FG bows, extends deadline to Dec 9

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...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 62028

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ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

MAIDUGURI MAYHEM:

9

We saw death — Survivors •Govt

reviews 24-hr curfew

ASUU STRIKE LATEST:

DINNER: From left, Calvin Grieder, CEO, Buhler AG; Dr. Oba Otudeko, Chairman, Honeywell Group; Andreas Fluckiger, President, M-East & A, Buhler Management AG and Babatunde Odunayo, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, at a dinner in honour of the Buhler CEO by Dr. Otudeko,yesterday, in Lagos. Photo: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor.

FG bows, extends deadline to Dec 9

•Says action is to honour Iyayi •Salary arrears for lecturers who meet deadline •How we'll end strike, by Fagge

•Blackout: FG, operators trade blames

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BY FUNMI KOMOLAFE, SIMON EBEGBULEM, JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU, LAIDE AKINBOADE & DAUD OLATUNJI

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BUJA —THE Fed eral Government, yesterday, reviewed the seven-day ultimatum given to striking university lecturers to resume today or be sacked as it now gave them till Monday, December 9. This came as most members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities remained adamant and

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COLUMNISTS:

•P.17

•P.19

AKINTOLA OMIGBODUN •P.23

Mr & Mrs

PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED PERSONS' DAY—Cross section of physically challenged persons at the 2013 International Day of Persons with Disabilities in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday. Photo: NAN.

PDP in fresh move to remove Amaechi, 4 other govs

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2 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—3

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4 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—5

POCKET CARTOON

SUMMIT—From Left: President Goodluck Jonathan; Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State; Gov. Babangida Aliyu of Niger and Gov Isa Yuguda of Bauchi at the 2nd North-East Economic Summit in Gombe, yesterday. State House photo.

FG bows, extends deadline to Dec 9 Continues from page 1 vowed to continue with the strike until their demands were met.

ASUU president, Dr. Nasir Issa Fagge has also assured that once the government opens the bank account with N200 billion as re-

quested by the union, the strike would be suspended.

Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, who announced the shift in the date for the compulsory resumption of Federal Universities to Monday, December 9, said it was as

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

We need to enjoy the journey and not be so focused on our destination that we miss everything else.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

F

ORTUNATE is the one whose heart has felt the raiment of love essence, to experience even a spark of illumination is a knowing of wisdom beyond boundaries and the fabric which hold the concept of infinities. For there is always one more step into the heart of love — Ella Randle If I were to write a love letter to myself or anyone, I would start with this beautiful verse. ‘’Shall I compare thee to summer day...thou art more lovely and more.’’ Shakespeare, is referring to beauty of course but there is more to these lines that runs deep, for it refers to the inner light we all radiate, the stronger the light beams the more inner beauty and love exudes. more light you allow within you, the brighter the world you live in will be.

I love poetry and recently I read for the umpteen, John Keats “Bright Star” and could understand the poet desire to akin divine love to a constellation Star, because it is constant. Keats attempt to reflect spirituality in life through the lone Star, patiently constantly giving of its light to all...brings a reminder of this allegory by the poet Rumi “if the Sun were not in love, it would have no brightness, the side of the hill no grass on it. The ocean would come to rest somewhere...but this much I know, the heart does not choose whom and how it loves. It loves unconditionally. Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it’s important to pause every now and then to appreciate all that we have, on every level. And having love fill your heart is one way to keep the flow gratitude which allows the law of plenty to replenish in your life.

a mark of respect for the former National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor Festus Iyayi, who died in an auto accident on his way to a National Executive Committee meeting of ASUU. Speaking in Abuja, yesterday, Mr Wike said that the family of the late Professor Iyayi officially informed the ministry of the burial rites for the late ASUU President through the National Universities Commission, NUC, on Monday, hence the shift in the mandatory resumption date.

He said that the Federal Government will fully participate in the burial rites of the former ASUU President.

According to a statement by the minister’s Special Assistant, Simeon Nwakaudu: “The decision to shift the date of the compulsory resumption of Federal Universities for academic activities has been taken as a result of the respect we have for the former ASUU President”.

Wike stated that the Federal Government took the decision to reopen the universities in the interest of Nigerians and not to engender any form of show-down with ASUU. He said Nigerians must appreciate the fact that the pro-chancellors

and chairmen of the Federal Universities Governing Councils took the decision to re-open the schools, pointing out that the Federal Government’s directive was to the vice-chancellors who are expected to comply with the directive of the pro-chancellors.

The minister also said that the Federal Government has already opened a dedicated account for the revival of infrastructure in the universities, while the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education has signed the resolution that the Federal Government will commit N1.3trillion into the revival of infrastructure in the universities.

He stated that despite the repeated misrepresentation of facts on the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement, the Federal Government had implemented over 80 per cent of the issues contained in the document, with only the payment of earned allowances and revitalisation of infrastructure pending.

Complying lecturers to get salary arrears The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, NUC, Professor Julius Okojie, who briefed journalists in Abuja, yesterday, said the Federal Government was ready

to pay the four-month salary arrears owed academic staff who returns to work.

According to him: “Councils have been directed to shift the resumption date to December 9. The new deadline, has already been communicated to the ProChancellors Tuesday (yesterday) morning.

“The Federal Government as an employer of labour cannot just fold its arms while the institutions remain shut and its clients — the students — continue to suffer.

“You cannot pay someone who has failed to resume work. You are on strike and you want to be paid. What if some have already left the system? Some of our very bright lecturers may have got jobs elsewhere already.”

Okojie noted that “the resumption order does not necessarily mean students would commence academic activities immediately but the school environment has to be put back in shape as reptiles may have taken over some places, and the Senate of each institution has to revisit the academic calendar.

Students would be expected to resume one or two weeks after the December 9 resumption deadline,”.

Okojie while responding to several issues raised by ASUU, insisted that it was a general consensus at the November 4, 2013 meeting with the President to have the Permanent Secretary of the Education Ministry sign the resolutions reached after the meeting.

Okojie stressed that the issue of the inclusion of a non-victimization clause as now demanded

by ASUU did not even come up at all during and after the meeting.

“Jega and Awuzie are past ASUU chairmen.

Are they not holding good positions in Nigeria today? Why would anyone victimize someone for exercising his right? If anyone would do such a thing, not the Jonathan government.

In fact the mood that day did not reflect such, we were all smiles and hugs. After that meeting we were all hopeful that was the end of the crises,” he said.

He wondered why ASUU would return three weeks later, after it had failed to get back to government on November 8 as agreed, and demand addition of new clauses.

He said: “The 2009 Agreement stipulates that any party that wants a re-negotiation should inform the Ministry of Labour. If ASUU had said they would resume, but the outstanding issues must be addressed, government would have no choice,”.

On the N200 billion revitalization fund which ASUU is demanding should be disbursed within two weeks, Okojie diclosed that the money has been deposited in an account in the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“The money cannot, however, be disbursed just anyhow because they are meant for capital projects”, he said.

Okojie again appealed to the striking union to return to work in the interest of students who he described as the victims.

“One of the universities in Uganda where our children are enrolling, neigbouring countries do not even accept their degrees. Our children are going to schools with poorer degrees,” he lamented.

ASUU gives condition for strike suspension

Meanwhile, the Presi-

Continues on page 59

6—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

45-yr-old bizman remanded over alleged N1.9m theft

BY ONOZURE DANIA

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AGOS— A 45-yearold businessman, Aliu Albobbo, was yesterday remanded to Kirikiri prison by an Ikeja Magistrate Court, for allegedly obtaining N1.9 million under false pretence.

Magistrate A.O. Akinde ordered that he be remanded pending when he is able to perfect his bail.

Albobbo, who resides at 18A, Creek Avenue, Apapa, Lagos, is facing a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, fraud, stealing and presumption as to false pretence in certain circumstances.

The prosecutor, Inspector Chinalu Uwadione, told the court that the defendant obtained the said money from one Bankole Tugbiyele on the pretext of supplying him 15,000 litres of diesel.

The prosecutor alleged that Albobbo did not supply the diesel as promised and also failed to refund the money.

Uwadione said the incident occurred at about 2.35 p.m on September 30, 2013 and the defendant also issued a Diamond Bank cheque for N300,000 to Tugbiyele that was dishonoured due to lack of funds in the account.

The prosecutor said the defendant and others at large committed the offence on April 10, 2013, in Ikeja.

Uwadione said the offence are contrary to sections 278 and 312 (a) and punishable under sections 319 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

If found guilty, the defendant is liable to 15year jail term.

However, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Magistrate Akinde granted him bail in the sum of N1 million with two sureties each in like sum.

She adjourned the case to January 23, 2014.

Deji’s demise: Pandemonium over closure of shops

BY DAYO JOHNSON

generating.

Ogodo said the Police in the state were on top of the situation and were able to quell the crisis.

He appealed to parents and guardians to call their wards to order, vowing that the police would not fold their hands and allow some miscreants to disrupt the existing peace in the state.

A

KURE — THE age long ri valry between the Akure and Isolo quarters, both in Akure metropolis in Ondo State, reverberated yesterday as their youths engaged themselves in a bloody clash over the closure of shops as final respect to the late paramount ruler of Akureland, Oba Adebiyi Adesida, who died on Sunday.

At least 10 persons were seriously injured just as the state police command deployed Armoured Personnel Carrier, APC, and policemen to quell the violence.

The Isolo and Isinkan quarters, which are within Akure metropolis, have for long been fighting for autonomy from the Deji of Akureland.

In fact, the late Deji had dragged the Osolo of Osolo, Oba Olukayode Oluwatuyi, and the Aralepo of Isinkan, Oba Olu Ojo to court and got court judgment that the Obas should not parade themselves as Oba again.

But the Oluwatuyi, who himself died two months ago, and Oba Ojo had appealed the court verdict.

The youths from Akure community reportedly invaded Isolo early yesterday to effect the seven-day closure of all shops across the metropolis by the Deji-in-Council.

Reports had it that the youths from Akure had, Monday, stormed Isinkan to effect the closure order but were restricted.

Timely intervention of chiefs saved the situation from degenerating, Monday.

But, report said youths from Isolo who got wind of the impending attack mobilised and restricted them following which dangerous weapons were freely used.

Some chiefs of Isolo insisted that

Mimiko, wife pay condolence

Princess Adetutu Adesida-Ojei, the Regent of Akure. they were not part of Akure and that the directive did not affect them.

They said from time immemorial they have not been closing their shop whenever any Deji dies.

Timely intervention of policemen who fired tear gas to disperse the warring youths saved the situation from recording casualties.

Looting of shops Meanwhile, as the closure of shop entered its third day, some youths have used the opportunity to loot the shops of those who flout the directive.

Shop owners who are unable to settle the youths with cash have their shops destroyed and looted.

Confirming the clash between the youths from the two warring quarters, Police image maker, Wole Ogodo, said timely intervention by the Police prevented the situation from de-

Meanwhile, Governor Olusegun Mimiko, his wife, Olukemi and some top government officials, yesterday, visited the Olori of the late Oba Adesida, Mojisola, and members of the Adesida family in the palace.

Governor Mimiko, who was visibly sad, noted that the reign of the late monarch was short but eventful.

He said government and the entire people of the state would continue to remember the late monarch for his zeal towards the transformation of Akure, the state capital and the entire state.

Thanking the Governor on behalf of the Adesida ruling family, Prince Adejare Adesida appreciated Mimiko for his love to their late brother and the entire Adesida family.

NSCDC arrests 7 alleged homosexuals in Jigawa

D

UTSE— THE Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Jigawa, yesterday, said it arrested seven suspects for alleged homosexual acts.

The commandant of the corps, Alhaji Mohammad Gidado, made this known when he presented the suspects to newsmen in Dutse.

Gidado said the parents of one of the suspects reported him to the command, adding that after his arrest, the suspect gave information which led to the arrest of other suspects.

He described the act as ‘barbaric, animalistic and nasty’, adding that the suspects were between the ages of 18 and 25 years.

The commandant urged parents and teachers to monitor the movement of their children and wards in order to prevent them from engaging in such acts.

“Parents and teachers need to do more in guiding our youths, this kind of behaviour from our future generation is bad,” he said.

Man nabbed with INEC laptop in Ogbomoso

BY OLA AJAYI

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BADAN— AS the country pre pares for the 2015 elections, a man has been arrested by the Oyo State Police Command, Ibadan for being in possession of a customised laptop belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. While parading the suspect whose name was given as Olatide Akinkunmi, the Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Indabawa, said the man was arrested on November 28, 2013 in Ogbomoso.

He said: “The suspect who claimed to be the managing director of a local information technology outlet in the area, was arrested by a team of police detectives who stormed his residence at Isake area of Ogbomoso Local Government Area of the state after a tip-off from members of the public.

“The customized Zinox laptop with model number C4106, product number C4106Q-CD, serial number 80006609826 was recov-

ered from the suspect.”

Asked how he came about the item, the suspect said a student of Ladoke Akintola Univerity of Technology asked him to sell it for him and that when he detected it belonged to INEC, he tried to contact him through phone but he could not reach

him. He further said he was to sell it for N20,000.

Also paraded with the suspect were a man and a woman alleged to have been caught with a consignment of weeds otherwise known as Indian hemp. The banned item was said to be 646 bags worth N11 million.

A truck loaded with Indian hemp being paraded by the Oyo State Police Command, in Ibadan, yesterday

The truck with number plate XR 967 JJJ conveying the illegal drugs was said to have been apprehended at Eleja in Akanran area of Ibadan.

The two suspects paraded by the police denied ownership of the truck and bags of the banned items.

Suspect caught with INEC laptop

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—7

3 killed, 18 injured in Bauchi auto crashes

BY SUZAN EDEH

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AUCHI — TRADEGY struck, yesterday, when no fewer than three persons were killed while 18 others sustained injuries along Alkaleri/Gombe road in Kirfi Local Government Area of Bauchi State in two different auto crashes.

The first accident, it was gathered, occured about 25 kilometres from Shafaru village, at about 12:28 pm involving a commercial Toyota bus with number plate XA 447BLR and a Hummer commuter bus with number plate AG 123 DKD. The second crash happened around 1.25 pm, near a junction in Kirfi Local Government Area. It involved a commercial bus with number plate AG 779 KTN and a Honda Accord with number plate GM 55 BIU. The state Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Sunday Henry Olatunji, who confirmed the crashes said 33 persons, comprising 14 males and 19 females,

were involved.

He said: “In the first crash, one of the drivers lost control and

rammed into the other, while the second crash happened when the driver of the commercial bus

attempted dodging a pothole and collided with the Honda Accord vehicle in thje process."

Edo Police kill bandits responsible for officers’ death zParade father who impregnated own daughter

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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ENIN CITY — FOUR notorious robbers, including the alleged killers of policemen along the BeninAuchi road by-pass, were yesterday gunned down by the police in Edo State during an early morning shoot out.

One police officer was, however, shot on the leg by the robbers who operated by the Ogbemudia Farms area, along the Benin-Lagos road and the Benin-Auchi roads at about 9 am.

This came as the state Police Commissioner,

Arms and ammunition recovered from the robbers Funso Adebanjo paraded 42 suspects, including robbers and other criminals among who was one 32-yearold August i n e Obodeke who impregnated his 19-year-old daughter.

O n e Z e n a b Zenab who allegedly axed her Agbontine husband to death who allegedly axed her husband to death was also paraded.

The command also warned members of the public to resist the temptation to use fireworks popularly known as knock-out this yuletide, warning that there “will be continuous manhunt for both buyers and sellers of any form of fireworks.”

While parading the suspects, the CP said: “This morning, there were twins operation in the outskirts of Benin City. One was at Ogbemudia Farms, which is along the Benin-Lagos road, were about 20 robbers attacked passengers.

"My men moved in swiftly and there was exchange of fire. Three of the robbers were shot dead while one of my men was shot on the leg and is currently receiving treatment.

“Another set of robbers were also intercepted by my men along the Benin-Auchi road by-pass. One of them was shot dead while others escaped.

"From the confession of one of them, they were the ones that attacked our men who were from Osun State to Anambra for the governorship election along the by-pass.

"This is a warning that you cannot kill a policeman and go free. We got them and we will continue to go after the rest.”

Some of items recovered from them include five vehicles, seven cut to size guns, 13 ammunition and four live cartridges.

In her confession, Zenab, who allegedly killed her husband, said: “He stopped me from entering his room. I pleaded with him to forgive me because I had problems but he refused. It was when he slept that I entered the room with an axe and hit his head. I don’t know what entered into me.”

Man, 19, defiles three-yr-old girl in Ekiti

BY GBENGAARIYIBI

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DO EKITI — A man, Usman Joshua, 19, has been arrested by the police in Ado-Ekiti for allegedly defiling a three-year-old girl. (names withheld).

Joshua, who is a co-tenant with the toddler’s parents, was said to have lured her into his room with biscuit at about 5:05 pm on November 3, 2013.

Her mother, Wuraola, said she noticed that her daughter was not feeling comfortable when she returned to their apartment by evening of the said day.

A closer look by her mother showed that the little girl had been defiled. She told her mother that she was playing within the compound when Joshua told her to come for biscuit.

As a neighbour, the unsuspecting girl followed him into his apartment.

She said: “This man called me and asked me to come and collect biscuit in his room. He took off my dress after placing me on his laps. He took off his own clothes too and slept on top of me.”

In her account, Wuraola said: “ On November 3 at about 5:05pm, I saw my daughter outside with her pant almost falling off her waist. I rushed down to meet her and discovered that someone poured sperm all over her body. I asked where she was coming from and she said it was one daddy that took her to his room.

“She said that he slept on top of her after giving her some biscuits. She took me to the room where the man was.

I called my landlady and we questioned him. He confessed to have committed the crime.”

She later reported the incident to the police.

Joshua in his own account said: “I am a co-tenant. The girl followed me inside my room and started playing with me. She climbed upon my chest and played with my private part.

