The Nation july 26, 2012

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Jonathan sacks NPA boss, directors

Robbers shoot The Sun editor Nwosu NEWS

Page 57

NEWS

Page 6

•Journalist stable in hospital

•Abdullahi replaces Suleiman

www.thenationonlineng.net

VOL. 7, NO. 2198 THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

TR UTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM TRUTH

N150.00

EFCC: How 20 suspects looted N13b subsidy cash Adoke to lead team 43 witnesses set to testify Trial begins

THE ALLEGATIONS

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja

F

RESH facts emerged yesterday on how the N13.4billion fuel subsidy funds were allegedlly diverted by 20 suspects, who belong to the first batch of those to face trial.

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), will lead the team, which will prosecute the 20 suspects. The trial is to begin today in Lagos.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has also lined up 43 witnesses to testify against the suspects.

The companies to be charged are: Nasaman Oil Services; Eternal Oil and Gas Plc; Ontario Oil & Gas Plc; Nadabo Energy Limited; Pacific Silver Line Limited, Axenergy Limited and Fago Petroleum and Gas

•Alao...yesterday

•Ngadi...yesterday

•Taylor...yesterday

•Ali...yesterday

•Tukur...yesterday

•One of the suspects...yesterday

Limited.

The individual suspects are: Mamman Nasir Ali, Christian Taylor, Mahmud Tukur, Ochonogor Alex, Walter Wagbatsoma, Adaoha Ugo-Ngadi, Fakuade Babafemi Ebenezer, Ezekiel Olaleye Ejidele, Abubakar Ali

Peters, Jude Agube Abalaka, Abdulahi Alao and Oluwaseun Ogunbanbo.

Ezekiel Olaleye Ejidele is director of the accounting giant, Akintola Williams Deliote. Fakuade Babafemi Ebenezer is a member of the staff of the Petroleum Products

Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA. According to some papers, including the charge sheets obtained by our correspondent and signed by Director of Prosecution, Mrs. O.O. FaContinued on Page 4

Mahama pledges stability in Ghana

G

HANAIAN President John Mahama has pledged to uphold the country’s stability.

He spoke after being sworn in following Tuesday’s death of his predecessor, John Atta Mills.

The opposition praised the swift transition, saying it showed Ghana was a mature democracy.

•World leaders, Tinubu hail President Mr Mahama has presided over his first cabinet meeting and paid a condolence visit to the family of the late President.

Mr Mahama will be president until SEE ALSO the election in DePAGE 5 cember, but it is not

clear whether he will be the candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the ruling party.

“I wish Ghanaians to be assured that all is well. We are going to maintain the peace, unity and stability that GhaContinued on Page 4

Abdulahi Alao and Axenergy Limited •On Sept. 16 obtained money by false pretence from the Federal Government, •Forged a document titled: Bill of Lading purportedly issued by Mercuria Energy Trading NV to the Order of Mercuria Trading NV on board NIPPON Princess.”

Nasaman Oil Services, Mamman Nasir Ali, Christian Taylor and Olabisi AbdulAfeez •Receiving payment from the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) for products allegedly not imported.

•Between 2010 and 2012 “conspired to commit an offence to wit: obtaining N2, 230,065,398.97 under false pretence from the Federal Government purporting the said sum to be payment under the PSF as subsidy for the purported importation of Premium Motor Spirit from Europe to Nigeria.

•Obtained N749, 991,273.36, “purporting the said sum to be subsidy payable to Nasaman Oil Services by the Federal Government under the PSF in respect of 10,031,986 litres of PMS, which the suspects falsely claimed to have purchased from SEATAC Petrol Limited of British Virgin Islands and allegedly imported to Nigeria through mother vessel, MV Overseas Limar and DV Liquid Fortune (the daughter vessel) and financed through Form M No. MF 124,968 and 1242965.

•Obtaining N1, 480, 074, 125.61, purporting the said sum to be subsidy payment to Nasaman Oil Services by the Federal Government under the PSF in respect of 20,492,982.50 litres, which the suspects falsely claimed to have purchased from SEATAC Petroleum Limited Mahmud Tukur; Ochonogor Alex, Abdulahi Alao and Eterna Oil and Gas Plc •On April 28, obtained N338, 544,397.46 by false pretence from the Federal Government, purporting same to be payment accruing to Eterna Oil and Gas under the PSF with which they falsely claimed to have purchased 33,288,338 litres of PMS from Mercuria Energy Trading SA and imported into Nigeria through MT Fulmer, Ex MT Emirate Star and MT Panther Ex Emirate Star. .Tukur and co.

•Forged a document, titled: Bill of Lading dated April 28 purporting the document to have been issued by Mercuria Energy Trading SA on behalf of Mercuria Trading NV. Continued on Page 4

•SPORTS P23 •EDUCATION P25 •POLITICS P43 •NATURAL HEALTH P45

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

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NEWS INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE

‘I’m HIV The man who maintains he is the first person in the world to be cured of AIDS stressed during a D.C. news conference on Tuesday that he continues to live without HIV, reports OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA from Washington D.C. •From left: Oyo State, Governor Abiola Ajimobi chatting with the Canadian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Chris Cooter and his daughter, Zoe Cooter during their visit to the governor in Ibadan...yesterday

T

IMOTHY Brown was in 1995 told him that he was HIV positive. He was attending school in Berlin, Germany at the time. He was terrified.

Brown said: “I knew that I still had a deadly disease but death didn’t hover quite so near. I came to believe that I would remain healthy and live a pretty normal life. The next eleven years were pretty uneventful. Germany’s universal health care system provided me treatment that most people in the world didn’t have. I was also lucky SEE EDIT ORIAL ON P AGE 15 EDITORIAL PA

•From left: Ministers of Information Labaran Maku, Minister of Power Prof Bath Nnaji; Culture and Tourism Minister Chief Edem Duke and Minister of Labour and Productivity Chukwuemeka Wogu at the Federal Executive Council Meeting in Abuja ....yesterday PHOTO: NAN

that I mostly tolerated my HIV medications. I got used to the idea of a lifetime of pills. The clinics in Berlin allowed me to move HIV to a back burner. My story became commonplace for an HIV patient with access to healthcare.”

By 2006 when fatigue resulted in a referral to an oncologist, Brown was not enjoying himself. In what could best be described a two throng fate development- that would be seen in most developing countries as a death sentence, but which now

has turned to the medical turning point in HIV/AIDS cure, a bone marrow biopsy showed that he had acute myeloid leukemia.

Brown said no one needed a specialist to know that it was a bad news.

Speaking with reporters at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, he said: “Before I could spend much time struggling with my mortality again, I was admitted to the university hospital under the care of an oncologist, Dr. Gero Huetter, who started me on standard chemotherapy.”

He developed pneumonia. He had to stop his third round of chemotherapy half-way through because he developed sepsis. The world could have lost him- and the cure for AIDS. He could have died due to opportunistic infections.

He was discharged from the hospital, because the leukemia had decreased. But then, there was concern because he had not been able to complete all of the chemotherapy. Dr. Huetter recommended a little vacation after the treatment and he took off for Italy. He followed strictly his doctor’s recommendations.

Dr. Huetter equally had a revolutionary treatment idea. He was aware of

Scientists hope to find cure for dreaded disease •Bill Gates: Much more work needed to turn tide

S

•From left: Former Head Of Department of Chemistry, University of Ibadan, Prof. Oladele Osibanjo, Vice Chancellor, Prof.

Isaac Adewole and Dean Of Public Health, Prof. Oladimeji Oladepo, a t a workshop on ‘Responsible Conduct in Research’ in Ibadan... yesterday

•From right: Retired Air Vice Marshal Anthony Okpere, former President of Lions Club District 404A, Mr. Kola Oyekanmi and the district’s president, Sam Ekpuk, at a training organised by the district in Port Harcourt..

CIENTISTS at the International AIDS Conference 2012 hope for a cure for HIV. Led by French virologist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, Nobel Prize recipient in 2008 for her role in the discovery of the Human Immuno Virus, the group of scientists have a road map in place for moving research for a cure forward. Some of the tasks involved are: Investigating where and how the virus hides in the body and studying the immune system response of people who are naturally immune to the virus Deeks, who worked with BarreSinoussi to develop the research plan, said: “I think these drugs have gotten as good as they’re going to get. We need to shift from blocking the virus from replicating to essentially getting rid of the virus.”

Dr. David Margolis, director of the Program in Translational Clinical Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said: “It’s just practically difficult to treat people all their life with therapy, even if it’s very simple therapy.”

For a long time researchers believed there was no cure. Even five years ago a scientist who wanted to work on HIV cure research was laughed at. Timothy Brown’s case is giving hope of finding a cure.

Cannon said: “There’s nothing like success to galvanize the research.

People are daring to hope again that with a lot of hard work and ingenuity, scientists can deliver.”

Dr Jay Levy, who co-discovered the AIDS virus in 1983 and directs the Laboratory for Tumour and AIDS Virus Research at UCSF, said even if a cure were discovered, it could take years before people in low and middle income countries could afford it. But right now, he said, finding a cure is like “the four-minute mile — what we

•Gates

need to do is just show it’s possible” — and after that, “there’s enough creativity out there to find a way of having it applied in all parts of the world.”

Billionaire Bill Gates has said there had been significant advances in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but he was not ready to say the world was “turning the tide” on the disease.

Gates said the trajectory of the disease had certainly improved, noting figures the United Nations released last week showing global AIDS deaths last year fell to 1.7 million, down from 1.8 million in 2010.

He told Reuters in an interview at his offices in Washington, the host city of this year’s AIDS conference.

“Is the end clearly in sight? No. Do we have the tools that will bring about the end? No,” said Gates.

If anything, now is the time to make sure AIDS remains a funding priority “despite the toughness that is out there”.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

3

NEWS INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE

negative, I’m free of the virus’ ‘ Despite what you may have read and heard recently in the media — I am cured of the AIDS virus. My doctors and the scientists I continue to work with on a regular basis have concluded that I am cured of AIDS — and will remain cured

‘

•Brown

the discussions going on in HIV research about something called a CCR5 receptor mutation. The CCR5 receptor allows the HIV virus to attach to the Tcell and subsequently infect the cell, spreading the disease. People without CCR5 appeared resistant to HIV infec-

tions. But they are rare: Only one percent of the northern European population is this lucky. And that was what was explored when in January of 2007 Brown’s leukemia returned. Initial attempts at a different chemotherapy were not success-

ful. A stem cell transplant became a viable option. Dr. Huetter screened 67 specimens before he found a compatible donour who also had the CCR5 mutation.

Dr. Huetter, a blood cancer expert at the University of Berlin, knew that transplanting blood stem cells was the best hope for curing Brown’s cancer but he wanted to aim higher. He had read a report saying that one percent of whites have genetic mutations that make them HIV-resistant, so he searched for a tissue match for Brown.

But for the procedure, Huetter would need to destroy Brown’s immune system with chemotherapy and radiation, and then transplant the donor’s cells and hope they’d take.

Many cancer patients die from such attempts. So, Brown was not willing to risk it - until his leukemia returned.

A registry turned up more than 200 possible donors, and Dr. Huetter started testing them for the HIV resistance gene until he struck gold - a 25-year-old German man living in the U.S who had the gene.

When searching for an appropriate match, Dr. Hutter kept his eyes out for a specific donor: one who carried a genetic mutation called delta 32, which disables the CCR5 receptor on immune system cells. The CCR5 receptor is the one HIV uses to infect its victims – meaning people who carry the mutation are essentially immune to the disease. Approximately one percent of Europeans carry the mutation, but it is rarer people of African, Asian, or South American descent that carry such.

Out of 232 potential donors, Hutter found a match for Brown, who also carried the delta 32 mutation, on the 67th try. The doctors performed the transplant, repopulating Brown’s bone marrow cells with the donor cells. Months later, Brown was in remission for leukemia and had no trace of HIV in his body. Brown underwent the transplant in February 2007. One year later, his leukemia returned but his HIV did not. He had a second transplant in March 2008 from the same donor. And now, Brown, 45, has been off his medicine for five years, and he showed no evidence of HIV in tissue or blood tests.

In 2007, Brown underwent a total body irradiation to wipe out his body’s immune system before receiving the transplant. He last took his HIV medications on the day of the stem cell transplant. And the outcomes? There was soon no detectable HIV in his system. The Tcell counts increased. He blossomed. And he could go to the gym.

Brown said: “With HIV, I had developed wasting syndrome.

Without HIV, I developed muscles.

I was looking good. I felt good until 2008 when my leukemia returned. Not my HIV. Seven months after my stem cell transplant, I was off HIV medications and I was still without detectable disease. Well the HIV anyway.”

His recovery from the second transplant was complicated. He be-

came delirious and had to have a brain biopsy. At the moment, Brown is with some neurological problems that required care. Though his being is far from that of a picture-perfect human but he is still very much alive.

Severally, he has had to be poked and biopsied from head to toe.

Samples have been taken of his spinal fluid, anal mucosa, and any other place medics can think of to stick a needle. But no virus has been detected anywhere.

Dr. Huetter, in the December 2, 2010 issue of the medical journal “BLOOD”, said: “It is reasonable to conclude that cure of HIV infection has been achieved in this patient.”

Brown told reporters at the scientists and HIV/AIDS activists at the Westin City Centre hotel: “I am HIV negative, and I am free of the virus.”

However, researchers from the University of California-San Francisco and other institutions announced last month that they had found traces of HIV in Brown’s blood and tissue samples.

Brown, who became known as the “Berlin Patient,” said: Despite what you may have read and heard recently in the media — I am cured of the AIDS virus,” stressed Brown.

“My doctors and the scientists I continue to work with on a regular basis have concluded that I am cured of AIDS — and will remain cured.”

Now, doctors are hoping to build on Brown’s success by treating HIV patients using cord blood units that have the same HIV-resistant gene.

New vaginal ring to keep women safe coming A

T the International AIDS Conference, researchers have been keeping their focus on a new vaginal ring aimed at keeping women safe.

“Because this product is designed to be replaced once a month, it offers potential to increase the chances that women will continually use the product as opposed to a product that has to be applied in a behaviorally dependent prior to sex way or on a daily basis,” explained Dr. Carl Dieffenbach, with the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

About 3,500 African women have signed up to take part in the study and hopes are high.

Researchers say giving women tools to protect themselves, without having to rely on their partner, is critical. Half of the more than 34 million people living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are women. That percentage rises even higher in hard-hit Africa.

Scientists in the United States yesterday said they had used a cancer drug to flush out the AIDS virus lurking dormant in trial patients’ white blood cells — a tentative step towards a cure.

The ability of the HIV genome, or reproductive code, to hide out in cells and be revived after decades poses a major obstacle in the quest for a cure.

Being able to expose the virus in its hiding place would allow scientists to target the host white blood cells in a killing blitz.

“It is the beginning of work toward a cure for AIDS,” David Margolis, coauthor of the study published in the journal Nature, told AFP as the International AIDS Conference was under way in Washington.

HIV is a retrovirus, inserting its DNA into the genome of host white blood cells, CD4+T cells in this case, and turning them into virus factories.

Sometimes it goes into hiding in some cells even as others keep on produc-

•Scientists flush out AIDS virus with cancer drug FACTS and FIGURES •34.2 million people living with the AIDS globally •2.5 million infected last year •1.7 million died in 2011 • Deaths dropped from 1.8 million in 2010 to 1.7 million last year • New infections came down from 2.6 million to 2.5 million • Clinics lose contact with 38% of the HIV patients they treat

•ARV

ing.

Some 34 million people around the world are living with HIV, which destroys the immune system and has caused about 30 million AIDS-related deaths since the disease first emerged in the early 1980s.

In the latest study, researchers in the United States used the chemotherapy drug vorinostat to revive and so unmask latent HIV in the

CD4+T cells of eight trial patients.

The patients were also on antiretroviral drugs, which stops HIV from multiplying but have to be taken for life because they do not kill the virus hidden away in reservoirs.

“After a single dose of the drug, at least for a moment in time, (vorinostat) is flushing the virus out of hiding,” Margolis said of the trial results — the first drug ever shown to do so.

“This is proof of the concept, of the idea that the virus can be specifically targeted in a patient by a drug, and essentially opens up the way for this class of drugs to be studied for use in this way.”

The drug targets an enzyme that allows the virus to lie latent.

The researchers cautioned that vorinostat may have some toxic effects and stressed this was merely an early indication of feasibility

that had to be explored further.

Exactly what would happen after the virus was unveiled in reservoir cells was also not certain, said Margolis.

“We know that many cells that produce HIV die in the process. We know many cells that produce HIV can be identified and killed by the immune system. As far as we can tell, all the viruses floating around while patients are taking therapy don’t get into cells because they are blocked by the therapy,” he said.

Without a host cell, the virus would die within a few minutes.

“There is a possibility that this could work. But ... if it is only 99 percent true and one percent of the virus escapes, it won’t succeed. That is why we have to be careful about our work and what we claim about it.”

In a comment published with the study, HIV researcher Steven Deeks said the research provided “the first evidence that ... a cure might one day be feasible”.

But, as is common with early clinical trials, the study raised more questions than answers — including ethical concerns about giving potentially toxic drugs to HIV-infected people who are otherwise healthy, he said.

“These data from the lab of David Margolis are genuinely exciting for those exploring pathways to achieving a cure for AIDS,” Oxford University HIV researcher John Frater told AFP, calling for investment in further research.

HIV immunologist Quentin Sattentau called the findings promising, but said other types of reservoir cells, including in the brain, may not respond to this treatment.

“Thus there is a long way to go before we will know if this can work to completely eradicate HIV from an infected person.”

4

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

NEWS Mahama pledges stability in Ghana Continued from Page 1

na is noted for,” Mahama said after being sworn in at the parliament.

He subsequently declared a week of national mourning.

Flags are to fly at half mast during the period.

Opposition New Patriotic Party (NNP) presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo suspended his campaigning out of respect for the late Mr Atta Mills.

Former Ghanaian military ruler Jerry Rawlings - who backed Mr Atta Mills for the presidency before the two fell out - said cancer had badly affected his health.

“He couldn’t sustain himself for three hours per day,” Mr Rawlings told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme.

Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf extended her condolences to Ghanaians, saying the news had come as a surprise.

“On a personal level, his moderation and integrity stood out,” Mrs JohnsonSirleaf said, adding that Mr Atta Mills had played a strong role at the regional meetings they both attended.

US President Barack Obama also paid tribute, praising Mr Atta Mills as a “strong advocate for human rights and for the fair treatment of all Ghanaians”, according to a White House statement.

United Nations SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon said he was saddened by Mills’ death and offered condolences to his family and the government and people of Ghana.

Ki-moon said: “President Mills will be remembered for his statesmanship and years

Okonjo-Iweala to Reps: we can’t run budget 100% by Sept

of dedicated service to his country.”

He also pledged the commitment of UN to work with Ghana to consolidate the West African country’s democratic and development achievements.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: “President Mills was a champion for his nation and his loss will be felt around the world.”

She said Mills made a significant contribution to Ghana’s democracy and development and forged a strong and positive partnership with US. “As the third president of modern Ghana, he worked to strengthen his country’s democratic institutions and to expand prosperity for all of its people, Clinton said in her tribute, adding that the late Ghanaian leader also “promoted regional peace and reinforced Ghana’s reputation as a leader in Africa”.

The Europe Union also mourned with Ghana. In a joint statement, the President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said: “On behalf of the European Union, and on our own behalf, we wish to express our deepest condolences to H.E. President John Dramani Mahama and the people of Ghana for the sudden passing of President John Evans Atta Mills.

“President Atta Mills’ contributions to rule of law, democracy and development in Ghana will be remembered, as they provide a solid basis on which to continue building a future of prosperity, freedom and security for all

T

HE Executive fired back at the House of Representatives yesterday over its insistence on full implementation of the budget by September.

The lawmakers warned before proceeding on recess last week that failure to implement the budget 100 per cent will lead to impeachment proceedings against President Goodluck Jonathan.

Yesterday, the Executive ruled out the possibility of full implementation of the budget. But Finance Minister Ngozi OkonjoIweala explained that 56 per cent of the budget had been implemented with about N404billion cash released.

The budget Bill signed into law on March 15 was N4.69trillion.

The third quarter fund will be

From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

released within the next two weeks, according to the minister.

She spoke to State House correspondents in Abuja.

With her were Minister of Information Labaran Maku; Director General of Bureau for Public Procurement Emeka Eze and Director General of Budget Dr. Bridgt Okongu. She said there had been a lot of improvement in the implementation of the budget, saying the 39 per cent recorded for the month of May had increased to 56 per cent by mid-July.

Continued on Page 6

THE ALLEGATIONS

•Mahama signing his instrument of office document...on Tuesday PHOTO: AFP

Ghanaian citizens.

“On this sad day, our thoughts are with the people of Ghana and the family of the President as they mourn their loss.”

In a condolence letter to President Mahama, Action Congress of Nigeria (AC N) National Leader and former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu described the death of Atta Mills as the demise of an African patriot, visionary leader and an epitome of quiet but efficient leadership.

Tinubu extolled the virtues of the late President: “He was

a golden example to other African leaders, often accused of wielding power without responsibility. President Mills wielded power responsibly, as chief servant of the people; and lived and died at the service of his people.

Ghana will surely miss him.”

Condoling with President Mahama, Tinubu said he, his family and his political associates in the ACN stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of Ghana in their grief saying the death of President Mills is both saddening and shocking.

Continued on Page 63

Walter Wagbatsoma; Adaoha Ugo-Ngadi; Fakuade Babafemi Ebenezer; Ezekiel Olaleye Ejidele; and Ontario Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited.

•Conspired on July 7 with intent to defraud, forged a certain document to wit: Shore Quality Certificate showing 19,681,731 litres at observed volume purporting the same to be certificate of the actual PMS delivered by Mt. Union Brave to Integrated Oil and Gas Limited in Lagos.

•Forgery of a certain document to wit: Shore Quality Certificate showing 19,523,892 litres at observed volume purporting the same to be certificate of the actual PMS delivered by Mt. Madonna at Obat Petroleum and Oil Limited’s Depot Lagos., Vol. 2 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003.

Nadabo Energy Limited; Abubakar Ali Peters, Jude Abalaka and Pacific Silver Line Limited •Conspired between February and April 2012 to obtain N1, 464,961,978.24 by false pretence from Federal Government purported to be payment accruing to the suspects under the PSF in respect of 19,488,922 litres of PMS which they falsely claimed to have purchased from Ashland Energy SA and imported into Nigeria through Mothers Vessel, MT American Express and the daughter vessel, MT St. Venessa and financed through Form M No. MF 878037.”

EFCC: How 20 suspects looted N13b subsidy cash Adoke’s absence shifts trial till today

Continued from Page 1

tunde, the seven companies and 13 individuals allegedly used various methods to claim subsidy for Premium Motor Spirit that was not imported.

The illicit methods include alleged forgery of Bill of Lading; false documents relating to purchase of PMS; use of companies and vessels without importing products; cooking records; generation of fake Origin Certificate purported to have been issued by some trading firms; a make up of Shore Quality Certificate on fuel that was not imported; and abuse of Form M required for importation of goods/ products.

According to one of the documents, “Abdulahi Alao and Axenergy Limited on the 16th day of September, 2011 obtained money by false pretence from the Federal Government, forged a “Bill of Lading”, purporting the document to have been issued by Mercuria Energy Trading NV to the Order of Mercuria Trading NV on board NIPPON Princess.”

The government accused Nasaman Oil Services, Mamman Nasir Ali, Christian Taylor and Olabisi AbdulAfeez (now at large) of receiving payment from the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) for products allegedly not imported.

It alleged that the four sus-

T

HE arraignment of some of the oil marketers indicted in the alleged subsidy fraud did not go on yesterday at the Lagos High Court, Ikeja.

Minister of Justice and Attorney-General Mohammed Adoke was absent.

The Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC), which is the prosecuting agency, however, brought some of the oil marketers to court.

In Justice Habeeb Abiru’s court were Adaoha-Ugo Ngadi, Fakuade Babafemi Ebenezer and Ezekiel Olaleye Ejidele.

For trial in Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo’s court are Mahmud Tukur, Alex Ochonogor, Abdulahi Alao and Eternal Oil and Gas. The suspects were driven into the court premises at about 10.30 a.m. in a Toyota Hiace bus and a Toyota Coaster bus amid tight security.

The only woman among them, Adaoha-Ugo Ngadi, was dressed in a deep green guinea brocade kaftan. One of the men was in a black suit. The other was dressed in a simple multi-coloured striped shirt over black trousers.

On arrival, they were immediately led pects, between 2010 and 2012, “conspired to commit an offence to wit: obtaining the sum of N2, 230,065,398.97 false pretence from the Federal Government of Nigeria, purporting the said sum to be payment under the PSF as subsidy for the purported importation of Premium Motor Spirit from Europe to Nigeria.”

The four suspects are also alleged to have obtained

By Adebisi Onanuga

into the court of Justice Habeeb Abiru by armed guards.

But the EFCC could not arraign the suspects because of Adoke’s absence.

One of the EFCC lawyers, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, told Justice Abiru that the Attorney-General of the Federation briefed about his intention to take charge of the prosecution, personally.

Jacobs said the AG has, therefore, requested him to apply for an adjournment of the arraignment of the suspects till today (Thursday).

He also said that the first defendant, Walter Wagbatsoma was also not in court and that his presence is vital to the prosecution of the matter.

“My Lord, the first defendant is not in court. It is important he appears in court for the matter to yield any result,” Jacob said.

Justice Abiru granted the prayer of the prosecution and adjourned the arraignment of the suspects till today.

Justice Onigbanjo did not sit over the matter involving Mahmud Tukur,Alex

N749, 991,273.36 “purporting the said sum to be subsidy payable to Nasaman Oil Services by the Federal Government under the PSF in respect of 10,031,986 litres of PMS, which the suspects falsely claimed to have purchased from SEATAC Petrol Limited of British Virgin Islands and allegedly imported to Nigeria through mother vessel, MV Overseas Limar and DV Liquid

Ochonogor, Abdulahi Alao and Eternal Oil and Gas. He, however, met with counsel to the prosecution and defence in his chamber after which a decision was taken to adjourn till 12:00 pm today since the AG plans to lead the prosecution.

Walter Wagbatsoma, Adaoha Ugo-Ngadi, Fakuade Babafemi Ebenezer, Ezekiel Olaleye Ejidele and Ontario Oil & Gas Nigeria Limited are to be arraigned for allegedly obtaining N1, 959, 377, 542, .63 (N1.9 billion) from the PSF for a purported importation of 39.2 litres of premium motor spirit (PMS).

Mahmud Tukur, Abdullahi Alao, Ochonogor Alex and Eterna Oil and Gas Plc are accused of fraudulently obtaining N1,899,238,946.02 from the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) for importation of 80.3 million litres of premium motor spirit (PMS).

Abdulahi Alao, who is facing a double charge and Axenenergy Limited will in addition, be charged with allegedly obtaining N2,640,141,707.75 from Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) for purported importation of 33.3 million litres of PMS.

Fortune (the daughter vessel) and financed through Form M No. MF 124,968 and 1242965.

The four suspects are also being tried for allegedly “obtaining N1,480,074, 125.61, purporting the said sum to be subsidy payment to Nasaman Oil Services by the Federal Government under the PSF in respect of 20,492,982.50 litres, which the suspects falsely claimed to

have purchased from SEATAC Petroleum Limited.

They are to face trial for “obtaining by false pretence, contrary to Section 1 of the Advance fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2006.

The same allegation of cooking of records for products not imported is against Mahmud Tukur; Ochonogor Alex; Abdulahi Alao and Eterna Oil and Gas Plc.

The accused persons were said to have “on the 28th day of April 2011, with intent to defraud, conspired to commit an offence to wit: obtaining the sum of N338, 544,397.46 by false pretence from Federal Government of Nigeria, purporting same to be payment accruing to Eterna Oil and Gas under the PSF which they falsely claimed to have purchased 33,288,338 litres of PMS from Mercuria Energy Trading SA and imported to Nigeria through MT Fulmer, Ex MT Emirate Star and MT Panther Ex Emirate Star.

Tukur and co. allegedlly “forged a document, titled Bill of Lading dated 28th April, 2011 purporting the document to have been issued by Mercuria Energy Trading SA on behalf of Mercuria Trading NV. They are also on trial under the Advance Fee Fraud Act 2006.

For alleged forgery of Shore Quality Certificate, the government has filed papers against Walter Wagbatsoma, Adaoha Ugo-Ngadi, Fakuade Babafemi Ebenezer, Ezekiel Olaleye Ejidele, and Ontario Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited.

They are said to have “conspired on 7th July 2010, with intent to defraud, forged a certain document to wit: Shore Quality Certificate, Continued on Page 63

ADVERT HOTLINES: 01-280668, 08070591302, 08052592524 NEWSROOM: LAGOS – 01-8962807, ABUJA – 07028105302 COMPLAINTS: 01-8930678

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

5

NEWS ECOWAS: we’ve lost a gem

• Nigeria's First Lady and president, African First Ladies’ Peace Mission, Dame Patience Jonathan (third-left), with other country's First Ladies during the inauguration of the interim secretariat of the mission in Abuja...yesterday PHOTO: NAN

Amid mourning, Ghanaians focus on next election

G

HANA has seen a smooth transition of power after the sudden death of its president, but as the nation mourns attention is already turning to who will replace him as the ruling party’s candidate in a December vote.

Vice-President John Dramani Mahama was sworn in hours after the announcement of the death through sudden illness on Tuesday of 68-yearold President John Atta Mills.

This ensured that the West African oil, gold and cocoa producer, a former British colony once known as the Gold Coast, avoided the kind of messy political transitions that have plagued other states in a coup-prone region.

Ghanaians congratulated themsleves on the seamless handover. Mahama, 53, a historian, former minister and communications expert, is expected to bring a steady hand to a fast-growing economy, one of Africa’s newest oil producers.

But questions over who will now step into Mills’ shoes as the candidate to keep his governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) in power in December’s elections will inject some uncertainty into the political outlook.

Analysts say this could drive down the Ghanaian currency, which has lost about 17 percent against the dollar this year as the country’s oil-fuelled boom sucks in capital and consumer imports and drives up demand for dollars to pay for them.

Traders said the cedi was relatively stable on Wednesday at 1.9550/ 1.9600 to the greenback.

“Political disruption is likely to be internal and will focus on who is the NDC’s presidential nominee,” said Azim Datardina, Ghana analyst at Africa Risk Consulting.

Mills, seeking a second term despite having suffered for years from undisclosed health problems, had already won his party’s nomination to run against the opposition New Patriotic Party’s Nana Akufo-Addo, defeating a divisive challenge from the wife of still influential ex-president Jerry Rawlings.

Some analysts expect Nana

THE ECOWAS Commission yesterday said the death of Ghana’s President, Prof John Atta Mills, has “robbed the region of a voice of wisdom”.

The commission, in a statement, said the late president was one, who “enriched the discussions of the affairs of the community” .

It said the news of the president’s death came as a shock.

It urged the government and people of Ghana to “ rise up to the challenge of the late president’s death and defend the values that he represented.

It said: “The community wishes to condole with the government and people of Ghana over this irreparable loss and urge you to rise to the challenge of his death.

“Defend those cherished values that the late president represented and which he sought to introduce in his compatriots, such as his love of peace.

“We pray the Almighty God to give the country and his family the fortitude to bear this loss.”

Speaker condoles with Ghanaians

• Members of the Ghanaian parliament weeping after Mills death...on Tuesday

Konadu, Rawlings’ wife whom Mills crushed in the NDC primaries, to claim an automatic nomination.

But Alban Bagbin, Ghana’s health minister and a member of the NDC legal team, said the party would hold an extraordinary meeting to pick a new candidate for what is expected to be a tight race for the presidency.

“Most likely is a new nomination contest with a number of high-profile challengers who earlier balked at opposing Mills. A likely candidate is John Mahama,” said Africa Risk Consulting’s Datardina.

GHANA “LOST A FATHER” Flags flew at half mast on Wednesday as the nation began a week of national mourning for Mills, who had served as president since winning a 2008 presidential contest that won plaudits for going down to the wire but remaining peaceful.

“I am personally devastated - I’ve lost a father, I’ve lost a friend, I’ve lost a mentor and a senior comrade,” Mahama said in his first comments after being sworn in before a sombre parliament on Tuesday evening.

“The fine gentleman that he was, President Mills rightly earned the title ‘Asomdwehene’ (King of Peace). He brought a distinctive insight to Ghanaian politics. He remained humble,

honest and modest throughout his years in public service.”

That sense of loss was shared by ordinary Ghanaians too.

“I didn’t know him personally but he’s everybody’s father and a peacemaker,” said Peter Fiave, a 70-yearold who went to parliament to witness the swearing-in of Mahama.

Tributes poured in from around the globe from heads of state like U.S. President Barack Obama, who had feted Ghana under Mills as a model and “good news story” for Africa.

Rivals were quick to praise the nation’s handling of the sudden loss.

“We are showing a maturity that must encourage all Ghanaians,” said opposition NPP Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey.

CORRUPTION, EXPECTATIONS Mahama, fresh from a U.S. tour to promote a recently published personal memoir on Ghana’s history, is widely expected to maintain current policies in his caretaker role.

Yet, amid the plaudits for his predecessor, he will inherit the same struggles Mills had faced in managing Ghanaians’ high expectations over the flow of crude from the country’s Jubilee oil field since 2010, and in tackling corruption scandals that have dogged the NDC adminis-

PHOTO : AFP

tration.

“Given the above, recent momentum has favoured the NPP. Ghanaians also have a history of evicting the ruling party at the ballot box in favour of the opposition,” Standard Bank said in a research note on Wednesday.

“Much will hinge on the manner in which the NDC is able to swiftly elect a replacement presidential candidate. Infighting already poses a significant threat to party unity, and any signs of an exacerbation of these tensions will favour the opposition,” it added.

Ahead of Mills’ death, most analysts had expected a year of election spending testing Ghana’s reputation for improved economic management. The government last week sought parliament’s permission for extra spending.

“We think heightened uncertainty will result in some foreign investors taking a wait-and-see stance, which would imply a slowdown in FX inflows, which in turn would be negative for the already troubled cedi,” Renaissance Capital said.

“We think another 5-10 percent depreciation is likely by (the end of 2012),” it added.

Source: Reuters

THE Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Adeyemi Ikuforiji, yesterday condoled with the government and people of Ghana following the sudden of President John Atta Mills on Tuesday.

Ikuforiji , in a statement , said Africans must take solace in the fact that the late president came, saw and conquered.

He said it was on record that Mills was an internationally acclaimed university teacher who impacted positively on thousands of university undergraduates, with many scholars receiving legal training under his tutelage.

Ikuforiji said: ‘’He will be greatly remembered as one of the best brains to rule over Ghana.

“He was, indeed, one who was transparent and an uncommon visionary, who vigorously attained sustainable economic growth, prosperity, and good governance for his country, Ghana. He will be sorely missed.’’

Ikuforiji also commiserated with the new Ghanaian President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, who was the former Vice-President.

He said it was a well-known fact that he shared a lot in common with his predecessor, whose sudden death must have affected him.

He said: “To the good people of Ghana, we at the Lagos State House of Assembly stand firmly by you all at this sorrowful time. ‘’May the good Lord grant the soul of the departed President Mills eternal peace.

“May He also grant President Mahama and indeed all Ghanaians, the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.”

The speaker urged Mahama not to allow the unfortunate incident to distract him from continuing with the excellent work that the late Mills worked hard to achieve while he was alive.

Ekweremadu, Fashola, Kalu, MOSOP: Africa has lost a democrat in Mills

S

PEAKER of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) yesterday described as “shocking” and “grievous” the death of President John Attah Mills.

Ekweremadu, who is also the Deputy Senate President, said the death came as a rude shock.

Ekweremadu, in a statement by his media aide, Uche Anichukwu in Abuja, extolled the late President as a “true son of Africa who gave his very best towards democracy and

From Sanni Onogu, Abuja

development on the continent.”

He said: “The West African subregion and indeed Africa has lost a pan-African and visionary who championed the course of democracy, good governance, peace, stability, integration, and development in the West African sub-region in particular and Africa in general.

“The ECOWAS Parliament in particular will remember him as one of its pillars of support and a strong proponent of the enhancement of the powers of the Community Parliament.”

Ekweremadu added that “the pages of history will be very kind to the late President for his remarkable

roles in the defence and restoration of democratic rule in several parts of the sub-region and for upholding Ghana as one of the shining lights of democracy on the African continent.”

He urged Ghanaians to “work to sustain the laudable principles, visions, and legacies bequeathed by the late President.

Fashola said: "He built on the achievements of his predecessors with his wise and pragmatic approach to governance and succeeded in making Ghana a reference point in West Africa and, indeed, the Continent.

"Without doubt, this generation will continue to draw inspiration

from his life and times and celebrate his exemplary life of service to the Ghanaian nation and Africa."

Kalu described Mills as a man whose sight was on Nigeria ever before he became President in 2009.

The ex-governor said: “I join the world in mourning Prof.Atta-Mills.

He visited Nigeria in 2008and I had the honour of hosting him in my home. He believed there was so much about Nigeria. Sadly, he did not get to complete this task before he died. I am glad another John (Dramani Mahama) has assumed office and I pray Ghanaians continue to see us as brothers indeed.”

MOSOP, in a statement by its president, Dr. Goodluck Diigbo,

said:”I accept the inevitability of death, but the death of Ghanaian President John Atta Mills; I regard as an African tragedy because of his democratic example.

“Vice President John Mahama’s inauguration shortly afterwards proves that Ghanaians understand that public office is not a personal property or an ethnic entitlement.

“This reflects Mills’ politics, which put nation before self during his three attempts at the presidency.

When Ogonis escaped brutal persecution by corrupt Nigerian rulers, we accepted Ghana as our home under former President Jerry Rawling.

Ogoni People today mourn with our fellow Ghanaians.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

6

NEWS Why corruption thrives, by don From Okodili Ndidi, Onitsha

THE Rector of the Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State, Prof. Godwin Onu, yesterday, said the spate of corruption in Nigeria was fuelled by retirement insecurity.

Onu, who received the National Union of Pensioners of the polytechnic in his office, said in other climes the aged are catered for, adding that it was the fear of the unknown that pushes some people into corruption.

The chairman of the pensioners, Edmund Nwangbakor, hailed the management of the polytechnic for the cordial relationship with the pensioners.

Navy holds conference

Govt restores Abuja’s airfield lighting

A

VIATION Minister Ms Stella Oduah has said the full restoration of the airfield lighting at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, will boost passengers’ and operators’ confidence.

The minister spoke yesterday in Abuja after the inspection and inauguration of the newly rehabilitated airfield lighting project. She said this would improve air safety.

Ms Oduah added that Abuja airport would also move one step closer to its certification objectives.

The minister stated that the rehabilitation of the airfield lighting in Abuja is part of the efforts by the ministry to refurbish and renew the fa-

Lighting transferred to NAMA

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor and Olugbenga Adanikin

cilities at the airside and terminal buildings across airports in the country.

She described the project as “one of the critical safety” initiatives by the ministry, adding that the selection of the contractor, Julius Berger Plc, “has ensured that the security of the airside is not compromised in the process, given the current global and domestic challenges”.

Ms Oduah also inaugurated six Fire Tenders donated to the ministry by SO Aviation, a member of Sahara Energy Nig. Ltd. She called on other corpo-

rate organisations to emulate Sahara Energy group by contributing towards air safety in Nigeria.

The minister said at the inception of her stewardship, the ministry developed a Master Plan/Road Map which made private sector participation its cardinal point.

“Prior to the development of the document, we carried out an evaluation of our systems and capacities and it became evident that the business model for the sector had to change and that increasingly, public-private partnership either under a joint venture or a joint venture

•Continued from Page 4

arrangement or as part of corporate social responsibility must be given attention.

The minister said the Federal Government would transfer the management of the airport airfield lighting from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

“In order to ensure proper and effective management of safety matters in the sector, the Federal Government has approved the transfer of responsibilities for airfield lighting from FAAN to NAMA purely in the interest of the sector and in line with best practices,” she said.

By Precious Igbonwelundu

THE Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim, yesterday said there must be effective command, control and communication structure in the Navy.

Ibrahim spoke at the opening of a three-day conference of the Directorate of Naval Signals Communication at the Naval Base, Lagos.

He said the Navy now has equipment for on-line encryption and decoding.

He was represented by the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Ameen Ikioda.

The CNS said: “But today, we have equipment that do on-line encryption and decoding.

“If I speak my normal language into the system, it becomes encrypted inside the system so anybody who tries to tap into it will not get what I said because the information will be scrambled.

“We are advancing towards the stage whereby all our communication arrangements will be on-line encrypted,” he said.

Adoption procedure condemned From Bukola Amusan, Abuja

THE wife of former VicePresident, Justice Titi Abubakar, has decried the negative trend in adoption practices.

She said it is quite disturbing and an abomination to the ears.

Mrs Abubakar spoke yesterday at the public presentation of a book, titled: “Adoption of children in Nigeria: Practice and Procedures’’ written by Mrs Ojochide AtojokoOmovbude, in Abuja.

She said adoption is supposed to be a positive practice that promotes the rights of children by ensuring that they grow up within a healthy family environment.

Mrs Abubakar said reports showed that women now hide under the forces of darkness to procure children, adding that the country also has to contend with trafficking of children.

•From left: Chairperson, Association of Chief Medical Directors of Nigeria, Prof. George Akpede; Secretary, Association of Pathologists of Nigeria, Dr Princewill Nwajiobi-Princewill; President, Dr Kenneth Iregbu and Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Lokoja, Prof. Abdulmumini Rafindade at the Pathologists Association’s 12th Annual General Meeting and scientific conference PHOTO: NAN in Abuja ...yesterday

‘Nigeria needs a people’s constitution’

N

IGERIA has to develop a people’s constitution to rise above its present challenges, the Director, Institute of Global Cultural Studies, Binghamton University, New York, Prof. Ali Mazrui, has said.

Speaking at the eighth Aelex Annual Lecture in Lagos on the theme: “This house must not fall: Constitutional reform and the people’s will”, the scholar said Nigeria must allow the people to participate in the development of a constitution.

Among those present were retired Justice of the Supreme Court Kayode Eso, veteran journalist Haroun Adamu, renowned economist Ayo Teriba, rights’ activist Ms. Annkio Briggs and

By Precious Igbonwelundu

Chairman, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Lagos, Taiwo-Taiwo.

Mazrui advised Nigeria to look at previous constitutions and reconsider why the country has failed despite its enormous resources.

He said Nigeria should address the discrimination between men and women and the divisions along geographical, religious and ethnic groups.

“It is important to accept that ethnicity is entrenched in the country’s politics.”

He said the country has a lot of work to do and it should start immediately.

Mazrui said corruption has bedevilled the country

so much that it has produced money-makers rather than wealth-creators.

“The Nigerian plutocratic elite in the first few decades of independence has been money making rather than a wealth creating elite.

“Individual Nigerians have become wealthy while the country has become poorer.

“We have had urbanisation in Nigeria without adequate industrialisation.

“Western consumption patterns without western productive techniques.

“We need to find ways of motivating Nigerians towards genuine entrepreneurial, innovative and risk-taking developmental strategies,” Mazrui said.

The professor called on the nation to consider an ombudsman system on corruption control both at the federal and state level.

Justice Eso said the only way to save Nigeria from collapsing is to have a constitution that is accepted by the people.

“We need true federalism. A constitution without the will of the people is no constitution.”

For Briggs, the British is responsible for all the problems we face as a nation.

She called on the National Assembly to allow a referendum, where the 250 ethnic groups will be represented to discuss issues affecting them and develop a constitution.

Akinyemi calls for fiscal federalism

F

ORMER Foreign Affairs Minister Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi has called for fiscal federalism.

He spoke in Umuahia when he visited Abia State Governor Theodore Orji.

Akinyemi said the monthly sharing of federal allocation by states has made most states, including their governors, to be lazy.

The former minister said governors should find ways to increase their internally generated revenu and rapid development .

Akinyemi said looking inward will also help to create

From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

jobs, besides generating revenue for the development of the states.

The former minister recalled that the former regional governments were semi-independent.

Governments generating their own funds, “keep a large chunk of the funds and send the rest to the central government for its operations”.

He said the agitation for resource control by some states would soon be a thing of the past when the states are al-

lowed some flexibility to operate.

“I have been to four states and the little I have seen shows that Governor Orji has done well with the little resources available to him.

“These are not things one could say was done by past administrations, as they are infrastructure that are at several completion stages and not repainted structures.

“I also noticed that the work going on in the state is going on side by side with private development and this will lead to faster development and opening up of the rural areas and this

‘We can’t run budget 100%’

• Prof Akinyemi

means that the governor has brought development and value in the process of governance.”

“First, in my experience worldwide, there is hardly any country where you would implement 100 per cent even by the end of the year and this is based on very broad experience.

“But people try to get at least to 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the budget by September, you know September is the ninth month of the year, we will definitely be moving towards the figure.

“I think the point is that Mr President is determined to implement this budget as fully as possible and, therefore, we will be moving towards 90 per cent by the end of the year because the budget was made for the whole year.

“So you can see that there is no lack of effort, no lack of goodwill. If we could go from 39 per cent in May to 56 per cent by mid July, that shows a considerable leap and I’m quite confident that as we go month by month, we will be able to look at it and say yes a good effort has been made for the country.”

