteer…and the fact that they did, not knowing what level of danger they would be in, was extraordinary.'

And he also has a great love for Britain, to whom he owes his career and his safety. 'I am a knight of the realm and I feel deeply, deeply connected. I have lived in this country longer than I've lived anywhere and I am a citizen of this country. My children are English and both of their mothers were English. These are roots which are deeper than my roots in India.' And looking back, during the low moments, did you ever seek help?

'No. If I was American I would have been in therapy. I did have a couple of medical checkups at that time and they were always amazed I didn't have high blood pressure.

'So either I am very insensitive or somehow I was able to resist this.’

NEXT WEEK: EXTRACTS FROM JOSEPH ANTON, SALMAN RUSHDIE'S EXPLOSIVE NEW MEMOIRS. Courtesy: The Mail on Sunday

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

55

Ex-banker turned policeman killed by robbers —PAGE 57

For Benson, there’s no mountain high enough Emmanuel Benson (aka Man of God, MOG) was born with a quadriplegic condition, speech defect, and autism. His hands and legs are positioned unnaturally. He is also said to be suffering from cerebral palsy- a brain defect that hinders the normal movement of his body. However, he has refused to give up.

Taiwo Abiodun met him recently and reports.

IS birth about three decades ago heralded some joy into the family because his parents had been expecting the addition of a baby to the family. However, the stark reality hit the family; the new arrival was born with severe conditions. He is quadriplegic and with a speech defect [worse than autism]. His hands and legs are positioned unnaturally. A medical doctor confirmed that he was suffering from cerebral palsy- a brain defect that hinders the normal movement of his body.

His father, who was then a senior officer in the Nigeria Air Force, was advised by a medical doctor at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria to do away with him. He ignored the advice and made efforts to find solution to the poor boy’s ailment by taking him to several hospitals, spiritualists, churches, and traditional healing homes. All met with no success. His conscience did not allow him to poison him.

To avoid the shame and the stigma associated with having an invalid, especially with his social and professional status, he decided to always hide his son from his colleagues, friends and family members.

A will to live Despite his father’s scheming the boy’s will to live was strong. Today he is a band leader and sings in spite of his speech impairment. He has a studio where he mixes

H

• Benson

PHOTOS: TAIWO ABIODUN

his records and has two records to his credit.

He is a bundle of talent, a computer wizard, publisher and author. He is also a pastor. Talk of a rejected stone that is now the head cornerstone!

Welcome to the world of Emmanuel Benson. When the reporter went to his home to meet him, he ‘walked’ out to welcome the reporter on his knees holding his laptop by his side. He crawls from his room into his studio which is in the same building. A visitor

seeing him for the first time might think he is on his kneels greeting or begging for alms. No. He was born like that. His knees and hands are dysfunctional. He cannot stand up and walk on his two legs! His two hands are withered. Not only that he cannot talk properly as the contortion on his face is associated with his sagging lips, a condition which has affected part of his brain. Doctors describe this as cerebral palsy. But he has refused to give up.

He spoke with the reporter with the assistance of his father who assisted in interpreting some of the words that were not clear. Narrating his story, he said “I grew up to see myself in this condition and my father has been a wonderful father who did not throw me away as he told me many stories of how the doctor, his friends, including family members asked him to throw me away when I was a baby due to my condition. I •Continued on Page 57

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

Life

‘Nobody is born to be useless in life’ •Continued from Page 55

used to ask him when I was younger why he was hiding me away from the public and his friends. That was when we were living at the Ikeja Air Force Base. Since I challenged him he stopped hiding me and keeping me away from visitors. I used to tell him that God has a purpose of making me like this and we cannot question God.’’ As he was narrating this during the interview, his father who was by his side burst into tears.

According to him, he was born in Kaduna as the fourth child in a family of eight. “I am the only one that is in this condition in the family but I still thank God for His mercy. I did not go beyond primary four. I had no opportunity to go to secondary school again because of the difficulty of moving around and due to my impaired speech. The knowledge I acquired is from home.

I read the rest at home. I had a teacher who used to come and teach me.

With my attainment of primary school I went to Bible College where I studied Christian Theology, I also went to computer school. I also attended the special vocational training centre for the handicapped at Majidun to learn shoe-making. I could do the theory but my hands are bad and I could not do anything with my hands. I tried to manage but could not and I then opted out looking for one thing or the other to do. I can use my computer very well while I mix my songs in the studio.”

Asked whether he knows that he is different from others around him, he responded with a smile “All along I knew I was different from the other children and I didn’t feel jealous or complain. There is one thing I always say, just like the way I was telling the physically challenged people two weeks ago, I asked them a question whether they can change their destiny. I said they should seize the opportunity and do whatever they can do and not beg for alms.”

On how he makes ends meet, he said, I do attend shows, most of the times I don’t charge any fees. I only tell people to give me what they have, and most of them will say ‘thank you very much and God bless you’ without giving me anything at all , but that does not stop me from doing it.’’

Studio manager He has not allowed his condition to hold him down. He runs a musical studio in his father’s house.

According to him, he has to do this because he spends a lot going from one studio to another and since he can do it on his own he does not need to stress himself too much.

Aside this, he said nobody is ready to receive him and dub his record so he has no choice than to do it. “I have a certificate in computer training.

Apart from that, I have passion for music. I want the world to know that I have tried my best. I want my father to be happy and not sad. I have won about three awards from Ondo and Lagos States. Imagine at the last Olympics the able-bodied sports men did not win any medal but at the Paralympics they came home with awards. I want the world to know that that one is disabled does not mean it is the end of life. The government and individuals should encourage us.

I find it difficult to go out, this wheelchair was donated to me. Each time I go out to play at shows I pay the car hire almost N10,000, I will pay my band members, I will do this and that. It is not easy. I attend all shows I am invited to but it is either they don’t pay or they give me peanuts.”

According to him, he has

• His awards

• Benson walking out from his room

• Benson in the studio

released about two gospel albums and is currently working on the third album. Asked how the reactions to his music has been since he is speech impaired, he said, “Well, God has been kind they call me to shows and when I lead my songs my band members would sing the chorus. I can dance very well. However, I don’t sit on the wheelchair like Yinka Ayefele but would come down and on my kneels wriggle my body. I go out to attend shows, but it costs me a lot of stress because I make little from such.”

A lady’s man When it comes to women and affairs of the heart Benson is very selective in spite of his disability. “I

was going out with a lady called Bukky before she jilted me. I think it was her mother who asked her not to marry me and painfully she really encouraged me in all I have been doing.”

His father: Okuonghae Benson, testified that “After some of his public shows some girls would keep on calling him on phone that they love him and did not mind his condition. One came here one day and told me that she loves my son but said my son is not serious. When I asked him he said he doesn’t like the lady. He is very selective when it comes to the matter of women. I am praying for him to have one and marry because he needs one as a

companion.”

He has published a book - You are born to be great, while he is writing another one with the title The greatest mistake that cannot be corrected. He had to borrow over a million naira to build his music studio.He said: I am my own producer, marketer and distributor.

In fact, I am learning how to beat gangan, the Yoruba traditional drum.”

A fatherly support The father, a retired engineer of the Nigeria Air Force who retired in 2001. said: “I am now 72. When my son was born he was put in an incubator and when I demanded for

the reason the doctors and nurses said when he was born he did not cry like a normal baby and that it was abnormal. At six months he could not move around like others, We started taking him to hospitals and at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria he was diagnosed of cerebral palsy. This they said affected parts of his brain making them not sending signals to other parts of the body.”

At a stage he said he got tired and was advised to get rid of mission because he would later turn out to be a problem to him and his family. “The doctor told me in confidence in the absence of my wife.

He advised me to send the boy to my parents in the village and that they would know what to do.”

He refused to heed the advice and decided to bear his cross. In doing this, he got the understanding of some of his colleagues and had to drop him at Igbobi Orthopaedic Hospital, Yaba every morning and pick him up in the afternoon.

He said he has no regrets except that “After my demise what would happen to him? I am the only one assisting and helping him in many things. He lives with me here and I take him out in my jalopy 504 car visiting places. We talk all the time, but when I am dead and gone who will be doing all these? When we were in Kaduna I was more comfortable with him because his case is rampant in the North there.”

He has a word for other parents who are in his kind of shoes, “Don’t throw such a child away. It is not easy seeing one’s child in such a condition but when it happens, you must take it like that. Nobody is born to be useless in life. There is a saying in my town, Benin, that nobody is useless; a scrap of a vehicle on the street is still very useful to that street because you can still use it to tell somebody where you are. Today, my son is still useful at least if any visitor comes here and doesn’t meet me at home they would meet him.

Life

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

57

Ex-banker turned policeman killed by robbers T

HE Ifonlaja family of Odogbolu, Ogun State had scheduled a meeting for Sunday, September 9, 2012. All was set for the all-important meeting called to take a stand on some crucial family issues. One of the issues at stake was to lay out the plans for the proposed remembrance anniversary of their late patriarch who was a very successful business man who died 20 years ago.

By 3:00pm there was a full attendance except for one of them; the last born of the family, who is regarded as their pride on account of the consistent determination, with which he paddled his life right from childhood. He was Oluwatodimu Ifonlaja, a Constable with the Nigeria Police then serving under the Lagos State initiated Rapid Response Squad (RRS).

Grim reaper While they were expecting him, the phone of one of the family members vibrated at the other end was Ifonlaja who was being expected at the family gathering. He announced that he had just received a distress call from his office at Alausa office.

He said he would soon join them at the meeting. Ifonlaja was dead wrong! Death, the grim reaper, was already hovering around him and was only waiting for the decisive moment to strike and terminate his 37 years sojourn on the face of the earth!

Alas! The next phone call to the meeting, which was reportedly from one of Ifonlaja’s colleagues, broke the bad news that he had been shot by a gang of armed robbers that turned that Sunday to a black one for the residents of Lagos.

“The person that called perhaps used the last call he (the deceased) made some minutes before the incident to reach us. I don’t know how to describe what happened to us after the news. We shouted to ask about the place the incident happened. The phone was cut. It was while we ran out that we got to know that armed robbers had operated at different places that afternoon. Nothing can be done again because we were told that he died instantly on the spot,” a member of the deceased’s family who does not want his name in print stated.

It was gathered that the late cop, after receiving the distress call, drove himself to the office where he parked his car, hoping to return to pick it and head for the family meeting after the operation. A source disclosed that he was also the one who drove the patrol vehicle that took his team to the field. That, according to another source, informed why he was the first target of the armed bandit when they struck.

The deceased and his team parked their vehicle at a spot not far from Guinness plant in Ogba as a strategic positioning required at the moment of tension. Suddenly the rampaging robbers coming from Oke-koto, Agege axis where they had earlier robbed some Bureau de Change outlets, sighted them from a distance. The gang thought fast and instantly poured hot lead into the three-man team.

They first hit the deceased as a deliberate strategy to demobilize the team with a view to paving the way

Oluwatodimu Ifonlaja, a former banker who left the banking hall to join the police force was one of the law enforcement officers killed on that ‘Bloody Sunday’ when armed robbers struck in Lagos. Tunde Busari reports.

•Ifonlaja

•The remains of Ifonlaja being laid to rest

for the escape they most needed.

They were obviously being trailed by another team mobilised from Pen Cinema Divisional Police Headquarters.

“That was why they launched the attack at that moment. Apart from the late constable, they also killed another one and seriously injured the only inspector in the team. They carried out this operation in such a way that nothing could stop them except if a more fortified team had laid an ambush for them from Oba Akran end of the road,” a source said.

Soon after the gang had made good their escape, the corpse of the fallen policemen were deposited at the General Hospital Ikeja mortuary while the injured Inspector was admitted at an intensive care unit of the same hospital.

The bereaved family of Ifonlaja, having agreed on the need not to keep the corpse of their son in the morgue more than necessary, arranged a befitting burial held penultimate Thursday at Ipaja, Lagos. The atmosphere at the Saint Andrews Anglican Church, Akinyele, Ipaja clearly reflected the mood of the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased from RRS who arrived early to pay their last respects to the departed.

Cry of anguish The policemen, who wore long faces, kept on lamenting and also raining curses on the robbers with unanimous prayer to God to expose them. “With the amount of sorrow the robbers have brought to many families in one day alone, the God we are serving on that Sunday they operated, will definitely fish them out for the public to see.

“God will fish them out from wherever they may be hiding. They are such merciless young men who

live on blood. Ifonlaja himself could not have imagined he would end it in the hand of the same armed robbers because of whom he enlisted in the police,” one of the nine colleagues at the burial lamented.