“When I got an erection, I could no longer control myself. I removed her pant and inserted my penis in between her laps. I could not penetrate but I released sperm on her and let her go. That was my first time with her. I have never done such a thing with a girl of her age. I don’t know the kind of spirit that came over me”.

However, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti State Police Command, Mr. Victor Babayemi (ASP), said: “Based on our investigation, Joshua had sex with the infant. He was aware of her age but took advantage of her."

8—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Mark tasks NIMC on ID card project

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU & JOSEPH ERUNKE

A

BUJA— SENATE President, David Mark, has cautioned the National Identity M a n a g e m e n t Commission, NIMC, to ensure that the current registration for and issuance of national identity cards to Nigerians do not fail like similar attempts in the past.

Senator Mark, who e x p r e s s e d disappointment with previous projects, warned that “ we must emphasis efficiency this time.

“We do not want another white elephant project. All we want are positive results and not the woes of why it failed.”

He spoke when the management team of NIMC, led by its Director-General, Mr. Chris Onyemenam visited him yesterday for briefing on the launching of the new project billed for today in Abuja.

Mark insisted that all the bottle necks that bedevilled the past exercises must be cleared to ensure the success of the new project.

He noted that there was no doubt about the importance of the project, but said “my worry is about its effective implementation and continuity.”

He noted that there was no doubt about the importance of the project but said: “my worry is about its effective implementation and continuity.”

The Senate President, therefore, counseled the commission to employ state-of-the-art technology to get it right in a manner that it would be sustainable even for generations yet unborn.

Senator Mark enjoined the commission to liaise with other agencies of government such as the National Population Commission, NPC, and Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, to avoid duplications and ultimately save cost.

Nigeria is 33rd most corrupt country— Transparency Int'l

BY UDUMA KALU

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IGERIA has been ranked 33rd most corrupt country in the world, according to the latest report by Germanbased Transparency International, TI. In the group’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2013, Nigeria ranked 144th, out of 177 nations in the world, scoring 25 points out of a RANK 1 1 3 3 5 5 7 144 144 144 150 150 150 153 154 154 154 157 157 157 160 160 160 163 163 163 163 167 168 168 168 171 172 173 174 175 175 175

COUNTRY Denmark New Zealand Finland Sweden Norway Singapore Switzerland Nigeria Papua New Guinea Ukraine Guinea Kyrgyzstan Paraguay Angola Congo Congo, DR Tajikistan Burundi Myanmar Zimbabwe Cambodia Eritrea Venezuela Chad Equatorial Guinea Guinea Bissau Haiti Yemen Syria Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Iraq Libya South Sudan Sudan Afghanistan North Korea Somalia

possible 100 points.

With a score of 63 points, Botswana, the southern African nation, is rated the cleanest African country. It is the 30th in the world. Ghana with 46 points emerged 63rd in the world.

The most corrupt nation in the world is war-torn Somalia, scoring eight points alongside North Korea and crisis-ridden Afghanistan, also with eight points.

While the most corrupt section is dominated by Africans countries, Europe and a handful of Asian countries are the cleanest.

According to the report, Denmark and New Zealand are the cleanest countries in the world, sharing the first spot in the index, with scores of 91.

Finland, Sweden, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia and Canada emerged in the top 10 of least corrupt nations in the world.

Nigeria’s corruption performance this year was worse than last year’s, when it scored 27 points.

This year, Nigeria shared the podium of infamy with crisistorn Central African Republic and neighbour, Cameroon.

In 2007, TI ranked Nigeria 33rd most corrupt, having scored the country 147th out of the 180 countries it surveyed for corruption. It was five steps below that of 2006.

The report said: “From children denied an education, to elections decided by money not votes, public sector

corruption comes in many forms.

“Bribes and backroom deals don’t just steal resources from the most vulnerable— they undermine justice and economic development, and destroy public trust in leaders.

“But while the results of corruption are clear, the real extent of the problem is harder to pin down. Corruption is shadowy and secretive by nature.

“We all know corruption is a problem, but how bad is it, and what can be done?

“The need for greater accountability is clear, and leaders cannot look the other way. But recognising the problem is only the first step – governments need to turn pledges into actions.”

AWARD: Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar (right), receiving an award from Justice B. Bansi, former Chief Judge of Adamawa State (left) during the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Yola branch, award night in Yola, Monday.

LCCI picks holes in FG's new auto policy

BY OMOH GABRIEL

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EMBERS of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, have expressed concern over the recently announced auto policy of the Federal Government, describing it as having potentially harmful effects on the economy and the welfare of Nigerians.

They said that Nigeria’s import dependency is only a manifestation of deeper issues of low productivity, weak competitiveness and flawed foreign exchange policy in the domestic economy.

The Federal Government recently introduced measures to save as much as N550 billion ($3.5 billion) through the reduction of imports by increasing the import duties on second-hand cars by 48 per

cent to transform the automotive sector, as part of its industrial revolution plan.

A release from the Chamber by the President, Goodie Ibru, said: “The LCCI notes with concern the recent sharp increases in the import tariff and levies on motor vehicles.

“The policy has potentially harmful effects on the economy and the welfare of citizens.

“As a major stakeholder in the economy, the Chamber welcomes a policy thrust that seeks to promote self-reliance in the Nigerian economy because there is great value in domesticating spending.

“However, in pursuit of this laudable aspiration, proper policy sequencing is imperative.

“Import dependency is only a manifestation of deeper issues of low productivity,

weak competitiveness and flawed foreign exchange policy in the domestic economy.

“It is inappropriate to begin the pursuit for a self-reliant automobile sector with the imposition of high import tariff on vehicles, when there are fundamental supply side issues to resolve. Without a good foundation the superstructure cannot stand in any economy.”

LCCI suggested that “there should be robust consultation with stakeholders in the entire value chain of the automobile sector to develop a sustainable road map for the development of the sector, which shall also take account of appropriateness of timing and sequencing of policies.

“The framework for the utilisation of the automotive

development fund should be reviewed to ensure proper targeting for the development of domestic capacity for the automobile sector.

“The focus of policy at this time should be on the development of a strong supply side capability, especially in the iron and steel, petrochemical, glass and other ancillary industries.”

It said that the recent tariff review would lead to the escalation of smuggling of motor vehicles with corresponding loss of revenue to government.

The Chamber added that ethical players in the sector will be crowded out of business because of the weak institutional capacity to ensure compliance with the new tariff, as well as the porosity of the borders.

Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—9

PROBE: Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah (right) taking an oath during the House of Representatives ad hoc Committee on Investigation of Land Allocation and Racketeering in the FCT, at National Assembly, Abuja. PHOTO: Gbemiga Olamikan.

Survivors of Maiduguri attacks tell tales of horror z‘The attackers called for Subhi prayers’ zGovt to review 24-hour curfew

BY NDAHI MARAMA, KINGSLEY OMONOBI & CALEB AYANSINA

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AIDUGURI— SOME survivors and residents of Maiduguri, Borno State capital, yesterday, recounted their experience and narrow escape from death, when about 300 Boko Haram insurgents armed with sophisticated weapons invaded the state capital targeting military formations and police stations, Monday.

Narrating his ordeal, Mallam Yakubu Gashua, who resides few metres away from the destroyed 79 Composite Group, Nigerian Air force Base, NAF, said: “I thought my days on earth was over on that day.

“My wife and I were in bed and all of a sudden, I started hearing heavy sounds of gunshots, as if it was in my compound. We immediately woke up and started reciting some protective verses in the Quran.

“The gunshots became more intense with ceaseless explosions all over the place.

“At a point I told my wife and my uncle, who came from Gashua for a visit, that our days have ended.

“I said, who is going to take care of my two little children who are still writing their exams in a boarding school in Damaturu, the Yobe state capital? But thank Allah for sparing all of us.”

A neighbour of the two slain brothers that lived opposite the NAF main gate, which was the first port of call of the terrorists, said that the attackers, who arrived the base around 4am, called for Subhi prayers in a nearby mosque before they

started chanting Allahu Akbar (God is Great).

“The terrorists entered the compound and saw a Toyota hilux loaded with bags of beans, and they asked my deceased neighbour to provide the keys of the loaded vehicle to them.

“When he said the keys were with the driver somewhere else, they immediately opened fire on him. His brother was ambushed at his patent medicine store around 7am a few metres away from the NAF main gate and was killed.”

Another resident close to the NAF base said: “When I heard a strange voice close to our mosque, I asked myself who are these people calling for Subhi prayers?

“I peeped outside just to see what was happening, and when I discovered that the voice is a strange one, I quickly went back home.

“Later, we went to the mosque and performed our prayers with my deceased neighbours who were killed after the prayers.”

‘We hid in a septic tank'

Narrating how his two neighbours were killed in their house, he said: “We didn’t know that the terrorists were the ones calling for the Subhi prayers.

“We performed our pre-dawn prayers successfully and as we were about to enter our house, we started hearing the sounds of gunfire, explosives and bombs inside the NAF premises.

“The sound of the explosives was even shaking our houses, which now have cracks after the multiple explosions inside the

NAF Base.

“In fact, I had to quickly hide myself with my wife and two of my little children inside an abandoned soak-away toilet in the compound for over two hours.”

Mallam Abba Usman, who resides in Mwaramti village, opposite the 33 Artillery Regiments, which was not left out of the devastating attacks, said: “The terrorists were very active and brave, as they stopped and picked dead bodies of their members.”

The attacks took Maiduguri residents by surprise. The area, which is the epicentre of Boko Haram insurgency had in the past six months witnessed relative peace following the emergence of vigilante youths, popularly addressed as Civilian JTF, as well as the successful destruction of their operational base in Bullabulin Nganaram, a suburb of Maiduguri.

Intelligence report ignored

Although, unconfirmed reports said there was an intelligent report made available to the security operatives in the state that Book Haram terrorists were advancing towards Maiduguri city from the Sambisa Game Reserve Forests and that if it is true, the attacks will be deadly, the security agencies allegedly ignored it.

The attacks were said to have been coordinated and led by two women commanders, leading to the death of several people including the terrorists and security agents.

Nigerian Air Force Base offices, staff quarters, club house

and five aircraft were completely burnt down.

Residents said what happened in Maiduguri, a city which had witnessed relative peace for the past six months calls for serious concern of government and the people of Borno State.

During the attacks, residential buildings such as semi-detached bedroom flats and offices with staff quarters newly built by the Borno State Government at the 33 Artillery Regiment base were completely razed by the terrorists.

The area accommodates hundreds of JTF operatives and the Divisional Police Station in Gomari Airport Ward of the metropolis and 50 military vehicles .

Fighter jet intervenes

Vanguard gathered that but for the intervention of the jet fighter from Yola, Adamawa State capital, the casualty figures at the NAF base would have been higher.

The jet assisted in dislodging the terrorists, who fled towards Beneshiekh-Damaturu Federal Highway.

Spokesman of the 7 Division, Colonel Mohammed Dole confirmed the multiple attacks and killings by the terrorists.

In a press statement, Dole said: “In the early hours of Monday December 2, Boko Haram terrorists attempted to gain access to military locations in Maiduguri metropolis.

“However, troops of the 7 Division, Nigerian Army, have successfully repelled the insurgents and afflicted serious casualties on them.

“The situation around Jimtilo and Maiduguri International Airport General areas are now calm and under control. Our troops supported by Nigerian Air force aircrafts are presently pursuing the terrorists towards the Maiduguri-BeneshiekhDamaturu road.

“Members of the general public are requested to remain calm and comply with the 24 hours curfew imposed by the Borno State Government. The curfew will be reviewed periodically as the situation improves.”

In the interview with journalists at the Government House, Colonel Dole, who did not give further details on the number of casualties from the side of the military or the terrorists, insisted that military troops were able to inflict serious casualties on the terrorists.

Sources at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital said, they saw several dead bodies in military and police uniforms being conveyed to the mortuary in the morning of the day of the attacks, but could not know whether they were real security agents, as the terrorists also used military and police uniforms during attacks.

APC reacts

Meanwhile, All Progressives Congress, APC, has condemned

Monday’s deadly attack on military and other facilities in Maiduguri, saying it was shocked and saddened by the enormity of the attack and the death of innocent civilians.

In a statement issued in Abuja, yesterday, by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the attacks on Nigerian Air Force planes and helicopters at the NAF base in the city was particularly disturbing, considering the hitherto effective use of aerial attacks against Boko Haram, which is widely believed to have carried out the attacks.

It said nothing in the world can justify such deadly attacks on the military and the collateral deaths and damages inflicted on civilians.

APC, however, called for a renewed strategy to combat the sect, which seems to retain the capacity to carry out such a massive attack in a major city, despite the successes which the military said it had recorded against it since the declaration of a state of emergency in three states last May. The party said such a strategy must place great emphasis on the gathering of intelligence, adding that failure of intelligence, more than anything else, made Monday’s attack possible.

It called for a probe into how hundreds of attackers could easily infiltrate military facilities, believed to be highly secured.

No foreign aid yet— FG

The Minister of Information and Supervising Minister of Defence, Mr. Labaran Maku, said yesterday that the Federal Government has not decide on whether to seek the assistance of foreign combatants in the fight against terrorism as the Nigeria Armed Forces was capable of handling insurgency in the country.

Maku, who made government’s position known during a press briefing on the 2014 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration, in Abuja, categorically said that the Federal Government was not deterred by the recent attack on the Air Force base in Maiduguri by the insurgent.

He said: “A lot of cooperation has been going on, especially at the ECOWAS level.

“Defence chiefs have strategised to deal with this insurgency. We are working with the international communities.

“The Nigerian Armed Forces are well equipped, trained and they have professional skills to deal with insurgent.

“Although we need cooperation of other countries, but to seek foreign combatants to come into our country, Nigeria has not made that decision.”

The minister also said the recent declaration of Boko Haram and Ansaru as terrorist groups by the United States was a further confirmation of what the country had been battling with.

10—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Lagos to focus on water transportation in 2014 — Lawmaker

L

AGOS — THE Lagos State Government will in 2014 focus more on water transportation development to ease traffic gridlock in the state, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Bisi Yusuf, disclosed, yesterday, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, in Lagos.

“I know that in this coming year the budget we are considering is going to take great consideration for waterways," he revealed.

Atuche asks court to dismiss N25.7bn theft charge

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

L

AGOS — FORMER Managing Director of defunct Bank PHB, Francis Atuche and his wife, Elizabeth have asked an Ikeja High Court to dismiss the N25.7 billion theft charge preferred against them, sequel to a recent Court of Appeal decision, which struck out a similar theft charge pending

before a Lagos High court in Ikeja against former Managing Director of FinBank, Okey Nwosu.

Atuche, his wife and a former Chief Financial Officer of the bank, Ugo Anyanwu are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over alleged N25.7 billion theft.

The Court of Appeal, Lagos had in its recent decision struck out

charge No. ID/115C/11 Federal Republic of Nigeria vs. Okey Nwosu from the Lagos State High Court on the ground that a similar charge of stealing was pending before the Federal High Court.

The appellate court in its judgment unanimously ruled that the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the charges of stealing, relating to the capital market which was an item in the exclusive list of the Federal

Cars parked on roads considered abandoned — Council boss

M

USHIN Local Government has warned that any vehicle parked for a month on its roads henceforth will be considered abandoned and will be removed by task force, saying, “It is not a proper thing to abandon a vehicle on the road; how much more a tarred road?”

A statement by Olusegun Akinyemi, Information Officer to the council, said Chairman of council, Olatunde Adepitan, who gave the warning while monitoring the council's sanitation exercise at Alfa-nda, noted that abandoned vehicles had become abode for criminals.

Burial

M

R. LARRY To b e c h u k w u Agugor, who passed on, on October 21, 2013 at the age of 55, will be buried December 10, at his hometown, Ifite, Agbaja, Abatete, Anambra State after a Service of Songs.

Late Agugor is survived by wife and children.

Late Larry Agugor

SUMMIT: Wife of Lagos State Governor, Dame Emmanuella Abimbola Fashola (2nd left); Minister of Tourism, Bahamas, Obediah Wilchcombe (2nd right); Chairman, International Third World Leaders Association, ITWLA, Dr. Myles Munroe (right), his wife, Pastor Ruth Munroe (left), at the 2013 Global Leadership Summit, organised by ITWLA, at Grand Lucayan Hotel, Freeport, Bahamas.

Police disagree with Ogere monarch over insecurity claim

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

A

BEOKUTA — THE Ogun State Police Command, yesterday, said Ogere in Ikenne Local Government Area of the state enjoys heavy presence of the police and other security agencies in combating crimes contrary to the claim of the Oba. The Ologere of Ogere, Oba Oladele Ogunbade had called for more Policemen to combat various crimes such as cultism, robberies and pipeline vandalism in the community.

But the Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi in a statement, said the monarch raised a false alarm.

He said: “The Command wishes to state categorically that Ogere remains one of the communities in Ogun State that enjoy heavy presence of the Police and other security agencies in combating crimes, and this has paid off.

“The Commissioner of Police, Ogun State, CP Ikemefuna Okoye has not relented in his efforts to sanitise Ogun State and get it rid of criminals. While the CP appeals to the public to cooperate with the Police to achieve a better and more secure state, he promises the people of Ogun State a peaceful yuletide season.”

Legislature.

The court also held that the state High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the charges which were within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court.

Following the appellate court's decision, the Atuches in a motion on notice dated November 29, 2013 and brought pursuant to Sections 6 (6), 230-248, 270-274 and 287(2) of the Constitution submitted that the subject matter of the charge against them revolved around the issue of acquisition of shares as disclosed in all the 27-count charge.

The applicants also argued that the issue of shares was item 12 on the Exclusive Legislative list of the 1999 Constitution and same exclusive to the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court by virtue of Section 251(1) of the 1999 Constitution and section 7 (3) of the Federal High Court Act, 2004 Cap F12.

The Atuches in the motion filed by their counsel, Chief Anthony Idigbe SAN and supported with a four-paragraph affidavit deposed to by one Martins Nwankwo, argued that the Lagos High Court did not have the power and jurisdiction to review and make judicial pronouncements on most of the exhibits tendered so far; the exhibits being subject of item12 of the Exclusive legislative list.