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala also noted that the review of the implementation level of the budget by the Executive which has seen three ministers, Police Affairs, Interior and Agriculture appearing before the President to state key indicator performance of their ministries, was to be able to keep a tap on what have been achieved.

She went on: “As you know, we have released about N404billion so far, cashed back N324billion and the utilisation of that is 56 per cent.

We will soon be considering the release of the third quarter funds, we hope to do that within the next two weeks or so.

“We do face a couple of challenges that we have also been working with the National Assembly on, effectively and quietly, we have been working with them on a couple of these challenges.

“The first is, of course, many of the constituency projects and new projects put into the budget needs to be designed and to have feasibility studies because they are new and of course, this takes a little bit of time for the MDAs to begin the process of procurement which also takes time.

“To follow the law and you follow the way that the projects are implemented, that takes a little bit of time to get the design of a new project, to get the feasibility study and so on. We are very committed to getting this project done; you can’t really begin the implementation of a project before you have a feasibility study.

“Second is that there are some moves within the budget, during the time that the budget was considered by the National Assembly, they did move some resources from one category to the other in comparison to what the Executive had presented. And we have been working with them quietly and effectively to try and make sure that those resources are moved into areas where ministers can actually implement.

The BPP DG, Emeka Eze, said the issue of new projects in the 2012 budget, though few, ought to have been included in the planning before now.”

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

7

NEWS

•From left: Dr. Ayo Teriba, Prof. Sophie Oluwole; Chairman, Board of Trustee of the Obafemi Awolowo Institute for Government and Policy (OAIGP), Chief Bisi Akande; Prof T. Ademola Oyejide; Lagos Commissioner for Finance, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru; renowned writer, Prof Adebayo Williams; OAIGP Director-General, Prof. Agbaje Adigun and Mr Ibukun Fakeye, at a public lecture on Central Bank and Autonomy, organised by the institute at the Agip Recital Hall, MUSON Centre, Lagos.

Akande: Agunloye’s defection good riddance to bad rubbish

T

HE National Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Bisi Akande, yesterday said the defection of a former member of the party in Ondo State, Dr Olu Agunloye, to the Labour Party (LP), was good riddance.

Akande addressed party supporters in Lagos.

He said: “From day one, when Agunloye moved to ACN, we knew that he was a mole of the LP. In fact, from the day he joined ACN, I have been receiving text messages that his campaign was being financed by Governor Olusegun Mimiko, al-

though he kept denying it.

But the event of yesterday (Tuesday) has proved that he is a mole.”

The ACN national chairman said he never trusted the former Defence Minister with the ticket of the party because of his antecedents.

Chief Akande said Agunloye betrayed the late Justice Minister, Chief Bola Ige, by joining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of President Olusegun Obasanjo, and worked with former Ondo State Governor Olusegun Agagu to oust the late governor, Chief Adebayo

Adefarati.

He added that the former minister also joined Mimiko to oustAgagu.

The party chairman noted that Agunloye only returned to his base but without ACN members.

According to him, the former minister lost his ward during the 2011 senatorial election to Prof. Ajayi Boroffice and Dr. Bode Olajumoke.

On the presence of Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Olu Falae, among others, at the second term declaration of Dr. Mimiko, Chief Akande said: “We are in a democracy; there is freedom of as-

sociation. But these people have their party, the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA). If they cannot build it and are now moving with Mimiko, it’s good for them.

But it is unfortunate that Chief Adebanjo would support Mimiko, who rigged his close friend, Adefarati, out of office. Adefarati will be turning in his grave now.

“Besides, Adebanjo and Falae have never won elections in their lives.”

Akande assured ACN supporters that the party would be victorious in the October 20 governorship election in the state.

Mimiko declares for second term •NANS condemns governor •Lawyer criticises Omar for attending rally

O

NDO State Governor Olusegun Mimiko yesterday in Akure, the state capital, declared his intention to run for a second term under the platform of the ruling Labour Party (LP).

Many of the guests, including notable Yoruba leaders, were absent.

Among them were the daughter of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu, and former National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) chieftain Gen. Alani Akinrinade (rtd].

No reason was given for Mrs Awolowo-Dosunmu’s absence.

A report had quoted Gen. Akinrinade as saying he would not attend the event.

The former Transport Minister reportedly said he is not a member of LP but a Yoruba leader and frontline progressives.

Mimiko said he is committed to working for the people.

He said: “I give thanks to God that three and a half years on, we have, by the grace of God, lived by that commitment. During these three and a half years, we made the people of Ondo State the central focus of governance. We emplaced a string of people-ori-

From Damisi Ojo and Leke Akeredolu, Akure

ented projects. We, by the sheer magnitude and quality of our projects, benchmarked Ondo State for Nigeria and, indeed, in many respects, for Africa.

“By so doing, we have succeeded in overcoming the mutual distrust and suspicion that characterised the relationship between government and the people. We have raised the profile of governance and set a standard beyond which no government can afford to fall in our dear State.

“For the three and a half years that we have been at the helm of affairs, we have, by the grace of God, pursued activities that cohere with our vision of government...”

The Southwest Zone of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) yesterday condemned Mimiko for declaring a second term ambition.

It noted that Nigerian students were still mourning the death of their four leaders who died in a road crash on July 13 after giving the governor an award in Abuja.

The dead were Presidents of NANS at the Federal University Technology, Akure (FUTA), Oluwaseun Awopegba; Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Akintola Abiodun; the state’s School of Midwifery, Akure, Oyinkan Olotu and Ondo Vice-President of NANS, Aremo Gbenga Oyebode, aka Socrates.

In a statement by its Southwest Coordinator, Adeyemo

Monsuru, NANS said the governor has proved that he does not care about the masses but about his second term ambition.

Akure lawyer Mr. Morakinyo Ogele yesterday criticised the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Abdulwahab Omar, for attending the second term declaration of Governor Mimiko.

Omar led some executive members of the NLC to the event.

The lawyer said Omar ought to resign since he has violated the Public Service Rules 2009 and Pension Reform Act 2004, 030422 (Sub D), which do not allow the executive to canvass support for a political candidate.

Ekiti pupils may be insured

By Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekitii

T

HE Ekiti State chapter of the National Parent-Teacher Association (NAPTAN) is considering a proposal to insure primary and secondary schools pupils as from next academic session.

This followed a proposal by the management of NICON Insurance Plc to NAPTAN on the need to extend the programme, which Ogun and Oyo states are benefitting from.

Addressing NAPTAN executives, the Senior Manager (Marketing) of NICON in charge of the Southwest, Mr. Kola Ayanfenwa, said the benefits of the programme, tagged: “Students Welfare Insurance Scheme”, are many.

He said NICON Insurance, in May, held a stakeholders’ meeting with representatives of Ekiti State Ministry of Education, who directed them to meet with NAPTAN officials.

Ayanfenwa said: “When the proposal was mooted to the state government, the government said it could not accommodate it because it was not budgeted for in this year’s budget. The government then directed us to discuss with the NAPTAN. “We are making the Southwest the starting point. So many pupils in Ogun have benefited from the scheme. We don’t want the benefits to be restricted to Ogun alone.”

NAPTAN state chairman Pastor Sunday Isikalu said the scheme is commendable.

He promised that “the association would make its position known to the government”.

Isiaku added: “This (scheme) would go a long way in assisting students in the state.”

‘Nobody can remove me’

T

HE head of a village in Igoba community in Akure North Local

Government Area of Ondo State, Chief Ojo Jayeoba, yesterday said the Oloba of Oba-Ile, Oba Joseph Agunbiade, has no right to remove him as the Obalogun of Igoba.

He described the Oloba’s action as petty jealousy.

The village head said each community operates independently.

In a letter to Jayeoba, the monarch had ordered him to stop parading himself as the village head because he was not recognised.

But Jayeoba said the monarch lacks the power to re-

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

move him.

He said: “Every community in Akure North is on its own. What I observe is that Oba Agunbiade is not comfortable with the move being made by Deji of Akure, Oba Adebiyi Adesida, to recognise him and other community heads as monarchs.”

The village head insisted that he could not be installed

by Oloba, adding that there was no record that Oloba is a prescribed authority over Igoba community.

The village Head urged Oloba to concentrate on the affairs of his domain and stop dabbling into Igoba community issue.

Firm asks court to jail Jega, others, over use of transparent ballot boxes

A

FIRM, Bedding Holdings Limited, has urged a Federal High Court in Abuja to imprison the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, and two others, over alleged use of transparent ballot boxes in the last Edo State governorship election without its consent.

By Eric Ikhilae

In a new application before the court, the firm argued that Prof Jega and the others committed a contempt of court by deploying transparent collapsible ballot boxes for the July 14 Edo election without its permission, despite the court’s subsisting judgment.

The court, president over

by Justice Adamu Bello, in a

June 5 judgment, upheld Bedding Holdings’ exclusive rights to the transparent ballot boxes and electronic collapsible transparent ballot boxes.

It barred INEC and other bodies from using the inventions except with the consent of the rights owner.

Justice Bello, besides holding that the firm was the lawful owner of the patent rights

for the ballot boxes, declared that it was illegal to use the materials for the 2011 general elections without the firm’s consent.

Named with Jega as defendants are INEC and the Registrar of Patent, Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Bedding Holdings is praying for an order committing the three or any of

them “to prison and detaining them in custody until they be fully purged of their contempt of this court”.

The firm is also asking for “an order that the three or any of them do give such substantial security, as the court thinks fit, to obey the judgment of this court delivered on June 5, 2012 and abide by the accompanying orders”.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

8

CITYBEATS

08033054340, 08034699757 E-mail:- ynotcitybeats@gmail.com

Police model station takes off in Lagos

I

•Construction of new drainage allignment to deflood Oshodi-Agege Motor Road, by the Ministry of the Environment.

Lagos warns pilgrims against fraudsters

By Miriam Ndikanwu

LAGOS State Government has warned intending pilgrims to Jerusalem to beware of fraudsters.

The fraudsters, it said, disguise as consultants to the government.

Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Hon. Oyinlomo Danmole, in a statement yesterday, urged the public to avoid dealing with these people whose activities are around Akeem Balogun Street, Agidingbi Ikeja, Lagos.

Danmole said: "Lagos State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board wishes to emphatically disclaim the activities of fake consultants claiming to be acting at the behest of the board regarding the impending Christian Pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

"Some of these unscrupulous elements with offices around Akeem Balogun Street, Agidingbi, Ikeja, have been going to prospective pilgrims claiming to be consultants to the Lagos State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board on matter affecting year 2012 pilgrimage."

The government enforcement team, he said, was on top of the situation.

"All prospective pilgrims and members of the public are hereby informed that the Lagos State Christian Pilgrims' Welfare Board has not appointed any organisation or agency as consultants on Christian Pilgrimage,” Danmole said.

“No money should be paid to any organisation or agency that is claiming to be acting on behalf of the Board in matters affecting year 2012 Christian Pilgrimage."

The commissioner stressed the need for pilgrims to deal directly with the board and advised operators of fictitious agencies to desist from their acts.

MPLEMENTATION of the model police station has finally taken off at the Isokoko Police Station in Lagos.

The model is the brainchild of the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Justice For All (J4A).

Tony Cross, the DFID representative said that DFID is collaborating with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) “to provide alternative ways of reducing crime in the community and improve safety.”

NHRC South West Zonal Coordinator, Mausi Segun, said the scheme will improve policing in the country as human rights will be upheld.

Segun said: "Isokoko police station is the pilot station for this scheme and today (Monday) is the first day we are starting this scheme.

“We have a roster of lawyers from the National

Dana Crash: DNA results ready next week, Obafunwa tells Coroner

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ESULT S of the DNA tests conducted on victims of the June 3 DANA plane crash are expected to be ready next week, renowned pathologist Prof. John Obafunwa told a Lagos Coroner, yesterday.

The Coroner is conducting an inquest into the crash in which all the 153 on board the plane died.

Obafunwa, the Chief Medical Examiner of Lagos State and Consultant forensic patholotist, said “a final editing of the post-mortem reports is being done.”

He added: “I am expecting that the DNA results will be finalised next week.”

Obafunwa, the ViceChancellor fo Lagos State University (LASU), told Magistrate Oyetade that 152 bodies had been identified.

The bodies, he said, were either “partially charred or complete”.

He said some of the bodies were in bad state when they were brought in body bags to the Lagos State University Hospital (LASUTH). He was led in evidence by Mr. Akingbolahan Adeniran, a counsel from the Ministry of Justice.

Obafunwa said: “When the body bags of the victims were opened at the morgue, some of them contained bone fragments while some had body parts. Sixty per cent of the crash victims had multiple injuries while about 20 per cent had multiple injuries and smoke inhalation.

AON urges Fed Govt to lift ban on Airline

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor

SEVEN weeks after Dana Air MD 83 aircraft crashed into IjuIshaga, a suburb of Lagos, killing 153 passengers on board, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), yesterday urged President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, to allow the airline resume operations.

The association said the suspension of the carrier's operations is having effects on the aviation sector.

In a letter to Princess Oduah and signed by the SecretaryGeneral of AON, Captain Mohammed Joji, said it was counterproductive to continue to enforce the ban on the airline after the Accident Investigation Bureau ( AIB) has released preliminary report on the crash.

The letter reads: "The Chairman, management and over 540 staff of Dana Air are indeed, very worried about the continued suspension of the airline's operations without any notice of a new date of possible resumption.

"As a result of the suspension, the entire staff of Dana Air, their families and other dependants, risk losing their source of livelihood. The operators of the airline also risk losing huge and significant investments in Nigeria's fledging aviation industry. On staff Salaries alone, for it's over 540 staff, the airline currently spends about N90m per month.

Besides, the staff salaries, there are other overheads such as the office and staff accommodation, and the increase in insurance premium."

By Adebisi Onanuga

“Fifty bodies were fairly complete; while about 100 bodies were burnt. There were also charred bodies.

There are bodies with recognisable heads and some had their limbs chopped off.”

He said the chemical analysis of the samples and tissues from the bodies would be ready in two weeks' time.

“I will say we have

completed our job. On the average, 80 per cent of the job is ready,” he said.

Obafunwa was crossexaminined by some lawyers including Anthony Idigbe (SAN); Obi Okwusogu (SAN) and Femi Falana (SAN).

An Assistant Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the Southwest, Mr. Adebiyi Babatunde Razaq, told the coroner that the crowd, lack

of easy access and the raging fire were the challenges the agency faced in rescuing the victims.

“We had a challenge in getting access to the crash site.

The road was narrow. We had to enter through the rail lines. The crowd and the road were the challenges we faced.

The equipment we brought could also not get to the crash site," Razaq said.

Asked by Magistrate Komolafe if NEMA had rescue aircraft for such incident, Razaq said the agency has only one for the entire country and is at the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), Abuja.

A police detective, Mr. Obono Ubi, faulted the claim that fire fighters got to the scene of the crash on time.

Ubi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), attached to Area G Command, Ogba, Lagos, said fire fighters did not get to the crash site until over two hours after the incident.

He also faulted the claim that the fire that followed the crash was put out within 15 minutes. He said it took about four hours before the fire could be put out.

Ubi, who said he got to the scene at 3.50p.m, told the coroner that the casualty figure could have been fair if the police had fire-fighting equipment as they got information of the crash earlier than any other response agency.

By Jude Isiguzo

Human Rights Commission and we are also engaging the service of six law firms in Agege to visit the Isokoko police station daily to monitor officers and ensure they are conforming to the ideals of the model police station.”

She expressed optimism that the scheme would uproot corruption and human rights' abuse in police stations, Segun explained that lawyers would take turns to visit the station as a way of ensuring that the scheme works.

“We do not intend to carry out this visits in a day and stop, this is a scheme that we will carry out everyday forever; so if the police officers puts up a front when a lawyer is around, he or she will not be able to pretend forever as we will be in their faces to ensure that they are doing the right thing.

“If they pretend for so long then we have forced them to change and those who are not willing to change will find themselves out of the police, in that way, the police will become attractive to the good citizens while the community will be confident and get the best service when they visit any police station,” Segun said.

Cross on his part urged government to replicate the model police station across the country.

“I have seen a great improvement at the Isokoko police station in the last six month and I must commend the officers especially the DPO, Oliver Ameachi, for the great way they are responding to this scheme.

The model police station is not about building new police stations, but it is about new ways of serving the community where suspects come to the Isokoko police station, given a document of their legal rights and have access to a lawyer free of charge while the lawyers will be allowed to check the cell.

This is a remarkable scheme and it will be great if this scheme is replicated in all the police stations in Nigeria,”he added.

Isokoko Police Station Divisional Police Officer, Oliver Ameachi, said that the model police station scheme has gone a long way in reposing confidence in the police.

Ameachi said: “Since the implementation of this scheme, people far and near prefer coming to the Isokoko police station to lay their complaints, policemen visit homes at noon and check on the people. It is a new experience that is improving policing in a great way.”

Lagos monthly sanitation dedicated to eliminating flood

I

N order to consolidate its efforts at attaining a cleaner and sustainable environment the Lagos State Government has dedicated this month's environmental sanitation to the cleaning of drainage channel.

The Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, urged Lagosians to troop out in large numbers on Saturday for the programme between 7.00am and 10.00am Weather predictions by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) had predicted that Lagos would record intense rains this year, as such, all hands must be on deck to reduce the incidence of flooding to the barest minimum.

The Commissioner admonished Lagosians to

By Seyi Odewale

join hands with the state government in ensuring a flood-free Lagos, as the ministry has intensified its mid-year rain cleaning programme, having completed the pre rain cleaning aimed at removing all forms of impediments on drainage channels.

He stated that whenever it rains, Lagosians should not panic, but be assured that all "our major drainage channels have been cleaned and dredged in anticipation of this year's rains."

He, however, advised that Lagosians should relate effectively with their respective resident engineers and drainage maintenance officers that have been deployed to all the 57 local government and council development areas in the state, to tackle flood related

matters in each council as the rains get more intense during the year.

Bello reminded Lagosians that Lagos, being a coastal state, will witness "flash flood" during the rains, but immediately it subsides "it will disappear into the channels," which have been cleaned and some expanded to facilitate free flow of storm water.

The commissioner warned residents who still patronise cart pushers to desist as the refuse collected in each neighborhood, is always discharged into the canals close to them at night.

Bello warned inter-state bus operators, drivers’ union, commercial bus operators and Okada riders to comply with the restriction of human and vehicular movements.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

10

NEWS ‘Ensure sanity on Nigerian roads’

Group backs doctor for poll

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From Damisi Ojo, Akure

A GROUP, Ikale Youth Assembly (IYA), has urged the leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to pick Dr. Paul Akintelure as the running mate to the party’s governorship aspirant, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN).

A statement by its President and Secretary, Segun Akinte and Femi Oladokun, said ACN gained prominence in Ikale and the South Senatorial District because of Akintelure’s political sagacity when he ran for the Senate last year.

Tinubu’s wife to inaugurate NGO THE wife of former Lagos State Governor and senator representing Lagos Central, Oluremi Tinubu, will tomorrow inaugurate a women’s development centre named after Senator Babafemi Ojudu’s mother.

Ojudu is representing Ekiti Central at the National Assembly.

The Raliat Ojudu Women Development Centre (ROWDEC) is to be run as a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

A statement yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital,

by Ojudu’s media aide, Dimeji Daniels, said 570 women indigenous female traders in Ekiti Central will benefit from grants to enhance their trade.

• Wife of Ogun State Governor, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun (second right); Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Mr. Olugbenga Otenuga (third right); wife of House of Assembly Speaker, Mrs Oluwaseun Adekunmbi; and Special Adviser to the Governor on Millennium Development Goal (MDG), Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Costello (fourth right), at the flagging-off of the first Ogun Youth Trade Fair in Abeokuta...yesterday

Oyo pays 142% pension arrears HE families of deceased pensioners in Oyo State yesterday received the 142 per cent arrears meant for the benefactors.

The state government settled the arrears after 12 years of protest by members of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) in the state.

The beneficiaries hailed the Abiola Ajimobi administration for the payment.

The payment ended a legal battle the pensioners instituted against the Adebayo

T

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

Alao-Akala administration on the matter.

The Commissioner for Finance, Zacheaus Adelabu, described the payment as a record-setting gesture.

He said the present administration is committed to the welfare of the senior citizens in the state, adding that over N2billion has been released for the monthly pension allowances from January to this July.

The commissioner assured

the pensioners that better days are ahead under the Ajimobi administration.

Adelabu said: “What you have witnessed is just a fraction of what the administration of Senator Ajimobi has in stock for you. More will come. You have just seen the dew; heavy rain will fall and you shall all live to witness more goodies.”

The Oyo NUP chairman, Lateef Adegoke, praised the government.

He recalled that the union began the struggle for the payment of the arrears since the Federal Government released a circular on same in 2000.

The climax of the struggle, he said, was the suit instituted against the Alao-Akala administration in March, last year, and inherited by the Ajimobi administration.

The NUP chairman hailed Ajimobi for not allowing the matter to go drag on as he settled the arrears without much ado.

Adegoke urged the next of kin of deceased pensioner, who had not received the payment, to be patient with the union and the government.

He said about 1,000 beneficiaries would be paid in the first batch, adding that the exercise would be continued.

SUN State House of Assembly Speaker Najeem Salaam has urged the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to restore sanity to Nigerian roads through operational dignity.

Salaam spoke in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, when he received the leadership of the state’s Sector Command of the FRSC, led by Mr Ij Etuk.

He noted that unlike before, when the name of the FRSC caused fear among traffic offenders, the federal agency has slipped from moral heights.

The Speaker decried the level of corruption in the commission. He urged the leadership of the sector command to address the malaise so that the sanity could return to the roads.

Salaam said: “I must confess to you that each time I see what the FRSC has turned into, my heart thunders. This is because at the mention of the commission, reckless road users and traffic offenders would adjust and behave.

I would want the good old days to be brought back here.

I desire we begin from The State of Osun.”

He advised the commission to increase the enforcement of traffic rules, particularly obedience to traffic lights.

According to him, some road users have not learnt how to use them.

He said: “If Mr. Governor can make it a point of duty to be directed by the light, I cannot see why some other road users would be adamant on breaking traffic rules. It would not be out of place to ask the officers and men of the FRSC to intensify the enforcement of traffic rules.”

Hospital workers protest ‘unfavourable conditions’ ORKERS of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, yesterday protested against what they described as “unfavourable working conditions”.

The workers began the protest at 7am, chanting solidarity songs.

They locked the hospital gates and made bonfires on the busy Ogbomoso-Oyo-Ilorin road.

For over an hour, traffic was disrupted on the highway.

Riot policemen battled to remove the bonfire and make the highway passable for motorists.

Many indigenes, including commercial motorcyclists, joined the protest.

In-patients were hurriedly discharged while those for consultations and treatments were turned back.

W

From Bode Durojaiye, Ogbomoso

Addressing reporters, the spokesman, Mr. Lawal Abiodun, said from January to last June when Oyo indigenes at the teaching hospital in Osogbo were moved to Ogbomoso, the government has been paying their salaries to Osogbo, from where the money was forwarded to individual’s accounts.

According to him, this has led to short payment, absence of promotion and accreditation.

He said: “Since July 2011, when salaries of workers have been taken back to Osogbo, it has always been one problem after another. Most of us are not being paid our correct salaries while some are not even paid at all. Even the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Sijuwola, is not

being paid his full salary from Osogbo; likewise other categories of workers.”

He said workers who moved to Ogbomso from Osogbo have not been promoted since last year, adding that their counterparts in Osogbo were being promoted because “our salary is being paid from Osogbo”.

Abiodun added: “As at today, all those who are due for promotion in July 2012 at Osogbo have been given their promotion letters...”

Police spokesman Bisi Ilobanafor, a Divisional Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the incident.

She said: “The protest was caused by some Okada riders who heard that the management of the LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, had been divided between Oyo and Osun states.”

Govt probes Ibadan PHCN fire

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OVERNMENT agencies will probe the fire that razed the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) last weekend, it was learnt yesterday.

The Sunday morning fire affected some homes, including that of ex-international Gbenga Okunnowo.

Property estimated at over N100million was destroyed in the home of the former footballer.

In a statement in Ibadan, the state capital, by the Ibadan PHCN’s Principal Manager (Public Affairs), Mr Jide Oyenuga, the company said the incident would not affect its

From Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

operation.

The statement reads: “The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company of PHCN wants to assure its numerous customers and the public that the services of the company are not disrupted by the recent fire incident at its parking lot.

“The fire consumed 11 official vehicles; seven were destroyed while four were partially burnt.

Other areas affected are the transport office, the drivers’ section, the carpentry workshop, the fellowship centre and the canteen.”

The company declined to comment on the fire, saying it is a sign of respect for the agencies probing the incident.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

11

BUSINESS THE NATION

E-mail:- bussiness@thenationonlineng.net

Naira gains most in six months

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HE naira rose to its strongest in almost two months against the dollar after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) cut the proportion of lenders’ assets that can be held as foreign exchange and held the benchmark interest rate at a record high.

The naira, according to Reuters, strengthened by 0.7 to 159.75 per dollar as of 3:18 p.m. in Lagos, the commercial capital, its strongest on a closing basis since May 29.

The banking watchdog said yesterday it reduced the amount of foreign exchange banks can hold as a percentage of their shareholders’ funds to one per cent from three per cent and kept its interest rate unchanged at 12 per cent.

The amount of cash as a percentage of deposits that commercial banks must hold with the central bank was increased to 12 per cent from eight per cent, CBN Governor Lamido Sanusi said.

“We expect transient relief in the interbank currency market as some banks adjust their net asset exposure to comply with the new regulation, which will likely lead to a retraction in foreign-exchange demand and a resultant firming of the currency,” Adedayo Idowu, a Lagos-based analyst at Vetiva Capital Management Ltd., said via email yesterday.

The apex bank sold $217 million at a foreign-currency auction yesterday at N155.84 per dollar, compared with N155.89 at the previous sale on July 23, the CBN said in an e-mail.

DATA accelerated STREAM to Inflation 12.9 per cent in June, from COMMODITY PRICES Oil - $123.6/barrel Cocoa - $2,686.35/metric ton Coffee - ¢132.70/pound Cotton - ¢95.17pound Gold - $1,800/troy ounce Rubber - ¢159.21pound MARKET CAPITALISATIONS NSE JSE NYSE LSE

-N6.503 trillion -Z5.112trillion -$10.84 trillion -£61.67 trillion RATES Inflation -12.6% Treasury Bills -7.08% Maximum lending-22.42% Prime lending -15.87% Savings rate -2% 91-day NTB -14.18% Time Deposit -5.49% MPR -12% Foreign Reserve $34.6b FOREX CFA 0.2958 EUR 206.9 £ 245 $ 156.4 ¥ 1.9179 SDR 241 RIYAL 40.472

Suffice it to say that the downturn in the global flows of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in recent years and the associated competition among various locations has made necessary to get all hands on deck to improve the investment climate and create opportunities for increased foreign and local investments.

- Dr Olusegun Aganga, Minister of Trade

Jonathan sacks NPA boss Suleiman

P

P R E S I D E N T Goodluck Jonathan has sacked the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mr Omar Suleiman.

He has approved the appointment of Mr Habibu Abdullahi to replace him.

The new Managing Director hails from Kano State and was the Acting Executive Director (Finance & Administration) of the NPA. He holds a Bachelors in Political Science and Masters in Public Administration.

Also, the Federal Government carried out some changes in the transport sector, with the appointment of three new executive directors for the NPA. They are David Omonibeke (Executive Director, Marine & Operations); Mr Mohammmed Sani Saleh (Executive Director (Engineering & Technical Services); and Mr

• Abdullahi appointed From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

Olumide Oduntan, Executive Director, Finance & Administration).

Similarly, the President approved the appointment of three new executive directors for the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

They are Captain Ezekiel Bala Agaba, Executive Director (Maritime Safety & Shipping Development); Obi Callistus Nwabueze (Executive Director, Maritime Labour & Cabotage Services); and Mr Baba Haruna Jauro (Executive Director, Finance & Administration).

According to a statement by the media aide to the President, Dr. Reuben Abati, the appointments are with immediate effect.

Meanwhile, stakeholders in the maritime industry have expressed concern on the removal of Suleiman who they described as “one of the best things that have happened to the maritime industry.”

The Managing Director, Olive Shipping, Mr Pious Gabriel said Suleiman is an experienced professional, who was fit to hold the position, but is removed suddenly by the government without telling Nigerians the reason.

He said Suleiman added value to the industry during his short tenure.

Also, the National President, Association of the Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANALCA), Alhaji Olayiwola Shittu, said last night that Suleiman’s re-

moval might cause instability in the sector and served as a wrong signal to investors.

“This incessant removal of heads of maritime industry is not good for the sector because anybody appointed would have to start all over again. Although, the government has not give reason for his removal, but his new 25year-Master Plan for the port industry, which he has pursued vigorously was one of his greatest achievements,” he said.

Other stakeholders said such removal could create more problems for the government and the industry.

The General Manager, Public Affairs, NPA, Chief Michael Ajayi, described the former and the new helmsmen as seasoned administrators.

Other staff of NPA described Suleiman as humble, diligent and hardworking.

Fed Govt to transfer airfield lighting to NAMA From Olugbenga Adanikin,

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Abuja

O ensure safety in the aviation sector, the Federal Government has resolved to transfer the management of airport airfield lighting from Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to the Nigeria AirspaceManagement Agency (NAMA).

The Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, disclosed this yesterday after the inspection and inauguration of the newly rehabilitated airfield lighting project at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.

In a statement, the Special Assistant to the Minister on Media, Joe Obi, said the move would improve air safety in the country.

The minister said with the rehabilitation, Abuja airport would have moved one step closer to its certification objectives.

“In order to ensure proper and effective management of safety matters in the sector, the Federal Government has approved the transfer of responsibilities for airfield lighting from FAAN to NAMA purely in the interest of the sector and in line with best practices,” she said.

The Minister stated that the full restoration of the airfield lighting at the Abuja airport after its rehabilitation would help to boost the confidence of air travellers.

‘Aero loses $35m to lack of night flights’

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor

A • Head, Marketing, Globacom, Adeniyi Olukoya (middle) flanked by Head, Enterprise Marketing, Justin Coetze (left) and GM, Prepaid Marketing, Ashutosh Tiwary, at the launch of Glo Flexi Reloaded dynamic tariff, which offers up to 99% discount on Glo-to-Glo calls and up to 40% discount on calls to other networks in Lagos .... yesterday.

Fed Govt owes NNPC $7b in subsidy

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HE Federal Govern ment owes the Nige rian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) a princely $7 billion (over N1.12 trillion) in subsidies for the petroleum products it imported.

According to Reuters, NNPC said yesterday it was owed $7 billion in fuel import subsidies, debts which the report said, eats deep into the country’s foreign reserves that ought to shield Africa’s second biggest economy from oil price dips.

Nigeria’s excess crude account, where the government saves oil revenues in excess of the budgetary benchmark price of $72 a barrel, held $6.9 billion on July 19, which is not enough to pay NNPC’s subsidy claims, let alone a string of

• Corporation’s only importer since Jan.

By Emeka Ugwuanyi with agency report

other fuel importers’ debts including the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Jetty and Petroleum Tan Farm Owners of Nigeria (JEPTON) and Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), the report said.

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Lamido Sanusi said on Tuesday that risks to Africa’s second biggest economy from high government spending, worsening security problems and lower oil output were “ominous.”

“As at the end of May, 2012 NNPC had unpaid (subsidy)

claims of N1.134 trillion,” Fidel Pepple, spokesman for NNPC, said.

JEPTON and DAPPMA have threatened to go on strike this week over unpaid subsidies, risking fuel shortages, an issue, which has prompted public protests in the past.

People are already queuing for hours to get petrol at inflated prices in some areas of the oil-producing Niger Delta despite Nigeria’s ranking among the top 10 crude oil exporters in the world, but due to decades of corruption and mismanagement it has to import most of its refined fuel needs.

NNPC, however, assured there would be no fuel scarcity, adding that it had 46 days of fuel supplies and it would do its best to meet

demand despite limited resources.

“Yes, we are concerned about the shortages, but just to put it on record, NNPC has been the only organisation importing products since January when the fuel subsidy issue began,” Pepple said.

The Finance ministry declined to comment on the missed subsidy payments, but has previously said it is waiting for the results of probes into fuel importers before resuming payments.

Several investigations into the import subsidy were launched after President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to remove the support on January 1, before partially reinstating it after more than a week of protests over increased fare and fuel costs.

IRLINES are counting their losses following the absence of night operations at some airports across the country, which Aero Airlines said yesterday run into $35 million this year.

The Managing Director of Aero Airlines Captain Akin George said this in an interview with The Nation.

He explained that the carrier has this year lost another $8 million to incidence of bird strike, the loss for which aviation authorities have not paid any compensation.

George explained that contrary to widely held views by some watchers of the aviation sector, domestic operations are not as profitable, because of failure on the part of the government to fix critical airport infrastructure, citing the loss of over N4 million to runway light failure at airports in Lagos, Enugu, Calabar and Abuja.

He explained that except the government comes to the aid of airlines, operators will continue to grapple for survival in the face of soaring aviation fuel price, even as he listed other cut throat charges including landing and parking, ticket sales charge, passenger service charge, which he said add to the operating costs.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

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BUSINESS NEWS Flight Schedule

NNPC, others appeal court order to pay firm N3.1b

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

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

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

1.

2.

3.

4.

Arik Aero Arik Aero

1. Arik 2. Aero 1.

2.

3.

4.

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

LAGOS – KADUNA Aero 08.00 Chanchangi 10.00 Arik 10.00 Arik 15.10

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

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

2.

3.

4.

5.

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

08.40 08.40 14.55 15.10 17.40

1.

2.

3.

4.

Arik Aero Arik Aero

LAGOS – WARRI 08.15 11.50 11.55 14.55

09.1 12.50 12.55 15.55

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

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

08.50 09.45 ------14.00 15.45 19.55

LAGOS – OWERRI 07.20 14.00 16.30

08.30 15.10 17.40

1. Arik 2. Arik 3. Arik

LAGOS – MAIDUGURI 1. IRS 11.15 13.15 2. Arik 15.50 18.00 LAGOS – ILORIN 1. Overland 07.15 2. Arik (M/T/TH/F) 17.30

08.00 18.00

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

By Joseph Jibueze

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• From left: Representative, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Toyin Are; Managing Director/CEO, Sterling Capital Markets Limited, Gaventa Otono and First Trustees executive, Fredrick Odozie, at the 6th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of The Frontier Funds in Lagos.

IMF to CBN: let naira find T its level

HE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to allow the naira to adjust in response to market conditions instead of intervening to prop it up.

The Fund, which made this call in its concluding statement of the 2011 Articles 1V Consultative Discussion obtained by The Nation, also noted that unemployment rates have risen and the public finances and balance of payments remain vulnerable to a fall in oil prices.

“The monetary authorities should focus on a clear inflation objective and allow the naira to gradually adjust in response to market conditions.

“Nigeria has shown robust growth during the past decade, with rates among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. However, unemployment rates have risen and the public finances and balance of payments remain vulnerable to a fall in oil prices,” the IMF noted.

The naira had been hit by a fall in the price of oil, Nigeria’s main export, and global risk aversion and has weakened by almost 3 per cent against the dollar since April.

By Ayodele Aminu, Group Business Editor

But it rose to its strongest in almost two months against the dollar yesterday after the CBN cut the proportion of lenders’ assets that can be held as foreign exchange and held the benchmark interest rate at a record high.

The naira strengthened 0.7 to 159.75 per dollar - its strongest on a closing basis since May 29.

Under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds bilateral discussions with members, usually every year. A staff team visits the country, collects economic and financial information, and discusses with officials the country’s economic developments and policies. On return to headquarters, the staff prepares a report, which forms the basis for discussion by the Executive Board. At the conclusion of the discussion, the Managing Director, as Chairman of the Board, summarizses the views of Executive Directors, and this summary is transmitted to the country’s authorities.

The IMF however, commended the CBN on its actions to resolve the recent banking crisis. “The recapitalisation process is complete and financial soundness indicators point to continued improvements in the health of the banking system.

Based on the limited data available to staff, spillovers from potential eurozone banking problems appear small,” it said.

But the Fund advised the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to explore options to facilitate the development of private distressed asset firms, in bid to deal with the purchase of NonPerforming Loans (NPLs) of banks outside of a crisis resolution framework.

“With the clean up of financial institutions completed, staff supported AMCON’s decision to halt purchases of new NPLs. Staff expressed concern that the absence of a sunset clause for AMCON and its authority to purchase NPLs outside of a crisis resolution framework could encourage moral hazard behavior by banks in the future. It recommended that AMCON aim to wrap up all operations associated with the recent crisis in 12 years as planned,” the Fund stated.

NNPC launches data centre

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HE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday inched closer to its dream of becoming a first class national oil company with the launch of an ultra-modern data centre.

The centre is designed for efficiency and minimum environmental impact and built with leading industry standard technologies adjudged by experts to be second to none in the country.

The Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu, said this during the inauguration of the centre in Abuja In a statement the NNPC Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Fidel

From John Ofikhenua, Abuja

Pepple, said Yakubu described the centre as a highly secure, fault-resistant facility, which will be available for use to the private sector and other industry stakeholders on commercial basis to generate revenue for the corporation.

Yakubu said: “During my inaugural address to staff at the amphitheater on July 3, 2012, I marshalled out a line of thought and set agenda, which I believe, with the full support of management and staff will reposition our dear NNPC on the path of growth and profitability. Today, we begin a bold and crucial journey in our collective quest as a corporate en-

tity with an eye for the future by inaugurating the new NNPC Data Centre.”

He said the aim of the project was to establish a centre where equipment central to the corporation could be ept. Thus business applications, such as SAP and Nipex, as well as Microsoft exchange messaging, Intranet systems, and other specialised systems for the NNPC enterprise are hosted on the platform.

The NNPC chief noted that the centre will save the corporation billions of naira that would otherwise have been expended in third-party hosting of critical applications central to NNPC’s operations like NIPEX and SAP.

Presco declares N500m dividends

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HAREHOLDERS of Presco Plc are to share N500million as dividends declared for the year ended December 31, 2011.

This showed a N300million increase, representing 150 per cent from the N200million shared in 2010.

Presco Plc posted a N8.5billon turnover for last year representing 54.55per cent increase more than the previous year and a net operating profit after taxation of N1.6billion from N1.095bilion in 2010.

From Osagie Otabor, Benin

The company also declared N2.5bn profit before tax as against the N1.3billion in 2010.

Chairman of the company, Pierre Vandebeeck made these known at the 19th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company at Obaretin Estate in Edo State.

He said the company was committed to research and development and that it is at the forefront in the development of oil palm and rubber planting materials.

He said the company has acquired 7000 hectares of land in Ologbo and 14000 hectares in Abraka, Delta State for the execution of more projects.

The Chairman said the company hopes to generate 95 per cent of its power internally, which he explained, would be green energy.

His words: “The performance of 2011can be described as very good.

We achieved a total of fresh fruit bunches production of 109,111 tons as against 87,856 tons in the previous year.”

HE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited and the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) have appealed against a garnishee order absolute of N3.1 billion made against them.

Justice Oludotun Adefope-Okogie had mandated agencies including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Debt Management Office (DMO) to withhold funds accruing to Capital Oil and pay them to Brittania-U Nigeria Limited to offset a debt.

But Capital Oil, NNPC and PPMC have filed separate appeals at the Court of Appeal, Lagos, seeking a stay of execution of the order. They also prayed the court to vacate the order, and urged it to stay proceedings on the matter pending the hearing and determination of the appeals.

Capital Oil, through its counsel Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN), filed a motion praying the appellate court to stay further proceeding on the suit. It said the appeal and the application have been brought to the lower court’s attention.

Faulting the order, the firm urged the appellate court to consider the nature of the issues in the suit and order a stay of execution of the order of the lower court made on July 13.

Capital Oil argued that the judge erred when she dismissed its Motion on Notice without affording it the opportunity to move or argue it. It added that the lower court also erred in law when it held that the appellant did not have the locus to apply for stay of execution or stay of proceedings because it did not seek the court’s leave to appeal the order.

Nigeria set to adopt ISO 26000 From Franca Ochigbo, Abuja

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IGERIA is set to start the adoption of the international standard on Social Responsibility, ISO 26000 guidance standard on social responsibility.

The first phase of the process was completed with corporate organisations expressing interest as technical partners while the International Standards Organisation has through its national member body, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) announced the first technical meeting of the process.

When this is completed, Nigeria will join other African countries that have adopted the standard.

They are Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa, Senegal, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ghana.

In a statement, SON DirectorGeneral Dr. Joseph Odumodu said the agency, in partnership with Thistle-Praxis Consult, will flag-off the first technical meeting for ISO 26000 and the National Adoption Process (NAP) fixed for Tuesday, July 31 and Wednesday, August 1, this year at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

He said: “The two-day workshop will kick start the adoption process and will be facilitated by experts and will have the CSR company, Austria as lead expert. Participants will include corporate organisations, who expressed interest in participating in the exercise as technical partners.

“As technical partners, organisations will benefit from global recognition as industry leaders and pioneer institutions in promoting Social Responsibility standards in Nigeria.

“SON and TPC have also promised special recognition and further technical support to participating organisations after the successful completion of this exercise.”

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INDUSTRY

Fed Govt plans 24-hr registration for businesses T

HE Federal Government has promised foreign investors 24-hour registration of their businesses as part of its efforts to motivate them.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, said the 24-hour registration was part of the Federal Government’s initiative to industrialise the country and make it the hub of investment in Africa.

He added that the government’s plan to grant 10 year automatic visa to intending foreign investors on entry to Nigeria still subsists.

Aganga said: “The government now has industrialisation plan.

We have also established competitiveness committee to help us in this regard. We have embarked on national tax reform which has culminated in national tax policy and we will also make it easy for businesses to be

•Over 17 million MSMEs in the country Stories by Toba Agboola

registered in 24 hours. For serious investors, we will also have Visa application processing in 24 hours.”

He said key sectors of the economy, especially where the country has competitive advantage, had been opened up for participation by interested individuals, adding that the government is investing heavily in education, health and other areas.

The government would concentrate on using available resources to develop the country instead of encouraging exportation of manpower through continuing exportation of raw materials.

At the first National Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Retreat in Abuja, Aganga presented the First National MSME

survey report to stakeholders.

The survey showed that there are 17,284,671 MSMEs in the country.

The survey, which covered the 36 states of the federation, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was conducted by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), in partnership with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Statistician-General of the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Dr. Yemi Kale, said of the 17,284,671 MSMEs, micro enterprises account for the majority (99.87 per cent) with 17.26 mil-

lion enterprises.

Lagos State has the highest number of small and medium enterprises (4,535), while Osun State has the least (100), according to the report.

The survey revealed that an estimated 83.2 per cent of the enterprises have initial start-up capital of below N10 million, while seven per cent of the enterprises have initial start-up capital of between N10 million and N20 million.

It added that the main source of capital is personal savings, with 54.4 per cent; followed by

‘We have embarked on national tax reform which has culminated in national tax policy and we will also make it easy for businesses to be registered in 24 hours. For serious investors, we will also have Visa application processing in 24 hours’

loan (22.0 per cent); and family source of capital (16.7 per cent).

Kale said: “The survey aims at improving the ability of Nigeria’s MSMEs to compete effectively in local, regional and global markets. The policy also outlines the general parameters, benchmarks and directions within, which MSMEs’ programmes, interventions and initiatives will be designed, implemented, monitored and evaluated.

“In a nutshell, it is a guide to all measures, programmes, incentives and initiatives targeted at the MSMEs.” Aganga said, based on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s SME framework, and with the collaboration of the states, represented at the retreat by their Commissioners for Trade and Investment, the Federal Government would ensure a robust SME sector in the very near future.

Reps lift suspension on EEG disbursements

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HE Joint House of Representatives Committee on Commerce and Customs & Excise has recommended the lifting of the suspension on issuance of negotiated duty credit certificates and disbursement of funds from Export Expansion Grant (EEG).

The committee said its recommendation is in line with its resolution to the president, last year, to enable the beneficiary companies access the backlog arrears of the allotted Negotiable Duty Credit Certificates.

The EEG disbursement was suspended by the government after some stakeholders claimed there was misuse of the scheme by some industrialists, prompting investigations by the joint House of committee.

However, in its final report ,the committee said it did not discover misuse of the scheme as alleged except for “rivalry among the beneficiaries, especially in the leather sector. This invariably gave rise to the orchestration of the alleged misuse.”

The report was jointly signed by the chairman, Committee on Commerce, Rep Sylvester Ogbaga, the committee’s clerk, Uche Okorie, chairman Committee on Customs and Exercise, Rep Mohammed Sabo Nakudu and the committee’s clerk Baba Mohammed.

In its findings, the joint commit-

tee said the EEG scheme has contributed meaningfully in the diversification of the economy by way of increase in non-oil exports, creation of employment opportunities and value addition to primary commodities.

“Non-oil exports increased 11fold from $0.21 billion in 2000/ 2006 to $2.3 billion in 2010.

During this period, the share of non-oil exports in Nigeria’s exports increased from one per cent to four per cent,” the report said.

The committee recommended that the EEG scheme should be funded from revenue collected from the Nigeria Export Supervision Scheme fees (NESS), adding that either 10 per cent of the NESS charges or five per cent processing fees to be charged on beneficiary exporters payable claims should be legislated for the purpose.