This lament, yet another source confirmed, is a rundown of Ifonlaja’s voyage to the police. He was said to have defiantly played down the unappealing image of the force, instead promising the critics of his decision and desire to contribute his quota to make the force attractive to other young Nigerians.

“When he remained stubborn to his decision, we did not have a choice than to leave him because we know him as a man of principle. Despite that, some of us were still not comfortable watching him, with his background, wearing black uniform in a country where anything can happen.

One thing I will always say is that he did not join the police to make money. He was comfortable in his own way before he joined,” the source said.

The deceased before joining the police was an employee of a new generation bank as a Cashier. He had a National Diploma (ND) in Accounting from the Osun State Polytechnic, Iree. With this modest resume, he had an assured future that could see him to the peak of the career, all things being equal. His ambition and hunger to acquire knowledge also fired him to seek admission into the Lagos State University (LASU) even as a serving policeman.

He bore the pains of the discomfort this imposed on him and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accountancy. “With all these efforts, was he the same person that should be killed without reaping the fruit of his sweat? It is painful to recall this. Even at work, it is not difficult to know that he was a different

person.

“There are some things you could not find him doing. His bank background always reflected in the way he related with people. But who are we to question the decision of God? He must be resting with the Lord now because he lived a life full of different experiences too many for his age,” a source also said.

A chequered life He lived a chequered life. Two women he was married to and who had children for him are dead. His first wife who was then resident in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, died during the birth of his first child, a daughter named Iyanuoluwa. She is now 11 years old.

He mourned his wife for some years before he consummated another marriage which is blessed with a set of three-year-old twins and a one-year-old boy. Tragedy, however, reared its head again as the mother of three lost a battle to cancer in December 2, 2011, turning the deceased to a widower for the second time. Ironically, the same ambulance vehicle that conveyed his wife to the burial site was the one used to convey his body to his rest place on Thursday.

The awful experience drained the deceased’s further appetite for another wife, hence his determination to play a dual role for the four children his late wives left for him. Interestingly, the appearance of the children at the burial of their father attested to the kind of love the deceased had for them. Each looked radiant in their beautiful attires befitting children who survived their father.

“That is why I said the deceased was not a typical policeman. The way he took care of the children showed that he had mixed with some ambitious people who appreciate the value of caring for their children.

I am not maligning or blackmailing anybody but the deceased is a good example of how policemen should take care of their children. The constable did not allow the children to feel the absence of their mothers,” a source said.

Incidentally, he shared the same birth date with his twin, September 23 and had scheduled an elaborate ceremony for the day apparently oblivious that fate would play a spoiler.

The family have since rallied round the children who are now orphans. The Pastor who presided during the burial consoled the children and family that the deceased had gone to rest “With those unpleasant experiences he had passed through it shows that he has gone to take a deserved rest.”

Meanwhile, barely 24 hours after the incident that claimed the life of the deceased, the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar, ordered the policemen serving at the Lagos State Police Command to wake up from “slumber” and ensure security and safety in the state.

Abubakar, spoke at the presentation and inauguration of 114 security patrol vehicles, 40 motorcycles and other security items

by Governor Babatunde Fashola.

“It is no longer a tea party. There is no doubt that policemen in the state are sleeping. You must wake up from your slumber. The story of yesterday (the robbery incidents) should not happen again. We must not fold our arms and allow miscreants to take over the state.

I have ordered the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2, and the state Commissioner of Police to sit down and re-strategise and find a new way of fighting crime in Lagos. You have mobility, you have support, you have allowance from the state government; you must not allow people of Lagos to be terrorised by robbers. It can never be accepted anymore,” the IG said.

58

Your HEALTH THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

stay Feed right &

I

N a society where the traditional meal has rice, garri or yam at the centre of a daily meal, with beef or chicken as an accompaniment, it can be tough feasting on a healthy diet.

With many parents working outside the home, there is also a gradual decline and irregularity in the quality and quantity of food young children eat.

However, nutritionists insist that if we are to live for a long period of time with strong and vibrant bodies, the kind and quality of food we ingest is a factor to be paid great attention.

According to experts, healthy eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving ourselves of the foods we love. Rather, it's about feeling great, having more energy and stabilising your mood; all of which can be achieved by learning some nutrition basics and using them in a way that works for us.

To ensure we succeed in our quest, it is necessary that we think about planning a healthy diet as a number of small, manageable steps rather than one big drastic change.

Every change you make to improve your diet matters. The long term goal is to feel good, have more energy, and reduce the risk of cancer and disease. The tips and secrets for eating our way to a healthy body are below: 1: It's not just what you eat, it's how you eat Healthy eating is about more than the food on your plate, it is also about how you think about food. Healthy eating habits can be learned and it is important to slow down and think about food as nourishment rather than just something to gulp down in between meetings or on the way to pick up the kids.

Eat with others whenever possible. Eating with other people has numerous social and emotional benefits, particularly for children, and allows you to model healthy eating habits. Eating in front of the TV or computer often leads to mindless overeating.

Take time to chew your food and enjoy mealtimes . Chew your food slowly, savouring every bite. We tend to rush though our meals, forgetting to actually taste the flavours and feel the textures of our food.

Reconnect with the joy of eating.

Listen to your body. Ask yourself if you are really hungry, or have a glass of water to see if you are thirsty instead of hungry. During a

healthy

meal, stop eating before you feel full. It actually takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body that it has had enough food, so eat slowly.

Eat breakfast, and eat smaller meals throughout the day. A healthy breakfast can jumpstart your metabolism, and eating small, healthy meals throughout the day (rather than the standard three large meals) keeps your energy up and your metabolism going.

Avoid eating at night. Try to eat dinner earlier in the day and then fast for 14-16 hours until breakfast the next morning.

Early studies suggest that this simple dietary adjustment - eating only when you're most active and giving your digestive system a long break each day - may help to regulate weight. After-dinner snacks tend to be high in fat and calories, so are best avoided, anyway.

2: Fill up on colourful fruits and vegetables Fruits and vegetables are the foundation of a healthy diet. They are low in calories and nutrient dense which means they are packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fibre.

Try to eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day and with every meal, the brighter the better.

Colourful, deeply coloured fruits and vegetables contain higher concentrations of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidantsand different colours provide different benefits, so eat a variety. Aim for a minimum of five portions each day.

3: Eat healthy

carbohydrates and whole grains Choose healthy carbohydrates and fibre sources, especially whole grains, for long lasting energy. In addition to being delicious and satisfying, whole grains are rich in phytochemicals and antioxidants, which help to protect against coronary heart disease, certain cancers, and diabetes. Studies have shown people who eat more whole grains tend to have a healthier heart.

4: Put protein in perspective Protein gives us the energy to get up and go. Protein in food is broken down into the 20 amino acids that are the

body's basic building blocks for growth and energy, and essential for maintaining cells, tissues, and organs. A lack of protein in our diet can slow growth, reduce muscle mass, lower immunity, and weaken the heart and respiratory system. Protein is particularly important for children, whose bodies are growing and changing daily.

Focus on quality sources of protein, like fresh fish, chicken or turkey, tofu, eggs, beans, or nuts. When you are having meat, chicken, or turkey, buy meat that is free of hormones and antibiotics.

5: Add calcium for strong bones Calcium is one of the key nutrients that your body needs in order to stay strong and healthy. It is an essential building block for lifelong bone health in both men and women, as well as many other important functions.

You and your bones will benefit from eating plenty of calcium-rich foods, limiting foods that deplete your body's calcium stores, and getting your daily dose of magnesium and vitamins D and Knutrients that help calcium do its job.

Good sources of calcium include milk, yogurt, cheese, vegetables and green beans 6: Limit sugar and salt If you succeed in planning your diet around fibre-rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and good fats, you may find yourself naturally cutting back on foods that can get in the way of your healthy dietsugar and salt.

Avoid sugary drinks. One small bottle of fizzy drink has about 10 heaped teaspoons of sugar in it, more than the daily recommended limit! Try sparkling water with lemon or a splash of fruit juice. Eat naturally sweet food such as fruit, peppers, or natural peanut butter to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Most of us consume too much salt in our diets. Eating too much salt can cause high blood pressure and lead to other health problems. Try to limit sodium intake to 1,500 to 2,300 mg per day, the equivalent of one teaspoon of salt.

Avoid processed or pre-packaged foods.

Processed foods like canned soups or frozen dinners contain hidden sodium that quickly surpasses the recommended limit.

59

BUSINESS THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

A

BOUT 20 leading I n f o r m a t i o n and Communication Technology firms have stormed Nigeria to forge business partnership with players in the nation’s ICT industry.

The Indian firms, under the auspices of the National Association of Computer and Software Companies of Indian, NASSCOM, were on Monday in a day-long business discussion with the Information Technology Association of Nigeria, ITAN, which represents IT firms in the country.

With the theme ‘Empowering and Resuscitating Local IT Entrepreneurs via Local Content Development and Funding’, stakeholders, who attended the business summit, discussed various areas of partnership relating to technology transfers, domestication, deployment of local talent by Indian firms and the need to support local IT entrepreneurs to grow.

Speaking at the forum, the President, ITAN, Mrs. Florence Seriki, said the objective of the summit, which is an annual meeting between the two bodies, was to serve as a statement of need to sustain the creation of a platform for local ICT organisations to synergise and collaborate among key international ICT players.

She said: “We want to grow into partnership with Indian firms and go into localising some of the

20 Indian ICT firms seek partnerships in Nigeria

By Bukola Afolabi

technologies foreign IT firms are producing and bringing into Nigeria.

“Indeed, our goal ultimately is to bridge the digital divide in competitive capacity development of the local enterprises, by also creating education, by also creating education opportunities, influencing policy formulations in ICT development, promotion.

And enhancement of the

Nigerian ICT industry with other relevant stakeholders.”

She explained further that local ICT companies currently deserve a lot of private and public sector support in terms of increasing their demand for goods and services supplied, and engendering adequate partnership to promoting local content.

Also speaking, the President of NASSCOM, Mr. Som Mittal, who noted that NASSCOM represents about 1,

300 Indian companies in Indian, said Nigeria had been identified as a country with large market whose potential for ICT revolution can be bolstered through the right partnerships with local companies.

“We are committed to healthy partnership with our Nigerian counterparts. Our investments in Nigeria have been continuous and we would ensure that we work with local partners to engage

in developing both the Indian market and the Nigerian economy in the area of ICT,” he said.

The Director-General of the National Office for Technology Promotion and Development, NOTAP, Mr. Buba Bindir, stressed the need for the Indian firms to do business in Nigeria in line with the regulatory and legal provisions in Nigeria.

He also tasked them “to come to Nigeria with funding,

technology and technical know-how which would help in leap-frogging the country’s ICT industry.

According to him, “Nigeria has been recording a lot of capital flight in the economy, especially through ICT and we are ready to turn this around through proper licensing of any foreign IT technologies and solutions coming to Nigeria.”

The President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria, Mr. Lanre Ajayi and the Chairman, Teledom Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, stressed the need to always engage in impact assessment of the partnership between the two countries in order to always measure the progress being made.

$200 million entertainment fund not grant but loan, says NEXIM Boss

E

NTERTAINMENT practitioners who want to access funds from the $200 million entertainment fund need to know that the fund is not a grant but a facility for the growth of the industry.

Addressing Finance Correspondents in Abuja on Friday, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM) Mr Robert Orya linked the alleged slow disbursement of the $200 billion Entertainment Fund to inability of practitioners to meet the stipulated minimum requirements for accessing the loans.

He pointed out that the management of the Fund had

Nduka Chiejina, Assistant Editor

been based on high ethical principles and laws guiding the nation’s banking sector.

According to him, one of the reasons for delayed disbursement of credit to practitioners is the wrong impression some of the industry practioners have that the money in the Fund is a grant by government to assist the growth of the sector and not a loan.

Mr Robert Orya, dismissed insinuations that NEXIM bank was deliberately delaying efforts to access the Fund, saying that the bank has and will continue to process loan applications and grant

•From left: Mr. Strihivasap Venkatappa, Chief Operating Officer, Visafone; Mr. Jim Ovia, Founder/Chairman, Mr. David Pnn, President, Huawei Technologies Nigeria and Ms Yolaada Zhang, Regional Marketing Director at the launch of the new Huawei Ascend C8655 Smartphone in Lagos

INSIDE BUSINESS

Aviation: In the throes of death -- Pages 60-61

credit to those that meet conditions for loans. Already, the management of NEXIM he said has disbursed N700 million of the fund to those who applied for and fulfilled the conditions for accessing the credit to support their operations in the industry.

