BOKO HARAM: 18 soldiers face court-martial

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 61916

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ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Senate adjourns as more tributes pour in for Ewherido

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FG merges EFCC, ICPC

BOKO HARAM:

18 soldiers face court-martial •Offences include murder, manslaughter, others

POVERTY OR MADNESS?

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BY TAYE OBATERU

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OS—EIGHTEEN sol diers serving in military task forces in Borno and Plateau states are to be court-martialled for various offences committed in the course of their duties.

Convening a General Court Martial to try them yesterday, General Officer Commanding 3 Armoured Division of Nigerian Army, Major-General Eboibowei Awala

Continues on Page 5

Presidents can't appoint Service Chiefs alone — Court —P.5 COLUMNIST:

•P.19

Mr & Mrs

DANGER!—Residents scooping kerosene from a tanker after an accident at Oshodi Bus Stop, on

the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Lagos, yesterday. Photos: Bunmi Azeez.

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Ewherido’s death, monumental loss to our nation—NGF • Condoles Senate, Delta over his death •Senate suspends plenary, opens condolence register •Mark, Uduaghan, others visit Senator's family •National Assembly'll miss him—Tambuwal

BY HENRY UMORU, EMMANUEL OVUAKPORIE, AUSTIN OGWUDA, FESTUS AHON, OLASUNKANMI AKONI

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BUJA— THE Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, has described the death of Senator Pius Ewherido, Delta Central as a monumental loss to our country, Nigeria.

NGF chairman and Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, said in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, yesterday, that the demise of Ewherido was both painful and shocking.

Amaechi said: “We hereby condole with the Nigerian Senate, the government and people of Delta State and the entire Ewherido family over the sudden death of Senator Pius Ewherido, who, until his death, represented Delta Central Senatorial District on the platform of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP). It is unfortunate that the hardworking, independentminded senator, a political icon, and one of the most accomplished politicians in our country passed on at a time our country needed his invaluable service most. His loss is no doubt a monumental loss to our nation.

“Senator Ewherido’s departure is both painful and shocking. But we take solace in the fact that he lived and died well.

He dedicated his life to serving his people and country. He mixed freely with the underprivileged and lived substantially organizing and fighting for the upliftment of his people while making important contributions to the development of his state and country. Although, we cannot but grief over the death of this public spirited man, we are sure that Senator Ewherido will long be remembered as a community leader, an effective and consummate political figure, a national icon and grassroots mobiliser.”

Senate suspends plenary Pained by the shocking death of Senator Pius Ewherido, Delta Central, the Senate will, today, not hold plenary as mark of honour for a colleague. Senate President David Mark who disclosed this, yesterday, said this will be one of the ways to show respect for the late Senator Pius Akpo Ewherido who died at the weekend.

Senator Mark said this when he led the Delta State GoverC M Y K

nor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and a host of senators to the residence of the late Ewherido’s residence in Asokoro, Abuja, on a condolence visit.

Meanwhile, the Senate has opened a condolence register for him at the lobby where lawmakers are expected to express themselves Mark said: “In line with our tradition and as a mark of respect for our departed colleague, the Senate will suspend plenary tomorrow (today). We share in your bereavement, pains and sorrows at this moment of grief,” Senator Mark told Ewherido’s wife, Doye." He urged the members of the Ewherido’s family to continue to have faith in God noting that death always subject our faith in God to test.

“As Catholics, it is easy to say the creed that I believe in God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth.

But when death comes, we question God. This is the time to increase our faith in God. If there was anything we could have done to save the life of our distinguished colleague, we would have done it but the Lord owns his life,” he counseled.

Also extolling the virtues of the late Ewherido, Delta State governor, Uduaghan described the late Senator as “a strong voice from Delta." He said: "He was an experienced lawmaker having been a deputy speaker and later an acting speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly. In the last two years, he has brought this experience to bear on the floor of the Senate, we have lost a strong voice in Delta.”

Receiving the delegation, the elder brother of the late senator, Rev. Fr. Anthony Ewherido, expressed the family’s gratitude to the President of the Senate, Governor Uduaghan and senators across party lines “for standing by us as this means so much to us."

Other senators who joined Senator Mark and Governor Uduaghan on the condolence visit were Senator James Manager; Senator Ifeanyi Okowa; Senator Ahmed Lawan; Senator Suleiman Adokwe; Senator Emmanuel Paulker; and Senator Mohammed Magoro.

NASS'll miss him —Tambuwal Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, described the death of Senator Pius Ewherido as a huge loss, saying the

CONDOLENCE VISIT: Senate President, Senator David Mark signing condolence register of Late Senator Pius Akpor Ewherido at his residence in Abuja.

Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan also signing the condolence register yesterday.

Photo:s Gbemiga Olamikan.

National Assembly will miss his honest and thoughtful contributions on critical national issues.

In a statement issued in Abuja Monday by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Malam Imam Imam, Tambuwal said he was saddened by the senator’s sudden death especially because the deceased has been known to be a hardworking and committed lawmaker whose views on key national issues were respected by his colleagues in the Senate.

Tambuwal said: “Late Distinguished Senator Ewherido worked very hard in the time he represented Delta Central Senatorial District in the Senate and was meticulous. We mourn him because he was a good man. But we are consoled by the undisputed fact that he left his giant footprints in the sands of time which should be emulated.”

A huge loss to Nigeria— Ngige Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Senator Chris Ngige, ACN, Anambra Central, described the death of Senator Pius Ewherido, Delta Central as a huge loss not only to the people of Delta State and the Senate, but also to the entire country, just as he said that he was still at the moment devastated.

Senator Chris Ngige who spoke throuth his Chief of Staff, Mr. Chibuzo Obiakor, said: “I am particularly in shock; utterly devastated by the sad news of the passing away of Senator Ewherido, an unmistakable voice in patriotism, a brilliant representative and a principled crusader for the good of the nation.

“I had a close working relationship with late Senator Ewherido as I do with many of

my colleagues at the Senate of the Federal Republic. He inspired me with his thoroughgoing disposition to issues and charmed with his in-depth and cognate legislative experience as the former Deputy Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly for eight years . “He overly warmed his way with his cosmopolitan trajectory on debates on the floor of the Senate . He left no one in doubt that he represented his people.

He represented Nigeria! His death is such a huge loss!”

The former Anambra State governor also regretted the demise of Senator Ewherido at what he called “ a critical stage on the march to nationhood when the patriotism, brilliance and steadfastness of Nigerians of his hue are most needed to beat down cascading national challenges. His contributions will surely be missed .

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013—5

POCKET CARTOON

LECTURE—From left: Arunma Oteh, Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC; Dr Christopher Kolade, Chairman, The Convention On Business Integrity; Mr Seni Adetu, managing director/chief executive Officer, Guinness Nigeria Plc and Dr Micheal Omolayole, former CIPM President at the 1st Annual Christopher Kolade Lecture on business integrity held at Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos last Thurday. Photo: Akeem Salau

Presidents can't appoint Service Chiefs alone — Court

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI, ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH & DAPO AKINREFON

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BUJA—A FED ERAL High Court in Abuja, yesterday, barred Presidents from appointing Service Chiefs for the federation without the consent of the National Assembly.

Delivering judgment in a suit filed before the court by Lagos-based activist, Mr Festus Keyamo, Justice Adamu Bello, maintained that it was unconstitutional, il-

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

Never Think Hard about the PAST, it brings Tears.... Don’t think more about the FUTURE, it brings Fear.... Live this Moment with a Smile, it brings Cheer.

TAKE HEART

P

BY ELLA RANDLE

EOPLE who lack the clarity, courage, or de termination to follow their own dreams will often find ways to discourage yours. When you change for the better, the people around you will be inspired to change also....but for some, only after doing their best to make you stop. Live your truth and always follow your heart — Steve Maraboli There is a beautiful feeling that comes with spending time with the right people. These are the people you enjoy being with, who love and appreciate you, and who encourage you to improve in healthy and exciting ways. They are the ones who make you feel more alive, and not only embrace who you are now, but also embrace and embody who you want to be, unconditionally.

Another beautiful way to live is to be honest with yourself about everything. You always know what needs to be done rightly, as well as what needs to be changed. Be honest about what you want to achieve and who you want to become. Be honest with every aspect of your life, always. Because you are the one person you can forever count on. Search your heart, for the truth, so that you truly know who you are. Once you do, you’ll have a better understanding of where you are now and how you got here, and you’ll be better equipped to identify where you want to go and how to get there.

legal, null and void for the President to single handedly okay persons for appointment as Service Chiefs.

Though the court did not order their immediate removal from office, those whose appointments were adversely affected by the judgment yesterday were the Chief of Air Staff, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Naval Staff.

The court also held that Section 18 (1) & (2) of the Armed Forces Act, Cap. A.20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, is in conformity with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution

and do not fall within the category of existing laws under Section 315 (2) of the constitution.

Specifically, Keyamo had in his suit, urged the court to among other things, determine: “Whether by the combined interpretation of the provisions of Section 218 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and Section 18 of the Armed Forces Act, Cap. A.20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, the 1st Defendant can appoint the Chief of Air Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, and the Chief of Naval Staff without the confirmation of the National Assembly sought and obtained.

He also asked the

court to determine “ whether Section 18 (1) & (2) of the Armed Forces Act, Cap. A.20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 is not in conformity with the provision of the 1999 Constitution so as to fall within the category of existing laws under Section 315 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, that the President, may, by Order, modify its text, to bring it into conformity with the provisions of the Constitution.”

Keyamo insisted that the practice of side-stepping the constitutional requirement of involving the National Assembly in the appointment of Service Chiefs began under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, adding that subsequent administrations adopted the illegal practice.

Therefore, he beseeched the court for: “A declaration that the appointment of Service Chiefs for the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the President, without the confirmation of the National Assembly is illegal, unconstitutional

and void.

“A declaration that Section 18 (1) & (2) of the Armed Forces Act, Cap. A.20, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, is in conformity with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution so as not to fall within the category of existing laws under Section 315 (2) - of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, that the President, may, by order, modify its text, to bring it into conformity with the provisions of the Constitution."

He also prayed the court for: “An order restraining the President from further appointing Service Chiefs for the Federation without first obtaining the confirmation of the National Assembly”.

Justice Bello in his judgment, yesterday, upheld his arguments and granted all the prayers that were sought by the plaintiff.

The judgment is a good one —Aturu Continues on Page 9

BOKO HARAM: 18 soldiers face court-martial Continues from Page 1

said one officer and 17 soldiers of the division would be tried for various acts of indiscipline.

He said the acts were committed while they were serving with the Joint Task Force, Operation Restore Order, in Borno State, and the Special Task Force, Operation Safe Haven, in Plateau State.

He said the offences

committed by the accused, which had been investigated by the military police, included murder, manslaughter, cowardly behaviour and communication with the enemy, among others.

Awala said: “Discipline and loyalty are two essential requirements no officer or soldier, who wants to succeed in professional soldiering, can afford to lack."

GOC on discipline “It is the duty of a superior to observe, correct and instantly deal with negligence or any misconduct on the part of subordinates.”

Awala said the General Court-Martial as prescribed by the Armed Forces Act is geared towards disciplining erring soldiers to forestall future occurrence.

He added that only a

disciplined force can continue to play its constitutional role and remain a pride of the nation.

He said the trial was convened to sustain high level of professionalism required to confront the mounting security challenges in the division’s area of responsibility.

Awala urged the panel to carry out the trial expeditiously and ensure that justice is seen to be done.

6—Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

32-yr-old remanded over drug deal

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AGOS — JUSTICE Musa Kurya of a Federal High Court, Lagos, yesterday, ordered the remand in prison of a 32-year-old man charged with illicit drug deal.

The accused, Abel Asaka, was charged by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, on onecount of drug trafficking. He pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Counsel to the accused, Mr John Okaka, informed the court of a bail application on behalf of the accused, and prayed the court to move in terms of the bail.

The prosecutor, Mrs Funmilayo Ajagun, however, opposed the application, adding that she had filed a counter affidavit to that effect.

She, therefore, urged the court to remand the accused, and fix a date for trial.

Justice Kurya in a short ruling, ordered the accused to be remanded at the Ikoyi Prisons, and adjourned the case to July 10 for trial.

...another over alleged rape of three minors

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BADAN — AN Ibadan Chief Magistrates’ Court, yesterday, remanded in prison a 30year-old man, Alex Kwame, for allegedly raping three minors.

The prosecutor, Inspector Ade Adebusuyi, told the court that the accused unlawfully had carnal knowledge of a 12-year-old without her consent.

Adebusuyi said Kwame also had carnal knowledge of two 13-year-old girls without their consent.

The incidents took place at different times on May 5 at Bola Agala area of Ibadan.

Adebusuyi said the offence contravened section 358 of the Criminal Code Cap.38, Vol II, Laws of Oyo State, 2000.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the plea of the accused person was not taken.

Chief Magistrate Olusola Adetujoye ordered the accused to be remanded in prison pending the receipt of legal advice from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution.

The case was adjourned to July 15 for mention.

Ondo Jailbreak: Police re-arrest 54 fleeing prisoners

BY DAYO JOHNSON

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KURE— POLICE authorities in Ondo State, yesterday, said 54 of the 175 prisoners that escaped in a jailbreak, Sunday, have been re-arrested and returned to the prison custody.

This is coming as it condemned reports of deaths in the jail break as unethical.

A statement by the image maker of the command, Wole Ogodo, in Akure, yesterday, said the fleeing prisoners were picked up in neighbouring villages and towns.

Ogodo declined to give further information on the arrest of the prisoners but Vanguard gathered from reliable sources that immediately they were set free by the bandits that bombed the prison cells they headed for brothels where many of them were picked up.

It was gathered that following tip-off by some village heads in nearby villages and towns, the police swooped on the escapees.

Ogodo who confirmed that some of the prisoners were rearrested in brothels and neighbouring towns of Owo, Ondo, Idanre and Akure the state capital, added that they had been returned to the Olokuta prison yard.

Investigation revealed that those that were picked up in brothels were more than 20 in number..

Vanguard gathered that the proprietors of the brothels on seeing the swam of customers that invaded the call girls immediately notified the police and they were subsequently arrested.

It was learnt that the tattered dresses of the prisoners gave them out when they visited the brothels.

No death was recorded —Police Meantime, Ogodo in the statement in Akure clarifying the issue of death reported by some media outfits said: “The publication is complete misrepresentation of the facts of the incident as no such dead was recorded dur-

ing the jail-break because the attack on the prison was aimed at liberating some members of their gang who were in custody.

“No death was recorded either on the side of the security agents, inmate or any traveller.

“Members of the press are hereby advised to crosscheck their information before publication.”

Women selling fish after Akata fishing and cultural festival in Katsina-Ala, Benue State, Sunday. PHOTO: NAN.

Commotion, as two condemned robbers escape from courtroom One shot; Judge, others scamper for safety

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

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SABA — THERE was commotion at an Asaba High Court, yesterday, as two robbery suspects took everybody unawares and escaped from the court room immediately the judge sentenced them to death by hanging, having found them guilty on two-count charges of armed robbery.

The two suspects who were in the dock without handcuffs jumped out, and became violent, used a wooden barricade used to block traffic leading to the court to hit prison officials chasing them.

The convicts were one Elvis Agbofodo and Frank Okedema both from Ekpan community, Uvwie Local Government Area of the state.

Prosecution had told the court that they robbed the residence of one Mrs. Mercy Omatseye of valuables and cash on July 8, 2010.

Both of them were, however, re-arrested with the assistance of the residents of the area. One of the them was shot by armed pris-

ons official who pursued him to a nearby church premises, about 100 metres from the court.

As a result of the incident which took place at about 11.30 am, further proceedings in the court were disrupted as the judge, court officials and lawyers scampered for safety as gun shots rented the air.

New Controller of Prisons in the state, Mr. Joseph Olanrele, had during a recent courtesy visit to the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Charles Ajuyah (SAN) expressed worry over the large number of condemned criminals in various prison formations

across the state, noting that it was worrisome as they (condemned criminals) constantly create problems for prison officials looking after them while awaiting the hangman.

Ajuyah, on his part condemned the use of phones by some inmates even while in the court, saying such act is capable of undermining security of officials and inmates.

Oil theft: JTF impounds 2 barges,

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

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ENAGOA — THE Joint Task Force in Niger Delta codenamed Operation Pulo Shield, yesterday, said its operatives have intercepted two selfpropelled barges prowling around Bonny anchorage in Rivers State without the necessary registration documents indicative of their activities in the waterways of the Niger Delta.

Spokesman of the JTF, Lt. Col Onyema Nwachukwu, who disclosed this in a statement in Yenagoa also announced the discovery of three new illegal crude

oil loading points as well as the seizure of seven Cotonou boats laden with stolen crude oil along the creeks of Bayelsa State.

His words: “The two self-propelled barges were intercepted by operatives of the anti-oil-theft patrol team of 146 Battalion of Sector 2 of the JTF during a recent anti-oil-theft patrol operation that saw the troops comb the general maritime area of Peterside, Kalaibiama community, Bonny anchorage and Onne.

“During the interrogations that followed, the crew members on board the barges christened MT ASKJA and MT IBINABO failed

to tender the required documents and could not explain their mission in the water ways.

“The six crew members and the barges have been taken into custody for preliminary investigations.”

The statement added that in another operation, the anti-oiltheft patrol team of 343 Regiment of Sector 2 of the JTF operating along Akasa and Sangana Rivers of Bayelsa State have intercepted seven Cotonou boats (two at Igbematoru, three at Oyeregbene and one each at Lagosbene and Mbikiba) con-

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013—7

Ekiti opens sexual offenders’ register

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

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Some suspected culprits at the inauguration of a general court martial to try erring army personnel, in Jos, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN.

Why I prefer stealing from churches — Robbery suspect L

BY EVELYN USMAN

AGOS— ANTI-ROBBERY policemen attached to OkoOba division have arrested a 32year-old man who allegedly specialised in bugling churches around Oko-Oba area of Lagos.

The suspect identified as Sannu Umaru was reportedly caught in the act inside one of the Pentecostal churches in Oko-Oba, weekend.

Umaru who claimed to be son of a retired army personnel, told policemen during interrogation that he preferred stealing from churches because of the security lapses.

Preliminary investigation, according to police sources, revealed that Umaru was allegedly involved in some robbery incidents in churches around the area. Before his arrest, he allegedly bugled a church where he made away with some musical instruments.

According to Police sources, “on that fateful night, he scaled the

fence of the church and went to where the musical instruments were. As he was about carrying the piano valued close to half a million naira, one of the instruments fell down and attracted the night guards who went for him.

“He jumped through the fence with one of the instruments he stole. But he was apprehended by residents of the area who were alerted by the the guards and was brought to the station. He was found to have also burgled another church within the week.”

In his confessional statement, Umaru blamed his indulgence on frustration, saying: “I was tempted to steal because of the death of my father. After his death, I went into scavenging but did not succeed. I chose to bugle churches because it is easier than any other place.

“Aside this, I do not need to be armed. I was scared of carrying arms and did not want to spill blood. That is why I considered stealing in churches as a gentleman’s way.

arrests 25 suspects taining stolen crude oil.

He said during the operation, the troops also discovered three new illegal crude oil loading points, one each at Igbematoru, Oyeregbene and Mbikiba respectively.

The Commanding Officer, 343 Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Adamu Mukhtar, according to the statement, called on Nigerian Agip Oil Company to carry out an assessment on the discovered illegal loading points with a view to sealing the point.

In Delta State, he said troops of 3 Battalion Anti-Oil-theft patrol squad of Sector 1 of the JTF on

patrol also discovered and scuttled nine illegal crude oil distillation camps in Gbekebor, Okpogbene, Isaba, Agedeben and Ajudaibo general area in Warri South-West Local Government Area of the state where illegal bunkerers connected a pipe from a wellhead to a large Cotonou boat.

According to the statement, “10 large plastic reservoirs, 20 drums, 15 metal surface tanks, 25 crude oil cooking ovens, 11 pumping machines, 5 welding machines and several networks of hoses were also scuttled in the camps.

“What I do is, anytime I go there, I would search the offering boxes. At times I would find money inside, while at other times

I would not.

“At Saint Barnabas Church, I did not find any money inside the offering box. So, I decided to steal their music instrument.”

Police sources said Umaru had been charged to court.

Ibadan traders protest fresh killing of 25 members in Maiduguri

BY OLA AJAYI

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BADAN — THE popular Bodija Market in Ibadan was, yesterday, shut to customers to protest the killing of 25 traders who travelled to Maiduguri to buy beans and fish.

This came about two months after about 15 traders were allegedly killed in similar manner by some gunmen believed to be Boko Haram insurgents.

As a result of the latest killing, traders in the market warned of possible repraisal attack.

Mostly affected in the killing were sellers of fish, palm oil and beans who were said to be apprentices.

The incessant attacks by the gunmen had resulted in scarcity of some foodstuff like beans,

yams, tomatoes and pepper in Ibadan.

According to information gathered, the slain traders comprised nine Yoruba beans traders and 16 Hausa fish sellers.

Though they claimed that the gunmen were Boko Haram, it was not confirmed as some survivors of the attack were shielded by the traders who were visibly angry and showed their grievances at the level of insecurity in the country.

One of the traders said, “I have told them to stop going to this place until normalcy is restored.

How can you lose your life while trying to stay alive. These young men have bright future ahead of them but were felled at their prime because of some God forsaken Boko Haram.”

DO EKITI — IN a bid to discourage cases of rape and sexual harassment, Ekiti State government has opened a black book, called the Sexual Offender Register, where a list of convicted sexual offenders would be compiled and registered in the government gazette.

The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Olawale Fapohunda, made the disclosure while receiving the gender-based Violence Prohibition Law Management Committee led by the wife of the governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, in his office.

Mrs Fayemi who is the chairperson of the committee in the state was accompanied on the advocacy visit by the state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Social Development and Gender Empowerment, Mrs. Fola Richie-Adewusi.

The team which had paid similar visits to the Vice Chancellor, Ekiti State University, Prof. Oladipo Aina and the state police command where they met the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Sotonye Wakama and state Chief Judge, Justice Ayodeji Daramola.

Judging by the trauma victims of rape and other forms of sexual assault undergo, Fapohunda said the sexual offender register would ensure that perpetrators were ostracized from the society.

In her response, Mrs Fayemi urged the commissioner to assign genderbased violence-related cases to lawyers adequately trained for the purpose, who are sensitive to gender issues.

Obudu cult killings: KKK leader arrested

By EMMA UNA

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ALABAR —THE supposed leader of the Klux Klu Klan in Obudu in northern Cross River State, Edward Ushie, which in the past three weeks has been engaged in a supremacy conflict with the Vikings Confraternity was during the week arrested by police.

Edward was arrested along with his second in command, Otogo Gabriel. They were moved from Obudu to the Cross River State Police Command Headquarters, Diamond Hill, Calabar

where they are being interrogated by detectives.

A police source said the duo had mentioned other cult members who are being trailed by the police.

“Some of them are known politicians and we have left a message with the Obudu council chairman, Dr Emmanuel Ikwen and the paramount ruler of the area, Uti J. D. Agba to tell those we are looking for to report at the Obudu Police station or the police headquarters on Monday because if they fail to do so they would be declared wanted,” a

senior police detective told Vanguard.

The cult war which is alleged to be politically motivated has so far claimed six lives in the past three weeks and the police have been on the trail of the warring cultists which led to the arrest of the two gang leaders.

Reacting to the killings and subsequent arrests of the cultists who were earlier said to be students of the Federal College of Education, Obudu, Dr Eugene Ibili, the Provost of the College, said the school was cultism unfriendly and had battled the scourge to extinction in all its campuses.

8—Vanguard , TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

FG merges EFCC, ICPC zScraps BPE, NAPEP, others

BY EMMA UJAH, Abuja Bureau Chief

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BUJA—FEDERAL Executive Council, FEC, has approved the merger of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, with Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to form one anti-corruption agency It also approved the scrapping of Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE; National Poverty Eradication Programme, NAPEP; National Economic Intelligence Committee; Fiscal

Responsibility Commission; Utilities Charges Commission and National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, NSIWC. The council took the decision at its meeting last Wednesday, while considering the White Paper prepared by the Stephen Oronsanyeled Committee on the restructuring of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies.

A presidency source said FEC had been reviewing the report and took a decision on it on June 26.

The source explained that government had directed that a Sunset Clause should be introduced to BPE to conclude its assignment and wind down.

Staff, duties redistribution

FEC also directed the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to initiate the necessary action for the abolition of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission.

Staff of the Utilities Charges Commission, which will also suffer similar fate,

are to be redeployed to the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, provided they are civil servants.

National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, NSIWC, will also cease to exist as the government will repeal its law, while its functions are to be transferred to Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC. National Economic Intelligence Committee, which was meant to be the economic think-thank for the President is also to be scrapped.

NAPEP is to be scrapped for failing to deliver on its mandate.

According to the source, “government accepts the scrapping of NAPEP and directs that the functions of

NAPEP be merged with National Directorate of Employment, NDE.” It was gathered that the restructuring and rationalisation of parastatals, commissions and agencies of the Federal Government are part of measures to reduce its high recurrent budget profile.

Merged

EFCC and ICPC are to be consolidated into one anticorruption agency.

Government has, therefore, directed the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to initiate the necessary action in respect of the proposed merger.

Similarly, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council have been merged “to synergise for management and utilisation of resources.”

Public Complaints Commission, PCC, is to be merged with the Human Rights Commission, which has the capacity to perform the functions of the PCC. Government further directed that the PCC Act be removed from the Constitution by amending Sections 153 and 315.

On NYSC

AGM: From left— Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State; President Goodluck Jonathan; Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, Chief of Staff to the President; Dr. Precious Gbeneol, Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs; Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, Minister of Health and others at the inauguration of Otuoke Comprehensive Cottage Hospital, Bayelsa. STATE HOUSE PHOTO.

ASSU begins strike over MoU with FG

BY DAYO ADESULU

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WO months into a nation wide strike by polytechnic lecturers, Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday, began a nationwide strike over alleged Federal Government’s refusal to implement the agreement between it and the union over unpaid entitlements, its National President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, has said.

Polytechnics lecturers are also on strike due to alleged nonimplementation of agreements and lack of infrastructure in their institutions.

Fagge spoke in an interview with newsmen, yesterday, at the University of Lagos, UNILAG, after the union's National Executive Council, NEC, meeting at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.

He said: “We are embarking

on an indefinite strike nationwide because Federal Government reneged on the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed with ASUU in 2009 to pay lecturers their EARN allowances.”

According to Fagge, Federal Government, in 2009 signed an agreement to pay each lecturer N12,500 per month as EARN allowance, which it has not done since then.

He said: “The allowances include excess work load, high carriage of student per lecturer, responsibility allowance, ranging from administrative responsibility borne by lectures for example, as Head of Department, Deans of Faculties, Examination Officers, Course Advisers and Supervision of thesis.

"The highest any lecture

gets from this allowance is N12,500 per month. The truth is that since 2009 no lecturer has been paid any allowance apart from his salary.”

Fagge explained that when the non-payment of allowance was brought to the notice of Federal Government, it said that it forgot to include it in the budget and promised to make amends in subsequent but never did.

Before the commencement of strike, Fagge noted that the union held several meetings with officials of the Federal Government on the issue but regretted that government did not take the union seriously.

He said: “We went ahead to go on a warning strike and they never did anything to avert the industrial action.

“We had series of interac-

tion with the Federal Government at the national level, but to the dismay of ASUU, the government recently came with a new position that they can not pay more than 50 percent of the agreed amount "It had earlier been reduced to 80 percent by the union.

"Between December and January 2011, the union suspended its industrial action over ASUU/FG agreements.

Within the period, the union had series of meetings with Federal Government.

"When the strike was suspended two and half years ago, there was an MoU signed with the Federal Government.

"In the MoU, the Federal Government agreed to inject funds to uplift the infrastructure in the universities which it never did."

National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, is also to be restructured with a view to developing a framework to cover critical areas of national socioeconomic development to which NYSC members would be deployed for their primary assignments.

The government, however, rejected the committe's recommendation that the committee merge National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, with Refugee Commission.

The final report on the recommendations said: “The government rejects the recommendation that NEMA be merged with National Refugees Commission into one agency to be known as the National Emergency Management and Refugees Commission.”

Denied budgetary allocations

Government further decided that as from 2015 fiscal year, Council for Registered Engineers, COREN, which is a professional body, will no longer receive budgetary allocations from the federal government.

A similar fate awaits the Surveyors Registration Council, SRC. The source explained that the process of scrapping and merging the affected agencies could take several years, especially as the laws establishing them have to be repealed or amended.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 1, 2013—9

FG hands over renovated college to NPF

BY EVELYN USMAN

F

INVESTMENT: From left— Ali Mufuruki, Chairman, CEO Roundtable of South Africa; Donald Kaberuka, President, African Development Bank; Mimi Alemayehou, Executive Vice-President, US Overseas Private Investment Council, OPIC; Tony O Elumelu, Chairman, Heirs Holdings; and Phillips Oduoza, GMD/CEO, United Bank for Africa Plc, at a panel discussion on investing in Africa organised by the Corporate Council on Africa, CCA, in Dar-es Salaam, during President Obama’s visit to Tanzania.

Presidents can't appoint Service Chiefs alone — Court ans should emulate him."

Continues from Page 5

Reacting to the judgement delivered by the court, rights crusader, Mr Bamidele Aturu said it was a good one.

In a telephone chat with Vanguard, Aturu said: “If the court has looked at the papers and has ruled in his favour,

it is a good one and that is what we encourage Nigerians to do.

Nigerians should go to court more often and challenge such things. If President decides to appoint Service Chiefs without approval from the National Assembly, that is a breach of our democracy. I congratulate the plaintiff, Festus Keyamo for going to court and I think Nigeri-

I commend the court's decision —Emeka Ngige “I commend the decision of the Federal High Court. It is sound and it is not surprising that the court ruled in that way. My reservation, however, is that the judgment is coming rather late

Heir Holdings invests $2.5bn in power

BY PETER EGWUATU

H

EIRS Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu’s pan-African proprietary investment company, has committed $2.5 billion to the power sector in Africa. The company is the single largest investor included in the White House statement announcing the Power Africa initiative.