NAMA sets up committee to work on new aviation charges

BY LAWANI MIKAIRU

A

FIVE-MAN committee has been set up by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency ,NAMA, and the non- scheduled commercial operators to appraise the recently introduced new aviation charges for nonscheduled flight operators.

Mr. Supo Atobatele, General Manager, Public Affairs, NAMA, said the committee will have membership drawn from Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, as observers, and expected to commence sitting next Monday.

It had been given three weeks to turn in its report for further deliberation month.

According to Atobatele: "The parties at a stakeholders’ forum in Abuja, yesterday, resolved that the

issues relating to the new charges be resolved within 60 days, just as they agreed to uphold the one-stop shop payment system.

"The committee is to, among other things, appraise the proposed charges objectively, using the standard and acceptable basis for industry charges, taking aircraft weight, distance and unit rate into consideration.

"The Director General of NCAA, Capt. Fola Akinkiotu, supporting the idea of having a committee to review the new charges, urged the members to do a thorough job, adding that whatever the stakeholders agreed thereafter with the aviation agencies shall become a law for all to abide with."

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—11

N5.6bn pension fraud: EFCC wants suspects' property confiscated

BY OLA AJAYI

I

BADAN — ECONOMIC and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has asked an Oyo State High Court to grant an interim order for the forfeiture of the property of the former Head of Service in Oyo State, Alhaja Adeleke yabo and 11 others standing trial for allegedly stealing N5.6billion pension fund.

The anti-graft commission prayed the court to grant the order pending the hearing and final determination of the fraud suit against them.

Others, who the EFCC was asking the court to confiscate their property are: Muili Hakeem Aderemi, Iyabo Giwa, Adesina Jimoh Ayoade, Oguntayo Banji, Adebiyi Musendiq Olasunmbo, Adeduntan Johnson, Johnson Bosede and Kareem Rasheed.

The commission, in the charge sheet, alleged that the accused persons conspired and fraudulently obtained the money

from various accounts of Oyo State Local Government Staff Pension Board domiciled at different banks.

According to the commission, the proceeds allegedly realised from the crime was channelled by the respondents to the

development and purchase of some buildings they own today, hence those property be seized pending the determination of the case.

Justice M. O. Olagunju of Court 11 later adjourned the hearing of the suit to December

20, 2013 The court had, in the previous sitting, refused to grant the bail applications of the accused persons and they were therefore, remanded at Agodi Prison, Ibadan.

VISIT: Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko (middle); Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr. Kola Ademujimi (right), and Head of the Adesida Ruling House, Prince Adejare Adesida (left), during the Governor's visit to the family of the late Deji of Akure, Oba Adebiyi Adesida, at the Deji's Palace, in Akure, yesterday.

EFCC wants security for witnesses in Fayose's N860m fraud case

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

A

DO EKITI — TRIAL continued at the Federal High Court,Ado Ekiti, yesterday, in the suit instituted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, against the former governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayo Fayose over the allegation that he diverted the sum of N860 million meant for the construction of poultry projects in all the 16 local government areas in the state, even as counsel of EFCC and Fayose tangoed in the court At yesterday's hearing the EFCC counsel, Mr. Adebisi Adeniyi had alleged that some of those lined up by the Commission to give testimony were being threatened by unnamed people towards discouraging their appearance in court.

Adeniyi said he decided to raise the matter before Justice Adamu Hobon so the court could prepare adequate security for witnesses coming to testify.

However, counsel to the accused person, Ahmed Raji, SAN, disagreed with Adeniyi dismissing the accusation as a blanket allegation intended to divide the minds of the public.

"Fayose is here and he is not threatening anybody,” he said.

But Justice Hobon assured that the court was ready to subpoena any witness that refused to come to testify and and that he would provide adequate security at the right time.

He said every citizen was duty

bound to appear before a court when called upon to do so.

One of the officials of EFCC, Mr. Abubakar Madaki in his testimony, told the court while leading evidence that the accused person lied that he had N100 million in an account he

had a vested interest. “ The accused person claimed that he had N100 million in an account with Bank PHB, my investigation revealed that the account belonged to the PDP and had less than N60,000,” Madaki said.

He said after his investigation, it was discovered that the Ekiti state government started releasing money to Biological Concepts Nig Ltd on April 28, 2004 while the agreement for the contract was signed in September 2004.

I'm on rescue mission in Osun — Omisore

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

O

SOGBO — A leading Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, aspirant in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, yesterday, declared that he was on a rescue mission to save the people of the state from the alleged maladministration of governor

Rauf Aregbesola.

Speaking at a special rally organised by PDP in Osogbo, Senator Omisore described the three-year rule of governor Aregbesola as wasted.

He urged the people of the state not to despair, saying that if elected next year as the governor of the state, he would correct all the mistakes of the past allegedly committed by the

Video of Nigerian trapped in ocean for 3 days released

BY UDUMA KALU with agency report

T

HE VIDEO of a Nigerian who was trapped for three days in an air pocket of a sunken ship and discovered by divers has been released.

The recently released video taken by South African DCN Diving captured the intense rescue of the 29-year- old cook.

Harrison Okene, 29, was a chef on the Jascon 4, an oil company’s ship, when the boat capsized and sank 100 feet into the ocean off

the coast of Nigeria in May due to heavy ocean swells, Reuters reported at the time.

As the ship sank, Okene was washed away by the rushing water.

“Three men were in front of me and suddenly water rushed in full force,” Okene told Reuters. “I saw the first one, the second one, the third one, just washed away. I knew these men were dead.”

Of the 12 members on the crew, Okene was the only survivor, finding refuge in a small air pocket of the ship.

present administration.

While addressing the gathering, Senator Omisore accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, Mr. Rufus Akeju of alleged plot to favour the ruling APC with complicated voters' register review exercise that would commence across the state tomorrow.

Addressing the gathering, PDP National Secretary, Professor Wale Oladipo assured that the National Working Committee of the party would give Osun State chapter the needed support, but harped on party loayalty and discipline by leaders and party loyalists.

In his remarks, the state chairman of the party, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa said the people of the state were tired of the administration of Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, adding they were only waiting for PDP to put its house in order and re-claim power it lost to the ruling APC in 2010.

He urged members to participate actively in the voters’ register review exercise that would commence, Thurday, December 5.

Opeyemi Bamidele is unfit to govern Ekiti — APC

T

HE ALL Progressives Congress, APC, in Ekiti has described the eventual exit of Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele, a.k.a MOB, representing Ekiti Central Constituency 1 in the House of Representatives, as a welcome development by the party and the entire people of the state.

The party in a statement by the Director of Publicity and Media of APC in Ekiti, Segun Dipe, yesterday, observed that Opeyemi was not fit to govern an upwardly mobile state like Ekiti and as such could not have realised his ambition within the party.

The statement said Bamidele was free to join any party where he could continue to nurture his mobster ambition as a vain labourer.

According to the statement: "Just like Macbeth, Opeyemi Bamidele, has premised his governorship ambition on some prophecies. And just like Macbeth, he is ever willing to maim and kill to achieve his vaunting desire.

"He has been living a lie all the while. He has been busy dishing out fables as facts."

FG owes us N100m — UCH Doctors

BY OLA AJAYI

I

BADAN — RESIDENT doctors in the University College Hospital, Ibadan, have alleged that the Federal Government had short-changed the hospital authorities to the tune of N100million since January this year.

The doctors said this came about through the newly-introduced system of payment by the government.

The faulty system, they said, had resulted in serious blunder which made the government mistake doctors for cleaners and other people doing menial jobs in the teaching hospital.

They said this while announcing the suspension of their two month strike.

12—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Clark urges ASUU to reconsider strike

BY AKPOKONA OMAFUAIRE

W

ARRI—FORMER Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has called on striking Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to have a rethink over the protracted strike, pleading that the action has been carried too far.

Clark wondered why the body allegedly rebuffed all entreaties and failed to listen to the voice of reason, even after the highest authorities in the land, such as President Goodluck Jonathan and other eminent Nigerians had intervened.

He made the plea yesterday, at Kiagbodo, during the visit by the National Universities Commission, NUC, to inspect the proposed Edwin Clark University of Technology, located at Kiagbodo in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.

Claiming that the strike had been politicised, he said: “Though ASUU may have a reason to embark on the strike, they are carrying it too far. Unfortunately, politics has crept into the system which is making it difficult to call off the action.”

Clark noted that when President Jonathan held a closed door meeting with ASUU they agreed to call off the action, lamenting that the lecturers later reneged on the agreement.

“Our students are suffering and our university education system is failing, hence I am appealing to ASUU to have a rethink and go back to classes,” he added.

The former senator noted that the Federal Government on its part had tried to end the strike, and urged ASUU to accept whatever government had

promised to pay, adding that the rest will be settled gradually.

Prof. Essien, Chairman, Standing Committee on Private Universities, National University Commission, Abuja, extolled Clark’s virtues, describing him as a true leader.

He added that the team had

inspected the proposed site of the university, stressing that they will convey their report to Abuja and later come out with a clear decision.

Essien, who also pleaded with ASUU to go back to work, added that education was the best legacy the nation could bequeath to the upcoming generation.

GROUND BREAKING: Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State (middle), flanked by Speaker, Deaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Victor Ochie (left), Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba (2nd left), former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dan Omotsola (2nd right) and the Obi of Ibusa, Obi Lewis Nwaboshi (right) during the ground breaking of Naval Secondary School, Ibusa in Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State, yesterday. Photo: Henry Unini.

Oshiomhole tasks FG agencies on payment of N2bn tax debt

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

B

ENIN—GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has appealed to the Head of Service of the Federation to prevail on some federal parastatals and agencies in the state to defray the outstanding N2 billion tax liabilities to the state government.

Oshiomhole made the appeal yesterday when he granted audience to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi and Dr. Jamila Shuara, the Permanent Secretary, Special Duties, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, at Government House, Benin City.

He said: “Just this morning (yesterday), I directed one of my commissioners to do a letter to Mr. President to draw his attention to the fact that federal ministries, departments and agencies are owing us over N2 billion unremitted tax.

“We expect that given the fact that these are Federal Agencies they should respect the law, more so when it has to do with tax obligations.

Whether federal, state or lo-

cal governments, the common denominator is the welfare of our people.

“Every tier of government has the legitimacy of that shared commitment. When all the three tiers of government work together, service delivery will, hopefully, be enhanced and our people will be the beneficiaries of what we do.

“We also believe that regardless of who your employer is, if you live in this state, you are part and parcel of the state.”

Governor Oshiomhole said that all those living and working in Edo State enjoyed the same rights and privileges, just as the people were expected to meet up with their obligations to the state.

His said breaches of tax laws were criminal matters and implored the permanent secretary to prevail on the Presidency over the remittance of over N2 billion tax debt.

Earlier, Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi said they were in the state at the instance of the Head of Service of the Federation towards creating a bridge between Federal Civil Servants at the Federal Capital and those at the various state capitals.

He commended the cordial relationship existing between federal and state civil servants and lauded Governor Oshiomhole for his developmental strides.

CHANGE OF NAME

ALADI —I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Aladi Joy Onyinyechi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Mgbeadichie Joy Onyinyechi. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

Delta Assembly passes 2013 Appropriation Amendment Bill

D

ELTA State House of Assembly, yesterday, in Asaba, passed the state’s 2013 Appropriation Amendment Bill authorizing the spending of re-ordered N58.2 billion.

The passage of the bill followed the presentation of the report by the Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Mr Daniel Mayuku.

The state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, had on October 22, forwarded the bill for amendment.

Presenting the report, Mayuku said that N58.2 billion was reordered to provide for the augmentation of earlier appropriations for some projects.

He enumerated the projects to include the dualisation of UgbenuKoko Road, UghelliAsaba dual carriage way and construction of flyov e r s in Asaba and Warri, Other project are the upgrading of selected secondary schools in the state, dualisation of old Lagos-Agbor road and procurement of modern tractors and other equipment for farmers in the state.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—13

Don’t kill NDDC, Aginighan begs FG

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

P

ORT HARCOURT—THE Federal Government has been urged to ensure the survival of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, through effective funding of the agency.

Former Acting Managing Director of the commission, Pastor Power Aginighan, in a statement, said it was sad to observe that the commission was already being underfunded.

Noting that the federal government was owing the commission about N600 billion, he urged the government to release the funds to enable the agency meet its obligations to the Niger Delta.

Aginighan, who was also Executive Director, Finance and Administration, of the commission, said the region would not forgive President Goodluck Jonathan and those who had also served as presidents of the country since 2001 if the commission failed to address issues of underdevelopment in the region.

He added that the Niger Delta would also not

tolerate any excuse from members of the National Assembly from the region if they failed to cry out for the release of funds owed the commission.

He enjoined President Jonathan to make budgetary provisions in 2014 to clear the backlog owed the commission.

“Now that the 2014 Appropriation Bill is to be presented by the President, I demand that both President Goodluck

Jonathan and the National Assembly put a halt to this unjustifiable underdevelopment of the Niger Delta region by ensuring that the NDDC receives the total backlog of the underfunding by the Federal Government. This is an obligation of the Federal Government to the people of the Niger Delta. It is not a favour sought by them for which they should be begging endlessly,“ he said.

Operators urged to empower maritime sector

BY MARIAM EKO

D

IRECTOR General of Nigerian Chamber of Shipping, Mrs. Ify Akerele, has advised operators to give the maritime sector the necessary support to empower indigenous participation within the oil and gas industry.

Speaking during a 3day workshop in Lagos by the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping in partnership with Richardson Oil and Gas, Akerele said the Nigerian maritime sector needed more empowerment, adding that government also had a role to play

by giving Nigerians the opportunity to get contracts, rather than giving them to foreigners.

Similarly, the CEO of Richardson shipping oil and gas, Mr. Akin Osuntoki, highlighted the opportunities and challenges in the industry.

The training workshop which was meant for deserving Nigerians on the need to understand cabotage and local content in the oil and gas industry holds quarterly. It is a platform for investors, would-be investors and entrepreneurs to broaden their horizon on various issues, opportunities and challenges in the industry.

Contracts awarded by ex-NIMASA D-G followed due process—EFCC witness

A

N Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, witness, Mohammed Shehu, said, yesterday, that most of the contracts awarded at the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, by the former Director-General, Mr. Raymond Omatseye, followed due process.

Testifying at the Federal High Court in Lagos, during the resumed hearing, the witness said the agency’s board was responsible for award of contracts until a tenders’ board was set up.

He said most of the contracts awarded during Omatseye’s tenure were handled by the

ODM hails Nzidee’s re-election as NCSU Deputy President

P

RESIDENT-GENERAL, Ogoni Democratic Movement, ODM, Mr. Godwin Bazari, has hailed the reelection of an Ogoni son, Comrade Menele Nzidee, as Deputy President of Nigeria Civil Service Union, NCSU. In a congratulatory message in Port Harcourt, Bazari also commended the emergence of Alhaji Mohammed Shuiabu Kiri as President of the Un-

ion, stressing that “you deserved to be re-elected in view of your achievements.”

While expressing optimism that the union will witness more growth under Alhaji Kiri’s leadership, Bazari said the renewal of Comrade Nzidee’s mandate was a pointer that Ogoniland was not only blessed with natural resources but also quality human capital deposit.

board’s Secretary.

Shehu, a retiree and former Acting Director of Procurement at NIMASA, said the contracts he sent to Omatseye for approval were within his threshold.

He said: ”Based on the recommendations of the technical staff, I always endorsed the contracts because they fell within his (Omatseye’s) threshold.”

Testifying during crossexamination by Omatseye’s lawyer, Olusina Sofola (SAN), the witness said a contract awarded for generator was never executed. ”Money was never paid in respect of the generator. It was never executed during the tenure of the accused person,” he added.

On award of contract for supply of Blackberry mobile devices, Shehu said the NIMASA board approved it, and not himself.

14—Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

PDP in fresh move to remove Amaechi, 4 other govs zSeeks friendly judge to grant exparte order zWe are seeking peace—Metuh

BY EMMANUELAZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR

A

BUJA—THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, working in league with elements in the presidency has commenced moves to remove five governors who recently defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, it emerged last night.

The move Vanguard learnt, was the outcome of deliberations by close associates of President Goodluck Jonathan who are working to weaken the opposition against a possible second term for the president.

At the centre of the move Vanguard learnt last night, is a court action aimed at removing the five governors through an exparte court order to the effect that the seats occupied by the governors belong to the party and not the governors as individuals. On obtaining the court order, it was learnt that the governors would immediately be removed from office pending the outcome of appeals that they might lodge.

The legal team to press the case is aiming to use as a precedent, the legal dispute between Governor Rotimi Amaechi and former Governor Celestine Omehia.

Gov. Nyako carpets alleged move Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, one of the five governors who left the PDP flayed the alleged move yesterday as he accused the PDP of double standards and clear violation of the law.

The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, however, flatly denied the claim yesterday saying that the PDP would not want to jeopardize ongoing peace talks with the governors recently rekindled by the president.

C M Y K

PDP assembles legal team However, multiple sources close to some of the governors affected confirmed the move yesterday with the assertion that the presidency and the PDP had assembled a legal team comprising 12 Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SANs to lead the charge. The legal team it was learnt is led by a senior SAN from the SouthSouth. Contacted on his participation in the legal move the SAN blurted yesterday “who told you, who told you” before cutting off the phone.

Besides Governor Nyako, the other governors being targeted by the legal action include Governors Amaechi of Rivers State, Rabiu Kwankwanso, Kano; Aliyu Wamakko, Sokoto; and Abdulfatah Ahmed, Kwara.

It was learnt that the legal team was yesterday shopping for a friendly judge to give an exparte order to the motion being prepared to the effect that the seat occupied by the governors belong to the party and not to the governors as individuals. The task of the

team it was learnt would be to use the Supreme Court order on which Amaechi came to power in October 2007 where the court held that it was the party that was elected

Nigeria, ACN, that somebody elected to executive office cannot be removed on the basis of his defection.