The committee calls for the establishment of scientific, transparent and globally acceptable product categorisation criteria for all exportable products in order to address the perennial complaints about discretionary and arbitrary allocation of rates.

The lawmakers also recommended among other things that existing classification of various non-oil products should be rationalized to ensure that EEG rating is commensurate with degree of processing and value addition.

NIPC urges UNIDO to promote SMSE

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HE Executive Secretary, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Mr Mustafa Bello, has called on the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to consider programmes that would promote Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs (SMSEs) .

Bello made the appeal when he was honoured in Abuja with honorary Director-General of UNIDO for his commitment and dedication to the promotion of investment in the country and for his close working relationship with the United Nation’s outfit.

He said the last SMSE sponsored by the World Bank and coordinated by the NIPC was a huge success, as more than one million jobs were created across the three pilot states of Lagos, Kaduna and Abia.

Bello praised the collaboration between the Commission and

UNIDO, which commenced in 2001 with the Country Service Framework (CSF) agreement in which the agency handled the investment promotion component.

He listed some of the activities executed under the collaboration of the two agencies to include investors surveys in 2001 and 2003; delegate programmes to Japan, United Kingdom (UK), China for the staff of the Commission; Project profiling of 75 Nigerian companies, which were pasted on both organisation’s websites.

Others are capacity building programmes in investment promotion and COMFAR; Collaboration in the conduct of surveys of investors, which the result was presented in Tripoli, Libya in 2010 and sponsorship of attendance at meetings of AfriPANet since inception.

•From left: National Treasurer, NACCIMA, Thomas Awagu; Ajayi and Director-General, Dr John Isemede at the media briefing .

PHOTO: ABIODUN WILLIAM

NACCIMA, stakeholders to appraise CBN HE Nigeria Chambers of intervention funds Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture

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(NACCIMA) and stakeholders are set to appraise government intervention funds.

The appraisal is to create an effective forum for Public -Private dialogue between the public and private sector on the identified issue that can shape the enabling business environment.

At a press briefing in Lagos, NACCIMA, President, Dr Ademola Ajayi said one of the major challenges of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMES) is the inability to access credit/funds for their effective operations. “ Consequently, the Federal

Government has introduced a number of public intervention to help boost private sectors access to funds/credit through a number of regulations such as the National policy on MSMEs and the revised microfinance policy, regulatory and supervisory framework for Nigeria, which has helped to define the landscape and regulate the activities of microfinance banks.

“We are aware that the Federal Government through the Cental Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been active in the provision of various intervention funds to the real sector,” Ajayi said.

He said while some real sector operators are either not aware or do not know how to go about assessing the various intervention funds, a good number of them who have taken advantage face challenges as disbursement is either low or not forth-coming.

He said financial institutions meant to disburse the funds are wary of providing credit to the target group for a number of reasons because the private sector lacks the requisite collateral.

Ajayi said some of them lacks a formally recorded and audited financial history to be used to assess the profitability and cash flow of the business.

Nigeria, France bilateral trade hits $7.3m

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RADE between Nigeria and France has hit $7.3 billion, according to French Ambassador to Nigeria, Jacques Chanpagne De Labriolle.

The Ambassador made this known in a statement to mark the French National Day, which came up at the weekend.

He said the figure was more than the Gross Doemstic Product (GDP) of 20 African nations combined.

Labriolle said the figure was also

By Damilola Ogunfuye

more than what France generates from all the French-speaking countries in West Africa annually.

French investment in the country cuts across all sectors of the economy but notably in oil and gas.

His words:”We, French, believe that Nigeria is a country of extraordinary potential; it is already, and by far, our first partner in Africa, south of the Sahara.

“We believe in Nigeria’s potential, and we believe in the future of this nation; this country can be, and should be much higher ranking in the various international indexes of good governance of doing business and transparency.”

The Ambassador said the cordial bilateral relations between Nigeria and France had further been boosted with the introduction of daily direct Air France flights from Abuja to Paris last month.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

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INDUSTRY

BoI raises Nigeria’s investment profile at Olympics

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HE Bank of Industry (BoI) has launched its investment roadmap in the United Kingdom (UK) to enable it benefit from the business aspect of the 2012 London Olympics Games beginning tomorrow.

BoI and the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) are using the scheme to promote made-in-Nigeria products at the event.

BoI and UK-based Surrey Chamber of Commerce recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote business opportunities between both parties during the games.

BoI Managing Director, Ms Evelyn Oputu launched the roadmap at an event entitled: Showcasing Nigeria at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games,’ at Surrey County Council in London.

She said Olympics is not just about sports but mostly about interaction,

Stories by Toba Agboola

networking expanding space and scope of businesses existing between the two countries.

Hence the need for Nigeria to use the platform to sell the investment incentives that Nigeria has to offer UK investors.

She expressed the country’s willingness to share in surrey’s advances in the field of ICT. “On our part, we are continually adjusting our technological infrastructure to the demands of the global economy and the needs of export-oriented SMEs. “There could not have been a better platform than the capital of the United Kingdom for this Endeavour in view of the historic ties between Nigeria and Great Britain, London’s proximity to Nigeria and the city’s strategic location as the window of the world.

“The London 2012 Olympics will

see BoI, NOC and its other partners coming together for the first time in pursuit of a common goal, using sports as a platform to showcase Nigeria to the global market in graphic, vivid and precise manner,”Ms Oputu said.

She said BoI’s involvement in the games would be to project all the positive aspects of the country. Nigeria, she said, “has so much positive parts and BoI will through this partnership help in promoting them.”

Chief Executive of the Surrey Chamber of Commerce, Ms Louise Punter said Nigeria was one of the biggest contingents resident at the Camp located in Surrey County Council.

Punter, who described Surrey County as the ‘power house’ of the British economy, added that the country stood to benefit from 740 million pounds worth of contracts.

Traders lament treaties’ non-implementation

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HE inability of the Federal Government to implement 14 of the African Union’s (AU) treaties, which it appended its signature two years ago, has become source of concern for many Nigerian traders.

Specifically, the traders under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTs) believe that the poor attention by the Nigerian government to the AU treaties could paint a glooming picture for Organisation of African Unity (OAU) as it could hinder the flow of trade among member states.

Few years ago, 53 heads of states gathered in Libya where they agreed to ratify and accede to all OAU treaties by July 2010.

These African leaders called on the different organisations of the AU to

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Unilever donates to motherless home

NILEVER Plc in conjunction with the South African High Commission, Nigeria has donated a washing machine and different Unilever’s products to the Nigerian Red Cross Society Motherless and Abandoned Babies Home in Makoko, Yaba.

The donation was made to the home to help the children’s well being, promote healthy lifestyles and to give them a better future.

Speaking to journalists during the visit to the motherless home, the Consumer Activation Manager, Unilever PLC, Mr. Femi Atoyebi said the company donated to promote hygiene, oral care and personal care as the children grow to be better men and women in the future.

He added that Unilever has series of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes to give back to the society in which one of them is the school programmes that is chan-

•From left: Manager, Olean Invest West Africa Ltd, Mr Tijani Nasuru; Director of Trade, Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, Mr David Adejuwon and Special Projects Manager, Olean Invest West African Ltd, Mr Chibuisi Onyebueke, during the press conference on oil and gas, in Abuja.

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assist with advocacy and sensitisation of African government to monitor the implementation of policies and decisions of the union, as well as, ensure compliance by all member states. .

The 14 legal instruments and policy frameworks commits member states to certain responsibilities and obligations aimed at galvanising good governance and poverty reduction.

These instruments include African Charter on Human and People’s Right in Africa; African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources; African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption; and African Youth Charter and Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Right of Women in Africa.

neled towards driving behavioural change among children.

“This is Unilever’s way of showing appreciation and giving back to the customers for their supports.

We will continue on our Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) and our focus is on the children and less priviledge. We believe that this donation will help their well being and give them good health. We want to secure their future,” he said.

Expressing gratitude to the Unilever and the South African High Commission, the Lagos branch Chairman, Nigerian Red Cross Society, Mr Mobolaji Onibudo said he was delighted that a country such as South Africa would identified them on Mandela’s day.

He expressed appreciation for the washing machine and wishing Nelson Mandela a many happy return, and sound health.

Cadbury launches Tomtom HoneyLemon

ADBURY Nigeria Plc has reinforced its leadership of the Nigerian candy market with the launch of TomTom HoneyLemon, the latest variant of TomTom. In his welcome address at the launch held at Protea Hotel, Ikeja GRA, Lagos, the Marketing Director, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Dele Anifowoshe revealed that the TomTom HoneyLemon was borne out of research that revealed consumers desire for a warm and calm candy in their mouth and to ease throat discomfort.

“The uniqueness of the TomTom HoneyLemon lies in the distinctive blend of three interesting flavours; Honey, Lemon and Menthol to create a soothing relief.”

By Damilola Ogunfuye

“This latest variant is one, which cannot be found in any other candy brand as it truly soothes while maintaining fresh breath,” Anifowose said.

Senior Brand Manager, Medicated Candy, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Bimbo Alabi said TomTom has once again blazed the trail in the candy segment with the creation of a new unique category, offering a special combination of Honey, Lemon and Menthol for soothing relief.

“TomTom HoneyLemon comes in a beautiful, dainty yellow and white pillow pack, a world class packaging which locks in the coolness and freshness of the brand”, she added.

‘Enhanced skill ‘ll aid Vision 2020’ •From left: Managing Director, 141 Worldwide, Mrs Bunmi Oke, Corporate Affairs Manager, Cadbury West Africa,Mr. Kufre Ekanem, and the Brand Communication & Media Manager,Cadbury, Miss Kemi Awonusi at the media launch of the new TomTom HoneyLemon held at Protea Hotel, Ikeja Lagos.

Govt raises panels to tackle investment bottlenecks

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HE Federal Government has inaugurated two technical committees to tackle problems hindering business development.

The committees will also look into the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment in order to improve the country’s ranking in the Global Competiveness Index.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, said in Abuja that the exercise was a follow-up to the earlier inauguration of the Doing Business and Competitiveness Committee and

After-Care Committee (formerly known as Committee on Problems of Investors) by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Senator Anyim Pius Anyim a few months ago.

The committees have the Minister of Trade and Investment as Chairman.

The members from ministries, departments and agencies such as finance; power; mining, justice; the Central Bank of Nigeria; Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation; Nigeria Immigration Service; Federal Inland Revenue Ser-

vice and Nigeria Customs Service.

However, Aganga explained that the newly inaugurated committees were expected to address policy issues inhibiting Nigeria’s competitive business environment; instill fair and transparent business operational procedures; enhance the image of the economy and build investors confidence.

The committees are expected to meet twice a month to review their performance.

He said that members of the two committees were selected by the heads of their respective MDAs.

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OR Nigeria to achieve its vision of becoming one of the 20 developed world economies by year 2020, there is need for professionals to upscale their knowledge and skills.

This will also enhance the standards of human resources practice in the country.

President, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPMN), Mr Abiola Popoola, expressed this position while delivering his keynote address at the 10th annual conference of the Lagos State branch of the institute held at IjebuOde, Ogun State.

He said many leaders in thepublic and private sectors have demonstrated high levels of corruption and incapability.

Popoola said if human resources professionals are well positioned with high skill, it will be a great advantage to their organisation.

He said: “We are experts in promoting human skills and this has given us the opportunity to showcase our capability and professionalism in addressing various issues affecting the progress of various sectors.”

Lagos State Commissioner for Establishment, Pension and Training, Mrs Florence Oguntuase, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, said the theme of the conference, Vision 2020: The Human Resources (HR) Agenda, should be targeted at charting a new course for practice in the country, which will address some of the challenges faced in the provision of the socio-economic needs by government.

Mrs Oguntuase said Lagos State has taken necessary steps aimed at reorganising the administrative cadre into, planning, procurement and personnel cadres.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

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EDITORIAL/OPINION Comments

EDITORIAL FROM OTHER LAND

AIDS breakthrough • Timothy Ray Brown’s cure of the disease brings hope to a cheerless world

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HE world is on the verge of a significant breakthrough in the fight against AIDS. In his first American press conference this week, Timothy Ray Brown of San Francisco, known in medical circles as the “Berlin Patient” declared, “I am HIV- negative. I am cured of the AIDS virus.” Brown, 46, was diagnosed as HIV positive 18 years ago and began antiretroviral treatment. His case was complicated by acute myeloid leukemia which was diagnosed in 2006. It was this diagnosis that has resulted in the possibility of a cure for AIDS. His physician, German hematologist GeroHutter, introduced Brown to a revolutionary treatment for leukemia that turned out to be a cure for both diseases. Dr.Hutter gave

‘The defining test is to determine whether the approach that has worked wonders in the case of Brown will work for others. Given the empirical ways of science, such a definitive stage will certainly not be attained overnight. No doubt, it will require greater research, which will take some time, before the final cure iseventually achieved. But this is an important victory, all the same. It deserves praise as well as support’

Brown a stem- cell bone- marrow transplant from a donor who had a natural immunity to the HIV virus called a CCR5 mutation, which is found in less than 1 percent of Northern Europe’s population.

After receiving the transplant, Brown was found to have no active HIV virus cells in his body.

Brown has thus also come to be known by the appellation “miracle patient”, although some scientists question whether the HIV virus has actually disappeared from his body and if the manindeed can no longer infect others. In his reaction to doubts about his health status, Brown said, “There is undoubtedly a certain amount of skepticism, but that is the way science progresses.” Brown has announced the establishment of the Timothy Ray Brown Foundation in conjunction with the biennial International AIDS Conference being held in Washington this week. The institution will offer grants to scientists and researchers who specialise in innovative therapies and treatments in the race to find a cure to the AIDS epidemic.

The widespread disease has claimed millions of lives across the globe and continues to threaten the well-being of many others, particularly in Africa where there is an extremely high number of cases. In addition, finding a cure for the ailment has been highly challenging and has consumed enormous resources. Although it is now possible to manage HIV-positive patients and for such patients to live with the disease, it remains a terrifying infection that carries with it an unfortunate

stigma.

It is good news indeed that a cure seems to have been found, even if only by chance. It now remains to be seen how well further research can take advantage of this obvious breakthrough to perfect the invention. The importance of this development lies in the fact that it gives hope not only in medical circles but to humanity at large, given the wide range of the epidemic. According to Brown, “We must not settle. We cannot be complacent. We must take action. We will fight every day until a cure is found for everyone.”

The defining test is to determine whether the approach that has worked wonders in the case of Brown will work for others. Given the empirical ways of science, such a definitive stage will certainly not be attained overnight. No doubt, it will require greater research, which will take some time, before the final cure iseventually achieved. But this is an important victory, all the same. It deserves praise as well as support.

The first AIDS cure is locally relevant not only because of the possible benefits to those suffering from the disease in Nigeria, but also because it is a counterpoint to claims by some self-described AIDS healers in the country who continually advertise their supposed expertise in the media. Indeed, the AIDS-cure business seems to have become an industry in the country. The scientific basis of the Brown cure has cast further doubts on such unscientific claims.

Death of a president •Nigeria has a lot to learn from the death of Ghana President John Mills (1944-2012) and its aftermath

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HINUA Achebe, in his book, A Man of the People, dismissed Nigerian politicians of that era as charlatans claiming to be genuine men of the people.

The Economist of London also always dismisses irresponsible but power-crazed African rulers as “African Big men”.

John Evans Atta Mills, President of the Republic of Ghana, who died at 2.30 pm on July 24, was a glorious departure from these unflattering power archetypes. For one, he died at his own country’s prime military hospital, the 37 Military Hospital, in Accra, Ghana; after he fell ill and was rushed there about noon on July 24. He was not crated in dead, after shunning the neglected and undeveloped facilities in his own country. That was a good one for patriotism that is by no means routine elsewhere.

For another, he wore his humility, modesty and restrained wielding of power like

‘Whatever the reason, Africa must strive to build a political system that would avert the avoidable tragedy of a president giving up the ghost just because his health could not cope with the harsh and demanding rigours of office. Perhaps President Mills and President Yar’Adua would still have been alive today, had they not combined presidential rigour with their suspect health’

a cloak, so much so that when his demise was announced, his compatriots, friends and foe, were united in grief. On the streets of Accra, and from reports that streamed in from other principal cities all over the West African country, every Ghanaian, with heads bowed in grief and eyes streaming with tears, was unanimous in affection, perhaps rare elsewhere: the father of the nation was gone! Many even broke down in the midst of broadcast or televised interview-tributes! That is the level of affection with which Ghanaians hold the late President Mills.

Yet, the President was no angel. Neither were Ghanaians fools. Like Nigeria’s Umaru Musa Yar’Adua before him, the media was always rife with President Mills’ ill health; and on a few occasions, it was indeed rumoured that he had passed on. So, when the news of his death started filtering out some 45 minutes after his passage, Ghanaians were not completely surprised. Yet, the shock and palpable wish that it was yet another rumour, which the authorities would come out to dispel, hung thick in the air. But it was not to be.

Nevertheless like President Yar’Adua, if President Mills knew he had a terminal illness (though a full disclosure of the cause of his death has not been officially disclosed, he was known to have cancer), why did he contest an office that required booming health? After serving as vicepresident to President Jerry John Rawlings and, for eight years, head of his National Democratic Congress (NDC) and leader of opposition during President John Kuffour’s tenure, was the President, despite his frail health determined, at all cost, to have a shot at the presidency? Or was it the all-too-familiar power cabal that

hemmed him in, for which he had to pay a fatal price?

Whatever the reason, Africa must strive to build a political system that would avert the avoidable tragedy of a president giving up the ghost just because his health could not cope with the harsh and demanding rigours of office. Perhaps President Mills and President Yar’Adua would still have been alive today, had they not combined presidential rigour with their suspect health.

But despite everything, the exceptional personal conduct of the late Ghana president shone all through the institutional rot, that often shrouds in secrecy such crucial matters as the health of the president, as part of the campaign mix. Still, the seamless transition that led to the sombre swearing-in of new President John Dramani Mahama was impressive.

It was open, transparent and sombre; and the Ghana Parliament did not have to resort to legal gerrymandering like ‘doctrine of necessity’ to do the constitutionally needful, faced with such presidential tragedy which, by the way, was novel in the history of Ghana. No previous president had died in office.

The open affection Ghanaians showed President Mills and the Ghana Parliament’s fidelity to constitutional provisions are areas Nigeria can learn from.

President Mills respected his office and honoured his people by working hard for them. Little wonder, the people reciprocated by treating him as a rare hero in death. The Parliament has also been admirable in total obedience to the law.

The twin-moral? Democracy is deepening in Ghana. It would take no less exertion for it to deepen in Nigeria.

Washington, be wary of a war on leaks

G

OING after journalists who receive classified information is the wrong way to address the problem.

Leaks of confidential government information are nothing new in Washington. But a recent spate of news stories about national security operations has emboldened advocates of new punishments for revealing classified information. Some of these latter-day “plumbers” would target not just the leakers but also journalists.

At the risk of seeming to defend our own vested interests, we would caution against such an escalation in the war on leaks.

At a recent hearing of a House Judiciary subcommittee, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) suggested that federal prosecutors should subpoena journalists and demand the names of their sources who provide classified information. “Put them in front of the grand jury,” Gowdy said. “You either answer the question or you’re going to be held in contempt and go to jail, which is what I thought all reporters aspire to do anyway.”

At the same hearing, a retired Army intelligence officer named Kenneth Allard fulminated about a New York Times reporter who disclosed that the U.S. had engaged in cyber attacks on Iran’s nuclear program. Accusing the reporter, David Sanger, of “systematically penetrating the Obama White House as effectively as any foreign agent,” Allard called for an investigation of whether Sanger had violated the Espionage Act. In June, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate leaks he said were designed to portray President Obama as a strong leader, a move that could make it easier for investigators to question journalists before a grand jury. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee, has called for “additional authorities and resources … to identify and prosecute those who violate various federal laws and nondisclosure agreements by revealing highly classified information,” although she has not called for journalists to be punished.

In our system, government can and does strive to keep secrets. And in many cases, that’s reasonable: It’s hard to run an intelligence service or fight a war without holding back some information. But when confidential information does come into the possession of a free press, both the courts and the executive branch often (though not always) have recognized that legal action against journalists poses a threat to the 1st Amendment. Take the Espionage Act, which authorizes the prosecution of someone who “willfully communicates, delivers [or] transmits” information related to national defense.

Although President George W. Bush flirted with the idea at one point, the act has not been used to target journalists for 70 years.

The Obama administration has been aggressive in pursuing alleged leakers, bringing civilian charges in five cases, in addition to a military charge against Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is suspected of providing classified material to WikiLeaks. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. has appointed two U.S. attorneys to investigate recent national security leaks, and Congress is free to enact new measures to deter government employees from violating the rules on classified information. But the public has been well served by a policy of focusing on leakers, not reporters. In its agitation over the latest leaks, Congress shouldn’t disturb that balance.

– Los Angeles Times

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

20

EDITORIAL/OPINION

S

IR: A number of shocking findings in the local government administrations in Ekiti State in the past weeks have revealed the level of decadence that the system had permitted in the past.

The governor’s surprise visit to Ilejemeje Local Government during which he found the offices virtually empty was one of such. So also was the discovery by the state’s Local Government Service Commission that 45 council workers with only School Certificate qualification got themselves promoted to Level 14, seven steps above their normal limit!

These were apart from the wellknown, but yet-to-be-determined problems of ghost-workers, questionable credentials, habitual absenteeism as well as disproportionate, burdensome wage bills.

Governor Fayemi, during the recent quarterly briefing by local government chairmen at OyeEkiti, mentioned in particular a local government in which 152 workers were on the staff list of a single department.

While speaking at that briefing,

the governor was visibly piqued at the general trend of attendance of workers in offices, so much that he said he preferred not to talk about it but ended up doing much more than talking and revealed that a surgical operation had become inevitable in all the 16 local governments.

“If you like, go to work; if you like stay away,” he said, a statement which would adequately convince his listeners that Ilejemeje Local Government had not been alone in the culture of habitual absenteeism in the state’s local governments.

The truth is that most local government workers in Ekiti State treat their jobs as government charity,

IR: Gonin Gora is a town located along Kaduna - Abuja expressway in Chikun Local Government area of Kaduna State.

It is just a kilometre drive after the turning leading to the Federal Capital city from the Kaduna Western by-pass flyover bridge. The town is a major transit route for all travellers coming from Abuja or Niger passing through Kaduna to Zaria or Kano. But instead of the people of Gonin Gora to seize this golden opportunity of its strategic advantage to do brisk businesses with travelers, they have turned the area into a horrendous death zone! Even with the presence of military checkpoints, no traveller is willing to stop in the town unless if it is absolutely necessary.

The area became popular as a consequence of incessant killings and burning of innocent travelers on the express-way. Anytime there is crisis in any part of the state or country, the people quickly jump out in their numbers and block the express way – to stop, kill, loot and

burn innocent travelers and their cars, all in the name of reprisal!

Some of the unforgettable memories include the 2011 post election violence and the recent Kaduna bomb blast.

I passed through Gonin Gora three weeks after the 2011 post election violence had been brought under control during which I counted 47 scraps of burnt cars and buses by the road side. The number of deaths at Gonin Gora was estimated by newspapers to have run into hundreds. Many prominent people also lost their dear lives at the spot including a member of the Federal House of Representatives, Sabon Gari Local Government area of Kaduna State, late Major Abdullahi Ibrahim who was burnt beyond recognition.

I still remember how a good friend of mine, a PhD student at ABU Zaria almost met his death at Gonin Gora as he was about to enter the town on his way from Minna to Zaria.

The most recent attack was in

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Fayemi: The courage to do right as political patronage and as second business. The governor must have chosen Ilejemeje LG as random sample in his decision to find out the attendance level in local governments.

Ordinarily, it is in the schools that we talk of attendance while ‘punctuality’ is a more familiar topic in working environments but with local governments in Ekiti State, the situation has been different.

Well, should the trend be strange to us or would it have been peculiar to Ekiti State? Of course, no.

The natural attitude of the local people all over Nigeria has been to expect local governments to be wantonly generous with jobs, being the closest and the most acces-

sible governments.

This expectation is what had made over-staffing in LGs inevitable even when it clearly amounts to promoting redundancy and boredom for most workers who then look elsewhere to keep busy while their salaries end up as gratis.

Hitherto, successive governments had treated this issue as a no-go area for political reasons, for fear of loss of popularity. They had rather encouraged more employments which had depleted the LGs’ revenue more steadily and had threatened to render them redundant also, with little or nothing to spend on more beneficial capital projects.

Government should pay attention to Gonin Gora

S

June this year, immediately after the news broke that some places of worship had been bombed in Kaduna and Zaria. Gonin Gora struck again! This time around two of my friends narrowly escaped death. The first one was on his way going to Kaduna for NECO examination monitoring, and the second, was on the way to school in Zaria.

Both of them narrated how the Gonin Gora youths burnt down places of worship, shops and also attacked and massacred many innocent travelers including soldiers. To my greatest surprise, few days later, the Chiefdom of Gonin Gora, Yusuf Sarki Doma came out to deny any of such killings took place.

A writer recently suggested that a permanent military barrack should be stationed in Gonin Gora in order to avert future killings and also safeguard the express way. The Emir of Katsina Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir Usman has also called on the Federal Government to dismantle the Gonin Gora

town. While the suggestions may not have gone down well with so many Nigerians, the truth is that, a stitch in time saves nine. If the Special Task Force can order the Fulani communities in Jos and environs to vacate their ancestral homes within 48 hours without telling them where to relocate to, then the suggestion of the Emir of Katsina to dismantle Gonin Gora may not be too harsh after all.

Just few days back there were rumours that NYSC camp in Bauchi had been bombed and the first thing that came to my mind was Gonin Gora may strike again. Thank God the rumour turned out to be false. But I still want to draw the attention of the government and NYSC authorities to Gonin Gora, because the death spot is just 7km away from the Kaduna State NYSC camp!

• Shafi’i Muhammad Abdulhamid, Federal University of Technology, Minna.

Dr. Kayode Fayemi frowned at this trend at the LG chairmen briefing and vowed that it would be halted.

“I know you would be warning me against loss of votes in tackling this but wait till I am asking for a second term before raising that,” he quickly added, wondering why less than one per cent of the population should continue to earn 90% of the state’s revenue.

Of course, the State’s wing of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has since been jolted to action, sensitizing their members about possible reduction of the LGs’ staff strength. The opposition party too must be standing by now, to make their gains in the expected industrial disharmony, which is why a proper x-ray of Governor Fayemi’s courage to do things right may be necessary at this stage.

Surgical operation? Why not, since it usually saves situations and makes them healthier? The surgeon only has to display expertise and make a success of the operation.

• Jide Oguntoye Oye Ekiti, Ekiti State

SOS to NDIC

S

IR: I like to use your great medium to help me solve this pathetic problem that I have been in for quite a while now. It is indeed a matter of life and death for me. My trouble started when I bought shares on a private placement from Integrated Micro Finance Bank (IMFB). The shares is valued at N280, 000.00 It was an annoying situation when I got to IMFB Agege Branch and met their office shut. I was advised to call NDIC but after so many attempts to contact NDIC with no response I resorted to this means of getting my grievance heard.

Sadly I am not alone in this, a friend, Adewale M.B, also bought shares worth N250, 000.00 in the same company and that money has gone down the drain. Please help us out of this problem.

I have a family to cater for. Thank you.

• Oladele E.K Lagos.

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

21

EDITORIAL/OPINION

NUC’s suspension of Leads Varsity licence

I

was in Leads University earlier this year to attend a highly successful and well organised meeting of the Nigerian Society of International Affairs (NSIA). This was my very first time of visiting the university and I was very much impressed by what I found on the ground.

The university has a challenge in its topographical location in a valley and rocky surroundings. But in spite of these, authorities of the institution have been able to dominate this natural impediment as well as the environment.

Faculty buildings are very impressive, modern and very functional.

The venue of the conference I went to attend which is the university’s auditorium would do credit to any university in Nigeria and abroad. The laboratories, the library and the lecture halls that I saw are of the highest quality. Quite a few of my academic colleagues who have distinguished themselves in Nigerian universities such as Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University and Lagos and who are retired but not tired are helping along with their junior colleagues to build what to me appears destined to be an excellent private university.

I know nothing about the politics of private university or about the politics of private universities dispute with the NUC. The dispute between the NUC and Leads University over its Law programme is of course in the public domain. But as a public commentator on national affairs and as a stakeholder in the university system including the NUC itself, I owe it to myself and the public to make my views known on this particular issue.

As a professor of over 30 years standing having taught in Universities in Canada and the West Indies, having

‘Without the NUC there would be no standards and wishy-washy institutions would spring up calling themselves universities and awarding all kinds of degrees including medical degrees and, literally licensing people to commit murder.

It follows therefore that the NUC has to be vigilant in its task of supervision. But in doing this, it must exercise restraint in its use of power’

W

HEN the House of Representatives rose from plenary last Thursday, the parliamaentarians left no one in doubt about their intention - the impeachment of President Goodluck Jonathan, if he does not ensure ''full implementation'' of the budget by September. Many are not surprised about this turn of events. It was just a matter of time before things got to this stage, they reasoned, because of certain developments in the polity. As we all know, impeachment is not an easy business; it is not something to be rushed into without being well thought out and our lawmakers know this too well.

Only the lawmakers can say why they are talking of impeaching the president as they are the ones wearing the shoe and as such should know where it pinches them. Like many Nigerians, I was shocked when I heard that the issue of impeachment reared its head at their sitting last week because there was nothing to show before then that they and the president were having a serious misunderstanding.

Although, there was this cold war between them, it was not a rift that many thought could

been involved in the Jos campus of the University of Ibadan that metamorphosed into the University of Jos and having taught in the universities of Ibadan, Maiduguri and Lagos and held positions short of ViceChancellorship but now holding the position of a ProChancellor of a thriving university and having served as an overseas director of the NUC in Ottawa, Canada and Washington D.C, USA from 1978-1982; I know a little bit about the university system.

I personally believe that we have to be careful about the number of private universities in Nigeria in order to maintain quality. Looking at things from an objective perspective, it is not all the private universities that should have been licensed ab initio. Some of them as things have turned out are money making ventures. Some do not have the facilities required of universities worldwide neither do they have the requisite staff. Some are run as personal appendages of their proprietors with little or no administrative structures that would be expected of universities anywhere in the world.

Without being guilty of the sin of generalization, the faith-based or sectarian institutions appear better founded and are more likely to survive than the ones run as businesses, unless their owners are public-spirited individuals who genuinely want to make a contribution to educational advancement of our country. Having said this, one can also say that I have visited some private institutions such as the well established, well run, well endowed Afe Babalola University in Ado-Ekiti and I have also been to the yet to take off Elizade University in IlaraMokin. These two institutions in terms of infrastructure compare favourably with the first generation universities in Nigeria and even universities abroad.

Leads University in terms of infrastructure may not be in their league, whatever Leads lacks in infrastructure, it makes up for it in staffing, programmes, ideas and relevance of its programmes to national development. This is why I feel the dispute over its law programme should be quickly resolved because the lives of students and two sets of graduates are involved. These are young Nigerians who should not be caught up in territorial dispute between a Federal Poobah and a private academic institution. Whatever Leads needs to do should be pointed out to it in a non-punitive way and it would be the responsibility and duty of Leads to comply. I also make the same argument for all the other universities involved in the suspension of their licences and in the interest of transparency, the NUC should make the various offences or shortcomings known publicly so that the public is not left in doubt as to the fairness of the NUC’s

decision. To lump all the six or so universities together and to say that they individually know what is wrong and what to do to get back their licences is not helpful to the public as observers and stakeholders.

The NUC has a Herculean work to do in securing the quality of education in Nigeria in both public and private universities. I perJide sonally believe the Osuntokun private universities are going to play a very important role in higher education in Nigeria just as they have done in the United States and Canada. The fact that private universities don’t go on strike, the length of academic programmes is predictable, strict discipline is enforced and moral upbringing of young people is taken as one of the responsibilities of universities have made private universities very attractive in spite of its high cost to parents.

This is why most people are now sending their children and wards to these universities, rather than sending them abroad. The fruit of the pudding is in the eating.

From the feedback we get from employers of labour, graduates of private universities are being sought after because the class of degrees earned by students in these institutions most often reflects their academic competence and excellence. Private universities that dispense generously first class degrees to their students have soon found out to the discredit of themselves and their students. But these are few and far between.

Finally, I do not want to be misunderstood as criticising the NUC because as somebody in the system, I know that without the NUC there would be no standards and wishy-washy institutions would spring up calling themselves universities and awarding all kinds of degrees including medical degrees and, literally licensing people to commit murder. It follows therefore that the NUC has to be vigilant in its task of supervision. But in doing this, it must exercise restraint in its use of power. This would be appropriate in the case of suspension of operating licence of Leads University.

Reps versus Jonathan blow to a full scale war, with threat of impeachment thrown into the bitter enterprise.

What happened on the floor of the House last Thursday was stunning in the sense that many of the members themselves did not even know that things would turn out the way they eventually did. It was an innocuous motion moved by Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business Albert Sam-Tsokwa that developed a life of its own, generating heated debate on whether or not Jonathan should be impeached. If the sponsors of the original motion had no intention of calling for Jonathan's impeachment, subsequent events showed that majority of members were not against impeaching the president if need be.

This is because Minority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila's brief but powerful submission on impeaching the president dwarfed every other submission that day.

The original motion and its amended version by Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi were forgotten in the heat of the moment as the

‘The Presidency is not a tea party. It is not for those who like carousing late into the night as if all is well with the society...Jonathan should see the impeachment threat as a wake-up call to rise up to the challenge of leadership. This is not a time for a dogfight with the parliamentarians, who also probably raised the impeachment issue to make him sit up’

lawmakers hooted and hooted to no end in support of Gbajabiamila's impeachment move. Now, impeachment is not a piece of cake. It is not something that the House can start and end in no time. It takes a long process and, what is more, to get the required number to remove the president will not be that easy.

At this point in our country, not a few people want the president impeached. The reasons for their stand vary. Some want him removed for lack of performance; some accuse him of arbitrariness, especially in the manner he removed fuel subsidy on January 1; some want him to go because of the insecurity in the land and some like the parliamentarians want to see his back because of ''poor implementation'' of the budget. There are over a thousand reasons on why Jonathan shouild be impeached, but the question is, is that what we need now?

Impeachments all over the world have wider implications for a society than just the removal of a president. They affect the soul of a nation and for a country like ours that can be grave. I daresay that on the planned impeachment of Jonathan, the House may be on the same page with Nigerians, many of who are fed up with him.

If a census is taken today, I am certain that majority of the people will vote for the impeachment of their president because

he has breached the trust reposed in him. Yet, this is a man, who enjoyed a lot of support and goodwill before last year's elections. What happened?

HE fact of the matter is that Jonathan was not prepared for this job. Fate thrust it upon him and instead of rising to the challenge of high office, he keeps doddering and in the process, Nigeria has remained stagnant. The present issue goes beyond his ''poor implementation'' of the budget. What should be of paramount concern to us all as stakeholders in the Nigerian project is whether Jonathan has the capacity to run this country.

Dear countrymen, I don't think Mr President can do the job. He is simply overwhemed by the demands of office. Office of the President is not a position just to occupy for fancy. It demands time and strategic thinking. The Presidency is not a tea party.

It is not for those who like carousing late into the night as if all is well with the society. In other societies where things work, their leaders still strive daily to improve on their performance because they know the danger in not doing so. But here in our country, we are at the mercy of our leaders. Whether they perform or not, we remain beholden to them.

As a people, we have allowed our leaders to ride roughshod over us for too long; we accept anything they throw at us without question as if we are their

T

Lawal Ogienagbon lawal.ogienagbon@thenationonlineng.net SMS ONLY: 08099400204

slaves. Before we know it, some people may start organising solidarity visits to the Villa to deceive the president that the people are with him. Which people?

How can the people be with a president that has made life miserable for them since coming to office? If the president wishes to hear the truth, here it is- the people are not for him. If he listens to those who may soon be visiting him in Abuja to condemn the House for contemplating his impeachment, he will be making a grave political mistake.

He should see the impeachment threat as a wake-up call to rise up to the challenge of leadership. This is not a time for a dogfight with the parliamentarians, who also probably raised the impeachment issue to make him sit up. There is still time, Mr President, for you to make us feel the impact of your leadership. God bless Nigeria.

SMS ONLY: 08099400204

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

22

EDITORIAL/OPINION

I

F Nigerians have become very distrustful of their leaders, it is precisely because they have been let down by those who pretend to sacrifice their today for their future. This perhaps explains why Nigerians can see beyond the ongoing standoff between President Jonathan and House Speaker Aminu Tambuwal , both leading lights of PDP that has for 13 years run a rudderless administration that has further underdeveloped the nation.

Struggling Nigerians who cannot afford to buy kerosene or who troop to filling station every evening to buy two litres of fuel to power their Chinese sub-standard generator are not deceived by those engaged in battle over their minds. They know those who can sacrifice their party’s constitution for personal ambition can hardly be trusted solely on the basis of body language, claims and counter claims of two members of the current un ambitious political class that have so much in common.

Nigerians therefore know the ego battle between the duo since the inauguration of the current seventh assembly is about how to preserve their respective exalted positions acquired under controversial circumstances and has little to do with promotion of democracy, transparency, accountability, and the rule of law. John Enoh, chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, may be correct in his assessment of the slow pace of implementation of the current budget put at 35%, but that has been the trend in the past years. What Jonathan administration promised last year was to improve on the past unacceptable pattern of budget implementation and his failure to meet this commitment cannot suddenly become an impeachable offence?

The truth of the matter is that the Speaker is only engaged in a battle of wits to rebuild the dented image of the House as well as survive the landmines laid by a vindictive President faced with crisis of credibility after failing to impose his own preferred leadership on the House.

It is hard not to link the House’s battle against Arunma Oteh to her earlier revelation about the sordid scams going on in the name of “public hearing” which she had then described as “kangaroo courts.”

Long before the watching of video recordings of leading house members allegedly receiving bribe from Otedola became a fad, it was Oteh who first disrobed the Lower House by publicly accusing Hembe and his deputy of fraudulently obtaining business class flight tick-

“History is a compass, only those who navigate its course arrive at their destination”. Awo on “Essays on Nigeria,1962” T is no news that the University of Lagos was the first national institution of higher learning to be established in 1962, in post independent Nigeria. It is also not news that the University was established by an Act of Parliament in 1962. But what most Nigerians do not know is the fact that the University of Lagos was not founded by Nigeria but was founded and funded for Nigeria and its people by the United Nations in 1962 as a grant after its independence in 1960.

Indeed, the government of late Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa did not spend a dime on the project right from its inception in 1962 till 1967 when the United Nations funding ceased.

After the independence of Ghana in 1957 (then Gold Coast), the world anxiously awaited the arrival of the most populous black nation on earth. Nigeria in the eyes of the world was going to be a success story given its vast, untapped human and natural resources. And so its anticipated birth in 1960 was with great expectation.

While the politicians were busy plotting how to capture political power and receive the instrument of sovereignty from Great Britain, in far away Hague, Mr. Dag Hammarskijold, then Secretary-General of the United Nation was addressing his cabinet on the future of Nigeria. In his reckoning, Nigeria was going to be a great country with potentials for the rest of the black race. And so, it must be assisted by the rest of the world.

Sequel to this, the United Nations mandated its agency on education, UNESCO, to set up an Advisory Commission for the establish-

I

‘The UN special fund was effectively deployed to hire some of the best brains in the academia into the university.

The commission recruited experts and scholars of international repute to man the various faculties of the university’

Jonathan, Tambuwal and the battle of wits ets for trip to Dominican Republic which they never made, and of demanding for N39 million from SEC as contribution for the public hearing. She did not stop at that, she also went further to allege that Hon Emeka Ihedioha, the Deputy Speaker of the House, is not only the nephew of embattled former DG of NSE, Prof. Ndi-Okereke Onyuike, but that he also has his wife working in the Abuja office of the Nigeria Stock Exchange. Hembe and his deputy are currently in court, facing criminal charges.

The House has never forgiven Ms Oteh.

And as for President Jonathan who as we know operates by subterfuge, Oteh has become his joker against the House. For instance, what purpose and whose interest is being served by the whimsical reinstatement of suspended Arunma Oteh without waiting for the House committee report which has now said. That “Ms Arunma Oteh is not qualified to be the DG of SEC. by virtue of Sections 3, 35 and 315 of the Investment and Securities Act.” The recall of Oteh by the executive, citing her clearance of “fraud or criminal breach of any form by external auditors – Price Water Cooper Limited (PWC)” – has not invalidated the House’s assertion that Oteh was not qualified for the job.

Unfortunately, this is why we have been involved in motion without movement for 13 years. We are governed through the whims and caprices of a self-serving political class that least understands its historical role. It couldn’t have been lost on us that this was exactly the

same way the Otedola and Farouk bribery scandal was used by the executive to remove the sting off the report of stealing of over N2 trillion by PDP buccaneers and its sympathizers who got paid for fuel not imported, and those who collected subsidy on about 30,000 litres of fuel smuggled under the supervision of government officials across the border to neighbouring countries daily.

Whilst the nation is busy watching video clips and while debating Otedola sting operation, the Jonathan administration after some cosmetic changes in NNPC and PPPRA, has refused to address the critical area of the report that touches the lives of average Nigerians.

The report has shown that the daily allocation of 445,000 bpd to NNPC for domestic consumption, if well managed and harnessed, has the potentials of satisfying our daily requirement of 31.5 million litres of PMS and nine million litres of kerosene. Instead of giving us a deadline for achieving of this target, an administration that paid N2,587.087 trillion as at 31st December, 2011 as subsidy is still engaged in a frenzy over importation.

In similar manner, the executive is using the Oteh case to divert attention from the sordid discoveries in the capital market probe. For instance, the probe has raised questions about: the sum of N8billion missing from Union Bank PLC public offer of 2005; nationalisation of some banks without due process; banking sector consolidation of 2004/2005; unbecoming activities and market infractions of some capital market operators;; irregular acquisition of

University of Lagos in perspective

By Ochuko V. Saduwa ment of what is present-day University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos. The UNESCO Advisory Commission recommended October 1962 as its take - off date with the faculty of Business and Social studies, Faculty of Law and the Medical school (now College of medicine) as its early faculties. Two years later, the faculties of Engineering, Science, Arts and Education were added.

The conceptualisation of these faculties was of foremost interest to the commission on its mission to establish a University that will propel Nigeria into the world of development. Thus the UN special fund for the university was deployed in its first five years of development mostly in these two faculties.

That explains why a first time visitor to the university will attest to the architectural and engineering master piece of the old campus, adjourning the Lagos lagoon which houses the faculties of engineering, science, law and environmental design.

It is worth highlighting that the Commission adopted a two-way strategy in its developmental plan for the university. Aside the physical development of the university, it also put in place a program for the recruitment of the best of teaching staff from the entire globe under a tripartite agreement with the United States Agency for International Development, the New York University and Nigerian government. The UN special fund was effectively deployed to hire some of the best brains in the academia into the university. The commission recruited experts and scholars of international repute to man the various faculties of the university.

Thus, by 1975, barely 12 years into its birth, the university had 70 Professors [almost of all of whom are Nigerians] on its senate all eminently reputed as world-class scholars.

Of these, Professor A. O. Awojobi and Professor Chike Obi were most outstanding of

repute. In 1967 when the present day bornagain prophets of hope of Nigeria were busy using the instrument of state to slaughter innocent Ibo children in their thousands in far North, a young Nigerian, Professor Ayodele O. Awojobi, barely 26 years of age was in far away Kyoto [Japan] lecturing the world on his new discovery, “the theory on mechanical vibration”. In fact his audience was so stunned that a black man could unravel a scientific problem reserved for the Albert Eisteins of the 20th century. He was awarded a D.Sc [Doctor of Science] by the University of London as a means of keeping him in their fold but the young man opted for Nigeria [Unilag] as in his words: “My fatherland deserves me more than the rest of the world”.

Professor Ayodele O. Awojobi abandoned his chair at Imperial College in London and rushed to Nigeria. He joined Unilag in 1972 as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering. His theory on mechanical vibration was the tonic the British Oil needed in their search for oil in the North Sea. Given the above scenario, it is clear to even the uninformed that the University of Lagos is not just a University but the University.

Any wonder that Akokites pride themselves as the ones who attended the University.

Flowing from the above, one begins to wonder how and why a rational mind that can embark on the depreciation of a project that took the world body concerted effort to package and brand to its present status where it is now a house-hold name as the university of first choice. If President Jonathan is sincere with himself, he should deploy state resources at his disposal and replicate the university in his Otueke village so as to bring it to the world map.

From what I know, as at 1981 when this writer left that institution, it was rated with several top ranking Universities in Europe

Intercontinental Bank PLC by Access Bank Plc; irregular acquisition by AMCON of the performing loans of SEAWOLF and GEOMETRICS Company etc.

A government that has seen the re-absorption of suspended SEC DG as a priority has kept quiet on the damning report that she was found “to have lied on oath before the panel on the ownership of the nationalized banks” as well as “regulatory failure in some of the recent mergers, acquisitions and approval of transactions” Government that saw Oteh’s case a priority that required the personal attention of the minister of finance who escorted suspended Oteh back to her office, is still taking its time to study the committee’s weighty observation that the nationalisation of Afribank Plc, Bank PHB, and Spring Bank, and their subsequent change of names to Mainstreet Bank, Keystone Bank, and Enterprise Bank respectively, is not only a violation of the AMCON Act, NDIC Act and Section 44 of the 1999 Constitution, but that the processes of transfer were fraught with potential forgery, unethical practices, abuse of office, and various unacceptable bad corporate governance precedents;..”