In a statement made available to Vanguard yesterday, the management of Heirs Holdings stated that Power Africa is a multi-stakeholder partnership between the United States, the governments of Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Ethiopia, and the private sector in Africa, with the shared objective of accelerating investment in Africa’s power sector over the next five years.

It further revealed that the initiative was launched in South Africa during Obama’s town hall at the University of Cape Town.

It will be recalled that earlier

this year, Elumelu’s company, through its investee company, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, Transcorp, purchased the Ughelli power plant, one of Nigeria’s largest power assets, which it plans to restore to its full capacity of 1,000 megawatts.

Elumelu said: “The investment we are making demonstrates our intent to become a significant player in the power sector. It also shows in a clear and meaningful

way that African capital can and should be part of the solution to Africa’s challenges.

“We need more African companies to get involved in Africa’s development.

“Heirs Holdings’ investment in Power Africa is not just about creating value for shareholders.

“We want to conduct business in this strategic sector in a way that links economic return to social benefits, a key component of what I call Africapitalism.”

after five years that the matter was filed by way of originating summons.

“That may have defeated the course of action. If this judgment has been delivered may be in 2009, it could have been better, when some of the service chiefs were in office. This is not relevant now because those appointed afterwards were confirmed by the National Assembly."

It's sound judgment —Femi Falana The judgement is sound and it is commendable on the part of the plaintiff, my learned friend, Mr Festus Keyamo. The judgment has gone a long way to challenge the culture of impunity in our country, and it is also a challenge to the Senate to insist on full compliance with the provision of the constitution, with respect to its powers to screen candidates for the position of service chiefs."

EDERAL Government, yesterday, handed over the renovated Police College, Ikeja, to the Nigeria Police with a charge to ensure its proper maintenance.

Vice-President Namadi Sambo, who was at the college to inspect the renovation work carried out by the Nigerian Army Corps Engineers, expressed satisfaction with the work.

He said that its present state matched with what obtained elsewhere in the world.

Sambo disclosed that Federal Government would ensure that renovation work was carried out on all police colleges in the country.

He said that rehabilitation of police training institutions was one vital way to ensure that the country breeds efficient policemen, who would be ready to change the image of the Nigeria police.

At the end of his inspection, he said: “I want to assure you that all Police colleges in Nigeria would be reconstructed and rehabilitated like the Police College, Ikeja, and I want to charge you to ensure proper maintenance of the facilities.”

Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, who accompanied the Vice President on the tour of the renovated buildings, disclosed that training at the college would commence immediately."

Jonathan tasks relevant agencies on flood prevention

BY BEN AGANDE

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BUJA—PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has ordered heads of all Federal Government ministries, departments and agencies, whose functions are relevant to flood prevention and control, to ensure that all necessary actions are taken to prevent a recurrence of the floods

which wreaked havoc in many parts of the country last year.

Addressing ministers and officials at a meeting, which he called at the Presidential Villa to review ongoing flood containment measures, President Jonathan warned that he would not tolerate any excuses for a repeat of the 2012 flood disasters.

President Jonathan said:

“We have no excuse to be caught unprepared again after the floods of last year.”

He added that he expected all relevant MDAs to be proactive in speedily implementing required flood prevention and management measures.

The President also directed the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Flood Prevention and

Control, which includes ministers of Environment, National Planning, Water Resources, Finance, Health, Transport and Aviation to establish effective liaison with governors of all flood-prone states.

He urged them to ensure proper coordination between federal agencies and the states in the implementation of flood control measures.

10—Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Mushin LG gives free GCE forms to youths

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S PART of the its ef forts to take youths out of the streets and become useful citizens, Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State, will tomorrow give free General Certificate of Education, GCE, forms to youths in the local government.

Chairman of the council, Olatunde Adepitan, who announced this, yesterday, said: “The form is available for collection free tomorrow morning (Wednesday) at the council secretariat.

“If a student with the required five units has not obtained the form as at today, it shows that the parents need to be assisted.

“Only those who have evidence of residence in Mushin will be considered. This is another way to lure our youths off the street.”

Assault: Court orders Gen Diya, others to pay N5.5m to victim

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH compensation, while declar-

L

AGOS — FIVE years after he was accused of assaulting and battering one of his employees, Mr. Oluwatosin Onamade, the former Chief of General Staff, CGS, Gen. Oladipupo Diya was, yesterday, ordered by an Ikeja High Court, to pay the victim the sum of N5.5million compensation.

In a judgment delivered by Justice Opeyemi Oke, the judge ordered the former CGS and other directors of his company, Lotad Funeral Services Ltd, to pay the damages as

ing the action of defendants as an act of impunity.

Justice Oke held, that “the action of the defendants is condemnable; it is an arbitrary use of power.”

The trial judge said it was wrong for the defendants “to assault, batter and unlawfully seize the belongings of his employee” when they attempted to force him to sign a backdated resignation letter on July 31, 2008.

The court held that the defendants took the law into their hands by taking up the

work of the police.

The court slammed Diya and four other directors of the company who were “jointly and severally” held liable for the assault and battering of the claimant.

Others affected by the judgment are Messrs. Kehinde Diya, Dele Obakoya, Emmanuel Ilori and Dele Oyesanya.

Only one person, Kehinde, a lawyer, testified against the victim over a fraud allegation while the trial lasted.

Onamade had claimed that he was assaulted when he refused to compulsorily sign a resignation letter based on alleged fraud, while he was still

owed by the company.

Justice Oke held that the notice of resignation given to the claimant was in breach of the six-month notice provided for in his letter of appointment.

According to her: “If they had given him the notice six months earlier, the claimant would have had no choice other than to pack his things and leave.”

She ordered the defendants to immediately return the claimant’s belongings unlawfully seized from him, comprising Mercedes Benz 190 model car with keys; HP

Piracy in Nigeria not as worse as Somalia

BY EVELYN USMAN

T

HE SPANISH Ambassador to Nigeria, Alvaro Castilo Aguilar, yesterday, in Lagos, commended the Nigerian Navy over its efforts at curbing illegalities on her waterways, inisisting that terrorism and piracy on Nigeria waters was not as worse as what obtained in Somalia.

Aguilar, who gave the commendation during a joint briefing on the visit of Spanish ship to Nigeria, at the Western naval command, however, expressed worry over activities of sea pirates in the Gulf of Guinea.

He added that the situation would be checkmated, following recent efforts by stakeholders.

He explained that the purpose of the Spanish Ship, MV RAYO to Nigeria was to further boost the Nigerian Navy’s efforts in its fight against piracy and other illegalities on the waters, particularly in the gulf of Guinea.

DONATION: From left, Charles Eri, Communications Officer; Nwakpa Nwakpa, Head of Communications Department; Altilina Simon, Deputy Disaster Management Coordinator, all of the Nigerian Red Cross; Dr. Tawanda Mushuku, MD; Paul Okeke, Finance Director, and Peter Folikwe, General Manager Sales, all of UAC Foods Ltd, during the donation of items to victims of violence in the North through the Nigerian Red Cross, yesterday, in Abuja.

laptop DV 6000; wedding ring and Rolex wrist-watch.

Other items are Reltel Nokia Mobile Phone; 6280 Nokia phone, N76 and two wooden caskets.

The court also directed them to return to Onamade a bag containing N72,000 cash, personal documents/credentials, complimentary cards, file and seal stamp.

Taking a departure from the arguments of the defendant, the court stated, the allegation of fraud levelled against the claimant was the duty of the police to investigate.

She added that the move by the defendants and allegations made were afterthoughts after they had been served with the court action.

Afenifere faults Turaki, seeks compensation for victims of Boko Haram

BY DAPO AKINREFON

LAGOS — PAN-YORUBA socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere has faulted statements credited to the chairman of Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution on Security Challenges in the North, Tanimu Turaki, that there would be no compensation for the victims of Boko Haram insurgency It called on the Federal Government to compensate victims of the insurgency, at least, by off-setting their medical bills.

Reacting to the statement credited to the chairman of Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution on Security Challenges in the North, Afenifere in a statement by its National Publicity Secre-

tary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, stressed the need for a data of the victims of the insurgency and said it was imperative for the committee to know the number of victims affected by the insurgency “In the first place, Afenifere would like to know how many

victims of the insurgency the committee has identified so far for it to come to the conclusion that government lacks the capacity to compensate them.

“Is there a data or just an assumption off the cuff? The question then is how is the committee going to determine the com-

pensation for military personnel and the value to place on their lives? Is one life more important than the other?

“We hold strongly that the position of Turaki is no tenable and quite insensitive to those who have been at the receiving ends of Boko Haram attacks.

Govt rewards injured LASTMA officials with N3.4m

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

L

AGOS — LAGOS State Government has paid N3, 433,510 as compensations to 23 officials of the State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, who sustained injuries on duties in 2012.

LASTMA had earlier in the year compensated about 30

staff under the same scheme.

While presenting the insurance claims to the beneficiaries at the agency ’s secretariat, Oshodi, Chairman, LASTMA, Young Arebamen, told the beneficiaries and their families that the efforts of those who lost their lives were not in vain.

He enjoined other officers to work diligently without favour or prejudice, but to discharge their

duties within the confines of the law.

According to the Public Relations Officer of LASTMA, Mrs. Bola Ajao, Arabamen, said government was aware of the hazard officers were exposed to in the discharge of duties and made adequate provision to cushion the effects of the pain and hardship encountered on the field.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013—11

Nigeria suffering from misrule — CIA boss

BY ESTHER ONYEGBULA

T

VISIT: From right, Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, Engr. Elias Mbam; Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Bashiru Ajibola, during a courtesy visit to the governor, at the Government House,Osogbo, weekend.

A-Court dismisses ACN, PDP’s petitions against Mimiko’s victory

.Akeredolu, Oke vow to approach S-Court

BY DAYO JOHNSON

A

KURE — THE Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, the Ondo State capital, yesterday, dismissed petitions filed by governorship candidates of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and that of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Olusola Oke challenging the declaration of Governor Olusegun Mimiko, the winner of last year’s governorship election by the Election Petition Tribunal.

The appeals were dismissed for lack of merit.

It was a unanimous verdict by a five-member Court of Appeal led by Justice M. L Garba and supported by Justice A G Mshelia, Justice Ejembi Eko, Justice Daniel Kalio and Justice E A Agim.

Akeredolu and Oke had approached the Court of Appeal to set aside the verdict of the lower tribunal headed by Justice Andovar Kaka’an that dismissed their petitions against the victory of Dr. Mimiko in the October 20, 2012 governorship election in the state.

But in a swift reaction, the two losers vowed to proceed to the Supreme Court to get judgement, declaring that the judgments by the ltribunal and appeal court were at variance with each other on the issue of fraud in the voters register which is the meat of their petitions.

This is coming as the winner Dr. Mimiko appealed to them to sheathe their swords and join his administration in moving the state forward.

Delivering the one and a half hour judgement on Akeredolu and Oke petitions, yesterday, Justice Daniel Kalio said that Oke presented 38 grounds of appeal.

He disagreed with the tribunal that the alleged injection of persons in the voters register by Akeredolu was a pre-election mat-

ter and that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

According to Kalio the Election Petition Tribunal was not right to have declined jurisdiction on the petition that the injection is a pre-election matter.

He was, however, quick to add that the appellant has not proved that the non-compliance affected the result of the election.

All five judges unanimously agreed in dismissing the appeal in the judgment.

The two appeals were read separately by different judges but they were similar in their pleadings, but with little allegation of criminality in that of Oke. The Judge also submitted that Akeredolu failed to prove the allegations of substantial noncompliance of the 2012 Election with Electoral Act beyond reasonable doubt.

On Oke's appeal which was based on 37 grounds, Justice Ejenbi Eko submitted that, “The person contesting the results of an election must show how his allegation substantially affected the conduct and the outcome of an election.”

Eko, however, said that the issue of voters register raised by Oke was germane and which the tribunal described as preelection matter, the appellate court said the complainants failed to prove how illegal injection of names substantially affected the conduct and the results of the said election.

He frowned at the failure of INEC to display the hard copy of the voters register as stipulated by law particularly with complaints that parties were unable to open the soft copies given them by the commission.

On allegation of irregularities and malpractice alleged by Oke, the judge said Oke who was the 45th witness must have been a superman to be present in all

the areas listed in his evidence.

He described Oke's submission during his evidence at the lower court as “a bundle of primary and secondary hear-say,” adding that it is only an omnipresent being that can be everywhere at the same time.

Justice Eko therefore dismissed the petition for lack of merit.

The lead judge, Justice Garba Muhammed urged losers at the election to be sportsmanly to congratulate the winner.

Meantime, both the PDP and the A CN have rejected the verdict insisting on going to Supreme Court.

Oke said: “This judgment remains unacceptable to us and the good people of Ondo State.

“We have accordingly directed our legal team to study the judgment for further decision in the matter.

"It is relieving that the court agreed with us that violation of

the voters register is not a preelection matter and that registration was not compiled in compliance with the provisions of electoral act. We intend to be guided by this finding in our further actions.”

Governor Mimiko while addressing people of the state who visited him at Government House after the verdict, said an affirmation of the mandate given by people of the state.

“This mandate given by the people is beyond reproach,” he said, adding that the petition of the opposition could not stand hence its dismissal by the Court of Appeal Mimiko thanked the people of the state for their support, saying the victory is a divine endorsement of his administration.

He added, “This contest is over. The opposition should join hands with us to move this state forward.”

....Akeredolu reacts

R

EACTING TO the Appeal Court’s judgement, yesterday, Mr. Olurotimi Akeredolu, himself a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, in a statement said: “The Court of Appeal, sitting in Akure, delivered its judgment affirming the decision of the Ondo State Election Petition Tribunal which dismissed my petition challenging the legality of the conduct of an election based on a heavily compromised Voters Register.

“As it happened in the lower tribunal, I received the judgment with equanimity and hastened to confirm my decision to proceed to the Supreme Court for final adjudication in this matter.

I take this step imbued with an unshaken belief in the justness of our cause. I appeal to our numerous supporters who may be taken aback by the current situation to exercise yet more patience.

"I reach out to party faithful to keep hope alive and remain steadfast until the final victory is won. I shall not abandon our people in this hour of need.

“As we expect the Supreme Court to pronounce on the propriety of this brazen act of subversion of the people’s wish, we know that the people themselves, conscious of their deprived state, are the ultimate decider of the political fate of those who offer to serve them."

HE PRESIDENT, Chartered Institute of Administration, CIA, Goddy Idaminabo has lamented that Nigeria is suffering from misrule.

He said this recently at the institute’s 2013 training for fellows to be inducted into the institute this week in Abuja.

“The problem we have in this country is mal-administration because people find themselves in administrative positions, government offices without being equipped with necessary administrative skills.

He therefore called on leaders and public office holders to embark on continuous administrative training to sanitise the country's corporate and public administrative sector.

"We are ready to partner with the present government through impactation of modern day administration techniques," he said.

Court dethrones Ekiti monarch

BY GBENGAB ARIYIBI

A

DO EKITI — THE Ekiti State High Court, sitting in Ikole. Ekiti has nullified the appointment of Olumojo of Imojo Ekiti,Oba Samuel Olatunji,stating that the appointment of the monarch was fraught with irregularities.

Oba Olatunji who is from Fabunmi Ruling House was installed on January 22, 2009, but his installation was challenged by Prince Oluwadare Ayeni from Atoriseya Sokunrin Ruling House.

Counsel to Ayeni, Dayo Adewumi from Dele Omotoso’s chambers had approached the court in 2010, praying for the nullification of the said appointment, stressing that the exercise was not in accordance with the provisions of the Chiefs Law 1984 as amended While C.O. Omokhafe who represented the chairman of the king-makers and Oba Samuel Olatunji, the Olumojo of Imojo had submitted that Prince Ayeni had waived his right having opted for Ifa divination, instead of the voting system by the king-makers.

He, therefore urged the court to dismiss Prince Ayeni’s suit

12—Vanguard , TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

2015: Group drums support for Jonathan

Okada riders sue Edo govt over ban

BUJA—A Group, Transformation Enhancers amongst NonGovernmental Organisations, TEANGO, has called on Present Goodluck Jonathan to continue in office at the end of his first tenure.

This according to the group was in view of the contributions made by his administration to the development and transformation of the country in the past four years covering his tenure as acting President and elected President respectively.

Leaders of the group when they visited Dr. Ahmed Gulak, Political Adviser to the President, Professor Jasper Jumbo, noted that the administration of President Jonathan stands out in the history of the country, having taken the country through its worst ethno religious crisis.

According to the group, Jonathan’s anti-corruption campaign, his diplomatic but tactical approach to homeland security, commitment to 30 per cent affirmation for women in his government, commitment to transparency and accountability in public governance and result/impact driven development are unequaled TEANGO, a coalition of over 40 registered nongovernmental organisations and civil society groups, he noted decided to sensitise and mobilise civil societies and humanitarian groups to embrace the candidacy of President Jonathan in the 2015 elections.

Inhisresponse,Dr.Gulaksaid that President Jonathan was eminently qualified like any other Nigerian to seek a second tenure in office and that no individual or group would intimidate him out of it.

ENIN—COMMERCIAL motorcycle operations, commonly called Okada in Edo State, have dragged the state government before a Federal High Court sitting in Benin City, challenging the recent ban on their operations by the state government.

It will be recalled that the Okada operators were recently banned from operating in three local government areas in Benin metropolis.

They are contending in the suit that the ban constituted a violation of their rights to fair hearing and freedom of movement as guaranteed by the Constitution of Nigeria as amended and Articles 7 and 12 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

The Okada operators in the suit by their counsel, Mr Dele Igbinedion, described the ban on their operations by the state government as unconstitutional and illegal.

Plaintiff, Mr. Charles James on behalf of himself and others is contending that the governor does not have powers to verbally ban Nigerians from using their validly licensed motorcycles; neither can he

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

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A

make laws nor abrogate existing Road Traffic Laws.

In a 24-paragraph affidavit, he averred that Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s verbal ban impliedly cancels his licences, all duly obtained and still valid, adding that the duty of the governor, “is to execute laws validly made by the state House of Assembly,” insisting that the threat to confiscate and destroy his Okada

with valid registration number QC 093 GBZ, was ultra vires.

The applicant is therefore, praying the court to perpetually restrain the respondents by themselves, agents, servants or privies, howsoever, from carrying out the orders of the governor in the affected local government areas.

He also want the court to

set aside Oshiomhole’s verbal ban on the use of motorcycles from plying all roads in the three affected councils, which took effect from Sunday, June 16, 2013 and N50million as damages against the respondents as general and or exemplary damages/compensation for the breach of his fundamental rights.

RECEPTION: From right: Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State; Deputy Governor, Pius Odubu and Mr. Philip Shaibu, Majority Leader, Edo State House of Assembly, at the reception, after the burial of Rev Francis Shaibu, father of the Edo State lawmaker, at Jattu, Etsako West Local Government Area, Edo State.

Rivers govt moves to check flooding

BY JIMITOTA ONOY-

UME & BRIGHT OGUNKILEDE

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ORT HARCOURT — RIVERS State Government has called on residents of the five flood prone local government areas in the state to identify higher grounds in their councils to be used as muster points for evacuation, in the event of severe flooding.

Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr. Dickson Umunakwe, said the call

was informed by the 2013 imminent flood prediction by the National Metrological Agency, NIMET and the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. Umunakwe at a flood sensitisation programme in Abua/Odual and Ogba/ Egbema/ Ndoni Local Government Area secretariat, said early preparation will help minimise the problems associated with flood challenges.

He identified clogging of drainage with refuse, building over drainages and erecting structures on shorelines as the major causes of flood-

ing, noting that these factors hinder the smooth flow of water and warned against such practices.

Umunakwe said that the government would deploy six flying boats to each of the five prone councils for quick

evacuation, adding that a marine ambulance would be stationed at the Orashi River in Ahoada West Local Government Area of the state.

He said: “The former camp sites used last year will be better

equipped and we will also partner relevant ministries, including Power, Water, Health, Environment and Housing, which will provide the needed facilities to cater for the needs of the flood victims at the camps.”

....As Bayelsa builds shelters for displaced victims Yenagoa and quartered in

BY SAMUEL OYADON-

Y

GHA

ENAGOA— BAYELSA State Government has commenced the building of shelters in the eight local government areas of the state in anticipation of the predicted heavy rainfall and its attendant flooding in the coastal states by the Nigeria Metrological Agency NIMET. Already, Governor Seriake Dickson, it was learnt, had released the sum of N500 million to the state infrastructural advisory committee for the pro-

posed shelters in the rural areas of the state.

The committee was set up in the aftermath of last year’s flood with a view to avoiding a repeat of the near humanitarian crisis that rocked the state.

The building shelters, Vanguard learnt, is to prevent a repeat of the use of public institutions such as schools and the sport complexes for displaced persons as witnessed last year.

Hundreds of thousands of families were displaced across the state during last year’s flood with majority of the victims moved to

schools, which were hurriedly converted to camp the internally displaced persons, a development that forced the government to close all schools in the state.

ERROR IN the advert placed on Sunday Vanguard, June 9, Page 37 by Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, the name of the Executive Chairman, Hon. (Prince) Ekerette Ekpenyong was wrongly spelt as Hon. (Prince) Ekerette Elqwnyong.

We sincerely apologise for this error.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 —13

‘65% of girls in N-East lack basic education’

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From left: President Jonathan; Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State and Mr. Nyesom Wike, Minister of State for Education, at the Port Harcourt International Airport. The President was on his way to Abuja from Bayelsa.

Community sues Army, oil firm over occupation of land

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

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ENIN—AN oil producing community in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State, Obagie N’unuamen, has dragged the Chief of Army Staff, the Commander of the 4 Mechanized Brigade of the Nigerian Army, and the management of Newcross Petroleum Limited before a Federal High Court in Benin, Edo State over an alleged use of personnel of the Nigerian Army to deprive citizens of the community of benefits accruing them from their God-given wealth.

The community is asking the court to restrain the defendants, their agents and privies from entering, working upon and carrying out oil prospecting (including seismic surveys of any kind whatsoever) or oil mining activities on any portion of plaintiffs’ communal land.

Meanwhile, President General of the community, Mr. Femi Aiwansedo, has denied the claim by Newcross company that all the host communities including N’unuaemn attended a meeting it called last week, describing same as a hoax and attempt to discredit the community.

He said there was already a suit in court by the community against the company over use of army officers to molest, inC M Y K

timidate, and deny the people of their rights and benefits as an oil producing area.

The community is also demanding N100 million as damages against Newcross

Petroleum Limited for the loss of value to the land as a result of interference with the plaintiff’s interest in the 20 hectares of land belonging to the community and another 38 hec-

tares of its land, which the company entered into without their permission and in the process, carried out oil exploration activities and subsequently laid the land to waste.

World Bank approves $300m for Nigerian farmers L

AGOS—THE World Bank, yesterday, said it has approved credit facilities of $300 million for Nigeria to boost farming output and food security.

A $200 million loan will go to small-holder farmers organised in clusters in six of the country’s 36 states for producers of rice, cassava, sorghum and other staples, the World Bank said.

Another $100 million will be used to improve crop yields, promote market access and better management.

Nigeria is the world’s second-largest importer of rice and sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest wheat and sugar buyer.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s government plans to stop rice imports, now costing 1 billion naira a day ($6.2 million), by 2015.

Agriculture Minister, Akinwunmi Adesina had a couple of month ago, stated that

the country was expecting $1 billion in support from the World Bank, with $500 in agriculture and $500 for expanding the country’s irrigation capacity.

Nigeria attracted agricultural investment worth more than $8 billion in the past 18 months, Adesina said on June 13. Still, only 40 per cent of its 21 million hectares (51.9 million acres) of arable land is cultivated.

Agriculture employs 70 percent of Nigeria’s population, Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, said in the statement.

The credit will be provided under the International Development Association’s terms for helping poor countries, according to the statement. As of 2010, more than 60 per cent of the West African country’s population of more than 160 million people lived on less than

$1 a day, up from 51.6 per cent in 2004, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Election

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KPO community in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, last weekend at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Akpo, elected new officers to pilot the affairs of the town for the next three years.

The officers elected are as follows: President-General, G.O.C Ezeno; First-Vice, Mr. Felix Ikebude; Second-Vice, Mr. Cajethan Onyenwe; General Secretary, Prof. Laz Ezenwaka; Asst. Secretary, Nze Paul Mokwe; Financial Secretary, Mr. Chidi Jupadim; Asst. Financial Secretary, Mr. Fredrick Anyaora; Public Relations Officer, Nze Samuel Okpala; Treasurer, Nze Henry Dimakunne and Trustee, Nze Stephen Okpalobi Snr.

BY SUZAN EDEH

AUCHI—A NONgovernmental organisation known as the Nigerian Northern Education Initiative, NEI, has said that about 65.5 per cent of girls lack access to basic education in the North East zone of the country. NEI is funded by the United State Agency for International Development, USAID. This was made known during the public presentation of gender assessment findings on basic education and living conditions of orphans and vulnerable children by the Bauchi State Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Development in collaboration with NEI in Bauchi, yesterday.

An expert, Hajiya Bintu Abba Ibrahim who spoke during the ceremony said that 49 per cent of boys attend primary school while 37 per cent of girls attend school in the North East region.

According to her, Nigeria has 17.5 million Orphans and Vulnerable Children, OVC; who lack access to education.

“The need for the education of the girl child, especially in the North-East region where literacy level is very low cannot be overemphasised. From baseline assessment studies, gender enrolment in non-project local governments is 68.87 per cent while in project local governments, the percentage is 65.65 per cent just as Islamiya schools had more female than male enrolment. ” She attributed religion and gender sentiments as factors militating against girl child education and called on stakeholders to support education of the less privileged children, especially girls, in their communities.

Also, the Bauchi State Head of Service, Mr. Abdon Gin said that education was not only fundamental to human existence, but ranked next to air and water in terms of need and demand.

In his remarks, the Emir of Dass, Usman Othman, called for the education of the girl-child, so as to represent a balance in gender equality in sensitive professions like medicine. He also condemned street hawking by under-aged girls.

14—Vanguard , TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

FG urges researchers to reduce diseases

Imo NDLEA prosecutes 50 drug traffickers

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

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O

WERRI—IMO State Com mand of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has prosecuted no fewer than 50 persons for drug trafficking since 2011.

State commandant of the NDLEA, Mr. Kaki Mshelia, who disclosed this in Owerri, said those prosecuted were a part of the 208 arrested during the period.

According to him, the 158 others are currently undergoing counseling.

He said: ”Between 2011 and today, the Command has arrested 208 drug suspects, prosecuted 50 persons and seized about 1,407.98 kilograms of assorted kinds of drugs, during he period under review”.

Mshelia said that in 2011, about 123 males and 24 female drug suspects were arrested, while 261.6 grammes of heroin, 95.4 grammes of cocaine and 361.253 kilo grammes of Indian hemp were seized.

He said 115 suspects were arrested in 2012, while 526.14 kilogrammes of Indian hemp and 137.20 grammes of heroine were seized by the command.

Police deny inviting Ubah for questioning

BY ENYIM ENYIM

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ONTRARY to speculations that a governorship aspirant for the 2014 governorship election in Anambra State, Dr. Ifeannyi Ubah, was last Friday invited by the state police command few hours after he joined the Labour Party, LP, the police yesterday stated that at no time was he invited for questioning over any matter.

A governorship aspirant had allegedly sent a petition to the police, alleging that Ubah was intimidating his supporters.

But speaking with newsmen, Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer Mr. Emeka Chukwuemeka, said: “As I speak with you the state police commissioner is not in town.

“So when was the invitation made? I am not aware of any invitation by the police command and I do not see anything that would warrant that.

"Ifeanyi Ubah was never invited by the police and we do not have any reason from our record or file to invite him.

“I want to use this medium to advice the public, especially politicians to be very vigilant over the type of information that is being peddled by their colleagues".

MEETING—From left: Former Comptroller General of Immigration, Mr. Joseph Ude, President South East South South Professionals, Mr. Emeka Ugwu-Oju and Former Anambra State Governor, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife during the stakeholders' meeting at Sheraton Hotels and Towers in Abuja.

Okorocha asks INEC to release result of Oguta poll re-run zAs PDP accuses APGA of not playing by the rules

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

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WERRI—IMO State gov ernor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, yesterday, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to unconditionally release the result of Oguta re-run election for the state assembly seat, which had been vacant for about two years.

The governor’s plea came as the state People’s Democratic Party, PDP, reacted angrily to the figures being peddled by the state government as coming from the re-run election.

Okorocha, who made the plea while addressing newsmen, also warned of dire consequences that would be meted out to the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, if he decided to speak on the several antics of the party faithful in the state.

Okorocha said: "The Oguta rerun election was very peaceful

despite provocations. The result was duly signed by one Cynthia Oguika, engaged by INEC to do the job of the returning officer. I appeal to INEC to make good its name and release the result.

He expressed delight that no life was lost but warned PDP members not to overstretch their luck.

The governor, however, expressed regrets that this was the fourth time election in Oguta had been declared inconclusive.

Meanwhile, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the state has reacted angrily to the figures being peddled by the state government as coming from the last re-run election for Oguta State constituency seat.

According to a statement signed by party’s Publicity Secretary, Chief Blyden Amajirionwu, the PDP candidate, Chief

Eugene Dibiagwu, was ahead of the All Progressives Grand Alliance candidate, Mr. Walter Uzonwanne.

Amajirionwu said: "Contrary to the misinformation and falsehood being peddled by APGA in Imo State, the PDP went into the Oguta re-run election prepared to obey the rules and indeed obeyed the rules.

"APGA and its government saw the election as a do-or-die matter and deployed thugs in all the wards in Oguta”.

He recalled that the army and other security agencies were able to contain the excesses of the thugs, adding that at Osemoto Ward, the thugs were more brazen and had the effrontery to engage the police in a fight.

He alleged that government officials handed over to the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, a result for Osemoto Ward.

Strike: ASUP remains adamant; says no going back on demands

BY BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE

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WO months into its nation wide strike, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, said yesterday that there was no going back on its demands, insisting that unless all issues that caused the strike were addressed, the action would continue.

This came as the union rejected the discriminatory cut-off points for candidates seeking admission into Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education and called for harmonization of the cut-off points into tertiary institutions in the coun-

try.

ASUP had called out its members on a nationwide strike in protest against government’s refusal to implement agreement on bothering on welfare and other sundry issues.