He explained that “the fund is not a grant, we appreciate the fact that this people have the talents, but they don’t have the collateral. Now, collateral is important because the banking laws in Nigeria prohibits you, or it becomes a crime if I lend money to you to a certain amount without security, I am a candidate for jail and it becomes criminal.”

He added that “the challenge these people have been having is the challenge to comply with the requirements for them to access this Fund.

That was why when we drafted the operational guidelines; we discussed them with the members of the industry because we said you are the people that are going to use this.

We are using different guidelines for the entertainment industry. It is not the normal guidelines of the bank and we discussed these things with them, the Association of Movie Producers and everybody that we needed to have their own input because they are the people that are going

to use it. So, it is not fast not because there is an inhibition at the end of NEXIM.” On the general business operations of the Bank, he disclosed that the NEXIM has been repositioned to fulfil its mandate as reflected in its balance sheets as well as its interventions in key projects that are aimed at boosting Nigeria’s and other West African countries’ shares in the global maritime export trade.

Orya also denied allegations that NEXIM’s supposed profit was from investing in Treasury Bills, stressing that the bank’s income is from its investment income that is interest on loans.

•Founder and Chairman, FLP International, Mr. Rex Maughan, recognise the achievements of FLP Managing Director, Nigeria/Benin, Mr. Cornelius Tay and wife, Mrs. Caroline Tay, at the Super Rally, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, recently

INTERVIEW

‘Insurers need to reinvent themselves’ -- Page 62

60

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

INSIDE BUSINESS

• Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos

• Oduah

Aviation: In the throes of death L

AST Thursday at the Lagos and Abuja airports, a drama played out that underlined the parlous state of Nigerian aviation. Hundreds of passengers were stranded, following the abrupt cancellation of scheduled flights operated by Arik Air. While some blamed the problem on unpaid operational debts owed aviation agencies by the operator, others on industrial action by unions, Arik in an sms to affected passengers said the suspension of “all its domestic operations until further notice was because of the “persistent hostility of the Ministry of Aviation and FAAN (Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria) management.”

As of today, Arik is one the remaining two or three airlines still flying. The disruption of its operations further limits the choices available to the flying public - leaving them at the mercy of touts and shylocks that have invaded the airports in recent times. It is the latest evidence that the sector is in dire need of corrective surgery.

The place of aviation in any economy is quite strategic considering that it serves as one wheel upon which the economy runs.

Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, on the face of it, understands this.

While giving a report on her first year in the saddle, she spoke of repositioning the aviation sector to make it a catalyst for economic growth on whose wheels President Goodluck Jonathan’s “Transformation Agenda” would ride.

“Our vision is that aviation in the next one year will become selfsustaining, meaning that we will have to contribute a minimum of five per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP),” Oduah told the guests at the event.

To achieve this, Nigerian airports are now receiving a facelift, and would be developed into an Aerotropolis concept.

The Aerotropolis is an airport city with

Gradually, the nation’s aviation industry is sliding into a coma. How did the sector arrive in this sorry state, and what is the way out? Bukola Afolabi well-planned layout infrastructure, outlying corridors and clusters of aviation-linked businesses, commercial and residential infrastructure.

It encompasses the airport and a range of commercial facilities supporting both aviation-linked businesses and the millions of travelers who pass through the airport annually. The business clusters within the Aerotropolis include Free Trade Zone, business park, terminals, cargo village, fixed base operators, technical services, social services, amongst others.

Each of these clusters has a chain of several commercial offerings and activities, and presents huge economic and business opportunities through a joint venture business model. With the country’s aviation passenger traffic expected to rise to about 34 million in 2026, this concept provides a new airport experience for this growing number.

With this, it is the aviation sector that would be spearheading the country’s race to be one of the 20 biggest economies in the world by 2020. This has been proved in places like the United Arab Emirates

(UAE) - particularly in Dubai, where the sector contributes 28 per cent to their GDP. In countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Africa, aviation’s contribution to the GDP is far in excess of that of the UAE. Presently in Nigeria, the sector’s potentials have not been properly harnessed to contribute meaningfully to the GDP. Just a few years after the attainment of Category 1 certification, not much forward movement has been made. The industry remains largely underdeveloped as low passenger traffic, shortage of critical infrastructure, dearth of skilled manpower, ailing airlines, lack of financial muscle, amongst other factors, characterise local operations.

Stakeholders worried at the turn of events in the sector warn that if the situation is not properly handled, it would make Oduah’s dream remain a mirage. This is more so because of the pitiable condition of domestic airlines in the country.

As at last week, only three airlines - Arik Air, IRS, and Aero Contractors - were still in operations.

“

The industry remains largely underdeveloped as low passenger traffic, shortage of critical infrastructure, dearth of skilled manpower, ailing airlines, lack of financial muscle, amongst other factors, characterise local operations

”

Overland Airline operates largely into fringe airports. Though the suspension of Dana Air has been lifted, it is yet to commence operations.

Apart from Aero Contractors, IRS, Overland, and two other airlines, no domestic operator in the country has survived one decade in operation before collapsing. In the last 10 years and slightly beyond, several airlines have either closed shop completely, temporarily, or are on the brink of doing so.

Some of these include Okada Air; KOLKOL; Chrome; Afrijet; Gas Air; Aviation Development Corporation (ADC); Albarka; NICON Airways; Fresh Air Limited; Executive Aviation Services (EAS); Space World; Allied and Umar. Others include Sosoliso; Harka Air; Harco; Freedom Air; Kabo Air; Savannah; Hamza; Bellview; Triax and Oriental; Capital Air; Skyline Aviation, Intercontinental Air; Concorde, Southern Air; Dasab, Air Nigeria, and Slok Airline.

So what is responsible for the high mortality rate afflicting Nigerian airlines? Harold Demuren, Director-General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), says domestic airlines were in greatly indebted to the aviation industry’s regulatory agencies. Airlines owe agencies like the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the NCAA, and Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL), billions of naira.

The debt owed to the regulatory agencies is only part of the larger financial crisis that is threatening to cripple the industry. Steve Mahonwu, president of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), agrees that the financial problem is the bane of airlines in the country.

Following the recommendations of the Paul Dike task force on aviation reforms of 2006, stakeholders are of the view that if the recommendations are fully implemented, the industry could be revived.

One of the recommendations of

the task force was that domestic airlines needed to shore up their capital base. Depending on their choice, airlines interested in only domestic operations were to have a minimum of N500 million; airlines wishing to combine both domestic and regional, N1 billion; and those interested in domestic, regional and international, N2 billion.

But almost four years after the conclusion of the re-capitalisation exercise, which took place in 2008, airlines are now moving at an alarming rate back to the old order, as most of them have either stopped operating or are on the verge of closing shop.

Dele Ore, President, Aviation Round Table (ART), argues that recapitalisation is not the only solution. Operators should emulate the defunct national carrier, Nigeria Airways, which employed the strategy of route development for its growth, he says. “Route development is a major part of an airline’s asset, not just financial re-capitalisation. When they develop routes, then they would make a lot of money from it later; for now, they are only enjoying the routes that have been developed by the defunct Nigeria Airways.”

Olumide Ohunayo, an aviation consultant, observes that Nigerian airline operators have failed to explore the merger option. He explained that though mergers and acquisitions would do the industry a lot of good, no operator was willing to let go of his airline. Business owners in this country, he says, are sentimentally attached to their business concerns such that they hold on tenaciously to them even in the face of an imminent collapse.

The situation in NICON Airways may, however, contradict such a view of business owners. At the beginning of the aviation reforms in 2006, industry watchers and stakeholders had thought that the merger /acquisition of EAS by NICON Airways Continued on page 61

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

In the throes of death

61

Once upon a time they flew

Continued from page 60 would breathe a new lease of life into the ailing airline which was struggling to remain afloat after its air crash of May 4, 2002. Today, more than five years after the merger, the airline is completely grounded.

Similarly, as is done in other parts of the world, domestic airlines are yet to have an interline arrangement in place. ‘Interlining’ is a voluntary commercial agreement between individual airlines to handle passengers travelling on itineraries that require multiple airlines. When a ticket is issued for an interline itinerary, one of the carriers marketing flights in that itinerary will be selected by the ticketing agent as the “plating carrier”. The plating carrier collects the entire fare from the customer and is responsible for distributing the proceeds to other carriers in that itinerary, so long as those carriers carried the passenger. A plating carrier therefore gets the benefit of cash flow. With this system, airlines would have saved cost flying an almost empty aircraft to a destination.

Mohammed Tukur, Assistant Secretary (AON), agrees that such arrangement would augur well for the industry and operators. “Why would I fly eight passengers to Benin in a 120 capacity aircraft, and another airline fly 20 passengers to the same destination, when we could have an arrangement to merge passengers and then have a sharing formula,” he queried.

A reduction in the cost of aviation fuel, Jet A1, would also be a lifeline for operators. The price of the commodity is said to be the highest on the continent and ranks among the highest in the world. Jet A1 sells for about N180 per litre presently. A medium sized aircraft would require about N200, 000 worth of the product between Lagos and Abuja.

A window of opportunity that could also be employed by Nigerian airlines is the Cape Town Convention. This involves the domestication of all international conventions that a country is a signatory to. In times past, when an investor defaulted in the terms of agreement in purchasing an aircraft, the original owner found it difficult to withdraw the aircraft because the buyer would go to court for a stay-of-action ruling.

But today, because of the domestication, the NCAA now stands as guarantor of those aircraft purchased

by Nigerian operators. So, if an airline is in default, NCAA will simply sign a release and the owner would have access to take possession of the aircraft without recourse to court.

This has given confidence to the international investors to do business with local operators. But even at that, investigations show that most domestic operators are unable to benefit from this arrangement because of lack of funds or credit facilities from banks.

As a fallout of the banking reforms started by Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, in 2009, banks have become very cautious in granting credit facilities to businesses in the country. Airlines have been one of the worst victims of the credit crunch in the economy.

Gbenga Olowo, President, Saber Travel Network, says airlines in the country have been battered through government instability and policy inconsistency. For instance, he frowns at extra frequencies and multiple designations to various airports given to foreign airlines, which he reckons constitute a major disservice to domestic operators.

He further argues that ignorance and our unhealthy financial system are other factors why domestic carriers are not flourishing. “In my 30 to 40 years in the industry, Return on Investment (ROI) in the sector has re-

INSIDE BUSINESS

THE following domestic airlines which operated in the last 10 years have ceased to function, or are temporarily grounded.

• Kabo airline

volved around 5 to10 per cent, if not less. Airlines’ bottom lines are badly affected with the slightest instability. Examples include the Sept 11, 2001 (9/11) attacks in the US, Iceland volcanic ash in Europe, weather disruptions, terrorism and all sorts of force majeure situations. “This is why most sensitive governments always rise up to bailout airlines in such instances,” Olowo explained.

The mindset in AON is that government has hardly ever come to the aid of operators to relieve them of the burdens of expensive maintenance, spare parts procurement, pilot training and other areas of their operations.

Even the N200 billion bailout granted to airlines has turned out to be meaningless. Edward Boyo, chief executive officer, Overland Airline, was chairman of a Presidential subcommittee set up to find lasting solutions to the challenges facing the airline industry in the country.

While submitting the committee’s report on February 18, 2010 to Mansur Muhktar, the then Finance Minister, he canvassed for a 50 per cent reduction in airport charges for airlines just as the five percent ticket sales charges should be slashed by 50 percent. The report equally requested that the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency’s (NAMA) terminal navigation charges and third party revenue collections be set aside, while airlines should retain 10 per cent of any charges collected on behalf of the agencies as administrative charges and NCAA statutory fees.

For his part, Ore is convinced that government should not even grant bailout to operators. His position is based on the managerial capabilities of operators, which he blames for the state of their airlines. He believes that an operator who could not manage his operation effectively with his funds or bank facility may be unable to do same if given a bailout by government. Rather, he wants government to probe how operators found themselves in their present situation.

His point may be valid. For instance, the case of the now defunct Bellview Airline, founded in 1992, has not ceased to amaze industry watchers. At its peak, the airline flew 11 international destinations - amongst them Amsterdam, London, India and others. It was the first domestic airline to be certified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). By June 1997, Bellview was worth $15 million, winning both continental and domestic laurels.