Above all, struggling Nigerian workers and pensioners who lost their lives savings are now waiting for government to compel Umaru Ibrahim, Managing Director/CEO of NDIC, Mustafa Chike-Obi, Managing Director, AMCON and Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, to tell Nigerians the faceless “lawyers”, Directors’ of Mainstreet Bank Ltd, Keystone Bank Ltd, and Enterprise Bank Ltd. The above are the minimum expectations of Nigerians from their democratically-elected government and political office holders instead of governance by subterfuge and threat of impeachment that Nigerians know will be treated at the end as ‘PDP family affair’.

‘A government that has seen the re-absorption of suspended SEC DG as a priority has kept quiet on the damning report that she was found “to have lied on oath before the panel on the ownership of the nationalized banks” as well as “regulatory failure in some of the recent mergers, acquisitions and approval of transactions”’ and America. Indeed, several people from different parts of the world were flocking to the place to receive and propagate knowledge to the rest of the world. That would not have been if it was a mere local university of Mr. President’s reckoning.

Those who argue that there is nothing in name are most insincere and are the real enemies of the President. For a start, let those clapping for him today, embark on name change of their persons and follow up with those of their children, grand children etc and should be courageous to tell us how sweet it is. The fallacy of their inverted logic “that it has happened elsewhere so it is nothing new” only resides within depraved minds afflicted with irrationality. Changes are meant to be progressive and not retrogressive.

President Jonathan needs to be advised on these things.

It is then and only then he will be able to find the true compass to move Nigeria forward. He will know why for instance, the three big brothers (Ibos, Hausa/Fulani’s and Yorubas) do not have a meeting point today and they will never have till tomorrow because of history. He will also know why our brothers of the South-west are 100 years ahead of the rest of us. And why they were able to fight (even without guns) the duo of Babaginda and Abacha to a standstill that eventually culminated in June, 12 of which he is now a major beneficiary.

And further that the Yorubas cannot be deceived or cajoled with mere renaming of Unilag to Moshood Abiola University as a recognition of the latter. And to assist him, I commend him to read: “Nigeria: Yesterday, Today and …” by James O. Ojako (1981).

Second, the President should respect the feelings of Nigerians on policy decision of his government. The arrogance that “my decision is final” is antithetical to democracy and political stability. Only in December last year, he exuded the same arrogance when Nigerians rose stoutly to oppose his illguided and wicked policy on fuel hike. He was later humbled. So you see why he needs the knowledge of history.

Thirdly, he should beware of PDP and the Ides of March. The PDP, like the Frankenstein monster devours both the author and the rider.

•Saduwa, a legal practitioner wrote in from D/line, Port-Harcourt.

25

THE NATION

EDUCATION Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.com

THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

INSIDE

10-year-old lauded for head teacher's speech TENYEAROLD Eunice Onwukwe stunned parents, teachers and guests at the annual graduation/prize giving ceremony of Notre Dame Nursery/Primary School, Enugu, when she read the head teacher's address.

-Page 28

Parents seek relocation of quarry PARENTS have called on the Minister of Education, Prof.

Ruqqayat Rufa’i, to stop the activities of a quarry company, Stoneworks Industries Limited, located about 100 metres from the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Akure, Ondo State.

-Page 39

CAMPUS LIFE •An eight-page section on campus news, people etc

Remembering Afrika, others JULY 10, 1999 was a sad day at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State. Many students still remember the day as if it was yesterday. But, ironically, from the tragedy, a cult-free campus has evolved.

In the wee hours of that fateful Saturday, gunmen believed to be members of Black Axe Confraternity stormed Obafemi Awolowo and Adekunle Fajuyi Halls of Residence, shooting indiscriminately.

-Page 29

email:- education@thenationonlineng.com

Six years after the suspension of its licence, the Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State, and National Universities Commission (NUC) are still battling over the propriety or otherwise of the action. They have since appeared before the House of Representatives’ Committee on Public Petitions over the matter, yet there is no solution in sight. KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE and BISI OLADELE report.

H

OW will the battle between the National Universities Commission (NUC) and Lead City University, Ibadan (LCU) end? With the House of Representatives’ Committee on Republic Petition ordering NUC to restore the university’s licence, the institution is jubilating that it is all over. But it is not; the battle appears to have just begun, with NUC resolute not to yield to what it calls the university’s blackmail.

On July 4, NUC suspended the licences of six universities and withdrew that of the seventh for various offences including unwillingness to comply with the NUC regulations, commencement of academic programmes without approval, mounting illegal programmes, and inappropriate governance structure among others.

The universities are: Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji-Arakeji; Madonna University, Okija; Caritas University, Enugu; Tansian University, Umunya, Achievers University, Owo; Obong Ntak University, Akwa Ibom (which had its licence withdrawn) and Lead City University, Ibadan. (The licences of the Achievers University Joseph Ayo Babalola University have since been restored).

Following the action, Lead City petitioned the committee headed by Hon Uzor Azubuike, which recommended in its report that the suspension be reversed because NUC has no powers to suspend or withdraw licences.

Part of the report reads: "Having regards to documentary evidence and oral submissions by the parties and other participants, the committee is of the view that: 1. The NUC Act Cap N81 LFN 2004 Section 4(1)(a), b(i) c(ii) and (iii) does not empower NUC to suspend or withdraw licences of universities; 2. That Section 4(1)©-(I) of the Act only grants NUC powers to investigate, recommend to and advise Federal and State governments on the best way to advance the course of university system in the country; "That the subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court in the case of CETEP V. NUC in suit no: FHC/ AB/M/489/06 declared the suspension unconstitutional, ulta vires, null and void, to wit: "It is trite law that a power to function is derived from the Act creating it. It is clear that the respondent in all its statute empowerment lacks the power to suspend, even if it is a regulatory authority. It, therefore, means that it acted ultra vires its powers and its decision is liable to be quashed.

"The committee recommends that the House: 1. Declare the suspension of the operational licence of Lead City University and others by NUC null and void, ultra vires and of no effect.

2.

Mandate NUC not to take further steps that will in any manner interrupt the normal academic programmes and activities of the accredited courses of Lead City University and others.

3. Mandate NUC to carry out a forensic audit on the affected universities and advise the Federal and State governments as required by law."

However, a source at the hearing told The Nation that Azubuike, repeatedly announced that the

• Prof Okojie

• Prof Jide Owoeye

Battle for a varsity’s soul Some allegations against Lead City - Commencement of academic programmes e.g Nursing and postgratuate programmes without requisite prior approval of NUC. - Multiple Admissions.

The varsity’s defence - Lead City not running illegal programmes - Lead City denies engaging in multiple admissions

best interest ‘We are no longer ‘In ofthequalitative running the university education in Nigeria, the operational excesses of the Lead City University, Ibadan, should, therefore, be decisively addressed - NUC

’

House of Representatives will still have to take a decision on the committee's recommendations.

"The Chairman kept on saying that: 'This is not a law court. We are not here to judge or give directives. We are on a fact-finding mission and we

Nursing programme; we stopped it over four years ago.

The issue of postgraduate programme also came up. We were asked to stop running the programme -Lead City

’

will report back to the House,” the source said.

The source added that while the other affected universities had visited NUC and received letters stipulating the steps they should take to redress the situation, Lead City

did not do so until it was chided by the committee. Also, the source claimed that the university has not provided evidence that it has complied with the commission's directive, like the two universities whose licences were restored did.

The university is expected to publish a notice that it has stopped running the programmes, among other requirements.

In a report published in a newspaper on July 24, the Director of Publications of the university, Dr Ayobami Owolabi, said the university had visited the NUC "twice since the house of representatives reversed the suspension of the institution's licence. As at last Thursday, we were at the NUC to make proper representations on the issues of concern to the NUC." According to one of the documents presented by the NUC Executive Secretary, Prof Julius Okojie, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary, Mr Akinbode Agbaoye, at the hearing, the infractions the university committed that led to the suspension of its licence were: "the commencement of academic programmes e.g. Nursing and Postgraduate programmes without requisite prior approval of NUC which is contrary to the terms and conditions of the operational licence; and multiple admissions during each academic session."

In the said newspaper article, Owolabi said the programmes had been stopped. He was quoted as saying: "For instance, the issue of the Nursing programme. We are no longer running the Nursing • Continued on page 26

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

26

EDUCATION

Lagos warns child abusers EACHERS and parents who abuse children in their care should watch their backs as the Lagos State government has initiated means to catch abusers and protect the minors.

To help the state monitor child abusers, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) has partnered the Ministry of Education to provide suggestion/complaint boxes in secondary schools.

The ministries have also provided dedicated phone lines (08102678442, 08085753932, 07098733732) that the young ones can call to report any form of abuse.

The Deputy Governor, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire also said teachers who abuse pupils would get even stiffer punishment for betraying the trust of the children they are meant to teach.

"I want to sound a note of warning to any teacher that may have been abusing children to put a stop to it. The prosecution of teachers will be different because you are their custiodians and if you abuse them you must explain," she said.

Launching the suggestion boxes and inaugurating the committee on child rights law on Thursday last week at Agidingbi Senior High School, Mrs OrelopeAdefulire said child abuse is not only limited to sexual abuse but also includes neglect, excessive beating, psychological trauma, emotional trauma and other and urged parents to take their roles seriously.

She added that the state's child rights law also regards hawking and engagement of children as domestic helps as child abuse and

T

•Continued from page 25

programme; we stopped it over four years ago. The issue of post-graduate programme also came up. We were asked to stop running the programme. Really, what we were doing was not Postgraduate (PG) per se, it was a staff development programme and the law permits that we could do this after graduating four sets."

Beyond Nursing and Postgraduate programmes, the NUC has an issue with the university's Law programme.

The disagreements between NUC and Lead City University over the law programme have been on since 2006, when the commission complained that the university should not have started the Law programme then because a five-year embargo existed from the Council for Legal Education on the establishment of new law faculties.

A letter dated June 3, 2005 which approved the take-off of the university, then called City University, Ibadan, said its College of Law should be deferred.

"The start-up colleges will comprise the Colleges of Management Sciences, Information and Communications Technology and some departments in the colleges of humanities. The left-over departments in theHumanities will be established in the third phase. The postgraduate school will also be in the third phase. The College of Law is deferred for now," stated the letter signed by former Executive Secretary, Prof Peter Okebukola.

However, the NUC also admitted that the said Law programme was accredited in error in 2008 following a resource verification visit earlier done by the commission in 2007 to assess unapproved programmes run by universities. The accreditation was suspended and the university was directed by the commission to apply for approval afresh.

A report by the University Development Committee of the NUC submitted at the hearing said:

AAUA FILE

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

will prosecute any adult that uses children in such manner.

A simplified copy of the Child's Rights Law and another publication called the Yellow Card for Child Abusers, which lists parent's responsibilities to their wards, were distributed to the pupils in attendance. Each pupil was also told to spread the word to 10 others in their environment.

In her welcome address, the Education Commissioner, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye expressed gratitude to the State Government over the laudable initiative which is aimed at ensuring the fundamental Human Rights of the Child, especially students in public schools in the state.

She admonished the children to key into this system by expressing their grievances and abuses by their teachers, principals and even parents to the Government for immediate and necessary action.

Applauding the initiative, Emmanuel Adejare, a pupil of Agidingbi High School said it would help more pupils that are abused speak out.

"I think it will help students being abused seek for help. I think up to 70 per cent of us are being abused b u t w e c a n n o t s p e a k out. Now that this initiative has started, students will start speaking," he said.

However, Adejuwon Shadeko, another pupil, cautioned and urged the ministries to find ways of c h e c k i n g a b use by pupils who may want to implicate innocent adults.

"They should address the issue of students implicating people falsely so that they will not report falsehood," he said.

Four students get grants FOUR Geology students of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), were among the beneficiaries of the Grant of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists University Assisted Programme.

According to a statement by the Head of the Geology Department of AAUA, Prof. A.O. Ige, the beneficiaries are Femi E. Adigun (Best graduating student in Geology), Adeniyi Amodu (Best graduating student in Geology with research area in Petroleum Geology), Ayokunle Agbebi (Best CGPA semi-final year student in Geology) and Sunday S. Obafemi (Best graduating student in Geology with research area in Petroleum Geology).

Varsity mourns 'academic giant'

•

•Gerald Ezekwem popularly known as Jerry Jack graduated on July 18 with a first class Honours in Mechatronics Engineering from Lancaster University in Lancaster UK. Gerald attended Evangel Secondary School in Kano.

Battle for a varsity’s soul ‘The Law programme of the Lead City University is illegal and remains illegal until approval is granted by NUC.The programme has not received any accreditation status by the NUC, whether interim or full’ "The Law programme of the Lead City University is illegal and remains illegal until approval is granted by NUC. The programme has not received any accreditation status by the NUC, whether interim or full, but it has graduated students who are doing their National Youth Service as claimed by the university in its advertorial of October 12, 2010 in The Guardian.

"Lead City should be requested to apply formally for approval of its Law programme. With the interest of the students as the guiding spirit, the NUC management should as soon as the request is received set machinery in motion for the approval and accreditation of the Law programme. If successful, the first set of students should be moved to 300 or 400 Level i.e. the students who are said to have graduated from the illegal programme should come back to the university and spend two or one academic years to graduate.

The same conditions should apply to all other programmes run without approval of the NUC." In a letter dated January 20, 2011, the NUC directed that Lead City should close the Law, Nursing and postgraduate programmes immediately, which directive it claimed were ignored by the university before its licence was withdrawn.

The NUC also wrote to the Education Minister, stating the need to check the university for noncompliance. The letter reads: “From the foregoing it is clear that the contraventions are deliberate and

continuous. Such recalcitrance if left unchecked will undermine the Commission’s regulatory role within the sector and send a wrong signal to the Nigerian University System (NUS). In the best interest of qualitative university education in Nigeria, the operational excesses of the Lead City University, Ibadan, should, therefore, be decisively addressed.”

Lead City accused the NUC Executive Secretary of witchhunting. Addressing reporters at the institution in Ibadan on July 7, its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olufemi Onabajo, and the Pro-Chancellor, Prof. Jide Owoeye, accused Okojie of deliberately lumping other universities on the suspension list to cover up the execution of his determination to kill Lead City.

Describing the suspension as arbitrary, Onabajo said the university was not running any illegal programmme. He stressed that it was “pure implementation of Okojie's ambition to kill the university as he earlier promised in verbal threats.

Insisting that the university has not breached NUC regulations in any way to warrant the suspension of its licence and that there is no dispute between the institution and the commission, Owoeye alleged that Okojie was out to frustrate the existence and progress of Lead City from the beginning. He said the institution has escaped his plots several times since coming into existence, adding that he prosecutes his ambition against Lead City by misinforming the Federal

Government about its activities. He cited many examples and also accused Okojie of spreading wrong information that the university was running illegal programmes.

Owoeye recalled that the institution was ranked third best among the over 30 private universities graded by NUC in 2007 under the leadership of Okojie, insisting that "regulatory bodies exist to foster growth and not to destroy as the steps portend.”

Owoeye challenged Okojie to an open debate over the issue so that the public can gauge the claims of both parties.

Pointing out that Okojie took the decision because of his suspicion that judgment in the appeal might not favour the commission, Owoeye said the suspension was to prevent a situation where his career could be jeopardised should the judgment of the appeal not favour the NUC.

THE AAUA Multi-Purpose Hall filled to capacity Thursday last week when the management, staff and students of the institution held a commendation service in honour of distinguished academic, the late Prof. Benedict Oladele Duyilemi, who passed away on June 22.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Femi Mimiko, in a tribute to the deceased, summed up the mood and feelings of the university community.

He said: "AAUA has lost an academic giant and statesman; the staff have lost a friend and a peacemaker; the students have missed a father and a teacher par excellence; the state has lost an illustrious son; the nation has lost a foremost educationist and the world has lost a thorough-bred professional."

Delivering the sermon, the University Chaplain, Dr. L.O. Ekundayo, said the late don contributed greatly to humanity.

He described the life style of the late Prof. Duyilemi as "simple and free" and advised the congregation to be more conscious of eternal life and be closer to God. Others who paid tribute to Duyilemi included the Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities, AUUA Chapter, Dr. Busuyi Mekusi; the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Education, Dr Sunday Amuseghan; Prof. Yemisi Adebowale of the Faculty of Arts, and the students.

The late Duyilemi, who was a pioneer employee of AAUA, never knew any profession outside teaching in his 38 years of career life and 64 years on earth.

He was survived by his wife, Dr. A.N. Duyilemi, Dean of Student Affairs, children and grandchildren.

“The holiday season is here at last ... Bye bye to compulsory swimming lessons in floodwaters!”

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

27

EDUCATION

Aspire, others win In'Genius contest

T

EAM Aspire, inventors of one of the top 10 ideas in the In'Genius Project Competition Version 1.0, has won the maiden edition of the In'Genius Project Competition held at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka.

Team Aspire comprising Ibrahim Durosimi, Alex Iyaji and Dapo Shosayo, with their educationalbased E-connect Playbook and Web Platform, was adjudged the best after presentation and evaluation of the top 10 ideas.

The team from the Federal University of Agriculture,Abeokuta( FUNAAB) is second with its innovative project focusing on Diamagnetic levitation of vehicles; Team Diamond is third with its project on tourism.

The first team received N2.5million, second N1. 5million, and third, N750,000.

The competition was organised

by In'Genius, a global youth organisation, to help youth evolve innovative ideas on six major sectors of the economy- transportation, tourism, taxation, Information Communication Technology (ICT), agriculture and power. The competition was organised in collaboration with UNILAG’s Engineering Society (ULES).

Speaking at the grand finale, the Project Head, Oreoluwa Ogundipe, said the competition was instituted to provide an opportunity for ingenious people to present innovative and relevant solutions to problems in developing nations and receive funding to execute the solutions.

"The vision for In'Genius is to bridge the wide technological gap between developing nations and developed ones by deploying strategies that will serve as a melting pot for youth with innovative ideas and the right investors with the needed funds to translate the ideas into tangible solutions," he said.

Ogundipe said the top 10 ideas would be presented to top chief executives and government functionaries at a special Gala Night billed for the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos to create the platform for the Ideas to meet Investment.

Director of Operations for In'Genius Mr Emmanuel Olaiya, said it received over 60 innovative entries from Nigerian youth including those based in China, Malaysia and the United Kingdom(UK).

He stated that two of the top 10 teams flew into the country from their base in the UK to be part of the finals.

UNILAG’s Acting Vice Chancellor,

• Prof. Bello presenting a cheque to Team Aspire

Prof Abdul-Rahman Bello, hailed the In'Genius Youth Organisation for the laudable project. He said the university was proud that some initiators of the project were its alumni.

He assured them of the continued support of the university's Engineering Society, the Faculty of Engineering and the institution as the initia-

tive was capable of changing the fortunes.

He presented the university's Award of Excellence to Ogundipe, an alumnus of the institution, for his leadership role at organising the event.

The Panel of Judges, who screened the entries for this edition of the

competition includes Mr Seun Tubi of Vegas Company; O.A. Fakinlede, a Professor of Systems Engineering, UNILAG; Lawal Yusuf, an engineer; an analyst with the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, Mr Niyi Oguntoyinbo; MD Metro Taxi and Mr Samegbeyi Temitope of KPMG.

Group caters for street children

S

• Senator Olusola Adeyeye, vice-chairman, Senate Committee on Education (middle); Senator Pius Ewherido, (left) and Dr Margaret Ladipo, Rector, Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) during the visit.

T

Senate panel hails Lagos SUBEB, YABATECH

HE Senate Committee on Education has praised the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) and the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) for their budget performance and high level of project completion.

The committee was on a fact-finding mission to both institutions.

At the SUBEB Headquarters in Maryland, Lagos the senators sought to know how the board spent the Federal Government’s intervention fund for basic education disbursed through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the challenges it faced accessing the funds.

The Chairman, LSUBEB, Mrs Gbolahan Daodu, was also asked to explain why the state did not access its funds between 2007 and 2009 on time, and name three projects it plans to use its 2013 funds to implement.

Mrs Daodu explained that the delay in accessing funds was because contractors, who won bids failed to complete projects in time.

However, since coming on board in 2008, she said that the procedure for awarding contracts had been sanitised such that contractors are made to sign agreements that stipulate conditions for payment.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

On special projects for next year, Mrs Gbolahan spoke of using the funds for the state's continuous teacher-development programme, a training it is implementing in conjunction with the Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN).

She thanked UBEC for permitting the board to use its training funds differently.

"We wrote to UBEC to allow us use the money for the State School Improvement programme. ESSPIN adopted 100 schools and trained teachers, head teachers to make the school environment more childfriendly.

“They also gave direct grants to the schools. The schools are better managed.We have added 500 schools to the schools ESSPIN started with and plan to add 100 more," she said.

On challenges, Mrs Doadu noted the problems of classroom space, office space to house the SUBEB headquarters and implementing continuous assessment in schools.

Senator Uche Chukwumerije, chairman of the Committee, said they were impressed with the way SUBEB has managed basic education

in Lagos State.

"We have got the confirmation of the opinion we've always had of the standard of education in Lagos State.

We are very much impressed in such areas as quality assurance control and providing child-friendly school environment. In every area, education in Lagos is many decades ahead of other states," he said.

At YABATECH, where the committee inspected some projects, including the ETF-funded N188million registry and bursary building, the Rector, Dr Margaret Ladipo, was praised for the level of implementation of capital projects and detailed presentation of her reports.

The committee, however, noted that the report did not indicate units of some items purchased, which the Rector promised to forward to members.

In her presentation, Ladipo sought the committee's help in facilitating the release of funds for the development of its Epe Campus, purchase of properties to expand its Yaba campus, and increase of its overhead grants.

"The challenge of maintenance of infrastructure and facilities put in place over 60 years ago to cater for a population of about 500 people then is indeed enormous when considered in light of present day reality.

UCCOUR has come the way of street boys who desire good education as a group, the Adams Educational Foundation, has been launched to assist the needy and the indigents of the society.

The launch of the Foundation, established by the Proprietor and Chairman of Adams College, Mr Mufutau Adams Adebola, coincided with his 40th birthday last weekend.

At the event, pupils and alumni of the college testified to Adebola's impact on their lives.

One of them, Christopher Joseph, a youth corps member, who graduated from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-ife in 2010 with a First Class in Mathematics, said the turning point in his life as a street boy in Oshodi, Lagos came when he was introduced to the school.

He said Adebola, an engineer, took special interest in him until he eventually wrote his examinations, excelled and was admitted into OAU. Another alumnus, Miss Oluwayemisi Felicia Olatunji, a 300-Level student of the Kharkov National Medical Institute, Ukraine, where she is studying medicine, described Adebola as an uncle and a true friend, stressing that with the experience she got from the insitution, she was able to cope with some racism in Ukraine.

Uche Raphael, who described

By Adebisi Onanuga

himself as a street boy "in the real sense of it" said he was pulled out from a "very dangerous place" by Adebola.

"He saw me coming out of the place and stopped to talk to me.

He asked me what I was doing there and I couldn't respond. He then told me to go and resign and to come and meet him in the college and that was how I started attending classes which prepared me again for UTME and got good results. Today, I am a Law student at OAU, Ile Ife and emerged the Best Overall Student in Law in my first year.”

In his address, Adebola explained that the Foundation will not operate like those that were established by politicians seeking attention.

"Our foundation is to help those on the streets who can become doctors, engineers, lawyers or computer engineers if education is given to them but have no means of realising their dream. We want to touch lives through the foundation and assist the needy out of their economic quagmire,” he said.

Adebola said the primary objective of the foundation, which will award scholarships to the underprivileged students, would be to assist them in achieving their academic dreams, encourage hard work, and address juvenile delinquency.

‘Why education is down’

T

HE Proprietor, Nikky-Bee Schools, Idimu, Lagos, Mrs Morenike Buraimoh, has advocated good parenting and good moral upbringing as elements that would enhance pupils academically.

However, she identified infrastructural decay, poor funding, unhealthy rivalry, lack of qualified personnel, insufficient training and retraining as part of the factors affecting the growth of education.

At the school's graduation/20th anniversary in Lagos, Buraimoh urged teachers, parents and other stakeholders must play their role effectively for their children to attain higher heights in their careers.

According to her, quacks who pretend to be teachers have infiltrated the system, with their activities resulting in unhealthy ri-

By Adegunle Olugbamila

valry and promoting mediocrity.

She is seeking a clean up of the sector to stem the challenges it is creating. Also, Buraimoh said: "For over 20 years, we have been able to build a school, where our pupils come out with good grades. Most of them are in the tertiary institutions across the country.

"Here, the emphasis is not only on academics, we stress morals. We give them quality education, because without morals, they can be nowhere.

"The journey of over 20 years has been of great challenges. But so far, we have not been deterred in our pursuit in making the pupils globally relevant and celebrated achievers.

“We have a mission to translate and impart qualitative, moral and functional education on our pupils," she added.

28

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

EDUCATION

10-year-old lauded for head teacher's speech

EKSU FILE SAN: Varsity greets Falana, AG

T

THE Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti has congratulated renowned Human Rights lawyer, Femi Falana and the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Ekiti State, Dayo Akinlaja on becoming Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

The university said their elevation to the exalted position was as a result of their dedication, hard work and spirit of excellence in their services to the nation as legal luminaries.

The messages signed by the Registrar, Dr Omojola Awosusi, noted that Falana award arrived rather late, but added that Nigerians were glad that the reasons for the delay were not unconnected with the lawyer’s solid defence for human rights and the cause of the masses.

"We share with you the joys and hopes of this important and auspicious lifting and we pray that you will continue to flourish and prosper,” Awosusi said.

NUC praises varsity TWO National Universities Commission (NUC) Accreditation teams that visited Ekiti State University’s departments of Microbiology and History have praised the institution for its organisational discipline. The teams described the non-interference by the university during their visit as unparallelled.

They spoke this at the end of their visit to the Vice-Chancellor.

The leader of the Microbiology team, Prof Sani Abiodun said: "I saw organisational discipline in this university as there was no interference of any sort in the course of our duty.”

According to Abiodun, this shows that the administration in the university is visionary and wants things to work out well.

The leader of the Accreditation team to the Department of History, Prof Z. O. Apata said the leadership of Prof Patrick Oladipo Aina has been able to move the institution forward.

Responding, Aina said that exercise was relevant to the goals of the management in realising the vision of the institution to become worldclass.

The Vice-Chancellor noted that EKSU has always been ready for accreditation having known that it was meant to correct mistakes but not inquisitional.

•Eunice

EN-YEAR-OLDEunice Onwukwe stunned parents, teachers and guests at the annual graduation/prize giving ceremony of Notre Dame Nursery/Primary School, Enugu, when she read the head teacher's address.

The head teacher, Rev. Sister Martina Akhibi, had been invited by the master of ceremony, to present her address but she gave Eunice the job.

The head teacher stood up, looked round and her eyes fell on Eunice, and she signalled the girl, who was sitting among her class mates.

Eunice walked up to the head teacher, who handed her the speech and the microphone saying: "Read for me."

The Primary Four pupil walked up to the dais and started reading to the audience comprising professors and other academics, and reporters.

Eunice held the audience spell-bound with ease she presented the address. There was no stage fright neither did her voice tremble.

The confidence she exhibited, the correct pronunciations of the words in the three-page speech enthralled parents and guardians.

For her effort, Eunice got a standing ovation.

In the address, the head teacher, enjoined

From Chris Oji, Enugu

the graduands particularly primary six pupils to always seek wisdom "for wisdom tells us whether what we are doing is good or not."

To the nursery three pupils going into primary one, she told them that the journey was just beginning.

She said: "We congratulate you and encourage you to work hard. Do not play away your time.

We wish you all, everything that you so richly deserve in the years ahead - it has been an honour and privilege watching your progress and success.

May God give you the wisdom and intellect of Christ to enable you study as to become useful to the society."

Akhibi extolled the members of staff of the school for their rare commitment to duty.

She said: "I take enormous pride in recognising the efforts of the teaching staff members. They are superb professionals who work very hard to do the utmost they can for each child here.

They put in much longer hours than you would think. They think hard about what each child needs to improve and they hold themselves in the highest academic standards."

The pupils performed traditional dances, folklores and drama. The highlight was the award of prizes to the best performing pupils in various subjects and school chores.

Headteacher advises pupils

T

HE Head Teacher, Mind Builders School, Ikeja, Lagos, Mr Awe Ezekiel Akinwumi, has advised the outgoing pupils of the school to imbibe what she described as the seven pillars of life.

He listed them as respect, honesty, courage, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship, adding: "your most important resource is yourself, cultivate the habit of reading as you further your education and always aim high for award, scholarships, and even the best by standing out in the crowd as the sky will not only be your limit''.

He said the school has not only succeeded in imparting to them excellence, but those virtues that would help them face future challenges.

Akinwumi prayed that some of the pupils would become national and global assets who would find solutions to some of the country’s problems.

In her speech, the Education Director Mrs Bolajoko Falore, said the event was to celebrate the pupils, who had finished the first stage of their career.

She urged them to work hard, adding that their success was in their hands. ''The circuit of success is to believe

•The outgoing pupils cutting their cake

By Ramat Musa

in yourself that you have the potential to make things work. Don't forget your alma mater, which is your foundation where we build your mind for future challenge at any part of the world,'' Falore said.

The mother of the Head Girl, Mrs

Uju Egbe, urged the outgoing pupils to make judicious use of the pieces of advice given to them. She implored parents to direct their wards aright, adding that the school had played its part of role.

Narrating his experience, the school Head Boy, Anjolaoluwa Akadiri said: ''I have learnt quite a

lots of things in the past six to seven years of my stay here; how to be good character and have self-control whenever I'm angry, and how to make myself stand high amid the crowd anywhere I found myself.”

He advised his colleagues to be good ambassadors of the school as well as agents of change.

Educationist commends teachers

T

•Pupils presenting cultural dance

HE Proprietor of the Summerland Schools Mushin, Lagos, Mr I. B. Olufade has expressed his gratitude to both parents and teachers for their immeasurable support to the school in the last decade.

Olufade particularly thanked the teachers for their effort which have given the pupils more than average aptitude to succeed, as well as ability and creativity to make a difference in life.

Speaking at the 10th Anniversary/graduation of the school, Olufade said its mission is to “lay the foundation of cradle to old age educational experience that makes the child mentally, morally and physically fit within and outside the country by overcoming every economic, social, political, spiritual and educational limitation, through great confidence, respect and motivation in making positive contribution to the world.”

The school, he added, develops and promotes cooperation and

By Olawale Dawodu

team spirit among the children, and also produces, employ, train and retrain disciplined seasoned and competent teachers.

“With these attributes Summerland School is definitely a rich endowed, green, plenteous, and fruitful place with unlimited opportunities for children, staff, parents, and the community, where one is a cherished valuable stakeholder,” the proprietor added.

The cold weather did not dampen the spirit of the excited children who entertained guests with cultural displays across Igbo, Yoruba and the Hausa tribes.

There was also a fashion parade at the event during which the pupils showcased various beautiful attires to the delight of the audience.

“They were later graded and the winners that emerged were rewarded.

29

Our expectation of CJN Mukhtar,

by Law students

*CAMPUSES

Igbo culture at its best

*NEWS *PEOPLE *KUDOS& KNOCKS *GRANTS

Page 34

Page 31

THE NATION

CAMPUS LIFE 0802-455-0354 email: ladycampus@yahoo.com THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

Website:- http://www.thenationonlineng.net

email:-campuslife@thenationonlineng.net

Every July 10, students of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Osun State, remember their five union leaders who died in 1999. SIKIRU AKINOLA (300-Level Political Science), WILBERFORCE AREVORE (300-Level Language Arts), KEMI BUSARI (300-Level Political Science) and OLUWAFEMI OGUNJOBI (300-Level Language Arts) were at the 13th anniversary of their death held on July 10.

•OAU Students’ Union Building

J

•The late Afrika

PHOTOS: HANNA OJO

Remembering Afrika, others

ULY 10, 1999 was a sad day at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State. Many students still remember the day as if it was yesterday. But, ironically, from the tragedy, a cult-free campus has evolved.

In the wee hours of that fateful Saturday, gunmen believed to be members of Black Axe Confraternity stormed Obafemi Awolowo and Adekunle Fajuyi Halls of Residence, shooting indiscriminately. By the time the dust settled, five student leaders - Babatunde Oke, Yemi Ajiteru, Eviano Ekelemu, Efe Ekpede and George Akinyemi Iwilade (alias Afrika) - lay dead.

On the evening of the previous day, the late Afrika, a 21-year-old 300-Level Law student and Secretary General of the OAU Students Union Government (SUG), reportedly

attended the Kegites Club’s coronation at the Amphitheatre. The ceremony lasted till the midnight of Saturday. Suddenly, there was power outage and the campus was thrown into darkness.

Then the gunmen reportedly led by a student of another university arrived. They were believed to have been sponsored.

The incident occured between 3:30 and 4am.

Report had it that a student, Idris Faro, got wind of the cultists’ plot at a place called New Buka but could not get to the halls to inform the residents before the cultists struck. By 5:00 am, irate students, spoiling for a showdown over the killings, stormed the residence of the then Vice-Chancellor, Prof Wale Omole. But they did not meet him at home. The cultists

were arrested and tried but subsequently released. The Prof Tunde Adeniran-led panel of enquiry set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo recommended Prof Omole’s dismissal.

The students believe that the slain students are martyrs, who sacrificed their lives to rid the campus of cultism. As a mark of honour, every July 10, they remember their fallen heroes. This year’s remembrance was, however, different because there was no SUG in place to coordinate the event. Last year, the then Vice- Chancellor, Prof Michael Faborode, proscribed the Students’ Union following a demonstration over an increase in school fee.

In the absence of the union, the Association of Campus Journalists (ACJ), Man O’ War,

Kegites’ Club, Students’ Security Committee and other students’ movements held a programme to commemorate the 13 th anniversary of Afrika’s and others’ martyrdom. The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) also joined in celebrating the day.

About 6:30pm last July 10, the Anglo-Moz car park hosted a large crowd of students. The event kicked off with melodious palm wine songs by the Kegites led by their Lord Chief, Seun Olorunnisola. The Man O’ War cadets also thrilled the crowd with their paramilitary stunts around a bonfire.

The event took a different turn at 8:15pm when the candle-light procession started. The •Continued on page 30

•Students protest epileptic power supply•Part-time students call for better treatment -P33

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

30

CAMPUS LIFE

In the minds of the mobile generation

O

N my way from work recently, I decided to stop at a provision store to pick up some items. As I walked out of the store something caught my attention, I saw a young man of about 22 watching raw pornography on his mobile phone. Initially, I was not bothered about that because one sees that happening every day. What, however, got me worried was a young boy of about nine years watching with him. I felt I had a duty to perform on the spot. I stopped and told the kid to walk away while I sat down with the young man to see why he would be so unconcerned showing such lewd stuff to a child.

It turned out that he was a 300-Level undergraduate of one of the universities in Lagos. He said he only watched it when he is “bored” and “it does not affect my being in any way.” Probing further, I asked “what about the child?” “Well, I did not invite him to watch” was his lame answer. He was kind enough to give me his phone number and we got talking and I was glad when he brought his phone to me weeks later showing me he has deleted the stuff. I was pleased that at least he must have thought hard about it and knew it was wrong watching pornography with a minor. My mind, however, went back to that incident when I got a story from our correspondents, Olanrewaju Awe and Oyinkansola Sadiq-Mabeko on “The other side of social media network” which was published last week. They wrote about the popular chat application 2go and the negative influence it is having on some of our undergraduates.

For those who do not belong to the Generation Y crowd, 2go is a mobile messenger that allows you to communicate for free with your friends.

It is a network of millions of people where

Pushing Out with

Agbo Agbo 08052959489 (SMS only)

•aagboa@gmail.com an individual can setup his profile, meet new people, talk to friends, share files and pictures. It is very popular among the generation because it allows them to communicate with friends for free. 2go does require a network connection which mobile operators charges a small amount, but this cost much less than it would cost to send, say an SMS. What makes this application an instant hit is the provision for storing files and information, uploading of pictures and videos, chatting, with an easy terminal protocol for easy sending and receiving of information through electromagnetic wave. It also enables easy access to users’ phone numbers and email address. It is generally accepted by every GSM service provider. It also enables the students to update their pictures daily. Using this tool, they can also connect to other chatting network including Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Mylife, Myworld, Mxit, Bolt, and Blog spots.

Ordinarily, this should not give us cause for concern because most of the discussion that takes place about technology trends like social media and mobile devices is enthusiastic celebration about the latest and greatest features. A good deal of attention is also given to how these tools are creating new opportunities for businesses and nonprofit organisations to connect with consumers’. This type of discussion celebrates how these technologies are changing the world and focuses on the positive impact they will have on

improving lives.

But my intention today is to focus on the negative side as contained in that report. There were far more lewd pictures that the Editor could not have used on the page, that notwithstanding, I am still concerned and keep probing why an undergraduate that the parent probably went through a lot to save up money to send to the university would take it upon herself to download nude pictures and send to “friends” oblivious of the repercussions later in life. Some may be doing it innocently, while others know exactly what they are doing.

What I take out of this is that the dark side of mobile and any technology really, is that it exposes the dark side of people.

For those of us who desire to do good in this world we must develop strategies that are realistic about the nature of the work that has been set before us. If our solutions only alleviate the surface level symptoms without addressing the true heart of the issues, we may end up making things worse than they were when we started.

Another practice very common among undergraduates is “sexting”. Sexting is sending sexy messages and pictures through cell phones to another cell phone or from the cell phone to the computer with ease. Usually, the pictures are sent to boyfriends or girlfriends, normally at that point no eyebrows are raised since the “couple” is in a relationship, but all hell often breaks loose when they break up and the pictures are then sent to other people’s cameras or computers as retribution.

At this point “sexting” turns into “cyber bullying” which was what befell a female undergraduate. She said she trusted her boyfriend with her life and never thought he could descend so low by circulating “pictures of very private times we had together.” The young man in question was angry because she dumped him for an “aristo” and the only way he could “pay” her back is to make her a persona non-grata on campus by showing the world what she has underneath her dress.

This generation, more than any other is the most blessed, yet the most confused at

the same time, they have loads of information at their finger tip, yet majority do not know how to access these positive information for their own good.

When we were in the university and you had to write your project, you will read several books, some of which are even hard to come by, to be able to write your literature review. But today, the Internet has simplified all that and scholarship cannot be easier now with information from every part of the world at the speed of light.

My take on this still boils down to the vision of this project which is proper mentoring. As a very core factor in the development of an individual, mentoring is expected to start from the home, parents have the onerous responsibility of monitoring what their children or wards do at every stage of their lives, from what they watch, who or what they interact with down to the way they dress and how they comport themselves. Seeing the way some of the female undergraduates dress these days one is often tempted to ask which home they come from.

A lady from a disciplined and proper home will definitely think twice before exposing her naked pictures to a “friend” because she wants to foster “friendship” with a man. The first lesson a mother worth her salt teaches her daughter is how to be a lady, and a lady is a woman of refined background and upbringing, a woman who behaves politely with dignity and integrity, such a lady will be more interested in the weighty issues of life rather than posting nude pictures on 2go or “sexting” with acquaintances.

The same goes for the fathers as well; they are expected to train their boys to be gentlemen who respect women and give them their expected dues in society and not to treat them as sex toys. Because of the break down in our value system some young men have grown up seeing the denigration of women as the norm, it shouldn’t be. In the West, laws are enacted that protect the rights of women and children simply because some men refuse to grow up and be responsible, this is the singular reason men move out of the home in cases of divorce.

Olajide Obasanjo is a graduating student of Accounting at the Ekiti State University (EKSU). He is also the co-ordinator of Eyi Yato Youth Forum in the state. He told OPEYEMI SAMUEL the activities of the forum.

•Obasanjo

W

•Some of the students during the remembrance

Remembering Afrika, others •Continued from page 29

students, who were initially lively, became moody as they moved from the Anglo-Moz car park to the Students’ Union Building (SUB), singing dirges for the late students.

The crowd moved slowly through the school’s Health Centre to the major road which connects all routes to the halls of residence.

Notable student activists and personalities graced the event, including Yoruba movie actor Muyideen Oladapo, popularly known as Lala; Benjamin Nelson, the former SUG Secretary General; and Joseph Akinyanmi, immediate past president of the ACJ. The crowd observed one-minute silence in memory of the fallen

union leaders, after which they deposited the lit candles at the base of a statue in front of the SUB. In a statement by ERC, the body appealed to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Tale Omole and the Governing Council to restore the SUG. It also demanded the recall of Wale Owolabi, a student activist, who was victimised in the wake of the protest against hike in fees.

In a tribute, a former student, Olumide Ogunlabi, said the murder of Afrika and others was one of the unresolved killings of innocent and defenceless students in Nigeria.

“Those that killed these promising students are yet to be brought to justice. Their spirits are still crying for justice,” Olumide

told CAMPUSLIFE. Yemisi Majekodunmi, also a former student, said: “They felt they could use the killings to silence unionism in Great Ife. No, they were wrong. Rather, the students are more resolved to make OAU campus free of cultist activities.

Shame on Afrika’s killers because George never died. He lives on in our hearts forever.”

Gbenga Soge, a student, wrote on the wall: “Though you were silenced in your prime, but your courage to rise against oppression of students by their cultist colleagues and oppression of students by the OAU management showed you could not be suppressed. Afrika, you are my hero.”

HAT is the Eyi Yato Youth Forum all about?

We seek to empower indigent students, who are finding it hard to cope with schooling. We also extend our help to widows and empower them in various ways.

What is the benefit to your members?

The members are benefiting a lot from the Youth Forum. Many of us who are still students have been assisted to participate in various self-employment workshops to raise money for our school fees and also sustain ourselves. Ekiti youth have been given the opportunity to be selfsustaining through trainings, financial empowerment and job opportunities through state projects that are directed at helping youth, such as, micro credit scheme and FADAMA project.

Also, through our forum, jobless youths have been employed in government agencies courtesy of the innovative ideas of Governor Kayode Fayemi.

What are your achievements?

We have acquired a parcel of land with the help of our patron,

‘We care for the poor, widows’ Hon. Tade Aluko. He has also assisted us financially to give money to some people to empower them. We distributed motorcycle, grinding machine and other items to members.

How do you get resources to run your programmes?

We get sponsorship from Governor Fayemi through his aide, Hon Aluko. Also the Deputy Governor, Mrs Funmilayo Olayinka, and the first lady, Mrs Bisi Fayemi, have been helpful.

How do you combine academics with coordinating a youth association?

Coordinating is all about management and I am a student of management. It is easy to combine both though there are clashes at times. I always read at night.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

31

CAMPUS LIFE Since her appointment, the accolades have not ceased. Law students have also congratulated the first woman Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Mariam Aloma Mukhtar. They have also set agenda for her. The students spoke to OPEOLUWA SONUGA (300-Level Law Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife), HABEEB WHYTE (500-Level Law, University of Ilorin) and UCHE ANICHEBE (400-Level Law, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka).

Our expectation of CJN Mukhtar, by Law students

S

HE is a woman of many firsts. She broke her own record when she became the first woman Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) on July 15. Since then, Chief Justice Marian Aloma Mukhtar has been celebrated by all. Her professional colleagues, the political elite and captain of industry have described her appointment as " well deserved" Law students too have joined the chorus.

Some of them told CAMPUSLIFE that the “real history” would be made if the CJN makes far-reaching reforms in the judiciary. They want her to rid the institution of bad eggs.

Tobi Adebowale, 400-Level Law student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), said: “It is a welcomed development. History has just been made but I believe she has been in the system long enough to know its lapses and shortcomings. So, I expect her to bring her “woman wisdom” to bear to check corruption on the Bench.”

Arif Ogunbayo, 500-Level Law, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), said: “Justice Mukhtar’s elevation is a divine call for women to contribute their quota to the development of the society. Her competency is not in doubt because I was fortunate to read some of her judgments in the law reports. I would only advise her to act according to her conscience and work assiduously in accordance with the oath. If she does otherwise, her name would sink in infamy. We have had women reaching the apex of their career in government but ended up misrepresenting womenfolk.

•President Jonathan presenting the GCON award to Justice Mukhtar after her swearing in as the Chief Justice of Nigeria...last week

•Adetona

•Joy

Yvonne Balogun, 200-Level Law, OAU, said: “The development is a boost for the womenfolk and should inspire women like me who want to get to the apex of our profession. I believe in her wisdom to ensure that the judiciary is rid of corruption. But I don’t want to imagine what it would look like if she disappoints us.”

Based on her experience and the testimonies of her colleagues, Titilope Anifowoshe, 200-Level Law, said: “I believe she should be able to administer justice and take the judiciary to its deserved place. I expect her not to bow to the pressure of politicians. She must be accountable to ordinary Nigerians and not to the moneybags roaming the streets of Abuja.”

“I don’t know much about Justice Mukhtar’s personality but,

the department of Jurisprudence and Private Law, OAU, told CAMPUSLIFE in an interview: “It is good to have a woman as a Chief Justice and we will all see how she will perform her function differently. She should, however, be given the needed support by the political class to bequeath a judiciary that will be free of bad judges and lawyers.”