The union, after its 74th National Executive Council, NEC, meeting at Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, expressed concern over the non-chalant attitude of government towards exercising the political will to meet the demands which led to the strike.

It said the NEC appreciated the understanding shown by students, parents and guardi-

ans over the on-going strike and called on other stakeholders to show similar understanding and work with it towards strengthening the polytechnic sector in Nigeria.

Calling on government to stop paying lip-service to the technical education sector in the country, the union demanded that polytechnic education be properly and adequately funded.

It also condemned perceived discrimination against polytechnic graduates at entry and career progression in public service and canvassed a level-playing ground for graduates from the various tertiary institutions.

HE Federal Government has urged researchers at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Researcher, NIMR, to intensify efforts to reduce diseases and disaster burden in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, succour is on the way of Nigerian women, as scientists at NIMR are to conduct a National Survey on the prevalence of Human Papilloma Virus, HPV, following the procurement of CBAS 4800 machine used for the screening of HPV, the virus that is known to cause cancer of the cervix.

NIMR is the first and only institute that has acquired the machine in the whole of West African Sub- region.

The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, who spoke during the official commissioning of the new Human Virology Laboratory, HVL, at the institute to mark the Director-General, Prof. Innocent Ujah’s three years in office in Lagos, said the new laboratory and machine would provide care not only for cervical cancer patients but Nigerians living with HIV and Tuberculosis, (TB).

According to Pate, the upgrading of biological safety level three laboratory for Multi- Drug Resistant TB, MDR-TB, by the Family health International, (FHI360) with support from USAID would tell which type of virus is involved as well as improve quality of care.

May and Baker staff, others arraigned for alleged theft

BY IJEOMA NATHANIEL

L

AGOS—A staff of May and Baker Plc, Okechukwu Ogbonnaya, and others now at large, were yesterday brought before an Ikeja Magistrate Court for allegedly converting the company’s N4.95 million to his personal use.

The suspect, docked before Magistrate B. O. Osunsanmi, are facing a two- count charge of conspiracy and stealing preferred against them by the police.

Police Prosecutor, Inspector Benson Emuerhi, told the court that the defendant, employed as a sales representative of May and Baker Nigeria Plc, did fraudulently convert his employer’s N4,995, 000.00 fofr his own use.

He told the court that, the defendant committed the offence between January and June 2011 at no 3/5 Sapara Street, Ikeja, in the Ikeja Magisterial District.

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Vanguard , TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013—15

NBA canvasses review of criteria for judicial appointments

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

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BUJA—THE Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, yesterday, called for a review of the criteria for judicial appointments and promotion.

According to the NBA, intellectual acumen and professional integrity must be the major criteria for bench candidacy.

The legal body, which flagged-off a two-day seminar organised by its own anti-corruption commission, in Abuja, decried the mounting cases of corruption within the judiciary.

It also noted that some judges, by their decisions, tell the people and youths that it was bigger crime to steal a goat than billions of naira.

National President of the NBA, Chief Okey Wali, SAN, lamented that judges allowed litigation to continue indefinitely, while criminals walk freely.

He said: “They insensitively invoke their ‘neutral’, ‘referee’, and ‘umpire’ mantras to derail, frustrate and inhibit agile prosecution. They descend into an orgy of ‘plea bargaining’-an anomalous, amorphous, and amoebic piece of witchcraft aped from the United States.

“If you steal a goat or a thousand naira, you go to jail. But if you steal oil or a billion naira, you plea bargain and walk- a sublime piece of mysticism and nonsense!

“What is the judiciary doing in the fight against corruption?

Some of them take bribes. From the worship of their worships at the magistrates’ courts, to the overlordship of their lordships at the high courts, we have elevated our judges to demi-gods.

And some have arrogantly welcomed their deification.

It is the genus that suggests societal suicide. A corrupt judiciary may continue to exist in name, but unchecked corruption denudes the judicial robe of its wearer.

“Nigeria has many lawyers of high personal integrity. Some of us know some of them. Few of them ever get a chance on the bench. This must change.

“Let me state without fear of contradiction that the most important practical way to combat corruption in the justice sector is the development of a strong political will and commitment. Without this at the national level, little can be achieved.

“Corruption is the number one

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Paucity of fund in the judiciary “The NBA calls on the Fed-

eral Government to provide sufficient funds with a view to strengthening justice sector institutions, especially in the areas of skills and capacity.

“Amending our obsolete criminal laws, re-activation of Administration of Justice Commission, and passage into law of the Administration of Criminal Justice Bill and other justice sector related Bills pending at the National Assembly like the Police and Prison Bills is another practical way of combating corruption in the justice sector in Nigeria.”

Former President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (2nd left); Kano State Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, (2nd right); and Niger State Governor, Dr. Muázu Babangida Aliyu during the foundation laying of Promenade Housing Estate, Lokogoma Abuja.

— Housing Minister

BY CHRIS OCHAYI

A

BUJA—THE e-collection system introduced by the Federal Mortgage of Nigeria, FMBN, has increased remittance by contributors to the National Housing Fund, NHF, from N730 million to over N2 billion annually, Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms. Amal Pepple, has said.

Ms. Pepple, who disclosed this at the sensitization workshop on the National Housing Fund, NHF, said the system was a more accountable and transparent process that had laid to rest the issue of non-remittance of NHF contributions by many organisations.

The minister said: “I am confident that no matter what our views are on the NHF, there is a point of convergence.

This is informed by the fact that it is a sustainable mechanism for improving mortgage access and enhancing opportunities for affordable housing in Nigeria.

“As key stakeholders and partners in the housing and urban development sector, you are no doubt, aware of the positive developments in the operations of the scheme, especially over the past two years.

N5bn pension scam: Court remands ex-director, bank manager in prison

Corruption in Judiciary “Such judges run their courts with despotism, even impunity. They come to court late, leave early, are absent for days. Corruption thrives in an environment of indiscipline and lack of accountability.

“Judicial appointments and promotion should attract talent from outside the formal Bar and Bench. If our civil-procedure and criminal-procedure regimes are weak, those vested in them may not always be the best people to lead or support reform.

“If our judicial arm is tainted with corruption, those steeped in its workings may not always be the best people to fight or resist corruption.

“The worst kind of corruption is judicial corruption. It is the specie that signals final decay.

problem of this country. Whether by embezzlement of public funds, appointments in public and private sector or by selective justice. What is most threatening is the impunity with which corruption is practiced in our country.

“It is attaining the status of our way of life in the country. If this country must survive, there must be concerted efforts to fight corruption both in public and private life.

NHF: E-collection increases remittance to N2bn annually

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

A

BUJA——THE Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday, ordered that the former Director of Pension Accounts in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, OHCSF, Dr Sani Teidi Shaibu, remained in prison custody.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola gave the order after he indefinitely suspended ruling on the bail application filed before him by the erstwhile pension boss, who had already spent 24 days at Kuje maximum prison.

Also directed to remain in prison custody was a former manager with the defunct Oceanic Bank Plc, Mr

Udusegbe Omoefe Eric.

It will be recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had on June 7 arraigned the duo over allegation that they conspired and diverted over N5 billion meant for pensioners.

They are answering to a 22count criminal charge bordering on conspiracy, fraud, breach of public trust and obtaining money by false pretense.

Though the court had on June 18, adjourned ruling on their consolidated bail application till yesterday, the 1st accused person, who was said to have acted without the consent of his lawyer, Chief S.I Ameh, SAN, forwarded a petition to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, alleging bias against the trial judge.

Sequel to the petition which accused Justice Ademola of deliberately thwarting efforts to secure the release of the accused persons from prison custody, the CJ, queried him, and directed that he should promptly respond to the allegation leveled against him in the petition.

Consequently, at the resumed sitting yesterday, Justice Ademola adjourned the case indefinitely to enable him respond to the petition.

He also ordered that the accused persons be returned to the prison.

EFCC had maintained that the accused persons used nine companies to siphon pension funds.

The anti-graft agency gave names of the companies it accused of complicity in the

pension scam as Gozinda Enterprises, Bashinta Nigeria Ltd, Haleath Enterprises, Uthatak Nigeria Ltd, Krasiva Nig Ltd, Badawulu Ventures Limited, Ebunu Attah Investment, Muha Millennium Motors Limited, Ribaile Petroleum Ltd. EFCC had earlier revealed before the court how the accused persons used seven bureau de change operators and stole pension funds, adding that during the investigation, one Mohammed Muhamud, owner of Muha Motors, who it said volunteered statements on 16/2/2011 and 31/5/2011, confessed that Dr Shaibu, at various times, used his bank accounts to transfer huge sums of money to another account operated by one Chief Anthony Azewaputa, who EFCC said facilitated the purchase of “Brifina Hotel”, for the 1staccused person.

The agency told the court that the

16—Vanguard , TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

D O N A TION: District Governor, Rotary International District 9251; Rotarian Felix Obadan, handing over some copies of books donated by Rotary Club of Abuja Metro to the Principal of Garki Secondary School, Area 11, Garki, Mrs A. Jimoh on behalf of the school in Abuja

Youths burn Borno ANPP chair’s house zAs female Boko Haram member loses leg planting IED z2 other women nabbed with AK47 riffles in the market

BY NDAHI MARAMA

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AIDUGURI— YOUTHS popularly known as Civilian Joint Task Force, JTF, who have been assisting security agencies in arresting Boko Haram suspects in Borno State, yesterday, invaded the residence of All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, Chairman, Alhaji Mala Othman, at the New GRA, Maiduguri, the state capital, setting it ablaze.

They claimed to be looking for the Boko Haram insurgents.

This was even as a middle aged woman suspected to be a member of the Boko Haram had one of her legs shattered while trying to plant an Improvised Explosive Device, IED, on a Baga Road market square in Maiduguri.

The woman said to be carrying the improvised bomb to the area where it would have been planted, but it detonated before she reached her destination, last Sunday.

The ‘Civilian JTF’ also arrested two women with AK47 rifles at the Monday Market yesterday.

It was said that after torching the ANPP Chairman’s building, the youths proceeded to the former Governor Ali Modu Sherrif ’s multi billion Naira residence in the same GRA with the aim of also setting it on fire.

It however, took the timely intervention of the security agents guarding the house to stop the action.

The security operatives were alleged to have shot sporadically into the air to scare away the youths who scattered without accomplishing their mission.

However, the party chairman was said to have narrowly escaped being killed by his attackers as security agents reportedly whisked him away in a

tinted Toyota Camry saloon car before the youths arrived.

Youths on a similar mission, had earlier invaded Othman’s house but were stopped from carrying out the action by security agents who informed them that the chairman was not in town.

The youths whose efforts had earlier been commended by Governor Kashim Shettima and other concerned individuals for helping in the arrests of several Boko Haram sect members in Maiduguri and Damaturu, the Yobe State capital in the last couple of weeks have vowed that they would arrest both Othman and former Governor Sheriff and hand them over to security agencies for appropriate action.

Vanguard reported last week that some of the Volunteer Youths went to the residence of the ANPP chairman at the new GRA, on a mission to arrest him or set his house ablaze.

It took the security operatives guarding the residence of the politician about 20 minutes of begging the aggrieved youths to drop the idea.

A reliable source told Vanguard that the ANPP chairman had reportedly been on the run since last year over the Boko Haram palaver in the state.

However, on the woman who tried to plant an explosive, an eye witness who identified herself as Abubakar Kundiri said: “We were sitting under this tree with two of my friends when the woman passed by carrying something in her bag that looked like a tin of cowbell milk. Immediately when she reached there, (pointing to the area) she bent over and put the object she was carrying on the ground.

No sooner had she stood up than we heard a loud sound and her leg was torn into pieces. ”In fact, we were very lucky to be alive as we never knew she was carrying a device which could have exploded and killed all of us,” she stated.

Vanguard, TUESDAY,JULY 2, 2013 — 17

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18 — Vanguard, TUESDAY,JULY 2, 2013 ANYONE who says he understands how elections in Nigeria work is only making a claim. Whether at the local government, state or federal levels, elections are mysteries various authorities sustain for their own purposes.

It would not be in the interest of powerseekers to conduct free and fair elections.

Many politicians believe loose implementation of laws leave them a chance of manipulating the process to access the benefits of power.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has not been helpful. It is a law to itself. Billions of Naira invested in its operations does not reflect in the results it delivers. After leading Nigerians through promises of improved performances, INEC reclines to the most ridiculous excuses for its failing.

Its conduct of the 2011 elections is praised by those who lower standards to accommodate mediocrity. What did INEC do in 2013 that was different from elections conducted from 1999? Have we moved away from the failings of 1999?

We do not think so. From the registration

BY DAKUKU PETERSIDE

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BOUT a week ago, I received a report from Legal Defence and Assistance Project, LEDAP, an organisation committed to monitoring and documenting unlawful killings in Nigeria. The centre also monitors the disposition of relevant authorities saddled with administration of justice in Nigeria. LEDAP may not be your idea of a huge civil society group but heroism exists there. In one bold report, it documents extra-judicial executions and summary killings in Nigeria. Nothing could have been more patriotic and I have already written a letter of commendation to that organisation.

LEDAP did not exactly say anything new in its report but it brought our gory current reality to a touching distance. For instance, the report says that between 2010 and 2011, six people were unlawfully killed every day and most of them were under 35 years of age. This is horrifying!

In 2010 alone, a total of 371 incidents resulting in 1,536 deaths were recorded with a breakdown of 379 extra-judicial executions and 1,157 summary killings.

The report says that 106 cases were investigated and that only four prosecuted to conclusion, a situation that shows an impunity level of 96 per cent. 2011 is even worse but let us leave it for another day.

As a people, I think we should be seriously worried about this damning verdict from LEDAP’s investigation. Nobody would have thought that life was this cheap in Nigeria but this LEDAP’s enquiry is drawing attention to our attitude as a country

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Culture of Election Failings of voters to voting, the processes are flawed.

There is no agreed explanation of the Electoral Act, making it a decorative document that remains legally challenging, failing to provide succour for those who seek comfort in its provisions. Why would election riggers not take advantage? Why would rigging stop when the punishments the Electoral Act prescribes are ignored?

There are fines, jail terms for almost any conceivable electoral offence. INEC does not prosecute electoral offenders, the major reason being that its officials are among the biggest offenders. If the matter is diligently investigated, field officers who compromise elections may not be acting alone. What

have their supervisors done to deter them?

INEC Chairman Professor Attahiru Jega, as usual, is brimming with optimism over the 2015 elections. No proper account of the 2011 elections have been given, especially how the technological advances that cost billions of Naira did not facilitate improvements in the process. INEC has moved on, and expects Nigerians to do the same. Perpetrators of electoral fraud, Jega says, have been punished quietly.

Our concerns about elections are many. For all the importance they bear to our future, INEC has failed to provide the transparency required to make them credible. Its plans skirt vital issues of fairness to contestants, access to information for all – these contribute to the fidelity of elections.

Voters’ education is relegated to the background, though international donors funnel billions of Naira to INEC’s purses for the purpose. INEC must show by its conduct that it is changing. A good start would be an account of the 2011 elections and punishments, according to the law, for those whose conducts thwarted transparency of the elections.

OPINION Impunity in Nigeria 20 10 and 20 11: A sad commentar 201 2011: commentaryy towards the sanctity of human life. Above all, it is an important document because it spares no details: scenes, victims, perpetrators and circumstances are well documented. Extra-judicial executions and summary killings of this scale therefore should trouble us because it says a lot about us and the value we place on life.

The truth is that Impunity in 2010 and 2011 is a depressing chapter in the life of our nation. It reminds me of a pictorial cover story of one of Nigeria’s leading magazines many years ago entitled: “The Way We Are, Uncensored”. This captured the oddities and absurdities that characterised the year 2000 and I still remember how a woman who was accused of witchcraft was stripped and tied to a stake in that edition. Last year, four undergraduate students of University of Port Harcourt were murdered under circumstances that smacks of first grade impunity.

What is happening today with human rights issues in Nigeria is therefore terrifying and condemnable. No nation can afford to watch while her people are decimated in such a large number and I think there is need for a collective action.

Regrettably, these extra-judicial executions and summary killings are resonating outside our shores and the signs are disturbing. This is what 2012 Annual State of the World Human Rights Report of Amnesty International says about Nigeria:

“Police operations (in Nigeria) remained characterised by human rights violations.

Hundreds of people were unlawfully killed, often before or during arrests on the street.

Others were tortured to death in police detention...Many people disappeared from police custody. Few police officers were held accountable, leaving relatives of those killed or disappeared without justice. Police increasingly wore plain clothes or uniforms without identification, making it much harder for people to complain about individual officers”.

O

ne other disturbing part of LEDAP’s report is the link of impunity to a failing government system because of the absence of well-organised instrument for punishing offenders or providing redress for victims. In the report’s view, the Nigeria government has failed woefully since 1999 in its promises towards improving and protecting lives of its citizens despite the huge human and financial resources committed to maintaining law and order.

This failure is widely believed to be predicated on poor security intelligence, pitiable policing practices and absence of effective criminal justice administration in Nigeria. Something therefore needs to be urgently done.

For too long, the debate on the value of the life of an average Nigerian has raged without any definitive verdict. Often, we return to this long issue anytime there is a global event that draws our attention to how

citizens of other countries are treated by their law enforcement agencies.

It is appalling at this age and time that our nation still records avoidable and needless deaths. But the truth is that many of our country men and women are unaware of this monumental impunity which is an ill-wind. Worse still, the LEDAP report says that there has been a considerable increase in the number of Nigerians who die through extra-judicial executions and summary killings.

I recently stumbled on a document by Integrated Regional Information Networks where the government of Nepal was accused of failing to investigate and prosecute extra-judicial killings during Nepal’s civil war between 1999 and 2006.

Like Nigeria, the inability of the Nepalese government to prosecute offenders is ruining lives, crushing hopes and shattering victims’ families, at the same time creating a culture of impunity. This contrasts sharply with Burundi, a tiny East African country where extra-judicial killings are on the decrease since 2011.

On May 16, 2013, the Federal Government of Nigeria flagged off “Stop Impunity Nigeria Campaign”, but many people are of the opinion that government is the biggest threat to the war against impunity. *Mr. Peterside who is Chairman, House of Reps. Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) represents Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro Fed. constitutency.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013— 19

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“

AOLU AKANDE writing from New York in The Guardian Tuesday June 18, 2013, reports that “President Barack Obama is stepping up America’s military strategy against global terrorism and that Africa is on the list of his targets. The U.S. had earlier this year established a drone base for the sake of dealing with Boko Haram terror threat in Nigeria, an ally of the U.S. in Africa. According to a letter sent to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and President Pro-Tempore of the Senate at the weekend, Obama informed the U.S. Congress that he had 'deployed combat equipped forces to enhance the counterterrorism capabilities and support the counter- terrorism operations of our friends and allies, including special operations and other forces for sensitive operations in various locations around the world'. The letter dated June 14 and signed by Obama himself, disclosed under the sub-heading 'Military Operations in Niger in Support of U.S. Counter-Terrorism Objectives' that: 'As detailed in my report of February 22, 2013, and at my

direction, on February 20, 2013 the last element of deployment of 40 additional U.S. military personnel entered Niger with the consent of the Government of Niger'. Obama wrote that: ‘This deployment provides supports for intelligent collection and facilitates intelligence sharing with French forces conducting operations in Mali, and with other partners in the region'. The total number of U.S. military personnel deployment in Niger is approximate180. Observers say by adding more troops to the drone base in Niger, the U.S. is sharpening its strategy against Boko Haram upon whose head the State Department recently placed a $7million bounty some weeks ago. The whole purpose of Obama’s security policy in Niger and in Nigeria is to enhance the counter- terrorism capabilities of these two U.S. allies to mount counter-terrorism operations in support of U.S. counter-terrorism objectives. President Obama’s directive is in furtherance of the U.S. global counter-terrorism objectives. President Obama

prefers 'a light-footprint approach that relies on Special Forces, drones and local partners to combat terrorism, a sharp contrast to the regime change approach which was followed in Afghanistan and Iraq. This change in strategy is evident in President Obama's counter-insurgency effort in Africa. Bounty of $21million have been placed on the heads of five Al Qaeda/Boko Haram leaders, with the highest on the head of Abubakar Shekau, the Nigeria leader of the Boko Haram sect. The U.S. recognises the affiliation of the Boko Haram to Al Queda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and appreciates the insurgent capability of Shekau, hence the bounty.

“Boko Haram has fought alongside the regional Al Queda affiliate known as Al Queda in the Islamic Maghreb or AQIM according to residents of Mali.

Obi’s presumptuous search for successor

BY LOUIS EJIKEME

H

ARDBALL , an opinion column of the Nation newspapers, on Friday May 17, 2013, took a swipe on Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State over alleged comments on succession to the office of the governor of the State. The Governor was said to have communicated his aversion to being succeeded by a professional politician to a group of " religious leaders when they paid him a visit at the Governor’s Lodge at Amawbia. His words: “He (the next governor) must not be a professional politician that sees politics not as a vocation to advance the progress of civilization, but as an avenue to steal the people’s money”.

The piece was prefaced with a review of past presumptuous talk on succession and its negative impacts on the practice of democracy. It expressed concern over the fate of democracy should voters cede the right of king- making to an individual. But more than that, the paper seemed scandalized by the Governor ’s unpretentious acknowledgement of a search for his successor. It wrote inter alia: “…He still owed his state and the country as a whole the obligation to talk diplomatically, disguise his intentions, or pretend he thought it objectionable for the electorate to have such unpalatable view of the Nigerian electoral process”.

There is no doubt that democracy does not accommodate a variant of its kind. The gain of democracy is bountiful if allowed unfettered practice. A regulated democracy brings with it a moment of difficult presage.

Like a clunker, it devastates, and is barren of good result. No sane person acquiesces C M Y K

,

to a fettered democracy. Even in places with worst case practice, offenders still make efforts however difficult, to protect its inviolate practice.

The fear expressed over Governor Obi’s alleged choice of a successor is understandable given that his choice may turn out to be wrong. But again he should have a choice. “The one pervading evil of democracy,” wrote British Lord Acton, “is the tyranny of the majority ”. Though democracy allows for popular participation, yet the minority must have their say. Obi’s choice and or its expression should not be caused to assume the toga of imposition. As the chief executive of the State for two terms, it is believed, he is in a position to understand firsthand the varied shades of interest of those eager to succeed him. Lest we forget, he is still answerable to the people of Anambra, whichever way the cookie crumbles. It will be wrong to impute imposition over a mere expression of an opinion. Except perhaps Hardball is saying, because of his status, he should flinch from expressing a choice, or become deaf-mute.

Lumping him together with all those alleged to have either made presumptuous search for a successor, or talked glibly about it, is wrong. Unlike him, all those involved previously were military men whose attitude to democracy is common knowledge. If there is any civilian among them such person must be executing a charge and, like the paper rightly observed, should be dismissed as a glib talker. It would seem that what got the newspaper riled is not the whole idea of imposition but the indiscretion in voicing it out. Otherwise, what effort, if any, has the paper made about such impositions elsewhere, especially within its domicile.

,

US alarming misreading of facts about Nigeria

It is amazing that the US misreads or makes light the security condition of the country; US counter-terrorism policy cannot be implemented without taking into account the course of terrorism in Nigeria

Hundreds of self-identified Boko Haram fighters last year learned to fire shoulder-mounted weapons at an AQIM-affiliated training camp in Timbuktu Mali, said a cook who fed them and neighbours who watched them. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau spent much of last year in Mali, according to a senior Nigerian security adviser. In Boko Haram: 'You have a group that is becoming increasingly efficient'. Indeed the U.S. authorities rank the Boko Haram behind the Al Queda and the Talibans in terms of their threat capability. Nigeria is therefore critical in Obama’s new approach to fighting in global counter-terror war without 'putting U.S. boots on the ground'."

Counter-terrorism operations

F

or a Nigeria Government regarded as a principal US ally in West Africa, it is amazing that the US misreads or makes light the security condition of the country. The US counter-terrorism objective in Africa requires that it enhances the counter-terrorism capabilities of Nigeria in order to support the country’s counterterrorism operations. This US policy cannot be implemented without the US taking into account the course of terrorism addressed

by US allies in general and by Nigeria in particular. Addressing the course of terrorism is addressing the capabilities of the terrorists in their operations, and more specifically it is to address the terrorist operations confronted by the Nigerian Government.

When the US urges the Nigeria Government to conduct its counter-terrorism operations within the ambit of R2P

Obi’s choice and or its expression should not assume the toga of imposition; he is in a position to understand firsthand the varied shades of interest of those eager to succeed him

,

By its own account, the paper admitted that only about three or four out of more than 20 of such impositions in Nigeria turned out right. One would have loved to know how much of the hardball talk the paper engaged those involved in the impositions.

It is common knowledge that five governors out of the six Yoruba states were aided to power by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. So far nobody accuses of imposition as most of them served variously in his government before they were sent to man their states.

Today Tinubu is celebrated as an icon of democracy even by the paper. He may have been spared the hardball treatment because, unlike Obi, he was discreet about those impositions. But did that extenuate the ills thereof? There is no doubt he would wish to extend such imposition further down East.

The concern of the newspaper is understandable. However, it should bear in mind that neither Obi nor the people of Anambra State is bereft of understanding.

T

he paper was right to observe that it took the effort of Ngige to free the State from the claws of Chris Ubah, and that of

(Responsibility To Protect noncombatants) is it mindful of the nature of the course of Boko Haram terrorist operations in Nigeria?

Secretary Kerry as reported in the May 26, 2013 of THISDAY, acknowledged that there is no denying the destabilizing ferocity of Boko Haram campaign of violence in Northern Nigeria.

“They have killed wantonly and upset the normal governance of Nigeria in fundamental ways that are unacceptable,” he said. “And so we defend the right completely of the government to defend itself and to fight back against terrorists." But human rights groups and some Northern leaders have complained about reprisal attacks by Nigerian security forces which further alienate local populations, making it harder to gather information about Boko Haram. A Senior State Department official travelling with Secretary Kerry says Washington has been monitoring the conduct of Nigerian forces during a state of emergency declared earlier this month and concludes that human rights abuses are continuing. The official said: “It still remains a concern for us, peace and stability in the North and human rights issues". Nigeria's President, Goodluck Jonathan, with whom Kerry met on the sidelines of AU summit has ordered an investigation into alleged misconduct during security operations in the village of Baga.

And for that Secretary Kerry said Nigeria deserves credit. Kerry said US and Nigeria officials have spoken directly about the imperative of Nigeria troops adhering to the standards.

Continues next week

Obi to prise her loose from the jaws of Andy, whom it erroneously referred to as the younger of the Ubah brothers. Beyond this, Obi has successfully tucked the state away from further despoliation. To suggest he will be returning the state whence he laboured hard alongside Ngige to extricate from the jaws of profiteers is hard to believe. Worst scenario, he will only attempt the Tinubu magic in just one state – four still short of Asiwaju’s feat. The only drawback in this kind of undertaking (imposition) may mean tougher challenges for the Action Congress of Nigeria, in which case its desire to have an outpost in the East will suffer stillbirth. It is clear what the interest of the paper is. The party’s run for control of more states elsewhere will suffer difficult challenge with Obi’s involvement.

To be aroused because of mere expression of opinion whiffles with an air of insincerity.

Notwithstanding the choice of the modal verb “must” instead of the adjective “likely”, in describing the choice of a successor it is still difficult to justify the position of Hardball. It is nothing more than a function of lexicon which at best should be ignored.

However, the hypocrisy of the Nigerian state is making it an issue amidst worst cases of impositions. It is not readily admitted, but Obi ranks among political figures who do not have high regard for imposition in government. He is not a beneficiary and tried not to create a fiefdom. Earlier elections in the state are ready examples.

Up till now, some hawks among his party men and friends could not appreciate his democratic disposition. They had expected a hijack of the process of election by the Governor to advantage. But to their consternation he has always allowed for the prevailing of popular will. Hardball should spare itself the splitting of hair on the issue of succession to the governorship of the state. At the appointed time the flock will search out the shepherd. *Mr. Ejikeme, a political analyst, wrote from Awka, Anambra sState.

20 — Vanguard, TUESDAY,JULY 2, 2013

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 — 21

Leadership challenges threatening Nigeria’s economic devt — NIM

By MICHAEL EBOH & ADEBADE ADEJIMI

T

HE Nigerian Institute of Management, NIM, has stated that the country ’s economic, infrastructural and ethical revolution is being threatened by the current leadership challenges plaguing the country.

According to a statement announcing its forthcoming 2013 Distinguished Management Lecture series, Dr. Michael Olawale-Cole, President and Chairman of Council, NIM, “ Ineffective legislature is the bane of Nigeria’s development since the dawn of the country’s new democratic experience.”

To this end, he said the institute has chosen ‘The Role of the Legislature on Economic, infrastructural and Ethical Revolution in Nigeria,’ as the theme of the lecture scheduled to hold, Tuesday, July 2, by 11 am at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos “More than ever before in the history of its existence, Nigeria needs an urgent solution to the many leadership challenges besetting it which are threatening the nation’s economic, infrastructural and ethical revolution and the role of the legislature in making these lofty ideals realisable cannot be over emphasized,” he noted.

Olawale-Cole further stated that a vibrant, independent,

120.2 2,210.00

+19.00

16.45

-0.02

102.73

-0.09

97.14

+0.09

154.75 235.9938 202.4285 164.0865 1.5638 0.2884 231.9598 25.2117 41.2645 27.131 232.744

155.25 236.7563 203.0825 164.6167 1.5688 0.2984 232.7092 25.2936 41.3978 27.2187 233.496

question”, He posited that the yearly lecture is one of the institute’s contributions to nation building, adding that it has always provided a platform for the institute to brainstorm on a burning and contemporary leadership issue of national importance and suggest ways forward.

Olawale-Cole stressed that the institute believes that as it is usual with the tradition of the lecture, the guest speaker, Rt. Hon. Tambuwal, will, in addressing the theme of the lecture throw up issues that will

By EMMA UNA

C

ROSS River State has in addition to being the preferred tourism destination also become the preferred

SELLING 155.75 237.5188 203.7366 165.1469 1.5739 0.3084 233.4587 25.3755 41.5311 27.3064 234.248

CBN Exchange rate as at 01/07/2013

Anti-money laundering: Keystone Bank boss seeks delisting of Nigeria from NCCTs

By PETER EGWUATU

M

ANAGING Director/CEO, Keystone Bank Plc, has moved for the removal of Nigeria from the list of Non Co-operative Countries (NCCTs) with regard to anti-money laundering compliance.