Also, Afrijet Airline, which staged a comeback with much fanfare, soon ran into turbulent waters as it could no longer finance its operations. It had to withdraw due to inability to pay staff entitlements.

NICON Airways Fresh Airline Bellview First Nation Airline Okada Air KOLKOL Chrome Afrijet Gas Air Aviation Development Corporation, ADC Albarka Executive Aviation Services, EAS Space World Allied UMAR Sosoliso Harka Air Air Nigeria

There was no aircraft to operate, as it could not foot the bill to sustain its operations and lease payments.

Chris Aligbe, chief executive officer, Belujane Konzult, is sad that the airline sub-sector in the aviation industry has remained a toddler in spite of the many years of its existence. He is, however, not surprised at the precarious situation domestic airlines have found themselves in.

If anything, Aligbe’s prediction about two years ago that four airlines would collapse has come to pass. This, he says, has made it very imperative for airlines to merge or form an alliance. Airlines Alliance is an agreement formed by two or several airlines to establish cooperation in the global aviation industry. This cooperation helps the airlines better their performance with respect to air transport and customer service.

Though the degree of cooperation differs between alliances, airlines alliance is more helpful for small airlines.

There are three major international airline alliances, namely: SkyTeam, which is a combination of 15 members, including Air Europa, Air France, Alitalia, Aeroflot, Aeromexico, Continental Airlines, Czech Airlines, KLM, Delta Airlines, Korean Air and a few other carriers.

This alliance transports more than 400 million passengers every year and serves about 845 destinations. The alliance covers a large number of cities in every continent of the world. There is also the Star Alliance, which serves more than 900 destinations and transports about 455 million passengers every year.

Among the members of this alliance are Air Canada, Air China, Austrian Airlines, British Midland International, Lufthansa, South African Airways, Singapore Airlines, Swiss International airlines, Turkish Airlines, US Airways and United Airlines.

Star Alliance has reached destinations in US and Canada, South America, Central America, Mexico, The Caribbean, Europe, Middle East and Australia. One World is another reputable group. This alliance transports about 320 million passengers yearly, and has reached more than 600 destinations. The members of Oneworld include British Airways, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LAN, Qantas, Japan Airlines, Malev and Royal Jordanian Airlines. Oneworld serves destinations in US and Canada, Central America, South America, The Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa and Australia. Also cargo airlines have begun forming alliances, and the prominent one is known as WOW Alliance.

John Obakpolor, a retired Air Force officer, observes that such un-

ions create a global network that can be used by airlines to benefit air travelers to reach a larger number of destinations with ease and extend their services to passengers worldwide. Benefits that can be enjoyed by travelers include lower airfares, increase in the options of departure times, availability of flights to a greater number of destinations, reduced travel time and various special offers.

“Very soon, we might not have more than 20 major airlines globally, because all of them have fused into alliances,” Obakpolor said.

Ohunayo posits that airline owners may have done well trying to invest in the business, but it has not yielded much result. This is because aviation is a capital intensive business and with the operating environment here, sourcing for funds becomes a challenge; therefore, consolidating by merges is the best option.

“Why own 100 per cent of a loss making investment, instead of owning 10 per cent of a thriving and profitmaking investment,” he asked rhetorically.

Another factor contributing to the poor condition of the nation’s aviation industry is the state of our airports. Stakeholders are of the opinion that they are not befitting of a country that prides itself as the giant of Africa. Their parlous state has made it impossible for achieve seamless operations - especially in the area of passenger facilitation, which is a major prerequisite for aviation to thrive.

This factor is the major reason why Kotoka International Airport (KIA) Accra, Ghana, emerged as the Best African Airport of the Year at the Routes Africa 2011 Conference in Bamako, Mali.

A walk around the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos, tells a sorry tale of dilapidation and decrepit facilities.

From archaic conveyor belts, to nonfunctional cooling systems, congestion, sometimes manual handling of luggage, to stinking and water logged toilets, the MMIA falls short of a modern airport. Even the ongoing remodeling work has not shown much promise of resulting in a standard airport. The MMIA presently receives over 40 foreign passenger and cargo airlines.

There are also management challenges arising from the dearth of manpower in the industry.

Obakpolor and Aligbe both agree that what local airlines now rely on now is “residual manpower or returnee professionals” i.e. professionals who left Nigeria Airways, following its liquidation and have returned to the industry.

Unfortunately, this group of people is now ageing and the airlines

•Demuren

•Arumemi

•Ore

have not been able to train new professionals to replace them and manage the industry. Demuren, however, gives a ray of hope that manpower training would get a boost in 2012 in order to sustain service delivery in the sector.

“Manpower development will help combat brain drain and threats from Middle East airlines that are taking away the best hands from the Nigerian aviation sector. Emirate and Middle East airlines have continued to be a threat to us because they have excessive resources to attract our good hands and that is why we need to train the existing manpower to compete with them,’’ he said.

He vowed to sanction any airline that fails to meet the mandatory training of local professionals in its programmes. Outside acquisition of equipment like aircraft, manpower training is the most expensive aspect of airline business.

The value of the naira, the country’s local currency, against the dollar is not helping. This is because most of the airline services are dollar denominated, like routine maintenance, major checks, procurements of spare parts and everything.

The AON’s Tukur is worried about what these challenges portend for the industry and economy. “If they should allow airlines to continue to operate under the present condition for the next one year, we are not going to see any airline flying, as the only remaining viable one is Arik,” he warned.

Mahonwu advises that the federal government should resuscitate the Nigerian aviation industry, otherwise, it may just become history.

62

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

SILVER JUBILEE ANNIVERSARY ACTIVITIES IN AKWA IBOM STATE

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

63

64

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

EBERE WABARA

65

WORDSWORTH 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

RIGHT OF REPLY

Re: Of deathways, highways and Onolememen’s N652 billion

Wake—not ‘wake keep’ O

T

HE GUARDIAN of September 18 welcomes us to the hall of infamy this week: “The people displaced by the flood apart from being exposed to the inclement weather of mosquito bites resulting into (in) widespread of….”

“But like (as) I said….”

“Funeral obsequies…” Just obsequies “Christian wake keep service” Call to eternal glory: Christian wake—not ‘wake keep service’ or ‘wake keeping’ as commonly and incorrectly used.

Last week’s edition of this medium almost crippled the English language with the following gaffes: “Iheanacho, former minister released” Without another comma after ‘minister’ it means two persons were involved, which was not the case.

“2015: Only performance can earn Jonathan says PDP” A rewrite: Only performance can earn Jonathan ticket, says PDP “Hurray!!! (You do not need more than one exclamation mark no matter the depth of excitement!) The chairman of our great party is 77 Birthday (today)” (Fullpage advert by Bayelsa State Government, THE NATION ON SUNDAY under reference) “That will be the icing on the cake and a true deterrence (deterrent) to others who might be planning to replicate the act.”

“As members of the late president’s inner cabinet, they practically dictate (dictated) the pace, pulse and policy direction of government.”

“There are different types of bags in vogue now….” No glamour in this communicative business: ‘vogue’ typifies ‘currency’ (now).

“There are designer branded ones like….”

Box bags for all seasons: designer-branded ones….

“Another advantage is the room (roomy) space.”

“Some guys have said that you can (could) find everything in a woman’s bag….”

Lastly from THE NATION ON SUNDAY under review: “Congratulation (Congratulations): My wife, Suzzette, and I most heartily congratulate you for (on/upon) your worthy contributions….” “Once again, congratulations for (sic)

a well deserved (welldeserved) national honour.” (Full-page advert by Chief (Barr.)

Ezenwa Nyesom Wike, Honourable Minister of State for Education) Vanguard Special Report of September 14 fumbled: “Our grouse with (about) the ICJ judgment, GTA—Gov Imoke” “After two years on (in) the saddle, NFF board gives self pass mark…” (DAILY SUN Banner, September 12) “This conclusion was arrived at as history is trying to repeat itself again as it is wont to do….”

Delete ‘again’.

“However does the separation of powers that are (is) discernible in government textbooks operate in real life.”

“It will present events in the two chambers, record achievements, gossips and....” ‘Gossip’ is non-count.

“The consensus of opinion in the country today….” I insist on ‘consensus’ (without ‘of opinion’).

“Saturday promises to be a historic day in the annals of the country’s history.” Either: the annals of the country or the country’s history. Mr. Bayo Oguntuase, a popular and respected language activist, believes the extract is correct, but I disagree.

“Except round pegs are put in round holes, the nation will be the looser (loser) for it.”

“Whatever happens, the shooting of the minister from our initial analysis might tempt us to point all the accusing fingers toward the west.” Before the darkness: point the finger at the west.

“Osun police impounds N650m worth of cars.” Get it right: Osun police impound….

“US terrorist suspect to plead innocent” This way: innocence.

“If you have crisis, you will sit down in a roundtable and resolve the difference.” Either a crisis or crises—depending on context—and resolve the differences.

“This, therefore, means that the power and authority of governments become government of all people not just of their party faithfuls (faithful).”

“Communities demand for new council in Yobe” For the last time, ‘demand’ as a verb does not admit ‘for’ except in noun applications.

“If 42 years after the war, there is still what is

called abandoned property, and the Igbo is (are) still….”

“The police on September 20 gave details of its preliminary investigations into.…” Newspaper of the Year: their preliminary investigations….

“One had expected the government to find out where the arms and ammunitions Boko Haram members use come from.” Breeding murderers: ‘ammunition’ is non-count.

“Also, corporate bodies and wealthy individuals have been falling over themselves (one another) to host the Paralympians.”

“For this reason, it is an affront on (to) democracy and representative government for the ACN leader to demand dissolution of the senate.…”

“You must have read all manners (manner) of eulogies and tributes.”

“The rumour is still making (doing or going) the rounds, an evidence that the rumour mill is in good and perfectly working condition in our dear country.”

“We probably would have stomached the distasteful script if nobody has (had) thought hired assassins (assassins are usually hired!) should be included in the cast.”

“The relationship between the politicians and the administrators have (has) been known to either make or mar….”

“Ondo polls: five groups kick-off Mimiko’s re-election campaign” Phrasal verbs do not admit hyphenation. For how long shall we continue to harp on this, gentlemen of the press?

“On Thursday, the union suspended its strike after an Abuja high court has (had), in my view, correctly, declared it illegal, its advert stating its grouse against (about) the government was published in some dailies.”

“This is not to discountenance the possibility of groups of the men of sordid yesteryears planning to go violent.”

Matters arising: apart from the clumsiness of the extract, ‘yesteryear’ is uncountable.

“The dramatis personae was (were).…” Singular: dramatis persona; plural: dramatis personae.

“With study centres springing up across the country, this category of students including matured (mature) persons….”

RDINARILY, one would not have bothered replying Steve Osuji over his article published in last Friday’s (14th September, 2012) edition of The Nation Newspaper titled “Of Deathways, highways and Onolememen’s N652 billion’ but for the malicious falsehood contained therein.

Osuji, apparently trying to create an unsupported parallelism between a recent accident along the Benin-Ore-Sagamu Expressway in which four lecturers of the Igbinedion University plunged into Ovia River and the awarded contract for its rehabilitation, claimed that the Federal Executive Council has just approved the award of the repairs of the road to the tune of N652 billion. This is not only false, but a deliberate misrepresentation of facts.

As a senior editorial officer, trusted with a weekly column in the highly respected newspaper, Osuji ought to be abreast with accurate information, at best, cross check facts before disseminating same to the reading public.

For the purposes of records, the rehabilitation of the third phase of the Benin-Ore-Sagamu Expressway was only approved by the Federal Executive Council on the 5th of September, 2012 for award to RCC Limited at the cost of N65.223 billion and not N652 billion as claimed by Osuji.

The contract covers the rehabilitation of the outstanding sections of the Benin-Ofosu-OreSagamu Expressway (Phase 111).

The entire budgets for the Federal Ministry of Works in the past four years is not anywhere close to N652 billion, the figure quoted by Osuji as amount approved for the repairs of the third phase of Benin-OreSagamu Expressway by the Federal Executive Council.