Tunde Abdulkadri, 300-Level Law, UNILORIN, said: “Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar made history when she was appointed into the Supreme Court in 2005.

She recorded another first again when she was recently announced the Chief Justice of Nigeria. With her well of experience, I expect her to stand on her integrity. She must have the courage to stand by her judgment and principle.

She must also embark on total judicial reforms to usher in a new

era when justice shall be made available to the common man.”

The elevation of Justice Mukhtar is a welcome development because Nigeria’s neighbour, Ghana, also did the same thing with Mrs Theodora Wood as the Chief Justice, said Isdore Ozuo, 500-Level Law, UNIZIK. Obinna Agazie, 500-Level Law, UNIZIK, said: “Justice Mukhtar has made history with her appointment and she must also want history to remember her as the person that came to clean the rot in Nigeria’s judicial system. She must address the cases of corruption against the bench, delay of court cases, indiscipline among judges, judicial rubberstamping and most importantly the reinstatement of Justice Ayo Salami as the president of the Court of Appeal.”

looking at the scandal that rocked the National Judicial Commission (NJC) on Justice Ayo Salami, I believe she is part of the family. And she would do well if she revisits the case and ensures that justice is done to the victimised judge,” Dozie Ewelike, 500-Level Law, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), said.

Adetona Adejumo 500-Level Law, said: “Justice Mukhtar elevation as the first female CJN is something Nigerian women should celebrate. It shows that the nation has joined the league of nations that have attained gender equality and balanced representations of both sexes. We all hope that she will perform and make judiciary the last hope of the common man. And I urge her never to travel the Patricia Etteh’s way.”

Mrs. M.O Ashiru, a lecturer at

Hopes from Voices From Africa

H

OW can the poverty-stricken African continent escape from the harsh economic quagmire it is in? Voices From Africa, a book launched by AfricanLiberty.org, provides some workable solutions for the continent to achieve prosperity.

Students, Corps members, industry professionals and media practitioners graced the public presentation of the Voices From Africa: A New Century of Liberty, Peace and Prosperity, which was held last Thursday at the Aduke Thomas Street, Oshodi office of AfricanLiberty.org.

An Editor with Leadership newspaper, Mr. Kazeem Akintunde, reviewed the 125-page book coauthored by George Ayittey, a Ghanaian professor of Political Economy at American University, Washington DC and Dr Mike Duru, a senior Economics lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.

Speaking, Akintunde said the book was a “provocative and challenging reassessment of Africa’s political economic history.” He said what made Voices From Africa a fascinating book that must be read by students and professionals was the ability of the authors to provide solutions to the problems bedeviling majority of countries in Africa.

“Duru and Ayittey bring to bear in the book their intimate knowledge of the Nigeria’s economic policies at close quarters on page 115,

•From left: Mrs Biola Obileye; Alausa; Mrs Iyabo Aikhomu and Mr Thomas during the presentation of Voices From Africa last Thursday

•Some of the youth at the launching

By Wale Ajetunmobi

where they revealed the missing link in the Nigerian economy and free market system. The inability of Nigeria’s economy to adapt to free

market principles have led to excessive government interventions, mismanagement of abundant resources, employment and acute poverty,” Olatunde noted.

He recommended the book for

students of History, Economics and International Relations, saying “the authors’ arguments clearly bring to the fore the need to move away from the economic policies that have continued to drag back the African con-

tinent.”

The publisher of the book and Director of Outreach, AfricanLiberty.org, Mr Adedayo Thomas, said the organisation is using its resources to promote reading culture among the students in Africa, the reason why the copies of book would be distributed to students free.

Thomas criticised the claim that Nigeria’s economy is mixed, saying the nation is practising bad capitalism. Citing Nigeria’s crude oil production as example, he said: “Nigeria government is deceiving the citizens that it is deregulating the petroleum sector but in reality, they are only deregulating the distribution not the production. The people in government are the ones that know the accurate barrels of crude oil we produce daily. They corner the proceeds from the resources and impoverish the populace.”

Thomas urged leaders to liberalise the economy, saying provision of infrastructure should be the preserve of private organisation. He said the concession of Lekki-Epe express way was an indication that Governor Babatunde Fashola believed in development of Lagos State. He commended The Nation newspaper for providing a platform to help the cause of AfricanLiberty.org.

The chairman of the occasion and Education Secretary of Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area, Mr Adekoya Alausa, advised the students to develop interest in reading, saying “if one cannot read, there is no way one can learn.” He commended Thomas for using his personal resources to bring hope to African students through free donation of books on liberty and economic freedom.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

32

CAMPUS LIFE Two months after, student still missing

T

•One of the fellowship students attending to a villager

Fellowship reaches out to locals

F

OR three days, the Apostolic Church Student Fellowship of Nigeria (TACSFON), Federal Polytechnic, Offa (Offa Poly) chapter, embarked on an outreach to Igbona Village in Kwara State.

They were received by the villagers led by their traditional ruler and the community chiefs. The outreach lasted for three days.

The students visited the community to create awareness on health issues.

Some of them from the teaching hospitals of Obafemi Awolowo University and Ladoke Akintola

From Akinola Oluyi OFFA POLY

University of Technology (LAUTECH), offered free medical services to the locals. On the first day, which was Friday, the students, led by the president of the fellowship, Job Phillip, held awareness for the villagers on general health issues.

On the second day, they offered free medical service to the villagers.

Most of the villagers with different ailments came out for treatment.

Among the beneficiaries was 62year-old Mrs Sarah Oladosu, who had fever. She declared after her

treatment: “There is wonder in word of God.” Through the house-to-house visit, many villagers were converted.

Matthew Peter, a local, said: “The last time students like you came here, we experienced wonders but the way this team arranged the free medical service is a very good approach. We thank you students for the outreach.”

One of the students, Dare Oyeleke, ND II Mass Communication, said such visit would make people in the rural area love city people.

Chess club holds competition

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HE Chess Club of the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUT MINNA) last Friday organised a contest for members. The competition was held at the Dining Hall in the Bosso campus of the university.

The contest ended on Sunday after the contestants had had an encounter with one another.

From Tolulope Ajobiewe FUT MINNA

Each of the contestants played a minimum of 20 games and the competition recorded 25 participants from different departments in the school. The contestants were divided into two-Player A and Player B. The contestants in

the A category were considered to be professionals while group B players were regarded as amateurs.

At the end of the competition, Terry Atom, 300-Level Surveying and Geo-informatics, was announced the winner. He was presented with a book containing tactics in chess game.

HERE is a palpable confusion in the department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering in the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), following the disappearance of one of the department’s students, Martins Ayodele.

Martins was announced missing about two months ago and there has been no information about his whereabouts as at the press time.

Martins, ND II student, was reported to have left Ikorodu campus of the polytechnic to his parents home at Agbado-Ijaiye, a suburb of Lagos, last May to get his school fees in order to meet up the school deadline. The management had issued a statement that any student who failed to pay his before May 14, would not be allowed to write the first semester exam.

Martins’ roommate, Sulaimon Osunniran, told CAMPUSLIFE: “We were together on that Thursday when Martins told me he was going home to see his parents to collect his school fee. He assured me he would come back to school on Monday before the commencement of the first semester exam.”

It was, however, learnt that Martins left his parents home on Monday, May 14 but did not re-

Students organise training

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HE Press Club of University of Lagos (UNILAG) has concluded its maiden training organised for its members. The seminar was held at the department of Mass Communication.

The resource persons at the workshop included Dr Tola Sunday, a lecturer at the department of Mass Communication, Fisayo Soyombo,

Varsity inaugurates SUG

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HE recently-elected members of Ebonyi State University (EBSU) Students’ Union Government (SUG) have been inaugurated. The swearing in ceremony, which took place at the Law Auditorium in CAS campus, witnessed a large turnout of students and members of the management.

In his opening address, the Dean Students’ Affairs, Mr Hillary Eze, praised the students for the peaceful conduct of the election and enjoined the incoming executive to dedicate their tenure to service. He equally urged them to always work with his office to bridge the communicaton

•The History students jubilating after their victory

History wins faculty soccer contest

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HE department of History and International Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), has emerged the champion in the Faculty of Arts football tournament organised to mark end of the 2011/2012 academic session.

The contest commenced with the clash of departments of Archaeology and Foreign Languages. The former won. Also, Mass Communication department

played against Music department.

The match ended 1-0 against Music department.

The final match was between English department and History.

The game was tough as many players sustained different degrees of injuries. Also, the History department’s side lost two players, who were given red cards. At the end of the day, History carried the day.

A lecturer in English depart-

ment, Mr fidelis Okoro, consoled the players from the department, saying for making it to the final, it showed they were determined to win the contest.

The head of History and International Studies department, Prof Uche Anyanwu, described the victory of his students as a great achievement. He gave the students that participated in tournament N10, 000 to encourage them in sport participation.

•The missing student, Martins From Ademola Fagbemi LASPOTECH

turn to the school, neither did he go back home, and none of his course mates knew his whereabouts.

The Assistant General Secretary of the Students’ Union Government (SUG), Oluwatosin Osasona, who is Martins’ course mate, said that the news came to the department as a rude shock.

He said: “Since we got the news, we have been doing all our best to locate him. We reported the case at the offices of the Head of Department, Dean of Students’ Affairs and the security unit.”

Confirming the incident, the Head of Electrical and Electronics department, Mr Benson Ogundare said he was aware of the report of the missing student, saying Martins’ parents had come to his office to verify if he was in school.

The family had reported the case at Agbado police station.

From Tosin Adesile UNILAG

a correspondent of international media and Sunday Oguntola, a reporter with The Nation newspaper. The speakers took the participants on ways to become a successful writer and reporter.

Dr Sunday advised the students to take ethics of the profession serious, while Soyombo, who spoke on 15 habits of a great writer and reporter, advised the students to be good readers in order to be good writer.

The Secretary of the Club, Nomso Obiajuru, advised members to put to into practice all that they learned during the training.

From Emeka Ugwu EBSU

gap between students and the managment.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Idike, charged the students’ leaders to embark on programmes that will impact on the lives of students.

“I urge you to do things that will benefit students. Always remember that you are not here to make money but to serve. The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) will arrest anyone that mismanages funds,” Prof Idike said.

SUG president, Oscar Chima, 300Level Mass Communication, promised to deliver on his campaign promises, which he said anchored on corporate and public private partnership in order to provide affordable transportation and improve the students’ welfare.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

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CAMPUS LIFE

Students sensitise community on hygiene

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O promote hygienic environment in Kwara State and environs, Sensitising Health Initiative (SHI), a health group formed by Zoology students of University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), organised a public health talk in Ile Apa Community, Ilorin.

For over four hours, the students orientated the community on personal, environmental and food hygiene. A member of the team, Busayo Raymond, speaking on food hygiene, said: “Food is an essential part of human survival, which is also the easiest way we contact different diseases if we do not prepare our food in a hygienic way. We can contact diseases such as Lassa fever and Diahrrhorea if the food we eat is contaminated.”

The co-ordinator of the team, Wale Bakare, while addressing the community people, said: “Personal hygiene is one of the most effective ways to

From Michael Adebayo UNILORIN

protect ourselves and others members of the community from illnesses.

We should do regular checkup once a year to detect some diseases and regular blood pressure check.”

Joshua Ayodele, speaking to the community on environmental hygiene, said: “Improper disposal of waste causes a lot of damage to the society which is harmful to human health. The community must avoid it.”

Young and old people from Ile Apa village attended the session. The team donated first aid box, drugs, waste baskets, stoves, plastic bathtubs, brushes, toothpaste and toilet wash to the community.

Grace Matthew, a Primary 5 pupil, said:“I thank the SHI for the awareness. They have enlightened us about how to live a healthy life.”

•Benjamin addressing the part-time students at the congress

Part-time students call for better treatment

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ART-time students of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) have formed a union known as National Union of CES students (NUCESS). In UNICAL, the part-time programme is known as Center for Educational Service.

Speaking at the first general congress held at Hogan Bassey Pavilion last week, the union president, Benjamin Ndifreke, said the union was formed to act as the students’

From Stanely Uchegbu UNICAL

mouthpiece. He said the union would be used to canvass for better treatment for the students and include the underage students among them in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme after their graduation.

Speaking at the general congress, the information officer of the union, Emmanuel Shebbs, con-

demned the suspension of the parttime programmes by National University Commission (NUC), saying the part time programme was established to enable students to work and study at the same time.

A female final year student from Management Science, who pleaded anonymity, said she was “very young” to collect exemption letter.

She urged NUC to reconsider its directive if only to make education available for all Nigerians.

•SHI teams donating materials to the community elders

Students protest epileptic power supply

S

TUDENTS of Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu campus, last Friday staged a peaceful protest over the erratic power supply in their hostels. The students moved round the hostels, which are located opposite the campus.

The students, who carried different placards, visited the nearby office of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). They also appealed to the management to come to their aid by ensuring adequate power supply in the hos-

From Peter Adeshina LASPOTECH

tels.

One of the protesters, Glory Udoh, ND II Mass Communication, said the protest was to register the students’ displeasure over the nature of electricity in the students’ area.

The demonstration was joined by kiosk owners, commercial motorcycle riders, who said they were equally affected by the incessant power outage.

•Students struggling to cast their votes during the election

T

HE National Association of Science Students (NASS), University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) chapter, held its election last week. The election started around 10am at Lecture Theatre II. About 35 laptops were put in place to aid the e-voting method.

The position of the president was keenly contested by three aspirants. Ayomide Oluwadare from Biochemistry, Ibrahim Babayemi from Plant Biology and Yussuf

Science holds election From Dapo Ipoola UNLORIN

Ishola from Chemistry.

The Students’ Union Financial Secretary, Adedayo Adewale, 300Level Chemistry, described the elction as free and fair, while commending the electoral committee for a job well-done.

At around 6:45pm, the results were announced. Ayomide was declared the winner with 782 votes against Yusuf with 589 votes and Ibrahim with 572 votes.

Ayomide, speaking after he was returned as the elected president, enjoined his opponents to join in advancing the cause of the faculty.

•One of the placards displayed by the students during the protest

•The Redeemed Christian Fellowship (RCF) students of University of Lagos (UNILAG) after the thanksgiving held last Sunday at the Staff School Auditorium to round up Sisters’ week.

PHOTO: TOSIN ADESILE

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

34

CAMPUS LIFE There was a renaissance of Igbo culture when the National Federation of Catholic Students (NFCS), Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka chapter, marked its cultural fiesta at St. Joseph The Worker Catholic Church. UCHE ANICHEBE (400-Level Law) writes.

•Traditional dancers performing Atilogwu dance

I

Twas akin to an ancient Igbo traditional village square. At intervals, ecstatic students applauded the Atilogwu troupe as it displayed various traditional dance steps. The dignitaries at the event were not left out of the excitement. Some of them showered mint-fresh naira notes on the dancers. From the beginning to the end, there was no dull moment.

It was the annual cultural fiesta organised, last week, by the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka chapter of the National Federation of Catholic Students (NFCS). The event took place at St Joseph The Worker Catholic Church on the campus.

The guests and students were clad in cultural attires, which showcased the beauty of Igbo haute couture.

The theme of the cultural fiesta

•The students with a masquerade from a neigbouring community during the event

Igbo culture at its best was: Asusu Igbo, ure anyi, which translates to “Our culture, our pride”. As is customary in Igbo cultural events, the event started with the breaking of kola nut. A week earlier, there was I kam asu Igbo oratory contest to develop the interest of Igbo students in their language.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Pita Ejiofor, a lecturer of the university, harped on the need for the students to promote their cultural heritage and language. According to him, “there is a steady decline and neglect of culture by people, especially students of the present generation.”

He noted that Igbo culture was

dwindling because people who were supposed to promote it had abandoned it. He admonished parents, guardians and lecturers to inculcate Igbo values in their wards, saying “it is through this that our language won’t disappear.”

The association conferred traditional titles on members of the Catholic Church and also gave awards of excellence to individuals, who distinguished themselves in their fields. The winners of the oratory competition were awarded monetary prizes, ranging from N2,000 to N10,000.

The overall winner, Chidiogo

Ofoje, told CAMPUSLIFE: “I participated in the contest because I believe that our culture must not die. It is our source of identity and pride. This event has nudged us all to look into our culture for progress. The onus lies on us to resist the drive towards westernisation.”

The awards presentation was followed by a cultural play by the association’s drama group and performances by several dance troupes invited from communities and villages around the university. Masqueraders thrilled the students with their dramatic stunts.

A former UNIZIK Student Union president, Nelson Omenugha, said: “Our culture is our mirror of life.

All of us must imbibe our cultural values. We must uplift our culture.”

Henry Obidinma, a Law student, said: “With the display of our attires and style, the event was an admixture of enlightenment and entertainment.”

A student, who simply identified herself as Pauline, said: “This is a day to remember because I feel the Igbo culture at its most traditional level.”

The event came to an end with a closing speech by the Deputy ViceChancellor, who represented the VC. He commended the students for their massive turnout and admonished them to imbibe the cultural values of the tribe.

Igbajo Polytechnic in Osun State, the first community tertiary institution in Nigeria, has moved to its permanent campus. BUSAYOUR DADA spoke with some of the students.

First community poly moves to permanent site

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GBAJO is a quiet community in Boluwaduro Local Government Area of Osun State. It is about 150 minutes drive from Osogbo, the state capital. With agriculture as the main occupation of the people, social life is, at best, ordinary.

However, just as the town cherishes farming, it also values education-as the sure path to societal development. Its determination to educate its teeming youth and students from other states made the leadership of the town to establish the first community tertiary institution in the country – Igbajo Polytechnic.

In April, last year the foundation stone of the permanent site of the polytechnic, located in the heart of Igbajo town, was laid by the paramount ruler, Oba Olufemi Fasade Akeran IV, the Owa of Igbajo. The institution, which was using part of Kiriji Memorial Secondary School as its temporary site, moved students to its permanent site penultimate week.

Some of the students expressed delight over the development.

They urged the management to complete the uncompleted blocks of classrooms and also provide amenities to make learning easy.

Bola Oluwatobiloba, ND 1 Ac-

counting, said: “The structures on the campus are okay but there are other things needed to enable us learn easy. We need water and the school must have its source of electricity because depending on Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) may be disappointing. Also, transportation must be aided by the management by providing more vehicles for the movement of students from their hostels in town to the school.”

Ayodele Abiola, a Management student, urged the management to invite private organisation to open businesses on the campus.

“You can see that the buildings on the campus are well-structured and of high standard. But we still need cyber cafés and business centres” Samuel Adedokun, a student of Science and Technology, said: “Morally, the students are doing good. Academically, the polytechnic has facilities to cater for the educational yearning of its students. Our laboratories are well equipped. But we are still hoping to have a Student Union Government (SUG) before the end of this semester. The students have been agitating for it. They hope the management will accede to it because we want our voice to be

•Igbajo Polytechnic sign board at town’s border

heard.”

“I am proud of the institution because it is the most affordable private polytechnic in Nigeria.

Even Igbajo people are welcoming. They treat every student as their children and food items are very cheap. Even though there is no cause for Aluta here, I still believe that students of the polytechnic need SUG to champion their cause. We need press bodies and other student organisations. Most of the community people are very nice but we still have others who are not friendly,” submitted Temitope Akinyemi, ND 1 Science Laboratory Technology.

•Temitope

•Samuel

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

35

CAMPUS LIFE

Justice Mukhtar in the eye of history

By Wale Bakare

T

WO weeks ago, Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar was confirmed by the senate as the 13th Nigeria Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), succeeding Justice Dahiru Musdapher, who retired after clocking 70 years retirement age. With her swearing in last Monday by President Goodluck

N

IGERIA, as a nation, has been known to be a promising country but the problem of corruption has been the clog in the wheel of its progress. Bribery as a form of corruption is an act of giving money or gift to alter the behaviour of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime every where in the world.

However, bribe can be in form tip, gift, sop, perk etc. And there are different social and cultural norms one must take note when examining the act of bribery.

Contribution of cash by certain people to a public cause, for instance, is considered a criminal act or bribery in some countries. In the United States, what they consider to be corruption is taken as normal life in Nigeria.

Salary package for public officials in the US is regulated by the government and monitored by the

Jonathan, Justice Mukhtar made history as the first woman in Nigeria to occupy such position. She also scored first when she was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2005 as the first woman to get to the position.

Justice Mukhtar’s confirmation as the CJN changed the popular notion that women can never get to the peak of their career in the Nigerian system populated by men.

This is a victory for the campaigners of gender equality. It also sent a message to young women who are in different sectors of our national life: determination and hard work can make them attain the highest position in the country notwithstanding the primordial notion of men superiority.

A native of Kano State, Justice Mukhtar made history to be the first female lawyer in the Northern part of the country. She is also the first woman to ever become a judge in the Court of Appeal in

1987.

As a budding lawyer, Justice Mukhtar was known to be diligent, a fact corroborated by her colleagues after she was confirmed by the Senate. She is a woman of good character, strict moral values and a no-nonsense judge. She has been reported as the nemesis of criminals and fraudsters. She has distinguished herself from the coven of judges with questionable integrity.

Intelligent, courageous and fearless, she is the kind of woman needed by the public service.

Many believe her elevation has heralded a new dawn in the judicial system. With her pool of experience, Justice Mukhtar is not a greenhorn. But I have my fear. Will she be able to clean up the mess in the judiciary? This is an arm of government where male Chief Justices are unable to reform. The new CJN has less than three years in office and looking at the situation on

ground, reforming the judiciary may take a longer time. This has heightened my fears that she may not be able to accomplish her programmes.

If she must follow her conscience, then she must be able to put down pressure from the ruling elite. But can she say no to the people that pay her salary?

Corruption has eaten deep into the judicial system. Judiciary used to be last hope of the common man.

But now, corrupt judges have been dispensing justice to the highest bidder. Politicians who stole public funds are issued questionable court orders by dishonest judges barring their arrest by anti-corruption agencies. We also have celebrated ex-public officials, who stole billions from the public coffers but were handed very short jail terms, whereas ordinary Nigerians that stole few tubers of yam are languishing in jail for several

years.

If Justice Mukhtar must end corruption in the system, she must be ready to step on toes of corrupt people in high places. Nigerians still await the arraignment of oil subsidy scammers just as they look forward to how the cases are going to be treated.

She has emerged the first female CJN, she should understand what she does today will speak tomorrow. I want her to surpass the achievement past CJNs and prove to them that what a man cannot do a woman will do better. She should reform the judicial system to make it the last hope for the common man.

I congratulate Justice Mukhtar as history awaits her decisions. I pray God will give her wisdom to prove she is capable of the responsibility given to her.

Wale, 300-Level Zoology, UNILORIN

Bribery as Nigeria’s problem

By Rashidat Yusuf people. But in Nigeria, the reverse is the case. Citizens do not know how much our public official take home every month.

With the present setting, there is no way corruption can be tackled in Nigeria. Mismanagement and misappropriation of fund is now the order of the day even when aniti-graft agencies such the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) exist.

Most of our public officers have devised means to keep the stolen cash away from the prying eye of the anti-corruption agencies. Even when the funds are found, part of it would be taken to court to bribe judges and get favourable judg-

ment.

This is because our public officials most people believe that when one has money and influence, one can never be called to question.

Corruption may also be secret commission or an undeclared profit made by an employee without the knowledge of his principal in the course of transacting business on behalf of the organisation.

Effort has been made in recent years by the international community to encourage countries to discourage and incriminate bribery as offenses, whether active or passive.

From a legal point of view, active bribery can be defined for instance as the promising, offering or giving by any person, directly or indi-

rectly of any undue advantage. Passive bribery can also be seen as the request to receive by any public official directly or indirectly for any undue disadvantage.

Bribery should not be accepted by the Nigerian citizen. Prosecution of bribery offenses must come with stringent penalties to desist people, especially the public officials from employing it to amass undeserved wealth and gain influence.

The giver and taker must also be presecuted in court if the problem must be solved. This is because there is always mutual agreement between the giver and rthe taker before money changes hand.

Bribery and corruption can be eradicated in Nigeria if the govern-

ment and the people work together to put an end to this scourge in the society. Since bribery is a decay of moral values and anti-social behaviours, the people must be involve in stamping it out.

It can be discourage through enlighten programmes and seminars.

It should not be forced on people through laws. What is needed is a dynamic combination of a legislation enforcement and public education. Eradication on bribery is a tedious task and there are no quick fixes. But through public education we can achieve our goals and create an environment free of corruption.

Rashidat, HND II Mass Comm., BIDA POLY

As Olympic Games begin tomorrow

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HE Olympics is a sporting event that happens every four years. It is the only sporting competition that has the highest number of participants; men and women representing various countries across the world. This time around, the Olympics will be taking place in London and many sport aficionados across the world are eagerly anticipating the start of the games tomorrow.

The way and manner records are being surpassed and new ones broken at the Olympics are quite scary. No one will be able to forget in a hurry how Usain Bolt, a Jamaican sprinter, created a new record in the 100 and 200 metres race at the last Olympic tournament in Beijing, China. The electrifying mode which the young Jamaican used in accelerating past his peers was so terrific that many accused him of doping. It will be interesting to see if he can equal or even surpass the record he created in 2008.

Already, Bolt was trounced by an-

D

EVELOPED countries are those that have advanced economy, technology, industries and military. Their citizens enjoy a free and healthy life in a safe environment.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) defined developed countries as those that possess some criteria such as per capital income levels, export diversification, degree of integration into the global financial systems and economic criteria such as industrialisation and Human Development Index (HDI) However, the United Nations also stated its indexes of national development to include life expectancy, level of poverty, literacy rate, standard of living, state of education, health care system and finally the working population.

other Jamaican athlete during the home qualifying training. However, the likes of Yohan Blake, Tyson Gay and our own Obinna Metu will not watch him perform “fastest man” magic for the second time.

Olympics Bronze medalist and perhaps Nigeria’s brightest hope in the London 2012 games, Blessing Okagbare, is another personality to watch out for. After winning the gold medal in Port Novo at the African championship recently, many Nigerians will be banking on the Triple Jump specialist to replicate the feat at the Olympics.

Tosin Oke is another shining star our country is sending for gold medal in Men’s triple jump. He has showcased his ability in the sport and he will likely be a major star in London when the games begin.

Should I say we should not expect much from the Nigerian basketball team, D’Tigers? This is because of the ‘difficult group’ in which they are

placed. However, due to the fact that they qualified for the games despite losing their first match in the qualifiers, accolades have been showered on them from every nook and cranny of Nigeria. They will most likely be treated to a special heroic welcome should they become one of the gold medalists after the games.

Another interesting sport to watch out for is tennis. The likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Raphael Nadal, the reigning champion, and home boy Andy Murray will be representing their countries. Murray will be hoping to set aside his frustrating season and win a medal with team Great Britain while the likes of Federer and Djokovic will be hoping to have a successful tournament as has been their season.

The ladies will also be doing their best in trying to outwit each other and getting the names of their respective countries on the medals chart. It will be a special time for Maria Sharapova,

who will be the first woman to lead Russia to the Olympic Games. King of swimming, Michael Phelps would be hoping to add another medal to his cabinet of medals as he prepares earnestly for the games. Phelps, one of the record breakers in Beijing, would be hoping to repeat his awe-inspiring swimming skills.

The captain of the football team of team Great Britain, Ryan Giggs alongside fellow Welshmen Aaron Ramsey and Craig Bellany will be participating in a major national team competition for the first time. This is because the Wales national team has never qualified for a major competition like the European championship or the World Cup. They are part of an 18man squad selected by Coach Stuart Pearce. However, whether Pearce made a mistake or not in deciding not to select L.A Galaxy Midfielder, David Beckham, will only be decided by time. Africans are hoping that the likes of Morocco and Senegal can do the

Is Nigeria developing?

By Femi Oloruntoba Meanwhile, the World Bank differentiates developed countries from developing countries with an index of Gross National Product (GNP) per capital. It means countries with GNP per capital of more than $1,000 are considered developed countries while those with lesser figure are called less developed countries.

According to Internet research, the latest value for GNI per capital, in Nigeria was $1,230 in 2010. Over the past 48 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between $100 in 1962 and $1,230 in 2010.

With this figure, Nigeria is believed

to be a developed country. Who is deceiving whom? Is it the World Bank that is deceiving us or our leaders?

The World Bank definition can portray a country to be rich while vast majority are wallowing in abject poverty.

In the case of Nigeria, the index can lead to economic growth with attendant with high rate of unemployment and under-employment.

The index tends to widen the gap between the rich and poor in the society.

And finally, the World Bank definition focuses more on money only as the yardstick for measuring development when there are other things be-

sides money that can make life feel more abundant, such as provide good and accessible medical care, schools, infrastructural amenities etc No wonder people like Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe could not be fooled by the wrong indexes by certain financial institutions.

Nigeria cannot be said to be developing for many reasons.

The economy is controlled by the government and its monopolistic cronies.

Nigeria only produces primary commodities such as cash crops, cocoa, sugar cane, crude-oil, palm kernel but does not have strength to refine them to fin-

By Segun Odunayo continent proud. And if there is anyone who wants to place a bet, it has to be after the games are over because nobody can predict what will happen.

Segun, ND LASPOTECH

II

Mass

Comm.,

ished goods. Nigeria exports natural resources to developed countries for final production into finished goods.

There is still high rate of unemployment in the land. Every month, thousands of graduates are still joining the unemployed graduates.

Our leaders’ allegiance to the constitution is questionable because instead of masses to enjoy dividends of democracy, we are enjoying dividends of poverty. The house erected by our founding fathers like Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikwe, Anthony Enahoro, Ladoke Akintola et al is being gradually demolished by the present crops of public officials. I hope a saviour would come before the prodigal generation totally destroy our collective edifice.

Femi, HND II Mass Comm., BIDA POLY

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

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CAMPUS LIFE

Feast of drama

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T was a drama night and Drama Club of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Television College thrilled the college community with its stunning performance.

The event, held at the college’s auditorium, penultimate week, was attended by staff and students.

The night featured performances such as comedy, play, traditional dance, and jingles, which condemned domestic violence.

The president of the club, Bisi Olukosun, said the night witnessed a splendid performance of the play entitled: Mrs Robinson. He noted that the preparation for the play was tasking but praised his colleagues for their “brilliant performance”.

High point of the drama night was the miming by club members, who used narrative techniques to point out ills of the society and how Nigerians can live as one, despite their diversity.

Also, a mimic of the popular Nigerian Idols was performed. It was tagged “NTA TVC Idols”.

Dignitaries at the event included media practitioners as well as some Nollywood actors and actresses. The Rector of the College, Dr Ayo Fasan and members of the management were also in attendance.

•Some of the characters in Mrs Robinson

From Johnpaul Nnamdi, TV COLLEGE

Dr Fasan described the night as superlative and fantastic. He said: “I am not surprised by this superlative and fantastic performance because I know the club has done it in the past.

It did it today and I know it will do it again. The management released some money for the club, and I am happy to see that they used it wisely.

I assure you that you will experience better performances because the college will continue to support the club.”

Giving the vote of thanks, a member of the club, Matalo Donan, appreciated the school management and the audience for making out time to witness the event. Another member of the club simply described the night as “a night of glamour”.

Lilian Ogedengbe, a Diploma II student, spoke to CAMPUSLIFE. She said: “This is the first time I am experiencing such an event in the college.

It was beyond my expectation. This goes a long way to show that we have talented students in this school.”

Bisi said the response from the audience showed that the club performed “wonderfully well”.

On and Off Campus By Solomon Izekor 08061522600

•Pepple (middle) flanked by the students after the programme

Group inspires students

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HE Life Line Academy in conjunction with Lagos State University (LASU) Law Students Association (LSA) has held a seminar for students of the institution. Tagged “Re-inspire LASU project”, the programme was held at Okunuga Hall, Faculty of Law, LASU. About 300 students attended the programme.

Victoria Pepple, a presenter with Silverbird Television, Barr. Kayode Adedeji, a legal practitioner, Toyin Adesola, founder and Executive Director, Sickle Cell Anaemia Advocacy and Management Initiative (SAMI), a representative of the Chairman Amuwo Odofin Local Government were among the resource persons at the occasion.

Speaking, Adesola enjoined students to see challenges as stepping stone to success, saying “Our life is not determined by what happened to us but how we react to what happened.”

Sharing her experiences as a Sickle Cell victim, she said: “One of the numerous challenges I ever reckoned with is stigmatisation. It was always sad to be condemned by friends and relatives because of one natural challenge. I was made to

From Oyinkansola Sadiq-Mabeko and Musbaudeen Shekoni LASU

realise that life is a jungle especially when I was in sick bed three years and I had to withdraw from school.”

She added: “Do not be discouraged if you are determined; life will be fair to you. Work with what I call 6Ps – Purpose, Passion, Plan, People, Perfection and Persevere.”

Barr. Adedeji told the student: “Your challenges in LASU will make you very aggressive that when you leave the institution, you will not be able to tolerate mediocrity and before you know, you are already changing things for better.”

Pepple enjoined students to imbibe discipline and go for their passion, saying “I am not regretting to have graduated from LASU, you are all wonderful people.”

Moreso, the programme featured other activities such as ‘grab the recharge card game’ and an oral delivery of The blueprint of LASU of my dream by Tobi Babalola, 200-Level Law.

‘No cause for Corps members to panic’

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MID speculations of insecurity and bomb scare, the Nassarawa State coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mr S.A Alabi, has told corps members deployed to the state that there is no cause to panic as their lives and properties are well secured.

While addressing the corps members numbering 2,588 at the parade ground of the orientation camp in Keffi, Alabi warned corps members to desist from disseminating unconfirmed news on the social networks.

From Dayo Ojerinde NYSC KEFFI

The NYSC Director-General, Brig. Gen Nnamdi Okore-Affia, addressing the Batch “B” 2012 set, assured any corps member who wanted to redeploy that the permission will be granted but said the application for relocation must follow due process.

Corps members who spoke with our correspondent commended the Nasarawa State NYSC officials for seeing to their security.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

37

EDUCATION

UNILORIN VC: Council shortlists five for interview

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HE Governing Council of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has shortlisted five candidates as the race for the Vice Chancellorship hots up.

No fewer than 20 candidates had applied for the coveted seat, which Prof. Ishaq Oloyede will vacate in October.

Four of those shortlisted are from the university; the last one is an external candidate.

Those selected, it was gathered, include Prof Timothy Opoola, Prof Hassan Salihu, Prof Luke Ayorinde, Prof AbdulGaniyu Ambali and Prof Jimi Adesanya.

Apart from Adesanya, the others are from the university. Opoola

From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

teaches Mathematics; Salihu, Political Science. Ayorinde is the immediate past Deputy Vice Chancellor while Ambali is head of the school's Veterinary Medicine programme, which has just been introduced to the institution.

It is expected that each of the five candidates will face the Governing Council, which will, thereafter, prune the names to three that will be sent to the President who, as Visitor, will pick one.

The Nation's investigation revealed that the candidates have begun intense lobbying at very high quarters to seek the listening ears

of those who will help the Visitor eventually decide who to choose.

"It is conventional and it is expected", a source said last night, while also confirming that some names have been submitted to an official of the Presidency, who is believed to have weight in the decision making process.

"One senior political office holder from the state submitted the CV of two candidates while the other one was lucky to have someone in the Presidency who asked him to also bring his documents about three week ago."

From the list of candidates, it is a straight battle between Kwara Central and Kwara South Senato-

rial districts.

There are those in the university community who contend that the race is actually between a candidate with the backing of Ilorin emirate and others.

However, both Salihu and Ambali are from the emirate and are said to enjoy the confidence of several decision makers in the north-central city.

The Acting Chairman of the school's Governing Council is also from the emirate.

Opoola is from Ijagbo in the Kwara south district while Ayorinde is an Igbomina, also in the south, though with very strong roots in the emirate.

‘Constitute LAUTECH Council’ From Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

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HE alumni association of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso has appealed to Governor Abiola Ajimobi to constitute the Governing Council of the institution.

In a letter, it stated that the inauguration of the university's Council would aid the smooth-running of the institution. The letter was signed by its President and National Secretary, Tunde Olabiyi and KK Oloso.

While commending the government for painstakingly choosing the Acting Vice-Chancellor, it pointed out that expecting the helmsman to perform is like asking him to clap with one hand because he needs the Council to succeed.

It reads in part: "We need to bring to your attention the urgent need for the constitution of the Governing Council for our University.

"Suffice to say that the university system is not complete and cannot function to full potential where the most important body and the highest decision making organ responsible for policy decision is not in existence.

"The position of the alumni association on this issue is borne out of the fact that no other association can be more passionate about the progress of this university than its old students. Permit us to appeal to you (the governor) to be meticulous in scrutinising the credentials of those to be appointed."

• Artist Director Child-Ville Schools, Ogudu GRA, Lagos, Mr Gboyega Jerome, with pupils of the school after staging the play: The Gods are not to blame at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos.

NDDC chair wants special matriculation exam for UI, UNILAG, others

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HE immediate past ViceChancellor of the Niger Delta University (NDU), Prof Chris Ikporukpo has been honoured by the University of Ibadan Alumni Association (UNIAA), Bayelsa State Branch, which organised a send-off party in his honour.

An elated Ikporukpo proposed a prize for the best student in the state as another alumnus, Dr Tarila Tebepah, Chairman, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDCC) also proposed a separate matriculation exam for the prominent universities in Nigeria.

Ikporukpo said the prize, which should be called the 'University of

From Isaac Ombe, Yenagoa

Ibadan (UI), Bayelsa State branch prize for the best student' should be awarded to the best graduating student every year by the Bayelsa State Chapter of the alumni body.

While thanking the old students for encouraging him to stabilise NDU, he noted that it led to the establishment of "a University Culture.”

"I thank the alumni, government and People of Bayelsa State for encouraging us to establish the culture", he said.

Describing himself as an ambassador of the University of Ibadan wherever he is, Ikporukpo said he

•Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, signing the visitor’s register, shortly after flag-off of school furniture, academic gowns and tree planting, initiated by the Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), in AdoEkiti... on Tuesday.

would continue to do everything possible to ensure that the presence of UI was maintained in the state.

Also speaking, Tebepah praised Ikporukpo for developing NDU from 'grass to grace', noting the great achievements by most alumni of the university in all areas of endeavour.

Given its status, Tebepah proposed a special matriculation examination for candidates applying to his alma mater as well as other prominent universities in the country.

"Time has come when University of Ibadan and some other prominent universities including ABU Zaria, OAU, University of Benin, University of Lagos and University of Ibadan to have a joint Universities Matriculation Examination", said Tebepah, who explained that the gesture would assist in producing excellence and the production of students that will help in the development of Nigeria.

"I think it will be better for the country because we will have graduates who will come out to help Nigeria. We need to encourage our children to go schools outside the state. If we don't allow children to attend UI, you are not fair to them," he added.

Bayelsa State Governor, Serinake Dickson, represented by his Deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rtd), noted that the standard of education is not as bad as people say.

He, however, noted that the state has put in place some measures to address the situation including reviving the Bayelsa State College of Arts and Science to give the educationally-disadvantaged better opportunities.

Highlight of the event was the conferment of the award of 'Worthy Alumni 'on Dr. Grace Koroye, who was absent.

FUNAAB FILE ‘MDGs realisable’ THE Federal Government has described as erroneous, the impression in certain quarters, that the 2015 bench mark for the actualisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the country was a mirage.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Ambassador Godknows Bolade Igali, who made the observation, declared that "meeting the challenge of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 is not impossible.”

After inaugurating the building of the National Water Resources' Capacity Building Network, Southwest Centre (NWRCBNet-SW), located in the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB),Igali said: "If all actors could team up and join hands with the Federal Government, the 2015 MDGs will be a non-issue and foregone conclusion."

He said the MDGs' objective of providing water, good sanitation and food security, is daunting and that must be accomplished to save the nation from further degradation. Igali said the Federal Government could not afford folding its arms, watching an unpleasant situation, whereby only 58 per cent of the 178 million Nigerians have access to clean water and over 80 million Nigerians denied of the basic needs of life.

The Permanent Secretary said: "It is worse for sanitation. Only 32 per cent of Nigerians have access to good sanitation. There is still open defecation everywhere."

He reiterated the commitment of President Goodluck Jonathan to addressing the anomalies, pointing out thathe government cannot do it alone.

Staff Games begins THE maiden edition of the Staff Unity Games of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) ended yesterday.

The COLVET and COLERM teams featured in the events, playing the football opening match.

According to the institution's Director of Sports, Mr Bayo Oluwatoki, the football match was expected to be graced by the vice chancellor and other principal officers of the university.

Games competed for were: tennis, table tennis, badminton, squash, chess and football.

Varsity conducts Mop-Up THE university has conducted a "Mop-Up" screening for 62 direct entry candidates, who missed the initial exercise. Explaining the rationale behind the exercise, the Deputy Vice chancellor (Academics), Prof Toyin Arowolo, said: "Possibly, they (candidates) didn't get the information on time’ that is why we called them back.

“If we didn't invite them, that means we are rejecting them. We realised that it was not their fault, because the list came very late, so we could only have about one day to respond to our requests. That is why we are bringing them back."

Arowolo said further: "The list of Direct Entry candidates came late on Friday; they were supposed to have their screening on Saturday.

We sent text messages to them. We discovered that some of them did not get the text messages because of poor network in some villages, that is the reason we are bringing them back".

Meanwhile, some of the candidates have commended the measures put in place by the university. They described the Prof Olusola Bandele Oyewole-led Management as friendly and proactive.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

38

EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIPS

College plants 450 trees

APPROACHING DEADLINES

From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

THE teachers and students of College of Advanced and Professional Studies (CAPS), Makurdi, Benue State, have planted about 450 assorted trees on its premises to check erosion and beautify the environment.

The Commissioner for Water Resources and Environment, Mr John Ngbede, who flagged-off the exercise, said the management has keyed into the programme being championed by the government.

The campaign, he said, was launched in Oju Local Government a week ago.

Ngbede, who donated 150 trees to the college on behalf of the ministry, advised its management to nurture them to maturity so as to protect the school environment. The commissioner for Education, Dr Elizabeth Ugo, thanked the management for taking proactive step to curb erosion there.

In his remarks, the Principal of the College, Dr Tyotom Keghku, said the management has decided to purchase 300 assorted trees to plant within the premises so as to check the menace of erosion, beautify the environment as well as key into the global system of forestation.

Lawmaker gives scholarships

By Oziegbe Okoeki

THE Senator representing Bayelsa East Senatorial district, Senator Clever Ikisikpo, has given 106 students scholarship.

Beneficiaries of the scheme known as Senator Clever Ikisikpo Education Foundation, who hail from the nine units of the three areas that make up the East Senatorial District including Ogbia, Brass and Nembe were presented with cheques at Ogbia town, headquarters of the Senatorial district.

Shortly before the event, Ikisikpo said the scholarship had been restricted to year two students in Nigerian universities. He said the scheme was aimed at assisting students to offset some of their financial needs during the studies.

"School life used to be hard; what is presented here is small, just use it to offset your fees as you go through the university system. God will give you something bigger after your school", he said.

Ikisikpo explained that an entrance examination had to be conducted to select beneficiaries for the sake of excellence.

TWAS-CONACYT Postgraduate Fellowship in Natural Sciences, Mexico The National Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT), Mexico, and TWAS offer fellowships for scientists from developing countries (other than Mexico) in natural sciences, Mexico Study Subject(s):Natural Sciences Course Level:Postdoctoral Scholarship Provider: TWAS-SN Bose Scholarship can be taken at: Mexico Eligibility: Applicants for these Fellowships must meet the following criteria: -Be a maximum age of 30 years on December 31 of the year of application.

O

requirements on applying to the relevant postgraduate programme.

Scholarship Open for International Students: Yes Scholarship open for students of following countries: Developing Countries(other than Mexico) Scholarship Description: TWAS and the S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata, India have agreed to offer five fellowships annually to young foreign scientists from developing countries who wish to pursue research leading towards a PhD in physical sciences.

How to Apply: By post Scholarship Application Deadline: June 30, this year.

Private schools seek inclusion in budget

WNERS of private schools have called on the Federal Government to include them in its yearly budget because of their role in the education of youth.

Declaring open a youth empowerment workshop for his students, the President of African Thinkers Community of Inquiry College of Education, Enugu, Prof Stan Ani, said a yearly training grant from the government would bring relief to proprietors because the cost of providing quality education was becoming more capital intensive daily.

The Provost, Dr Emeka Igwe, who represented Ani, said that private

From Chris Oji, Enugu

schools globally always enjoy training grants and other support which encourage them to continue to partner with government in its transformation agenda.

Ani restated his determination to train young graduates, who would change the face of the economy with knowledge and entrepreneurial skills.

In a paper entitled: Youth educational empowerment through global thinking concepts, a renowned scholar, Dr Igwe, said the era of godfatherism as a means of survival in African states had gone, adding that the need

for self-actualisation was the propelling factor that should ordinarily push man to genuine strives for success.

The Executive Director, Poverty In Africa Alternativ (POVINAA), Mr Nebechi Ugwuozor, said his organisation in collaboration with the Direct Actions for African Development (DAPAD), Foundation of Japan, had designed the Youth to Youth Dialogue Outreach Programme, as a special advocacy intervention to enable young people discuss challenges confronting them, while gaining useful insights from the views expressed by

their mentors.