He said banks’ chief executive officers have critical roles to play in the task of getting the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to delist Nigeria from is list on non co-operative countries (NCCTs).

Speaking during the Committee of Chief Compliance Officers in Nigeria (CCCOBIN) monthly meeting in Lagos, he urged his counterparts in other banks to provide adequate resources and empowerment for their Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs) and other

for the legislature which will through its activities aid government in achieving its transformation agenda aimed at making the nation one of the top twenty economies by the year 2020,” he submitted.

Cross River attracts private investment in excess of $2bn

FROM LEFT: Chairman, Investment and Securities Tribunal, IST, Ngozi Chianakwalam; Executive Commissioner, Legal and Enforcement, Securities and Exchange Commission,SEC, Saudatu Bello; Director General, SEC and Chairman of the CMC, Arunma Oteh, at the 2nd Quarter Capital Market Committee, CMC, meeting at SEC’s Zonal Office, Lagos.

-1.4

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL DOLLAR POUNDS EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYA KRONA SDR

proactive and people-oriented legislature is what the country needs at this point of its development so that the country can be able to achieve its dream.

He stated further, “The institute which believes in supporting all the three arms of government in finding solutions to the problems of governance is, therefore, using the opportunity provided by this open forum in conjunction with the legislature to contribute its quota to proffering viable and workable roadmap to the legislative

set the tone for an interactive discourse.

“At the end of the day, the ensuing brainstorming session is expected to bring out salient issues that will set an agenda

relevant officers to ensure that Nigeria’s Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) risks are well managed.

Ikeazor, who was represented by Keystone Bank’s Executive Director, Operations and Technology, Ademola Adewale, called for banks’ management backing for the implementation of AML/ CFT measures, especially deficiencies identified by FATF. The FATF had listed nonimplementation of procedures to identify and freeze terrorist assets and failure to ensure that customer due diligence requirements apply to all financial transactions as areas Nigeria needs to address in order to ensure her removal from the high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions list.

investment hub in Nigeria with Private investment portfolio currently in excess of 2 billion dollars which have generated employment for hundreds of people in the state, Mr. Gerald Ada, the Special Adviser to Senator Liyel Imoke on Investment Promotion Bureau has said. While interacting with newsmen on the activities of his Bureau in the past one year last week, Ada said the favourable investment climate in the state coupled with its innovative creation of a one -stop investment centre have served as points of attraction to investors.

He said the state is gradually inching up the ladder to become one of the busiest economies in West Africa and “Our ultimate aim is to make the economy among the five biggest in Nigeria after Lagos, Abuja, PortHarcourt and Kano”.

Ada listed the businesses which have started activities in the state to include General Electric, GE, which has made a commitment of investing the sum of 250 million dollars in capital infrastructure and 800 million dollars in operational expenditure in the next five years with its recent groundbreaking ceremony at the Free Trade Zone in Calabar.

“Wilmar which is Asia’s leading Agribusiness Group which has taken over the CALARO Ibiaye and Obasanjo palm plantations is investing S400 million in agrocultivation and processing and in return along with this come about twenty thousand jobs which would be created for the people from this investment”.

Other investments, the Special Adviser stated are coming from Nigeria’s major industrial conglomerate, Dangote Group which is also investing in the state through the establishment of a cement manufacturing plant worth 800 dollars million while Essar Power has concluded arrangement for establishing an energy and power plant with a capacity to generate 250 megawatts of electricity and is investing another 200 million dollars.

22 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Understanding collective investment scheme

BY BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

I

NVESTMENT is generally challenging and risky. This is more so for beginners with little or no knowledge and expertise when it comes to

what to invest in and how to invest. This challenge has kept a lot of people from investing. It has also caused others huge loses. In fact a number of our readers have expressed concern in this regard. “I want to invest but I

don’t know how to go about it”, some readers asked. One of the answers to this challenge is what is called “Collective Investment Scheme”, or “Mutual Funds”.

Imagine some people contributing money into a pool for investment purposes, and the money is given to somebody or a company which has expertise and professional knowledge (called Fund Manager) about investment, to invest for them.

The fund manager manages and invests the money in investible instruments (shares, bonds, treasury bills

etc.) to make profit for the owners of the money. At the end of the year, the fund manager is paid out of the profit and the remaining (or part) is distributed among the contributors, as dividend or profit.

That is essentially what a collective investment scheme is all about, and it is recognised by the law. The Investments and Securities Act (ISA) No. 29 of 2007, which is the law that governs investment in the nation’s capital market (Section 153) defines the meaning, scope and mode of operations for such schemes. Consequently, collective investment schemes are licensed and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is the regulator of all capital market activities in the country.

The above is very important, because there have been and there are, all manner of collective investment scheme out there in one form or the other. A number of them are not licensed by SEC. Some of them are fake and established for fraudulent purposes, either to defraud contributors, or to engage in illegal activities.

But there are genuine ones, duly registered and licensed

by SEC. So, before you

patronise any collective investment scheme, visit the website of SEC to ascertain if such scheme is licensed by SEC. Investing through a collective investment scheme solves some problem, and minimises some of the risks. First, the challenge of knowing what to invest in is eliminated. The fund manager assumes this responsibly, and because the company has knowledge and expertise in this regard, you can be sure, to a large extent that, it would make good investment choices, on behalf of contributors. Secondly, as an individual investor, there is a limit to what the money available to you can buy. What you have may not be able to invest in more than one or two assets, and in very limited quantities. But in the case of a collective scheme, your money is part of a pool of funds, large enough to invest in different instruments across various sectors. If any of the instruments does not perform well, others would.

Consequently, each contributor has opportunity to benefit from returns from many instruments, across different sectors, and suffer minimal loss, if any of them does not perform well.

Top 10 performing stocks

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

A

MONG the stocks that enjoyedinvestors’ patronage last week to emerge in the top ten performing list were Champion Breweries, May & Baker, Presco Plc, Wema Bank, HIS Plc and DN Meyer plc.

Others include Ikeja Hotel, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Costain (WA) plc and Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc.

C

h a m p i o n Breweries listed on the beverages—brewers/ distillers sub-sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, topped others with price gain of N1.11 or 20.86 percent appreciation from N5.32 to N6.43. Two years ago, Heineken, the parent company of Nigerian Breweries Plc, bought controlling interest in Champion Breweries. Before the acquisition,it was struggling with problem of inadequate

working capital, low productivity, poor market share and low employee morale. Only two weeks ago, the company held a combined annual general meeting, where it announced interest to raise fresh capital to enhance competitiveness and ensure growth and profitability. The company seems to still be going through tough times as it closed 2012 financial year with a loss of N1.3 billion, a fate it suffered in 2011.

The turnover for the same period was stable at N1.8 billion.

Year-to-date, the stock price has risen by 105.43 percent from year low of N3.13 to the present market price.

The second top gainer, May& Baker plc rose by 18.10 percent or N0.42 from N2.32 to N2.74.

M&B Nigeria Plc manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceutical products, such as vaccines, antibiotics, and

sera. The Company also sells diagnostics, medical equipment, bottled water and Mee Mee brand of noodles in Nigeria. The audited 2012 financial statement showed that both cost and interest on banks’ borrowing are putting so much pressure on the company’s finances. While M&B recorded N5.668 billion as revenue for the year, N3.598 billion was expended as cost of sales, while N469.630 million was used to service debt. Profit for the year therefore dropped to N75.94 million in 2012, as against N222.17 million in 2011.

So far, the stock has risen by 122.76 percent from N1.23 at the beginning of the year to the current market price.

P

resco Plc advanced by 10.66 percent or N3.94 to close at N40.89 from N36.95 it started the week at.

Presco is among the 32 stocks approved by the Securities and Securities Commission, SEC, for margin

trading. By this, the shares of the company qualifies as one of the stocks that could be used as collateral for margin loans. The first quarter financial statement for period ended 31st March, 2013, showed slight decline in turnover from N2.215 billion in 2012 to N2.006 within the period. Gross profit dropped to N1.053 billion from N1.347 billion in 2012.

W

ema Bank’s share prices rose by 9.91 percent or N0.11 from N1.11 to N1.22 at the end of transactions on Friday. Wema bank was one of the banks that failed the CBN’s distress test but was later allowed by the CBN to recapitalize on its own.

Recently, the bank obtained approval from its shareholders to raise N35 billion through special placing in a quest to

boost investment in information technology among others.

Already, the share price has risen by 144 percent from N0.50 to N1.22. The stock price had previously risen to N1.88 before relapsing to the current market price.

Telecommunication services company, HIS Plc, rose by 9.98 percent or N0.18 from N1.82 to N2.00 per share to close at the fifth top gainers. Year-to-date, the share price has risen by mere 17.65 percent from N1.70 at the beginning of the year, making it one of most unattractive stocks this year. It had risen to N2.59 before dropping to the current market price.

DN Meyer, Ikeja Hotel, JB, Costain and Dangote Sugar advanced by 9.85 percent, 9.76 percent, 9.18 percent, 9.15 percent and 8.67 percent to close at N1.45, N0.90, N66.49, N1.55 and N11.41 in that order.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 — 23

don’t depend on only one source of information or report.

You should try to be convinced, don’t depend exactly on whatever you have been told. Just like I have gotten today ’s report, I would now seat down and study, go to my stock broker and find out if it is really okay.

The report of the audit committees, I need to look at it, I need to study it. I don’t depend on them.

By WILLIAM JIMOH & PAUL METU

Prince Marcel Ajaerel

F

ALSE reports and errors in financial statements are global problem and they contributed to the global melt down of the capital market.

That is why the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) was initiated to stem the tide of such negative reports in the system. Presently, we cannot trust the reports of audit committees, and unless they comply with this reporting standard, we can hardly trust them. If they comply, things will surely go well but if they continue with the trend with which they are operating presently, then nothing will change.

We are very pessimistic for now about the change in their mode of operation, but we believe things will change for better if only they will adopt the global best practices and the newly initiated IFRS formats. The case of false financial reporting by audit committees is very rampant in the Nigeria. I cannot mention the number of times audit committees have missinformed shareholders.

Also, the regulatory authorities are not helping matters because they sometimes sacrifice best practices for monetary benefits putting the ordinary shareholders in a hopeless situation; though they suppose to be the last hope of minority shareholders.

Mr. Lotun

•Mr. Lotun Timothy

•Chief Usoro Okon

•Prince Marcel Ajaerel

INVESTORS SPEAK

We don’t trust audit committees’ reports Even if you conduct your own research, how far can you go, how will you change the strongly entrenched error in the system? It’s hard to treat, even if you see the errors in the reports, what will you do?

That’s the issue. But for now we have some good companies that give good reports. Some financial institutions like Zenith Bank, Sterling Bank are giving good reports and in the case of

Sterling Bank, though they are not doing well enough, they still give good reports and financial statements.

(Prince Marcel Ajaerel is the Chairman Optimists Shareholders’ Association)

Chief Usoro

That is why you as a shareholder need to get yourself acquainted with investment news and get the information as at when due.

Go to the registrar and get the information. Do not depend on one source of information. It is said that two heads are better than one. If you get your information from a single source and conclude it there, then you are very wrong.

You are to get information from different sources and compare them to make the right decisions. Like me, I do not rely on such reports; I make my personal research so I

Fortunately, I don’t have shares in any company that issues false report.

For all the companies that I have bought shares from, in my judgment the audit committees have always given me, together with other shareholders, the accurate information about the financial status of the c o m p a n i e s .

I must be plain to tell you that I do not have time to be going out in search of information, to check whether the reports of the audit committees are true or not. I think I have never gotten any false report or bad shares except for those banks that were liquidated in the past. Beside those banks I do not think I have experienced the problem of liquidation with any of the companies where I have shares. I have been investing in shares for the past 30 years, but the fact remains that I can only say something about my shares, I do not know what the experience of other shareholders have been.

COMPLAINTS and INVESTIGATIONS

No longer receiving dividend from Access Bank Please I want to commend you for the good work you are doing. I bought shares from former Intercontinental Bank now Access Bank, in 2006 at Aba, Abia State. Sir, I presently work in Abuja and have mailed them concerning my change of address since 2009. Before that time I received my dividend twice, in 2007 and 2008. But up till now I have not received any communication concerning my shares. Please advice my on what to do.

(Jane Ego) Investors Forum Please contact the registrars United Securities Limited.

They are the registrars of Access Bank. The company is located at 10, Ojikutu Street, Victoria Island. Lagos.

Telephone: 01-2714566 or 012714567) What happened to my investment in Afribank?

Please sir I want to know what happened to my share with Afribank Nigeria PLC. I am not in Nigeria since 2004. The last time I came home I received a bonus certificate the number is 487703. The account number on the certificate is 70924.

Since I bought this share I have not collected any dividend. What I want to know is does Afribank still exist and do I still have shares in the bank. (Damian Ubabuchi Obiakor) You need to investigate further on Afribank I read your comments in response to enquiry by a shareholder of Afribank in Vanguard Newspaper of 25/6/ 13. You said Afribank does not exist again neither is his investment in the bank. You need further investigation on this. A Bank acquired the Assets & Liabilities of Afribank

which included the shareholdings. That bank must be liable to the share holders of Afribank.

Investors Forum The license of Afribank was revoked by Afribank in 2011 and its assets and liabilities were handed to Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC). The function of the Corporation, when this happens is to sell the assets of the bank and use the proceeds to settle the liabilities. The most important and usually biggest liability of a bank is the deposit liabilities, or depositors’ money. But in this case the Corporation chose to sell the assets and liabilities of the bank to Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), which transferred them to Mainstreet Bank. Mainstreet Bank, Keystone Bank and Enterprise Bank were created by

AMCON to assume the assets and liabilities of the three banks namely, Afribank, Bank PHB and Spring Bank, whose licenses were revoked by CBN. The implication of the above is that these three banks no longer exist legally. The assets and liabilities no longer belong to their shareholders. Hence, shares of the banks have become invalid or worthless.

In summary, Afribank does not exist again and your investment in the bank is gone.

I need update on Dangote Sugar Refinery shares I bought shares worth N 18000 from Dangote Sugar Refinery between 2006 and 2007 through Intercontinental Bank, Warri Effurun Branch, I have not seem my certificate, I don’t know how to go about it.

Investors Forum You need to contact the Registrars of the companyZenith Registrars Limited. It is located at Plot 89 Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria Island Extension, Lagos.

COMPLAINTS AND INVESTIGATIONS Do you have any challenge with your investment in the stock market or with any company (stockbroker, Registrar Company etc), write to vanguardinvestorsforum @gmail.com OR send text to 07043855187. We will INVESTIGATE AND REPLY

24 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Oil rises above $103 on manufacturing PMIs, Fed B

RENT crude oil rose above $103 a barrel, yesterday, as more encouraging data from Europe and better-than-expected official manufacturing figures from China balanced uncertainty over the outlook for US monetary policy.

A key survey of euro zone manufacturing suggested, yesterday, that the bloc’s economy had stabilised and would probably grow this quarter, raising hopes of a revival in European oil demand.

Markit’s widely followed Eurozone Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to a 16-month high of 48.8 in June from May’s 48.3, and an index measuring output that feeds into the wider composite PMI jumped to 49.8, its highest since February 2012.

The more upbeat European survey balanced PMIs from China and India showing signs of cooling economic growth.

China’s official PMI report was better than expected.

Brent crude for August dropped as low as $101.63 per barrel after the Chinese facto-

ry data, but then recovered sharply to hit a high of $103.47 before trading around $103.24 up $1.08.

Front-month Brent shed more than seven perc ent in

the second quarter ended June, its third straight quarterly decline and the longest such stretch of losses in 15 years.

U.S. crude was up $1.27 to $97.83 a barrel.

“Almost the entire commodities sector is up today on the manufacturing figures,” said Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

From left: Dr. Lawal Bakare, founder, HEIT Solutions and Project Head, Lagos World Record Teeth Brushing Challenge; Mrs. Oiza Gyang, Category Manager, Oral Care, Unilever Nigeria Plc and Mr. Dexter Adeola, Brand Manager, Close-Up, during the announcement of their participation at the forthcoming World Record Teeth Brushing Challenge, at the Unilever Office, Lagos. PHOTO: AKEEM SALAU.

Nigeria at risk over dependence on oil — LCCI

BY NAOMI UZOR

T

HE Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, has declared that the extreme dependence of government finances and external trade balances on proceeds from the sector exposes the nation to significant risks from oil price and production shocks.

The President of LCCI, Mr. Goodie Ibru, said the evolving global energy market dynamics suggest an urgent need to take a sober look at the Nigerian oil and gas sub-sector in particular and the energy sector in general, especially given the importance of the sector to the Nigerian economy.

“Despite the declining contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – currently at 14.7 per cent, the extreme dependence of government finances and external trade balances on proceeds from the sector exposes the nation to significant risks from oil price and production shocks.

"There are profound concerns over dwindling performance of the sector which has been attributed to the structural gaps in its regulatory, fiscal and business practices which have supported high inefficiencies” he said.

Unfortunately, he said, the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which was adjudged the most significant attempt to address these challenges through the

reform of the governance and business structure of the sector as well as resolution of fiscal issues is yet to see the light of the day. "From 18.89 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, the year after the PIB was first presented to the national Assembly, oil contribution to GDP has fallen to 14.7 per cent by the first quarter of 2013.

“The international oil market landscape is changing very fast and eroding the competitive value of Nigeria’s oil and gas.

"First, the number of countries discovering oil and gas reserves within their national boundaries is increasing; thus expanding the supply base of oil

and gas products in the international market. Also, improvement in refining technology is helping to eradicate the difference between the Nigeria light

crude and the other types of crude oil; a feature that reduced the price premium on Nigerian’s bonny light for many years” he said.

NTREPRENEURS have been called upon to develop themselves as this will ensure that they are strategically placed to exploit opportunities whenever they appear.

Speaking at the MTN Link Forum, in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, Managing Director, EST Company Limited, Mr. Opriebo West, also encouraged entrepreneurs to engage in networking with other entrepreneurs.

He said, “Networking is perception and perception is everything, as your network is your net worth.”

Link Forum, a project that

BY ADEBADE ADEJIMI

N

PF Micro Finance Bank Plc has announced a 74 per cent increase in its profit before tax to N685.6 million for the 2012 financial year as against N174.3 million in the previous year.

Speaking during its 19th Annual General Meeting, Mrs. Florence Adebanjo, Chairman of the bank, said in spite of the harsh economic environment, the bank recorded a resilient financial performance and growth.

She said the total assets of the bank grew to N7.790 billion, representing a 16 per cent increase from N6.542 billion in 2011 while the net operating income increased by 47.2 per cent, from N983.8 million to N1.86 billion.

However, the bank declared a dividend of 10 kobo per ordinary share of 50 kobo to shareholders, representing an increase of 80 per cent over the two kobo per share paid in 2011.

This, according to the management of the bank was part of its resolve to ensure consistent dividend payment and ensure its commitment to shareholders in delivering long term value.

Adebanjo said. “Our resolve to recover past loans has indeed yielded positive returns. While our loans and advances grew from N3.7 billion in 2011 to N4.7 billion in 2012, representing an increase of 21.2 per cent. Interest income rose from 14.4 percent to 1.055 billion in 2012.

Rainoil acquires two new vessels to boost fuel supply

BY MICHAEL EBOH

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AINOIL Limited has ac quired two new oil vessels — MT Adeline and MT Emmanuel — to boost the supply of petroleum products to the south-south, south-east, the Federal Capital Territory

and states in the north.

Speaking during the inauguration of the vessels, Mr. Gabriel Ogbechie, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Rainoil Limited, said the new vessels and other previous investments by the company including a jetty and storage

Entrepreneurs tasked on personal development

E

Police MFB records 74% growth in profit

brings together teeming young entrepreneurs, to learn firsthand from established business icons, who put them through processes that will make them successful entrepreneurs in any field they choose.

The forum is a means of making youths believe more in their capabilities to excel, even with the harsh business realities in the country. The young men and women are made to relive the experience of business gurus without going through their pains, like financial losses, mistakes, while venturing into a partic-

ular business.

Participants at the forum were taught, time-saving, near risk-free and multiple ways of owning and doing business.

The forum was designed to bridge the gap between accomplished entrepreneurs and young ones who aspire to make it one day, as the project has, over time, brought established names like Olusola Lanre, Tonye Cole, Joyce Jacob, Etim Bassey, Patrick Ugbeh, Nzan Ogbo and a host of others, to give lectures in various parts of the country

depot coupled with their location in Oghara, will help the country in foreign exchange saving and create employment opportunities for a vast majority of Nigerians.

He stated that MT Adeline is a 20,000-tonnage vessel while the carrying capacity of MT Emmanuel is 15,000-tonnage, adding that both vessels are world-class facilities, meeting international standards that enable them suitable for quick ship -to-ship loading of petroleum products from one vessel to another.

Inaugurating the two vessels at the Rainoil Jetty and multi-product Tank Farm in Oghara, Mr. Reginald Stanley, Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, said the investment was a significant milestone and a big boost to the nation’s economy in the areas of foreign exchange conservation, reduction in the cost of freight of petroleum products, employment opportunities and speedy distribution of products across the country.

Vanguard , TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 — 25

By Theodore Opara

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HE transformation was beyond everyone’s imagina tion as Motoring journalists gathered at Weststar Associates office, representatives of Mercedes Benz in Nigeria to catch a glimpse of the all-new Mercedes Benz A-Class and test drive it too. The occasion was a special one for Mercedes in the country being the first time it would be launching four new exciting models at a time.

Members of the public were also invited to testdrive the cars-Mercedes Benz A, B, C and E-Class.

It was all fun as Weststar hosted the guests, the Mercedes Benz way.

The elated Managing Director of Weststar Associates, Mr. Mirko Plath had earlier during a press briefing explained how Mercedes Benz had transformed the A-Class to make it a class benchmark. He asked the journalists to reserve their questions until they see the new bride. But everyone was amazed when they saw the new AClass. It was a masterpiece in every respect – design, comfort, power and safetyjust name it. Mercedes Benz engineers craftsmanship reflected all over. The cockpit has been carefully crafted with unique features that gives the A-Class away as a car in the upper class. The quality materials used in the finishing were a clear testimony that Mercedes wanted to make the A-Class a benchmark in its segment. No one expected the level of transformation on the car. It was simply cute.

But if the design of the all new A-Class was stunning, one would be completely lost at the performance of this entry level Mercedes Benz car. It is fast and handles like the bigger Mercedes Benz. It is spacious with array of comfort amenities and latest high- tech equipment like never before in its class as revealed during a test drive along the Lekki Express-

•Rear of A-Class

way.

The test-drive left all wondering weather the car should still retain the model name – A-Class. It is an entirely new car with new shape, high-end luxury and unimaginable excellent road-handling.

Available in Nigeria with a 4-cylinder petrol engine as the A 180 BlueEFFICIENCY with 1595CC and 90 KW (122 horsepower) plus a maximum torque of 200Nm between 1250 and 4000 rpm, the new A-Class is one of the most fuel efficient cars in its class.

Though there are other engine variants available

All-new Mercedes Benz A-Class

Mercedes Benz A-Class: Transformation

beyond imagination

Interior of A-Class

in the A-Class lineup but not approved for Nigerian market.Mercedes Benz says the new A-Class is a true endurance athlete. The economical consumption from 3.3 litres over 100 kilometres takes you further than you think.” Mated to this engine is a 7-speed dual clutch transmission 7G-DCT which is standard.

With seven forward gears and one reverse gear the dual clutch transmission combines comfort, sporti-

ness and economy.

The new A-Class excellent roadhandling comes from its power-train, chassis and suspension.

McPherson strut front axle and a completely redesigned four-link rear axle ensure driving stability and ride comfort. The standard

-fit rack and pinion steering with integral Steer control Steering assistance system for support in critical driving situations stand for

precise handling while the power assistance is delivered electromechanically and reduces as the speed increases.

The car offers a full range of entertainment systems from Audio 5 USB and the optional Audio 20 CD system with Becker MAP pilot to the Optional Command Online Multimedia system. The multimedia system boosts a high-resolution 17.8cm colour display. The system’s functions include radio, speed sensitive volume control, the Music Register with 10GB hard disc. The DVD drive plays CDs and MP3 content as well as video and audio DVD. The A-Class boosts the usual Mercedes Benz Safety features including: Attention Assist, Collision Prevention Assist, Adaptive Brake, Distronic Plus, Lane Keeping Assist/Blind Spot Assist, Pre-Safe System, Intelligent Light System, Active Bonnet, and air bags.

Kia enters Interbrand’s 50 Best Global Green Brands

K

IA Motors has been named 37th in Interbrand’s list of the 50 Best

Global Green Brands 2013, a debut for the Korean car manufacturer in the annual ranking of sustainability and environmental performance of the world’s 100 most valuable brands.

Interbrand assesses businesses based on market perception and the actual environmental performance of the company and its products and services.

This latest recognition

by Interbrand follows hot on the heels of Kia’s recent introduction to the 100 Best Global Brands 2012 rankings, in which Kia placed

87th.

According to the 50 Best Global Green Brands 2013 study, Kia has placed ecomanagement at the forefront of its brand management strategy alongside its emphasis on quality and design management since 2006. Under this initiative, Kia has made huge strides in improving the performance of its vehicles, with a strong focus on enhancing fuel efficiency and a long-term aim for zeroemission vehicles. As a result of its efforts, Kia continues to be perceived as a

leader in the environmental sustainability sector.

“In our view, the best green brands are those that are not only vital, relevant, powerful and pioneering, but also profitable, ethical and ecologically responsible. We applaud Kia Motors’ efforts aimed at sustainability in all facets of its global operations that have enabled the company to be named as one of our Best Global Green Brands 2013,” said Jez Frampton, Global CEO of Interbrand.

26 — Vanguard , TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

By Theodore Opara

All-new BMW X5

Third Generation BMW X5 lavished with innovations

W

hen BMW decided to go into the production of sports utility vehicle segment, they came up with a unique car, the X5. And rather than call it sports utility vehicle (SUV) they tagged it Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) and this marked a new era for this car segment. The X5 changed the rules in the sports utility vehicle segment with its array of innovations. It became the standard for which premium SUVs were judged.

The X5 was an instant hit, which later led to the introduction of X3 and X6.

Ever since then, BMW has not stopped making the X5 better, after all, it was the X5 that launched the brand into the allwheel driver vehicle seg-

ment.

Banking on the successes of its previous models, BMW unveiled an allnew X5 to maintain its lead on the segment. The third generation X5 introduced into the market recently has set new standards in powerful design, luxury, spaciousness, cutting-edge versatility and efficient driving pleasure.

It is more fuel efficient, faster with unparalleled comfort and refinement.

Speaking to Vanguard Motoring recently, Mr. Sola Adigun, General Manager in charge of the BMW brand in Coscharis Motors said ''the all new X5 is a masterpiece of engineering from BMW that has no equals in its segment. According to him, BMW has proved that it

is ahead in this segment with the all new BMW which offer far more than competition.

He said that only three engine variant were unveiled for now, while four other engines would be added to the lineup by the end of the year to give customers a wide range of choices.

The three engine variants available for now include the Xdrive 5.0i with new generation V8 petrol engine as well as two other diesel engines.

The V8 petrol engine version with BMW TwinPower Turbo technology delivers 330 kw/450 horse-power @ 5500 rpm and a maximum torque of 650 Nm @ 2000-4500 rpm.

It takes it just 5.0 seconds to accelerate from 0-100 km/h and average fuel

Interior consumption of 10.4-10.5 litre to cover 100 kilometres. The X5 fuel consumption reduction has been made possible through its weight reduction, optimised air guidance, engine technology and standardfitted and extremely efficient eight speed automatic gearbox with additional BMW Efficient Dynamic technology; Auto stop function, ECO PRO mode including coasting function and proactive Driving Assis-

tant.

BMW customers are at liberty to specify their interior and exterior packages for their individual tastes. Also, Driving Experience control switch fitted as standard include Comfort, Dynamic and professional adaptive suspension and Adaptive packages suspension can be specified to enhance the car’s sporty handling properties and ride comfort, electric power steering for all model variants.

Spacious interior with

luxurious ambiance in the interior, raised seating position, low-set instrument panel with horizontal lines extending into the door trim and additional trim surface, enhanced interior variability 40:20:40 split/folding rear seat backrest are hallmarks of the all new BMW X5.

The X5 now has optional third row seat while the tailgate can now be opened and closed by remote control.

Hyundai plans Korea’s largest rooftop photovoltaic power plant

H

Rear view

yundai Motor Company, South Korea’s largest automaker, announced that it will install the nation’s largest rooftop photovoltaic power plant at its manufacturing factory in Asan, Korea, to expand the use of renewable energy and

take measures to help reduce global warming.

Hyundai’s Asan plant will host the power plant, while Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) will purchase the electricity produced by the solar modules and sell it to areas near the plant, including

Asan city. Working with Korea Midland Power Co., Ltd. (KOMIPO), a thermal power company, Hyundai plans to install about 40,000 solar photovoltaic modules on the rooftops of Asan’s press, welding, assembly and engine buildings by the end of this year.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013—27

Model of a house inMaccido Royal Estate, Abuja

Firm flags off N2 billion Abuja Maccido Royal Estate 11 Stories by KINGSLEY ADEGBOYE

A

n indigenous devel oper, Messrs Nekonini Business and Properties Limited, has concluded plans to flag off the construction of the second phase of Maccido Royal Estate, located at the Galadimwa District of the Federal Capital

Territory, FCT, Abuja.

The residential housing project which received approval from the Federal Capital Development Area/Development Control, in May 2013 comprises 76 units of what has been described as “Green Building” by the developer.

The project which consists of 26 blocks of 3-bedroom detached duplexes and 50 units

of block of five-bedroom detached duplexes is estimated to cost N2 billion. The estate which will be built on a 20 hectres parcel of land, is being funded by Skye Bank Plc. The project which is billed for completion within the next 12 months, has facilities like peri-meter fencing, pipe borne water supply, alternative power supply to complement

Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN and road network within the vicinity.