Our friend Osuji would

•Onolememen

By Tony Ikpasaja

have made a balanced and beautiful article if he attempted to delve into the recent past condition of the Benin-OreShagamu Expressway before the intervention of the present administration. If he did, he would have also told the reading public that barely six months after taking over as Minister of Works, Arc. Mike Onolememen substantively changed the condition of the road and commuters no longer have to spend over nine hours to shuttle between Lagos and Benin City. Not only that, the on-going works in the first two sections of the road have reached 89% and 91% respectively, making it possible for travellers from Benin to Lagos to make the journey in about four hours. Expectedly, no road has attracted commendations from the public like the BeninOre-Sagamu Expressway since Arc. Onolememen restored the perennial failed section at Ore. One would have thought

that Osuji would highlight the series of abuses by motorists and other road users that are the remote causes of the recent accidents on the road. It is common knowledge that the expressway between Benin and Ore has been largely reconstructed and rehabilitated; yet motorists drive on both sides of the expressway facing each other, resulting in frequent accidents. Osuji ought to have asked why motorists cannot comply with the one-way directional movement inherent in a dual carriage way which is designed to avoid head-on collision that is still the bane of this expressway.

It is our joy that all contractors working at various locations of the nation’s roads including the Onitsha-Enugu dual carriageway which he also mentioned, have just been paid by the Federal Ministry of Works and massive works will soon resume in a matter of days as the rainy season ends.

Ikpasaja is S.A (Media) to the Minister of Works

Is your scent making you ill?

Continued from page 49

Two surveys she did found more than 30 per cent of the public report adverse health effects from being exposed to scents in ordinary life.

‘Since then, I have received thousands of messages from people all over the world saying they get sick around fragranced products.

‘They are suffering seizures, losing consciousness, can’t concentrate on work, as well as suffering rashes, migraine headaches and asthma attacks.’

Longer term, our obsession with artificial scent may even affect sexual desire, suggest Mel Rosenberg, professor of microbiology at Tel Aviv University.

‘For thousands of years, we’ve been applying the natural scents of flowers and animals to attract people and to appear more sexually attractive,’ he says.

‘Now we have learned how to replicate natural smells identically and to create chemical fragrances much more cheaply.

‘We fragrance our world so much that if odour recognition is important in

sexual biology, and I believe it is vital, we are falling for the wrong people.

‘You could fall in love with a girl because of the scent of her hair conditioner, not her natural hormones. We should pick a mate by natural odour. That’s why we traditionally go dancing and play sports where we get natural odours.’

The biggest problem is detecting the substance to blame. Since the body reacts slowly, an affected part of skin could have been touched by fragranced soap or deodorant, or clothes washed in fragranced powder as much as perfume applied directly. So finding a culprit is hard.

Lindsey McManus of charity Allergy UK warns: ‘Many chemicals have the potential to irritate skin, including rubber or formaldehyde, which is added to preserve the fragrance. People have to be their own detectives.’

But it is not just chemicals we have to watch out for: Dr Baron cites a natural ingredient balsam of Peru (a sticky aromatic liquid that comes from cutting the bark of the tree Myroxyolon balsamum,) which is common in fragrances as a

trigger for fragrance allergy.

Would reducing the number of scents surrounding us help? Dr Baron does not think it is the number of fragrances around us that may be responsible for rising numbers of cases, ‘but there are more cases of eczema so that increases the chance of contact allergies developing’.

She recommends that if you do have sensitive or eczema-prone skin, use nonfragranced products if possible in order to prevent an allergic reaction. Eczema sufferers should limit their use of soap and instead wash with nonfragranced emollient products.

But avoiding all perfume is not an easy task. Though you can have allergy testing for the constituents in fragrances and other common allergens at your local dermatology department, we are surrounded by scented products.

‘Even if you know which fragrance causes a problem, it can be difficult to avoid as most personal care products soap, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, sun cream, shaving gel and washing powder contain fragrances,’ says Dr Baron.

Source: www.allergyuk.org

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

66 CHANGE OF NAME SAVAGE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluwaseun Modupeola Savage, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oluwaseun Modupeola Towoju. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

GHAZAL

I formerly known and addressed as Ghazal Deborah Olamide now wish to be known and addressed as Adenuga Deborah Olamide. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

SALAMI

CHANGE OF NAME NWANKWO

OLUBANJO

AKANDE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Akande Tinuade Charity, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Balogun, Tinuade Charity. All former documents remain valid. and general public take note.

OYELOHUNNU

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Mary Iyabode Oyelohunnu, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Mary Iyabode Akinboro. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

NZEKWE I, formerly known and addressed as Dr. (Miss) Nkechi Rose Nzekwe, now wish to be addressed as Dr. (Mrs.) Ekekwe Nkechi Rose. All former documents remain valid.

Ebonyi State University,Abakaliki, NYSC, Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia and general public take note.

OBIOHA I formerly known and addressed as Miss Obioha Ijeoma Scholar now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Onodugo Ijeoma Scholar. All former documents remain valid.

Federal Polytechnic, Nekede Owerri, NYSC and general public take note.

NKWOR

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Nkwor Isioma, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Omaka Isioma Ruth. All former documents remain valid. College of Education, Agbor, Post Primary Education Board, Asaba and general public should please take note.

OJONGWO

I, formerly known and addressed as Ojongwo Ugochukwu Johnson, Ojongwo Eberechukwu Lucky, Ojongwo Ikechukwu, now wish to be addressed as Chikezie Eberechukwu Lucky, Chikezie Ikechukwu and Chikezie Ugochukwu Johnson. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OMASAN

I formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Joy Omasan now wish to be known and addressed as Ms Joy Avbadevboro.

All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AMOSU

I formerly known and addressed as Agbete Samuel Amosu now wish to be known and addressed as Amosu Samuel Abiodun Agbete.

All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

MENUEYI

I formerly known and addressed as Menueyi Abosede now wish to be known and addressed as Miss Joseph Abosede Rebecca. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

UJAH

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ujah Caroline Onyada now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Idoko Caroline Onyada. All former documents remain valid.

NSDC, Benue State and general public take note.

OMATSEYE

ADETAYO

OYESANMI I formerly known and addressed as Sule Oyesanmi, now wish to be known and addressed as Sulaiman Kayode Oyesanmi.

All former documents remain valid general public take.

UGWUIKPA I,formerly known and addressed as

NWOBODO I formerly known and addressed as Miss Nwobodo Oyinyechi Blessing, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Amuh Oyinyechi Blessing. All former documents remain valid general public take.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogorode Ejiroghene Esther, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ibeinmo Ejiroghene Esther. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ISSA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluwadamilola Christiana Olubanjo, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Oluwadamilola Christiana Obazele. All former documents remain valid. and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

OGUNLEYE

MAIGERI I,formerly known and addressed as Maigeri Veronica Uke, now wish to be known and addressed as Ighereje Veronica Uke. All former documents remain valid. Ambrose Alli University,Edo State and general public should please take note.

LAWAL

OLAYEMI

CHANGE OF NAME

ADETUNJI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ofe Omatseye, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ofe Oyibo. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ucheka Nkenchor, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ucheka Akanimo. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Olayemi Sunday Samuel, now wish to be known and addressed as Olayemi Segun Samuel. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I,formerly known and addressed as Nwankwo Uche Kenneth, now wish to be known and addressed as Nwachukwu Uche Kenneth. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Salami, Memunat Ayodolapo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Bello Memunat Ayodolapo. All former documents remain valid. COREN and general public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Lawal, Olubukola Kubura, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ojewande Olubukola Deborah. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

NKENCHOR

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Issa Khadijat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Tiamiyu Khadijat Funmilola. All former documents remain valid.

FCFFT, New Bussa, Niger State and general public should please take note.

OLUYEDE I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluyede Aina Abiola Helen, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olujobi Abiola Helen. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

BUSARI I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Busari Atinuke Ganiyat, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adejare Ganiyat Atinuke. All former documents remain valid.

Ogun State Teaching Service Commission, Abeokuta and general public should please take note.

MUSIBAU

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Musibau Nofisat Abosede, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adebesin Nofisat Abosede. All former documents remain valid. FMC, and general public should please take note.

EDOJARIOGBA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Edojariogba Onome Jennile, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. EbioboweiSamuel Onome Jennile. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

EZE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Dennisa Amarachi Eze, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Dennisa Amarachi Amadi. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

OGONDA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Florence Ogonda, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Florence Udoka Wokocha. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

CHINAGOROM

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Monica Chinagorom, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Monica Fobruku. All former documents remain valid. NDCC and general public should please take note.

OGBUERI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogbueri Oronaogu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ogbueri Chidiebere Gift. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

OGORODE

ORIE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Yvonne Chinwe Orie, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Yvonne Chinwe Nabena. All former documents remain valid.

MDCN, NYSC and general public should please take note.

EZE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Mary Eze, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Mary Uchenna Kaile. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OLANIRAN

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ajoke Oluwafunmilayo Patricia Olaniran, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Funmi Patricia Ajoke Olowookere.

All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

KOLADE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Kolade Lateefat Adedayo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adeyemi Faith Adedayo. All former documents remain valid. FUTA, Akure and general public should please take note.

ADESOYE

UKWUOMA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ukwuoma Joan Chikaodi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Anyanwu Joan Chikaodi. All former documents remain valid. Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB), FCT, Ministry of Education and general public should please take note.

ALAGBE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluseyi Ayodeji Alagbe, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oluseyi Ayodeji. All former documents remain valid. Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and general public should please take note.

UMEH

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Umeh Martha Chiugo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Henry-Ajaero Martha Chiugo. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

SALAUDEEN

I, formerly known and addressed as Luqman Oluwasegun Salaudeen, now wish to be addressed as Luqman Seji Oluwasegun Adebiyi.

All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OLADUNJOYE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oladunjoye Jumoke Kehinde, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Jacob Jumoke Kehinde. All former documents remain valid.

NYSC, TESCOM and general public take note.

AKINLABI

SOBAYO

ONYEMA

ELIJAH

I,formerly known and addressed as Elijah Chimezie Goddey, now wish to be known and addressed as Elijah Chimezie. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Oyejola Janet Oluwafunmilayo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Olajide Janet Oluwafunmilayo. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Gift Olanma Opara, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Gift Chiamaka Anumudu. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Onyema Vivian Onyinyechi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Aghanwa Vivian Onyinyechi. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public should please take note.

ADEWUYI I,formerly known as Miss Adewuyi Mariam Adewunmi, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS.AJAO MARIAM ADEWUNMI. All former documents still remain valid.

Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) and the general public please take note.

UKAOHA

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Happiness Ogechi Ukaoha, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Happiness Ogechi Ohazurike. All former documents remain valid. Nigeria Television Authority and general public should please take note.

JOSEPH

I,formerly known and addressed as Sobayo Oyeyemi Oyetola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olusanya Oyeyemi Oyetola.

All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

ADETUNJI

I formerly known and addressed as Adetunji Taiwo Emmanuel Oluwasola now wish to be known and addressed as Taiwo Emmanuel Taiwo Oluwasola. All former documents remain valid general public take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adesoye Oluwakemi Fatima, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ezekiel Oluwakemi Fatima. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Akinlabi Roseline Bimbola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Ashade Roseline Bimbola.

All former documents remain valid.

Ekiti State Teaching Service Commission and general public take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Monday Joseph, now wish to be known and addressed as Ovie Joseph. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Adetunji Titilope Oluwatobiloba Suzan now wish to be known and addressed as Taiwo Titilope Oluwatobiloba Suzan. All former documents remain valid general public take note.

OPARA

OKOLIE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okolie Chinonyerem Lois, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Mmehibe Chinonyerem Lois. All former documents remain valid.

Federal Polytechnic,Nekede, NYSC and general public take note.

ADEYEMI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeyemi Victoria Adejoke now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adebule Victoria Adejoke. All former documents remain valid general public take.

ODUNTAN

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oduntan Folake Toyyibah now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olusesi Folake Toyyibah. All former documents remain valid general public take.

OYEJOLA

DUNU I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Dunu Jacinta Chika, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ibeh Jacinta Chika. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogunleye Oluwaseyi Funmilayo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Olaosegba Oluwaseyi Funmilayo. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adetayo Oluwafunmilayo Elizabeth, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs AdetayoBellaadekoya Oluwafunmilayo Elizabeth. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

Ugwuikpa Amobi Chucwuemeka and Ugwuikpa Chison Mercy now Chukwuemeka Chukwuebuka Emeka and Chukwuemeka Chison Mercy.

Ugwuikpa chinelo Chiamaka and Ugwuikpa Blessing Nkechi, now Chukwuemeka chinelo Chiamaka Chukwuemeka Blessing Nkechi..

All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

OLAJIDE I,formerly known and addressed as Olajide Babatunde Alabi, now wish to be known and addressed as Olajide Olutunde Alabi. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OLATUNBI

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Olatunbi Esther Mosunmola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Fagbemi Esther Mosunmola. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ADERIBIGBE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Aderibigbe olufunke Anike, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ajibode olufunke Anike. All former documents remain valid. Project People Limited and general public should please take note.