Ugwuozor said POVINAA and DAPAD Foundation had long realised the importance of raising a mass of educated but competent young Africans in diverse fields, who would be in the vanguard of Africa's transformation from poverty to prosperity.

He stated that the global leadership human experience academy, GLHEA concept, was targeted to equip individuals or groups of people with skills that would help move them from conditions of under performance to high performance in various spheres of life.

•The graduands with some old students at the event.

Entrepreneurship, ICT key to graduate’s marketability

UNIOSUN 2nd graduation tomorrow

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A

TOTAL of 657 students of the Osun State University (UNIOSUN), Osun State, will graduate at the university's second convocation, which holds tomorrow at the university premises.

The first degree graduates cut across five of the seven colleges of the university. The College of Agriculture will be producing its first set of graduates, ditto for faculties of engineering and environmental studies in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology.

A statement by its management, says the number of graduating students is almost doubled that of last year.

Ahead of tomorrow’s event, which climaxes the two-week pre-convocation activities, was the valedictory symposium entitled: Reflections on the future of the Nigerian university system in honour of the pioneer ViceChancellor.

The symposium, which is coorganised by Committee of Friends, is expected to be chaired by the Chairman, Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities and the

-Be nationals of a developing country (other than Mexico).

-Hold a Master's in natural sciences.

-Provide an official Acceptance Letter from the host institution (see sample Acceptance Letter in the application form which can be downloaded from the link at the bottom of the page under "related content") and be willing to register for a PhD degree in the natural sciences at a Mexican institution of higher education. Only listed higher education institutions in Mexico-listed are eligible (see point three above).

-Prove knowledge of Spanish according to the requirements of each Postgraduate programme, if this language is not the candidate's mother tongue. The applicant will be informed of these

•Vice-Chancellor,ProfSola Akinrinade

By Ramat Musa

Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Prof Is-haq Oloyede.

The statement added that the university in the past one year excelled in physical and infrastructural developments, as well as in academics. It also excelled in its student enrolment, which rose from 4,073 in 2010/ 2011 academic session to 6,303 this academic year.

Besides, all her programmes were accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

Also, a document, which contains the university's strategic plan between 2012 and 2016 will officially be presented tomorrow.

OR graduates to be relevant, they must be bi-lingual, Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-compliant and equipped with entrepreneurial Skill education. These qualities can enhance their value and make them marketable.

Prof Rufus Taiwo of the Department of History and Diplomatic Studies of the University of Lagos said at the Graduation/Valedictory of Topmost International School, Ipaja, Lagos.

He argued that no blue chip company would employ any graduate without computer literacy skill. Besides, job opportunities abound for Nigerian graduates abroad who have knowledge of the language of their host countries.

Graduates with entrepreneurial skill, he added, are more productive, and self-reliant in addition to being job creators.

In his address entitled: The challenge of the Nigerian youths in a globalised world, Taiwo lamented the inadequate conventional education in Nigeria.

"It is increasingly obvious that the conventional education that prepares student/graduates for white collar jobs or government service

By Adegunle Olugbamila

is no longer adequate in Nigeria.

While the introduction of entrepreneurial studies into the undergraduate syllabus in Nigeria is a welcome development, the goal of our university education should be to produce graduates who will be selfemployed."

He lamented that the thirst by young Nigerians to acquire education outside the country has given rise to arrays of service providers in the country, which Taiwo grouped into three - education consultants that provide information on which university to attend and why; education centres which operates with foreign universities to increase the latter's enrolment, as well as branch campuses and transnational institutions.

"But the real question is: How prepared are the Nigerian youths to cope with global education and the demands of globalisation as a whole?

"Many Nigerians have limited their opportunities by their inability to speak more than one international language, in this case, En-

glish. Multilingualism has its own advantage especially when it comes to access to information and employment in multi-national companies.

In his sermon entitled: Be a good ambassador of Topmost College, Rev Ayo Adetunji of St Andrew Anglican Church Ayobo, enjoined the graduands to understand that as Topmost ambassadors, they need to demonstrate the school sterling qualities to attract others.

"Topmost School preaches integrity, honesty, good dress sense, morals, decency, fear of God. Today, we live in a materialistic world, where people trade what they have to get what they want.

This is for all of you, especially the ladies; don't trade your body for money. Don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly; draw a future for yourself," the cleric urged.

The Proprietor, Dr Olufunmilayo Odunayo, said the graduands had been exposed to ICT training and internal and external competitions to enhance their self-confidence.

Earlier, Chairman of the occasion Mr Oluwatoyin Emmanuel Ijaolu, thanked the school for moulding the graduands, and the parents for the investment in their wards.

39

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

EDUCATION

Parents seek relocation of quarry sited near school

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• From left: Prof Okebukola with Chief Sunny Kuku, former President, King's College Old Boys'Association (KCOBA) and Otunba Olapeju at the event.

‘Over 60% of secondary schools are substandard’ •'Remodelling King's College will cost N920m' •Principal seeks change in UTME time-table

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ECONDARY schools in the country that meet international standards in terms of facilities are not up to 60 per cent, says Prof Peter Okebukola, Pro-Chancellor of the Osun State University (UNISON), Osogbo.

Delivering a speech on Rebooting secondary education in Nigeria at the Speech and Prize giving and Valedictory Service/Graduation of the King's College, Lagos, Okebukola said many cannot boast of state-ofthe-art facilities found in some secondary schools in other countries, such as Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius, Norway and the United Kingdom (UK).

For King's College to compete with those in other countries, he estimated that it would cost about N920 million to modernise its facilities.

He said: "There are about 15,600 documented secondary schools in Nigeria today.When measured against international norms including quality of facilities as classrooms, laboratories, workshops, hostels, toilets, water and electricity supply, teacher/student ratio, student/equipment ratio, currency of laboratory equipment and library holdings and cleanliness of school environment, not less than

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

60 per cent of the schools will be rated as substandard.

"Taking King's College, as example, we need some urgent intervention to modernise many of the buildings including classrooms, laboratories, hostels, staff offices, assembly hall and other buildings erected when Mungo Park was here.

With the privilege granted me by the Principal of KC to be part of putting more details on the 20122015 KC Strategic Plan, I estimate this modernisation of facilities to cost about N920 million."

Given the key role secondary education plays in preparing pupils for life, Okebukola said the 'viruses' in the system must be expunged and new facilities put in place in schools to bring them up to standard.

"Let us begin with the analogy of the antivirus. We need to rid the system of the 'viruses' in the form of poor-quality buildings, poor quality teachers, and poor curriculum delivery," he said.

On teachers, he suggested that government conduct an examination that will test their content knowledge in their subject areas. Those who fail, he said, should either be replaced with vibrant teachers or be

given remedial training.

In his speech, Principal of the college, Otunba Dele Olapeju sought a change in the time the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) is conducted, saying it disrupts the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) conducted by the National Examination Council.

"The pluralism of external examinations at the secondary school level and its atavism rared its head again this year.

The third term witnessed students crisscrossing the land and clime shuttling between UTME, WASSCE, NECO and post-UTME. The situation became so disorderly that students were forced out of the NECO examinations to attend post-UTMme. This situation calls for urgent redress as the JAMB examination should be made to come up only in July after the normal school examination," he said.

ARENTS called on the Minister of Education, Prof.

Ruqqayat Rufa’i, to stop the activities of a quarry company, Stoneworks Industries Limited, located about 100 metres from the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Akure, Ondo State.

In a petition signed by Mr Sola Obayemi and Mr Bayo Ogundipe on behalf of other parents and the pupils, they warned that if cogent action is not taken against the company, there may be a disaster.

They alleged that the activities of Stoneworks Quarry Works/production are unregulated, uncontrollable and capable of disrupting the serene academic activities at the college.

The petition read in parts: "The rocking blasts of rocks by the company on daily/regular basis has had a concomitant effects of earthquake, earth shaking, thunderous, erotic eruption, whose devastating effects often leads to academic disruptions, affecting listening abilities of students.

"With ripple effects of deafening, concentration, uncongenial for learning, unconducive for an all-round fe-

From Damisi Ojo, Akure

male students collection, who often time becomes crest-fallen, devastated, scared, stiff-scared, fearful, tearful, dejected for days, weeks and generally poor academic inputs and capable of causing misnormal and disorder in their performance ratio."

The parents said the situation is already affecting building, fittings and fixtures, including science equipments.

According to the petitioners, "the parents on their own parts viewed this is as a detriment to the future of their wards, as the students at times thought the sounding of the blasts was that of bomb eruptions, making them to flee for the safety of their lives.”

"It can also lead to the collapse of the school buildings and imminent structural collapse of the entire school which could be detriment to public good and overall interest of the society, and to prevent loss of lives and properties as prevention is better than cure-thus public interest must override and prevail over corporate/individual parochial interests.

Abuja beauty queen donates writing materials

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HE Queen of Aso, Miss Joy Onumajuru has donated educational materials to pupils of local Education Autority (LEA) Primary School in Tundunwada in Bwari Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory(FCT).

She gave out exercise books, mathematical set, pencils, erasers and others Textbooks on various subjects were also distributed to the best pupils in all the classes in the school and to punctual and neat pupils.

Joy said the gesture, which is part of her pet project, is aimed at encouraging the pupils and supporting their needs.

She said: "I was motivated to do this to cater for the children in the society, especially the less privileged ones

From Bukola Amusan, Abuja

in government schools whose parents cannot afford all what they need to learn in school.

"The project is part of my pet project aimed at promoting child education in Nigerian schools, curbing child abuse, eradicating trafficking as well as curbing child labour."

Miss Onumajuru also hopes to organise a rally, tagged, "Save the child initiative" to sensitise primary school pupils on the effects of child abuse before the end of her tenure.

The Head Teacher of the School, Mrs Esther Abdullahi, who received the Queen, commended the gesture.

He called on other well-meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of pupils in public schools.

Cleric seeks girl-child education

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HE Catholic Bishop of Port Harcourt, Most Rev. Dr. Camillus Etokudoh has called on the government to pay more attention to girl-child education.

Bishop Etokudoh, who took over from Bishop Makozi three years ago, spoke at the Holy Rosary College, Port Harcourt, during his Episcopal visit to Catholic schools in Rivers State.

Addressing pupils during the Eucharistic Mass at the collage, Bishop Etokudoh said the best way to protect the girl-child is to provide them with sound and qualitative education as a way to become great woman in future.

The Bishop also said Nigerians should protect the girl-child from going into prostitution, robbery and other crimes in the society and also protect them from being victims of kidnappers and ritual killers.

He said: "Days are gone when the boy-child will be going to school and the girl-child will be at home.

Today, the best sex that needed education most in Nigeria is the girl

From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

child. Their education is very important because of several human crises that humiliate them in life, which can be protected through the ingredients of education. He added: "I want the government to assist this girl child education and to pay more attention about their welfare and education because that is the only way we can protect their future.”

•Pupils of the school receiving Bishop Etokudoh.

RCCG renovates public school toilets

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HE Lord's Chapel of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Zone 7, Gbagada, Lagos has inaugurated the renovated a block of 10 toilets for Araromi Nursery and Primary School, Ifako, Gbagada.

This is in fulfilment of the church's General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye's admonishment to the zonal pastors to affect their neighbourhoods positively.

At the event, the Zonal Pastor in

By Ramat Musa

charge of Zone Seven, Ade Omokorede, said through the project, the chapel has filled part of the gap between private school and public school.

He said: ''The vision to touch people's live positively was adhered to. Though this is the first public school we are inaugurating, about three months ago, we were at Ifelodun to open their street light, and we have also been to Gbagada Gen-

eral Hospital to donate items needed in the hospital."

Head teacher of the school, Mrs Abosede Oluwayemisi Otun, who expressed gratitude to all members of RCCG said: ''I was scared at first when the people came to ask what about the things needed and they choose to renovate the toilet. It is a project that cost nothing less than a million naira, but today it was commissioned."

Mrs Otun, who has been in the school in the past 14 years, was happy

that the renovation came when she was about leaving the school.

With about 1,200 pupils using the 10 toilets, Mrs Otun said their maintenance will be out of the N20,000 maintenance allowance from the government every month and some parents who give to ensure that the learning environment of their wards was clean.

Speaking of other assistance the school has received, Mrs Otun said Alhaji S. A. Sunmola has been feeding the pupils in the past five years after learning that pupils fainted because they were not fed at home.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

40

EDUCATION

11,560 for 400 spaces at Fed Varsity, Oye-Ekiti

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HE Federal Uiversity, OyeEkiti at the weekend concluded the conduct of test for 11, 560 applicants, who were successful in Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME).

But the candidates have another hurdle: There are only seek 400 vacancies available in the five academic faculties of the university. They are Humanities, Social Sciences, Sciences, Agriculture, and Engineering.

The two campuses of the insitution are located at Oye and Ikole Ekiti.

Speaking with reporters at the institution's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre located at the Oye campus, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Chinedu Nebo, said the academic activities

By Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

would start July 25, this year.

Represented by the institution's Acting Registrar, Mr Abiodun Adeyemo, Nebo disclosed the target of starting academic activities on the said date would make the university the first to take off among the nine newly established by the government last year.

He noted that conducting the postUTME online has flagged off the elearning mode, which would come into full swing as students resume lectures. He said the institution has used the screening as a case study in e-learning it plans to introduce.

Nebo added that the institution would adhere to the admission limit

of the National Universities Commission (NUC) to forestall population explosion. Once academic activities start, the VC said students would pass through rigorous academic training, as well as skills acquisition programmes that would protect them from unemployment after school.

"This course of distinction has started with the fact that the postUTME test was conducted for every candidate through the electronic system", he said.

Meanwhile, candidates who wrote the test commended the authorities for what one of them said to be "an exercise with a human face."

A candidate, who identified himself as Ahmed, noted the patience with which the officials took them through the computer aspect of the test before they wrote the test itself.

He said: "I want to say I feel proud to have chosen Oye as my school. I am sure I will pass my test as I passed my UTME."

Mobil votes N20m for STAN competition

A

LL is set for this year’s The NNPC/MPN JV, Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN) National Science Quiz Competition, as its main sponsor, Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), an ExxonMobil Affiliate in Nigeria, has voted over N20 million for the competition.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the MPN have sponsored the competition for 17 years.

The competition, which has both primary and secondary schools categories, is held yearly in conjunction with STAN to encourage and reward excellence in science-based subjects among pupils drawn from all the states. It will be held in the Federal Capital City, Abuja between Friday, August 6 and Wednesday, August 11, this year.

General Manager, Public and Government Affairs, Mobil Producing Nigeria, Mr Paul Arinze, said the NNPC/MPN JV believes in investing in youths to prepare them for future challenges in the nation's quest to achieve technological development.

He said: "As a responsible corporate citizen of this country, Mobil Producing Nigeria is delighted to announce again that we will sponsor this year's edition of the annual STAN National Science Quiz competition.

“We have consistently over the last 17 years demonstrated, through this sponsorship, our commitment to the development of science education in Nigeria.”

The Executive Secretary, STAN, Dr Ben Akpan, noted that the support of MPN has been invaluable to the

modest achievements recorded over the years by STAN,” he said.

"Any nation that wants to be part of the global technological move must find a way of encouraging her students to be grounded in mathematics, science and technical subjects.

“That is our mandate in STAN and we are excited that Mobil has been our consistent partner towards fulfilling this objective," he said.

The 17th National Science Quiz and Projects Competition is one of the highlights of the 53rd anniversary conference of STAN. The NNPC/MPN JV will spend money on various prizes for winners,fares, accommodation and feeding of delegates, publicity/ awareness for the event, and postevent media coverage.

EDUTALK

with

Battling child abuse

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HEN we relocated to an area in Surulere as a child, the letter box located a street away from my home fascinated me. I dreamt of writing letters to a dear one and going to post it in the box, just like I had read in many books.

One day I voiced my desires to an elderly neighbour, who burstec my bubble when she said many before me had visited the

Kofoworola

Belo-Osagie Kofosagie@yahoo.com 08054503077 (SMS only)

letter box to post discarded wraps of moimoi leaves and other useless trash such that the postman did not bother to open the letter box anymore. How sad!

Last week’s launch of suggestion/complaints boxes that will be distributed in public secondary schools by the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire reminded me of the incident. I became worried that instead of pupils reporting sexual abuse, neglect, beatings and other forms of abuses they were experiencing in school or at home, the committee on child rights law may find that the boxes contain love letters or false claims of maltreatment instead.

But my fears do not in any way mean that I do not believe that many school children suffer abuses in various forms. We consider people who had happy childhoods – with both parents happily married with enough funds to cater for their needs as just lucky. But it goes beyond luck. Those parents able to create a loving atmosphere that encourages their young ones to develop in the right direction are sowing valuable seeds for bountiful harvest in future.

When a child grows up in a home devoid of love, care, and filled with abuse, his chances of success in all facets of life diminishes greatly. That is why abuse must be checked.

What the Lagos State government has done by introducing suggestion boxes and dedicating phone lines that children can call is worthy of emulation.

There are many children and teenagers suffering in silence. I read the newsletter of a girls’-only school in Lagos which urged parents to pay greater attention to their girls because many had complained about sexual harassment from step-fathers, uncles, cousins and neighbours. If you are a parent reading this piece, take time to pay closer attention to your wards. Gently question them about issues that may be disturbing them. Who knows, you may discover an uncomfortable truth and take timely action to rescue them from trauma now and in the future.

From my Inbox Re: Are there really barriers? (Thursday, July 12, 2012) I am glad you acknowledged the fact that women also face opposition from fellow women. I think this Edutalk should start with the women.

You know what happened to Sarah Jubrin at Eagle Square last year when no woman voted for her @ the PDP convention. As per the campus food flask marriage, I also questioned that when I was at the university because from my study, the brothers dont usually marry those sisters after school. Secular relationships lead to more weddings than bro-sis campus relationships after school. Help your sisters out. Ojowu, Jonah A. lecturer, COE, Oju, Benue State, 07055071---.

•From left: Gasper, with Mr Ademola Ogunbambo, representative of the Industry Advisory Team and Princess Adetope Kosoko at the event.

Lagos partners private sector for technicians, artisans training

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HE Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB) will from September 10 offer private sector-led technical and vocational training to school leavers and graduates that will boost their skills.

Mr Olawumi Gasper, Executive Secretary of LASTVEB, said the aim is to produce a critical number of highly-skilled young people to fill manpower shortfalls in engineering, transportation, construction, housing, power and other key areas of the economy in line with the mega city vision of the state.

More than 732 graduates and school leavers, who have signed up for the board's modern apprenticeship programme (SL-MATP) and Graduate Vocational Employability Skill Training Programme (GVESTP), will write a test today to determine those suitable for the training which will run for about two

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

years, depending on the trades.

The 18 trades on offer include automotive mechatronics, blocklaying/concreting and tiling and plastering, carpentry/joinery, computer animation/modeling, machining/spare parts production, domestic and industrial plumbing, medical instrumentation, welding/ fabrication and wellness, beauty and spa, among others.

On completion of the programmes, the participants will receive relevant national/international certifications.

The training will be delivered by experienced instructors from the private sector as well as teachers from the five state-owned technical colleges. The induction of the trainers was held at the Protea Hotel, Ikeja, during which Gasper assured private sector partners who nursed

fears of government abandoning the programme, of the state government's commitment to closing the skills gap that compels employers seeking quality service delivery to employ expatriates.

"We have brought together trainers from the Industry and technical colleges and what has come out is the need for the industry to drive the training. We cannot be successful in the deliver of this programme without the industry participation.

The private sector doesn't trust the government but we want to convince them that this is different. In Lagos, we have enjoyed stability of government for 10 - 12 years now," he said.

During the induction, the trainers identified facilities available for training in industry, drew up suggested reading materials, and discussed workbooks, guides and training, manuals.

Hello Kofo, I was amazed and appalled to read that sisters in the fellowship now cook for the president. This is a terrible trend which I believe stems from idolizing our leaders, calling them mama and papa and the like! It was not so in years gone by when I attended ECU at UNIFE in the early 80s. Titilayo Akinbiyi.

It’s ridiculous that a Sisters Coordinator or Welfare Secretary will have to cook food for the fellowship president. They are all students for crying out loud! That a boy is the president of a fellowship does not make him the husband of all the sisters. It could even expose both of them to temptation. There is nothing wrong in boys cooking. Girls should respect themselves and not let anyone relegate them. Enough of the stereotypes which more often than not are designed to put girls down. Gender equality should start from the home. Also books should stop such things as having all doctors, engineers etc as men while females are nurses, secretaries, etc. 080773750—.

Kofo, keep it up! Your write-ups are capable of bringing positive changes to our society. Stay blessed, Topwatch, Calabar.

Woman are made for the top, this is your season of greatness. Don’t allow any fellowship or gang up from reaching your life goals. In Auchi, we have women in top management positions now. Please go for higher degrees and you will see yourself at the top in no time e.g. Justice Aloma Mukhtar (first female CJN), Madam Okonjo-Iweala (Finance Minister), Oby Ezekwesili (VP, World Bank), Dr Philipa Idogho (Rector, Auchipoly), Dr Omolade Aloko-Akpa (Director, SPAATS, Auci Poly) etc. My wife will soon bag her Phd in Educational Management and we shall set up Jaffa Model College, Ado-Ekiti. Thanks, Steven Aloko.

42

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

43

POLITICS THE NATION

E-mail:- politics@thenationonlineng.net

Constitution review: Delta canvasses true, fiscal federalism Being presentation of Delta Government position by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan at the retreat of the Senate Committee on the review of 1999 Constitution on Friday, July 20.

T

HE National Assembly deserves commendation for returning to a task most Nigerians desire - the review of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution. The first attempt under President Obasanjo did not succeed for reasons pretty well known by all.

The 1999 Constitution was born under unusual circumstances. It was a document midwifed by the military and handed over to civilians. By its structure military orientation is not often in alignment with popular democratic wishes of the people.

Indeed, a number of prominent voices have faulted the preamble to the Constitution that asserts “we the people” as false. The validity or otherwise of this assertion notwithstanding, I feel having practiced democracy under the current 1999 Constitution, its review should eventually bring this Constitution to align with the aspiration of the people and will legitimately make it a people’s constitution and not a constitution fashioned by the military.

It is also on this note that I am calling on the promoters of Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to step forward with their proposals and make same available to your committee as part of their inputs in building a Constitution that will herald better democratic governance.

The Government and people of Delta State wish to thank the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, especially the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution for the opportunity to send in the State’s submission to the Constitution review exercise.

As you commence your retreat, I wish to seize this opportunity to share with you our thoughts on the 1999 Constitution.

Delta Government position I want to declare that the Government and people of Delta State remain committed to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble entity under God. The Government and people of Delta State also renew their faith in a Constitution that will promote unity in diversity, brotherhood among the Nigerian people and welfare of all persons based on the principles of freedom, equity and justice as a basis for one indivisible and indissoluble nation. It is the view of the Government and people of Delta State that the 1999 Constitution as it stands, fall short of our collective expectations in many respects by, for instance, not providing enough autonomy for the government and people of the State in the control of their natural

• Senate President David Mark (second right), Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghna (right), Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu (left) and Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives Emeka Ihedioha at the retreat of the Senate Committee on Review of the Constitution in Asaba.

resources and sufficient legal framework to promote and sustain our socio-economic aspirations.

Delta State Government believes it has sufficient human and natural resources to create employment, promote development and generate prosperity for her people. However, we are restrained by the overbearing unitary provisions of the Constitution which cripples substantially the spirit and letters of federalism upon which this Nation was built. It is our view that the Constitution needs a radical review in order to enthrone: (i) T r u e Federalism, and (ii) Fiscal Federalism.

True Federalism Federalism in our view is a system of Government adopted by diverse nationalities who, otherwise would have been on their own, but who desire a central government to pursue common objectives. A federation, therefore, while promoting unity among the federating nationalities, does not promote a union in which the constituents loose their peculiarities and identities. This was the vision of the founding fathers of our federation. Time and time again, it has been made clear to us that any shift from this vision will produce great disunity and less cohesion for our people in the Nigerian Nation.

Therefore, the federating states in the federation must retain a measure of independence and autonomy that will enable them to sufficiently define and shape their internal affairs unhindered. Our view on this is that the distribution of the legislative, executive and judicial powers in the 1999 Constitution are strongly skewed in favour of the federal government with States becoming its mere ap-

pendages.

Fiscal Federalism Fiscal Federalism is about allocation of resources to secure the autonomy of the respective federating units as well as the central government in a true federation. Needless to say that the principle of fiscal federalism underlying the 1999 Constitution is inequitable and flawed in that it has left the State of the Niger Delta prostrate. They now appear, as said earlier, to be appendages of the federal government who they go cap in hand to seek help from. As a consequence, the rich gains of a healthy federal competition which endured under the 1960 Constitution have been severely eroded. Worse still, the nationalisation of the natural resources of State and Communities particularly the Niger Delta to support the national economy is too burdensome, if not oppressive.

This is particularly so in view of the expropriatiory provisions of the Constitution and other pieces of legislation confiscating, as it were, these resources without compensation and corresponding allocation of the proceeds to them to address the adverse impacts of oil exploration on the people and environment for the past 40 to 50 years.

Delta Beyond Oil Mr. Senate President and distinguished Senators, fellow Deltans, considering the controversy on the issue of fiscal federalism, I am going to dwell a little bit more on it as it relates to revenue allocation because of the misperception in some quarters, either largely out of mischief, blackmail or sometimes, one may grant real concern.

Delta state accounts for about 30 per cent of Nigeria’s crude oil reserve and derives 65% of its GDP from oil and gas and 85 of our revenue from FAAC, yet the cost of building infrastructure is one that has posed enormous financial challenges to us despite the best effort we are making.

We have a land area of 18,050 square kilometres, substantial portion of which is riverine, marshy and underdeveloped. Yet populated by our people who have opted to live in their ancestral land - which in many cases are locations of oil facilities: flow stations and pipelines. Our people are also desirous of development and improvement of their wellbeing from the proceeds of the resources taken from their land.

It is in this difficult terrain untouched by any development or sometimes poor development that compelled us to institute and fund Delta state Oil Mineral Development Commission (DESOPADEC).

DESOPADEC was setup to address some of the issues highlighted and it has been getting in line with the law that we created 50% of the 13% derivation with a mandate to complement the state government’s programme of developing the oil producing and impacted areas of the state.

The state government and DESOPADEC tasks have been ardous for good reasons. I mentioned terrain challenge imposing excruciating cost on infrastructure; the other is the high poverty incidence. We have decided to get to the root of the high poverty incidence by commencing initial steps of developing a poverty map of the state.

In most of these places, we are building infrastructure like schools, hospitals, access roads, bridges, elec-

‘Needless to say that the principle of fiscal federalism underlying the 1999 Constitution is inequitable and flawed in that it has left the State of the Niger Delta prostrate. They now appear, as said earlier, to be appendages of the federal government who they go cap in hand to seek help from. As a consequence, the rich gains of a healthy federal competition which endured under the 1960 Constitution have been severely eroded’

tricity and provide clean water from ground zero. We face additional pressure on other fronts, arising from the damage to the environment. Ravaged by oil pollution and its attendant damage to the environment, the main economic activity of our people who are fishermen and farmers were lost.

Unable to fend for themselves, many of our people faced destitution and became restive. We have had to intervene by initiating various social programmes. What I have outlined was the root cause of the crisis in the Niger Delta.

Furthermore, transferring large chunk of funds to DESPODAEC has its consequences - and if I might add, political costs. Clearly, it greatly depleted the funds available to the State government, but our sense of equity and justice warrants that we do everything possible to bring development to the most deprived of our people in our riverine and oil impacted communities.

I am happy that despite the initial misgivings, the state government has not wavered in using DESOPADEC as a stabilising factor to bring development to its mandate areas. We believe the DESOPADEC experiment can only get better as we continue to finetune areas of lapses in delivering quality service and making the right impact in the mandate areas.

Commendable as its work has been, I believe we can do far more if more funds are available.

Overall, as a state government, we have not been deterred in pursuing our larger developmental programmes - challenging as it is.

Our initiative to diversify the economy of our state has been termed ambitious by some observers. I believe they are correct. It is a staggering ambitious programme, to build an economy beyond oil or “Delta Beyond oil” as we have christened it. To do that and succeed is to completely alter the economic, social and cultural landscape of Delta, if not Nigeria.

In operational sense it means, to utilize the proceeds from oil, which we are fortunate to have to develop non-oil sectors of our economy. As a plan, it is long term in nature. In my reflections, I wished systematic efforts were initiated towards diversifying our economy long before now. Had that happened, we would today be at a consolidation phase, rather than at building phase.

The risk of a building phase of development is the pressure of managing high public expectation.

The public demand on government to finalise project delivery before acceptable timeframe is enormous and sometimes unrealistic. I fear that is the burden we have to bear as we strive to bring desired transformation to our people.

I do not regret that we began this journey; I am rather pleased we had the confidence and willpower to even begin it at all. Future generations will, I am sure, look to this moment and salute our courage. Let me explain what I mean. To invest in critical infrastructure that has long gestation period far beyond sometime the resources and time limit of an elected government de•Continued on page 44

PERSPECTIVE 44

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

POLITICS

Constitution review: Delta canvasses true, fiscal federalism •Continued from page 43

•The Raliat Ojudu Women Development Centre (ROWDEC) to be inaugurated tomorrow.

Ojudu empowers Ekiti women

T

HE result of a study conducted by Dr. Akerele and S.A Adewuyi of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State on the assessment of household poverty and welfare among Ekiti households is quite revealing.

It states that 38.30 per cent of the households covered by the study are poor and would have to mobilise financial resources up to 41.80 per cent of $1 (N130) per day (for each household member) to be able to escape poverty.

Female-headed households in the study area appear to be more vulnerable to income poverty, with poverty incidence, depth and severity of values 0.221 and 0.239, 0.402 and 0.191. Highest levels of poverty were found among households with 7-9 dependants, with values 1.00, 0.715 and 0.511 for the incidence, depth and severity of poverty.

To some, these may sound like meaningless academic figures, but an assessment of the realities on ground would shed light on the figures. That is why government performance, to many Ekiti people, means food on the table. The Ekiti State Government is doing its best, with its anti-poverty programmes, such as the Social Security Scheme for the elderly, but it needs support to ensure that there is an improvement in the lives of members of affected families.

This is the essence of the Raliat Ojudu Women Development Centre (ROWDEC) initiated by Senator Babafemi Ojudu, the lawmaker representing Ekiti Central in the Red Chamber. For Ojudu, it is a reconnection with his beginning.

Having had a mother who shouldered a lot of her kids’ needs via her sales of garri, Ojudu knows that what most families need most times

From Sulaiman Salawudeen, Ado-Ekiti

is just a helping hand and a little push and they would henceforth survive on their own. This is why he will be giving out empowerment funds to 570 women, (10 in each ward) of his senatorial district, at the commissioning of the Raliat Ojudu Women Development Centre. It nis named after his mother, Mama Raliat Boluwaji Ojudu who, in the face of all odds, made sure that her kids were groomed into successful adults.

An average Ekiti woman is industrious and has to keep up with so many responsibilities. In femaleheaded households or in households where the husband is more or less a figurehead, her responsibilities triple. In cases like this, if the financial wherewithal to shoulder these responsibilities is not available then it becomes a serious burden that could weigh her down.

Some of these women have had to join contributory schemes to raise micro-credit loans to start small businesses to be able to give their kids a decent life.

Their stories are not different from that of 35-year-old Latifat Agboola of Makoko community in Lagos.

The woman, as reported by Inter Press Service, took a N20, 000 loan to start a charcoal business and today she makes enough to take care of herself and her family. To people who are not conversant with the grim realities of life in Nigeria, N20, 000 may be a little amount. The truth, however, is that there are several small businesses that could be started with it. Most times, the women even take loans as little as 10, 000 to start their business. All it requires to make it work is discipline and determination.

In the case of Ojudu, he is not giving out a loan; he is giving out empowerment funds that would not

be repaid. But he has urged the women to organise themselves into groups of 10 to start a revolving loan scheme among themselves with the money, just like in co-operative societies, but unlike co-operatives, there would be no interest. They would simply have to be the managers of the funds, loaning it out and revolving it among themselves to ensure that it goes round.

Besides the empowerment funds, which the Raliat Ojudu Women Development Centre (ROWDEC) will henceforth be giving to women (even when Ojudu is no longer a Senator), the centre will also be offering free medicare and consultation to women, pregnant women and children under five years. It hopes to achieve this with its mobile clinic that will be on periodic visits to communities in Ekiti Central to offer free medical consultation and medicare to women.

According to Ojudu, women, by virtue of their emotional, marital, and sometimes economic responsibilities go through a lot of stress and most times, they have no time for medical check-up. The mobile clinic of Raliat Ojudu Women Development Centre will offer this to them in their homes at no cost.

With all these, it appears that better days are here for Ekiti women, and not just the women, but also their children whom these women struggle, at all times, to groom into responsible and successful adults.

The women however, should emulate Latifat Agboola of Makoko in Lagos, who through discipline and self-determination built a thriving business with N20, 000. They should not see the empowerment funds as “politics money” to be squandered while they wait for another, rather they should think of what they could do with the money to ensure better life for themselves and their children.

•From left: Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Muhammed; Hon Kamal Bayewu and ACN Lagos Vice-Chairman Cardinal Omolaja Odumbaku in celebration mood at an event in Lagos.

mands a measure of courage and commitment.

For instance, we are building a power plant (IPP) at Oghareki, an International airport in Asaba, upgrading Osubi airport to international standard, building industrial clusters i.e. (koko Industrial Park, Warri Industrial and Business Park, and Asaba ICT Park) nurture Micro Credit to SMES are in themselves long term projects, with benefits not often possible in the immediate time. Or to devote exclusively a large chunk of our revenue proceeds to development of sometimes remote riverine oil bearing communities, long neglected as we are doing using DESOPADEC is no easy undertaking.

But notwithstanding these challenges, I take pride in our infrastructure programme that has seen us construct 252km inter/intra city roads. I am confident that with the dualisation of major roads that include: 148 km Asaba-Ughelli, 33 km Ugbenu-Koko, Effurun-OsubiEku, 7.2 km Ughelli Artery, PTI/ Jakpa, Old Lagos/Asaba amongst others we are gradually eliminating bottleneck in movement of goods and services and creating major network grid to link all the corners of the state.

This infrastructure growth has attracted high investor interest in the state. In addition to our special economic zone like the Koko free trade zone, which has a committed investor interest in fertilizer and fertilizer blending plants, petrochemical and LPG plants - an investment outlay estimated at $16 billion, there are others like the N40 billion Delta Leisure Park, the multibillion Naira OFN/Delta poultry farm, to mention just a few.

Our human capital programme has been remarkable in its results.

We are making progress in addressing maternal and child mortality rate in the state. There is a steep drop in maternal and child mortality rate in our public hospitals. New health care facilities are being construed or upgraded, but of note is the progress of Oghara Teaching Hospital as a centre of excellence. With current efforts, in a few short years, Oghara Teaching Hospital would become a centre of note in Africa.

We are investing heavily in infrastructure upgrade and modernization of our public schools for our children, teaching and non-teaching staff. Maintaining this level of investment and keeping to standard, the physical condition of our schools can compare with any in the world in a few short years.

Through our liberal social programme education is virtually free; WAEC and NECO fees are paid by government. We have awarded First-Class Scholarship to 88 FirstClass graduates to study to PhD level at any university in any part of the world; we have given bursary awards to 18,000 Delta State students in tertiary institutions; we have given Scholarship to 343 children of deceased civil servants and 99 physically challenged students; we have given financial assistance of N100,000.00 per student to 883 Delta State students in Nigeria Law School. By doing this, we are giving our brightest youths a head start in life. These youths are prized assets, who in future will look back with pride the support they received from their government. In a knowledge driven world, we are posi-

tioning our best and brightest to compete and not to be left behind.

We are also sending message to our other youths to step up and enjoy similar opportunities. These programmes have eased greatly the financial burden on parents and guardians in the training of their wards.

At the same time, we have invested heavily in public transportation, covering land and marine transportation and I can say that it has greatly smoothened the movement of goods and services for our people. Across the state, public owned transport vehicles are the choice means of movement, because it is comfortable - the buses for instance are air-conditioned and also because of the subsidy it enjoys. With the salutary effect it has in ameliorating the suffering of our people, we will continue to make more investment to boost public transportation in the state.

On the whole, what we are saying is that real action is taking place at the state level, where the impact of government is mostly felt. So when we clamour for higher revenue allocation, it is targeted at the legitimate aspiration of the people.

In this regard, the Government and people of Delta State wish to urge that all obnoxious laws such as the Petroleum Act, 1964 Cap. 350, LFN, 1990, Interpretation Act, 1964, Cap 192, LFN 1990, and the Land Use Act, 1978, Cap. 202, LFN 1990, which, amongst other enactments vest the resources of the Niger Delta in the Federal Government be declared as unconstitutional and expunged, including Section 44(3) of the Constitution which states that: “Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, the entire property in and control of all minerals, mineral oils and natural gas in, under or upon any land in Nigeria or in, under or upon the territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone of Nigeria shall vest in the Government of the Federal and shall be managed in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.”

Section 162(1) and (10) should be defined to exclude income or derivation to the Government of the Federation accruing from natural resources and expunge the proviso to Section 162(2) of the Constitution to secure full control of the natural resources for the federating State in return for which the Federal Government can derive appropriate tax and royalties. The alternative suggestion will be to raise the principle of derivation from 13 per cent to not less than 50 per cent.

Mr. Senate President and distinguished Senators, fellow Deltans, what I have outlined is an overview, details of our position will be submitted to the Committee at the appropriate time.

In rounding up my speech, we are satisfied we have proposed progressive amendments to the 1999 Constitution with the aim to deepen democracy and ensure effective governance that meets the collective aspiration of our people. I therefore charge the National Assembly to keep in mind the historic responsibility of this assignment and not to overlook the strong wish of our people for reforms that will bring real change to their lives.

Once again, we welcome the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution as you begin your retreat here in Asaba, we wish you satisfactory deliberation.

45

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

THE NATION

NATURAL HEALTH E-mail:- health@thenationonlineng.net

‘Men responsible for 40% infertility’ N

OT less than 40 per cent of infertility among couples are caused by the men, a naturopath, Dr Gilbert Ezengige, has said.

According to him, unhealthy life styles, such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and insufficient sleep are factors responsible for the problem.

Others are regular bathing with hot water, which allows the heat from the steam to affect the quality of semen, wearing of tight pants, which raise the temperature around the testicles and restrict blood flow.

He said honey, orange coconut water, plantain, banana, groundnut, date palm, eggs, milk shrimps, oysters and crayfish can aid treatment when taken.

On treatment, he said, herbal preparation from ginger known as zing ber officinale, massulane acumineta (pako Ijebu in Yoruba), and tribulus terrestris known as dagunro in Yoruba, mucuna prurens known as roasted seed in English and werepe in Yoruba and akugba in Igbo.

Also, part of the herbs are Cucurbita pepo (pumpkin seed) – not the fluted pumpkin seed (Ugu in Igbo), but the anyu or ugbogulu in Igbo, which is elegede in Yoruba.

“For infection, herbal preparation from securidaca longepedunculata root called ipeta in Yoruba, grapefruit seed powder and turimeric (Curcuma longae), which is Atale pupa in Yoruba. Anthocleiota Djalonensis (sapo root in Yoruba).

“The herbs used are sperm builders, sperm motility and enhancers as well as aphrodisiac. They help stimulate sexual urge and sustain men’s erection. They are very good in the management of erectile dysfunction in man.

“Vitamin C, which is about 3, 000mg daily, vitamin E, folic acid, vitamin B12, minerals such as zinc and selenium are also very good for the treatment,” Ezengige added.

He said male infertility is the inability of a man to produce healthy sperm that can impregnate a woman after one year of welltimed unprotected sexual intercourse.

Ezengige said hormonal problems, such as pituitary gland disorder, high prolactin and low level of testosterone can cause the condition.

Environmental factors, such as stress from family, work and society are also responsible for the condition.

Some men can also inherit it from their parents and it could be due to structural anomaly, such as blockage in the spermatic duct, un-descended testicles and absence of tubes.

He said natural deficiencies caused by infections can also affect male fertility. These are those from urinary tract and sex, sta-

•Orange

•Shrimps

•Plantain

By Wale Adepoju

phylococcus aureus and e-coli.

When a man has any of these infections, the effect could be poor sperm concentration count. The normal sperm level is supposed to be greater than 20 million sperm per mililitre, but that of an infertile man is less.

Also, there will be poor motility; that is, speed of the sperm to fertilise the egg is slow.

It should be greater than 50 per cent. There is poor morphology, which means that the eggs do not have the right or correct shape.

He said before treatment can start a patient is subjected to sperm assessment test known as seminal fluid analysis and hormone for testosterone.

He said men should avoid soya milk and

• Ezengige

Tips for managing depression

E

AT healthy- sugar, alcohol and simple carbohydrates may help you feel better in the moment, but will catch up and have the opposite effect (for more on this, read Potatoes Not Prozac by Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.) Move your body- even if it’s a five minute walk at lunch, movement helps circulation.

Exercise improves all bodily systems, brings oxygen into your cells, releases endorphins that improve mood, and tires you physically (improving nighttime sleep).

Nourish relationships with yourself and others - we tend to isolate and disconnect from those most able to help us through difficult times (including our own internal support); make an effort to call someone or spend some ‘quality’ time with your Self Recognize patterns in your day- watch for certain times of the day when your mood changes, notice what’s happening around

you at that time and see if there’s a connection; do something different (if you tend to get low after lunch, does a walk help?)

Meditate- meditation helps us to interrupt our negative self-thinking, and connects us to something more than our personal issues (the key to meditation is not in stopping thoughts, but in watching them) Listen to your body- our gut reactions or instincts are often full of wisdom; many of us dismiss or minimise what our bodies are telling us and try to talk ourselves into feeling differently Seek professional help if needed- often someone outside our circle can see things our friends or family can’t; depression can be a serious problem with unresolved issues (including grief) hidden behind it.

•Culled from www.smithsonclinic.com

Healthy tips Oranges are most loved fruits around the world. Having an origin in Asia, it used to be a treat for outsiders. Sailors needed it for long voyages as a supply of Vitamin C to fight scurvy. It is also used to add flavor and fragrance to many recipes. This orange tangy fruit is known to have healing powers within its peel and juice. Health benefits of oranges are, too, many to be remembers but even a cursory glance would tell you that eating oranges could prevent you from how many problems or health issues. An apple a day may keep the doctor away but an orange is also no less in its own health gifts.

Oranges are known to be major source of Vitamin C and Flavonoids. They also contain Vitamin A and B, amino acids, beta-carotene, pectin, potassium, folic acid, calcium, iodine, phosphorus, sodium, zinc, manganese, chlorine and iron.

All these nutrients support our metabolism in one or the other way.

Vitamins, phytonutrients and flavonoids give oranges anti-inflammatory, antitumour, anti-oxidant effects and blood clot inhibiting properties. These properties make list of health benefits of oranges longer.

Oranges prevent health problems , such as arteriosclerosis, cancer, accumulating cholesterol, constipation, damaged sperm, Heart disease and high blood fibre content of orange helps in constipation problem. With above mentioned health benefits of oranges, they are also known to be beneficial in the case of asthma, bronchitis, tuberculosis, pneumonia and rheumatism.

They are also known to strengthen immune systems preventing from infections and communicative diseases, such as cold, viral fever etc. Regular intake of orange juice reduces the formation of calcium oxalate (stone) in kidney. Anti-oxidants lighten the signs of aging. People use orange peel powder to cure their skin related problems.

Studies have also found that drinking orange juice reduces the desire to take Alcohol.

Oranges are found in many varieties like tangarine, navel, mandarin, valencia and jaffa. Their colour can be shades of green-orange to bright orange. Eating oranges regularly can keep a human being fit and refreshing but over eating can cause problems of decay of bones and teeth as excessive consumption of any citrus food can leach calcium of body. Remember to eat an orange as soon as cut, as Vitamin C has a tendency to get destroy in air if exposed longer.

Health benefits of oranges appeal to you to add “tang” to your life by including it in your routine diet.

• Culled from www.nutrition-and you.com

Nutrients in oranges

•Fruits

Nutrient

Daily Value

vitamin

C116.1%

fiber

12.5%

folate

9.8%

vitaminB

17.3%

potassium

6.7%

vitamin A

5.8%

calcium

5.2%

Calories

(61)

•Culled from www.whfoods.com

46

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

NATURAL HEALTH

Ramadan greetings to my Moslem and Christian friends(2) ANY times during a fast, old drugs that have been buried in your system for years may be loosened up and flushed out of the body. Let me tell you of one of my greatest experiences when I first started fasting. Now, let's go back to my early childhood diet. I was born and reared in Virginia and I was fed a typically greasy, starchy, fatty and sugary diet. My body was so filled with toxins as a child that I had every known childhood disease: mumps, measles, whopping cough ... you name them and I had them. Along with these childhood miseries, I was given large amounts of a drug known as calomel - and this drug was filled with quicksilver (mercury!)

"A Swiss doctor was my human angel. After I was restored to a good state of health at Dr. August Rollers Sanitarium in Leysen, Switzerland, I started my regular fasting programme, which I am proud to say have contained through all these wonderful years since then! I fasted one 24-hour period weekly and four times a year at three months intervals. I fasted from seven to 10 days always on distilled water fast. After I had been on this fasting programme for five years, it was during one of my 10-day fasts that a great miracle happened to me!