“The main feature of the project, based on the recommendation by the FCDA is that the area reserved for garden and other green area as contained in the approved site layout shall be built up in the future and at least, five trees must be planted within

premises to protect the environment”, Mr. Niran SuleAkinsuyi, Chairman, Nekonini Business and Properties Limited, said.

According to him, the philosophy behind green building is based on the fact that resources available are lean while more and more people are in need of them. “If we want our future generations to enjoy the same standard of living we have experienced, we need to take action. For example, Americans believed that green is a great place to start, as buildings consume 14 per cent of potable water, 40 percent of raw materials, and 39 percent of energy in the United States alone according to the US Green Building Council. That is, 15 trillion gallons of water and three billion tons of raw materials are required each year.

“So in Nigeria, we want to make the country a better place and this could be achieved by implementing green practices into our homes or offices. This can help reduce waste, conserve natural resources, improve both air and water quality, and protect ecosystems and biodiversity’, he said.

Sule-Akinsuyi disclosed that the first phase of the project had been completed and completely sold out, adding that there is provision for mortgage facilities. For prospective buyers.. “For the phase one project, customers accessed mortgage facilities from Sun Trust and Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, FMBN. So, we assure the would-be buyers that they may avail themselves of the same opportunity”.

Stakeholders decry poor handling of ecological funds F

or the umpteenth time, the issue of environmental degradation with particular reference to the scourge of climate change, took the front burner at an African Environmental Action Summit in Lagos. The summit was organised by The Green Afrique Network.

Stakeholders who spoke on how to mitigate the threatening effects of climate change , agreed that the time for collective action on African environment is now or it may be too late.

The Chairman of the environment summit and President, Nigerian Conservation Foundation, NCF,

Izoma Philip Asiodu in his presentation said Africans must take seriously issues of environmental management.

He regretted that all the warnings from appropriate authorities and agencies about climate change were ignored, noting that today, climate change has become a reality, Asiodu also bemoaned the way ecological fund is being handled by the federal government.

According to him, Ecological vote for environmental issues has not been handled well, as little vote goes into ecological projects across the country.

“Let ecological fund be used to mitigate the effect of climate change in the country”, NCF

president said.

Asiodu added that preservation of the country’s forests, apart from production of food for Nigerians, would also cushion the effect of climate change. “If we embark on tree planting, we will bring back all deforested lands in the country. We will have enough food to eat and our forests will resist the impact of climate change on Nigerians”, NCF boss stated.

In his presentation earlier, Mr. Desmond Majekodunmi, a director at NCF noted that one of the causes of environmental degradation is desertification, and the only way to over come it, is to plant trees

to replace the lost ones.

Pointing out that environment experts have warned that there is crisis in the environment at various for a, Majekodunmi said the situation is so terrific that there is no life support to help the situation. He however, admitted that the crisis is not beyond people’s control if people are prepared for it.

According to him, the situation can be brought under control through policy advocacy by governments and environment NGOs, environmental education and awareness, research and data management as well as through biological diversity conservation of and

protection of endangered species.

The guest speaker, Mrs. Funsho Amosun said Nigeria has significant role to play as regards environmental issues, and how to proffer solution for the sustenance of the environment.

Noting that awareness about environmental issues in Nigeria is still at its lowest, the First lady of Ogun State, noted that this is why all hands must be on deck in order to address the problem of the environment.

28 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

By KINGSLEY ADEGBOYE

A

gainst the backdrop of the persisting problem of environmental degradation caused by non-biodegradable materials used for food packaging, the Federal Government and operators in the oil and gas subsector have been urged to take advantage of the abundant polymer materials in the country to produce products that are environmentally friendly.

This call came from engineers last week at the annual lecture, life achievement awards and induction of new fellows organised by the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, NAE. The lecture focused on “Engineering Opportunities and Challenges Related to Producing a Broad Range of Polymer Products from Oil and Gas” .

The guest lecturer, Professor Willis Harmon Ray of the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin in the United States of America noted that there were great opportunities to produce large quantities of a broader range of valuable polymers in Nigeria that would expand the domestic market, significantly reduce imports, and offer materials for the export market.

He posited that despite the abundance of polymer materials in Nigeria, the country is currently spending over $1 billion on the importation of polymer into the nation. The former University don who was represented by Professor

by Babatunde Ogunnaike, the interim Dean, College of En-

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION:

Experts urge FG, stakeholders to embrace polymer production ...As engineers induct new fellows

From left: Prof Ayodele Ogunye, President, Nigerian Academy of Engineering; Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, National Chairman, All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP; and Dr. Chinyere Onu, during the 2013 annual lecture, life achievement awards and induction of new fellows, of Nigerian Academy of Engineering with the theme: "Engineering opportunites and challenges related to producing a broad range of polymer products from oil and gas," at the University of Lagos. PHOTO: Kehinde Gbadamosi. gineering, University of Delaware, USA declared: “there are well-regarded and successful polymer production processes available for license that could be installed in Nigeria to take advantage of the large volumes of inexpensive oil, gas, and refined products

available locally.

“Creating and expanding the production of polymers would allow the expansion of the domestic polymer processing industry to provide more varieties and larger volumes of polymer consumer products for both domestic use and ex-

port. Nigerians must embrace the production of polymer materials”, Ray noted.

Earlier in his address, NAE’s president, Professor Ayodele Francis Ogunye said polymer production was becoming more relevant to the advancement of various sub-sectors of the na-

tion’s economy. He therefore urged the federal government and stakeholders in the oil and gas industry to utilize the abundant benefits in polymer production to the country’s advantage.

The Academy honoured three of its elders with life achievement awards while 12 new members were inducted into the exalted class of fellows. Those honoured with life achievement awards include Engr.(professors) Gabriel Ayodele Makanjuola, Sikiru Adebayo Sanni and Engr.Guy Eboe Otobo.

Those new fellows include former governor of Abia State and Chairmen, All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP Engr.

(Dr.) Ogbonnaya Onu, Engr.

(Prof.) Michael Oladimeji Faborode, Engr. (Prof.)

Joseph Atubokiki Ajienka, Engr. (Prof.) Joseph Olawole Shojobi, Engr. (Prof.) Lawson Olabosipo Asekoya and Engr.

Yusuf Olanrewaju Sagaya.

Others are Engr. (Prof.)

Joseph Olorunfemi Ojo, Engr. (Prof.) Adetokunbo Omokayode Denloye, Engr.

(Dr.)Kisito Okpere, Engr.

(Prof.) FunsoFalade and Engr. Jani Ibrahim.

Et ernit's ne w P-Harcour wroom under way Eternit's new P-Harcourtt sho showroom underw R

esidents of Port-Harcourt and its environs will now have easy access to quality building materials as Eternit Limited, a leading building materials manufacturing company has concluded plans to open a new office/ showroom to facilitate distribution network of its products in the ‘garden’ city this July.

The Marketing Manager of Eternit Limited, Kayode Adeniji,an engineer, said the opening of the office is part of the strategy of the leading producers of roofing and ceiling products, to deliver complete building solutions to its teeming customers in Port-Harcourt area with utmost ease.

According to Adeniji, the firm has recently decided to create adequate awareness and access to building products of high quality across the country and the opening of the Port-Harcourt office is a move towards fulfilling that goal.

“We have often grappled with poor quality building materials in Nigeria and with our track record as a leading manufacturer of quality roofing and ceilings products, Eternit has resolved to make access to these products easier in every part of the country where we operate. The Port-

Harcourt office will therefore be a base for people to get information and also purchase the best roofing and ceiling products available in this country”, Adeniji said.

He stated further that the products the firm now in market, aside from being the best available in the country, also

come at very good prices and in different ranges.

“People think that high quality products come at exorbitant prices and as a result settle for low quality ones that they end up being replaced within a short time. This is a wrong notion that we want to correct right now. Eternit products,

though made of the best technology, come in various ranges to meet the building needs of various individuals.

The Port-Harcourt office and others that we are opening soon will provide adequate information to people on this”, Adeniji noted.

Lagos promises link bridge between Igando, Ayobo

L

agos State Government has promised to address the current challenge of linking Igando and Ayobo areas of the state by constructing a proper bridge in place of the wooden makeshift one presently in use there.

The State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, an engineer, in a media chat said the government was aware of the situation as well as all other such challenges regarding roads and is working to provide solutions.

He noted that it is a deliberate policy of the state government to ensure there is interconnectivity of communities and has engaged itself with providing such links.

In his words, “ we have undertaken the Okota-Itire Link Bridge. We are working on Ajao-Ejigbo Bridge. Even the Lekki-Ikoyi Bridge is to address the issue of communal linkage and reduction in travel time across the State.”

Hamzat also noted that the Igando-Ayobo situation is not

peculiar, adding that no comparison should be drawn in terms of the situation of the bridge. Stating that no government has all the resources to undertake the rehabilitation and provision of all roads and bridges in any jurisdiction instantly, the Commissioner said a process of prioritizing was put in place to determine where to undertake any project.

He explained that the traffic demand and population of communities, the benefit cost

analysis of the roads, bridges (or any other project) and the expected impact of the project(s) are all considerations that come to play during project prioritizing processes.

Clearing the air on the insinuation of anti-poor position of government from some quarters, Hamzat noted that since the inception of the Fashola administration Alimosho area has been a beneficiary of over 19 per cent of the total road projects of the state.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 —29

By KINGSLEY ADEGBOYE

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LIMATE change is the greatest threat facing our planet today because it is a reality and its impacts are already being felt all over the world. Climate change is a situation whereby a warming planet alters weather patterns such as water supplies, seasonal growth for plants and a sustainable way of life for humans and animals.

So, the question now is not whether climate change is real, but how to mitigate its impacts.

Subsequently, all countries across the globe have started adopting strategies aimed at mitigating the damaging effects of climate change.

In Nigeria, while the federal government is tackling the issue at the centre, states, particularly prone to flooding or coastal states are not relenting in their efforts to adopt strategies to mitigate the effects of the threat of climate change, just local council areas are also contributing their quotas to mitigate the effects of climate change at grass-root level.

As much as Lagos State Government is taking the issue of climate change very seriously, considering mitigating measures being put in place by it, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area in the state is also in the forefront of

Amuwo-Odofin council moves to mitigate effects of climate change tackling climate change at grass-root.

The local government has taken up the initiative in its area to sensitize and educate its people on the significance of tackling the dangers inherent in climate change.

Chairman of the local government, Comrade Ayodele Adewale in a chat with Vanguard Homes & Property at the weekend said it has become

necessary for government at the grass-root level to take up the initiative of championing the issue of climate change as the local councils are the closest to the people.

According to Adewale, “the impact of climate change is of vital importance. But, for the world’s poor, policies to mitigate climate change may, in the short term, have as much impact as climate change itself.

Climate change poses a risk to poor and marginalized communities not only through its physical impact, but also through policy responses to its real or perceived threats. This is not to discount the physical impacts.

“Environmental change is here, and the decisions we make now will influence our ability to adapt now and in the future. But, in the short term,

Hajiya Hadiza Mailafia, Minister of Environment (3rd right); Comrade Ayodele Adewale, Chairman, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area (left) and other delegates during a seminar/workshop on climate change, in Doha, Qatar.

Land tussle: Lagos tto o pa o La payy N N..1m damages tto Layyeni’s family

By UDO IBUOT

T

HE protracted land case between the Lagos State government and the Layeni family has ended with a Lagos High Court ordering the government to pay the family N100,000 damages for trespass.

The court, presided over by Justice A.M. Nicol-Clay, also held that it was wrong for the government to confiscate the parcel of land situated at 75-77 Broad Street and 18-20 Market Road, Lagos Island, without revocation of the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) it issued to the family.

The court also granted an injunction restraining the government, its servants, privies and agents from entering or constructing any structure on or in any manner whatsoever on the said land.

It also restrained the government from disturbing the claimants’ rights over the parcel of land.

The court granted an injunction restraining the government, its servants, agents or privies from alienating or putting any person in possession of the piece of land, known as Layeni Court.

The claimants, representing Badamosi, Imoru, Salau, Ogboye, Lawani and Oredilu branches of Oluwole Layeni Family of Lagos, had in 2009, through their counsel, B.A.M. Fashanu (SAN), sued the Lagos State governor and the state Attorney General over the confiscation of their land situated near the collapsed Bank of Industries, BOI, building.

The claimants accused the government of confiscating and depriving them of access to the affected land, which they claimed was bequeathed to them by their late great grand father.

The claimants, Sami Akanni Layeni, Salifat Layeni, Fasiri Ogboye, Taiwo Layeni and Ganiat Shonibare said their ordeal began on March 22,

2006 when the BOI building, adjacent to the Layeni Court, partly collapsed.

The family then sought a N100 million damages for trespass on the property with survey plan No. LU/LA 2255/84.

Arguing the case, Fashanu told the judge that prior to the collapse of the BOI building, the property belonged to his clients.

the urgent pressure to implement mitigation policies could have unintended consequences on the poor.

Encouragingly, there are indications that the impacts of mitigation measures are receiving high-level policy attention”.

He noted that in keeping with this therefore,his administration has initiated a lot of programmes to enlighten the people and also mitigate the effect of climate change on residents of Amuwo Odofin. He said his local government has planted over 1,250 trees across the council area, while it has also provided 500 water tankers for the watering of the planted trees and flowers to combat climate change.

“The local government also set up “Green Clubs”, whose members aside from sensitizing the people about climate change nurture the trees and flowers daily. The local government through its various enlightenment campaigns has encouraged residents of the area to plant trees in their environment, which is yielding positive results”, he stated.

The chairman noted that ahe and some of his council officials have attended seminars at various times abroad to keep up with current trend of how to tackle the dangers posed by climate change, stressing that trees protect the ozone layer, boost the economy, create jobs, beautify the environment, boost wildlife, prevent soil loss, boost healthy living and combat the existence of acidic carbon in the atmosphere.

He therefore enjoined his colleagues who are yet to buy into sensitizing their people about the dangers of climate change should begin the campaign, as this is also part of their responsibilities to the people.

UN scribe stresses need for conserving arid lands

BY BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE

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HE United Nation (UN) SecretaryGeneral, Ban Ki-moon, has stressed the need for conserving arid lands, saying Nigeria can protect essential water supplies, promote food and nutrition security, and reduce extreme poverty.

In a statement by the UN Information Center, Lagos, Ki-moon called on the international community to fulfil the call of last year ’s Rio+20 conference on sustainable development to avoid and offset land degradation.

According to him, “Over the past quarter-century, the world has become

more drought-prone, and droughts are projected to become more widespread, intense and frequent as a result of climate change. The long-term impacts of prolonged drought on ecosystems are profound, accelerating land degradation and desertification. The consequences include impoverishment and the risk of local conflict over water resources and productive land.

“Droughts are hard to avert, but their effects can be mitigated. Because they rarely observe national borders they demand a collective response. The price of preparedness is minimal compared to the cost of disaster relief. Let us therefore shift from managing crises to preparing for droughts and building resilience by fully implementing the outcomes of the

High-level Meeting on National Drought Policy held in Geneva last March.”

Ki-Moon pointed out that this year’s World Day to Combat Desertification is dedicated to highlighting the global risks of drought and water scarcity, stressing that the social, political and economic costs of drought are evident from Uzbekistan to Brazil, from the Sahel to Australia.

“In May, Namibia declared a national drought emergency, with 14 per cent of the population classified as food insecure.

In 2012, the United States experienced its worst drought since the 1950s, affecting 80 per cent of agricultural land.

In 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa – the worst since the early 1990s – affected nearly 13 million people” he added.

30— Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

By DOTUN IBIWOYE

T

HE Lagos State Govern ment in collaboration with the Federal Government through the Nigerian Ports Authority and a private investor Lekki Port Lekki Free Trade Zone Enterprise, LPLE, has commenced the development of the Lekki Deep Seaport in Akodo, Ibeju-Lekki Local Council of the state Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Olusola Oworu when contacted over the level of work said that currently the shareholders’ agreement has been executed while preliminary works have started at the site.

According to her, the development of Lekki Deep Seaport (Phase I) would gulp $1.5 billion. When completed, the port would relieve the pressure on the Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports and would also support business activities at the Lekki Free Trade Zone.

The construction of the port is expected to last for about four years and more than 10,000 jobs are projected to be created directly and indirectly during the construction period while more than 169,000 jobs would be generated directly and indirectly when it becomes fully operational, according to government sources.

According to Oworu, the need for another seaport in the state was due to the inadequacy of facilities at the Apapa and TinCan Island ports.

Lagos Airport construction also starts: On the proposed Lekki-Epe International Airport,

Lagos begins construction of own seaport, airport at Lekki •Seaport to gulp N240 billion

Lagos seaport at Lekki

project.

“The Lekki-Epe International Airport is designed to handle about five million passengers annually with provision for a modular terminal for future expansion. Preliminary works

,

The state government has commenced works on the development of the Lekki-Epe International Airport to complement activities at the zone and also provide alternative air transport services in the state

the commissioner said since the Lekki Free Trade Zone would soon become a haven for investment, the government thought it fit to have an international airport in the area.

“The state government has commenced works on the development of the Lekki-Epe International Airport to complement activities at the zone and also provide alternative air transport services in the state.

The State Government has successfully obtained the site approval for the airport from the Federal Ministry of Aviation and has also completed the master plan of the 3,500 hectares of land earmarked for the

,

on the airport project have commenced with the clearing of 150 hectares (runway), 4.5km of the access road and 9km of perimeter road.

“The Lands Bureau has successfully completed the crop enumeration exercise on the designated site for the airport to facilitate the payment of compensation to affected land owners and farmers. In line with the policy of the present administration on public-private partnership, the proposed airport will be built and managed by private investors,” Oworu said.

She added that toward this end, the process for the selection of private investors to de-

velop and manage the airport has commenced, saying that to handle this process, a team of local and internationally ac-

claimed consultants namely: Stanbic IBTC (Financial Advisers), Arup PTY (Technical Consultants), Norton Rose (Off-

shore Legal Consultants) and Banwo and Ighodalo (Local Legal Consultants) have been engaged.

Ikorodu road expansion:

By MONSURU OLOWOOPEJO

R

ESIDENTS of Ikorodu Local Government have demanded that the state government allow them make input into the ongoing Ikorodu road expansion, since they would be the ones to use the road eventually.

They are therefore asking the government to make public the ‘Master Plan’ for the 13.5 kilometre road expansion project, even as the construction work is rated at 20 percent completion.

The residents also urged the state government to construct a flyover at the Ikorodu roundabout as well as pay compensation as soon as possible to owners of property demolished for the project.

It will be recalled that the road expansion work awarded to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, CCECC, was estimated at N30 billion, and is expected to be handed over in December 2014.

The 59-year-old road originally constructed by the Federal Government is

being expanded into a six-lane expressway with Bus Rapid Transit, BRT routes in the middle.

The residents spoke at a stakeholder’s forum organized by the Lagos Area Metropolitan Transport Authority, AMATA held at Agric. Bus Stop, to enlighten the residents on the benefits and the level of work.

They argued that the government had not made the master plan for the expansion work public for them to assess toward providing meaningful inputs.

Enlightenment of residents Mr. Lambed Gbadamosi, representing Ikorodu Oga Association, lamented that commuter spends over three hours on the road daily since the commencement of the construction work.

Gbadamosi complained that the state government didn’t make public the design for the six-lane road, saying this will further enlighten the residents on the benefits of the road.

According to him, “But today, we are

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

eas that make up the 20 Local Governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas, were later removed.

Apart from serving as hideout for criminals, such vehicles impede free flow of traffic, resulting in gridlocks where lives and property of citizens are threatened. The irony, however, is - no sooner than the government evacuated abandoned vehicles do others replace them.

Also worrisome is the abandoned refurbished car crushing plant at Shalla in Epe, where decrepit vehicles were

— 31

state.”

All efforts to find out the immediate and remote causes of inactivity at the crushing plant from the transportation commissioner Mr Kayode Opeifa, whose ministry oversees its running was unsuccessful at press time. However, recently while giving the scorecard of the ministry, Opeifa said; “While we are proud to have removed over 4,500 abandoned and disused vehicles from Lagos state roads, it is sad that recent surveys by Community Development Associations, CDAs, and Community

,

These vehicles are veritable tools for hoodlums, miscreants, robbers and other forms of social vices. Also they pose health risk to residents

Epe car crushing plant

4,000 abandoned vehicles on Lagos roads await evacuation •As Epe car crushing plant facility rots away

By OLASUNKANMI AKONI

T

prevent miscreants from planting bombs and grenades in abandoned and disused veO

hicles, the Lagos State Government has come up with various security measures including evacuation of such vehicles from the roads .

Subsequently, a committee on abandoned/disused vehi-

cles was established. It is charged with the responsibility of removing the vehicles.

Several abandoned vehicles in areas such as; Surulere, Mainland, Mushin, Agege, Ketu among other council ar-

supposed to be crushed and recycled. The plant, built with several millions of public fund has been under lock and key.

The wide expanse of land at Epe, dedicated to the crushing purpose is presently overgrown with weeds, with no sign of activity.

However, while inspecting the plant sometime this year, governor Babatunde Fashola noted that the place was under- utilised, stressing; “There is need to increase the capacity of the industry in order to boost the revenue generation and employment need of the

Residents demand citizens’ input market leader said; “It is not about what we are selling and where we are selling it per se. But it is about feeding our children. Not just about feeding them alone, it is also about raising funds to send our child to schools. It is about providing basic needs for them. Without a place to trade, how can we meet their needs?

Mr. Ayodele Elesho, another stake-

,

yet to see the design of the road. We don’t know how the road will be after re-construction, what will be included and where certain facilities would be sited on the road.”

He said; “We know that five pedestrian bridges would be constructed in certain bus stops along the road but this cannot be adequate.”

Gbadamosi noted that the aim of the government to reduce travel time on the road may not be achieved if there isn’t a flyover on the road especially at the Ikorodu roundabout.

Also speaking, the President-General of the Ikorodu Association of Nigerian Market Men and Women, Mrs. Afusat Allison warned against the possible consequence of demolishing the markets sited along the ever busy road without proper relocation of the traders.

Although Allison acknowledged government’s plans to build an ultramodern market for Ikorodu, but demanded that the new market should be completed before demolishing the existing ones.

On the impact of demolition, the

missioner in the state pointed out that there are still some issues about building demolition, which he said, was yet to be settled.

Responding to the issues raised the Managing Director of LAMATA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola assured the market men and women that the government will not demolish their market without providing another suit-

We know that five pedestrian bridges would be constructed in certain bus stops along the road but this cannot be adequate

holder, said that the relocation of the market was an important issue that required proper planning, saying; “If the traders are not properly relocated, it will not just affect their business, but also make life difficult for their children.”

He added that many of the market women are breadwinners while some are widows. Others have no social support at all. Elesho, a former com-

,

able place for trading.

Mobereola added that they would be relocated once the new market which is under construction is ready.

Director of Public Transport, Mr. Olugbenga Dairo gave updates about the project execution, which he said, was already 20 percent completed, adding; “It shows that the project would be completed at record time.”

,

Development Councils, CDCs, under the supervision of the Ministry of Rural Development have, from the beginning of the year, identified another 4,632 vehicles abandoned on over 9,100 roads in Lagos State.

“It is equally sad that as soon as we completed the removal exercise in Surulere Local Government, working in conjunction with the CDCs and the local government chairman, some vehicles were back on the roads especially on Cole Street, Shifawu Street and Ayilara/ Clegg area.

“These vehicles are veritable tools for hoodlums, miscreants, armed robbers and other forms of social vices. Also they pose as health risk to residents.”

Obstruction to traffic Investigation by Vanguard revealed that abandoned vehicles still litter the state, causing obstruction to traffic as well as posing security threat to residents.

The committee seemed to have relaxed in the responsibility of enforcing the removal order as owners of abandoned vehicles have left them unattended to in their usual manner.

Some of the streets where vehicles are abandoned recklessly include: Olorunde, Amoo Streets, Orile Agege, Kasumu Street, Agege, Oniwaya Street also in Agege area. They are also found at Ipodo Street, Ikeja, near Ikeja flyover bridge, off Awolowo Way, Oduyemi Street, Ikeja; Ikorodu environs; Ojo, Orile-Igamu, Apapa council area and Yaba, among others.

32 — Vanguard, TUESDAY,JULY 2, 2013

Vanguard, TUESDAY,JULY 2, 2013 — 33

34 — Vanguard, TUESDAY,JULY 2, 2013

Vanguard Vanguard,,

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

— 35

YOUR LUCK TODAY

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 u suddenly. Take advantage of your sex appeal positively. Learn how to consolidate on progress you have made yesterday. Lovers may have an exciting day.

LEO; Simply because you are able to manage the tension within your base of operation without serious trouble today it does not mean you can continue to lord it over others without negative reaction in the next few days.

VIRGO; You will have the needed opportunity to assert yourself to the betterment of your cause. Unnecessary argument can not help you now.

LIBRA; You can make it your day; financial success is closer to you than you think. The more ambitious and willing you are to keep your secrets the better for your cause.

SCORPIO; You will need to always re-examine your new ideas more than twice before contemplating execution. Here is a day when friends will assist you. Assert yourself positively

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Richard Eromosele

T

HE general belief is that we can only be drunk with strong drink or wine.

But that is not true.

We can be drunk with a lot of things. Remember the disciples in the Bible? The disciples in the Bible

What is making you drunk? were alleged by the people to have been drunk in the early morning but were they drunk of strong drink?

We could be drunk

with what we have passion for; we could be drunk with our work; we could be drunk with singing; we could be drunk with dancing, we

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye”

could be drunk with sleeping; we could be drunk with writing etc.

What is exciting you so much that people think you are drunk?

Think about it!

By Lanre Kehinde

SAGITTARIUS; Tomorrow will prove more beneficial.

Yet you can make meaningful progress today through your career line. Avoid secretive deal please.

CAPRICORN; It is better to take practical assistance from your good friends than their advice now when Mercury goes on backward motion in Pisces. Be more ambitious.

AQUARIUS; Remarkable success indicated for you today. But it is important you don’t take for granted competitors emerging along your career line. Be more practical.

PISCES; Many ideas will compete for prominent place on your mind today but you will need to be more careful with new ideas not capable to stand test of time.

ARIES; Those soliciting your support in terms of joint venture may not be telling you everything; that is to say you must guard against deception. Practical approach to your work (hard work) will give you good result..

Take good care of your health..

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Princess Shii’

By Andy Akman

TAURUS; Although you appear more enterprising, it is the element of luck that brings you success today. It is good to be loving but a bad day to create atmosphere for deep seated jealousy as it can take long time to get over the ripples.

GEMINI; For the next few days you will need to take your health more seriously. As for today you will be willing to give priority attention to happenings within your base.

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING Send yyour our dat th ttoo the As tr ological datee and place of bir birth Astr trological Counselling, PP.M.B .M.B 1100 00 7, Apapa, Lagos 007,

What’s my immediate future?

Dear Joshua,

VIRGINIA

dadadekola@yahoo.com

I am into business; sometimes I am alone but the other time I just have to do with some partners. Kindly tell me what my immediate future does have for me, especially between now and late August 2013.

Amodu.

Dear Amodu, For your own goodness I appeal to you to take what you will find here-under very seriously so that you will avert very serious business trouble coming through partnership very soon. I wish you the best.

Here is a period that will reverse most of the difficult situation you have experienced in your immediate past period. You are therefore advised to take good opportunities the period will bring. However it is imperative you have it at the back of your mind that next few weeks will bring another round of similar challenges thus you will need to take business you will be able to conclude on or before July 28th when the whole thing favours you, especially as it concern partnership related issues.

The said favourable period will bring you co operation, money, love and emotional satisfaction. Savour your good time.

Planetary placement and aspects are calling for carefulness on how you manage your relationships with others as some of them may be forced to betray and or disappoint you over MONEY and other important business transactions, consciously or unconsciously. Either a junior female worker or a lowly rated member of your opposite sex may be willing to tempt you during this period, who you just have to resist whichever way the person comes with antics.

Your health looks fragile. And you are accident prone.

Although the whole of the period calls for carefulness last two weeks can be a little bit sensitive. Please take note that nothing fatalistic is predicted here, you only need to take care so that you will avoid the pitfalls of the period.

HOME & AWAY

by Lawrence Akapa

36—Vanguard , TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

APC: Edo ACN accused of illegal meetings

Imo community sends SOS to Okorocha

BY FESTUS AHON

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

U

B

GHELLI—THE people of Akwa-Akatta, Ihite Autonomous community in Oru-East Local Government Area, Imo State, have decried the absence of basic infrastructure in the community, appealing to Governor Rochas Okorocha to come to their rescue.

Mr. Augustine Mba, a prominent indigene of the community in a chat with newsmen in Abraka, Delta State, noted that the community was in dire need of social amenities to make life meaningful for them.

He said: “All the surrounding communities are enjoying the dividends of democracy.

“But it is sad that the people of Akwa-Akatta community have been ravaged by incessant flooding as a result of bad roads and gully erosion.

“It may interest His Excellency to know that since the creation of the state, not even one borehole had been sunk in Akwa-Akatta community, let alone street lights and others social amenities.”

ENIN—LEADERSHIP of Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and All Ni-

geria Peoples Party, ANPP, in Edo State, have expressed worries over what they described as the illegal meeting being held by some leaders of

Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in the state in the name of the proposed All Progressive Congress, APC, when the party was yet to be registered.

State chairman of CPC, Mr. Godwin Erhahon, who expressed his concern to Van-

A/Ibom 2015: Ikot Abasi Federal Constituency insist on zoning A HEAD of the 2015 governorship election in Awka Ibom State, the people of Ikot Abasi Federal Constituency, comprising Ikot Abasi, Eastern Obolo and Mkpat Enin, have resolved to ensure that Eket Senatorial District produces the next governor of the state.

Rising from a major stakeholders’ meeting, they resolved to work assiduously with the other two federal constituencies (Eket and Oron) to ensure that Governor Godswill Akpabio’s successor comes from the district.

Their stand was contained in a statement by the political elite, women and youth leaders of the area under the aegis of Ikot Abasi Federal Constituency Forum.

They said that since the other two senatorial districts had taken turns of eight years to govern the state under the current democratic dispensation, it was only equitable, just

Okolugbo mourns Ewherido

S

IR Kenny Okolugbo, Commissioner representing Ndokwa nation on the board of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, has condoled with Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State over the death of Senator Pius Ewherido.