ISIOMA

ONIFADE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ifeanyi Chidubem Isioma, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Okolie Chidubem Isioma. All former documents remain valid. General public note.

OKUNBO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Dunmola Florence Adeola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adebisi Florence Adeola. All former documents remain valid. General public note.

BALOGUN

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ukeje Helen Chinwendu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Okorie Helen C. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Onifade Adebimpe Tolulope, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ademola Adebimpe Tolulope. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Okunbo Grace, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ukwuoma Grace. All former documents remain valid. Lagos State Government and general public should please take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Balogun Nimota Yetunde, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Bisiriyu Nimota Yetunde. All former documents remain valid. Lagos State Government and general public should please take note.

ETUKOMENI

I,formerly known and addressed as Etukomeni Jennifer Nkechi, now wish to be known and addressed as Anslem Jennifer Nkechi. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

OLATUNBOSUN

I,formerly known and addressed as Olatunbosun Dorcas Toyin, now wish to be known and addressed as Olatunbosun Oluwasayo Hannah.

All former documents remain valid.

Skye Bank Plc. and general public should please take note.

DUNMOLA

EJIRE

I formerly known and addressed as Jeniffer Boma Ejire, now wish to be known and addressed as Jeniffer Boma Ejire Ogolo. All former documents remain valid. General public note.

NWOLU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Rose Nwolu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Rose Chimaroke Mgba. All former documents remain valid. General public note.

PETER

I formerly known and addressed as Peters Olajumoke Omolola, now wish to be known and addressed as Fadairo Olajumoke Omolola. All former documents remain valid.

General public note.

AJIYE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ajiye Aina Veronica, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oguntimeyin Aina Veronica.

All former documents remain valid.

Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo and general public note.

ADEWUYI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Olanrewaju Fashola, now wish to be addressed as Mrs Dhikra Olanrewaju Fashola-Ashafa.

Lagos State government and General public take note.

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Adewuyi Deborah Oluwakemi , now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Babatunde Deborah Oluwakemi . All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

FAJUYITAN

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Fajuyitan Aduni Wuraola , now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Areola Aduni Wuraola. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OLANREWAJU

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Olanrewaju Oluwaseyi Tolulope, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ogunrinu Oluwaseyi Tolulope. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

The payment can be made through FIRST BANK of Nigeria Plc. Account number 2017220392 Account Name VINTAGE PRESS LIMITED

UKEJE

IBIRONKE

I,formerly known and addressed as Miss Ibironke Olutola Oluwaseun, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Falomo Olutola Oluwaseun. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ADVERT: Simply produce your marriage certificate or sworn affidavit for a change of name publication, with just (N4,500. NEW RATE effective from 20th March)

FASHOLA

ADETUNJI

I formerly known and addressed as Adetunji Kehinde Christana Oluwafunmilola now wish to be known and addressed as Taiwo Christana Kehinde Oluwafunmilola. All former documents remain valid general public take note.

ADEYEMI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeyemi Idowu Omotola now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Egbeyemi Idowu Omotola. All former documents remain valid general public take note.

Scan the details of your advert and teller to gbengaodejide @yahoo.com or thenation_advert @yahoo.com For enquiry please contact: Gbenga on 08052720421, 08161675390, E m a i l gbengaodejide @yahoo.com or our offices nationwide.

Note this!

Change of name is now published e v e r y Sundays, all materials should reach us two days b e f o r e publication.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

67

How passion is driving healthcare delivery in Delta W

E want you to give an overview of the Delta State health programmes.

The government of Governor Eweta Uduaghan came into office five years plus ago, precisely May 29, 2007. One of the first things he set himself to do, perhaps as a medical doctor, was to declare a free maternal health programme in Delta State. And that was done precisely on the 27th of November, 2007.

In a couple of months we will be celebrating our five years in that programme. Also about two years ago we also instituted the free under-five health programme. The programmes are focused on reducing maternal and under- five mortalities. Both mortalities are economic indicators of knowing how well a nation or state is doing. And as part of the global community, Delta State also buys into global world’ thinking of the reduction of maternal mortality by 3/4 and under-five mortality by 2/3 by the year 2015. We are also talking about the reduction of the incidence of malaria and prevalence of HIV. Basically, it is one thing to make a hospital available. The problem of sicknesses and death in Nigeria and in other parts of Africa is two-fold. There is the issue of geographical access as well as that of financial access for the people. It is either a government is unable to build sufficient hospitals for the patients to go to when they are ill or the hospitals are available but the people cannot afford to pay for the services. But here in Delta State the situation is different, with what the government has been doing. Uduaghan’s has built a lot of health centres. He has ensured that in every local government headquarter there is at least a general or a government hospital. Today, we have over 460 primary health care centres, over 60 government hospitals general or central hospitals and the tertiary hospital which is the teaching hospital in Oghara. So, within a radius of five kilometres, as directed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), there is a health centre or government general hospital.

Having satisfied the condition of geographical access to hospitals, what the governor then did by instituting the free maternal and under-five health programmes is to ensure that hindrance to financial access is removed.

So far, we have recorded over 230,000 patients benefiting from these programmes. From the time a woman is pregnant to six weeks after delivery, all medical attentions, treatments and laboratory investigations, if she comes to our government hospital, are free of charge. Government is responsible for the payment of all these fees. When a patient registers, she is given a card free of charge; she goes to see the nurses that take all the vital signs, which is also free of charge; she also sees a doctor who attends to her free of charge; if the doctor recommends a laboratory investigation such as blood test, ultra-sound scan; she also does it for free. And at delivery, whether caesarian section or normal delivery, it is also free.

Some people believe there is bias for the health probably because the governor has a background in medicine as a medical doctor. What do you have to say about this?

Well, not exactly. I’m sure there are a lot of things that you will see that the government is doing if you going round the state. You’ll see most of the primary and secondary schools renovated. They are in good working conditions and the infrastructures are excellent. Teachers have been employed. I wouldn’t know if I should say he is biased toward education too. And then, a lot of roadwork is going on intra-city and intercity. But I must say that as a medical doctor, he understands medicine very well. He has empathy for patients. He under-

Dr. Joseph S. Otumara is the longest serving commissioner in the Delta State government. He has been at the commissioner of health for over nine years, before which he served as chairman of Warri South Local Government for three terms. He spoke extensively on multifarious issues of his ministry in this interview with Associate Editor Taiwo Ogundipe.

•Otumara

stands the issue of maternal and under-five mortalities. And being a doctor, he has done well in trying to bring issues to the x-co and trying to convince the cabinet members. If he weren’t a doctor, perhaps some of the urgency and attention which he gives to my memo wouldn’t have been there. Health care delivery in Delta State has truly gotten to a level that everybody is happy about.

Every month, the government hospitals treat up to 50,000 patients in the under-five mortality programme. If you multiply 50,000 by 12, that is about 600,000 every year. In the past two years plus, you can imagine the number that we have recorded. That is 25 percent of the population of the state.

Delta State population is about 4.2 million as at the last census figure. In which case, we are dealing with about one million of the population medically and surgically.

Apart from the programmes of maternal and under-five mortality, we also have a programme we call the rural health scheme. In the scheme, we assemble doctors of different specialties,

but basically ophthalmologists, eye surgeons, obstetrics and gynaecologists, general surgeons and general practitioners. We realise that in spite of the programmes the government has put in place, there are some people who would rather stay behind particularly in the rural areas and not avail themselves of these opportunities. If you go to the villages and other rural communities, you will see that diseases have marked and disabled some people completely. And so we go round thecommunities once in a year starting from the dry season in October till about January the following year. We take about 100 to 120 communities as we go round. Every local government is touched. Even if your community is not involved and you have a surgical condition, you can move into another community to enjoy the benefit.

We are going to start this year’s programme in about a month or two months time. And we are even more equipped. We have a moving theatre and ward in which we are going to be admitting patients and carrying out operations.

“We realise that in spite of the programmes the government has put in place, there are some people who would rather stay behind particularly in the rural areas and not avail themselves of these opportunities.”

It is noticed that the drugs that are being dispensed in the hospitals and health centres are branded with the governor’s photographs, what informed this?

Yes, we did that recently because we noticed that a lot of pilfering was happening to some of our drugs. We also did it to show that this is the man that is making everything happen. We also inscribed on the drugs that they are not for sale. They are free for the health programmes. So, anybody who sees any of the drugs in a chemist shop would know that it had been stolen. The drugs are specially made for the programmes.

We have one of the best drug-revolving fund systems in the country. What we do in our health n a monthly basis to the pharmaceutical companies that supply the department that handles pharmacy affairs. The head of the department is a lady doctorate degree holder. We always have enough drugs although we cannot rule out the possibility of some being out of stock some times. We always query the pharmacists at the peripheral hospitals far away from the central drug store if they don’t make requisition on time. Requisitions are supposed to be made one week ahead when it is realized that the drug stock is depleting. programmes is that all the costs we incur on of drugs and reagents for laboratory investigations are calculated and paid for on a monthly basis to the pharmaceutical companies that supply the department that handles pharmacy affairs. The head of the department is a lady doctorate degree holder. We always have enough drugs although we cannot rule out the possibility of some being out of stock some times. We always query the pharmacists at the peripheral hospitals far away from the central drug store if they don’t make requisition on time. Requisitions are supposed to be made one week ahead when it is realized that the drug stock is depleting.

We also have an appeal fund scheme for some health conditions that require medical condition outside the country.

We have been doing that for five years.

We started with N250 million, raised it to N300 million and in this year’s budget, it is N400 million. They are for the rare conditions that we cannot attend to in Nigeria. They include kidney transplant as is done today in India, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. These cost as much as N3 million to N4 million. People make appeal for this fund and the governor graciously, after giving his approval, releases this money. Other cases that had been handled included hole-in-the heart condition suffered by children, diabetic gangrenous ulcer, among others.

What would you describe as the essence of Governor Uduaghan’s government?

Governor Uduaghan’s vision is to have Delta State as one united entity. Before now there always ethnic clashes among the Itshekiris, the Urhobos , the Ijaws, etc. Today, we have a harmonious state courtesy of Governor Uduaghan. His vision is to have a united Delta State that flourishes with healthy, educated and economically empowered people. He has achieved this to a great extent since he has been in the saddle. He is also enhancing the geographical contiguity of the state by constructing roads and building bridges that will bring the people closer to one another. This bridge-building has been physical, political and social. He is also building schools and offering free education.

68

WORSHIP THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

‘Disunity the biggest threat to Christianity in Nigeria’ INTERVIEW C ALL into the ministry A man does not just become a minister. He is called by God. In 1954, I was a young man. I was playing football and suddenly became unconscious. I saw an old man making a covenant with me. I was in standard one and just nine years old. I became conscious and since then realised God called me.

I was a blacksmith and also became a mechanic. I prospered so much in the trade that I built a house and was well-known. Everybody knew I was very good at it.

Then, God started calling me and I would not bulge.

Eventually, he took away everything I had. I was afraid of how to fend for my family. But after six years, I gave in to God and have been working for him since.

I stayed with the late Apostle Ayo Babalola as a young man. All of these influenced my ministerial upbringing.

Ministerial experiences It’s been the grace of God seeing me through all this while. I knew what I was getting into when God called me. The Lord has been giving us victories over the devil.

Prayer versus the word As a prophet, many people consult me. I agree many of them are just after blessings. They don’t want to know God. That is why

they consult prophets. But the word is what anyone needs. I have discovered this and spend ample time teaching the Bible. When you hear me teach the scriptures, you will be shocked. I lecture in seminaries and they are shocked. It is the combination of prayer and word that we all need.

Menace of fake prophets There are too many of such people today in Christianity. They are after money and what to get. I built my first house in 1980 from my sweat. I have driven several cars. What else am I looking for? But it is not the same for many ministers. They deceive people. The judgement of God is coming on them if they do not repent quickly.

Why I reject foreign invitations I have travelled to several countries to preach. I was in UK, USA and Europe. But I have stopped receiving invitations from them again. We have enough problems to tackle in Nigeria. God called us to save our Jerusalem first.

Let’s all face the challenges here first before we go overseas. Of what use is anointing that is useful elsewhere but cannot save your nation?