"I was at my family homestead in Virginia. On about the seventh day, of the 10 day fast, I was out in a canoe on the river leisurely enjoying the sunshine and fresh air when suddenly, without warning, I doubled up with stomach cramps. I though I would never be able to stand the pain! With great effort I got ashore and then it happened. I had a terrific bowel evacuation. At the end of this evacuation, I felt heavy, cool sensation in my rectum and out passed 1/3 cup of quicksilver mercury from the toxic calomel that I took in my childhood "That experience marked a new day in my physical structure.

From that day on, I knew what superior health meant! My Vital Force was increased so greatly with my programme of eating natural, living foods, fasting, sunshine and exercise that all my body cells rejoiced with my new energy power! With fasting, I eliminated the drugs that were given to one in youth".

That was PAUL BRAGG, N.D., Ph.D; the Life Extension Specialist, who introduced organised fasting to the United States and pioneered health food store and the first health restaurant in that country, the man who for 70 long years supervised many organised fasts, the Health and Lifestyle Educator, who introduced pineapple and tomato juice to America, the man who started the first nationwide Health Lectures in America, the man who recovered from childhood tuberculosis largely through his efforts and vowed to show other sick people the road to health, the mind who made the first mass distributed health products in America, the man who, with daughter Patricia C. Bragg, N.D., Ph.D, wrote many books, one of which is THE MIRACLE OF FASTING. This book, the resource of the italicised quoted statements on fasting above, is presented as a good library companion for everyone who would like to employ fasting as a healing therapy.

I WOKE UP late last Friday morning to learn that Ramadan fast had begun. I slept late the night before re-reading Paul and Patricia Braggs books. The news must have beaten some determined fasters as well. Only people who slept late or had their radios or television working, or who were informed, by other people probably made it on the first day. I doubt if I would have, even if I was right on the mark, with the news. For I have only just tamed low blood sugar after bouts which lasted for about one year. I was under stress, and didn't quite realise it, like many people who keep banging their over flagged bodies for as long as they hadn't broken down. In those days, my laboratory tests for random blood sugar (rbs) levels reported between 55 and 65, far away from between 100 and 120, and even below 70, which is a standard for fasting blood sugar (fbs). Only once did it hit 85 for rbs. And that won me clapping from the lab staff. An electrolyte check later was to reveal slightly elevated sodium blood level and potassium blood level slightly below the minimum mark ideally , say researchers, potassium should about four times the sodium for an effective sodium battery to power sodium/potassium pumps in the cells on which cellular circulation largely depends. All I needed to do was try and raise the potassium count and watch if an ensuing electrolyte balance would solve the problem. In the food supplements cabinet at home, I had a jar of potassium glauconate powder, which could provide 540 teaspoonfuls of this electrolyte. At one teaspoonful daily, it should be enough for about 18 months.

But it expired in November last year. I had a backup in potassium citrate tablets. But I wished to discover if dietary potassium sources such as orange juice, banana avocado pear and biochemical potassium cell salts would resolve the issue. I must admit they have been helpful.

So, last Friday, the first day of the Ramadan, I tried the following recipe about 11:30am as the first meal of the day.

1.

Juice of four oranges mixed with four parts of water 2.

I tablespoonful of Braggs Apple cider vinegar 3.

1 tablespoonful of Flora Brand Noni Juice 4.

1 tablespoonful of FLP's Aloe Lite 5.

I capsule of Mouicare plant sterols and steroids 6.

Four tablets each of the five biochemical phosphate cells salts in the 6x dosage per tablet.

7.

1 500mg capsule of Calcium Pentothanate (vitamin B5 8.

1 capsule of Activated Quercitin 9.

More water to dilute concentration.

This formula is unique in many ways, and may be taken during the fast as early as 4:30am or 5am ahead of a main meal at 6.00am, if the stomach is wide awake enough to accept something else.

“M

Orange juice Four oranges should give about 80mg or 100mg of Vitamin C, which will be complemented in the second breakfast meal by a 500mg or 1000mg capsule of Alkaline or Buffered Vitamin C with bioflavonoid. It should also provide a good outlay of Potassium, with further contributions by Apple Cider Vinegar and Noni juice. Potassium deficiency has been associated with high blood pressure, especially where the sodium to Potassium ratio is high.

could walk. My energy level has sky rocketed, I can keep up with my five-year-old. The vinegar tonic has truly changed my life in so many ways. .. I feel alive again.."

Flora brand Noni Juice After many years of dilly-dallying, doctors now prescribe Noni Juice for a wide range of ailments. The FLORA group is Canadian and this Noni Hawaiianian. It has no preservative. Noni's chief active ingredient, ZERONINE, supports the manufacture of Nitric Oxide (No2) not nitrous oxide (No laughing gas). Nitric Oxide, in turn, supports dilation of blood vessels and inter and intracellular apertures for enhanced circulation. With circulation congestion thus broken, the body runs smoother and better, and is healthier. Perhaps it is for this reason that Noni Juice, taken regularly, is said to eliminate pains, curb inflammation, reduce high blood pressure and support restful sleep, among other benefits.

Aloe lite A powdered formulation of proteins (including all the essential amino acids), carbohydrate, fats, minerals, vitamins and trace elements, it supports weight loss and weight gain: weight loss, when taken as a replacement for meals, and weight gain when taken with meals. Thus, a fasting person, who does not wish to have a mosquito look after, may take this supplement in fruit juice before the main course meal, which may be carbohydrate (yam, boiled plantain) for energy.

In some human experiments, potassium supplementation has lowed blood pressure without restrictions on sodium dietary intake. In experiments to determine effects of Potassium on strokes, groups of animals were fed stroke-inducing diets. Groups fed potassium along with the diet suffered only two per cent fatality in contrast to 83 per cent in groups not fed potassium supplements. Hypertensive people, who observe the Ramadan should be doubly careful about the Potassium content of their bodies. The diuretics they are given by their doctors to eliminate "excess" water in the systems run potassium out of the body. And although a doctor may advise that they take fruits and vegetables, the potassium resource of these are far too low compared with the loss through diuretic drugs. Even when a doctor prescribed slow-releasing potassium tablets along with diuretics, these are artificial not natural potassium. In Alternative Medicare, Dandelion is prescribed instead. It is nature’s best diuretic. It gently, not harshly, stimulates the kidney to move water and, being very rich in potassium, contributes this important electrolyte to the body, rather than take it away as drugs do. Many hypertensive suffer from palpitations of the heat simply because their diuretics have robbed their hearts of potassium. Fating during a fast should, therefore, be creative, not hobble gobble. Potassium holds water inside the calb, sodium outside for effective fluid balance which prevents a drying up" of cells or flaccid cells.

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) Arguably, Cyril Scott made ACV popular in his little great book, which extolled its health effects on the hair, nails, teeth, bone, blood, nerves, intestines, arthritis and many health troubles, including urinary tract disturbances.

As early as 400 BC, Hippocrates, the Father of Medicare, prescribed ACV to his patients. Prince Tony Momoh introduced it to me in the 1970s. In the 1980s, I took a ‘one good turn deserve another’ step, when I gave him a bottle of ACV after he was shot in the leg by robbers, to help his bone recover well. In my interactions with the sick, I find ACV useful in cases where bleeding needs to be slopped. It relieved the month-long bleeding of a female reporter in The Guardian newspaper in the 1980s. A newspaper chief executive who was to have surgical correction of testicular hernia had been told by the would-be surgeon he may need blood transfusion. On ACV for four weeks prior to the surgery, the did not bleed during the operation and, so, needed no transfusion ... at a time HIV infection was rampant during transfusion. A woman, who had to have her womb removed surgically because of overgrown uterine fibroid experienced the same ACV miracle. I was one of the people who donated blood for her just in case she would need transfusion. She didn't. In the Bragg book, I find two ACV testimonials interesting. One by Dr. John Demartini, (www.drdemartini.com) says: "As a youth, I had a learning disability, and was told I would never read, write or communicate normally. At 14, I dropped out of school and at 17 ended up in Hawaii surfing. My road to recovery led me to Dr. Paul Bragg, who changed my life by giving me one simple affirmation to repeat: 'I am a genius and I apply my vision'. Dr. Bragg inspired me to have healthy lifestyle and go back to school and get my education and from there miracles happened. I've written 54 training programmes and 14 books and love to health crusade across the world".

The other testimonial, by Carla in Michigan, says: "... One week ago, I couldn't walk without having unbearable pain, to the point of having tears in my eyes. I am only 32 years old, but my body felt like 80. My mom suggested Bragg Vinegar tonic. I stated taking it and found in four days I had no pain. The stiffness was gone had I

e-mail: www. olufemikusa@yahoo.com

Sterols and Sterolins These chemical substances provide immunity, among other functions, to the plant. Humans who consume them convert them to human steroid and other immune enhancers. This is an example of the plant preparing and storing for humans what they need for their welfare. Cooking and other manner of food preparation destroy them. All that many people know of steroids is that athletes use them to enhance energy for extraordinary sports performance.

They do not realise that even their sex hormones are forms of steroids, and that, when they have problems with their own steroids, plant steroids and steroids can bail them out. Sterols and steroids, therefore, restore, balance and strengthen immune function.

Biochemic Phosphate Cell Salts They are important constituents of brain and nerve matter and support brain and eye Function in particular. They are Cal Phos., Mag Phos, Kali Phos., Natrum Phos and Ferrucion Phos. Kali phos is predominant in gray matter of the brain, Mag phos in the white matter. Mag phois helps in palpitations of the heart and muscle spasms genially. Ferum phos. fights inflammation, congestion, pain and oxygenates while books have been written about them.

Calcium Pentothanate It was only recently that I came to appreciate mega dose therapy (500mg/capsule daily) of this daily single capsule B-50 supplement, 50mg of major B vitamins and 100mg of vitamin B-5, which by far exceeds the 10, 15 or 25mg of B5 in many standard formulas. Many of us are B-5 deficient without knowing it, and only nutrition-inclined doctors can help us. Discovered in 1933 to be important for growth and other uses, the body converts it to Co-Enzymes A, which is used for metabolism of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, hormone, bile and hemoglobin synthesis.Thus, people who cannot handle food digestion efficiently, who tend to gain weight easily despite the consumption if weight loss remedies, may simply need more Pantothenic Acids than they are getting, of they are getting anything at all. It was rapid graying of the hair which led me to it. I remembered experiments in which rats were dietarily deprived of B-5 and they aged rapidly, with their hair graying and falling off and their coat rumpled. These abnormalities abated and status-quoacute was restored when B-5 was added to the diet. In humans artificially induced to be B-5 deficient, fatigue, insomnia, headache, nervousness, depression and more ailments were reported. It wasn't surprising to the researchers as B-5 is needed to make hormones, which check impact of emotional and physical stress, and for nerve transmission. Semi hunger during a fast is a form of physical stress.

One experiment showed that 10mg of B-5 daily helped users withstand cold water stress better than the control subjects. It strikes me that, almost everywhere I go in Lagos these days; many people are complaining that the weather is cold. Are they B-5 deficient, going by this study?

Many studies link B-5 deficiency to rheumatoid arthritis, which abates when B-5 blood levels are high and flares when it is low, especially in cold season. My friend, O.O should be glad to learn that research shows B-5 to be effective, also, in the treatment of chronic discoid lupus. One study reported improved their condition on massive doses of up to 10gms (100,000mg) daily downscaled later to two to four gms maintenance dose. Such a dosage, no doubt, will need a doctor's supervision.

Second course meal The second or main meal may be carbohydrate, for energy, as earlier stated. But please enhance this one as well. Co Enzyme Q 10 (CoQ10) supplement helps to provide energy. Calcium and magnesium do likewise. Save a general B-50 supplement for the evening, meal. Drink water between the first course and the second.

It isn't possible for me to wake early and have a meal by six. So I defer my breakfast till about 10 and strive to join the fast breakers in the evening. But, for me, the idea of fasting is not an end in itself. It is the knowledge that it is given to enable us reflect spiritually on the questions of existence and of LIFE. My faith teaches me to always ask myself: MAN, HOW DO YOU STAND? Not how I "stood spiritually" or how I will in the future. Should I find myself detouring from the path, I can then, humbly, thankfully and joyously, retrace my steps before it is too late. Only if we do this would the fast have been a successful spiritual lifebelt thrown to a sinking humanity.

Tel: 08034004247, 07025077303

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

47

e-Business 11 years after, service quality still a challenge Next month, the nation’s telecommunications industry will be 11 years old. Although the sector has recorded a phenomenal growth - from a meagre 400,000 to over 90 million lines, service quality has remained a challenge, reports AKINOLA AJIBADE

V

ARIOUS studies have shown that customer satisfaction is key to the success of a business. In fact, customers are regarded as ‘kings’ because they determine the fate of a business. In both goods and services-oriented companies, customers hold sway. When they are satisfied, they keep coming back to the same store, service, and even invite their friends to do the same and partake in the largesse. On the other hand, when customers are not getting the right values from a product, they shift their allegiance to other products.

In Nigeria, though the telecommunications industry had recorded landmark achievements in recent times, the successes were greeted by various unresolved customer complaints in areas of service delivery and customer satisfaction.

Investigations conducted by The Nation among telecoms service consumers both for telephony and Internet services revealed that subscribers are still battling with problems.

According to them, poor telecommunications services and SMS fraud persists even after the completion of the N6.1 billion Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) registration exercise. They said the issue of responses from customer care lines of some of the service providers, including MTN; Globacom; Etisalat; Airtel and the CDMAs’ have not been encouraging, adding that they are sometimes cut off after a short pre-recorded voicemail or treated to a repeated barrage of the networks’ audio advertisements and promotional jingles.

They said they are in dire need of improved services, as the telecom industry enters another year this August. They want faster responses to their enquiries, more innovative solutions among others in the years ahead.

For a subscriber, Lewis Asubiojo, an Executive Director, Youth Movement for Leadership Change (YMCA), an Abuja-based Non-Governmental Organisation, the needs for better quality of service from the telecommunications firms is important as the industry moves from one phase of life to another.

Asubiojo, who virtually is a customer to all the four major networks, stressed that, the era of putting customer on hold for hours on Customer Care lines, when trying to either lay complaints or seek information should be over by now.

“We are in a digital revolution, where things are done at the speed of light. I believe that any serious operator who indulge in keeping customers for hours need to be sanctioned by the regulator. There should be no room for nonsense in 2013.” He said.

He said eleven years is not a joke, calling on the regulators and operators to provide better services in future.

Also, the Managing Director, New Horizon Computer Training Learning Centre, Mr Tim Akano, said there is the need for improvement in the services rendered by the telecoms and Internet services providers.

Akano said the telecoms industry has come of age in Nigeria, arguing that there is need for greater improvement in the services provided by the operators. He said the workings of a technology is unpredictable because it is subject to human errors, urging telecom operators to ensure that customers get values for their money as the industry celebrate its 11 years anniversary.

Speaking on the issue, the President of the Association of Telecommunications Company of Nigeria, Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu said while the telecoms service providers have continuously invested in network to provide better quality service for the consum-

• Minister of Communications Mrs. Omobola Johnson

ers, the operating environment has been making the quality a little bit difficult for them.

He listed expectations from the industry players in future to include the needs for continuous research and market study, deliberate attention to customers’ complaints, deliberate attention to people with disability, and discriminatory tariff, not occasioned by promos but by requirements of consumers. He hoped for better telecoms services in the industry.

A telecommunications expert, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, said it was worrisome that operators are only interested in growing their subscribers’ base without paying adequate attention to efforts at ensuring satisfactory customer care experience. He advocated for improved service delivery as the industry gets older.

He said: “If there is any major excruciating experience being faced by telecoms subscribers in this country today, aside the so obvious intermittent challenge of quality of service obtained on the networks of operators, it is the poor customer care response that is becoming a thorn in the flesh of our service providers.”

According to him, whether a subscriber wants to make a request about new service offerings available or to resolve a service challenge, “it is often the case that you either find it difficult to access the dedicated customer line of the concerned operator or where the line goes through, you are made to wait for minutes or hours before a customer service representative attends to you.

You may be asked to visit their websites, which means you spend extra money to browse before your problem could be resolved.”

Ogunbanjo urged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to improve on this and in other areas next year.

Operators should know that they cannot be in business without the subscribers. He said, though operators are working, they need to work harder to give the best to their customers.

However, there are infrastructural prob-

• Dr Juwah

lems facing the operators and the government needs to resolve them to enable customers get good services in the future.

To address the problems in the industry, the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has put in place some measures. The commission has set up machinery to review the Consumer Code of Practice Regulations of 2007. The move, NCC said, aimed at curtailing sharp practices identified with some telecommunications service providers in the country.

Subsequently, the commission in December 2011, established an Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF), in collaboration with other industry stakeholders such as the Consumer Protection Council, the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, the Nigerian Bar Association of Nigeria, telecoms advocacy bodies, as well as, other key consumer advocacy representatives in the country.

Speaking at the ICAF forum in Lagos, the Executive Vice-Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, said the forum would act in advisory capacity and make recommendations to the telecommunications regulator regarding the interest and concerns of consumers of Information and Communications Technology products and services including persons with disabilities and the elderly.

He added that it is a core responsibility of the commission to see that the industry at all times satisfies the various needs of consumers where possible.

He said operators must deal promptly with consumer queries and requirements, holding consumer Town Hall meetings, developing an NCC consumer contact centre, conducting SIM card registration exercise across the country, facilitating number portability, and supporting the various consumer advocacy groups to ensure that consumers are better served.

“Consequently, the ICAF initiative is therefore very much in keeping with the focus of NCC, which remains that as the regulator, we must ensure that the interest of the consumer is at all times protected,”

he added.

In a related development, the Chairman of ICAF and Director General of Consumer Protection Council, Mrs. Ify Umenyi noted that the creation of ICAF by the NCC is in recognition of consumers as a major stakeholder in the telecoms industry.

Umenyi noted that the composition of ICAF comprising consumers, operators, the academia, non-governmental organisation and all other members of society, is a reflection of the seriousness that NCC places on consumer issues.

According to her, in as much as ICAF is a representative of the Nigerian society, it has been thought wise to make the meetings of ICAF an open forum with a view to harnessing firsthand the views of all those affected in one way or the other.

This, she said, would avail ICAF members with all shades of opinions in carrying out the task of advising the NCC and proffering appropriate suggestions to some nagging problems in the telecoms sector. She also pointed out that government in recent time has placed high premium on effective customer delivery in all sectors of the economy.

Speaking recently at a capacity training in Lagos, MTN Nigeria’s Customer Experience Manager Pamela Emordi said customer-centric service revolves round the people and technology.

According to her, every customer wants efficiency; security; accessibility; partnership; simplicity; reliability and dependability from their operators.

She informed that the telecommunications company is working assiduously towards ensuring that every customer on the network is treated as a king.

“As an organisation, the essence of our strategy is the customer. Customer care is the key in winning the battle for the soul of customers,” she added.

NCC and telecoms operators have been trying to address issues relating to customers. But the question is: Will customers get a better deal in future? Time, they say, will tell.

`

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DISCOURSE

Why we no longer blush: Corruption as Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Text of the lecture delivered by Prof Niyi Osundare under the auspices of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, on July 9.

launched against Elumelu. Nigerians were amazed at the effusive manner majority of the members cursed the recommendations, making many to wonder whether these were the same people that spoke so “patriotically” in praise of the report when it was submitted. (p.50) After reading this one feels like screaming as Kunle Ajibade did a couple of years ago: What a Country! Thereafter, Honourable Elumelu was arrested by the EFCC for mismanaging the 5.2 billion naira rural electrification contract funds, an allegation he took to a Federal High Court where he was cleared though the presiding Justice declared that he and some of his committee members still had a case to answer.

Dear listeners, at this juncture, I find myself wondering with the Narrator in my play The State visit: How many, oh how many shall we count Of the teeth of Adepele: There are twenty incisors, fifty canines, While uncountable molars lie buried In the caves of the jaw

•Continued from yesterday

W

HAT, if not corruption, is responsible for the presence of so many patently non-roadworthy vehicles on Ni gerian roads? Time there was when Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO’s) made sure only fit and proper vehicles plied the roads, and the traffic police took care of the sanity and competence of Nigerian drivers. Now, the VIO has literally disappeared, and, with the right bribe to give, you could speed along with your brakeless vehicle and kill as many people as your tyres can crush.

What about those long articulated vehicles and loaded petrol tankers which pummel the roads with their heavy weights and park anywhere that suits their tyrannical fancy? What became of the Nigeria rail system that should have relieved the road of their heavy haulage? Is it true that we have the bribing generosity of trailer magnates to thank for the untimely demise of the Nigerian railway? Pray, to which cabal do we owe the death of the once active Nigerian railway?

And, regarding the planes, why is the Nigerian air space full of Tokunbo aircraft? (As if the carnage being wrought by Tokunbo automobiles on our roads is not enough!). Why is the Nigerian sky littered with cheap, creaking carriers from foreign scrap-yards, refurbished jalopies imported to serve as shortcut to wealth for their ruthless owners and one-way ticket to death for Nigerian passengers?

How are the inspection schedules and oversight procedures of planes plying the Nigerian space handled? Is it true that some ‘inspectors’ certify airplanes in the manager’s office, declaring them air-worthy after collecting their brown envelopes or bulging Ghana-must-go’s – without ever laying their eye on the very object of their inspection? There were rumours that this kind of malpractice contributed to the crash of Sosoliso airplane in Port Harcourt on December 10, 2005 and the Bellview one just two months before - rumours that have been blowing in the wind ever since owing to the non-availability of the post-crash investigation reports Investigations without end. Reports without result. Recommendations without implementation. Crimes without punishment. This is the sorry order in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We learn nothing from history, and that is why for us History frequently repeats itself as a running mix of tragedy and farce. We are like that nanny goat in the tale whipped countless times for a repeated offence. Buffeted by political banditry, anesthesized by gross religiosity, inundated by injustices which stink to the high heavens, our senses have been dulled, our nerves critically undone, our sense of reality twisted to look like something straight out of the theatre of the absurd.

Or what could be more absurd, more jaw-droppingly nightmarish than the present sensational bribegate involving the Right Honourable Farouk Lawan and the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on the probe of the oil subsidy scandal? As the story goes, Honourable Lawan, chairman of this committee, is alleged to have asked one of the oil magnates for a hefty bribe so as to remove his company’s name from the list of those being penciled down for investigation and possible sanction. But he barged straight into a setup and went home with marked dollar bills. By the time he began to badger his affluent briber for the outstanding balance of the three-million dollar deal (after collecting the initial 620,000 dollars), the police were already knocking on his door. In the past three weeks or so, our minds have been smothered by the slush and sleaze of this unedifying saga. Now our Honourable Representatives are trying to set up another committee to investigate the disgraced investigators.

Round and round in a cycle of shame The bribed, the briber, all the same In a land so decrepit, so decayed Justice always denied, for ever delayed To think that this unforgivably silly charade is what our so-called elected representatives are making of a serious scandal involving the oil subsidy, the removal of which precipitated a virtual shutdown of the country in the very first week of this year, subjecting millions of our people to untold suffering, and in some cases, death. From the very beginning, we never trusted the Jonathan government’s propaganda regarding the existence of subsidy, nor were we persuaded by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s IMF-induced campaign for its removal. Many argued that the problem with Nigeria’s oil business was not the so-called subsidy on the price at the pump-head, but the wanton hemorrhaging caused by vulpine oil cabals who collected billions of naira as subsidy on oil which they never supplied. The Nigerian government had, therefore, been subsidizing corruption all along, and was bent on getting the Nigerian people to cough out more for that ignoble purpose. The people said no in January, and the thunderous reverberations of their voices gingered the House of Representatives into instituting an investigation.

To be sure, the Farouk Lawan ad hoc committee started off on a salutary note. Its initial revelation of millions of dollars collected as phantom subsidy by oil companies endeared it to the Nigerian people whose strong suspicion it only served to confirm. For once, the people thought they

• Prof Osundare

‘What, if not corruption, is responsible for the presence of so many patently nonroadworthy vehicles on Nigerian roads?

Time there was when Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO’s) made sure only fit and proper vehicles plied the roads, and the traffic police took care of the sanity and competence of Nigerian drivers. Now, the VIO has literally disappeared, and, with the right bribe to give, you could speed along with your brakeless vehicle and kill as many people as your tyres can crush’ were about to crush the subsidy conundrum and expose, at last, the cabal that held Nigeria to such exploitative ransom. The canonization of Lawan and his committee was just about to begin when the Otedola dollars threw a wrench into the works. Now attention has shifted from the reports of the committee to the misconduct of some of its members. The oil cabals must be laughing in their sea of subsidy dollars while many Nigerians are still wondering: is this the end of the probe? When will President Jonathan and Dr. Okonjo-Iweala ask Nigerians to submit their backs for the yoke of another “subsidy” removal?

Round and round in a cycle of shame. . . . Just a few months before Lawangate, there was Hembegate. In a classic case of “YOU HEMBE ME AND I’LL OTEH YOU”, Arunma Oteh, then Director General of the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) surprised the whole world with the allegation that the chairman of the committee set up to probe her had earlier demanded from her a bribe of 44 million naira. Before then, Honourable Hembe was said to have also received travel funds, including estacode, from SEC for a foreign trip he never made and the money for which he never returned. Again, a carefully calculated distraction had supplanted the main issue: serious allegations of mismanagement of funds and reckless spending preferred against Ms Oteh became a side item in the panel’s menu of egregious entrees. The accuser had become the accused. Up till now, the nation has not got to the bottom of the serious allegations against the SEC Director. As usual, in response to public outcry and anger, the Very Honourable House of Representatives referred the case to its Ethics and Privileges Committee for further investigation, the outcome of which may never see the light of day.

Round and round in a cycle of shame. . . Before the two ‘-gates’ above there was Elumelugate. In 2007, Dimeji Bankole, then speaker of the House, surprised the entire nation with the revelation that the Obasanjo government had invested 16 billion dollars in the power sector with nothing practically to show for it except the conspicuous darkness that enveloped the nation. In January the following year, the House Power and Steel Committee chaired by Godwin Elumelu was mandated to probe the power sector in respect of the alleged 16 billion dollars.

After an extensive tour of power project sites all over the country, the committee wrote and submitted a report containing a searing indictment of many of the major players in the country’s power sector, including the President himself, and recommended them for possible sanctions. It was at this crucial juncture that the allegation of a 100-million naira bribe was hurled at the committee. Again, the case was referred to the House Ethics and Privileges Committee which investigated and cleared the Elumelu committee which then went ahead to submit its report. Then, this macabre drama by the very honourable members of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, as brilliantly captured

by Samson Ezea of The Guardian on Saturday: Curiously and shockingly, virulent verbal attacks were

From every indication, it appears that those in positions of authority in Nigeria especially in the political and economic spheres have been waging an undeclared war on the country’s resources and general welfare. And it is a war that is savage in its method and dehumanizing in its impact. I have never seen or heard of a country in the world in which public functionaries are as pathologically perverse, blindly rapacious, brutally cannibalistic, and callously unpatriotic as the ones that hold this unfortunate land in thrall. Consider the mind-boggling scam by the Pension Reform Task Team and the two billion naira cash discovered cruse and raw in the home of one of the officials. Two billion naira of pension funds in a country where old, feeble pensioners starve to death in their little hovels or collapse from exhaustion on mindless “verification parades”! What about police bosses who embezzle funds meant for the welfare of the Force (For an instructive story of Tafa Balogun, one of such bosses, see Wale Adebanwi’s A Paradise for Maggots: The Story of a Nigerian anti-Graft Czar, a meticulously detailed, eloquently written biography of Nuhu Ribadu, a book that should be compulsory read for every public official in this country – from the local government councilor to the President, from the micro-finance banker to the Central Bank governor).

What about suspected public officials and the EFCC’s revolving door? Again, another narrative with a shameful chronology: allegation of extensive graft, arrest, arraignment, brief detention, (with all the publicity razzmatazz), then bail, and silence, Finis. . . . Virtually every former governor since 1999 has gone through this deceptive ritual. Dimeji Bankole, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, went through his own motions recently, with the same result. Somehow, the huge sums the ‘arrested’ officials are suspected to have stolen/embezzled/mismanaged resonate in the public domain for a while, then fade away as we move on to further, bigger scams. The Nigerian people have seen and heard about so many colossal sums being stolen that they have lost their awe for numbers.

Time there was when millions raised the brow And a millionaire was deemed the super rich Then came the billions and their ceaseless itch And now we talk in trillions in a tall and tidy row We have not only lost our capacity to blush; swarmed by the grossness of fraud-fraught numbers, we have also lost the ability to count. Or to put it another way, we have been afflicted by a chronic number fatigue. Those who steal the nation’s money have not only ruined our economy by devaluing the national currency; they have also impoverished our spirit and devalued our capacity to be human. Nigeria today is suffering from moral inflation: outwardly big and bloated, internally empty and weak.

Corruption, Nigeria’s fastest-growing industry Let’s face this fact: corruption is the fastest-growing industry in Nigeria today. It is the real money-spinner, the oil which lubricates the engine of Nigeria’s politics and economy, a sine qua non in business deals, a desideratum for advancement in all spheres. Come to think of it. How/what would our politics be without corruption? If our electoral processes were less corrupt, how would judges on the Election Petition and Appeal Court get a few ‘gifts’ to secure them in their retirement? What about the lawyers who rake up their billions from litigating cases that should have been determined in the polling booth? How would the Distinguished Senator and Honourable Rep. live up to their billing as lawmakers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria without securing millions of naira from acts such as anticipatory approvals, or incidents such as Lawangate or Hembegate? If you are in the aviation sector, how can you boost your profit margin if you refuse to bribe oversight officers and inspectors whose duty it is to pass your rickety, octogenarian air plane as eminently airworthy and litter the Nigeria sky with flying coffins? If you are a banker, how can you join the big league of billionaires without cooking the books, proliferating unsecured loans, liquidating your bank and running away with the money while hundreds of depositors perish from the stress engendered by your fraud? Yes, indeed, corruption is Nigeria’s most viable industry, the largest employer of labour, engenderer of an economy that knows no recession. In obodo dike Nigeria, corruption pays; it pays handsomely.. . . And this is why we no longer blush . . . .

• To be continued

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

54

EQUITIES NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 25-7-12

Positive earnings fail to lift market P

ESPITE positive earnings reported by blue Chip Companies yesterday, the bears continued to dominate the market.

The lossers’ dragged down the All Share Index (ASI) by 39.42 points.

Heavy weight stocks - Nigerian Breweries, Nestle, Zenith Bank and Stanbic-IBTC reported their second quarter, June 30th, 2012 results.

Performance wise, the period was hallmarked with strong growths at the top and bottom lines.

Similarly, the Market

By Taofik Salako and Tonia Osundolire

Capitalisation of all listed equities shed N13 billion, representing 0.17 per cent depreciations, to close lower at N7.360 trillion.

However, investors traded 420.527 million shares worth N2.969 billion across 4,550 deals. Financial Services sector still retained the lead with 368.063 million shares worth N2.078 billion in 2,583 deals.

The Consumer Goods sector followed with 25.557 million shares worth N651.098 million in 943 deals.

Other actively traded stocks were Oil & Gas, Conglomerates, Industrial Goods and Services.

On the price movement tables, a total of 48 equities recorded price change with 20 appreciating while the remaining 28 reduced in value.

Custodian and Allied Insurance led the gainers with price gain of N0.07 to close at N1.49 while Eterna Oil and Gas led the losers’ table.

Stanbic IBTC reassures shareholders on holding TANBIC IBTC Bank has share will be converted to a company assured its shareholdshare in the holding com-

S

ers that their stake in the group will remain unchanged when its impending holding company structure is finalised.

The group recently announced that it would seek shareholders’ approval to reorganise the banking institution into a holding company structure.

Mrs. Sola David-Borha, chief executive officer of Stanbic IBTC Bank, at the facts behind of the company yesterday, said the clarification had become necessary in order to allay concerns of shareholders who may be worried about the potential impact of the restructuring on their shareholding.

“The proposed restructuring will result in no adverse changes to the rights and ownership of existing shareholders of Stanbic IBTC. I wish to state categorically that the value of your investment will not be adversely affected by the change in legal structure.

For example if a shareholder owns 1% of the bank he will own 1% of the new holding company,” she said.

“The number of shares held by a shareholder will however, change as four out of every five shares will be cancelled.

The shareholder will be paid 50 kobo for each share cancelled and the remaining

pany.”

The proposed share cancellation means that excess capital will be returned to shareholders, David-Borha said, that the share capital of the bank will be reduced by a total of N7.5 billion as a result of cancellation of 15 billion out of the current 18.75 billion ordinary shares.

The holding company will have 10 billion issued and fully paid up shares of 50 kobo. Shareholders of the bank will become shareholders of Stanbic IBTC Holdings with the same proportionate ownership, save for adjustments for fractional shares, which will be converted to cash.

Subsequently, Stanbic IBTC Bank will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC and will apply to the CBN for a commercial banking license.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY SUMMARY AS AT 25-7-12

55

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

MONEY LINK

CBN to banks: Stop offshore deposit guarantee

T

HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has banned banks from guaranteeing the deposit of their foreign subsidiaries.

The apex bank has also reaffirmed its policy stopping banks from recapitalisng their offshore subsidiaries with funds from parent companies.

In a statement signed by CBN Director, Banking Supervision, Mrs Agnes Martins, the banking watchdog noted with concern the incessant demands on Nigerian banks by various host regulators for the recapitalisation

By Collins Nweze

of their foreign subsidiaries.

These demands, she said, have exerted enormous pressure on the capital base of most parent banks due to the lull in the capital market, making it difficult to raise capital, diminishing profit margins and increasing competition.

The apex bank said that these capital demands are not in tandem with the level of growth in business activities in these lenders.

The banking watchdog said it would not allow banks to continue funding their sub-

sidiaries from parent companies but would encourage them to consider mergers and acquisitions with other local or foreign banks in host country.

“The CBN shall not permit any further capital outlay from parent banks to augment the capital needs of foreign subsidiaries but would rather encourage banks to consider mergers and acquisition arrangements with other local and or foreign banks in the host country. Under no circumstances are parent banks allowed to guarantee the de-

posit of their foreign subsidiaries,” she said.

Also, the apex bank said the banks can source for fresh capital from the host country capital market either through private placements or public offers.

It also recommended that parent banks whose foreign subsidiaries are unable to raise additional capital in the host country market will be required to submit

E

Alexis Karklins-Marchay, Co-Leader of the Emerging Markets Centre, said that although slower expansion in the rapid-growth markets is likely this year, it will only be a blip and we will see a return to significant growth towards the end of the year. “Soaring domestic demand in economies starved, for some time, of investment and consumption will offer business exciting new markets for goods and services in the years ahead,” he said.

Bisi Sanda, Senior Partner, Transaction Advisory Services, believes that power sector holds the key to the Nigeria’s economic growth and development.

He says: “If the government of Nigeria completes its privatisation of the power sector assets in 2012, it will provide much required fresh

U

firmed its commitment to retail banking. The bank said in a statement that it will not relent in the pursuit of its goal of becoming a leading retail bank in the country.

Speaking on the bank’s second quarter report, the Managing Director, Ado Wanka said the bank’s performance re-emphasizes the strategic thrust of retail banking.

Wanka said the improvements

breath to the much delayed reactivation of stimulus of the manufacturing sector, including the reactivation of over 100 textile mills that closed down or relocated from Nigeria between 2000 and 2007. Power is an enabler in Nigeria.”

COBANK Capital, the investment banking arm of Ecobank, has announced that it had successfully raised, $228 million required to close the first tranche of a loan syndication on behalf of Olam Palm Gabon.

The facility according to a statement, comprises a $20 million 10-year FCFA tranche and a $208 million seven-year Euro and FCFA tranche, extendable to 12

E

years.

The second tranche of the syndicated loan is likely to be placed with international development finance institutions at a later date.

Ecobank Capital acted as the mandated lead arranger, working with two co-arranging banks, namely, Afreximbank and BGFI Bank Gabon.

The Central African Development Bank participated as a lender.

Amount N

Rate %

M/Date

3-Year 5-Year 5-Year

35m 35m 35m

11.039 12.23 13.19

19-05-2014 18-05-2016 19-05-2016

WHOLESALE DUTCH AUCTION SYSTEM Amount Amount Offered ($) Demanded ($) 350m 150m 350m 138m 350m 113m

MANAGED FUNDS Price Loss 2754.67 447.80

INTERBANK RATES 7.9-10% 10-11%

PRIMARY MARKET AUCTION (T-BILLS) Tenor 91-Day 182-Day 1-Year

Amount 30m 46.7m 50m

Rate % 10.96 9.62 12.34

Date 28-04-2012 “ 14-04-2012

GAINERS AS AT 25-7-12 SYMBOL

CUSTODYINS PORTPAINT IKEJAHOTEL UTC NAHCO FIDELITYBK CCNN REDSTAREX UBA IBTC

O/PRICE

1.42 2.49 1.13 0.53 5.70 1.33 4.00 2.92 4.20 7.05

C/PRICE

1.49 2.61 1.18 0.55 5.90 1.37 4.12 3.00 4.29 7.18

NGN USD NGN GBP NGN EUR NIGERIA INTER BANK (S/N) (S/N) Bureau de Change (S/N) Parallel Market

Current Before

C u r r e n t CUV Start After %

147.6000 239.4810 212.4997

149.7100 244.0123 207.9023

150.7100 245.6422 209.2910

-2.11 -2.57 -1.51

149.7450

154.0000

154.3000

-3.04

152.0000

153.0000

155.5000

-2.30

153.0000

154.0000

156.0000

-1.96

O/PRICE 2.65 5.98 4.75 15.39 15.12 1.71 7.44 35.00 55.00 1.90

C/PRICE 2.52 5.69 4.52 14.65 14.40 1.63 7.11 33.50 52.80 1.83

CHANGE 0.13 0.29 0.23 0.74 0.72 0.08 0.33 1.50 2.20 0.07

DISCOUNT WINDOW Feb. ’11

July ’11

Dec ’11

MPR

6.50%

6.50%

12%

Standing Lending Rate ,, Deposit Rate ,, Liquidity Ratio Cash Return Rate Inflation Rate

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 1.00% 12.10%

8.50% 4.50% 25.00% 2.00% 12.10%

9.50% 5.50% 30.00% 2.00% 12.6%

NIBOR Tenor 7 Days 30 Days 60 Days 150 Days

NSE CAP Index

27-10-11 N6.5236tr 20,607.37

Date 2-7-12 27-6-12 22-6-12

Rate (Previous) 4 Mar, 2012 9.0417 9.6667 11.2917 12.1250

Rate (Currency) 6, Mar, 2012 10.17% 11.46% 11.96% 12.54%

28-10-11 N6.617tr 20,903.16

% Change -1.44% -1.44%

MEMORANDUM QUOTATIONS Name

LOSERS AS AT 25-7-12

SYMBOL ETERNA INTBREW DANGSUGAR PRESCO OANDO RTBRISCOE ACCESS UACN FLOURMILL HONYFLOUR

Exchange Rate (N) 155.2 155.8 155.7

CAPITAL MARKET INDEX Year Start Offer

CHANGE

0.07 0.12 0.05 0.02 0.20 0.04 0.12 0.08 0.09 0.13

Amount Sold ($) 150m 138m 113m

EXHANGE RATE 6-03-12 Currency

OBB Rate Call Rate

Gagan Gupta, Olam International’s representative in Gabon, observed: “This project represents an essential part of Olam’s partnership with the Republic of Gabon, which will contribute to the State’s emerging policy of sustainable development.

“We will be implementing international best practices throughout the entire supply chain by adopting the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) principles.”

opment of retail market-fit products attest to the retail banking commitment.

Unity Bank grew its interest income by 26 per cent from N15.4 billion in the corresponding period of last year to N19.4 billion as at June 30, this year.

Fees and commission also grew significantly to N6.3billion from N3.8billion representing 64 per cent improvement.

By the second quarter report of the bank which has already been submitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the bank’s improved performance derived mainly from operational profit as against loan recoveries.

Equally of note is the improvement in cost-to-income ratio which rose to 85 per cent from 79 per cent recorded last year in the corresponding period.

The bank sustained its impressive performance for the second quarter of this year by posting a profit before tax of N3.5 billion for the half year, which is 63 per cent improvement over the corresponding period.

DATA BANK

Tenor

NIDF NESF

on the earning assets and the overall balance sheet size as the bank grew its risks assets by about N44 billion, of which significant portion went to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is indicative of the retail banking focus.

In a statement, he said the improvement in the deposit mix accounted for partly by the bank’s drive for stable and low cost deposits through the on-go-

Ecobank Capital raises $228m

FGN BONDS

Initial Current Quotation Price Market N8250.00 5495.33 N1000.00 N552.20

•CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido

Unity Bank restates commitment to retail ing savings promotions known banking NITY Bank Plc has reafas Aim, Save & Win and devel-

‘Nigeria’s economic setback temporary’ CONOMIC expansion in the 25 leading rapidgrowth markets (RGMs), including Nigeria, has started to slow sharply since the beginning of this year but this will only be a temporary setback, according to Ernst & Young’s quarterly report.

Carl Astorri, Senior Economic Adviser to Ernst & Young said RGMs are well placed to weather the major risks facing the global economy at the present time, given that they have the space to relax fiscal and monetary policy.

This, he said has already happened in some RGMs, adding that there will be further easing of monetary policy in the months ahead, particularly if the global economy deteriorates further.

exit strategies from those jurisdictions not later than June 30, 2012.

Additionally, Nigerian banks with foreign subsidiaries are required to submit within 60 days from May 18, 2012 recapitalisation plans in anticipation of regulatory capital increases under Basel II and III and any other unforeseen increases by host countries.

Offer Price

Bid Price

ARM AGGRESSIVE 9.17 KAKAWA GUARANTEED 1.00 STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE 122.91 AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND 105.66 LOTUS CAPITAL HALAL 0.74 BGL SAPPHIRE FUND 1.09 BGL NUBIAN FUND 0.95 NIGERIA INTERNATIONAL DEB. 1,717.29 PARAMOUNT EQUITY FUND 8.95 CONTINENTAL UNIT TRUST 1.39 CENTRE-POINT UNIT TRUST 1.87 STANBIC IBTC NIG EQUITY 7,998.67 THE DISCOVERY FUND 193.00 FIDELITY NIGFUND 1.67 • ARM AGGRESSIVE • KAKAWA GUARANTEED • STANBIC IBTC GUARANTE • AFRINVEST W.A. EQUITY FUND

9.08 1.00 122.77 105.58 0.72 1.09 0.93 1,716.34 8.51 1.33 1.80 7,787.51 191.08 1.62

Movement

OPEN BUY BACK

Bank P/Court

Previous 04 July, 2011

Current 07, Aug, 2011

8.5000 8.0833

8.5000 8.0833

Movement

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

56

NEWS Abia explains demolition

By Joseph Jibueze

A

BIA State Governor Theordore Orji yesterday said illegal structures, especially those built by traders, were being demolished to ease vehicular movement and facilitate road construction.

He said the affected traders have been relocated to “more comfortable areas.”

The governor said while some traders may be unhappy with the demolition, it had to be done in the interest of the state.

“We cannot make omelets without breaking eggs,” the governor said.

Orji, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Public Communication, Mr Ben Onyechere, said the central market in the capital city of Umuahia was relocated to create space.

The statement reads: “My efforts to radically rebuild infrastructural decadence in Abia State is not a sing song or any reason to play to the gallery because my determination is to fundamentally build and develop a formidable foundation that will stand the test of time, which could also be compared to none.

“It is obvious that we started from the scratch and as such, the government cannot be involved in the construction of castles in the air nor are we interested in building white sepulcher here just to attract a short-lived applause.

“Abia was almost an abandoned property before we took charge of power. The preceding administrations did not have a road-map to develop and uplift the standard of the state such that our task is onerous though surmountable.

“As somebody who has gone through the rudiments of governance, I am abreast of the needs of the people rather than their wants, which is the reason we are sparing no effort in prioritising our projects with all sincerity of purpose as much as we also desire not to politicise the dividends of democracy particularly with the meagre resources available to us.

“The government is focused without any reservation on creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive so as to generate as many jobs as possible, which is the reason we have provided adequate security by building vital infrastructure such as electricity and roads.

“The demolition of illegal structures in Aba is to enhance movement of traffic as well as facilitate the reconstruction of some roads, all of which we did without touching fully-built homes while the traders have been relocated to more comfortable areas.

“This in any case was not without grudges by some of the traders who forgot that we cannot make omelets without breaking eggs.”

•Orji

•Doctors all...protesting insecurity on the streets of Asaba...yesterday

Delta doctors protest abduction of colleagues

M

EDICAL Doctors in Delta State yesterday took to the streets of

Asaba, the state capital to protest rising spate of abductions of their colleagues across the state.

The protesting doctors marched through major streets en route the state-owned station - Delta Broadcasting Corporation to register their anxiety over the security challenge.

The doctors carried placards with inscription such as: “Kidnappers: Leave doctors alone; “Governor, please secure our lives”; “Doctors are under threat”; “Doctors are not moneybags, stop kidnapping them”; “We must be safe to save lives”; “When doctors are hunted patients die” and “No to kidnapping of doctors” A similar protest took place at the Federal Medical Centre

Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba

(FMC), Asaba over the abduction of a female doctor.