In a condolence message, Okolugbo said: “Our thoughts are with the family of my colleagues from Urhobo nation and the people of Delta Central Senatorial District.”

He said Senator Ewherido’s death, Sunday, was a great loss to the governor, his constituency and the state in general.

and fair that the next governor of the state comes from Akwa Ibom South (Eket) senatorial district.

The forum, led by a former chairman of Ikot Abasi, Obong

Amaete Ntuk, described Eket Senatorial District as “the proverbial hen that lays the golden egg, which provides the bulk of the economic mainstay of the state.”

Crisis looms at IPMAN over caretaker c'ttee tenure

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

B

ENIN—CRISIS is brewing in the Midwest Zone of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, as some members of the association have alleged that the Chief Solomon Ogbewe-led caretaker committee has refused to leave office, following the expiration of its three months mandate since December 2012.

They called on the national leadership of IPMAN to immediately dissolve the caretaker committee to pave way for the election of new executive for the association.

Rising from its zonal elders Forum meeting in Benin, Edo State capital, the elders noted that the three months tenure of the caretaker committee instituted by National Executive Council to address the Board of Trustee tussle in her sister depot, had expired since February 28, 2012.

The Forum had earlier in a

letter by Elder Francis Ogunsuyi, General Secretary, Elders Forum ordered members of the Benin Depot Marketers to halt the payment of truck levies fee to the coffers of the Midwestern Zone.

Monarch faults traditional councils' merger

BY EMMA AMAIZE

W

ARRI—FORMER national chairman of Traditional Rulers of Oil Minerals Producing Communities of Nigeria, TROMPCON, HRM Charles Ayemi-Botu, weekend, slammed the Steering Committee of the South-South Monarchs Forum, SSMF, for allegedly deciding to form a coalition with South-East Traditional Rulers Council without discussing the matter with other royal fathers in the region.

HRH Ayemi-Botu, told Vanguard on phone, “I condemn

unequivocally in the strongest terms, the unilateral decision of the Steering Committee of the South-South Monarchs Forum to enter into an unholy alliance with South-East Traditional Rulers Council prior to a general meeting to discuss exhaustively the pros and cons of such alliance.

“My attention was drawn to the proposed inauguration set for July 2 in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

“The proposed merger is illegal, fraudulent, a nullity and of no effect until a general meeting of the SSMF is held.”

By Bartholomew Madukwe

PEOPLE SPEAK

08102479985

guard, yesterday, said some ANPP and CPC leaders in some local government areas of the state were invited for APC meetings by some ACN leaders.

He said that it was an unauthorised meeting because “we are yet to get directive from the national secretariat on how the proposed merger will be handled in the states.

“APC is waiting for national directive to take off at the state level. There have been complaints from CPC and ANPP leaders in Edo State, who are being invited to factional meetings of ACN as APC is yet to take off in Edo State.

“But I can assure our people that the governor, who is asked to coordinate APC in the South-South is not in support of such factional meetings.

“We have met and agreed that we will wait for directive from the national level before we take off from the state.

"So the organisers of the unauthorised APC meetings in Edo State now do not have the support of the governor and the leadership of the three political parties.”

(nwamad@yahoo.com)

On £3,000 for UK visa

T

HE imposition of 3,000 Pounds Sterling travel bond on Nigerians by the United Kingdom is unfair because there are many UK citizens living here in Nigeria and no bond has been put on them.— Miss Jennifer Ukachukwu, PR Practitioner.

I

think the scheme will affect Nigerians and the UK government also. Some Nigerians travel there to do genuine business. That means Nigerians contribute to their development as well. I hope they put that into consideration.— Miss Judith Ekwu, Student.

T

O an extent, I think it is good because United Kingdom visa is the main thing people go for these days and the bond they are introducing will reduce the number of applicants for UK visa. However, £3,000 is too much.— Mr. Jesse Mcjessiey, Dancer.

F

OR the rich, the scheme is a good one but definitely not for the poor. Imagine I am going there for study, how can I then put £3,000 aside when I need such money to settle one or two bills while schooling?— Mr. ChiefRocker Olisa, Broadcaster.

I

T is meant to encourage people to return home. When they issued single entry sixmonth visas, those that have a lot to do would stay beyond the time allowed. Let us see how it will stop people from staying beyond limit.— Mr. Adesoji Shiyanbola, Businessperson.

S

OME people go to the UK for genuine business or contribute positively to their economy. But with this plan, they might lose those gains. The policy is not good for a good relationship between Nigeria and UK.— Mr. Abraham Alexander, Videoman.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 —37

We ‘ll continue to empower youths —UDUAGHAN U

BY FESTUS AHON

GHELLI—THE Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, weekend, said his administration would continue to initiate policies and programmes aimed at making children and youths in the state better and well focused citizens.

He spoke in Ovade-Oghara, Ethiope West Local Government Area of the state, at a memorial thanksgiving service by the state Commissioner for Transport, Mr Ben Igbakpa, in honour of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Roland Igbakpa, who died 10 years ago.

The thanksgiving service, at the First Baptist Church, OvadeOghara, attracted dignitaries from all parts of the country, including federal and state legislators, members of the state executive council, top government functionaries, traditional rulers, community leaders and political stalwarts in the state.

Uduaghan, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Ovuozorie Macaulay, said that his government was building legacies for both the present and future generations.

He expressed concern that some youths in the state have continued to live on alms begging despite government’s efforts at redirecting their attention to becoming better and focused persons.

Ex-Akwa Ibom dep gov becomes knight

U

KANA—Serving and past public office holders as well as royal fathers, the clergy, youths, women and several socio-political groups last Sunday, thronged Ukana Ikot Ntuen, the country home of Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State to honour the immediate past deputy governor of the state, Mr. Nsima Ekere.

The ceremony was Ekere’s investiture as a Knight of John Wesley, KJW, by the Methodist Church Nigeria, at the Cathedral of Unity, Ukana Ikot Ntuen in Essien Udim Local Government Area of the state.

Ukana is the birthplace of Governor Akpabio.

The investiture which was conducted by the Prelate of Methodist Church Nigeria, Dr. Sunday Makinde, saw Ekere and 17 other eminent Nigerians honoured as Knights of John Wesley.

The occasion was graced by serving and past government functionaries.

Speaking to journalists later, Sir Ekere expressed appreciation to God and Methodist Church Nigeria for the honour and promised that he will not relent in his service to God.

Mr. Ben Igbakpa in his tribute, recalled the painful deaths of his parents in 2003 and expressed gratitude to God that 10 years down the line, the children had maintained steady progress despite the challenges.

Igbakpa paid glowing tributes

to former Governor James Ibori and Governor Uduaghan, who he said by their benevolence became instruments of God in the transformation of the family.

Earlier in his sermon, the Pastor in charge of the First Baptist Church, Ovade – Oghara, Rev.

Benjamin Eni, stressed the importance of thanksgiving and commended the Transport Commissioner and other children of late Mr. and Mrs. Roland Igbakpa for the thanksgiving service.

INVESTITURE: Former Akwa Ibom State deputy governor, Mr. Etim Okpoyo (left), congratulates Sir Nsima Ekere, immediate past deputy governor of the state on his investiture as a Knight of John Wesley, KJW, by the Methodist Church Nigeria, at the Cathedral of Unity, Ukana Ikot Ntuen in Essien Udim Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State.

2015: Group moves against Wike

BY EGUFEYAFUGBORHI

P

ORT HARCOURT – AS the struggle for political power in Rivers State towards 2015 intensifies, the Rivers Leadership Advancement Foundation, RIVLEAF, has vowed to thwart the political aspiration of Mr. Nyesom Wike, Minister of State for Education.

At the inauguration of RIVLEAF’s chapter in Aluu, Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state, President of the group, Mr. Alex Wele, said the body was determined to frustrate Wike’s ambition

because it was based on betrayal.

Wele, an aide to Governor Chibuike Amaechi, said RIVLEAF will frustrate Wike by ensuring that the minister’s allegedly sponsored political group, Grassroots’ Development Initiative, GDI, does “not see the light of the day since it was established on the bond of betrayal.

“They are betrayers. We gave them the opportunity to serve and become who they are today but they stabbed us in the back. Only God will fight for us, so don’t give them the op-

portunity to dominate you, instead frustrate them,” Wele admonished RIVLEAF members against Wike and the GDI. He said RIVLEAF was a forum of students and ex-student leaders in support of Governor Amaechi and for the enthronement of positive leadership especially among the future generation of leaders.

Owhorkire Rhino, coordinator of the newly inaugurated Aluu wing of RIVLEAF, pledged to ensure that the group’s objectives were sustained in the locality.

Uzere/Shell crisis: Children of slain youths get scholarship “It is in recognition of the

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA SABA—FOUR youths, who were killed in 2011, during the crisis that engulfed Uzere community in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State following the struggle by the community to secure a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with Shell Petroleum Development Company have been given heroes burial.

The youths, interred in white caskets were Onome Ogbeye 28, Festus Idolor 38,

A

Sunday Omodhi 35 and Emu Udevieme 40. They were described as the heroes of “justice and liberation.”

Speaking on the occasion, the President General of Uzere, Chief Emeakpor Owhe, said: “These youths have paid the supreme prize for the collective desire to free all of us from the shackles of oppression and exploitation.

These unforgettable youths we are burying are heroes of our time and their memory shall remain indelible as long as Uzere lives.

great vacuum created by the sudden deaths of these loved ones that we are offering financial assistance to the families of our departed heroes to help cushion the pain of their loss.

“Furthermore, we have pledged to duly consider for employment and labour slots as well as scholarship for their siblings or children.”

With the burial of the four youths, weekend, the Uzere flow station now under a new operator may once again be reopened for operation.”

Patani LG trains 120 on ICT, others

BY EMMAAMAIZE

W

ARRI—IN an effort to reduce unemployment in Patani Local Government Area, Delta State, the Chairman of the Transition Committee, Dr. Chris Ekiyor, has embarked on the training of 120 youths on plumbing/ tiling, catering, tailoring and information and computer technology, ICT, under the council’s Subsidy Reinvestment Programme, SURE-P. Ekiyor said at the flag-off of the training in Patani that the training modules were packaged to be less theoretical and more practical with entrepreneurial knowledge so that on graduation, the beneficiaries would be self-employed.

Tasking participants to be serious with the programme, he said the trainees would be paid monthly stipends in addition to starter packs in various trades at the completion of the training.

He said: “Trainees must see themselves as worthy pioneers and are expected to justify the confidence reposed in them in the selection process and make sure that the objective of the SURE-P, which is to positively impact the act of self reliance on the citizens is achieved.”

Dickson lauded on devt

Y

ENAGOA—THE National Coordinator of Peoples Democratic Party Core Supporters Network, PCSN, has commended Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State on the transformation of the state within the short time he took over the reins of leadership in the state.

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, the National Coordinator of PCSN, Otunba Rafiu Odewale, said he was in Bayelsa State on a threeday fact-finding mission to verify the positive rating given to the state by the Good Governance Tour, led by the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, recently.

He said that what he met on ground in Bayelsa confirmed that the positive assessment of the state under Dickson given by tour group was merited, as the development of infrastructural facilities in the state was matchless.

38—Vanguard , TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Anambra govt, monarchs on warpath over summit

UNICEF hails Anambra over on HIV/AIDS

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

A

WKA—THERE is an immi nent collision between some traditional rulers in Anambra State and the state government over alleged insistence by the monarchs to attend a South-South and South-East Traditional Rulers Forum in Yenegoa, Baselsa State, which begins today.

If the royal fathers attend the Yenegoa meeting without clearance from their chairman and Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, it would be the second time they would be incurring the wrath of the state government.

Vanguard recalls that a wedding ceremony of younger sister of a governorship aspirant in the state, Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, in April this year, attended by some of the traditional rulers without clearance from their chairman and state government almost earned those who attended the wedding sanctions.

Yesterday, Vanguard stumbled on what could pass as a warning to traditional rulers in Anambra State who are bent on attending the forum in Bayelsa by the Obi of Onitsha.

33-yr-old woman, others arraigned for alleged theft

BY IJEOMA NATHANIEL

L

AGOS—A woman, Nkiru Ocha, 33, and others now at large, were weekend arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrate court for allegedly conspiring among themselves to steal N2.5 million belonging to one Augustine Onwuka of Danberton Nigeria Limited.

The suspect, Nkiru Ocha, docked before Magistrate A. Ipaye Nwachukwu, are facing a one-count charge of conspiracy and theft.

Police prosecutor, Sergeant Paul Inedu, told the court that the defendant and others now at large conspired to steal N 2, 572, 430.00, a property of one Augustine Onwuka, Chairman of Danberton Nigeria Limited.

He told the court that the defendants committed the offence on October 12, 2012, at about 9.00- 11.00am at Block 5, Shop 55, Zone D, Trade Fair, Ojo Lagos, on the Lagos Magisterial District.

A

DINNER—From left: Former President of Ghana, John Kuffuor; Dr. Orji Kalu; and HRM Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11, Ashantehene Kumasi, Ghana at a dinner hosted by the Esama of Benin, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, at Claridges Hotel, Mayfair, London.

Umeh lauds INEC over plans for 2015 polls

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR

N

ATIONAL chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, has commended the strategic plan unfolded by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, towards 2015 general elections.

Lauding the plan, Umeh, nevertheless, called for policies to check the recruitment of biased ad-hoc staff who, he said, often work against the objectives of the electoral body.

Umeh expressed concern that ad-hoc staff constituted more than 80 percent of the personnel used by INEC for election.

He also welcomed the introduction of the permanent voters'

card which he said would eliminate incidence of multiple voting and under-aged voting.

The APGA chairman spoke, following the meeting between INEC and chairmen and secretaries of political parties during which the commission’s strategic plans were unveiled.

He said: “The strategic plan is a wonderful document and a lot of research went into it and what it showed was that INEC is eager and determined to give Nigeria the best electoral management practises.

“However, INEC needs to be careful over the recruitment of ad-hoc staff since over 80 percenmt of people who perform election duties are not INEC staff and that is a very large proportion.”

Calling for a policy that would

allow stakeholders verify the impartiality of the ad-hoc staff, he said: “So, if the commission makes it a policy of publishing names of ad-hoc staff and ask the public to raise objections where necessary it will help us to remove people who have special interest in the election to be engaged to perform election duty. It will make the conduct of free and fair election much more easy.”

On the introduction of permanent voters' cards, Umeh said the card with very special features would help remove the incidence of multiple voting.

He said: “A holder of a permanent voters' card has his biometric data encoded into it and anybody who is not the owner of the card cannot use it to cast vote on the day of the election”.

Agu-elect's selection irreversible — Ishiagu Elders

BY PETER OKUTU

A

BAKALIKI—ISHIAGU Council of Elders, in Ivo Local government area of Ebonyi State, weekend, reaffirmed that no group of persons could reverse the selection and installation of Eze Moses Okafor Ngele as the Agu III-elect of Ishiagu Kingdom.

It would be recalled that Eze Moses Okafor Ngele is yet to receive his certificate of recognition from Ebonyi State government because of the controversy surrounding the installation of another traditional ruler, Chief Elias Ezenta, allegedly by some stakeholders in the community.

In a statement by Chairman, Ishiagu Accredited Council of Elders, Chief Ubani Okoro, and others, the council called on

members of the public to be wary of politicians or groups in the state who were busy fan-

ning the embers of controversy at it concerned the traditional rulership of Ishiagu kingdom.

Future award to release names of nominees

N

OMINEES for the eighth season of the Future Awards will be released next week, this was revealed by the central working committee of the award.

Speaking on behalf of the committee, head of the central working committee, Ohimai Atafo noted that “it’s been an exciting journey so far. The message of the search was carried across the country and

even to the US and UK since the season kicked off in Addis Ababa last May. "We have received thousands of nominations and it hasn’t been an easy task for the judges to shortlist the selected people.”

The categories of The Future Awards Africa 2013 include: The Future Awards Prize in Advocacy and Activism, Science and Technology, Community Action, and New Media.

WKA—THE ‘A’ field of ficer of United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Mr. Charles Nzuki, has expressed satisfaction with the commitment of Anambra State government in curbing the HIV spread in the state.

Anambra is among the states with the highest rate of spread of the scourge.

Speaking at the stakeholders meeting on dissemination of findings from rapid assessment of health facilities and bottleneck analysis on HIV and AIDS prevalence in the state, Nzuki said Governor Peter Obi had continued to demonstrate political will and commitment, as well as purposeful leadership committed to overall welfare of the people.

According to him, with the state government’s emphasis on human-oriented programmes that had helped to uplift the standard of living of the people, the spread of HIV will definitely reduce.

Governor Obi said the state government had initiated more proactive measures to reverse the prevalence of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

Transition

M

ADAM Agnes Ada Asorbirionwu, 75, is dead. She died January 30, 2013. A statement by her daughter, Mrs. Justina Opurum, said funeral of the deceased would come up on July 5, 2013, at Mr. Asorbirionwu’s coumpound, Umumba Ihie in Etche local government area of Rivers State.

She will be interred in the same compound on Saturday, July 6. She is survived by children, grand children and great grand childeren.

z Late Madam Asorbirionwu

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013—39

DINNER: From left, Mr. Alfred Okoigun,GMD, ARCO Petrochemical Engineering Co. Plc, his wife, Mrs. Julie Okoigun; Engr. Egbert Imomoh,CON, President, Society of Petroleum Engineers, SPE, WorldWide, and his wife, Mrs. Pat Imomoh, during a dinner in COMMISSIONING: Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia State (2nd left) with M/D, Diamond honour of Engr. Imomoh, at Eko Hotel & Suites, in Lagos. Photo: Bank Plc, Dr. Alex Otti, at the commissioning of their new branch in Owerrinta, Isiala Akeem Salau Ngwa North Local Government Area of Abia State.

COMMISSIONING: From left, MD/CEO, Rainoil Ltd, Engr. Gabriel Ogbechie; Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, Mr. Reginald Stanley, and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Hon. Dakuku Peterside, during the commissioning of Rainoil’s MT Emmanuel and MT Adeline vessels, at Oghara, Delta State.

LAUNCH: From left, Mr. Steve Forbes, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media; Mo Abudu, CEO, Ebonylife TV; Sen. Liyel Imoke, Cross River State governor, and Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke, Cross River State First Lady, at the launch of EbonyLife TV Channel 165 on DSTV, at Eko Hotel & Suites, in Lagos, weekend. Photo: Akeem Salau

UNVEILING: From left, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, Airtel Nigeria, Deepak Srivastava; Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria Life Assurance, Valentine Ojumah, and Chief Sales Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Inusa Bello, during the official unveiling of Padi 4 Life Micro Insurance Scheme by FBN Life in partnership with Airtel Nigeria, in Lagos.

DEDICATION: From right, General Overseer, MFM, Worldwide, Dr.Daniel Olukoya, and Acting Asst. Regional Overseer, Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries (MFM), Daniel Akinpinyi, during the dedication of MFM, Olambe Regional Headquarters, at Olambe, Ogun State, weekend.

FLAG-OFF: From left,Marketing Manager, Chemical & Allied Products, CAP, Plc, Mr. Dominic Oladeji; the National Customer Service Manager, Mrs. Hadiza Abdulahi; the Managing Director, Mrs. Omolara Elemide; Brand Manager, Miss Omole Imosemi, and Managing Director, Wow RoadShows Limited, Mr. Tokunbo Odebunmi, during the flag-off of the second phase of the Dulux Mobile Room Make-Over Activation.

PRESENTATION: Mr. Seni Adetu, MD, Guinness Nigeria, during the presentation of scholarship awards to beneficiaries of Guinness Scholarship Programme, at Guinness Nigeria head office, in Ikeja.

Photo: Akeem Salau

PRESS CONFERENCE: From left, Ogunwale Olalekan, Deployment and Integration Manager, Nokia; Jarmo Rintamaki, Head of Training Services, Nokia Developer Experience; Kesiena Ogbemi, Marketing Manager, Nokia West Africa and Adetunji Eleso, Director, Business Advisory, Co-Creation Hub Nigeria , during a press conference on the new Asha Operating System, at Co-Creation Hub, Lagos. Photo: Akeem Salau..

40—Vanguard , TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

School commandant raises alarm over state of NASME Bridge

FG asks varsities to salvage global rating

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI

I

LORIN—THE Federal Government has asked Nigerian universities to salvage the nation’s dwindling global educational rating by restoring their former positions of reckoning among world universities.

Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, University of Ilorin, UNILORIN, His Majesty, Prof. Chukwuka Okonjo, made this known during separate meetings he held with the university management, union leaders and representatives of the students’ body.

According to the Council Chairman, the Federal Government was worried that despite the fact that Nigeria was the second fastest growing economy in the world, none of her universities was ranked among the best 5,000 in the world.

Okonjo, however, explained that the antecedents of the UNILORIN had given the government some confidence that with the necessary support, the university could make Nigeria proud.

PDP cautions Yero's detractors

K

ADUNA—THE Peo ples Democratic Party Core Supporters Networks (PCSN) has warned detractors in Kaduna State to allow Governor Ramalan Yero to transform the state into a model city instead of distracting him from his set goal.

Speaking to newsmen in Abuja, the National Coordinator of PDP Core Supporters Network (PCSN), Otunba Odewale Rafiu Idowu, said the warning became imperative became some bad elements in the state were bent on causing disaffection in the cabinet of Alhaji Yero.

He said their aim was to polarize the state executive to work at cross purposes so as to paint the governor in bad light.

Odewale said reports reaching the PCSN headquarters in Abuja said some people with ulterior motives were seeking to infiltrate the camp of Governor Yero to cause disaffection among the members and urged the governor to be wary of new faces lurking around the government house.

C M Y K

BY PETER DURU

M

LECTURE—The Minister of Youth Development, Inuwa Abdulkadir with Dan- Iyan Katsina, Alhaji Leman Jibrin during the special lecture in honour of late Dr Abdul Rahaman Okene by the Northern Youth Forum at Arewa House,Kaduna, yesterday. Photo: Olu Ajayi.

STF boss identifies causes of Plateau crises J

OS— BRIG. Gen. Henry Ayoola, Commander, Special Task Force for peace in Plateau, has blamed the lingering crises in the state on deep-seated animosity and mutual fear of domination.

“The crisis is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional; we have found that there is a deep-seated animosity, distrust and mutual suspicion among the warring communities,” Ayoola told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Jos, yesterday.

According to him, “the violence is concisely centred on politics and premised on the struggles and desire to control resources.

“There are perceived fears and threats of domination with the locals feeling that there is a deliberate attempt to dominate them.

“They have lived together for long with the herdsmen, but they feel that the herdsmen are no more willing to subject themselves to the local authorities and this is why we have the persistent clashes,” he said.

He said that the STF had been able to largely restore peace and order as the violence was no more as severe, and was usually devoid of the hitherto massive involvment.

“What the STF has tried to do is to restore mutual confidence toward permanent peace; that is only possible if we win the hearts and minds of the warring communities toward accepting each other as one.

“It is when the people see and accept each other as one

that they will live together in peace without anyone forcing them to do so,” he said.

He said that the STF had initiated some “effect-based” programmes and strategies to help warring communities to interact more with each other and also to promote more civil-military cooperation toward peace building.

One of such initiatives, he said, is the Plateau Youth Employment Scheme (Plateau-YES), a quick impact scheme that involves vocational training, youth parleys, football tournaments and youth peace walk.

Also involved in the Plateau-YES initiative is educational sponsorship that has offered scholarships to many primary, secondary and tertiary schools students, while some classrooms had been renovated to attract more youths into schools.

The initiative has also ensured the reactivation of bore-holes and free medical

outreaches to many communities in Jos South, BarkinLadi, Riyom and Jos North, as well as youth seminars in leadership training which was held at Shere hills in Lamingo.

He said that the STF had also initiated a scheme that would help the people to manage post-crises, especially for those that may have physically witnessed an attack on, and possibly the killing of close relations.

The STF boss said that the medical outreach scheme had recorded thousands of beneficiaries with surgeries carried out on 42 people, while a pregnant woman was delivered of her baby through a Caesarian operation.

Ayoola said that the commonest surgeries were carried on patients with hernia, appendicitis, lumps and other ailments.

“We also discovered that many people had high blood Pressure; we gave drugs to some so as to stabilise them."

AKURDI— COMMANDANT of the Nigeria Army School of Military Engineering, NASME, Brig. Gen. Oluwatoyin Osimokun has raised alarm over the possible collapse of the NASME Bridge which links the military institution with the rest of Makurdi town in Benue State.

Osimokun who said that the bridge was a major disaster waiting to happen urged the Benue State government to quickly intervene and save the major army formation in the country from being cut off from the rest of the world.

He spoke weekend when he led officers and men of his command on community service around Makurdi town and warned that the “condition of the bridge poses a lot of danger to the lives of the military personnel as well as other motorists that ply the route daily.

“We’re forced to raise this alarm because we are financially handicapped to carry out repair work on the bridge though we have the technical ability to handle the project through direct labour.”

While suing for sustained cordial militarycivil relationship in the state, Gen. Osimokun noted that his Command embarked on the opening up of drainages around Makurdi town as part of its community service in the area.

Gowon tasks youths on talent development

BY EMMANUEL ELEBEKE

A

BUJA—FORMER Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, weekend, tasked youths to use their talents for productive ventures, especially in writing, information dissemination and nation building, rather than engage in restiveness and frivolities.

Gowon gave the advice at

the presentation of books: “The Shepherd Leader –the Unexplored Leadership Style” and “The Quest for Distinction -the Odd Discovery”, written by Dr Isokari Ololo, in Abuja.

The former head of state who was represented by his brother, Dauda Gowon, noted that Nigeria was blessed with many talents, that could be harnessed for national transformation.

He said: “Going by the moral decadence in the country, books are essential for the survival of the country. This is because we really don’t talk about morals in our meetings these days but these books are solidly talking about what will make the nation grow exceptionally. There is need to read books because they talk about how we, as individuals, can live our lives to benefit the nation.”

41— VANGUARD,

TUESDAY, JULY 2,

2013

SAfrica plans Mandela’s bir thda S-Africa birthda thdayy this month S

OUTH Africa’s Pres ident Jacob Zuma has told the nation to begin planning for Nelson Mandela’s birthday on 18 July.

The former president and global statesman, who will turn 95, remains critically ill in hospital in Pretoria.

He was admitted on 8 June with a recurring lung infection.

President Zuma’s comments come after Mr Mandela’s ex-wife criticised his governing African National Congress (ANC) party for filming the former president at his home in April.

The footage showed Mr Mandela looking dazed and unsmiling during a visit by one of the ANC’s leaders to his home.

Winnie MadikizelaMandela told ITV News: “I honestly cannot put in words how hurt the family was and it was one of the most insensitive things for anyone to have done.”

Responding to criticism at the time, the ANC defended its filmed visit, saying it was not a “publicity stunt”.

Yesterday, President Zuma put out a state-

birthday ”, using the former leader ’s clan name.

“We must all be able to do something good for humanity on this day, in tribute to our former president,’’ he said.

Mr Mandela is revered for leading the fight against white minority rule in South Africa and then preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years.

Pope visits migrant island of Lampedusa rying migrants from Af-

P

Mandela ment reminding “all South Africans to begin planning for Madiba’s

OPE Francis yesterday visited the Italian island of Lampedusa to pray for illegal migrants lost at sea trying to reach Europe.

A Vatican statement said the Pope had been profoundly touched by a recent fatal shipwreck off the island of a boat car-

rica.

The visit is expected to be extremely low-key, with no official welcome.

Lampedusa, about 80 miles (120km) from Tunisia, is one of the nearest gateways to Europe for African migrants.

Tens of thousands of

B-R-I-E-F-S U.N takes over Mali keacekeeping mission

T

HE United Nations took over command of an African peacekeeping force in Mali yesterday , bolstering the mission in a country still threatened by militants and weeks away from what analysts warn could be chaotic elections.

Bugging row threatens EU-, S trade deal

Egypt's Army gives Mursi 48 hours to share power F

RENCH President Francois Hollande has said reports that the US bugged EU diplomatic missions could threaten crucial free trade talks, despite US efforts to downplay the growing espionage scandal.

Hollande asked the US on Monday to immediately cease spying on European institutions, adding “enough elements have already been gathered for us to ask for explanations” from Washington about the spying allegations.

… as 5 ministers resign amid unrest

E

GYPT’S powerful armed forces yesterday gave President Mohamed Mursi a virtual ultimatum to share power, urging the nation’s feuding politicians to agree on an inclusive roadmap for the country’s future within 48 hours.

This is even as five Egyptian ministers have tendered their resignations from Mohamed Morsi’s cabinet, a senior official has said, as protests against the president’s rule filled the streets of cities throughout the country.

Earlier yesterday, the state news agency, MENA, said the ministers were considering resigning in sympathy with the protesters who were calling for the resignation of Morsi.

A dramatic military statement broadcast on state television declared the nation was in danger after millions of Egyptians took to the streets on Sunday to demand that Mursi quit and the headquarters of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood were ransacked.

“If the demands of the people are not realized within the defined period, it will be incumbent upon (the armed forces) ... to announce a road map for the future,” said the statement by chief-ofC M Y K

staff General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The people had expressed their will with unprecedented clarity in the mass demonstrations and wasting more time would only increase the danger of division and strife, he said.

The army said it would oversee the implementation of the roadmap it sought “with the participation of all factions and national parties, including young people”, but it would not get directly involved in politics or government.

Snowden seeks asylum in Russia President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania with President BarackObama and his wife, Michelle in Dar-es-Salaam.

Obama seeks to build Africa business ties P

RESIDENT Barack Obama is seeking to build a new economic partnership with Africa as he visited Tanzania yesterday at the end of a tour of the fast-growing continent where Washington faces competition from China.

Obama’s trip to Dar es Salaam occurs three months after a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who came shortly after taking office. Many Africans see the U.S. leader ’s threenation tour of Africa as an attempt to play catchup.

The U.S. president,

U

S intelligence leakr Edward Snowden has applied to Russia for political asylum, Russian officials said.

Foreign ministry consul Kim Shevchenko said the request was made on Sunday night.