PDP accused of double standard Governor Nyako accused the PDP of double standards to the

Continues on page 15

LAUNCHING: From left: Mr. Martin Mabutho, General Manager, Marketing and Sales, MultiChoice Nigeria, Mr. Akinola Salu, General Manager, Trade and Distribution, MultiChoice Nigeria and Mrs. Lola Akinla, Senior Verification Consultant, Alexander Forbes, during the MultiChoice media launch of Festive Season Promo, tagged "Let’s go to Samba" in Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

How to advance course of democracy,

by Nwanne

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into office and not Omehia.

That case arose from internal dispute over the validity of the party’s candidate for the election.

Flaying the move yesterday, Governor Nyako held that the Supreme Court had laid the precedence in 2007 following the defection of Atiku Abubakar from the PDP to the former Action Congress

ANO—THE National President of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Alumni Association, Dr. Chioke Nwanne, has stressed the role of functional education in advancing the course of democracy in Nigeria.

Nwanne who spoke at a press conference in Kano, argued that functional education offered an enduring solution to the myriads of democratic challenges currently facing the country.

The country democracy, he stated, stood to gain immensely if the federal and state governments would dedicate their resources and redirect some of their policy thrusts in favour of functional education of Nigerians.

According to him, it is for this reason that they had selected the topic: “Democracy and Functional Education in Nigeria” as the theme of its 22nd Biennial Convention which would take place in Asaba, Delta State on Saturday.

Dr. Nwanne noted that the convention, which would be chaired by Professor Osa Dennis, would be attended by members of the association from across Nigeria, including the members of the governing council of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

He commended the university’s governing council for the steps so far taken to correct some of the administrative lapses in the institution.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—15

PDP in fresh move to remove Amaechi, 4 other govs continues from page 14 effect that the party had encouraged opposition party governors to defect to the PDP in the past in the knowledge that there is no legal encumbrance to such moves.

The governor who spoke through his Director of Press, Ahmad Sajo cited the case of Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State who in 2009 defected from the All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP, on whose platform he was elected to the PDP without suffering any legal injury. He also cited the case of Governor Mahmud Shinkafi of Zamfara State who left the ANPP to the PDP also without any legal obstacle.

It was also held that the PDP had ironically used the Supreme Court judgment on Atiku to defend the defection of Shinkafi and Yuguda to the PDP.

“The vice-president of the country left the PDP and went to ACN, he was taken to court for him to lose his seat as vicepresident, but the Supreme Court ruled that he (Atiku) cannot lose his seat simply because he left PDP and went to ACN, and he completed his tenure as vice-president.

“They have no case, but what we are worried in this matter is the double standard. If they can condone other governors

leaving their parties for the PDP, they should be prepared to accept the fact that people are going to leave their party for other parties.”

Metuh speaks

Claiming ignorance of the move yesterday, Metuh, the PDP national publicity secretary said yesterday: “I am hearing it for the first time from you. But remember that the president is discussing

with the governors and the party cannot take any position until when the peace move is over and in politics, don’t rule out anything. This peace move you don’t know how it will end.

“This is the PDP, this is the biggest party in Nigeria that can accommodate all national interests, we fight for the unity of this country.”

Gov. Yuguda and ANPP

“The ANPP gave him (Yuguda) a platform and when he became governor, they came around and wooed him and he changed party to PDP, they didn’t go to court. So, is it when people leave PDP that they have committed an offence, but when people leave other parties and come to PDP it is not an offence. As far as we are concerned, that is double standard and they should know that the Supreme Court has already ruled on this matter, which is the case of Atiku Abubakar and the Federal Government.

PRESENTATION: From left: Ms. Nonny Ugboma, Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, MTNF, Mr. Ephraim Nwokonneya of the NCC, Aisha Abubakar, a beneficiary, and Mrs. Mercy Daodu, Director, Rehabilitation Department, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, during the presentation of a hearing aid to Aisha, by the MTNF to commemorate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in Abuja, yesterday.

Emergency rule: Service chiefs, IGP, DSS to brief Senate tomorrow

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU&JOSEPH ERUNKE

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BUJA—INSPECTOR General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, the Director of State Service, DSS, and Service Chiefs could not brief the Senate yesterday on the security situation in the three states where the Presidency declared emergency rule as a result of last Monday ’s Boko Haram attack in Maidugiri, Borno State.

The Senate had recently approved President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for extension of emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa

states after a closed door meeting with security chiefs.

In its resolution, the Senate invited the IGP, DSS Director and the Service Chiefs to appear on the floor of the Senate yesterday to brief them on the level of progress recorded since the emergency rule was extended in the affected states.

But the Senate Leader, Chief Victor Ndoma-Egba, at the plenary informed the Senate President, David Mark, that the security chiefs had communicated that they would not appear as a result of the attack of the Air Force Base, Maiduguri airport and other government and public places by armed men

suspected to be members of Boko Haram and requested that they would come on another legislative day.

The Senate President, David Mark, accepted the request and the security chiefs were told to appear tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Senate received the request of President Goodluck Jonathan for the confirmation of Chief Eze Duruiheoma as Chairman of the National Population Commission, NPC, and other members of the commission.

After receiving the President’s request, the Senate referred it to the appropriate committee.

Other nominees by the President for the NPC job were, Aliyu Daniel Kwali, FCT, Alhaji Bala Almu Banye, Katsina and Adebola Adetunmbi, Ekiti State.

The Senate also received the report of Senator James Manager ’s Committee on Niger Delta Screening of Nominees.

Chairman of the NDDC Senate Committee, Senator Manager had while addressing the nominees, frowned on the massive fraud in the commission and warned those nominated to lead the commission to be transparent in their dealings to ensure the commission lived up to its billing.

Adesina crowned Forbes’ Africa Person of the Year

BY GABRIEL EWEPU

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BUJA—MINISTER of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, was yesterday crowned Forbes Africa Person of the Year, following achievements in the agricultural sector.

Adesina emerged winner among other four nominees in the African region to clinch the award.

Adesina said: “I am truly honoured and humbled by this prestigious award, which I dedicate to Africa’s farmers and the new cadre of young business entrepreneurs who have discovered the hidden gem for sustainable wealth creation on our continentAgriculture.

“With dwindling oil fortunes, and the end of the telecoms boom, the next big investment frontier is unlocking Africa’s vast agricultural potential to feed the continent and the world.

“The results achieved in Nigeria could not have been possible without the immense support of Nigeria’s President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. His passion and leadership inspires us that we can achieve even greater results. For agriculture was Nigeria’s past and in agriculture - as a business lies Nigeria’s greater future.”

Adesina, who was nominated for his bold reforms in Nigeria’s agriculture sector, has empowered more than six million farmers across Nigeria to embrace agriculture as a business, and had been passionate about the African farmers, as he believes in unlocking opportunities for farmers and changing Africa’s narrative on agriculture to wealth creation.

Within two years of his taking office, Adesina turned agriculture away from being a development programme into a business activity generating wealth for millions of farmers. ”Africa, with our huge potential, cannot be a museum of poverty. M y passion is using agricultural business and finance innovations to turn Nigerian and African farmers and agribusinesses into millionaires and billionaires.

Nigeria must become a global powerhouse in agriculture,” he stated.

16—Vanguard, WEDESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Northern Christians allege discrimination

BY LUKA BINNIYAT

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ADUNA—THE Chairman of the Northern Christian Elders’ Forum, NOSCEF,, Elder Saidu Dogo, yesterday lamented the high level of discrimination against Christians in the 19 northern states.

He said that Muslims from neighbouring countries like Chad and Mali living in the area were treated better than natives who were native Christians.

Dogo spoke shortly after the inauguration of the new executives of NOSCEF in Kaduna, yesterday.

He said that the population of Christians in the north was grossly under-stated to serve the selfish motives of their Muslim oppressors, pointing out that of the nine million people said to reside in Kano State for instance, Christians had between three and and four million.

He said: “One of the major problems we have in

the north is the marginalisation that we face by the very unfair way which our population has been grossly underestimated.

“For example, of the said nine million in Kano State, very little people know or even believe that Christians make between three and four million; including the non-native Christians.

“The most sad thing is that mostNigeriansdonotknowthat Kano State has a sizeable number of indigenous Hausa who are devout Christians, becausetheyhavebeenbranded as very minute minority.”

BY ABDULSALAM

MUHAMMAD

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ANO—KANO State Government yesterday dismissed speculations making the rounds that it had become bankrupt.

F i n a n c e Commissioner, Alhaji Mahmud Gaya who made this known said the state government had not in way failed in its obligations to either pay its workers or the numerous contractors handling various projects across the state.

He also said that the “Kano State Government has no reason or intention to approach

We’re not bankrupt —KANO GOVT any bank for loan to finance any of its projects. We have enough to rely on.”

His words: “It is a lie.

Kano State is not broke, neither is it bankrupt. We have been faithful to our obligations. We have been paying our contractors, and our civil servants are happy with us because we have never defaulted in the payment of their salaries.

“There are acceptable and conventional standards or indices

employed to measure the state of finance as to whether its healthy or otherwise.”

VC makes case for gender equality

BY TAYE OBATERU & BERNARD LUCAS O S — V I C E Chancellor of the University of Jos, Professor Hayward Mafuyai has reaffirmed commitment to promoting gender equality in the affairs of the institution.

He stated this yesterday, in a message to the opening of a two-day strategic planning workshop organised by the Centre for Gender and Women Studies of the university.

Represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Prof.

Musa Ibrahim, he said the Gender Intervention Team, GIT, of the university has over the years, promoted increase in women enrolment and promotion of women to leadership positions within the university, among other achievements.

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NCC to sanction operators over quality of service

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BUJA—NIGERIAN Communications Commission, NCC, has threatened to sanction telecommunication service providers in the country over poor quality of service, drop calls and unsolicited text messages sent to subscribers.

The commission issued the warning yesterday at the Fourth Quarter meeting of the industry Consumer Advisory Forum, ICAF, in Abuja.

The Executive Commissioner in charge of Stakeholder Management, in the commission, Mr. Okechukwu Itanyi, who addressed the press called on all service providers to tackle the lingering and nagging issues of poor quality ofserviceacrossthecountry,drop calls and unsolicited short messageservice, SMS,usually sent to their subscribers or face sanctions.

“When brothers fight to the death, a stranger inherits their father ’s estate.”— Igbo Proverb

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When in a ditch, dig and a few others also knew that the governors were bent on leaving anyway, so keeping the door open was of no value.

In the end, the governors made the decision to take the plunge, without two of their key members. These two stayed behind and decided to meet the same President who couldn’t convince their compatriots to stay action, and couldn’t deliver on any of the demands they made even when there were seven of them. Perhaps Babangida and Lamido know something their colleagues now in the opposition do not. Could one of them be primed to run on the platform of the PDP in place of Jonathan in 2015 as a desperate move to save the PDP from total collapse? Would these two have more to lose in defecting than the five?

Could their trust threshold on President Jonathan be higher than the defectors, and therefore they expect him to do magic and make all the bitterness and fears go away? Can Jonathan convince them to stay on the ship? What will he offer that he did not offer to seven governors? How would he get these two to sit in the same room with him, Tukur and a few others even as the media is still reporting nasty insults being flung all over the place?

Now the take the case of the presidential directive to federal universities to re-open and to sack teachers who refuse to resume. The President had sent in Ministers of Finance, Labour and Education to get the lecturers to budge, to no avail. He made offers and even directed release of some funds.

Then he got personally involved through a long meeting he held with ASUU leadership. They left and said he would hear from them. He saw light at the end of the tunnel, because he thought when unions met with the President, they routinely submitted.

What ASUU saw was a President who

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HERE is evidence around that President Goodluck Jonathan is toughing up his mien. He is not heeding the caution that you stop digging when you are in a deep hole. This can be explained by a number of possible reasons. One is poor appreciation of the circumstances in which he takes decisions. Another is a possible conviction that no matter how bad his situation is, his adversaries are or will be worse off. A third is the possibility that his key decisions are being made by others, and he is merely going though the motion of governing. For a President who is desperate to convince a nation that he is dealing with its many challenges, Jonathan’s scorecard in crisis management, at least, will not be the type you show others.

Take the case of the crisis tearing at his party. This should be a matter of utmost priority for a President who by all intents and purpose, needs a party with the muscle and the spread of the PDP, if not to run on its platform again in 2015, at least to finish his term in 2015 without leaving the nation in shambles. He had been involved in attempts to rein-in rebellious PDP governors, initially a small band bound by disparate grievances triggered by his ambitions or the bungling of powerful people personally related to him or leading his party. The more he became personally involved in attempts to resolve the crisis, the more the governors realised that he was not in effective control of all the mechanisms for resolution.

When you see people like Chief Tony Anenih look at a problem, handle it and then walk away shaking their heads, you know it is not a small problem. All former Heads of State, former party chairmen and sundry elders have been prodded by all sides to no avail. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo walked on this side of the street, then on that side, attempting to choreograph an outcome that will suit him in the end. The former PDP governors prevaricated. They knew the hazards involved in defecting from the awesome machine that is the PDP, yet there was little room for them to stay.

What the President gave, Bamanga Tukur took away every time with abuses and insults. The governors had apparently made up their minds a long time ago to leave a party they had castigated and ridiculed in public, making demands they knew the President had little political will to deliver on. It now appears that Tukur

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013 —17 with a union long used to “consulting”, and therefore went to sleep without sealing an agreement. University Vice Chancellors will, of course, say universities are open. Police could guarantee that students will walk through gates, unmolested. University senates made up of ASUU members, in a few places, may even go through the motion of agreeing that teaching can resume. But there will be little or no teaching. Some students may turn up, spend a few idle days and go back home. They know that universities without teaching are unsafe. Some teachers could resume, but most will stay away. They have endured months of empty pockets, and many are being told that his strike is more political than about academic standards. Splits will occur in universities where Vice Chancellors insist registers are signed, and those who teach will be pitched against those who do not. All in all, universities will become more volatile and insecure, and it is doubtful if the police alone can guarantee both teaching and harmony in them.

It is conceivable that President Jonathan has chosen to show a tougher aspect of his character. This is fine in leaders who are being taken for granted on perceptions of being weak or indecisive. In the case of his defected PDP governors, he has allowed too much damage to occur, and the two who are still talking to him are unlikely to have huge quantities of •President Goodluck Jonathan faith in his ability to assure them that was desperate enough to get person- they are safe and secure. He may well ally involved in negotiations to get heed the warning of some close to him them back, but had nothing to give but that they too are going through the assurances and promises. They went motion of reconciliation before telling back and attempted to tie him up more the world that the PDP is a sinking securely to his promises. A President ship. If he has any designs for them,

In the case of his defected PDP governors, he has allowed too much damage to occur, and the two who are still talking to him are unlikely to have huge quantities of faith in his ability to assure them that they are safe and secure

who expected a mass resumption even with a pause to lament the demise of one of ASUU’s pillars then saw a rearranged and re-invigorated set of demands, basically demanding tighter guarantees that he will keep his words.

That, for the President, was subversive contempt. His next move was to play his last card: as employer, he orders them to resume or get the sack. If President Jonathan had looked closely, he would have realised that he had no last card to play. He played it when he held that marathon meeting

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he will be well advised to be wary of politicians who may not have a very high opinion of his capacity to control political stresses and tensions.

In the case of ASUU, President Jonathan appears to have ignored the advice that if you are in a deep role, the first thing you do is to stop digging.

It was the wrong decision to take, when you do not have the capacity to enforce it. Leaders make mistakes. Good leaders take steps to correct them.

President Jonathan should re-engage ASUU in further negotiations.

OPINION

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BY CHRIS NKEMAKOLAM

N Sunday, November 10, 2013, the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Prof. Maurice Iwu, hosted a kindred meeting of a select group of leaders in Okigwe zone in his country home in Umukabia, Ehime-Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State.

The meeting, it was reliably gathered, was jointly convened by four hitherto disagreeing top leaders in the zone: Prof. Maurice Iwu, Dr. Ikedi Ohakim, Chief Ifeanyi Araraume and Chief Tony Chukwu for the purpose of announcing that they had agreed to bury the hatchet and work together in the interest of the zone as well as work out ways and means of moving the zone forward.

According to my source, that much was announced at the beginning of the meeting but further deliberations and “decisions” did not point to the genuineness of the proclaimed intention. First of all, the meeting was not democratic as the decisions seemed to have been reached prior to the meeting made up of 10 persons per local government area. Again, the way and manner in which the selection of the invitees was carried out spoke volumes about the interests of the four leaders, thus fuelling the suspicion that each of the leaders had a hidden agendum.

It was gathered that among the decisions taken were that C M Y K

Imo governorship: No to restriction of Okigwe zone no Okigwe son/daughter should declare interest in any elective position, especially the governorship position until the 2011 governorship case is concluded; that after the conclusion/determination of the case, the leaders will convene and determine who vies for what elective position and in which political party; and that no Okigwe person should coordinate a governorship aspirant from another zone until the matter is rested.

While one accepts the seeming spirit of solidarity embedded in the first leg of the decision, it is difficult to see how declaration of intention to run for an elective position can adversely affect the matter in court. This has led to a strong suggestion at some informed quarters that one of these leaders may be nursing governorship ambition again and in collaboration with the Iwus may have designed the meeting to put every political activity in the zone on hold until he is ready. My source claims that this man's temporary inhibition stems from the fact that he, at the moment, belongs to no party.

He instituted the matter as ACN governorship candidate and since ACN has ceased to exist, he has to wait till after the matter in court before he can join any other party and run for governorship from there. It is reliably

gathered that the plan is for him to run for governor, while Prof. Iwu’s younger brother runs for Senate, both under the platform of the PDP. The latter has already rejoined the PDP. That is why everybody else in Okigwe zone has to wait.