Chairman of the Delta State chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Dr Chuks Ossai Abaninwa, in an interview with The Nation decried the spate of kidnappings of doctors, stressing that in the last seven days, three doctors have been kidnapped.

His words: “We are protesting because of the insecurity in the state. As you are aware, there is security challenge in the state, especially kidnapping. Doctors in the state are being kidnapped on a regular basis. Last week, two of our colleagues were kidnapped. As we speak, their captors still hold on to them. One was kidnapped in front of the hospital gates were he works, the other was kidnapped in front of his

house at Ekete waterside in Udu Local Government Area. And only last week, an elderly doctor was also kidnapped. Doctors in the state have become targets for kidnappers; the state is no longer safe for doctors and their relations.

“Kidnappers are threatening us. The three doctors in their custody right now are being asked to pay N5 million each before they are released or they will be killed. Every doctor is at risk.

“We are here to let the government know that we are in real danger. We are doctors; we treat patients and we need to be safe to have a sound mind to treat patients .The way it is now, we are under tension ,we are apprehensive; we are not concentrating on our job.

He denied that doctors are rich, blaming the State government for misleading the pub-

lic of releasing a false salary structure during a row with the government over implementation of CONMESS allowance.

He said: ”We are blaming the government for misleading the public about the true state of doctor’s salary in the state; it has sent a bad signal to criminals”.

Abaninwa said doctors are apprehensive and can no longer concentrate on their jobs, adding that doctors and their relations have been penciled down for abductions.

“A ransom of five million each have been demanded for the release of the three doctors under captive by their abductors or they will be killed”, he said.

He said the kidnappers have a list of medical doctors, their wives and children and are threatening to come after them His words: “The kidnappers

Faceless individuals behind petitions against UNIZIK’s VC

F

ACELESS individuals are behind the petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against the Vice Chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Prof.

Boniface Egboka, the chairman of the institution’s Governing Council, Chief Senas Ukpannah has said.

Ukpannah, a former Economic Planning Minister, said he had equally received volumes of petitions against the vice chancellor.

According to him, some faceless individuals were behind the unsigned petitions against the vice chancellor.

In the petitions to the Governing Council and EFCC, the petitioners alleged that the vice chancellor had promoted a number of lecturers to professors without merit and due process.

They also accused the vice

T

•Governing Council battles Fed Govt over take-off grant From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

chancellor of misappropriating funds belonging to the varsity and awarding contracts without due process among sundry allegations.

Ukpannah said that nobody identified with any of the petitions at the meeting of the Governing Council which was well attended.

He said: “We know during the selection of the vice chancellor of this institution, there were a good number of people who applied but only one person can be appointed to the position and equally, people will be aggrieved and that should not amount to blackmail of a colleague.

“These people petitioning are faceless individuals. They want to blackmail their col-

league because they did not get what they wanted, we do not want any distraction in this great institution.

“The style of the council of this institution is that there must be peace, aggrieved persons should follow the lay down procedure there are lots of challenges in this school which are being tackled by the management.”

He, however, said it was the usual practice by the EFCC to investigate any petition it received against individuals organizations, adding that the visits by officials of the commission or invitation of the vice chancellor were normal.

“Unless the EFCC comes up with what they call their findings after the investigation, the governing council will not do anything”, Ukpannah said.

He expressed concern over the non release of the take-off grant by the Federal Government to the institution.

He said the pro-chancellor of the institution and Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Sule Gambari has taken up the issue with the federal authorities.

“The take-off grant was the first issue the council took up with the Federal Government when we came on board. It is a political issue also to a point.

We are calling the stakeholders in this state to mount pressure on the government to give us our take-off grant”, Ukpannah said.

Since the institution was taken over by the Federal Government, the N500 million take-off grant given to federal varsities has not been released to UNIZIK and few other institutions.

Government, council employees disagree as long as the Accountantover biometric in Abia pay General clears such council

HE Abia State government and the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) have disagreed on why some council workers have not been paid salaries.

According to the state, the employees have not been paid because they resisted the biometric data capture that was introduced by the state government to flush out ghost workers in the system.

But the NULGE leadership in the state accused the government of insincerity in the implementation and the usage of the biometric data capture machines at the grassroots.

Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Emma Nwabuko told The Nation yesterday in Umuahia, the state capital, that

From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

salaries of whoever refuses to use the biometric as at when due.

Nwabuko explained that the government was battling to rectify the records of some outstation workers, those on inservice training and revenue collectors.

The commissioner informed that the state has saved millions of naira since it introduced biometric system, pointing out that the benefits of the biometric outweighs the workers’ resistance by far.

He said that the government has been working out how to capture those categories of

workers to enable them get their salaries.

Nwabuko said the motive behind the introduction of the biometric was to fish out ghost workers.

He said there was nothing unusual in the workers attitude towards the biometric as the people will always kick against every new policy.

“But I want to assure the workers that the issue of biometric has come to stay and there will be no going back.”

The commissioner denied the allegation that the ministry was deliberately withholding the salaries of council employees, saying it was impossible for the ministry to do so, “as every worker deserve his

area, the workers will be paid”.

He alleged that the NULGE leaders have been saying they would not collect the salary unless the salaries of their colleagues were captured.

Reacting, NULGE President Eze Idima said the workers were not resisting the biometric data capture, but that the bone of contention was on the implementation of the result of the biometric.

Idima said that the union agreed with the government that the issue of those in out station, revenue collectors and those on in-service training should be considered during the payment of workers salary, which the government has refused to accommodate.

say they have a list of doctors and their wives in the state and they will come after them one by one. The kidnappers say they know the schools the doctor’s children attend” Abaninwa warned that doctors will withdraw their services in both government and private hospitals if the situation persists “If there is security collapse in the state, the government should take the blame. We are protesting insecurity and calling on the government to live up to expectation and protect every citizen in the state particularly doctors.. If the kidnapping does not stop, there will be no doctors to work again as I speak to you now, we did not work yesterday and today. The percentage of doctors being kidnapped is higher and the kidnappers have a list of doctors.”

Anambra enumerates stalls to boost IGR Nwanosike Onu, Awka

B

ARRING the unforeseen, enumeration of market stalls in Anambra State will start next Monday. The move is part of efforts to boost the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

The monthly IGR of the state has being hovering between N350 million and N500 million, a development that has given the Governor Peter Obi-led administration sleepless nights.

State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry Robert Okonkwo told the presidents of major markets across the state yesterday to brace up for the scheme.

The commissioner spoke at a sensitisation parley he held with the market leaders.

Modalities for the programme were mapped out at the parley which lasted for hours at the Conference Hall of the State House.

Okonkwo said the enumeration would determine the number of stalls, their owners and the tenants.

He added that in view of the challenges the government was facing in the markets, there was the need to keep a tab on their operations.

Besides the officials from the ministry, the commissioner said others, including a consultant working for the state and chairmen of the 21 local government areas, would be deployed to carry out the enumeration.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

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NEWS Bayelsa to build polo club

Suspected cult member set ablaze From Polycarp Orosevwotu, Warri

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SUSPECTED cult member, identified as Oremi, was set ablaze by a vigilance group in Ovwian, Udu Local Government of Delta state.

He was said to have been caught at Emedjor Street, Ovwian, snatching phones from passers-by.

A source said Oremi was among those suspected to have killed Aboy, a member of an opposition cult at Orhuwhorun.

The head of the vigilance group, David Ukiri, said Oremi was dealt with to serve as a deterant to others.

His remains have been moved to an undisclosed location.

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HE Bayelsa State Government has laid the foundation for a world-class Polo Club to promote tourism and leisure in the state.

Speaking at the groundbreaking near the Gloryland Castle at the Government House, Yenagoa, Governor Seriake Dickson said the project would not only serve as a sporting facility but also help drive the development of the tourism sub-sector.

Dickson said the present administration would build a new Bayelsa through sports,tourism, peace, wealth and job creation.

According to the governor, his administration attaches great importance to sports and tourism because they have the capacity to create wealth, employ labour and strengthen bonds of friendship across countries.

Man arraigned for alleged fraud

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MAN, Austin Giwa, has been arraigned for allegdly duping his fiancee, Joy Aibangbee, of N400,000 under the pretence of procuring travelling documents for her to the United States.

According to the prosecutor, Thomas Omokaro, the accused allegedly committed the offence between June and December 2010 around S/T

•Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole displaying a victory card from the Egbaen of Siluko , Edomwonyi Ogiegbaen

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From Clarice Azuatalum, Port Harcourt

disrupt their lawful businesses.

The JTF, Ayi said, impounded a barge and the tugboat on Isaka Creek in Rivers State.

“After detailed investigations conducted by the JTF headquarters, it was discovered that the barge was conveying over 100,000 litres of illegally refined Automated Gasoline Oil (AGO) loaded from Soku community in Akuku-Toru Local Government,” he said.

The spokesman said the tugboat and its four crew members were not found culpable because they were contracted by the barge owners to tow the barge after its (the barge’s) engine developed problem.

Ayi said while the crew of the tugboat has been exonerated, the seven men who own the barge and its illegally refined AGO would be prosecuted.

Handing over the tugboat to its owner at the Ogoloma jetty in Okrika Local Government yesterday, Ayi said the

Defence Headquarters approved the release of the tugboat after the correct findings were made.

He said: “This event is important because it serves to assure the operators of the maritime sub- sector and all other Nigerians engaged in legitimate petroleum business that JTF will not in any way disrupt their legitimate businesses.”

Ayi said the task force would continue to monitor the perpetrators of oil bunkering and would not hesitate to arrest and prosecute them .

CPC slams First Ladies’ summit

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HE Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) yesterday described the hosting of the African First Ladies’ summit as a waste of resources by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government.

A statement in Abuja by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Rotimi Fashakin, said: “The CPC has noted, with utter disgust, the hosting of the African First Ladies under the aegis of the African First Ladies for Peace Mission (AFLPM) by Mrs Patience Jonathan.

The statement said: “What is befuddling is the attendant huge depletion of the nation’s scarce resources in hosting the event. It was reported that 200 exotic cars were ordered for the convenience of the guests.

“What is stupefying is that this unbudgeted spending is coming when many states are on a shoestring budget.

Jonathan’s wife opens interim secretariat

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RS Patience Jonathan yesterday in Abuja inaugurated the interim secretariat of the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM).

The First Lady, who was accompanied by other African First Ladies, who are in Nigeria for the seventh AFLPM summit, said the secretariat would facilitate efforts to bring peace to Africa.

“I inaugurate this secretariat to the glory of God and to the benefit of mankind; this interim secretariat will bring peace to our countries and our region.

“Peace will reign in Africa, there will be no war and there will be no conflict in Jesus name,” she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the main hall of the secretariat is designed to accommodate the 33 African First Ladies and 200 observers.

The secretariat is equipped with a modern press gallery with media gadgets that can transmit live reports in the four official languages in Africa: English, French, Portuguese and Arabic.

The secretariat used to be the office complex of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR).

•Presidency denies buying 200 cars From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

“Indeed, the May allocations have not been fully released to these states; it is at this time that the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration has chosen to host a

rather feckless and utterly profligate jamboree.

“As a party, we condemn this infernal show of insensitivity on the part of this administration and indeed, the PDP. “This profligate spending

has become synonymous with PDP administrations.

We do hope that the National Assembly shall query the source of funds.”

But the Presidency said it did not buy any car for the summit.

A national newspaper (not The Nation) yesterday reported that the Federal Government bought 200 new “exotic” cars for the summit.

But, the President’s media aide, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the cars were offered to AFLPM by Coscharis Motors Ltd. Abati, in a statement in Abuja, said the agreement between AFLPM and Coscharis was that all the cars will be returned to the company after the summit.

He said the cars were provided at no cost to the organisers or the Federal Government.

The presidential aide said there was no facts to support the claim that the Federal Government bought the cars.

Robbers shoot The Sun Editor in Lagos

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Road, Uselu, Benin in Edo State.

The victim said Giwa collected the money in different instalments at various times.

The defence counsel, Efosa Okoro, applied for more time to study the case file.

Chief Magistrate Taiye Omoruyi adjourned till August 13.

Driver convicted for recklessness From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

JTF returns seized tugboats to owners HE Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield, has returned a tugboat, MT PINTAIL, which was impounded for allegedly conveying illegal petroleum products to its owners, Brawal Shipping Nigeria Limited.

Assistant Media Coordinator of JTF Lt-Commandant Ayi Basil Ayi, in a statement in Port Harcourt yesterday said the JTF released the tugboat to assure operators in the maritime subsector and all other Nigerians engaged in legitimate businesses that the JTF would not

From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

HE Editor of the Daily Sun , Steve Nwosu, was shot yesterday by robbers in Lagos.

The incident, according to a source, occurred in the afternoon at Maza Maza in Amuwo Odofin Local Government.

The editor was shot in the face as the bullet skirted his cheek.

The robbers trailed Nwosu from a bank, it was learnt.

As his driver was about turning from Agboju to The Sun’s corporate headquarters at Kirikiri, the bandits intercepted his vehicle, shooting into the air.

At the sound of gunshots, everybody within the vicinity

By Jude Isiguzo

scampered for safety.

They reportedly demanded the money Nwosu withdrew from the bank and made away with it.

He is receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital, The Nation learnt.

Police spokesperson Ngozi Braide confirmed the incident.

Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has condemned the attack.

He described Nwosu as gadfly who uses humour and satire to draw attention to the ills of the society and question the conduct of political actors.

He prayed for his speedy recovery.

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N Iguobazuwa Area Customary Court, Benin, Edo State, has sentenced a man, Vincent Okor, to one year each for an eight-count charge of reckless driving.

Okor, who drove into a campaign rally ground at Okokpon Village, injured four persons.

According to the prosecutor, Sgt Moses Akpore, the convict on June 4 drove recklessly on the highway without recourse to traffic laws.

Akpore said the injured were Osaigbovo Henry, Christopher Odaro, Lasis Obaretin and Patrick Omoregie.

President of the court Bright Oniha said the jail term runs concurrently while the option of fine was cumulative.

‘Let’s help Oshiomhole’

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DO State Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Godwin Erhahon yesterday appealed to the people to help Governor Adams Oshiomhole to make the state safer and more peaceful.

The CPC chieftain said community development cannot be separated from vigilance, urging the people to add value to Oshiomhole’s performance in his second term.

Erhahon said vigilance service is a community voluntary activity which assists the police in crime control.

He urged the governor to reopen the annual competition for Oba Erediauwa Trophy for communities that excel in the execution of self-help devel-

opment projects.

“That is a way of promoting inter-communal relations and developmental rivalry.

The last competiton was held about 1996.”

LOSS OF DOCUMENT This is to notify the general about the loss of original certificate of occupancy belonging to Alhaji Ibrahim kasumu, the owner of the interest registered as No.66 at page 66 in volume 728, c/o No. 0030066, dated, 22/07/10, at Land Registry Abeokuta, particularly located along Lagos/Ibadan Expressway Idarika Farmland, Iperu Remo in Ikenne Local Govt. area of Ogun State. all efforts to get it proved abortive, general public should take note.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

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NEWS Abuja Varsity crisis deepens

Suspected Boko Haram men kill two Indians

•Fed Govt raises panel

From Joseph Abiodun, Maiduguri

From Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

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UNMEN suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect yesterday killed two Indians in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Another was injured and taken to hospital.

Confirming the killing, spokesman for the Joint Task Force (JTF), code-named “Operation Restore Order”, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, said: “Suspected members of the Boko Haram sect yesterday attacked a Gum Arabic factory located at Bayan quarters, Maiduguri during the downpour.

“They killed two Indians and injured one. He is receiving treatment at the State Specialist Hospital. The gunmen stole N99,000.”

The police spokesman said the area has been cordoned off, adding that investigation is on to arrest the culprits.

Workers remanded for theft From Samson Ademola, Ilorin

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N Ilorin Magistrate’s Court yesterday ordered that a security guard and another man be remanded for allegedly stealing a Plasma TV in a guest house.

The suspects are Jubrin Suleiman, the security guard and Niyi Oluwasegun of no fixed address.

They were accused of conspiring to steal a Plasma flat screen TV valued at N100, 000, which belonged to Link Guest House, Tanke, Ilorin.

The suspects were brought to court on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, trespass and theft, contrary to sections 97, 348 and 287 of the penal code.

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•From left: Mrs. Ojoma Ocha, Assistant Country Director, British Council Nigeria; Cherry Eromosele, Senior Manager, Segment Marketing, MTN; Omoyemi Akerele, Director, Style House and Founder, Lagos Fashion and Design Week;’ and Mr. Kelvin Orita, High Value Segment Manager, MTN, at the MTN Lagos Fashion and Design Week Presentation held in Lagos.

PHOTO: JOHN EBHOTA

Baby killed as building collapses in Kano A

one-year-old baby died yesterday when a storey building collapsed in Kano. Many others were injured.

According to eyewitnesses, the baby was playing with her mates on the balcony of the house located on Niger Road, Sabon Gari, Kano when it caved in.

Neighbours said she was trapped under the debris with her playmates.

Some people were said to have mobilised and rescued the toddler and others trapped at

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

the ground floor before the arrival of fire fighters.

The toddler, identified as Fidausi Opeyemi, died on her way to the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.

Sources said after the incident, inhabitants of the building sought refuge in other houses.

One of the tenants appealed to the Kano State Government to come to their rescue.

They said the deceased and her parents were formerly liv-

ing in the house. On that fateful day, she and her mother were on a visit when the house suddenly collapsed.

The injured are receiving treatments in hospitals in the area.

The father of the girl is said to be an employee of the First Bank of Nigeria Plc in Kano.

Adamawa Tribunal dismisses ACN’s petition

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HE Adamawa State Election Tribunal, headed

by Justice Bitrus Sanga, has dismissed a petition filed by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Sanga said the petitioners failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt. He awarded N50,000 to the defenders as cost.

From Barnabas Manyam, Yola Governor Murtala Nyako hailed the development and urged the people to support his administration in transforming the state.

The running mate to the ACN governorship candidate, Alhaji A.A. Namadas, said the party would appeal.

•A part of the collapsed building on Niger Road, Sabon Gari, Kano...yesterday.

HE Federal Government yesterday raised a 45-man panel to probe the rot in the University of Abuja.

The panel is led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Theo Osanakpo and Prof. Aliyu Mohammed.

It will probe the management of the university and its leadership style as well as look into the finances of the university.

The panel will examine the project administration, procurement, staff matters, students’ admissions, examination administration, general administration, including senate and council affairs.

Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’I, inaugurated the panel in her office shortly after she returned from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

They have 42 days to make recommendations and are expected to submit a report within six weeks.

She said the panel became imperative because of the breakdown of law and order in the university.

“In order to avoid a further breakdown of law and order, President Goodluck Jonathan has approved a special visitation to examine its activities from inception to date,” the minister noted.

The 45-man panel comprises seven teams headed

by Vincent Azie, Prof. Ignatius Uvah, Prof. F. Ogunbona, Prof. I. Bashir, Prof. Dafe Otobo, Dr. Adamu Yabani and Prof. Oronne Akaninwo.

The minister directed the National Universities Commission (NUC) to fund the activities of the panel.

Bank ‘dupes’ customers in Jos From Marie-Therese Nanlong, Jos

O

VER 300 people who deposited money with the Wiscom Business Venture, otherwise known as Wonder Bank, are counting their losses as the management have allegedly absconded with their savings.

The depositors, who were on the premises of the bank at 21, Wamba Road, GRA, Jos yesterday to withdraw their money and interest were shocked to discover that the bank had allegedly been shut.

The premises, which hitherto was a beehive of activities, was deserted.

Investigations showed that deposits attracted a 100 per cent interest at the end of 30 days.

One of the depositors, Zango Josiah, alleged that he came to the bank to withdraw his money but discovered that the place had been shut.

He said he invested N50,000 in the bank.

Josiah said he regretted his action and warned people to be wary of mouth-watering offers. He appealed to the government to fish out the owners of the bank.

UNN Alumni Association decries appointment of non-alumni as VC From Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

U

NIVERSITY of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN)Alumni Association, has vowed to resist the appointment of a non-alumni as a Vice-Chancellor in the next dispensation.

The National President of the association, Dr. Nwanne Chioke, who spoke at the just concluded 80th Executive Council Meeting of the association in Makurdi, Borno State, yesterday urged members to rise up and say “never again to the appointment of a non-alumni as the Vice-Chancellor of the university.”

He said over the years, UNN never had an alumni as the Vice-Chancellor.

THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

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NEWS

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he merger talks between the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and other opposition parties are real, the National Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed confirmed yesterday.

Mohammed added that the new platform that would emerge from the talks would sweep the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) out of office in 2015.

The ACN’s spokesperson told reporters yesterday in Oro, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, shortly before the commence-

Opposition parties plot PDP’s fall in 2015 From Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin

ment of the 6th Lai Mahammed Annual Ramadan Lecture.

He said Nigerians are fed up with the PDP-led government, adding that other political parties have been looking for a ‘Noah’s Ark to rescue them.

His words: “Actually what is happening is not just talk between the CPC and CAN. No political party is satisfied with this government. The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), even the PDP are now looking for what I will call a Noah’s Ark to rescue them. So, make

no mistake about it, it is a reality. It is going to happen and it will sweep the PDP out of power.

“All these stupid insinuations that we tried it 10 years ago it did not work. Why are they afraid if it won’t work?

But I can assure you that God’s willing, it will work. We will resolve all our differences and that new platform will sweep the PDP out of government.”

On the current security challenges in the country Mohammed accused fifth those he called columnists of thwarting attempt at ending

the Boko Haram insurgence.

He said: “There are fifth columnists within the government that would not want an end to Boko Haram insurgence, as they are feeding fact on the situation. Almost a trillion Naira was voted for security in 2011. This would translate to almost N2 billion a day. Those who are managing this funds a some of them do not actually want an end to the menace. The economic situation does not help the situation either.

“I think this government has several times actually told

Nigerians that it is helpless; that it is incapable of securing Nigerians and the primary responsibility of any government even before providing infrastructure is securing lives and property. Whichever government fails to do that does not deserve to be in power one day longer.

“Nigeria is facing security challenges borne out of economic and socio- political ineptitude, but what made the matter spiral out of control is the manner this government has managed this problem. It has managed it with a lot of

issuance, a lot of incompetence.

“The Boko Haram started as a local issue. It was a protest by basically some people from the north-eastern part of this country to the way they perceived their government was being run inefficiently, to the unacceptable level of poverty in their state and to the lack of infrastructure and unemployment. In their own way, they saw politicians and traditional rulers as the enemies of the people.

“The way the government handled the Boko Haram con

Lawyers: appointment of judge serving outside a state as Chief Judge in order

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AN a judge serving in a different state be appointed the Chief Judge of another state? Lawyers were unanimous in the affirmative yesterday.

According to them, no law makes it mandatory that a judge must be appointed from the state where he is domiciled or serves in.

Second Republic AttorneyGeneral of the Federation and Justice Minister Chief Richard Akinjide, Chief Theordore Ezeobi, Prof Taiwo Osipitan , Mr Rickey Tarfa and Dr Joseph Nwobike, all Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SANs) said the move is legal.

Others who spoke include Executive Director, SocioEconomic Rights and Accountability Project, Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni; Founder and Coordinator, Coalition of Lawyers for Good Governance, Mr Joe Nwokedi and constitutional lawyer Mr Jonathan Iyieke.

They said that a qualified lawyer from another state can be appointed a Chief Judge, so long as he meets the constitutional requirement.

There have been criticisms over reports of a plan to appoint Justice Joseph Oyewole

By Joseph Jibueze and Precious Igbonwelunde

of the Lagos who is of the Lagos State High Court as the Chief Judge of his home, Osun State .

Akinjide said: “It is a good thing to appoint a judge from another state as Chief Judge.

It is excellent and there is nothing wrong with it.

“It does not make sense to argue that a judge that has practiced in Lagos cannot be appointed as Chief Judge of another state.

“If that is the case, why do we appoint someone from Nigeria as a judge in London?

Why do we have someone from Nigeria as Chief Judge of The Gambia?

“As far as I am concerned, it is a baseless argument unless there is another reason such as incompetence or any other unethical behavior, otherwise it is a good thing.”

For Ezeobi, there is nothing known in law that prohibits such an appointment He said: “The fact that he is not serving in Osun State High Court is not a valid objection. It cannot be a valid objection.

“To me, appointment of a Chief Judge should not be according to the state of origin.

It should be based on competence.

“Even this pattern of appointment based on seniority, to me, is absolute nonsense. It should be based on the competence of the person to be appointed.

“It should be a question of integrity of the judge, of learning of the judge, not whether he is the most senior judge. The most senior judge may be a rotten, bloody corrupt man.

“Why should seniority be a condition for appointment as the Chief Judge?”

Prof Osipitan said there have been instances where a person, who was not from Lagos State was appointed Chief Judge of Lagos. “There is no requirement that he must be an indigene of the state,” he said.

He said the fact that a judge is serving in another state does not preclude him from appointment in another state.

Osipitan said: “If the Osun governor is considering appointing a judge from Lagos, then he is perfectly in order.

The fact the judge served in

another state does not disqualify him.

“It is a right step in the right direction as such a person will bring fresh ideas to bear on the state where he is appointed to serve.

Tarfa said: “If a judge of Osun State origin could serve another state, that is, Lagos, agreeing with the argument, meritoriously and could excel, to be worthy of being considered and invited by his state to come and serve in a higher capacity should be welcome by all and sundry.

“The decision could only be criticised on the basis of sentiments and not good and informed reasoning in the overall interest of justice and good government and the people.”

For Nwobike, a lawyer who is competent and has met the constitutional requirements can be appointed a Chief Judge of a state from another state.

He cited the example of Taslim Elias, who served as an Attorney-General of the Federation and was later appointed Chief Justice of Nigeria in 1972.

“Appointing a judge serving in another state as the

Chief Judge of a different state is very legal. There is nothing wrong with it in law,” Nwobike said.

Mumuni said those opposed to such an appointment can only he sentimental.

He said: “The Constitution only mentions the qualification as a judge. It simply says 10 years post-call experience.

It means you can even appoint a person from America.

“There is no rule which says if you want to appoint a Chief Judge in Lagos, he must be an indigene or that he must be practicing in Lagos.

“The qualification is simple. Has he or she been a qualified lawyer for at least 10 years? That is the issue.

Every other issue is sentimental and non legal.

“There is nothing that even says the person to be appointed as a judge must be a serving judge anywhere. That is not the constitutional requirement.

“So, the basis of any protests may be sentimental but definitely not legal.”

Nwokedi said: “Section 271 (3) of the 1999 Constitution provides that a person shall not be qualified to hold office

as a judge of a High Court of a state unless he is qualified to practice as a legal practitioner in Nigeria and has been so qualified for a period of not less than 10 years.

“It therefore implies that a governor has the whole of Nigeria as his jurisdiction in appointing anybody as a judge of a High Court of a state once the person is cleared by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

“It is immaterial which state the person came from.

Therefore, the action of the state governor is not ultra vires. He is within the confines of the provisions of the constitution.”

Iyieke said: “It is not unconstitutional for the government of Osun State to appoint a church serving in another state as a Chief Judge.

“However, the judge although employed by Lagos State, is under the National Judicial Council. All that need to be done is a proper letter to Lagos State judiciary, and he can legally proceed to the new appointment.

“To do otherwise would amount to caging his right to determine his right to choice of work.”

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

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THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012

NEWS How subsidy cash was looted

RAMADAN

Senator enjoins Nigerians to unite

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ENATOR Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman representing Kogi Central Senatorial District has called on Nigerians, particularly, the Muslim faithful, to pray fervently for peace, unity and harmony and after the Ramadan period.

Abatemi-Usman made the call in a statement

By Emmanuel Oladesu, Deputy Political Editor

signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Michael Jegede.

According to Senator Abatemi-Usman, the situation in the country has made it necessary for the people to look up to God for succour.

“We should remain steadfast and unwavering in prayers for our beloved country. We have had too many disasters in recent time with numerous innocent Nigerians losing their lives through no fault of theirs. As we make efforts on our own to checkmate the menace, need to seek the face of God. We need divine

intervention,” he said.

The Vice-Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, implored individuals or groups that may have grievances of any kind to embrace dialogue, rather than resort to the wanton destruction of life and property.

Pray for peace, Speaker urges Muslims

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HE Speaker, Benue House of Assembly, Mr David Iorhemba, has called on Muslims in the state to use the period of Ramadan to pray for peace and security in the state.

Iorhemba made the call on Tuesday in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Yakubu Imanche, in Makurdi.

He said there is need for Muslims to pray for peace following the situation in the country.

The speaker also urged them to sustain the longexisting peaceful and cordial relationship with their Christian counterparts in the state.

Iorhemba enjoined Muslims to imbibe the teachings and lessons of the period such as self-

discipline, kindness and sacrifice so as to attract blessings from God. He appealed to them to

live in conformity with the teachings of Prophet Muhammad who was not partial and dishonest.

Group to feed 500 people

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HE Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Lagos State Area Unit, will hold Iftar (breaking of fast) for 500 fasting Muslims at its Zumratul Islamiyyah Secondary School, Yaba, Usrah Centre, today.

A statement by the Amir (President) of the society, Alhaji Qasim Badrudeen, said the programme is in line with the tradition of Prophet Muhammad, which encourages the feeding of fasting Muslims.

According to him, the month of Ramadan has come to inculcate in Muslims noble virtues, among which include

By Tajudeen Adebanjo

caring for the people and sharing with the needy.

Badrudeen said the Iftar programme would strengthen the bond of brotherhood, and love among Muslims.

“Ramadan is a period of caring and sharing. And by this programme, we intend to let our brothers and sisters experience and feel the spirit of oneness.

“Our country today is bedevilled with a lot of social problems, one of which is the absence of love. So, bringing Muslims to break their fast together will not only engender love among the

Islamic cleric advises on security

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ENOWNED scholar and Missioner of Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria Sheikh Muhydeen Bello, on Tuesday urged Nigerians to be vigilant and security conscious.

Bello gave the advice at a lecture and fund-raising ceremony at Evans Square, Lagos, for the completion of the Lagos Mainland Muslim Community Cemetery project.

Sheikh Bello decried the security challenges in the country and cited the mysterious disappearance in Lagos of Alhaji Razak Gawat, a former staff of NTA, as an example.

Bello appealed to the Federal and state governments to address insecurity in different parts of the country.

Also speaking Alhaji Jimoh Faari, Chairman of the Project Committee, noted that the community had initiated some projects to cater for the welfare of its members.

Faari identified the projects at the cemetery, hospital, and an Islamic School of Science and Technology.

The chairman, however, said the 10-acre cemetery project was the committee’s

Lecture

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HE Kasumu Estate Muslim Community (KEMC), Ibadan Oyo State will on Sunday hold its maiden Annual Ramadan Public lecture.

The lecture, entitled Islam and Unity, will be delivered by Sheikh Mueedeen Oniontu.

The speaker urged them to show love to all and sundry, irrespective of their religious inclinations.

priority.

“Why the cemetery is the priority is because of the poor conditions of our existing cemeteries,’’ Faari said.

General Secretary Mainland Muslim community Alhaji

AbdulFatai Yahyah explained that the project was embarked on following an experience it had burying one of their members.

According to him, plots in the cemetery will be allocated free to any Muslim without regard to ethnic background.

RAMADAN GUIDE WITH FEMI ABBAS e-mail: femabbas@yahoo.com Tel: 08122697498

Breaking in error

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OR the first few days in the beginning of Ramadan, there is a tendency for some people to forget that they are fasting. Thus, it is possible to accidentally eat or drink out of forgetfulness.

This often occurs to Muslims who hardly fast outside the month of Ramadan. If it happens to you, there should be nothing to worry about. As soon as you remember, just recondition yourself to Ramadan regulations and continue your fast.

Do not tell anybody. Let it remain a secret between you and your Lord. It does not matter whether you finished eating or drinking before you remember or you were reminded of fast. In Islam, actions are judged according to intentions. And who else judges both actions and intentions other than Allah, the All-seeing, the All- knowing.

Even in the daily SALAT, provisions are made for rectification of forgetfulness in terms of Sujudus-Sahwi. But the forgetfulness in Ramadan accommodates neither drunkenness nor sexual intercourse nor cheating of any kind while Ramadan lasts.

As a Muslim, you are not supposed to drink any intoxicant in the first place, Ramadan or no Ramadan. To be drunk, therefore, in Ramadan, under the pretext of forgetfulness is a confirmation of hypocrisy or infidelity. As for sexual intercourse which can only occur legitimately between a husband and his wife, it is unlikely to be done out of forgetfulness.

At least if the husband cannot remember Ramadan, the wife should. Sexual intercourse cannot be done unconsciously.

But if sex occurs in your dream and you suddenly wake up to discover that you are already wet, all you need to do is to clean up with janabah (purification bath). And, then, you continue your fast. However, to bail yourself out of any doubt or ambiguity, you may fast for one day after Ramadan as atonement for the doubtful act.

Continued from Page 4

showing 19,681,731 litres at observed volume purporting the same to be certificate of the actual PMS delivered

by Mt. Union Brave to Integrated Oil and Gas Limited in Lagos.

The suspects will also be in the dock for alleged forgery of a Shore Quality Certificate showing 19,523,892 litres at observed volume purporting the same to be certificate of the actual PMS delivered

by Mt. Madonna at Obat Petroleum and Oil Limited’s Depot Lagos., Vol. 2 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria , 2003.

They are being arraigned for altering, false documents contrary to Section 468 of the Criminal Code, CAP C 17 Regarding those in the last group (Nadabo Energy Limited; Abubakar Ali Peters, Jude Abalaka and Pacific Silver Line Limited), the government is accusing them of false claim.

They were said to have conspired between February and April 2012 to commit an offence to wit: “obtaining the sum of N1, 464,961,978.24 by false pretence from Federal Government of Nigeria, purporting the same to be payment accruing to the suspects under the PSF in respect of 19,488,922 litres of PMS which they falsely claimed to have purchased from Ashland Energy SA and imported to Nigeria through Mothers Vessel, MT American Express and the daughter vessel, MT St. Venessa and financed through Form M No. MF 878037.”

About 43 witnesses will testify against the 20 suspects who may be arraigned today.

The witnesses include top officials of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency(PPPRA), officials of the CBN, Debt Management Office(DMO), Union Bank, Sterling Bank and EFCC investigators, among others.

Mahama pledges stability Continued from Page 4

•Alhaji Badrudeen

Muslims but such will be extended to the larger society,’ he said.The programme will be preceded by a Special Usrah (lecture).

The ACN national leader said: “He was indeed a philosophical king who devoted his deep learning and his sterling character to the good and wellbeing of his people. I don’t know whence next such beautiful personage-in-power would bless Africa again.

“But we must ensure that we all emulate his stellar qualities, as we build in our continent a culture of vision-

ary and development-driven leadership as the late President Mills so gloriously epitomised.

“On behalf of my family, my political associates and progressive-minded Nigerians, therefore, I condole with you on this terrible loss. Be assured, Your Excellency, of my abiding love and support as you and your compatriots navigate this tasking period of Ghana’s national history,” Asiwaju Tinubu said.

TODAY IN THE NATION

www.thenationonlineng.net

THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

VOL. 7, NO. 2198

‘‘A government that has seen the re-absorption of suspended SEC DG as a priority has kept quiet on the damning report that she was found “to have lied on oath before the panel on the ownership of the nationalized banks” as well as “regulatory failure in some of the recent mergers, acquisitions and approval of transactions” JIDE OLUWAJUYITAN

COMMENT & DEB ATE EBA

T

HE road to Chaminuka Lodge must have been deliberately left out of the asphalt bath which the others had been generously given. It is a long, dusty and bumpy stretch, perhaps about 35kilometres from the capital city.

The bumps that keep passengers dancing on their seats as the bus rocks on through the red earth road are veritable symbols of its long use. But the shaking and rocking may have been for a purpose – to set the tone for the intellectual exercise of the day and, perhaps, to tell the visitor that the road to greatness is often paved with thorns; not an eight-lane expressway. Most likely, considering the beauty of this game reserve on the outskirts of Lusaka, capital of Zambia, host of the CNN/Multichoice African Journalist of the Year 2012 Awards last Saturday.

Bands of grazing antelopes welcome the visitors as they look up after being distracted by the sounds of the engine. The view is as clear as the sky at summer, thanks to the dryness of the winter that has forced the trees to shed their leaves. Besides, the animals trample on the long grass, turning the landscape into a vast savannah of short trees that make game viewing an exciting venture.

But, the business of the day is bigger than game viewing. It is to discuss leadership in Africa. Martin Kalungu Banda, a consultant in leadership and organisation development, led the way. He listed many attributes of a good leader, including humility, drawing examples from his personal experience. A former media executive, he recalled how a colleague of his was excited when he got an appointment to interview Nelson Mandela.

He left the office with a driver and got to the old man’s home at the appointed time to find Madiba waiting for him right at the gate.

Mandela shook hands with his visitors and walked them up to the main house. Just at the point of entry, the driver withdrew and went to sit in the car. Lunch served, the old man asked: “Where is your colleague?” Surprised, the visitor replied: “My colleague? I came alone.” “But I welcomed two people,” Mandela said.

He left for the gate and found the driver in the car, his head resting on the steering, waiting for his boss to finish his meeting. The old man invited him in and asked him to sit with them at the table.

Back in the car after the interview, the excited driver thanked his boss for giving him a life time opportunity of meeting Mandela.

“Oh; it’s my pleasure,” he replied.

On getting to the office, he could not tell his anxious colleagues about the meeting, until they literally forced him to do so. He confessed that he had been taught a lesson in humility.

To Banda, author of the bestseller, “Leading like Madiba: Leadership lessons from Nelson Mandela”, it is always a problem when a man is given powers that are too much for him to exercise. What happens when you have that kind of situation? The man misbehaves, becomes proud and sees

GBENGA OMOTOSO

EDITORIAL NOTEBOOK

gbenga.omotoso@thenationonlineng.net

The leadership question...again

•Mandela

himself as a small god to whom men must bow. He is elected to serve, but he ends up being served as the state pampers him, supplying all his needs. Besides, he has no time to reflect as he is always swarmed by a crowd of hangers-on and selfish officials, who tell him only what they think he should know.

A leader, Banda said, can get inspired by the people he serves. An act of patriotism by an ordinary citizen can be a source of inspiration to the president. For instance, why shouldn’t a taxi-cab driver who returns a huge sum of money forgotten by a passenger be a source of inspiration to a leader – inspiration to be honest.

But a Ugandan journalist picked up the gauntlet, sparring with Banda on this agelong intellectual phenomenon. With a cocktail of humour and plain facts, he unleashed hot blows at those he described as experts in leadership talks who always see a negative picture of Africa as the home of bad leaders. He said whenever Uganda is mentioned, the thought of the Idi Amin era comes up. In his view, Uganda is not all about the dreadful dictator; the country has since moved on from that era, but many do not seem to care. He said there should be

more parameters for measuring leadership.

The Zambian national soccer team, he said, was not the best at the last Cup of Nations, yet the Chipolopolo won the cup. “Has anybody asked their captain, Christopher Katongo, how he led them to this victory?”

“Even me here, I’m a leader.”

The session was rounded off with lunch on the seductive lawns of the amazing lodge of African paintings and sculptures. It was as thrilling as the jokes told by the compere, who turned his sharp tongue on Nigerians. He told of how a Nigerian movie star, Chineye (he kept on calling her Chineke) came on a research in Zambia. He travelled with her far outside Lusaka. They found only one room in a hotel at which they passed the night. The girl suggested they share the room. In the room, there was only one bed; the man chose to sleep on the couch, but she insisted they share the bed – on the condition that they put pillows in-between them.

In the morning, they resumed the research.

Then, it became windy and Chineye’s head gear was blown off. Being a gentleman, the man ran after the material, trying to jump over a wall to fetch it and the girl began to shout: “ Hei! What do you think you’re doing? You couldn’t jump over the pillow last night; now you’re trying to jump over the wall.” She hissed. It was laughter all the way.

But I couldn’t laugh as my mind kept going back to Nigeria and our leadership problem. Haven’t we given some people powers that are too big for them to wield? Why can’t we find honest people at the top, exceptional leaders, to inspire the vast majority of our people, who are rich in every way –talents, resources and all? Why do we always have leaders who promise to serve but end up being served all their lives? Do Nigerian leaders read? Why do they loot the treasury? Why do they see power as an end in itself and not a means to an end, which is the well-being of all, irrespective of tribe and tongue? Why? These are questions for another day, I thought, as we drove back to Lusaka to get

HARDBALL

O

UR President has done it again! This time he drops a strange metaphor on us to unravel. It was last Monday when President Goodluck Jonathan addressed a gathering they called Presidential Maritime Security Retreat in the Presidential Villa. During the deliberations, it came up that Nigeria’s crude oil is being massively stolen. Well, Hardball was already reconciled to the notion that crude oil stealing was peculiarly part of Nigeria’s oil industry just the way ghost workers are part of our civil service.

Have you ever heard of any permanent secretary or head of service prosecuted?

But thankfully our dear President has eventually woken up to the fact and it took a maritime seminar to bring him to. Hear him: ”It is extremely embarrassing that it is only in Nigeria that crude oil is stolen, it is bad news and I believe that Nigerians and foreigners who indulge in that act need

Jonathan’s strange metaphor to throw their heads under the pillow…” It is harrowing enough that this national slap has been flourishing for over a decade now with military officers, militants and political fixers feeding fat. It is heart rending enough that Nigeria is losing trillions of Naira annually to oil thieves. If President Jonathan had stopped at his usual bland statement as we have all become used to each time he is faced with a crucial national problem, we would have simply turned the page and moved on with our lives.

But Hardball was stopped in his track when he was accosted by this uncanny phrase: “throw their heads under the pillow.” One almost laughed one’s head off on reading that. One wonders whether the President wants all the oil thieves to severe their heads and throw under the pillow, gore

and all? On the other hand, we must have our heads examined if we are suggesting that these criminals cover their heads with pillow out of shame. No way. On the other hand, these oil thieves actually hold their heads high because they are raking in billions. Though thieves they may be, they are the most celebrated and dignified members of our society and one will be damned if they are not the ones the President is handing our national honours.

While scrath our heads as to what the president really means by ‘throwing heads under the pillow,’ he has decided to knock the problem on the head in his own peculiar way. Yes you guessed it – the President set up a committee. Christened the Maritime Operations Coordinating Committee, (MOCC), the 15-man body will of course,

set for the awards on Saturday. The colourful ceremony was beamed live on CNN. And what a show. Brilliant. Radiant and electrifying. It was, indeed, African journalism’s Grammy Awards. The works selected by the judges, I must confess, are great. They are representative of some of the best in the world, considering the tough condition under which the African journalist works.

The overall prize went to Tom Mboya and Evanson Nyaga who did the story of the “African tribe in India”. The story of a people believed to have their roots in Africa but are found in India, living like Africans.

One after the other, the winners were announced. Then, trepidation set in. Won’t Nigeria snatch a prize? Relief. Ahaoma Kanu of National Daily was announced as winner of the Tourism Award, with his entry, “Badagry: A walk through the slave route”.

Besides, Nigerian editors got the Free Press Africa Award for staying firm, despite the harassment of Boko Haram. Nigeria Guild of Editors President Gbenga Adefaye, who received the award on behalf of editors, delivered a short but pungent speech, promising that the media will never bow to terrorism.

What a weekend in Zambia – no power failure, no police siren, no tragedy resulting from poverty stricken people scooping petrol from a fallen tanker and no bombs going off anywhere – a small country from which giant Nigeria needs to learn much.

John Fifi Atta Mills (1944-2012)

G

HANAIANS need not cry their eyes out over President John Fifi Atta Mills, who died on Tuesday at 68.

Painful as it is, the death of the “good man” has brought out some of the best in Ghana’s and social evolution. Under Mr Mills, Ghana found oil, revenue from tourism continued to grow- the world has continued to pour into Ghana as if only Ghanaians were sold into slavery – and democracy found solid roots.

Consider the smooth transition; Vice President John Mahama was, in less than 24 hours, sworn in as President. Would that have happened here? Remember how the so-called cabal yanked the ailing former President, Umaru Yar’Adua, off his sick bed in Saudi Arabia and flew him into Abuja under the cover of night to prevent then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan from taking over power, even as it was clear as daylight that Yar’Adua could no longer carry on. After many protests and court battles, Providence supervened to clear the tension that had seized the land by the throat.

The rain of tributes has said it all: Mr Mills was a good man. May his soul find peace with the Creator to whom all mortals will return. Nantso wie, Mr Mills!

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•Hardball is not the opinion of the columnist featured above put heads together and expectedly, fashion a way to confront the thieves headlong.

Let us all thank the heavens for small mercies having buried our heads in the sand for so long hoping that the thieves would steal enough and simply stop. At a point, government even got soft in the head and appointed a notorious (but now famous) militant eponymously known as Government Tompolo to man our waterways but it seemed as if we ended up laying our heads on the block as oil pilfering skyrocketed instead of abating.

Now that we are assured that the problem is squarely on the President’s head, we may go to sleep with both eyes closed. But beware; if you are wont to throwing your head under your pillow like Hardball does sometimes in chilly weathers, be careful you do not wake up an oil thief; unless of course you do not mind.

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