The Kremlin has made no comment. e

Syrian forces battle for control of Homs

G

President Obama and his wife receiving bouquets of flowers on arrival in Dar-esSalaam. whose arrival was Bush, who is also visit- killed in the 1998 U.S. marked by a 21-gun sa- ing. They will join a embassy bombing in lute, meets his ceremony on Tuesday to Tanzania. predecessor, George W. lay a wreath to those

OVERNMENT forces in Syria’s central city of Homs have attacked rebel positions with artillery and air strikes for the third straight day, activists said. Opposition activists said a woman and two children were killed on Sunday in the strike by government aircraft on the old city, home to hundreds of civilians.

42 — VANGUARD, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Obi’s political exit: The odd steps of a Nigerian governor OR me, I have ”F come to the end of

it; I want to quit and rest,” Governor Peter Obi said in a remark to the synod of an Anglican Church in Enugu last Sunday.

After two terms in office punctuated at different times by the macabre instincts particular to Anambra politics, Governor Obi’s decision to exit the stage is indeed remarkable.

His decision to quit politics when many other governors in the second term are planning for either the presidency, or to retire into the Senate, is a departure from the norm.

But Obi has not been a normal governor. The sight of Governor Obi sauntering into an airport with one or two aides, and sometimes alone, is not strange to many Nigerians.

In many public functions where other governors are heralded by a long entourage of hangers on and protocol officers, Obi would normally saunter in alone or with not more than a handful of aides.

It was obvious that his aversion to protocol came from his first days in office as governor in 2006. ”When I came in as governor, I discovered that the state had 70 workers in Abuja liaison office. Apart from their salary, we spend close to N15 million maintaining that office.

They have nothing doing there than to come to the airport and welcome me whenever I visited, constituting nuisance. So we redeployed the workers and closed down the place. Till date, we have not missed them, which means they were really doing nothing there,” he declared last Sunday.

With the savings from

Governor Peter Obi’s declaration of his imminent political retirement is an affirmation of the unusual political steps of the governor in his more than seven years in office with that trade in this country.

His bold trouncing of the political godfathers in Anambra State is a testimony of his staying power.

Sir Emeka Offor, Chief Arthur Eze, Chief Chris Uba, billionaire businessmen who before the advent of Governor Obi pulled much influence in the politics of the state have largely returned to their respective businesses given what is alleged as the bad political business that Obi has turned politics in the state into.

Some say that a demonstration of the political ruthlessness of the governor is the

,

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, Political Editor

Obi: I'm going to rest such cuts, Governor Obi has even to the admission of several critics been able to up development in Anambra State sustaining and in some cases upping the legacies he inherited from Governor Chris Ngige.

One area of success is particularly road network and it is reported that the road network in Anambra State is about the best of all the Southeastern states.

Remarkably, the seeming stinginess with the official purse is a personal discipline that he has transmitted to his family as he confessed at the synod. ”I wonder why one person should own

houses in Ikoyi, Asokoro, Dubai and he is not using them for anything.

People accumulate what they don’t need. It is madness. The level of greed in Nigeria is intolerable. ”I urge all of us to pray for greedy people in this country; they are accumulating what they don’t need, stop accumulating things for your children,” he said as he confessed that he had never bought a car for any of his children.

It is a rather departure from the vogue where wives of governors and their children abuse the society with their wantonness.

However, his very public aversion to the code of behaviour of the

ruling class is alleged in some quarters to be a façade for his alleged political ruthlessness and some also whisper, corruption.

However, none of his several antagonists among the ruling class has been able to point at one act of corruption against the outgoing governor. Obi in any case was a very rich man with board appointments in some of the country’s most outstanding blue chip companies before his ascent to the governorship in 2006.

However, even where he can prove himself to be above board in money matters, Governor Obi is now variously credited to be a ruthless politician despite his acclaimed exasperation

government elections and appropriating the funds for the local governments for the execution of state government projects.

But in all, none has yet accused or faulted Governor Obi of personal corruption.

However, many former associates accuse him of political deception as reflective of his warm embrace of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP at the national level.

It is the romance between him and the PDP in Abuja that fueled suggestions that the governor was headed for the party at the end of his tenure.

However, given the

Where other governors are heralded by a long entourage of hangers on and protocol officers, Obi would normally saunter in alone or with not more than a handful of aides brazen offensive he has launched against the chairman of his party, Chief Victor Umeh. Until recently, Obi it would be recalled, was in the same camp with Umeh in the crisis that bestirred the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA. But now in cahoots with his uncle, Sylvester Nwobu-Alor, a member of the second republic Anambra State House of Assembly, he has fought a bruising political battle against Umeh.

Umeh has accused Obi like many other governors of refusing to conduct local

,

recent declaration of the outgoing Secretary to the State Government in Anambra State, Mr. Oseloka Obaze to succeed the governor next year, Obi’s declaration of his imminent political retirement looks doubtful.

Obi it is alleged, personally recruited Obaze from the United Nations secretariat in New York, United States to become the SSG. Obi has also declared that he would canvass for his successor to come from Obaze’s Anambra North senatorial district.

Perhaps that could be Obi’s last political fight!

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 — 43

44—VANGUARD, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Ewherido:

The political tremor on ground

SENATOR Pius Ewherido who died last Sunday at 50 was a phenomenal politician whose exit from the political platform would indisputably alter the political permutations and projections where he plied his trade.

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR

S

ENATOR Pius Ewherido’s death would alter many things in Delta and nay, Nigeria.

First, it removes his political party, the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP from reckoning in the Senate being that he was the only DPP senator in the Senate.

Besides, until his death, he was the leading personality from his Urhobo ethnic group with any visible role in the Federal Government. It was not surprising that in his last interview with Vanguard on the heels of his 50th birthday last May, that he lamented the seeming abandonment of the Urhobo ethnic nationality by the present administration.

With his exit and at least until a replacement is made, his absence would inevitably remind the dominant Urhobos in Delta State of their detachment from the Federal Government.

In Delta State where he was the leading light of the political opposition, the death of Ehwerido would be of great consequence to all major political forces.

For the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP it removes one of the major obstacles to the party’s desire for total hegemony. It would be recalled that Ehwerido had in 2011 defeated Chief Iyoghota Amori, one of the leading chieftains of the PDP in the Delta Central senatorial election. His foe, Amori is styled as the Leader in Delta political circles and had in the past served as Political Adviser to both Governors James Ibori and his successor, Emmanuel Uduaghan.

Before going to the Senate, Ewherido had spent two terms in the Delta State House of Assembly where he variously served as deputy speaker and acting speaker. In his second term in the State legislature, he made a bold attempt for the governorship at the twilight of the Ibori era. Though he was not successful in the PDP governorship primaries of 2007, the sheer muscle he mustered made an impression on, Ibori who by some accounts made desperate efforts to appease him.

Ewherido it was learnt, refused to sacrifice his principled stance C M Y K

on the governorship primaries for the allegedly mouth-watering offer to him.

So, the 2007 PDP governorship primaries became the point of departure for him from the PDP as he subsequently joined forces with the political opposition in the state.

His decision to join forces with the DPP and its gubernatorial candidate, Chief Great Ogboru in the 2011 election inevitably caused trepidation in the PDP which according to some sources also made efforts to woo him back to the party.

The party, however, failed and it was not surprising that the late Ewherido was a major factor in the PDP’s disastrous showing in the elections in Delta Central in 2011. The trophy for Ewherido and the DPP was the defeat of Amori in the hands of Ewherido in the senatorial contest which the PDP did not appeal. The defeat of Amori was like Chief Tony Anenih losing a major political office election.

As he settled down in the Senate it seemed clear to his watchers that Ewherido was destined to be a major player in the succession of the incumbent governor of Delta State, Uduaghan.

It was not surprising that perceptions that Ewherido would contest for the governorship in 2015 would affect his relationship

•Ehwerido: His future was bright with his one time political ally, Ogboru. Whether Ogboru who had contested the governorship four different times in 2003, 2007, 2010 and 2011 was aiming for an encore has not been established.

However, for the better part of this year till his death, Ewherido’ and Ogboru’ associates had been at logger heads over the course of the DPP. Ewherido had through the influential Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN chieftain in Delta State, Temi Harriman made

contact with national leaders of the party in his preparation towards joining the All Progressives Congress, APC. He had according to sources won major concessions for his associates in the APC in Delta State and was being regarded as the party’s gubernatorial candidate in waiting.

With Ewherido as candidate for the APC in 2015, it was expected that he would have been a major obstacle to the PDP.

Besides his formidable political structure and alliances was also the major advantage he had in his family connections.

Though Urhobo, he is married into the Bozimo family in Ijaw in the Delta South Senatorial district while his mother is Isoko also from the Delta South. The marital and maternal alliances would inevitably have counted very well for him ahead of 2015.

“It is a major development on ground and will shake many things,” a major strategist for one of the leading 2015 gubernatorial hopefuls in the Delta State said hours after Ewherido’s death was confirmed.

For the PDP, the exit of Ewherido regrettable as it is for many, would inevitably soften the ground for the ruling party in the state.

For the distraught opposition in the state, the death has created a major problem as Ewherido until his death was seen as the only formidable force to counter whatever option that would come from the PDP. Even more distressing for the opposition is the fact that in most of his dealings with the APC national leadership, Ewherido acted alone.

“I don’t know his associates and we have been talking to him alone and that is going to be a major setback for us in APC,” one of the chieftains of APC who facilitated his entry told Vanguard last Sunday.

Ewherido was indeed a political colossus whose death would cause a major tremor in Delta State.

The need to reverse decline in S-West PDP

BY ATIKU ABUBAKAR

A

T the onset of the present democratic dispensation, it was clear to the founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party that the major challenge confronting our nation was the establishment of an enduring democratic platform with a sustainable legitimacy. We were also convinced that such platforms should possess credible internal capacity to produce leaders who will be committed to the public purpose and whose leadership will be informed by a common good and sustained by the popular will of all citizens.

I have said it and I will continue to say it that the party is headed in the wrong direction

•Atiku as it moves from one crisis to the other. It appears that in the pursuit of our personal ambition, we have continued to trample

with impunity on the rights not only of the members, but also on the freedom of Nigerian citizens who deserve a right to choose who should govern them and for how long.

Sometimes, progress involves stepping backwards. In the South West, this is such a moment for the Peoples Democratic Party.

The PDP became a very strong political party in the South West as a result of the efforts and commitment of leaders who commanded the respect of the generality of the people of the South West. By the year 2009, the party had 5 of the 6 Governors in the zone, 14 of the 18 Senators, 46 out of the 71 House of Representatives seat,

102 members of the State Houses of Assembly, and 115 Local Governments. Members of the PDP also occupied all commissionership and special advisers positions, in addition to all statutory board membership.

However, the fortunes of the PDP in the South West took a startling reverse from 2011 such that today, the party has no Governor in the region, has only 1 Senator, 7 Members of the House of Representatives and only 18 Members in all the State Houses of Assembly. Of course, not a single Local Government administration is PDPcontrolled in the entire region.

Continues on page 46

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 —45

Anambra LG poll: Journey to the unknown?

ANAMBRA State has not conducted local government elections since the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999, as local political leaders traded on the peoples’ right for democratic expression. The political traders are now at wits end following the resolve of the authorities to conduct the decade long expected council polls.

W

ITH Monday ’s announcement by the acting chairman of the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission, ANSIEC, Chief Sylvester Okonkwo that local government election would hold on October 5, 2013, there is some glimmer of hope that democracy would soon return to the grassroots in Anambra.

But it not the first time such hope was raised since the tenure of the councils elected in 1998 lapsed in 2001.

The difference this time is that Governor Peter Obi is showing great commitment towards conducting the exercise before leaving office in March, 2014.

For more than ten years now, aspirants to the local government administration have mounted pressure on the governor and ANSIEC to conduct the exercise.

Besides, the national chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh has been reported as saying that his insistence on the conduct of local government elections was one of the issues that raised his quarrel with Governor Obi.

Joining the agitation Two weeks ago, the governor finally buckled and promised to join the agitation, even if belatedly. It was as such not surprising that ANSIEC following a meeting with political party leaders and other stakeholders last Monday announced the October 5 date for

•Obi: Opponents fault timing of LG poll the election.

Immediately after the meeting at ANSIEC, political party leaders immediately began their own consultations on how to approach the selection of candidates. That apparently is where some of the parties, notably the ruling APGA and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP are likely to face difficult challenges.

Both parties had conducted primaries at different times in the past and are now faced with the challenge of which particular primary to use or whether to conduct entirely fresh primaries.

Indeed, contemplations on the

conduct of fresh primaries in APGA is already stoking controversy as some of those who emerged in the past are insisting on having their way.

A human rights lawyer, Mr. Ejezie Ekejiuba however told Vanguard politics that as far as he is concerned, the primaries conducted by APGA in 2010 remained valid, warning that any attempt to jettison that for a new set of candidates would be resisted. According to him, he duly paid the prescribed fees and had his file documented at ANSIEC before the election was suspended.

The situation is even more complex in the PDP, a party that

The need ttoo re ver se decline in S-W es rever verse S-Wes estt PDP Continues from page 46 It is not only in the interest of PDP, but indeed that of the Nation that this trend be reversed.

As a founding member of the PDP, the prevailing situation of the party in the South West is very disturbing.

I am sure that our party didn’t come to this sorry state in the region because the party men failed to deliver good governance to the people.

Landmarks of achievements by PDP governments dot

the region.

It still remains a paradox to me how the presidential candidate of the party would win massively in all but one state of the South West, yet the party failed to produce a single state Governor in the region and could only produce 18 State Assembly members in the same election. My experience in politics tells me that this paradox can only be explained in one way that is the leadership of the party must have abandoned the party and negotiated

the victory of the President at the expense of the Party.

Recent events have shown that the leadership of the party has demonstrated insufficient sincerity in resolving the numerous crises which are pitching the party members against themselves. Political manoeuvring that relies on the politics of patronage and arbitrary application of sanctions will not sustain the popular will of the people through which the party can recover the lost ground.

A group of

for more than ten years had been split into different factions with the factions more at war with one another than the ruling APGA. In the PDP those who emerged as candidates in the run up to the aborted 2001 local government election are still parading themselves as the rightful candidates of the party.

After that the party conducted another primary and the candidates that emerged were assured that there would be no other primaries even if the election took several decades to come.

Given the several intrigues and power play that had until now combined to block the election, it was not unexpected that those against the conduct of the poll would react. Just for announcing the election date, Okonkwo the ANSIEC boss, said he is already being threatened with court injunctions by stakeholders wary of losing out.

He has thus prayed God to blind trouble makers who would

,

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

ready for the election, but the then President Obasanjo asked all the governors not to conduct it. In 2004, we tried to conduct it in December of that year, but somewhere along the line, there was three –day mayhem in Anambra State and all the materials we assembled in ANSIEC were burnt by hoodlums.

“In 2005, we made another attempt in February of that year and again, President Obasanjo said security situation did not favour it. In 2010, we planned to hold it in December and had done sensitization in all the wards, but the stakeholders advised against it based on flawed voters’ register as many people would be disenfranchised.”

With the failure to conduct the local government election, it is not surprising that all the past governors including the incumbent took free dips into the resources of the local governments using the caretaker

Given the several intrigues and power play that had until now combined to block the election, it was not unexpected that those against the conduct of the poll would react

,

attempt to disrupt the exercise and make them deaf and dumb until the election is over. “I am towing the path of the Holy Spirit in this venture. A lot has been said about the local government election since the last exercise was conducted in1988,” Okonkwo said.

“In 2001, we had everything

committee system.

The local government election was indeed a major campaign issue during the electioneering campaign for the 2010 governorship election as almost all the candidates of the various political parties promised to conduct the exercise without undue delay if they won the election.

concerned professionals with PDP interest from the South West carried out a study in which a state-by-state analysis of the crises in the party was made. The body made far-reaching recommendations in their document which was submitted to the leadership of the Party.

If the party leadership had paid attention to some of their recommendations, the outcome of the election in Ondo State could probably have been different.

It will be useful for the incoming South West Executive Committee to study this report and prepare a blueprint for the

reversal of the dwindling fortunes of the party in the region.

The eloquent silence of respected leaders on the various crises is a disturbing sign which leaves majority of the members confused.

The national leadership of the party needs to respect the democratic wishes of party members in the zone and discourage the deliberate creation of factions, and upturning the results of duly conducted elections.

*Atiku Abubakar is the Turaki Adamawa and former Vice President of Nigeria.

46 — Vanguard, TUESDAY,JULY 2, 2013

Vanguard, TUESD AY, JULY 2, 2013 — 47 TUESDA

PMTCT: PREVENTION of Mother-ToChild Transmission of HIV, PMTCT, is an intervention that provides drugs, counselling and psychological support to help mothers safeguard their infants against HIV.

The targets 2010 - 2015 National PMTCT scale up plan is to provide access to at least 90 percent of all : •Pregnant women to quality HIV counseling and testing by 2015 •HIV positive pregnant women to more efficacious ARV prophylaxis by 2015 • HIV exposed infants to more efficacious ARV prophylaxis by 2015 •HIV positive pregnant women to quality infant feeding counseling by 2015 •HIV exposed infants to early infant diagnosis services by 2015.

• Children at play. How free are they from HIV infection?

Nigeria’s HIV reduction rate slowest in the world

The challenges •PMTCT programme coverage is still very limited in Nigeria. Less than 10 percent of Antenatal facilities ioffer PMTCT services.

•Scaling up PMTCT programmes to reach every pregnant woman and babay across the country.

•Ensuring primary prevention of HIV among women of reproductive age within services related to reproductive health such as antenatal care, postpartum/natal care and other health and HIV service delivery points, are lacking.

•Integrating of HIV care, treatment and support for women found to be positive and their families.The overall goal is to contribute to improved

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

W

ITH an 8 percent drop in HIV infections among children aged 0-14 between 2009 and 2012, and about 10,000 fewer women acquiring HIV infection within the same period, Nigeria has the world’s slowest rate of declining HIV transmission among children and women of reproductive age.

The world’s most populous black country lags behind five other African countries Lesotho, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Angola - all classified as countries with slow declining HIV infection rates.

A report entitled “The 2013 Progress Report On the Global

•

Only 10,000 fewer HIV infections among women of child-bearing age between 2009 and 2012 Only 17% of HIV positive pregnant women are receiving HIV treatment Unmet needs of family planning is contributing to new HIV infections among children Just 8% decrease in the number of new HIV infections among children in 2009–2012 Nearly 9 out of 10 eligible children are not receiving HIV treatment

• • • •

Plan Towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections Among Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive, notes that while Botswana has the most rapid decline of HIV infection followed by Ethiopia, Ghana,

Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia, in Nigeria, the number of HIV infections among children aged 0-14 and women aged 18-49 has declined very slowly.

According to data sourced

Lagos moves to eliminate childhood blindness Screens 65,587 pupils; trains 1,304 teachers on poor vision

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

W

ITH a report from the World Health Organisation, WHO showing that developing countries like Nigeria contribute 60 percent of children out of the 500,000 children that become blind each year, the Lagos state government has moved to eliminate childhood blindness in the state.

To this end, the State government has screened and managed appropriately over 65,587 pupils as well as trained a total of 1,304 teachers on how

to identify early a pupil that has poor vision.

According to the WHO report, no fewer than 1.5 million children are blind in the world unfortunately, 60 percent of these children die within 1 year of going blind and about 50 percent of causes of childhood blindness are preventable or treatable.

Speaking in Lagos, the State Commissioner for Health Dr. Jide Idris who noted that good eye sight is key to academic success, said the school eye screening programme was initiated in 2000, it was

expanded in 2012 to reduce the prevalence of avoidable blindness in the state.

“Poor vision and eye health significantly affect the capacity of children to learn and succeed academically. Not seeing clearly means being less able to learn as fast or as well as children with good vision leading to lower marks, demotivation and demoralisation, social and emotional problems frequently accompany educational problem.”

Already 501 schools have been equipped with vision screening kits to carry out eye

screening for the pupils.

Idris announced further expansion of the programme and hinted that plans have been concluded to train two teachers from each school, as well as installation of Vision Corridor in the 802 schools in the state. The free eye screening programme is also to be extended to all schools in Lagos.

Director of the Eye Free School Programme, Dr. Shokunbi Olufunmilayo said out of the 17,572 pupils already

Continues on page 49

from the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank, the Report states that childhood HIV infection rates dropped by just 8 percent from 65,000 in 2009 to 60,000 in 2012.

Further, only 1 in 10, or 12 percent (260,000) of children infected with HIV, were eligible for antiretroviral therapy in 2012, compared to 8 percent in 2009.

Data from the report also shows that the number of women of child-bearing age (15-49) acquiring HIV infection has not changed substantially since 2009. The number dropped marginally in four years from 120,000 to 110,000.

Worse still, only 20 percent of pregnant women living with HIV are receiving antiretroviral medicines to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV From the Report, Nigeria still accounts for one third of all new HIV infections among children in the 21 priority countries in sub-Saharan Africa - the largest number of any country. The Report notes that “nearly all indicators assessed show stagnation and suggest that Nigeria is facing significant hurdles.

Other findings showed that the number of women becoming newly infected with HIV between 2009 and 2012 remains stable in most of the assessed countries. Only Ghana (44 percent) and South Africa (28 percent) have substantial declines in the number of women acquiring HIV infection.

48— Vanguard, TUESD AY, JULY 2, 2013 TUESDA

How Lagoon Hospitals carried out first metallic surgery in Nigeria

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

‘I

SAW him yesterday. For the first time in the past five years, he looked at his arm and burst into tears,” with these words Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham United Kingdom, UK, Dr. Segun Abudu, recounted how he and his team at the Lagoon Hospital Lagos successfully carried out the first metallic replacement of a whole arm bone and joints on a patient.

The surgical feat which is the first of its kind in West Africa, according to findings showed that only two or three centres could perform similar operations in UK. Describing the feat as a pride to Nigeria and as one of the high-end surgery performed at Lagoon hospitals, Abudu noted that it is a testimony of top of the range specialists’ skills and care services available in the country.

Abudu said the “historic” surgery was performed on a banker in his late 30s who was

involved in a road accident four years ago and was left with a nasty fracture of the right arm bone.

The patient’s arm was damaged in the accident and he could not use it for four years. The arm was also infected from the shoulder, down to the elbow.

The patient had surgeries performed in four hospitals such that the bore failed to heal and got infected.

However, during the eight – hour surgery, Abudu and his team replaced the shoulder, elbow and arm to have what they describe as “a bionic man.”

Narrating the experience, Abudu said: “I have been to several countries doing this type of surgery and it really pained me that I am not able to offer same in Nigeria for years.

Now have a hospital with the necessary facility that allows us to offer the surgery, is for me, God sent!

“It is important that as a country, we should be able to provide care for Nigerians in Nigeria and by Nigerians. I see it as a mark of national pride. Lagoon indeed allowed us to pride

• From left: Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham United Kingdom, UK, Dr. Segun Abudu, Chief Executive Officer, Hygeia Group, Mr. Lars Stork, Head, Marketing Lagoon Hospitals, Ms. Joyce Okungbowa, Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Naseem Mohammed during a press conference by Lagoon Hospitals . ourselves as a nation that we can deliver quality surgical services.

“He could not lift his hand, all the bones were infected. The only option available in many parts of the world would have been to amputate the arm. This man has not been able to go to work for three years. He was about to lose his source of livelihood. He has not been able to care for his family and that is not good prospect that any of us will like to bear.

“But the challenge then was

how to remove all the infected bad bones. He had not moved the shoulder for about four years. The shoulder and the elbow were stalled there. Not only could he not do anything for years, he was feasibly deformed. We needed to be able to correct the deformity and give him an arm that works.”

Abudu explained that the surgery involved dissecting all the vessels, nerves and muscles to get to the bad bone; remove the whole of the arm from the shoulder. A specially made

Govt must invest in our health — OSHOTIMEHIN

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

E

XECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the UNFPA, and former Nigerian Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, has urged Nigeria and other developing countries to commit more resources towards ensuring better health and education for the people.

Oshotimehin, who asserted that Nigerians have a right to health, told Good Health Weekly in an exclusive chat, that a developing country would not advance if it does not invest in the health and welfare of its people.

“Developing countries must be compelled to look at their priorities in a different way from the developed countries. There is no way a developing country can develop if it does not invest in its greatest resource - the people.

“You do not get services if you do not pay. I do not think governments can continue to hope that these things will happen. It is not just about talking, but about putting money on the table,” he remarked.

Arguing for sustained quality of care, the UNFPA chief executive explained that there are various steps to ensure the final beneficiary gets the care.

“I have always been an advocate for the belief that human capacity development is the most important investment a country can make to provide sustainable development. I think that is a major shift in the thinking that must happen for us to move forward.

• Professor Babatunde Oshotimehin I know of countries that have recently developed and are spending up to 60 percent of their budget on health and education.

Further, Oshotimehin said: “There are two things I have noticed. First we know that most governments in Africa depend on overseas assistance to treat HIV patients. That is not acceptable because if suddenly there is change in government, which we have seen before, there could be a change in ideology. People would take away their resources from the government and what happens? Patients would be left on

the ledge.

“The second has to do with Nigeria.

There was a period when the USAID was responsible for almost all the immunisation for our children., then there was a change in government, and the USAID withdrew. At that time USAID was providing immunisation for almost 83 percent of our children. When they left, our immunisation coverage dropped to about 20 percent.

“We have to take those difficult decisions to put resources for the health and education of our people. It is the smart thing to do. As government, we are not doing the people any favour when we ensure they are healthy or educated/ What we are doing is making sure we have sustainability in the system. It is a decision that must be taken.”

Oshotimehin recalled that in 2000, Africa resolved to commit 15 percent budget to health, but just six or seven countries out of the initial 52 have actually kept to that pledge. “Political will must be translated into resources, and the good resources must be utilised judiciously.

“I have a World Bank data that demonstrates that only 10 percent of what we spend on health is from Official Development Assistance, while 90 per cent is from domestic resources, but what is hidden and what the Report also shows is that 70 percent of that 90 percentis from out of pocket, so seeking Continues on page 49

prosthesis (an artificial part of the body) was to replace the shoulder, elbow and the whole of the arm-bone.

“Not just that, though that allows him to move his shoulder and elbow to do other things, but he would still be deformed because the arm was short. So, we needed something that allows us to lengthen the arm so the arms will be equal in size again. And that is what we were able to do using expendable prosthesis.

“We worked with prosthesis engineer in this high-end surgery. Only 50 or 60 of these cases have been done in the whole of the UK ever. And I believe this is not a surgery that would have been done in Africa, certainly not in West Africa.”

An elated Abudu hinted that the team was able to carry out the surgery successfully, with the support of a competent team and facilities available in Lagoon hospital.

“It is not just being able to do the surgery that is important but being able to do it safely and successfully. The patient left the hospital about two weeks after the surgery and is currently undergoing physiotherapy. His surgeon expects him back at work in three months, though it will take another two months before he can drive his car. The prosthesis would last at least 20 years.

“I’m pleased that the Lagoon Hospital and its management – as a strategy – has thought it fit that Nigerians deserve to have good healthcare.

He further added that they have been able to review the first 80 cases of knee and hip replacement surgeries done in the hospital, adding that it is comparable to what obtains in the British National Registry.

Chief Executive Officer, Hygeia Group, Mr. Lars Stork said there was no need for Nigerians to travel abroad for medical services that could be obtained in the country.

Vanguard, TUESD AY, JULY 2, 2013 —49 TUESDA

Patronise only registered pharmacies, Nigerians told As ACPN unveils new logo

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

S

AFE medicines for Nigerians can only be guaranteed when pharmacists provide the right pharmaceutical care, and when patients and the general public patronise only registered pharmacies, where experts are available to provide safe medicines and pharmaceutical care.

To this end, as part of strategies to fight quackery in the pharmacy practice, a new logo, vision and mission statement has been unveiled by the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN. The pharmacists who gathered at the 32nd National Conference of ACPN, in Calabar, River s State last week, “Land of Paradise 2013”, former Commissioner of Commerce, Industry, Cooperative and Tourism, Land and Physical Planning, Ahmed Yakasai, who spoke on the theme of the “Safe Medicine for Nigerians – Community Pharmacists’ Perspectives” said safe medicines, as defined by World Health Organization, WHO, satisfy the priority and health care needs of the population and selected with due regard to public health relevance, evidence on efficacy and safety as well as comparative costeffectiveness.

Yakasai said safe medicines are intended to be available within the context of functioning health systems, at all times, in adequate amounts, in the appropriate dosage forms, with assured quality and adequate

information, as well as at a price the individual and the community can afford. “The vision of WHO is that people everywhere have access to the safe medicines and health products they need, that the medicines and health products are safe, effective and of assured quality, and that medicines are prescribed and used rationally.”

Yakasai regretted that although access to safe medicines is part of the human right to health, Nigeria is faced with an

uncoordinated drug distribution system, which is not in line with the good drug supply management that the national drug policy stipulates.

Acting Registrar, Pharmacists’ Council of Nigeria, PCN, Mrs. Gloria Abumere, explained that medicines are crucial to human existence. “Lives have been terminated through the wrong use of drugs, while medical conditions can also be made worse through inappropriate use of medicines. And this is where the community pharmacist comes in.”

Unveiling the new logo, mission and vision statement, Pharm. Olumide Akintayo, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, urged the pharmacists to embrace the labelling software initiative, which addresses irrational drug use and medication errors.

Oshotimehin Continued from Page 48 health care in our country impoverishes the average person because they have to pay for everything from their pocket, which is why the health seeking behaviour is not there.

“If there is no money they do not go anywhere. They may end up in a church or somewhere. That is what happens.

Governments have to do something about that. The fact that a woman is expecting doesn't mean she has to be poor. We should find ways to ensure that essential care is available without people tipping themselves into poverty.

We need to support the system and make sure we refine it to deliver good to more people than before,” Oshotimehin concluded

Childhood

• L-R: Pharm Olumide Akintayo, President, PSN; Dr. Dere Awosika, former Permanent Secretary, FMOP; Alhaji Ahmed Yakasai, former commissioner, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Cooperative and Tourism, Lands and Physical Planning, Kano State, and Alhaji Olufemi Ismail Adebayo, National Chairman, ACPN, at the 32nd AGM held in Calabar, Cross River State, last week.