I have turned down many of us invitations. Left to me, I don’t even want to

Founding Pastor of Golgotha Mountain, Efon Alaye, Ekiti State,Pastor Kehinde Ola, is in several ways a modern John the Baptist. The unlettered cleric talks tough and suffers no fools. Yet, he is the delight of many influential Nigerians, who throng his church in Efon Alaye for prophetic prayers. Ola spoke with Sunday Oguntola on his peculiar ministerial exploits and national issues. Excerpts:

travel abroad to preach again. There is nothing there. You only make money and come back spiritually dry. They don’t have passion for God. They have addressed their developmental challenges. So, I will rather concentrate on flushing out the evil forces in Nigeria than junket the world.

Lack of unity in Christendom Our problem in this country as Christians is neither Boko Haram nor the devil. We can face the devil and shame him. But he has sown the seed of discord and disunity among us.

You will find out that many ministers in this country are not united. They would rather die than work together for God. They are busy building their empires and estates. They have ac-

quired so much that they are afraid someone else should come take over.

If they can give me 500 prayer warriors and we go to a mountain for days, I am sure we will save Nigeria.

But can that happen? Can the prominent preachers in this country agree to work together? Can they forget their individual programmes and rally to save Nigeria? I doubt it very much. If they are ready, I am.

I can even pay to take care of those intercessors. We can go somewhere and I can assure you this nation will change. But they will not.

They will rather protect their estates and empires. If we don’t save this country, God will hold us responsible.

The problem with Nigeria Our major challenge is

•Ola

that most of our leaders are in the occults. They have sold Nigeria to the devil.

They acquired powers from evil spirits. The corridors of power in Nigeria are held by demons. They have sold our souls to the devil. This is why our church leaders

should rise and save this nation. We are afraid to die.

Who will not die? We are also under the influence of foreign powers. They will export our resources and sell them back to us exorbitantly. When are we going to be saved?

NEWS

Atilade kicks against state police •Seeks abolition of Senate

•Atilade

T

HE country will boil in no time if the clamour for state police becomes a reality, Chairman South West region of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Archbishop Magnus Atilade, has declared.

Nigeria, he said, is unripe

By Sunday Oguntola

and unprepared to operate a police structure under the control of state governments.

Atilade said politicians will seize advantage of the situation to suppress their opponents, thereby creating a tensed situation.He spoke

last week with reporters in Lagos.

According to him: “As a student in UI then, we went to the North and were shocked by the powers of Alkali police. “If we have state police, we will be in troubles.

We should find another way of diffusing power from the centre but we should never ask that states should have direct control over police officers.” He acknowledged state police structure is the best for a complex nation as Nigeria but expressed worries over the political maturity to make it work.

He added many Nigerians will be victimized outside their states, saying the dichotomy between the South and the North will not help either.

The President of Gospel Baptist Conference of Nigeria and Overseas (GBCN) also called for reduction in cost of governance, saying the first way out is to disband the Senate.

His words: “What purpose is it serving again? We already have the State Assemblies and Federal House of Representatives. Why the senate again? “We should let it go and I challenge anybody to a public debate on how helpful the senate has been.”

Promote peace, cleric tasks religious leaders

T

HE Presiding Pastor of Mantle Prayer Ministry, Pastor Isaac Olaomo, has called on church leaders to be at the vanguard of promoting peace and love in the society.

He spoke with our correspondent during the special monthly prayer service of the interdenominational outreach ministry in Sagamu, Ogun State.

The cleric frowned at increasing waves of terrorist attacks and violence across the

By Adeola Ogunlade

globe, saying religious leaders can help reverse the trend by challenging their followers to be law-abiding. He said the world has been worse off with attacks and violence.

According to him: “We may have our differences as a people but we can live together in an atmosphere of peace and shun all forms of violence that may hinder the much anticipated growth and development within thecontinent”.

Olaomo said church leaders particularly have a responsibility to promote peace, love and tolerance among their flocks.

“The world looks up to the church to remain resolute and forthright in bringing hope in a world full of despair, fears, shame and all forms of injustices,” he stated.

The cleric said the world will be a lot better if people learn to co-exist and shun all differences in opinions and practices.

‘Nigeria will be transformed soon’

I

T may be true that situations in Nigeria are disturbing, but God will intervene and restore the country’s fame, peace, prosperity and hope, the Conference President of Lagos West Baptist Conference (LWBC), Rev Dr Julius Adeniji, has declared.

He spoke last week ahead of the 4th Lifeway International Conference of the church.

By Fredrick Adegboye

Adeniji predicted that what happened in biblical Samaria, where famine held them captive until God turned their situation around, will be replicated in Nigeria.

“The Lord will intervene in people’s matters and cause awesome change to take place; He will give food to the hungry, job to the jobless, and success to those

who have failed in their endeavours,” he reiterated.

The conference with the theme Sharing hope in the midst of hopelessness, ends today at Araromi Baptist Church, Ejigbo, Lagos.

The 3-day bi-annual spiritual gathering featured preaching by three pastors from LWBC, while the Conference Chairman, Rev. (Dr.) Jacob Aremu, presided over activities.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

The Prophetic ministry of Isaiah (3) Apostle Israel Akinadewo

SANCTUARY MESSAGE

I

N this analytical review of the book of Prophet Isaiah, each of the chapters we have worked on, divinely and prophetically centred on the children of Israel in different facets of their relationship with God. For instance, chapter one reminds that, being obedient to God should supersede any sacrifice; chapter two was more on the future Glory of Israel and God’s day of judgement. In this chapter three, we shall be discussing on the prophesied leadership crisis, and how God will deal with the impureness of His people.

Ever since the people of Israel demanded for a king during the time of Samuel, there has been leadership tussle and crisis, culminated into the modern day effect of political leadership turmoil among the nations of the world.

Isaiah 3:1-4 says ‘For, behold, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water.

The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient. The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them’. The prophet was very blunt in these verses, as to the detestation of God to the abominable and ungodly behaviour of His people, including their entire monarchical leadership; hence, there would be disorderliness. Neighbours, brothers and all citizens will become fearful, timid, and be appealing to fellow beings to take over the leadership of their nations. All the so-called brave men shall disappear; children and the likes would then take over the rulership.

Verses 14-15 were even very emphatic as to one of the reasons God was not happy with the people, say-

ing, they took away the goodies of the poor; they maltreated those without ‘godfathers’; decisions and judgements were no longer based on merit and facts, but on impulsion, and on the whims and caprices of the leaders.

But for the righteous, verse 10 says ‘say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings’, I pray this last statement shall be your portion in Jesus Christ’s name, Amen.

Meanwhile, and as we all know, God has not created any man that is more powerful than Him, therefore, prophet Isaiah made it known from verses 16-26 that; impurity shall be washed away from the people; that those haughty and arrogant daughters of Zion shall be made to lick their wounds; that all their bravery shall become nought; and that ‘thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war, and her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground’ –Isaiah 3:25-26. All these pointed to one fact – unrighteousness shall not stand in the presence of Almighty God. Relationship of this chapter with contemporary nations of the world In all the nations of the modern world, there is hardly a nation without leadership crisis. It is either political process was manipulated, or those lacking the charisma to rule, but with godfathers, were forced on people. And on getting to the leadership positions, many leaders became far richer than they were before the assumption of office, and the poor became more impoverished. Many leaders, like in the time of people of Israel of the old, have wronged God, by milking off the treasury of their nations; they put unnecessary fear in the populace so they can be mandated to do their (the leaders’) biddings; they bribed people for supports; give undeserved awards to their ‘blind’ supporters and cronies; and have no passion to take care of the widows and orphans. As prophesied by Isaiah, none of all these unrighteousness shall go unchallenged by God. But like I have been saying, there is room for change of behaviours, seeking His face through repentance, and God will minimize the imminent and prophesied punishment.

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Worship

Chapter four This chapter with six verses is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted verses in the bible.

Many uninformed and deliberately comical people have literally interpreted verse 1 as end-time state, man will find himself; which is – one man shall marry seven women in the kingdom of God. That verse says ‘and in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach’. That verse, being the continuation of chapter three, was only referring to the level God would lift the righteous (the man) to, after he would have dealt with the unrepentant sinners, making many people (the seven women), to wanting to associate with the blessed righteous (the man). The righteous could be men and women, but the great prophet was saying that, there is reward for those that will change from their evil ways.

Meanwhile, this chapter was more on the aftermath effect, and the joyfulness that will be in the land of the people of God, after the cleansing of their sins. After so many people would have been taken away in captivity, the remnants in Jerusalem shall be under the banners of Almighty God. Verses 2-3 say ‘In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem’.

Relationship of this chapter with contemporary nations of the world Years past, so many nations in Africa and third world countries were under the rulership of the powerful European nations, but today, they all have got their freedom. Even as individuals, you might have found yourself in crisis or servitude, partly due to your sin or sins of others: but one thing is very clear- there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

I

T all started when she was 14. Sarah, daughter of flamboyant mega pastor of Potter’s House Texas Dallas, T .D. Jakes, became pregnant.

To be pregnant at 14 and out of wedlock is bad enough.

But to be the daughter of a prominent charismatic preacher worsened the bad case.

Yet, Sarah weathered the storm. She went on to have a son.

Last year, she recalled the incident in a blog titled “Guided Home.” According to her: “I can remember feeling like everyone was staring at me, thinking negative thoughts. I became very familiar with shame, learned quickly how loud whispers can be, how fast rumors travel.”

“More importantly I learned to never let anything or anyone convince me I was no longer worthy of dreaming, living my life to the fullest,” she said of being a teen mother.

At 19, she married Robert Henson, a linebacker for the Washington Redskins. The lavish wedding ceremony was attended by a celebrity list of who’s who such as Tyler Perry, Emmitt Smith, Tom Joyner and Dr. Phil McGraw.

The union produced a daughter. Four years down the line, Sarah is walking out of the marriage. Last week, she wrote on her personal website she is filing for divorce.

According to her: “I have built my ministry and identity around being the best wife and a mother I can be. For quite sometime I have tried to steer through some serious troubles at home. As much as I wanted my marriage to last, it cannot.”

The leader of the Women’s Ministry of Potter’s House went on: “After professional counseling, and prayerful consideration I have decided to end my four-year marriage.”

Shock as T.D. Jakes’ daughter divorces •Claims action has biblical grounds

By Sunday Oguntola with agency reports

She then stoked the fire of controversy by stating her decision has biblical support.

Sarah said: “There are biblical grounds supporting this decision and I have attempted every other recourse but after multiple infractions over the course of the union, and for my personal safety and that of my children, I have come to this painful decision.”

T.D. Jakes, whose congregation stands at about 30,000 members, admitted that his daughter’s divorce was difficult but “love overrides everything.”

Sarah requested for prayers and privacy “while I navigate through this difficult season in my life so that I may now concentrate on being the

best parent for my children possible. Thank you for your prayers.”

T.D. Jakes is not the first American prominent preacher whose daughter will divorce. In his book titled Marriage, remarriage and divorce, respected faith preacher, the late Kenneth Hagin, spoke of his despair when his daughter’s marriage crashed.

Renowned televangelist, Evangelist Oral Robert, also watched in horror as his son, Oral Robert (Jr) also ended his marriage. He soon remarried and took over the expansive ministry.

Sarah’s divorce is coming on the heels of the outrage in the Christian community over the crash of Household of God’s founder, Pastor Chris Okotie’s marriage.

•Sarah and Robert when the going was good

•The lavish wedding ceremony four years ago

Enquiries: 2348060572904 or motailatusanctuarychurch @yahoo.com

WHAT AND WHERE? BSN holds reading marathon

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HIS year’s edition of the Bible Reading Marathon by the Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) holds in Lagos from Monday 24th-28th.

The exercise holds simultaneously in 47 centres from 9am-5pm.

Participants will have the opportunity to choose from English, Isoko, Igala, Yoruba,

Efik, Igbo, Hausa, Nupe, Khana, Urhobo, Fulfude, Jju, Bokyi, Edo, Arabic, Tiv, Itsekiri, Kanuri and Nembe.

Admission into the competition is free.

RCCG celebrates Nigeria at 52

F

OR 10 uninterrupted hours, The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Lion of Judah Parish Mushin Lagos will sing praises to God for the survival of Nigeria.

The service tagged Cel-

ebrate Naija will feature worship, dance, drama, word and lots of refreshment.

Participants are expected to don the Green and white national colours.

According to him: “It is vain to rise up early and sit up

late everyday in the name of going to work only to end up eating the bread of sorrows.

“Let’s start this new NAIJA year with thanksgiving, praise and worship of God who has preserved you thus far.”