Interesting. Some informed leaders have sought to know whether the fellow waited for leaders in the zone to determine whether or not he should run for the Senate in 1999 and 2003 and for the governorship in 2007 and 2011. What did he achieve for the zone as a lawmaker apart from playing on the people’s intelligence for personal selfish ends?

Did he not in connivance with the Iwus rob Okigwe zone of the governorship position which would have benefited everybody? It is our fervent hope and prayer that God will, in His infinite mercy, grant us victory in the court.

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eanwhile, discerning Okigwe sons and daughters should read in between the lines and distance themselves from the dangerous alliance which is designed to feather their nests. It is not in the interest of Okigwe zone and will therefore not work.

*Mr Nkemakolam, political analyst, wrote from Owerri, Imo State

18 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013 WHEN the privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor companies was concluded recently, the Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, urged Nigerians to look forward to a new era of improved power supply. The exercise involved the sale of eleven distribution companies (DISCOS), seven generation companies (GENCOS) and the appointment of Manitoba Hydro International of Canada to manage the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

There was no doubt that there would be a necessary period for teething problems, more so as some of the generation companies, such as Afam, Kaduna and Sapele experienced late completion of their privatisation. Nigerians knew that it would take some time before the new private operators would fully take over and begin to make the much expected difference.

About a month into the new era of private management of electric power in Nigeria, the teething problems are in full swing. Power supply has fallen to abysmal levels, while many consumers from across the country are

Confusion Af ower Aftter P Po Privatisation groaning over new “crazy” bills which no one appears to be available to explain the rationale for them. Before now, people knew who to blame and call names when this kind of problem cropped up: the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) when the moniker was changed. Right now, no one knows who to run to for explanation.

The manner the new owners and operators of the nation’s power system have started is not encouraging. This is quite different from what took place in the telecoms sector, where competition, promos and avalanches of public enlightenment invaded the media.

Private operation of telecoms took a life of

its own from the blast of the whistle and established a bridge to the public that helped shape the industry to the great example that it has become today.

While the new private operators take their time to assume authority, we believe that the Federal Government must continue to assist them in every way possible and go the extra mile to let the consuming public know what is happening and how to seek solutions to the general confusion arising from this novelty. The Federal Ministry of Power and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) should mobilise information and public enlightenment and also prevail on the new owners to make contact with their customers and start relating with them for serious business.

The confidence of the public must be buoyed through the provision of adequate information and guidelines for approaching the new system. Nigerians must be made to understand steps they could take to leverage on the new opportunities in the sector, create wealth and offer job possibilities to our teeming youth.

OPINION

BY ABIODUN BABATUNDE

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HESE days, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC, especially its head and chief proponent, Professor Attahiru Jega, will find it difficult to wear genuine smiles in public, because of the monumental failure called Anambra. With years of preparations (from the last elections that brought in sitting Governor, Peter Obi), what the people of Anambra, and indeed the whole nation, got for gubernatorial elections was, to put it decently, a goof.

Fears are already being expressed that what happened in Anambra was a prelude to the forthcoming presidential election.

That may be an extreme position, but opponents of Jega, even within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are uneasy with the prospect of an inconclusive presidential election in a politically volatile Nigeria.

On television that weekend, Jega tried to put on the face of a man on top of the situation, but by Sunday night, it was obvious that Jega's men in Anambra had bungled big time. With tails between their legs, they faced the public to declare they could not proclaim a winner, though All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, candidate, Willie Obiano, was in an emphatic lead with released results.

If Obiano was gloating over cruising to victory, political foes like Dr. Chris Ngige (APC), Comrade Tony Nwoye (PDP), and Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah (Labour Party), were wearing long faces, like the top brass in the INEC headquarters in Maitama, Abuja.

Anambra Poll: INEC’s big bungle That is if they were not party to the alleged charade. But beyond the actual elections, there were accusations that thugs were hired from the South West zone to muscle a particular doctor into power.

With an election that featured a "Made-inJapan" doctor, and a "Made-in-Taiwan" doctor, many did not have to think up the party that could hire thugs from the stronghold of the self-styled leader of Yorubaland. The same situation is believed to have played out in Ondo and Edo states when gubernatorial elections held there. In one of the states, one player got so brazen he allegedly brought in militants from the Niger Delta to secure victory.

INEC has said it would hold supplementary elections in places where elections were cancelled in Anambra as a result of logistic problems. The election might have been held by the time this piece is published. It had declared the election inconclusive. That might be INEC's position, but the three other gladiators thought and still think otherwise, because the commission played into their hands, in the full glare of everyone.

According to the three newfound political friends: "We, Senator Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige, Dr Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah and Comrade Tony Nwoye, candidates of All Progressives Congress, APC; Labour Party, LP and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, respectively, hereby call for the total cancellation of Anambra State Governorship Election held on the 16th Nov. 2013.

"We are making this clarion call for total cancellation of the election because it was marred by gross irregularities emanating from: gross manipulation of the Voters Register leading to disenfranchisement of thousands of innocent voters; illegal removal of result sheets, doctoring of the said result sheets and massive removal of ballot booklet and thumb-printing of the said ballot papers; harassment and intimidation of Polling Agents and voters by security officials and party thugs; use of Voters Registers in some Local Government Councils different from the Voters Registers made available to candidates; late arrival of electoral materials; and manufacturing of results in many polling units where no voting took place.

"We are of the candid view that the sham election does not reflect the wishes and aspirations of Anambra voters. Our call for the cancellation of this election is reinforced by the public admission by Professor Attahiru Jega, the INEC chairman that some INEC staff sabotaged the conduct of the election. This call for the cancellation of the election would have been unnecessary if INEC had postponed the conduct of the election after becoming aware of the sabotage of the election by INEC officials."

But bent on the supplementary elections, INEC announced that it would hold them in over 200 polling units with 113,113 voters. Idemili North Local Government

Area, one of the strong political bases of Senator Ngige.

Seeing INEC in the mud, the propaganda machinery of the All Progressives Congress, APC, went its full cylinders, thundering: ''First, the electoral commission proposed make-up election in only 65 polling units in Obosi before scaling things up to a supplementary election 'in those areas where election was cancelled'. But we say, without equivocating, that a total cancellation of the election and the organisation of a fresh poll, under the supervision of a credible Resident Electoral Commissioner, will be acceptable to our party ''It is not enough for INEC's detached Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to tell the nation that an INEC official sabotaged the election in a certain part of the state; he must tell the nation who this fellow is, who he/she is working for, what is the extent of the damage he/she has done to this and previous elections, and whether or not he/ she has access to the commission's database of voters' register.Prof. Jega must also tell Nigerians why 16 Electoral Commissioners, who migrated to Anambra days before the election ostensibly to supervise things, could not ensure the success of an election in a single state, when even a polling unit behind the INEC office in Awka did not get voting materials till after 9 am on Election Day.'' Well, now that the APC has lost out again, with the active connivance of the INEC officials or otherwise, the newspaper pages and airwaves will witness a cacophony of clanging cymbals of the party desperate to have a South East state.

*Mr Babatunde, apublic affairs commentator, wrote from Abuja.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013— —19

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T’S by no means certain many Nigerians saw the bottle breaking event that took place in Kano last week as a form of the kind of intolerance the terror insurgents that have taken over many parts of Northern Nigeria are notorious for. But, however, insidious it may seem, what happened in Kano is but a variant of religious intolerance.

The hisbah, so-called Islamic police in Kano, had last week put up a show of violence that could only encourage others to toe its violent path. With approving nods from Aminu Daurawa, the hisbah chief in the city, the religious police had broken hundreds of thousands of bottles of alcoholic beverages and destroyed cigarettes in their hundreds of thousands as well.

This move, the hisbah said, was aimed at putting an end to the consumption of what it called ‘prohibited substances’ and to restore the ‘tarnished image’ of the city. The bottles that were destroyed had been confiscated from trucks conveying them around the city. In confiscating

these so-called prohibited substances little or no attention seemed to have been paid to the unintended messages of such violence that is directed at others. It is not possible that alcohol consumption is limited only to non-Muslims. There must be adherents of Islam who consume alcohol in spite of what their religion enjoins. While such people could be said to have ran foul of the codes of their faith, such can’t be said of non-Muslims. The question to ask then is what becomes the fate of those who do not share the religious convictions of the islamists?

This brings us back to where we were in 1999 when Sani Yerima ignited the sharia fire by proclaiming Zamfara a religious state under the sharia code. In a copycat fashion that was more political than religious, many states in the north of this country followed the example of Yerima.

The fire soon fizzled out down the line and nothing was heard of the sharia craze anymore. But some revanchists occasionally saw the

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opportunity for political relevance in pretending to uphold the sharia principle once in a while. Such is the case with the hisbah activists of Kano. One cannot see the point in such open display of violence and intolerance, as was witnessed last week, at a time when the virulence of religious intolerance in the manner of the Islamic terrorists that have made the North a no-go area for non-indigenes is yet to clear up. People talk about a religion of peace but perpetrate violence in different disguises.

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he question that many asked but couldn’t find answer to was whether this country or a part of it is or can be proclaimed a religious state. This is a valid question that Nigerians, especially political leaders, have shied away from asking for a long while. This has gone on even when the original sharia advocate and underage-girlsloving senator Yerima and his cohort arm-twisted other legislators into the cul-de-sac of seeking constitutional backing for

God Told Me . . .

(In Memoriam: Kofi Awoonor, 1935-2013)

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N September 21, the Ghanaian poet, writer, scholar and diplomat, Kofi Awoonor, was murdered along with many others in a terrorist attack launched by religious fanatics of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab Islamic fundamentalist sect purportedly acting on God’s behalf. For over a month now, I have intended some form of reflection in this column. The more I have thought about the catastrophe, the more it has appeared to me that perhaps the single most important danger to world peace, to peaceful co-existence, is the idea of chosenness at the heart of every revealed religion.

Chosenness invites, indeed demands, the unquestioning belief in, reverence, even deification of, the individual—always a man—to whom God elected, for no justifiable reason, to reveal himself, and to give the eternal laws and moral code by which all of humanity is to live from birth to death, forever and ever. By a revealed religion’s unchangeable code, time and tide, in other words, history, stand still from the moment of creation.

Somehow, God always speaks to these men privately, in conditions of utter secrecy: atop a mountain, in a far remove from everyone else in the desert, in their bedrooms or tents, alone under a tree, in dreams and visions. Their sole authority rests then on our credulity, our readiness to accept the claim that God “spake” directly to them.

The iron code of a moral order founded on such dubious grounds ruled the world until the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment. The wars of forced

conversion to a kind and fatherly Almighty God—though such a God could have “created” everybody to worship him instinctively, as naturally as we breathe— produced the horrors of the crusades and jihads whose legacies bedevil the earth today. The march of civilisation led inevitably to the separation of state and religion, of public affairs from personal belief. The resultant doctrine of secularism, often seen as a Western concept, has its roots in the humane older code that governs the ecumenical practices of indigenous cultures but which was destroyed by the violent and imperialistic revealed religions; particularly, the Abrahamic faiths.

Although the 1999 Constitution, as every of its predecessors, proclaims the secularity of Nigeria, our leaders trample on its spirit and letter by putting religion front, back and centre of every thought and action, by a Pharisee-like public display of piety (PDP).

From state sponsorship of pilgrimages to incessant calls for prayers to save the nation, Nigeria in the eyes of its holy leaders is a theocracy in fact and a secular state in name only. Thus, despite many corrections, President Jonathan just cannot keep his righteousness to himself.

Fresh from a state-sponsored pilgrimage to Jerusalem in which he gave damning evidence of his brazen violation of the constitution, he took to the pulpit to declare that “but for the prayers of the church,” Nigeria “would probably have gone into oblivion.”

What Jonathan cannot understand is that in making such a superstitious claim, he

of Islam. Even worse, we are beginning to see this in places like Ejigbo in Osun State where muslim youths assaulted the principal of Baptist High School, Layi Oguntola, for allegedly removing the hijab (veil) of a student, an allegation he denied.

When the terrorists opposed to socalled Western lifestyle and education explode lethal devices in religious places and on road sides, or slaughter innocent students in their sleep, we all express outrage. But when people do the same thing in the name of the state, we pretend there is nothing wrong with it. What stops a person, taking their cue from hisbah, attacking another person on the street on grounds that they offend their religious sensibility or on suspicion of consuming any of those ‘prohibited substances’ that offend hisbah?

The Kano hisbah may feel justified to offer violence to people consuming ‘prohibited substances’. But in what way are they different from the terror artists who decree death to people in churches or schools? What right justifies such violence? And why must every issue be resolvable only by violence for these self-appointed soldiers of God? At what point should we draw the line, insist on the right of others to live as they please as long as they have not infracted the law or insist we follow their example? For the truth is that we cannot all live in the same way.

There will always be differences and the only way to avoid trouble in such situations is to recognise the right of others to live in accordance with their conscience and or faith. Any thing else is an invitation to anarchy.

appeals to the same authority as the religious fanatic. God, and not the citizens, according to Jonathan, is the guarantor of the continued stability of Nigeria; he holds the country together only as a favour to the prayerful followers of two foreign

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The insidious face of intolerance

The belief that some people can simply impose their ways on others with threats of or actual violence should be revolting to all thinking people

their pedophilic desires. David Mark, the Senate President, had spoken then, just a few months ago, of the religious blackmail that forced the Senate into beating a retreat instead of taking on the matter head-on. The foolishness of kicking the can down the road, effectively playing the ostrich, continues to nudge us in different directions that have turned the whole issue into a huge Gordian knot. But the matter is not as complicated as it seems if we would, for once, be honest with ourselves. It all boils down to this: what protection do people of other faiths have in places like Kano where some are determined to deny the rights of others to live as they please even where this poses no offence to the law guiding the Nigerian state?

It’s easy to say that Nigerians living in or visiting Kano must behave like Romans when in Rome. But what if similar demands bordering, this time, on religious or even ethnic differences which are not recognised by the Nigerian Constitution are imposed on followers of Islam from the North?

It may look like the activities of the islamists have no ethnic or regional colouration but there is no doubt that they seem directed at certain conduct presumably associated with ‘foreigners’ to Kano or other parts of the North where this kind of imposition subsists.

The belief that some people can simply impose their ways on others with threats of or actual violence should be revolting to all thinking people. Yet this is what we continue to witness even in official quarters in many parts of the north and generally among people acting in the name

Today’s chosen men of God are, of course, very well fed and often finely accoutred, but fanatics they remain!

How much better the world would be if we called impostors by their true name

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religions.

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od, according to Boko Haram’s Ibrahim Shekau, has decreed an Islamic kingdom in Nigeria, one that would not even require prayers for peace since it would be ruled directly by him through his personally anointed prophet—most likely Shekau himself. Consequently, God commanded Shekau, “to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah.” And in the process, to “enjoy killing anyone that God commands me to kill the way I enjoy killing chickens and rams.” Jonathan cannot disavow Shekau’s claims without giving up

the basis of his own claims, including the view that God, and not voting citizens, made him president.

My more recent reflections on the holy superstition called chosenness reminded me of Jean Jacque Rousseau’s Second Discourse on Inequality where he writes thus: “The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, to whom it occurred to say this is mine, and found people sufficiently simple to believe him, was the true founder of civil society. How many crimes, wars, murders, how many miseries and horrors Mankind would have been spared by him who, pulling up the stakes or filling in the ditch, had cried out to his kind: Beware of listening to this impostor; You are lost if you forget that the fruits are everyone’s and the Earth no one’s.” To all who accept without question every claim of divine revelation or directive, I commend the derision of chosenness by the great mystic poet, Omar Khayyam, in the Rubáiyát: “And do you think that unto such as you, / A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew, / God gave the Secret, and denied it me? — / Well, well, what matters it! believe that too.” Today’s chosen men of God are, of course, very well fed and often finely accoutred, but fanatics they remain!

“God told me . . .” How much better the world would be if we called impostors by their true name and sought God in the quiet recesses of our minds.

20—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY,

DECEMBER 4 , 2013

Cars of death: Residents decry high rate of accidents caused by cab drivers

BY SUZAN EDEH, Bauchi

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HOSE who regularly ply the Bauchi/Jos road will never fail to notice the Vectra taxi cab that has become a common sight on that route. Popularly known as Opel, this transport vehicle appears to have become the in-thing among commercial vehicle operators in Bauchi State as evidenced by their increasing numbers at most motor parks in the State.

Although, patronised by many in the state in the light of it being perceived as fast and convenient, some commuters recently had reason to express concern about certain aspects of this mode of transport. A major source of worry is traced to the many road accidents involving these cabs not only along the Bauchi-Jos road, but in other parts of the country. The reason for this has largely been attributed to the claim that drivers of the Vectra vehicles are reckless and are less concerned about the consequences of rough driving.

Investigations by Vanguard Metro, VM, reveals that 90 per cent of the drivers of this vehicle are uneducated and ignorant of traffic regulations, just as many of them do not even possess the license to drive.

Among their many sins are

in an accident, although I am not over-ruling the possibility of its occurrence. But, I feel, if one could caution the drivers when they are flounting some traffic rules, I think they can adjust and drive carefully,” he said.

But some other commuters said the drivers of Vectra need to be educated and made to adhere to traffic regulations.

For a mother of three children, Ladi Shaibu, who resides at the Federal Lowcost Estate in Bauchi, travelling with Vectra vehicles, has been her worst nightmare. She said: “I want to travel and know that my life is safe. You need to see how these drivers of Vectra(cabs) drive recklessly on the road.

They are not even mindful of the lives of the passengers they are carrying. I have three children and a husband that look up to me. I have to be alive to be there for them. So, if these drivers do not value their lives, I value my life and I am obliged to protect it. For now, I have resorted to travelling through the Yankari Transport Services, because they have drivers who are careful and committed towards the safety of the passengers”.

In his reaction, the Chairman of Road Transport Employees AlhajiAbdullahi Mohammed,

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I want to travel and know that my life is safe; these drivers of Vectra(cabs) drive recklessly; they are not even mindful of the lives of the passengers they are carrying

over-speeding and overtaking dangerously on the roads, as they engage in a racing competition on the road, thereby putting the lives of the passengers at a big risk. It is even alleged that some of these drivers usually overspeed in order to reach their destinations within an envisaged time frame.