Continued from Page 47 screened, 13,626 have poor vision and have been issued corrective glasses while those with minor disorders treated appropriately.

Meanwhile, the second batch of the teachers’ training is ongoing, even as Olufunmilayo expressed worry at the rate at which children come down with poor eyesight. “Mothers should immunise their children with all the vaccines made available by the government and also vitamin A supplements during immunisation.

Nursing mothers should also learn to breast feed their children appropriately.

“School children should always read with good source of light not dim light and they should not expose themselves too much to sun light,” she added.

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50— Vanguard,

TUESD AY, JULY 2, 2013 TUESDA

1000 days: Good nutrition ensures long life — NESTLE

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

N

UTRITION experts have stressed the need for mothers to pay special attention to the 1,000 days between pregnancy and a child reaching its second birthday as the days are crucial period in early development.

Findings show better nutrition for mother and child during this time can have a lifelong impact on a child’s future, and help break the cycle of poverty The experts who gathered at a two – day media on Nutrition believed that Nigerian mothers should increase nutritional value for their infants especially in the first 1, 000 days of life, counting from day one of woman’s conception.

Statistics show that undernutrition causes almost half of all deaths of children under the age of five. Around 165 million, or 1 in 4, children under the age of five are chronically malnourished. Reports have also shown that these deaths, and the lifelong effects of malnutrition, can be prevented with the right interventions, particularly in the first 1,000

days.

President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Prof Ngozi Nnam revealed that the first 1, 000 days in the life of a child either lay a concrete or insubstantial foundation which determines what becomes of the child’s wellbeing and future contribution to the society at large.

At the workshop organized recently in Lagos by Nestle Nigeria in collaboration with Development Communications (DEVCOMS), nutrition, water and rural development were the focal point of discussion.

Cognitive development Nnam stressed that the first two years form the decisive period of a child’s brain and cognitive development.

Further, she counseled mothers to practice exclusive breast-feeding for the first six months of life, after which they can gradually introduce complementary foods such as vegetables and fruits to the baby.

“Seventy percent of brain

• Breast feeding in action development takes place within a child’s gestation and becomes fully developed within the first two years. Undernutrition during and after pregnancy leads to stunting, this leads to underproduction and

consequently results to a stunted society.

“Parents should devote more time to their children, especially the infants by ensuring that the food, water and environment they live are not contaminated,” the public health nutrition

expert said.

On his part, Professor of Paediatric Nutrition and Executive Board member, Nestle Nutrition Institute Africa, James Renner, stated that most of the medical problems were traceable to inadequate nutrients within the first 1, 000 days of a child’s life.

Nestle’s Managing Director, Dharnesh Gordhon enumerated Nestle’s CSV successes as improving nutrition profile of its products, rural development and responsible sourcing, environmental sustainability and advancement of human rights principles as relevant to business operations.

Gordhon applauded the theme of the workshop, ‘Creating Shared Value’, maintaining that it was fundamental that companies’ presence bring benefits to shareholders, the people and the society at large.

He said the workshop was part of Nestlé’s effort to build the company ’s thought leadership and presence in nutrition, water and rural development, and also, to share insights, identify best practices in CSV as a corporate strategy in Nigeria.

Dabiri-Erewa provides free eye care for Ikorodu residents

BY DAPO AKINREFON

R

•Business Counsellor, USAID/SHOPS, Mr Benjamin Adekagun; Lagos State Chairman, AGPMPN, Dr. Adeyeye Arigbabuwo and the National President, AGPMPN, Dr. Anthony Omolola during the Private Health Sector Trade Fair, in Lagos

ESIDENTS of Ikorodu community in Lagos have benefitted from free eye screening and treatment provided by the member representing Ikorodu Federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Mrs Abike Dabiri- Erewa, in collaboration with the Global Alliance Eye Foundation Centre.

The activity comprising free

Stakeholders call for unity in health sector

L

EADERS in the health sector have emphasised that there are immense benefits accruable from collaboration of stakeholders with other groups and the unity of professional associations in the industry.

At the second edition of the Private Health Sector Trade Fair, organised by Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector, SHOPS, stakeholders agreed that polarisation, excessive competition, and protracted crises, had greatly hindered the advancement of the sector. They therefore called upon all players in the industry

to put aside their differences and work together for progress.

Chief of Party of SHOPS, Mrs. Ayodele Iroko, said the objective of the fair was to bring all stakeholders together to forget their differences and work together to advance and develop the industry for mutual benefit. She added that the work of SHOPS in boosting health practice has led to interaction with both sectors, as they are interrelated. As such, SHOPS has to engage in pulling down walls to foster progress.

She reiterated that all stakeholders that are committed to care were invited to the fair

to discover opportunities for improvement and tap into it.

According to Iroko, “the result we expect is that the private sector will substantially improve; that they henceforth can come together to organise mutually beneficial projects and, finally, can speak with one voice.”

Chairman, Juli Pharmacy, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, observed that team spirit within and among the professional healthcare groups is practically non-existent saying if matters continued like that we will all be losers.

“We must rethink and regroup

now to consider our overall strategies and options”, while building up the necessary team spirit across the spectrum.

“We need to pool our resources together, break down the dividing walls, harmonize our objectives and truly focus on the patient, whose hope for better healthcare lies in our hands. We must remember that most Nigerians do not have the wherewithal to seek healthcare outside the country. There is very much more to do. We can only achieve enduring change if we talk together, think together, act together and celebrate our success together.”

community eye screening, school eye screening, distribution of glasses, medication and surgeries where necessary in which over 600 Ikorodu residents benefitted.

Speaking with newsmen, Dabiri-Erewa said that the programme was to broaden the base of blindness prevention in the area, noting that many people suffer from preventable eye defects but could not afford treatment.

"This initiative is to provide succour for those suffering from glaucoma, cataract and other sight defects that have for long caused hardship to many of our people. It breaks my heart to see that in this day and age, people had to go through life blind due to lack of funds” The lawmaker said free eye treatment and other programmes mapped out for the constituency would be continuous.

"This is not politics. It is my sincere way of helping my people and it goes beyond political divide. I believe that with all these arrangement in place, not only would we be preventing blindness among our people, but we shall also eradicate all forms of povertyinduced blindness, "she said.

Apology not accepted Infidelity in relationships is an age long social vice; otherwise, God would not have included covetousness in the Ten Commandments. The adrenalin pumping excitement and power derived from this act of betrayal, oftentimes, crumbles into shame and pain when their hitherto partners discover their secrets. For the betrayed, their reaction will depend a lot on their general state of health and mind. While some partners are able to forgive, work things out and revamp their relationships, some others may resign to fate and move on to other relationships. However, there are some who may not be able to do either of the two, believing that their hearts can not be mended unless they take their pound of flesh in their own way. The story you are about to read happened over 30 years ago in one of the Ijebu towns in Ogun State. An extra marital affair between two people left a trail of death, pain, anguish and bad memories too deep to shake up. Rafiu, (52), narrates the story of how his family’s fortune and fate took a dramatic turn when his father fell in love with another man’s wife.

He says though infidelity is now so high in the society, it appears people are now more tolerant of the shameful act. His story begins below. Happy reading! ther because he owned a house while her husband did not.

If she could not have a child for my father, she could still do so with whoever they give her to and still have a claim in my father’s property.

However, no sooner had this woman declared her intentions to the family, trouble broke out.

My father’s cousin who had earlier expressed desire to marry my mother made a U-turn instantly and told everyone he now wanted the

,

However, to his greatest shock another member of the family took her over, thus, he placed a curse on her that any member of our family who sleeps with her must die, he was not angry with his wayward wife but with our men for not being able to resist her

.

T

HERE was nothing anyone could do about it. The family was polygamous. In fact, prior to his meeting this woman, we used to marvel at our father’s lack of interest in taking another wife.

However, no one expected him to pick such a woman. My parents were not even literate. They were petty traders and were just lucky to be able to make ends meet. So, what could he possibly want with this kind of woman, or what would the woman want with my father?

Anyway, this woman was brought in and everything changed immediately. She was given preferential treatment at everything. They attended parties together and my father lavished her with gifts and attention.He was love struck and remained in this hazy condition until he died suddenly three months after. He had returned from the market one evening and complained of a fever and headache.

Local herbal medications were prepared and administered but rather than relief, the fever got worse and he died in the early hours of the morning. He was buried according to Islamic rites amidst wailing crying and swearing.

After all the ceremonies had been completed and the mourning period for his wives fulfilled, a meeting was called to determine what would become of his estate. These included the wives and property. Initially, the woman declined to remarry in the family saying that since she did not have a child for my father, she could still find someone of her choice elsewhere.

My mother on the other hand agreed to the family proposal and she was given to one of my father’s cousins in marriage. However, about three weeks after she turned down the proposal, this woman announced that she had changed her mind and was ready to remain in the family. We later learnt that it was my aunt that was behind the change of plans. The reason being that the house my father left behind will be managed by the men who marry the wives. It was now clear that the woman had married my fa-

formed and the mourning period observed.

On the day of the family meeting to decide their fate, my step-mother willingly allowed herself to be signed off to any interested member of the family. Her reasoning being that she was so devastated and sad over what had happened and therefore ready to abide by whatever the family decided.

She would not own up to the fact that having lost two husbands in quick succession, the community would soon start suspecting her of being responsible.

However, the greedy lustful men contested again and she was promptly taken over by another cousin of my father’s. He was a younger man, closer to her age and everyone was optimistic that finally, they could settle down to a good life and bear children together.

Unfortunately, this was not to be again as the man went out to sea one day and never returned. Their boat had capsized at sea and though he was a very good swimmer, he alone did not make it back to shore.

The loss was too much to bear and it was decided that this time around, they will investigate the cause of these deaths.

The oracles were consulted and it was disclosed that the woman’s husband was responsible for all the deaths. He had

woman. Two other members of the family were also interested in this woman and it became a keenly contested battle.

At the end, it was decided that my father’s cousin being the eldest of the three men should have the woman while the next to him should have my mother. This was the way that fate played its part in the lives of these men.

Not quite four months after, my father’s cousin too passed away mysteriously. He had gone to the farm and did not return home one night.

A search party went after him the next day and they discovered him lying under a tree. It was unexplainable as there had been rain storm or wind strong enough to cause a tree to fall. So, how had it happened? No one could tell.

He had lost so much blood and only God knows what else had happened to him lying there all alone by himself. He died a few days after, leaving behind six children and two wives.

The younger of the wives who was my step-mother still did not have a child for him. The man was promptly buried, the rites per-

,

been very bitter about the way my father had snatched his wife, even after he had forced himself to go and plead with him to leave her alone if only for the sake of his children.

In his rage, he employed the efficacy of some juju to avenge the wrong done to him. He had been assured that the woman would return to him after my father’s death. However, to his greatest shock another member of the family took her over. Thus, he placed a curse on her that any member of our family who sleeps with her must die.

He was not angry with his wayward wife but with our men for not being able to resist her.

The woman was finally allowed to leave after causing the death of three, able bodied men from one family. Such is the end result of greed, lack of contentment and self control, on the part of all involved.

This woman left our town for some other place after this and did not return for a very long time. Incidentally, she also did

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 —51

How the commitment process work for men

By ONOZURE DANIA

F

OR most men, a last ing commitment isn’t just a matter of choosing a woman and saying “Yes, I have found her.

It takes a specific set of ongoing experiences to get a man to keep opening up and to learn to love and share more deeply as time goes on.

Some women naturally understand what this thing is, that they never come across some of the other common problems that other women run into again and again with men and relationships.

They have an actual skill that they use intuitively, which causes the men they are with to actually chase them and lead them into a committed and loving relationship. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?

But as you may know all too well, it doesn’t always work this way for some women. In fact, it only works this way with men if you know how to trigger specific emotions and responses inside them. And then keep those things going and alive in a long term relationship.

Understanding him is key.

Most women don’t like to talk about it, and they certainly don’t like to admit it to themselves, but there are lots of women out there who just don’t get how to do these things when it comes to men and relationships.It’s as though every woman is just supposed to know this stuff because she’s female. And while I believe that women have many, many amazing and natural gifts, not every woman in the world is born with the skill of knowing how to inspire a man in a long term committed relationship.

Not every woman naturally gets how to keep things passionate and growing with a man more than a few months or so until the guy predict-

not return to her husband and children. Her husband did not have a successful married life too. No woman in town wanted to marry him after what he’d allegedly done to our family.

He got married twice to some strangers but they each left him after a few years and even went away with the children they had for him. He died of mysterious circumstances a couple of year ago too. I believe that this inci-

ably pulls away or becomes distant and starts doubting things.It’s at this moment that, for some women, the wheels come off completely and they have no idea what to do about it to get things back on track.And this is when women most often feel hurt, unappreciated and start doing and saying things that come from a lesser place inside them and ultimately pulls their relationship apart.

These things usually include, saying negative and critical things about the flaws they see in the man, feeling sad and down about themselves, constant worrying, analysing and feeling bad which gives them a heavy negative energy around the man, becoming angry and blaming a man for not loving them or treating them the way they expect, and a whole lot.So let me ask a very simple question:Which situation sounds better to you, being a woman who gets certain things about a man that, in turn, gives you the ability to understand what a man is doing and why and for you to be the kind of woman in a relationship that will make a man know, with his feelings and emotions, that he wants to be close and connected with you, and only you?

Or, being a woman who just doesn’t understand where a man is coming from and why everything has to be so difficult and sensing that a man isn’t there with you and not having a man who feels it for you on an intense passionate gut reaction.Which situation sounds better to you and which has a higher potential for success when it comes to a real, loving, and lasting relationship?

Obviously, the first one. But which situation can you honestly identify with more?

Being the woman he yearns to commit to.There is a simple skill, you can learn and become great at with men that often means the difference between you experiencing more of the first situation above, instead of the second.

dent left unforgettable memories in my mind as much as it did for a lot of young men in my family. For me, no matter how beautiful or irresistible the lady is, once she is married, she becomes taboo for me. I marvel when I see young men run after married woman. It’s like playing with fire.

Even if you are not caught, your conscience should judge you if you are doing the right thing.

Concluded

52 — VANGUARD, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Have Brazil overtaken Spain?

•Shearer, Vialli, others react Host nation Brazil produced an impressive display to stun world and European champions Spain to claim the Confederations Cup title.

But does the 3-0 win mean the Selecao are now genuine contenders to win the World Cup on home soil next year? And are Spain still the same force they were?

Here, the BBC’s football pundits discuss the futures of the two teams and evaluate their battle in Rio de Janeiro’s famous Maracana stadium.

Former Chelsea and Italy striker Gianluca Vialli “Brazil are going to be very difficult to beat in a year’s time. They play like a team with the right spirit and the right tempo.

“They have handled the pressure very well - to play in Brazil is never an easy thing. They played with courage and were so aggressive.

“I know it has been a predictable, sometimes clueless, lethargic Spain, but that shouldn’t take anything away from Brazil.

“It was a strange performance from Spain but I think they’re going to give the senior players like Xavi and Andres Iniesta another year for the World Cup. “The defeat is mainly down to their physical state. If you’re not as sharp as your opponents then you’re going to lose.”

World Cup winners: Brazil Ex-Liverpool and Scotland defender Alan Hansen “I thought it was a great night of football, with an

•Vialli

•Shearer, extraordinary atmosphere created by the crowd and the Brazil players responded.

They thoroughly deserved to win the match.

“It’s a bit premature to write off Spain but they were a shambles in the final.

We were only saying in the European Championship last year that Spain were the best team we had ever seen.

“Brazil made them look poor. But I think they’re methodical - I’m still not sure about them.

“However, they wanted it more than the Spanish.

There was no resistance whatsoever.”

World Cup winners: Argentina Former Newcastle and England striker Alan Shearer

“It is amazing that a couple of months ago there was pressure on coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

“The Brazilians now, in tournament football, have an edge about them. Before that it was friendlies. Now, as hosts of the 2014 World Cup, they go back to friendlies but they can say ‘judge us when it matters’.

“It’s not over by far for Spain but my concern is that against Italy they were poor and that trend continued for the 90 minutes against Brazil.

“There have been cracks in the last few days but it’s still too early to say it’s all over.

“Everything that could have gone wrong did, but that happens. Champions do tend to come back so it is too early to write them off.

“Teams have played without pressure throughout the tournament and there have been some good games. Teams have gone forward and tried to win games. Hopefully that is a trend that will continue.”

World Cup winners: Argentina Ex-Liverpool and Republic of Ireland defender Mark Lawrenson “In many ways, by winning this competition it just increases the expectation on Brazil for next year.

“In Spain’s very first game of the Confederations Cup we described their performance as a masterclass, but it was definitely roles reversed in the final.

“The heat and humidity took its toll. There will also be the travel to contend with next year - Brazil is a massive country.

“This doesn’t mean Spain are no longer a great side, but there are a few questions being asked.”

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013 — 53

U-20 W/Cup: Kayode expects bruising battle against Uruguay

F

LYING Eagles striker Olanrewaju Kayode has said he expects a very tough physical battle against Uruguay in a FIFA U20 World Cup clash on Tuesday.

Nigeria take on Uruguay in a Round of 16 clash with the winners booking a place in the last eight of the competition.

“Uruguay are a very hard and physical side and we expect them to again be so on Tuesday. We won’t underrate them,” said Kayode, who broke his scoring duck against

BY UDEH UCHE

N

ESTLE Milo basketball Championship begins today at the indoor sports hall of the national stadium,Surulere Lagos with the defending champions St Jude Girls Secondary School Amarata Bayelsa State taking on the Government Secondary School, Gboko Benue State. The match begins at 1pm.

The second match in the girls category will feature Yejide Girls Grammer School Ibadan against Ahmadiya College Kano State by 2pm.

Eagles Continues from BP was not in camp, as home based stars began training.

Sadly, Kano Pillars Zango Umar could not train with rest of the squad as he was nursing an injury he picked up in his club’s last Glo League clash against Dolphins of Port Harcourt.

Team’s medical crew have already done a scan on him to determine the extent of damage. It was after consulting with Head Coach Stephen Keshi that the player was excused from camp.

Zango’s teammate, Adamu Murtala, has been invited as his replacement. “But the problem we have is that Murtala is footdragging and we want him urgently in camp”, Assistant Coach Dan ‘the bull’ Amokachi said during lunch time on Monday.

Monday morning training featured 22 players and was

T

HE city of Uyo, Akwa Ibom state has won the hosting right of the national weightlifting championship billed for later this month.

Acting executive secretary of Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF) Mr Ikechukwu Anyaduba in a release made available to the media in Lagos stated that Uyo was given the nod ahead of other cities in the country because it would be a perfect place to kick start the activities of the new NWF board, given the uncommon transformation the city has undergone under the administration of Governor Godson Akpabio.

“The vision of the new board of Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF) is to take the game of weightlifting to the next level in the country. Gov Akpabio on his part has given the city of Uyo a massive facelift, so that would be a perfect venue to kick start our program,” Anyaduba stated.

The NWF scribe stressed that the exact date for the championship would be fixed when the NWF meets with the authorities of Akwa Ibom state sports, even as he added that the championship would attract weightlifters from the 36 states of the federation.

South Korea on Thursday.

“We watched them against Uzbekistan and they are really good going forward but I think their defence has not been really tested.

“We had a good game against Korea and we now hope to do even better against Uruguay to reach the quarterfinals.”

Interestingly, Kayode grabbed a late equaliser for the Flying Eagles against the South Americans in an invitational tournament in South Korea two years ago.

Milo basketball: National finals dunks off

supervised by head coach, Stephen Keshi at the training pitch of the Abuja National Stadium. Keshi told the players before training commenced that they have a herculean task of becoming the first set of Nigerians to play in the CHAN tournament in South Africa next year if they can surmount the Ivorien hurdle.

“Let me say I have absolute confidence in you to achieve the feat of defeating Cote D’ Ivoire, but you must have belief in yourself to achieve the set goal”.

The team will train twice today, before departing Abuja for Kaduna the match venue tomorrow morning according to revised programme of the team. The Eagles will resume its build up for the game on Wednesday evening in Kaduna for the game scheduled for the Ahmadu Bello Stadium on Saturday.

Weightlifting: Uyo wins NWF hosting right

•Kayode

F/Eagles

Make Nigeria proud, Glo tells Flying Eagles and we believe they will

M

AJOR sponsor of Nigerian national teams, Globacom has urged the Flying Eagles to fly over their Uruguayan counterparts when they clash on Tuesday in the second round match at the on-going FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey.

The John Obuh-coached junior national team scaled through to the second round by beating the Republic of Korea by a lone goal on June 27 to enter into the knockout stage.

“The Flying Eagles are rising up to the occasion

consolidate on their performance as they advance in the competition,” Globacom said in a statement in Lagos on Monday.

“We are aware of the challenge posed by Uruguay, but we equally have strong faith in you to qualify for the quarter finals. Indeed, Nigerians will want you to use the match to avenge the defeat of the Super Eagles by the Uruguayan national team in the FIFA Confederation Cup in Brazil,” Globacom said in the statement.

Neymar

Continues from BP scoring display to inspire Brazil to a famous 3-0 win over the world champions at the Maracana.

“Brazil have shown the world that the Brazil national team is back,” he said.

“We showed that we deserve respect with a great win over the world’s best.”

Neymar said the belief of the Brazil squad had proved pivotal and that they had developed and matured during the tournament.

“We didn’t hide - we ran and ran. We played very strongly from start to finish.

That shows we are a strong team,” he insisted.

Neymar was voted man of the match for his

performance, but said he owed the award to his team-mates, adding: “I am really very happy for everything that has happened during this tournament. The award is something very special.

But all 11 players should get it. Not just me.”

The former Santos forward will join Barcelona in the next month and admitted he enjoyed the challenge of playing against his future team-mates.

“I have respect for them and admire them very much. But today. I was defending my country, my team-mates and my family."

Continues from BP Turkey 2013, both teams started out on a losing note before they rallied to two straight wins to finish runnersup in their respective first round groups.

Today’s match will be the second time that Nigeria will be playing inside the Ali Sami Arena, the home ground of top Turkish club Galatasaray, while it will be a first for their South American foes.

Uruguay have also had to endure a trip from Antalya to Istanbul leading up to this match, while the Flying Eagles have stayed back after their win against South Korea to sample more of the joys of Turkey ’s commercial capital city.

Los Charruas, as Uruguay are known, best performance in this competition was when they reached the final of 1997 edition, where they lost to hosts Argentina 21.

They finished third in 1979, fourth in 1977 and have reached the last eight on three further occasions.

However in their last three appearances, they twice crashed out in the Round of 16 and exited the 2011 edition in the first round.

U r u g u a y ’ s qualification for the 2013 tournament was boosted by a 3-2 win over world champions Brazil, who as a result are not in Turkey to defend their championship.

Anichebe's return Continues from BP be done to convince Anichebe to return to the Eagles.

“This move may even involve Chelsea midfielder Mikel Obi talking to the player to put the past behind him and come back to the team.”

The 25-year-old Anichebe featured for the Super Eagles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in China after he made his debut for Samson Siasia’s team against

South Africa in Abuja in March 2008.

He has won 11 full international caps and scored a goal.

A shin injury prevented him from making the final squad to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The big centre-forward has struggled with injuries, but last season he was virtually free of such complaints to finish with his highest ever tally of eight goals in 32 matches for Everton.

54 — VANGUARD,

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

End of the road for Serena S

ERENA Williams dressed it up as a perfectly predictable result but her Wimbledon exit yesterday caused huge shockwaves at the All England Club and left the title up for grabs.

After winning 34 matches on the trot, few predicted the defending champion’s exit at the hands of Sabine Lisicki this afternoon.

Priced by several bookmakers as a 10/1 long shot to win the last-16 clash, the German world number 24 won a thrilling Centre Court duel 62 1-6 6-4.

“Wow - blown away by Lisicki,” nine-time cham-

pion Martina Navratilova wrote on Twitter.

It was the first time Williams had tasted defeat since playing Marion Bartoli in Dubai in February.

But the 31-year-old said: “It’s not a shock.

She plays really good on grass.

“She has a massive, massive serve so going in there you have to know that it’s definitely not going to be an easy match playing her at Wimbledon, especially on Centre Court.

“It’s definitely not a shock. I just need to do better.”

A

NDY Murray has booked his spot in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon following a 6-4 7-6 6-1 victory against Mikhail Youzhny.

The Scot took control of the first set in the early stages with a break of the Youzhny serve, before holding to move 31 ahead in the opener.

The Russian did have the chance to break back at 3-4, but Murray held firm to move into a oneset lead with a powerful

Murray

Del Potro into last eight Down and out... Serena after yesterday's lost

Radwanska romps into quarter-finals

P

•Radwanska

Murray marches on

OLISH fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the runnerup in 2012, made the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Monday with

a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova.

Radwanska will face China’s Li Na for a place in the semi-finals.

J

UAN Martin del Potro has advanced into the quarter-finals of Wimbledon following a 6-4 7-6 6-3 victory over Andrea Seppi on Monday.

Neither player could be separated in the opening six games of the first set, but a break in the seventh allowed Del Potro to take control.

Del Potro continued to serve well in the latter stages of the opener, eventually moving one set ahead at the second time of asking.

Neither player could be separated in the second with the set entering a tie-break. However, it was Del Potro that came out on top courtesy of a

Confederations Cup fallout

Brazil were better than us — Spain

•Del Bosque

V

ICENTE Del Bosque was in no mood for making excuses after watching his Spain side crash to a shock 3-0 defeat against hosts Brazil in the FIFA Confederations Cup final.

The loss was the first time the reigning world and European champions had lost a competitive C M Y K

match in just under three years, with their last setback coming at the hands of Switzerland in their opening game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

“Brazil were better than us and we have to congratulate them,” Del Bosque said on Spanish television channel Telecinco.

The Spain boss also thought Fred’s opening goal for Brazil, which came just two minutes into the game, set the tone for the evening and admitted the two other goals, scored

by Neymar and Fred either side of half-time, arrived at the worst possible time for his team.

“We had some bad luck at the start of the game, at the end of the first half and at the start of the second, but I don’t want to make any excuses because they were the better team,” he said.

“They had more energy than us and they channelled that into every move they made.”

Sergio Ramos, who missed an opportunity to get Spain back into the game when his secondhalf penalty went wide of the target, felt nothing went in his side’s favour on the night.

UNSTOPPABLE....Brazil’s striker Neymar (L) beats Spain’s Sergio Busquets on June 30. PHOTO: AFP

Vanguard, TUESDAY,JULY 2, 2013 — 55

C M Y K

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2013

Keshi moves for Anichebe’s return S

CHAN 2014:

23 players hit Eagles camp •Team off to Kaduna Wednesday

T

WENTY three of the 24 players invited for the crunch CHAN qualifier tie against the Elephants of Cote d’ Ivoire. were in camp as at Monday morning.

Only Elkanemi’s Haruna Babalo, who was a late replacement for Tony Okputu of Lobi Stars, that recently signed a contract with a Libyan top division side, Continues on Page 53

Turkey 2013: F/Eagles, Uruguay in clash of interest Kick-off: 7pm HOT SHOT: Brazil’s forward Neymar (C) celebrates with the trophy of the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013, at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on June 30, 2013. Brazil won the title after defeating Spain 3-0 in the final . Photo/ AFP

FIFA Confed Cup: Brazil have regained respect — Neymar N

EYMAR believes Brazil have won back the respect of the world after their

•Neymar

stunning Fifa Confederations Cup win over Spain in Rio. The 21-year-old, voted

PUZZLE

I

T will be a clash of third-bests when the Flying Eagles clash with Uruguay in a FIFA U20 World Cup Round of 16 game today.

The Flying Eagles

finished third at the African Youth Championship in Algeria in April and Uruguay also placed third in the South American version of the qualifiers.

Continues on Page 53

FIFA U-20 W/Cup: Today's Matches

player of the tournament, produced another dazzling goalContinues on Page 53

Spain Greece Nigeria France

v v v v

Mexico Uzbekistan Uruguay Turkey

4pm 4pm 7pm 7pm

QUICK CROSSWORD

Sudoku TODAY'S

UPER Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has moved to get Everton striker Victor Anichebe back for a World Cup qualifier against Malawi in September.

Anichebe has made it clear that his English Premier League club comes before the country after he was overlooked

by Nigeria when he suffered a long-term injury while playing for •Anichebe the Super Eagles in 2011.

Report discovered that Keshi is bothered about his team’s lack of firepower at the FIFA Confederations Cup and has thus initiated moves to get Anichebe to rescind his decision to stay away from the national team.

A top official said “Keshi has met with some NFF top officials and has asked that everything Continues on Page 53

YESTER DAY'S YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 1 Overseas (6) 5 Prey (6) 8 Feud (8) 9 Headland (4) 10 Peculiar (3) 12 Move (5) 15 Stitch (3) 17 Uncooked (3) 18 Chop (3) 19 Pair (3) 20 Fat (5) 21 Tune (3) 22 The Lion (3) 23 Distant (3) 24 Zero (3) 26 Guide (5) 29 Arid (3) 33 Legend (4) 34 Above (8) 35 Fragile (6) 36 Peevish (6)

DOWN 2 Mix (5) 3 Chances (4) 4 Trench (5) 5 Drink (5) 6 Roguish (4) 7 Indian-coin (5) 10 Ancient (5) 11 Funny (5) 12 Pounce (5) 13 Perfect (5) 14 Larceny (5) 15 Lawn (5) 16 Fret (5) 25 Pastoral poem (5) 27 Sarcasm (7) 28 Frank (5) 30 Attain (5) 31 Pal (4) 32 Close (4)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

How to Play Sudoku

ACROSS: 1, Garb 4, Cad 6, Baby 8, Favour 9, Mislay 10, Lip 12, Belie 14, Untie 15, Swank 18, Nether 20, Ensign 24, Magic 26, Boost 28, Pause 30, Get 32, Verile 33, Export 34, Snag 35, Mat 36, Rude.

THE VIGILANTE

DOWN: 2, Abase 3, Boorish 4, Curl 5, Dump 6, Basin 7, Bearing 11, Inn 12, Ban 13, Ewe 16, Arm 17, Emotion 21, Nip 22, Scamper 23, Nee 25, Axe 27, Sting 29, Shred 30, Germ 31, Text.

e-mail: rowolove@yahoo.co.uk

P

lace a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

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