•L-R: Pastor Keith Heine, Pastor Abraham Abair, Deputy Governor of Osun State, Mrs. TitiLaoye- Tomori and Evangelist David Turner from the United Stated of America during a courtesy visit to the Deputy Governor… recently

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THE NATION SPORT SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

SPORT EXTRA

Lukaku scores in West Brom victory

SUPER SUNDAY

Arsenal face first big test against Man City

...As Liverpool, Man United clash

Carlos Tevez of Man City and Mikel Arteta of Arsenal battle for the ball during the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium

Cole rescues Chelsea with late winner Caroll

Drogba insists he's happy at Shenhua

Ashley Cole

Anichebe sets Everton on winning way

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THE NATION SPORT SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012

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Freels & Threels plans Oct 1 Day boxing

AFRICAN UNDER-17 QUALIFIERS

Golden Eaglets shine in six-goal thriller ... Gov. Imoke, wife cheer team to resounding victory

Golden Eaglets line-up

U-17 Women World Cup

Nigeria held by Canada

32 teams jostle for Extra Joss Football Championship

By Rasheed Olaniyonu

Eaglets dedicate win to late goalkeeper's mother

Nigeria golfers in Las Vegas for Transatlantic Team Challenge

EKO 2012: LOC takes delivery of five vehicles

Sunshine Stars players boycott training

Copa Lagos organisers unveil plans

QUOTABLE "The issue of leadership in this country is something which is within the exclusive preserve of God, who gives power to whosoever He wants at the time He chooses.

Those who are here now were not there 10 years ago and those who were there some years ago are no longer there. So, no matter what happens, someone will be in an office and a Nigerian must be there"

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 7, NO. 2257

—Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamidu, on his speculated 2015 presidential ambition

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O everyone who follows his speeches, President Goodluck Jonathan comes across as someone who loves to speak extemporaneously. It helps him to communicate and channel his anger and frustrations in ways prepared speeches do not permit. Except you are a Barack Obama or a Bill Clinton, prepared speeches are often impure crystallisations of the disparate thoughts and sometimes sham reasoning of speech artists. Few leaders have the ability to be coherent outside their prepared speeches; they often stick to the text and hope the audience would be fascinated. Extempore remarks, the sort which mystifyingly enthrals the rather ineloquent Jonathan, must be handled with care even by gifted orators. As Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle showed, diligent preparations must accompany extempore speeches, up to the point of honing even the accompanying gestures.

On Tuesday, Jonathan once again threw caution to the wind with one of his lengthy unrehearsed speeches, complete with unfathomable logic, misrepresentation of history, university freshman’s reading of Marxism, and a poor laparotomy of the election that brought him into office. The occasion was the 52nd Independence Anniversary lecture held in Abuja, for which former Ghanaian president John Kuffour was invited to speak on the topic, Nigeria: Security Development and National Transformation.

Jonathan’s remarks came after the main lecture, and it responded to Kuffour’s presentation but veered off in a different, controversial and uninspiring tangent. Quite apart from the fact that the topic was inappropriate for Kuffour, who would have done much better with a regional issue, the occasion helped give us another unflattering peep into the complicated and seething mind of our president.

Proceeding from a class analysis not borne out by history, the president argues that ordinary people find it extremely difficult to survive in times of crisis where big players often survive. Beyond his examination of class survivability in times of crisis, he drives home the point that peace is a critical ingredient of economic development. But it is in fact when he discourses upon the factors that promote peace that the president yields to his well-known nostalgic passion for monarchism. “Peace is one of the cardinal marks of a leader,” the president begins magisterially. “In the monarchy in the olden days, the king had maximum power, but for your kingdom to be stable you must have the military strength. So without stability of any state it cannot develop.” In case he has lost you in the vastness of his private historical imprecision, the president is merely saying monarchies show greater tendency to guarantee peace. He does not, however, say whether ineluctably they also guarantee greater development.

Jonathan’s pained reference to the virtue of monarchism of course shows his difficult relationship with democracy and what he sees as its insufferable insistence on checks and balances.

This is not the first time he has embraced ancient forms of government and repudiated sophisticated and modern systems. Indeed, we must expect that he will continue to embrace or repudiate systems and values according to his well-known proclivities. These proclivities – his distaste for modernism, especially – will continue with him to the end of his presidency, whether that presidency terminates in one term or two.

The president also attempted a dichotomous explanation of physical and political insecurity.

The first, he says, indicates the use of guns and bombs and involves the security of the individual. The second, he fails to define, but indicates its consequence to be a lack of development. You will have to read between the lines to understand why the president felt justified to draw a puzzling line between what he categorises as two types of insecurity. After all, neither conduces to development, and both are often attended by shootings and killings. In fact, however, the president was leading to the highly suspect notion that the media is guiltier than any other institution in predisposing the country to insecurity. The press is his bête noire.

When he does not hate it, he distrusts it.

After ruminating on the axiom that says the pen is mightier than the sword, the president goes ahead to suggest that by reflecting “these unending political conflicts in the media, whether print, electronic or social media, it

Jonathan’s extemporaneous speeches

• Jonathan

• Kuffour

brings a lot of insecurity to the system and sometimes people begin to doubt your government.”

He places at the doorstep of the media the blame for the people’s lack of confidence in his government and leadership style. In essence, he would have preferred the media to shut out political conflicts and live in denial as the government often does.

It seems all but evident that Jonathan wishes to court the media but doesn’t know how. Indeed, he naively believes that once the media embraced him, all would be well. Hear the president: “The media environment that should have helped our transformation agenda is being used negatively... The way Nigerians challenge and abuse me… yes, the president has enormous power, but if you use that enormous power to some extent you will look like a dictator.” If we disentangle his fustian on press freedom, which freedom he shockingly believes to be a privilege, from the other parts of the speech we would reach an even more disturbing false bottom in his logic about the powers of the president in a democracy. He erroneously thinks the president has enough powers vouchsafed to him by the constitution to be a dictator if he likes, but he plaintively regrets his inability to use that facility. The truth is that he does not have the powers he thinks he has, and worse, cannot even indulge himself as he wants.

In his apportionment of blame for insecurity, he refers to the problem the flawed 2007 election gave him and his predecessor, and then compares that poll with that of 2011 and concludes, with unrestrained self-glorification, that the latter was more credible. But he appears baffled that so soon after an election he gave top marks he had become deeply unpopular. According to him, “Immediately after that election, not quite six months, the kind of media hype that started hitting us made us to stop and ask where is this coming from? I said I did not just come out from the blues to contest the election, I was deputy governor for six and half years, I was a governor for one and half years, I was a vice president, and before election, I was the president up to April when the elections were conducted, people knew me. So within this period, including when I even acted, if I was that

bad would people have voted for me?... But the media condemned me.”

Jonathan says the criticism he was subjected to so soon after the elections made him stop and ask where it was coming from. There is absolutely no truth in that statement. Neither he nor his aides stopped to ask where the problem was coming from. He simply concluded that some people were manipulating the situation to make his government seem incompetent, for which he now blames the ‘political’ (not the ‘professional’) media. In his opinion, the fault has to lie elsewhere, not in his lackluster style, not in his goofs and gaffes, not in his retrogressive ideas of government and governance, not in his improper grasp of economic and political issues, and not in his ordinary and uninspiring vision of a modern and progressive society. He cannot grasp the fact that between the two main candidates in the 2011 presidential poll, the electorate voted for him because he appeared safer, not better nor more cerebral nor more principled, and that barely a few months after the election the people recognised they were sold a pig in a poke, for which they have reacted very vigorously in the fashion that now confounds him.

Jonathan gives a brief of his political career, wondering whether the people did not consider these before they voted for him. The truth is that they neither knew him nor, even more mortifyingly, knew that he had apparently reached the end of his tether as governor, and that both the office of president and the virtues of democracy, not to talk of the concepts of freedom of speech, rule of law and federalism, were above his ken. The six months he speaks about is the period it took the people to discover their folly in opting for the safer rather than the better.

Jonathan exceeds himself in his extempore speech by reiterating his discredited views on the subsidy protests of January. As he put it: “Look at the demonstrations on fuel subsidy; look at the areas these demonstrations are coming from, and you begin to ask, are these the ordinary citizens that are demonstrating? Or are people pushing them to demonstrate? Take the case of Lagos, Lagos is the critical state in the

“The much we know about the president comes from his extemporaneous nuggets. There will be many more of such gems before his term ends. Every time he orates, we imagine we have reached the nadir that no human can possibly plumb. But every such time, we have been mistaken. In the months ahead that chasm will be dug deeper than we think him capable, for it is now clear that though Jonathan is gifted in many areas and speaks with the candour that is unusual in these climes, his talents are altogether suited only to ages past. Lagos had better take heart, and all critics, whom the president dismisses as calumnious, must reconcile themselves to contending with a man whose values and philosophy are hewn from the granite of a completely different era”

nation’s economy, it controls about 53 per cent of the economy and all tribes are there. During the demonstration in Lagos, people were given bottled water that people in my village don’t have access to, and people were given expensive food that the ordinary people in Lagos cannot eat... They go and hire the best musician to come and play and the best comedian to come and entertain. Is that demonstration?”

It is no use trying to convince a deeply resentful president that he is wrong. The more you try to persuade him, the more implacable he gets. This columnist covered the January subsidy protest from beginning to the end and saw no coordinated attempt to feed the protesters or assuage their thirst. A few good Samaritans gave out tokens, but they were so insignificant that it would be sheer exaggeration to consider these orchestrated. Food hawkers were there to make money, and musicians and comedians, whom some presidency officials deprecated as clowns, jostled to get attention, and would have paid to have their moment in history. Meanwhile, the president sat paranoid in Abuja and relied on misleading reports. And because he does not read his country’s newspapers, which he believes to be manipulated by politicians, he failed to educate himself on the true position of the protests.

But much more than believing falsehood, Jonathan once again proves his long-running resentment towards Lagos, a city he sees as snobbish but which has done nothing to assist in spite of acknowledging its centrality to the Nigerian economy. How is it the fault of Lagos if the president’s village does not have access to bottled water, and why on earth must he compare the city to his village? Does he know the kind of food ordinary Lagosian eats?

Shortly after he sent troops to quell the protests, he denounced Lagos elite as pampered and their children, whom he claimed rode five cars, as spoilt rotten. Who can forget also that while campaigning for votes in 2011, he attempted to instigate other ethnic groups against Lagosians using false statistics? Yet, he is surprised that he is challenged and abused, and regrets not having the powers of a monarch to do as he pleases and the ability of a propagandist to manipulate the media in his favour. He is shocked that barely six months into his presidency, his romance with the people came to an end, even though he did nothing to sustain that romance and has repaid the votes he garnered with scorn and ill will. It is no credit to his learning and office that every time he encounters challenges and repudiation, his instinctive defence mechanism is to take refuge in the values and systems of the feudal past of his longings.

Finally, and as a fitting summary of his worldview, Jonathan lets us into the secret of his fortitude and indifference. Hear him: “For me, if I see somebody is manipulating anything, I don’t listen to you; but when I see people genuinely talking about issues, I listen. I am hardly intimidated by anybody who wants to push any issue he has. I believe that that protest in Lagos was manipulated by a class in Lagos and was not from the ordinary people.” With this syllogism, the president rounds up his philosophy of governance in the most unspeakable fashion. It does not matter whether the critic is right, as long as the president thinks the troublemaker is instigated, he will not listen. How can he tell who is instigated and who is not? Again, it hardly matters; the president gets intelligence report, or perhaps he simply makes up his mind anyhow he fancies. And if the critic is wrong, as long as he is not instigated, then the president will listen. If this is not recipe for both autocracy and misrule, nothing else is.

The much we know about the president comes from his extemporaneous nuggets. There will be many more of such gems before his term ends. Every time he orates, we imagine we have reached the nadir that no human can possibly plumb. But every such time, we have been mistaken. In the months ahead that chasm will be dug deeper than we think him capable, for it is now clear that though Jonathan is gifted in many areas and speaks with the candour that is unusual in these climes, his talents are altogether suited only to ages past. Lagos had better take heart, and all critics, whom the president dismisses as calumnious, must reconcile themselves to contending with a man whose values and philosophy are hewn from the granite of a completely different era.

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Marketing: 4520939, Abuja Office: Plot 5, Nanka Close AMAC Commercial Complex, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja. Telephone: 07028105302 Website: www.thenationonlineng.net ISSN: 115-5302 E-mail: sunday@thenationonlineng.net Editor: FESTUS ERIYE