Commuters in Bauchi are, however, divided over their preferences or otherwise of the Vectra cabs. Some who spoke with VM said that they prefer them when travelling because they are convenient, fast and comfortable, compared to commercial buses which are usually overloaded, slow and poorly maintained.

A business man, Nicolas Bernard, who usually travels from Bauchi to Jos to buy goods for his business, said he prefers travelling in Vectra cabs because they are convenient and very comfortable for him.

“We all die someday. It could be in an accident or a health challenge or something else and when it is time nothing can stop it. So, I don’t entertain the fear that I could get involved

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said the State Government was concerned about the high rate of accidents on the Bauchi-Jos road and has taken measures to curtail the situation. He maintained that the union has initiated programmes, whereby commercial drivers who are registered in the state, will be properly educated on the importance of obeying traffic rules; this, according to him, will go a long way in reducing to the barest minimum the rates of accidents on the roads.

The Chairman added that apart from creating educative forum for commercial drivers, punitive measures should be carried out on offenders, because “if there is no punishment on those who break the law, these reckless drivers will continue to cause accidents and the problem cannot be resolved”.

Responding to the loss of lives by Vectra vehicles in the state, the Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda, declared that his government shall deal ruthlessly with reckless driving in the state even as he threatened to ban Vectra vehicles from being used for commercial

•Voters protesting late arrival of materials at Nsugbe *A Vectra cab in Bauchi. INSET: The wreckage of a Vectra cab involved in an accident transportation.

He also tasked security agencies and stakeholders on road transport to support the fight against reckless driving, particularly on the Jos-Bauchi road which leads to Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states. Yuguda who gave the warning in an interaction with stakeholders drawn from the Nigeria Police, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC;

Vehicle Inspection Officers VIO; traffic waders and leaders of road users union in Bauchi, decried the high rate of road accidents caused by negligent and reckless driving by the Vectra drivers, especially along Jos to Bauchi road.

Gov Yuguda warned that the state government could not continue to fold its arms and watch these drivers kill innocent people as a result of

reckless driving and over speeding, adding: “It is my responsibility to protect lives and the properties of the citizens of this state. If I cannot guarantee their safety, it means I have no business being their Governor. It is very painful and frustrating to learn that people are being killed along this road for no reason. This is a wakeup call for all stakeholders”.

Ugborodo community debunks alleged crisis •Says community is peaceful

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GBORODO community in Warri Warri South West area of Delta State is billed to host the State’s the EPZ Project. But speculations were rife that the community is enmeshed in internal crisis and therefore not conducive to accommodate the project.

Apparently upset by this rumour, indigenes and heads of the four communities that make up Ugborodo- Madangho, Ajaudaibo, Ogidigben and Akpakpa recently staged a peaceful protest, reaffirming that the community is very peaceful and investment friendly to accommodate the EPZ Project.

Addressing journalists on the state of security in the community, Mr. Alex Eyengho and Mr. Jolomi Metseagharun, both members of the EPZ Committee setup by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in company of placard-carrying indigenes of the community, stated that those peddling the rumour only harped on an isolated incident in one of the communities that make up Ugborodo.

The duo who posited that criminality cannot be described as community politics, added that the law enforcement agencies have taken up the matter and that it has nothing to do with the proposed EPZ Project.

“As you can see, following a tour of com-

munities making Ugborodo, the people of the area are happy with the project as it would bring job opportunities for the entire Delta State and that is why they are appreciative of the government of the day for the project.”

On his part, the Chairman of Madangho Community, Mr. Benson Okoturoh and Madangho Community Youth Chairman in their remarks, said: “Madangho is a peaceful community, what we are waiting for is the commencement of the EPZ project.”

At Ogidigben community, the Woman Leader of the community, Madam Mercy Olowu while welcoming officials of the NNPC, Chief Ayiri Emami and the Chief Security Officer of the area who were at the community for an assessment visit, stated that the people’s peaceful resolve was to work towards the success of the project when it begins.

Some inscriptions on the placards read: “Peace is part of us in Ugborodo”, “EPZ is the new hope, NNPC please act fast”, “Thank you Uduaghan for EPZ opportunity,” etc.

Other community youth chairmen who spoke on the current peace being witnessed in the community were Japheth Emami, AkpakpaAjudaibo; David Mamah, Ogidigben and a woman leader, Madam Mabel Osangbajumi from Madangho Community.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013 —

21

75% tokunbo levy: Stakeholders warn against ef efffect on econom economyy

By GODFREY BIVBERE

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CONFERENCE: From left: Chuka Mordi, Director CBO Capital; Tolu Akpata, Managing Partner, Templars Law; Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, Deputy Governor CBN and Mr. Bex Nwawudu, Director, CBO Capital at the CBO Third annual investors’ conference, in Lagos.

TAKEHOLDERS in the maritime industry have kicked against the recent introduction of 75 percent levy on imported fairly used vehicles, popularly called “Tokunbo,” warning that the new policy would have adverse effect on the nation’s economy.

The stakeholders explained that the policy will not only lead to diversion of these cargoes to neighbouring countries, but will also deprive Nigerians from driving cars and as a result, there are moves to protest against the policy by stakeholders this week.

Managing Director of

FG to produce 2.6 million metric tons of rice

BY GABRIEL EWEPU

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HE Federal Government said it is ready to produce 2.6 million metric tons of paddy rice in 2013 dry season farming following the success it recorded in the wet season rice cultivation and production.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, during a courtesy call by commercial farmers from Zamfara State.

Akinwumi acknowledged the farmers for their productivity and keying into the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, ATA, in the agricultural sector.

He said the transformation recorded in Zamfara State agricultural sector had made it possible for government to record a great leap after 28 years of down trend of agricultural activities in the sector, adding that agriculture has become a serious business in the state.

Adesina said, “Last year when President Goodluck Jonathan approved that we do dry season rice farming and production, it was the first time in the country the federal government took a policy decision to produce rice in the dry season.

“As we are going into this dry season, our expectation is that we will produce 1.6 million

metric tons of paddy rice in this dry season. Already in this wet season that just ended, our estimation is 9, 000 metric tons in the main season and we are going to do 1.6 metric tons in the dry season. If you add both together, you will get 2.6 million metric tons of paddy rice by the end of the season.

“That means that we will produce the equivalent of 80 percent of what our needs are and if we can mill it in industrial scale quality, that will be 1.7

million metric tons of milled rice, and the total amount we are importing is 2.1 million metric tons of rice.

“People want us to continue to import rice. So when they see us producing rice, they are not happy because they want to bring in rice from Thailand, and that will not be our portion.”

The minister noted the federal government is seriously working hard to get a lot more of integrated rice mills into this country, saying that he will be

leading a delegation to China with Rice Processors and Millers Association of Nigeria as part of delegation.

“We have decided that we are going to adjust our tariff system, duties and levies to cut off those who are trying to kill us with smuggling through Benin Republic. And we are also going to have rice aggregation centres; all of them will be equipped to clean, grade and guarantee a price for the rice and it will be sold to the millers.

That already, I have asked USAID to lead that effort and they are designing it,” Adesina stated.

Bank lending to agriculture increases to N20bn

By JONAH NWOKPOKU

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ENDING by commercial banks in the country to the agricultural sector has increased from N3 billion to N20 billion in 2013, said Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, the Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. Moghalu disclosed this while delivering a keynote address at the third CBO Capital Investors’ Conference, held in Lagos.

He said that increase in bank lending to agriculture is as a result of the various reforms in the banking sector, including better regulations and tight monetary policies of the apex bank.

According to him, “Lending to agriculture increased massively in less than a year. Bank lending to agriculture moved from N3 billion to N20 billion within

the year and this has played a critical role in the economic evolution of our country.”

Speaking on the economic outlook in 2014, Moghalu explained that given the steady growth achieved in 2013, the economy is expected to grow strongly driven by high oil prices and robust economic indices.

He said that by next year, agricultural input is also expected to increase significantly leading to higher economic growth and more job opportunities, adding that the financial inclusion, access to finance by the informal sector, is also expected to advance in 2014, while the power sector reforms, which will lead to reduction in the cost of doing business, will also lead to better economic opportunities and creation of more jobs in the economy.

Braveview Investment Ltd, Yenukume Nohoesu, who spoke with Vanguard on the issue, noted that government did not taken the plight of the people into consideration before coming up with the decision.

According to Nohoesu, “The government has not taken time to look into the plight of the people in the middle-class.

With the duty raised to 75 percent, assuming the vehicle costs N600,000 earlier, with 75 percent of N600,000 being about N500,000, nobody will buy it in Nigeria.

“Compare this with the new vehicles to be manufactured in Nigeria when there is no infrastructure; light or power to work and produce vehicles, no plant to assemble vehicles right now in Nigeria; they are only making Nigerians poorer.

“What government should have done is to allow for the commencement of the manufacture of those vehicles before increasing duty on the ones there already. Nigerians are managing to buy those cars to survive.

Similarly, Samuel Elem of Okpoto Logistics and Secretary of Association of FreightForwarders, ASSOFF, Apapa chapter, said government do not have plans for the downtrodden.

Elem noted that most Nigerians cannot even afford the fairly-used vehicles coming in from Europe, unless there is a plant that can manufacture these at a cheaper rate.

108.3

0.2

2,803.00

-5.00

17.3

-0.02

CURRENCY BUYING DOLLAR STERLING EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYAL KRONA SDR

154.73 253.4942 209.5199 169.9956 1.505 0.3017 236.7651 25.393 41.2591 28.0513 28.0863

111.09

+0.09

94.62

+0.53

SELLING 155.23 254.3133 210.1969 170.5449 1.5099 0.3117 237.5302 25.4755 41.3925 28.142 28.177

155.73 255.1325 210.874 171.0943 1.5147 0.3217 238.2953 25.558 41.5258 28.2326 28.2678

CBN Exchange rate as at 03/12/2013

22 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

How no claims bonus works (2) Continues from last week Where applicable Given our knowledge and understanding of the types of motor insurance covers in the market viz: i. The Comprehensive ii. The Third Party Fire and Theft and iii. The Third Party Only It is important for all insured motorists and the general public at large to appreciate that the reward system of No Claim Bonus is only applicable under the Motor Comprehensive Insurance cover. Hence, only insured

By Dr. Wole motorists that have bought Adetimehin, a Comprehensive cover can Managing Director, earn and enjoy the No Claim Jully Insurance Bonus or Discount.

Brokers and The current trend and perImmediate Past ception of no claim bonus President, Chartered Lately, the objectives and Insurance Institute of reasoning underlying the Nigeria, CIIN system of rewarding and encouraging insured motorists by granting No Claim Bonus are not just being portant arm of the market have distorted, but virtually eroded. been overwhelmed by the atIn practical terms, no insurer tractive and non – resistible talks of, or applies the No premium discounts offered in Claim Bonus in the motor the market, to the extent that insurance any longer. Rather, it is now common knowledge all prospective motorists are that a first time motorist withoffered an over bearing or out any driving experience or extraordinary premium the much needed road sense discounts sometimes up to can earn the highest premium 60% or even more. This is discount possible in the mooften done out of desperation tor market which negates the by insurers and their market- standard motor underwriting and rating ing representaprinciples. tives to win or Challenge to capture an inIt is high time industry operacreased size of industry tives the motor insuroperators rose It is high time ance market. industry operaThis latest de- up to the chaltors’ rise up to velopment has in lenges conthe challenges no small mea- fronting their confronting sure adversely market by protheir market by affected the capromoting pability of insur- moting stanstandardizaers to meet their dardization of tion of applicontract obliga- applicable uncable undertions as they derwriting and writing and rathave deprived rating prining principles, themselves the ciples, while strict adequitable rights to earning commensurate premium for the motor risks they are bearing. This also explains why insured motorist can only earn a flat premium discount year in year out and throughout the life/span period of keeping or maintaining their motor comprehensive insurance cover. Example abound in the market as there are instances where first time buyer of a comprehensive cover are offered 50% premium discount which he keeps enjoying as longer as the comprehensive cover is sustained.

Also, the insurance buying public that constitute an im-

herence to market ethics should not be compromised.

An appeal to the Insurance buying public is to always ensure courteousness in their purchase decisions and be weary in seeking the cheapest motor insurance cover as it may not necessarily offer the much sought – after protection.

The biggest challenge to all operators in the insurance market is to be able to offer and deliver their products and services to the ultimate satisfaction of the Insurance buying public at the most equitable premium.

SEND YOUR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS TO insuranceandyou@yahoo.com C M Y K

Leadway trains business associates to boost insurance penetration

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EADWAY Assurance Com

pany Limited is taking on and coaching new Independent Business Associates to work the retail insurance business territory.

According to the company, the move is part of concerted efforts toward entrepreneurial engagement, insurance penetration and awareness.

According to Tunji Amokade, Head of Retail (General Business Commercial), Leadway is taking advantage of the huge potential in the insurance market to invite entrepreneurial members of the public to join their retail commercial team via a platform known as “The Opportunity”.

With insurance penetration in Nigeria at less than one

percent ,especially for retail businesses. The company said that it recognises the huge potential in the retail insurance market and plans to work with over 1000 associates within the next few months, coaching them to grow market share in the retail insurance business territory.

Amokade explained further that new associates may or may not have prior experience but must be trained to become certified Independent Business Associates (IBAs), over the next year.

IBAs will receive training on practical insurance, sales leadership, personal effectiveness in the classroom and on-the-job throughout their career. This is being done in collaboration with BPMSE

Consulting to accelerate acceptability and growth through the distribution of best-for-value retail insurance solutions for the individual and SMEs, he said.

Amokade said that so far three Open House events have been held in Lagos, adding that the first was held barley a month ago while the other events will hold this week at the company’s training school at Iganmu, Lagos.

Amoke said that interested persons could send their names and contact emails to theopportunity@leadway.com.

From January 2014, Open House events will also hold in other parts of the country including Abuja, Ibadan, PortHarcourt, Enugu, Kano to present “The Opportunity” at these locations also.

AGM: From left: Chairman, Royal Exchange Plc, Kenneth Odogun and Group Managing Director, Chike Mokwunye at the company's 44th Annual General Meeting, in Lagos.

Law Union claims payment rises by 22%

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AW Union & Rock Insur ance Plc has said that its claims payment to policy holders have risen by 22.8 per cent. It went up from N1.27 billion in 2011 to N1.558 billion in 2012 financial period.

Managing Director of the firm, Mrs. Toyin Ogunseye, said that the company was committed to claims payment because that is its purpose of being in business.

A breakdown of the claims paid so far revealed that fire insurance topped with N581 million, followed by motor insurance at N529.99 million.

The firm paid N161 million on claims that emanated from general accident, N130.3 million on marine & aviation insurance, N101.14 million on

engineering policy while N77 million was paid on oil & gas insurance policy.

The firm also revealed that it paid N1.2 million to claims which emanated from bonds, the portfolio that recorded the least claims.

All claims paid were to Law Union & Rock Insurance’s policyholders from different parts of the country.

Ogunseye said that prompt claims settlement was paramount to Law Union as the firm always aims to restore its customers back to their original position by settling their claims on time, so that they do not go through any hardship.

According to her, the firm had put in place processes to

make it easier for the insuring public to do insurance with ease.

“We have put a number of processes in place like the introduction of various e-payment platforms. We have also gone digital in our marketing activities,” Ogunseye said.

The Managing Director said that this was done in order to effectively reach out to both its potential and existing clients and to make premium payment stress free for them.

“It will also enable Law Union to drive awareness and increase visibility. On the Epayment platform we have the POS,Pay Direct(in any bank branch), Quickteller (Interswitch) and Webpay,” she said.

Vanguard,WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—23

Committees get March 14 deadline to submit report — SEC T

HE Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, has directed the three capital market committees for the 10 year master plan to submit their reports on or before the first quarter of 2014 in order to enable it fast track the development of a workable framework for the market. The three committees include: 2014-2024 Capital Market Master Plan sponsored by Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, Executive Commissioner for Operations, SEC ; 2014-2024 Non-Interest Products Master Plan sponsored by Hon. Zakawanu Garuba, Executive Commissioner for Corporate Services, SEC and 2014-2024 Capital Market Literacy Master Plan sponsored by Mrs. Sa’adatu Mohammed Bello, Executive Commissioner, Legal and Enforcement, SEC. Speaking during a media parley at the just concluded Capital Market Committee, CMC Retreat in Abuja, Director General, SEC, Ms. Arunma

Oteh, who gave the directive said, “I hope that the committees would complete their work on time so that we can develop a workable framework for the market so that we can begin to implement them and move the market forward to actualise our target.”

She stated that as Nigerians, we should learn from countries like Malaysia, Brazil and Indonesia where they have adopted long term master plan for their capital market development, adding that these countries make use to their master plan judiciously.

According to her, “The government cannot provide the needed infrastructure to transform the economy without accessing the capital market. Economic access should be a major objective to developing infrastructure.”

While commenting on the efforts being made to ensure zero tolerance to noncompliance to market rule, she said, “e have strengthened our regulation and enforcement of our rules. We believe in innovation and transparency is key to the success of the market.”

DINNER: From left: Former Interim Head of Government, Chief Ernest

Shonekan; Central Bank Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, President, Mr. Segun Aina; British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Pocock, and Deputy Governor, Financial Stability, CBN, Mr. Kingsley Moghalu during the 47th Annual CIBN Banker’s Dinner and 50th anniversary awards and gala night, in Lagos.

CSR: Fidelity Bank donates physiotherapy clinic to less privileged home

By NKIRUKA NNOROM

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N continuation of its corporate vision of lending a helping hand to the less privileged, Fidelity Bank Plc has donated a full physiotherapy clinic to Heart of Gold Children’s Hospice, Surulere, Lagos State.

The physiotherapy clinic, donated by Corporate Banking team of Fidelity Bank with the support of the entire bank will assist in restoring movement and normal body function to most of the children of the home that could presently not move around or stand on their feet.

Speaking at the commissioning and formal opening of the clinic, the First Lady of Lagos State, Dame Abimbola Fashola, commended the bank for committing their time and resources into the programme, saying, “It is a thing of joy for Fidelity Bank to have come here and see that the things are needed, and they have supported them with so many things that can help the children to exercise their muscles.

“And we are just saying that those of us whom God has blessed should come to the aid of these children. Most times, people talk more about money, but if someC M Y K

body had not visited this place, they will not know what they really are in need of.

We need to be looking at these homes to ensure that we know what their needs are.”

Also speaking, the founder of the home, Mrs. Laja Adedoyin, said the gesture speaks to Fidelity Bank’s history of commitment to not only helping the less privileged, but saving lives.

The clinic, which she explained was first of its kind in Lagos State, would be opened to other members of the public that have similar challenges once in week.

According to her, the journey commenced in February, 2012, when the DGM of Corporate Banking, Fidelity Bank, Mr. Taiwo Joda, paid the home a visit.

Speaking, Mr. Reginald Ihejiahi, CEO, Fidelity Bank, said, “Here we have children who have pronounced disabilities and children who are not on the normal lane in life and so they need helping hands and that leads me to the Fidelity Helping Hand Scheme; which is there to help those who are short intellectually speaking in life and thus we help to uplift them.

We help to support the work of the proprietor because we have seen the excellent work she is doing and the bank contributed a little bit and most of the money came from a particular team in the bank, the Fidelity Corporate Bank.”

Pubic safety and security W

HEN I was given the oppor tunity to present this column, I stated in the course of my exchange of ideas with Vanguard Newspapers that I had discovered over time that a lot of things do not work in our communities because we do not apply ourselves sufficiently at making things work. I also indicated to Vanguard Newspapers while I made a promise to myself that, whenever I am required to do so, I would propose direct remedies to matters that affect our communities.

From mid-September 2013 to midNovember 2013, this column looked at our educational system from primary school level through secondary school level to tertiary level and at steps that should be taken if we are to tackle youth unemployment.

The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, was mentioned in the concluding part in relation to statements by government officials that graduates are expected to become self-employed on completion of the NYSC year. Given these statements, government should consider how the NYSC year could be utilised to give graduates the skills and resources that would sustain them in selfemployment.

I have recently presented myself to the motor vehicle administration agency officials in respect of the renewal of my driving licence. I was drilled on the three major causes of motor vehicle accidents on our roads and highways, namely, the performance of each driver in the control of his/her motor vehicle, whether the motor vehicle is road worthy or is not and whether the road or highway is in an acceptable condition for safe passage of motor vehicles and pedestrians. The deaths on our roads and highways of university professors, school children and any other persons from accidents involving motor vehicles are painful events. Our pain cannot be readily assuaged since we realise that these deaths are due to human errors and or negligence and that these deaths are avoidable. We must therefore demonstrate a greater commitment to making our roads and highways safer.

The Lagos State Government, LASG, has shown good examples through the establishment of the Lagos State Safety Commission and through sustained public education programmes on road safety. The Academic Staff Union of Universities, the Nigerian Labour Congress, the Trades Union Congress, the Nigerian Medical Association, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigerian Society of Engineers and other organisations should write to the Governor and the Speaker of the House of Assembly of each state asking them to facilitate the establishment of a safety commission in their states. The organisations listed just above should follow up on their letters with advocacy programmes in and visits to the states. The Governor

and the Speaker in each state should be asked to lead by example through ensuring that vehicles in which they travel and vehicles that are assigned to their offices do not at any time pose a danger to others.

Our nation has had periods in which military personnel have taken over control of the federal and state governments. During such periods, military personnel involved in dayto-day management of government activities often travel at speeds higher than the maximum posted speed of 100km per hour on our roads and highways. When one seeks an explanation for these high travel speeds, one is often told that the travel mode is to secure the personnel against attack. We have had civilian government for the last 14 years and I would recommend to our current government the manner in which President Shehu Shagari travelled from Lagos to Ibadan on the Lagos to Ibadan expressway in 1982

,

By PETER EGWUATU

I am confident that if government officials travel on our roads and highways within the speed limits, the Federal Road Safety Commission could be encouraged to enforce speed limits and rules about safe conduct on our roads and highways

,

or thereabouts.

The federal government was based in Lagos when President Shagari paid a state visit to Ibadan. As was the practice at that time, Ikorodu road in Lagos was closed to other roads users whilst the presidential convoy passed through on its way to Ibadan. Soon after the road was opened, I started out on my journey to Ibadan. About halfway on the journey between Lagos and Ibadan, I found that I was in a stream of vehicles both ahead of and behind me and that the stream was moving at a speed of about 80km per hour.

Somewhere before we reached Ibadan, a car carrying Chief Richard Akinjide, SAN, then the AttorneyGeneral and Minister of Justice, came from behind and past my vehicle on its way to join the presidential convoy. If the convoy in which President Shagari travelled from Lagos to Ibadan set its maximum speed at 80km per hour, then the current government officials should not exceed the maximum posted speed of 100km per hour an our roads and highways.

I am confident that if government officials travel on our roads and highways within the speed limits, the Federal Road Safety Commission could be encouraged to enforce speed limits and rules about safe conduct on our roads and highways.

24—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF WOMEN:

Overcoming the kerosine debacle

BY SEHINDE OMONIYI

The third part of this discourse was published in Monday’s edition of Vanguard

BY OGBEMI O. OMATETE

L

IKE an old train couch, the year 2013 in a jerky swing but consistent style of each closing season of a year draws to a close.

But, in this in its last days, the average Nigerian household considers the numerous aspirations and wishes that are still pending and these must contend with the peculiar items of the ember-months. Ironically, one of such items which engages the mind of households in Nigeria at this season is a defiant culture of scarcity of two commodities that has become items of immense national value – kerosene and premium motor spirit popularly known among Nigerians as fuel.

For obvious reasons of the level of our national development and the place of prominence petroleum products have come to occupy in our national life, the availability of kerosene cannot be ignored in our economic planning, especially at a time as this. It is commendable that in recent time, the supply of kerosene has remained consistent compared with a past history of intense scarcity which sometimes cripples activities in homes and other sectors of the economy that rely on this arguably most influential of the more than 18 by-products of crude oil.

This stability, especially in supply of kerosene may not be unconnected with the reforms which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has introduced in the sector specifically where it concerns kerosene. In the face of these

A tribute to my triumvirate of heroines(4)

B

Kerosine queue

petroleum products business.

Statistics indicate that from a subsidy payment of N2.2 Trillion in 2012, the figure has plummeted to N971 Billion this year resulting to a saving of N1.2 Trillion or 56 per cent. Despite this national economic gains and government policy which pegged the price of a litre of kerosene at N50, the individual homes in Nigeria have not experienced the expected benefits due mostly to the activities of fellow Nigerians who see the huge market provided by the numerous uses of kerosene as opportunity for gains. While the NNPC stations enforce the N50 fixed price for the product, virtually other stations sell at prices above the N50 with some selling as high as N120 and above.

As identified earlier, kerosene has become quite lucrative because of the numerous uses to which it is put, apart from its place of choice as a cooking fuel in homes. Until recently when the Minister of While the NNPC stations Works, Architect enforce the N50 fixed price for M i k e Onoliememen the product, virtually other warned road stations sell at prices above the construction companies to N50 with some selling as high desist from the as N120 and above use of kerosene reforms, the NNPC remains the in road construction, nearly sole importer of kerosene into 26,000 litres of kerosene is used Nigeria thus serving as a for every kilometre of road in the supplier of last resort. The construction industry. Given its implication of this is that as a high quality, kerosene has supplier of last resort, the become one of the most diverted corporation does not enjoy a products hence, it serves the statutory obligation to directly aviation sector as Jet A1. Some distribute kerosene or any other more diverted Kerosene is used petroleum product to the public, as a solvent in the manufacturing other than what it retails through industry. the NNPC Retail stations.

Unknown to many Nigerians, As a matter of policy in line with kerosene is a catalyst for the global best practices, petroleum numerous illegal refineries that products, including kerosene are abound in most parts of the Niger sold only to licensed marketers Delta. The product is used to mix such as Independent Petroleum diesel daily and it has been Marketers Association of Nigeria nicknamed “rice and beans”, (IPMAN), Major Marketers, among these economic NNPC Retail and Depot and saboteurs. While petrol is mainly Petroleum Products Marketers dispensed at the filling stations, Association (DAPPMA). This the same cannot be said for policy which has ensured that kerosene as there are several kerosene as a by-product has peddlers of kerosene on the been available in the market, has streets across the country and in also ensured the huge saving a typical fuel station in Nigeria, that the country has recorded in kerosene is dispensed through the much harangued subsidy of surface tanks and jerry cans.

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Perhaps one of the sustained reasons for the call of the removal of subsidy in the sector has been the voracious smuggling of kerosene by Nigerians across the expansive and porous borders of the country with its neighbours. A rather lucrative business, smugglers reap bountifully from their illegal activities on a daily basis. Some of the issues that have made it impossible for Nigerians to get kerosene at the official rate of N50 per litre are obviously beyond the control of the NNPC and requires the active participation of the various agencies of the state.

However, in a free market economy as Nigeria, some of the issues can only be dictated by the forces of demand and supply which in spite of government pegging the price at N50 per litre may require more than the savings from the subsidy programme to enforce.

Subsidy programme In an effort to encourage local participation in the petroleum sector, Nigerians are encouraged to own and control segments of the market including retail stations. And the difference between the official price of N50 per litre and the predominantly N120 per litre sold in most filling stations only goes to show how patriotic or unpatriotic Nigerian businesses in this sector are.

While it is desirous that Nigerians could get this product at the official rate, it is pertinent to note that about two years ago, kerosene retailed for as high as N250 per litre in this country.

The present situation is indeed a gain over that past but this is not to say that the official rate of N50 per litre is unrealistic rather, it requires a combination of several layers of concerted efforts by stakeholders to make this happen, including the consuming public. Perhaps, the first place to start with is encouraging households in the country to adopt the use of LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) as a direct substitute to kerosene.

Sehinde Omoniyi , wrote from Abuja

than I had in myself because I was convinced I would not make it into Ughelli on this first attempt. Consequently, I decided to study from that time until the next opportunity and come on top, if that was what it took. Thus, when Aunt went to trade in Sapele market, instead of going to school, I would stay home and study whatever I could find.

After a few weeks of truancy, word came that I was wanted urgently at school. I realized that nemesis had caught up with me and the retribution would be grievous: canning at school, shouting at and whipping by Aunt, and probably being taken before

EHIND these were the white enamel toilets, where you pulled on a chain to flush after use and water came tumbling down to clean it out.

For a boy used to the pail or bush system, this was paradise.

There were rumours about this infamous toilet in Sapele. An important local visiting a European in his AT&P quarters used the toilet. When he flushed and heard the roaring as the water cascaded down, ran out nude. I did not run out when first I used it at Ughelli. But I was scared. After shower, we went for breakfast.

Dressed in my now slightly soiled white short and white shirt and walking with other boys to Map ofDelta the examination State room, I imagined what it would be to become part of this paradise and decided to concentrate on passing the examination. We went in and were given the question papers. I flipped to my favourite section, arithmetic, and attacked it. There were granduncle Olumani Fregene, problems I could not solve so I for further canning and went to other questions and admonishment; and I would tackled them. I was unable to then be made to promise that I answer all the questions and felt would never ever stay away devastated when we were asked from school again. I resigned to stop. The answer papers myself to all of these and went were collected. Later, we went bravely to school the following for individual interviews with day. Instead of the hostile the Principal of the School, a reception I expected, the European, whose name I learnt Standard Six teacher, a tall, later was Mr. Carter. stern-looking, lanky man, came smiling to me.

Physical “My son, congratulations. examination You were accepted to Government College, This was followed by physical Ughelli,” he said, and walked examination including health me to the Headmaster’s office check in the nude by school to get my letter. I was in total nurse, an African man, in the shock but too respectful of these presence of the European. That men to scream for joy. Instead was it. “The short list I bottled my joy inside me. I examination and interview” took the letter from the was over. We left for our various Headmaster, held it tightly and homes. I can barely recall the raced from his office down journey through Warri to Boyo Road to Sapele market.

Sapele, because all the way Shoving the shoppers aside, I back I fantasized over arrived at Aunt’s shed and Government College, Ughelli showed her the letter while and how, I believed, I had announcing the news to her. blown the opportunity that I She took the letter as usual, had. Back home, my aunt and then pulled me close, smiled, family welcomed me and asked as she hugged me. about the trip. As usual, I Slowly calling my full name, handed my aunt all the papers “Oritsegbemi, (which means, I brought back, which she took “Almighty God is my saviour”) although she was illiterate. my son, May God continue to I believe she took them to save you until the evening of literate adults to read for her. I your life” she said. She tried to describe the beauty of continued, “Sit down, my son. the school to them but could not No. Take this shilling, go buy quite convey the effect it had jollof rice and at least two pieces on me. Aunt never asked me of meat, add some dodo too. about how I did on these Bring all here and sit down examinations. She must have and eat, my son.” believed I would do well. If that To be continued was it, she had more faith in me

,

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER, 4, 2013—25

DIARY Select ICT events z GITEX Technology Week 2013. Holds 20-24 Oct 2013 in Dubai, UAE. z FUTURECOM 2013. Holds 21-24 Oct 2013 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. zSAP TechEd 2013.

Holds 21-25 Oct 2013 in Las Vegas, USA. zBroadband World Forum Europe 2013.

Holds 22-24 Oct 2013 in Amsterdam, Holland. zSMAU 2013.

Holds 23-25 Oct 2013 in Milan, Italy.

Preview

New inventions shaping life and living

See through the skin with "Eyes-on"

HE Eyes-On Sys tem features a head-mounted display that uses vascular imaging technology to let doctors and nurses “see” the veins beneath the surface of the skin.

While technology to image veins has been in use for some time, previous iterations required the staff to carry around a separate, stand-alone device. In contrast, the Eyes-On system is self-contained and easier to use, and the head-worn display allows staff to keep their hands free.

According to Frank Ball, Evena Medical President and CEO “Studies have shown that up to 40 percent of IV starts require multiple attempts to locate and access a vein, which not only wastes valuable nursing time but also delays therapy and causes patient discomfort and dissatisfaction.”

I N S I D E C M Y K

ATCON engages LASG, FMCT on constraints of telecom infrastructure roll out

NCC on collision course with operators over QoS, MNP •Both differ on success of MNP; NCC threatens sanctions

By PRINCE OSUAGWU

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ARING any positive improvements, telecom operators in Nigeria may head into a collision course with their regulator, the Nigerian communications Commission, NCC, early next year.

Already, the two are standing on different positions on the success and failure of the recently introduced Mobile Number Portability, which was expected to give subscribers respite against the persistent poor quality of telecom services.

Face to face with each other at the second edition of the Association of Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s

Companies of Nigeria, ATCON organised Telecoms Executives and Regulator ’s forum in Lagos at the weekend, operators, including MTN and Etisalat, disagreed that the MNP has achieved desired results, blaming NCC for low awareness of the policy before implementation.

Etisalat’s Director, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Mr Ibrahim Dikko admitted that much as he believed that the concept of Mobile Number portability was good for the industry, it was yet to be fully accepted by customers due to very little understanding of the concept.

He noted that the best idea would have been to give the concept proper awareness to

TECNO deepens Smartphone ecosystem with Phantom AIII

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T

•QoS Protesters

Already, in the new year, when the result of our KPI will be out, there surely must be sanctions

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educate the consumers but decried that it was not done before implementation.

He however put part of the blame on fellow operators who deny subscribers the opportunity to port out of their networks due to debt, saying it was not only wrong but unlawful.

Corroborating him, was his counterpart in MTN, Mr Akinwale Goodluck who also admitted that though MNP has come to stay, it has not achieved the desired results.

According to Goodluck, the whole essence of MNP was

Continues on Page 29

Trader aderss recount pains, gains of Computer Village relocation

26— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Two SOL O multi-ser vice SOLO multi-service android phones debut

BY LAJU ARENYEKA & IKENNA ASOMBA

A

new device manufacturing company, SOLO Phone Nigeria Limited, has launched two new devices, the SOLO S350, and the SOLO S450 into the Nigerian market. Being its initial products, the devices are GMS certified Android Jelly Bean smartphones.

Chief Executive Officer of SOLO Phones, Mr Tayo Ogundipe, described the SOLO S350 as a 3.5 inch screen Android Jelly Bean 4.1

L-R: Tim Bass, Head Portfolio Planning; Tayo Ogundipe, Founder/CEO and Dolapo Ajayi, Country Head/Regional Director at the launch of SOLO Phones , last week smartphone with Dual SIM capabilities, 4GB of Internal memory with 8GB of SD card, which is expandable up to 32GB. He added that “the device comes bundled with SOLO Music, our proprietary content experience that offers free, unlimited streaming and download access to up to 20 million songs for the life of the device.

The easy to use interface includes a SOLO Music widget on the home page that enables easy access to SOLO Music, right out-of-the box.

“The device is Google (GMS) certified and offers full access to the Android Marketplace, including BBM services. The SOLO S350 comes bundled with very generous free data services from our Nigerian operator partners, completing the strong consumer experience. This elegantly designed device with superior features and firstof-its-kind free music offering is expected to retail for less than N20,000.”

The SOLO S450 is a 4.5” screen, Android Jelly Bean 4.2 smartphone with Dual SIM capabilities and 16GB of internal memory, coupled with SD card capabilities of up to 32GB. The SOLO S450 also comes bundled with SOLO Music, our proprietary content experience that offers free, unlimited streaming and download access of up to 20 million songs for the life of the device.

MTN gets ISO 9001 certification again M

TN Nigeria has been awarded the ISO 9001:2008 certification for upholding the highest quality standards in the management of its network.

The company first earned this award in 2010 when it was also adjudged to have highest quality standards.

The ISO 9001 is the internationally recognised standard for an organisation’s internal quality management. It is maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and awarded in Nigeria by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON. Companies are subjected to rigorous screening to assess the various processes set up internally to ensure the delivery of the best service or product to customers, prior to certification.

The first ISO certification was awarded to MTN in 2010, with a 3-year validity. It was renewed by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria upon confirmation that MTN has performed excellently during the post certification surveillance audits of the quality management system of the company.

Chief Technical Officer of MTN, Lynda SaintNwafor, said that her company was extremely delighted be re-awarded the ISO 9001:2008 certification for quality system management.

M

obile phone mak er, TECNO Mobile while deepening the smart phone ecosystem has entered the market with Phantom AIII android phone.

Memory capacity: The Phantom AIII is equipped with memory capacity of 16 GB rom plus 1 gb ram, 13megal pixels rear camera and 8megal pixel front camera.

Social media application: Like other smart phones, the new product has social media application like Facebook, Whatsapp and Palmchat, applications.

Acknowledging that the Nigerian market is very important, the Vice President, TECNO GROUP, Mr. Arif Chowdhury told the gathering at the launch of the new product recently in Lagos that the device was designed with a passion to give everybody access to innovation and its affordable for everybody.

It is part of TECNO's unwavering effort in expanding its offering which can be seen in this superior, innovative phone" he said.

An upgraded version:

TECNO deepens Smartphone ecosystem with Phantom AIII According to him, the Phantom AIII smartphone is an upgraded version of the TECNO Phantom A+, as it has a sleeker body and bigger screen than that of its predecessor, it comes with 6.0•h captivating HD touch screen, 4.2android operating system, it has3.75g network capability, with1.5 GHz quad core processor.

The Vice president added that he was very glad to announce a new collaboration with BlackBerry, which allows customers to find, preloaded on TECNO devices, the famous and popular BBM application.

He further noted that

the smartphone is the mobile device to watch in the years to come. •gThe prices are coming down and the sales volumes will increase. This is driving mobile internet access, which then opens up a lot of doors for innovation.

More internet enabled phones: Studies indicate that most people now access the internet through their mobile phones as opposed to PCs, We will be launching more internet series mobile phones to serve the growing demand of our customers.

"Our research from years back shows that the buyers of TECNO phones are mostly the youth and we have decided to focus on this market of people. This young people want to be unique, they want unique features that allow them to play and chat, and this is exactly what TECNO is giving them through our series of Smartphones that we have launched into the market so far" , Arif added.

With EMEKA AGINAM

ALTON engages LASG, FMCT on constraints of telecom infrastructure roll out

BY EMEKA AGINAM

C

onstraints to the in stallation, rollout and deployment of base stations and fibre optic cable in Lagos state have been brokered between the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, ALTON , and the Lagos state government.

Already, the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson and the Governor of Lagos state, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola with some officials, it was gathered had held a closed door meeting at the State House last week to address the issues of taxes, levies, decommissioned sites and Right of Way fees

•Gbenga Adebayo

mitigating against quality of service in the state.

Fashola at the meeting with members of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, ALTON , Mrs Omobola Johnson, Commissioner of Science and Tech, Mr Biyi Mabadeje, Commissioner of Works, Mr Obafemi Hamzat and officials from Etisalat, Main One, MTN, Globacom among other things deliberated on issues of the high incidents of fees and taxes, restrictions on the rollout of base stations and fibre networks, the decommissioning of sites, ALTON members at the meeting expressed concerns that these issues were making it difficult for operators to rollout much needed ICT infrastructure in Lagos state.

Earlier in his response, Fashola noted that good infrastructure rollout and deployment were in the best interest of residents of Lagos State, making very much needed infrastructure and capacity available.

He said that it was not the wish of the State to prevent operators from rolling out. ‘We need you to roll out probably more than you need it’ he said, ‘but we do not need it at the expense of our roads, or lives of the people.

Infrastructure must be built to very high standards, for example, masts must be built with galvanized steel and not hollow pipes to prevent them from collapsing. You may find •Gov Fashola

Continued on Page 28

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013 — 27

28—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Traders recount pains, gains of Computer Village relocation

‘Biotech'll unlock Nigeria's agric potentials'

BY EMMA ELEBEKE

B

iotechnology has the capacity to unlock the agricultural potentials of Nigerians and indeed, the government could embrace the reinvented agric model in its present effort to actualize food sufficiency by 2015.

This was the view of Biotechnology experts and other participants, who gathered at the November edition of Open Forum on A g r i c u l t u r a l Biotechnology, OFAB Africa held in Abuja last week with the theme: Unravelling The Great

GMO Divide: Perspective from a Former Global Anti-GM Activist.

They dismissed the misconception about genetically modified foods, GM which some believe are dangerous to health. The intense debate over GM foods or crops and its applications focuses mainly on hypothetical risks and questions related to value, safety and impact.

According to the NABDA boss, most questions raised about the hypothetical risks of GM foods had been put to rest in the last ten years, following the

Continues on Page 29

ALTON engages LASG, FMCT...

Continued from Page 26

• Ever busy Ikeja computer Village

By RICHARD UDOFIA

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HE United States might have Silicon Valley. But when anything technology is mentioned in Nigeria, the first thing that comes to mind is Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos. Noted for the sale of all models of mobile phones, computers, accessories and other allied products, this villa has reigned as the capital of hitech in the country. However, this is about to change. The Lagos state government has concluded arrangements to relocate the settlers to Katangowa internet city which is just about fifteen hectares of land, in OkeOdo area of the state, by the first quarter of 2014.

In this piece, Hi-Tech takes a walk down memory lane, and surveys the pains and gains of this move.

Until the year 2000, computer village was like any other residential area in the state, but when the telecommunication industry was privatized and internet technology became Otigba street of the Lagos capital to commence trading in IT equipment and devices.

By 2003, when the GSM services were introduced to Nigeria, computer Village had become a household name among Telecommunication users, small business enterprises and end users. Ac-

cording to Mr. Peter Olaogun, a phone repairer at the village, the plan of the Government is a good policy in the long run, but will spell doom for his business: “Moving to the proposed market will cause me to spend much more on transportation, my family and I already trying to make ends meet at the moment. What will happen to us when the market is moved to Oke-Odo.” Mr. Ajayi ogunshola, a supervisor at Odims world Enterprises which is housed at the Computer village is also unhappy about the situation, but for a totally different reason. He lamented the

lack of trust on the government as a persuasive move to relocate them to the new market. He said: “The government will definitely increase shop rent when we move.

Again agencies saddled with the responsibility of allocating the said shops will look for avenues to enrich themselves at the slightest opportunity.”

On the other hand, Mr. Thompson Ogboona another trader, was of the view that the relocation of the market to the projected site will create room for employment opportunities. A council official in Ikeja metropolis who pleaded anonymity, lauded the government on

the move, saying that the relocation bid has reassured the willingness of the state government to spread development evenly among the various location of the state.

To him, Ikeja remains the sensitive nucleus of the state, and therefore should be decongested to allow development to get to other less concentrated areas of the state.

But Mr. Mike Esakhalaye, a security personnel in the market, contended that as the siting of the market in its present place has helped in curbing crime in the area, the relocation will also help the new area in the area of tight security

that sites that may have been decommissioned by UFRU probably did not meet these standards or had not paid up their levies, when badly build sites collapse it is we who are left to pick up the pieces’, he said.

Meanwhile, ALTON members agreed that there should be a standardized approach for excavating roads where no ducts existed , even as they confirmed that there were no telecoms masts in the state constructed with hollow piles.

While responding to ALTON members position that taxes, levies and right of way fees for Lagos were prohibitive, the Commissioner of Science and Technology for Lagos, Mr Mabadeje read out an agreement by Lagos State to reduce taxes and levies in Lagos

by over 40% and Right of Way Fees were reduced from N3000 to N500- a reduction of over 85%.

However, this was on the condition that operators agreed to use approved and qualified contractors who would ensure the integrity of the road after the fibre had been installed in the event that there was no fibre duct on the road.

Accordingly, operators also agreed to a ‘dig once’ policy whereby the first operator to dig the road for fibre installation would install a duct with spare capacity for other operators to use when they wanted to install fibre instead of digging up the road again.

Fashola reiterated that all new roads in Lagos State already have ducts and that the operators should submit annual infrastructure plans to Lagos State to allow for proper planning on both sides.

NIG commends N75.2bn NPSCS fund for e-policing project T

BY EMEKA MAMAH

he President of the Nigeria Internet Group, NIG, Adebayo Banjo, has hailed the establishment of the N75.2 billion Public Security Communications System, NPSCS, project for the enhancement of e-policing and public safety in the country.

Banjo said that the project was cheering because ‘’major foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers, OEM,’’ had ‘’consistently shunned the idea of citing assembly plants in Nigeria, blaming infrastructural deficit as a major challenge.’’ Banjo’s position on the issue was contained in a statement signed by an official of the NIG, Mr Fidelis Orji, in Lagos yesterday.

He also said that the development would soon attract the establishment of a N1.6

billion Liquid Crystal Display, LCD, manufacturing plant by the RLG, in Ogun State as well as the ‘’African mobile telephone personal computers.’’

Banjo particularly said that the LCD project, aside from being the first in the country when completed, would attract about 120 million active telephone subscribers.

On the e-business conference with the theme ‘’E-Business: Broadband Technology, an Important Tool for Accelerated Growth and Development scheduled to hold at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Lagos between December 12 and 13, 2013, Banjo, explained that ‘’e-business is simply an internet technology driven business and has continued to be a catalyst to accelerated economic growth in many

•Bayo Banjo, NIG president countries globally.’’

According to him, ‘’with so many developments in the Nigeria Information and Communication Technology, ICT, sector, Nigeria has already joined the rest of the world in driving its economy with e-Business.’’

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER 4, 2013—29

NCC on collision course with operators...

Continues from Page 28

numerous studies and evidence-based fact finding missions that showed that biotechnology derived products have been proven to be economically viable, environmentally sustainable and safe as their conventional counterparts.

When properly integrated into traditional farming systems, he said biotechnology applications could make a difference in improving food security

‘Biotech'll unlock Nigeria's agric potentials' in Africa and other developing countries at large.

Evidence abound that most African countries are reluctant to adopt biotechnology derived products as the policy makers are confronted with contradictory sources of information and threats from some trade partners.

Delivering the Keynote address, environmental

activist and Oxford University lecturer, Mark Lynas said biotechnology will unlock Nigeria achieve food sufficiency with the adoption of biotechnology.

He said that the controversy over GMOs represent one of the greatest science communications failures of the past half-century.

He regretted that

billions of people over the time have come to believe a story about GMOs, which is not just wrong in parts but across the across the board in the precise opposite of the scientific truth.

He attributed the blame to scientists, who failed to inform society of the real benefits of their work, even when the scale of the challenge became clear.

Continues on Page 25 defeated with many subscribers already using mobile phones with multiple SIM compartments.

However, NCC also accused the operators of hasty judgement alleging that the operators have even violated the operating principles of the MNP. Executive Vice Chairman of the commission, Dr Eugene Juwah in his reaction, warned the operators: “don’t be in a hurry to criticise the success of Mobile Number Portability because as a regulator, we are watching and have discovered that part of the problem of MNP is also you.

Some of you are not keeping to the rules; you deny operators porting rights when they are owing, but that is not the practice; you also refuse to port out high value customers in fear of losing them to your competitors and you also know, this is not the practice”.

Juwah also said there were other rules of the MNP game which the operators were not keeping, threatening that erring operators would soon be sanctioned.

Sanctions hover over QoS

M

eanwhile Juwah had also at the re cent concluded ITU telecom world summit in Bangkok, Thailand, revealed that most of the operators may receive stiff punishment in the New Year, for failing the Key Performance Indicator, KPI test.

Addressing a world press conference at the event’s media centre, Juwah revealed: “ we have discovered that some operators prefer to pay fines and accumulate more subscribers in the hope of gradually expanding their networks to meet the size of their customer base, rather than being overtaken by competition. We do not have problem with that business model but will make the punishments stiffer as they continue to default. Already, in the new year, when the result of our KPI will be out, there surely must be sanctions” he added Incidentally, the quality of service issue also came up at the Lagos forum and besides the usual reasons often advanced by operators for poor QOS, industry expert and Chief Executive Officer, Global Access Technologies Ltd, Mr Tony Nwosu raised other inadequacies that lead to the abysmal services subscribers are getting.

According to Nwosu, Power supply disruptions, vandalisation of telecoms infrastructures, inadequate network capacity are genuine causes of poor quality of service.

But beyond these, inadequate number of base stations, low network switching and transmission capacities are also major contributors.

Comparative analysis

I

n a comparative analysis between i g e r i a and United Kingdom in 2011, Nwosu noted that while UK with 62 million population and 81.6 million subscription had 54,000 base stations, on the ratio of 1511 subscriber per base station, Nigeria with 158 million population as at then and 95 million subscriber base, had only 20 base stations on the ratio of 4750 subscribers per base station.

For Nwosu, to minimise bad QoS and properly service the current 121 million Nigerian subscribers, according to NCC’s September 2013 statistics, the operators must jointly deploy over 80,079 base stations.

He, however, advised the operators to make more investments, particularly on hybrid power systems, to overcome capacity constraints and NCC to apply greater regulatory vigilance and sanctions where necessary to save the industry.

N

30—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY,

DECEMBER 4 , 2013

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013 — 31

32 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

EPL MATCHES TODAY Arsenal v Hull City Liverpool v Norwich City Man Utd v Everton West Brom v Man City Sunderland v Chelsea Fulham v Tottenham Stoke City v Cardiff City Southampton v Aston Villa

07:45pm 07:45pm 07:45pm 07:45pm 07:45pm 07:45pm 07:45pm 07:45pm

Title race closer than ever — Terry

J

OHN TERRY has vowed Chelsea will get better and better in the most open Premier League title race the Blues captain can recall.

Terry twice lifted the Premier League trophy during Jose Mourinho’s first spell, but did so only once in the Portuguese’s absence, during Carlo Ancelotti’s doublewinning campaign in 2009/10.

Now the skipper is aiming to lead the Blues to glory after a 3-1 come-frombehind defeat of Southampton took Mourinho’s men to within four points of League leaders Arsenal.

Manchester City are third, two points further behind, Liverpool a point further adrift in fourth, defending champions Manchester United are eighth, nine points behind Arsenal, and Tottenham – the sixth team Mourinho believes are title rivals – are ninth, 10 points off the pace.

“The Premier League is more open than I’ve ever seen it,” Terry said.

“We saw that with Hull beating Liverpool. It was important (to beat Southampton) with Man U and Liverpool dropping points.

AMMING : Salvatore Sirigu makes a save against Bright Dike of Nigeria

Brazil 2014 World Cup

Only the best will play for Nigeria - Keshi S

uper Eagles manager, Stephen Keshi has said his side will not accommodate new players without an enhanced value in the World Cup squad.

Lately the names of captain, Joseph Yobo, Ikechukwu Uche, Taiye Taiwo, Osaze Odemwingie, among several others have been mentioned as possible comeback to the Super Eagles.

Keshi said it amounts to wishful thinking for anybody to believe he will bring back a player C M Y K

that is not better than the ones in his fold at the moment. “It will be senseless to invite any new player who has nothing new or value higher to add to what I’ve at present in camp.

“Of course, I won’t indulge in such fruitless exercise no matter the trappings.

“I’ve indicated that new players will be brought in to strengthen the side but it will be players who are far better than the ones that toiled for the ticket.

“The World Cup is not a platform to try players but a showpiece for tested and experienced players.

“We’ll accommodate the best that will deliver the goods at the World Cup,” said the former Nigerian defender.

Super Eagles will on Friday, December 6 in Bahia, Brazil know their group opponents when the draw will be made for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Hodgson T

he England ma beat the likes of he doesn’t fear the believing his side c Daily Mail. Engla draw on Friday, as one of the top eigh Spain, Germany or But recently the E he has belief in h against ranked Arg Argentina are, and than Chile, but if w

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013 — 33

Nigeria World Cup draw factbox

Kompany set for City return

C

aptain Vincent Kompany is poised to return to action in Manchester City’s midweek Barclays Premier League clash at West Brom.

The influential centre-back has missed City’s last 10 games after suffering a thigh injury two months ago. The Belgian has been back in full training for the past week and will be considered for the trip to The Hawthorns.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini said: “Kompany is in the squad list and he is travelling with the team.”

Kompany has been sorely missed throughout his absence, with the defence looking vulnerable and the team suffering damaging defeats at Chelsea and Sunderland.

Form and Prospects

N

igeria were the first African team to qualify for the 2014 World Cup and their youthful side will be looking to reach the knock-out stages for the first time in 16 years.

The Super Eagles proved to be a team ahead of their time when they won the African Nations Cup at the start of the year, way ahead of the schedule coach Stephen Keshi had set for his young team.

Keshi had said before the tournament in January he was building a new-look side with an eye on being competitive at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and pleaded for patience as he began his project.

Just weeks later Nigeria had fast tracked his plans by winning the tournament in South Africa and will now hope they can have the same impact in Brazil, four years ahead of schedule.

Qualifying for a fifth World Cup finals appearance, Nigeria have not reached the final 16 since France 1998 and they will hope to do better in Brazil, where they failed to get out of their group in the Confederations Cup in June.

The continental champions had a strong qualifying campaign and were unbeaten throughout, conceding just four goals in their eight games and beating Ethiopia 4-1 in the two-legged playoff.

Keshi had purged the squad of some supposedly key players and left pundits bewildered by his team selection but he had the last laugh as Nigeria emerged as a credible force for the 2014 finals.

Coach: Stephen Keshi

K

eshi was one of the first high profile playing exports from Nigeria, playing at Anderlecht and Racing Strasbourg in France.

He captained his country to the 1994 African Cup of Nations title and was also captain at Nigeria’s first

World Cup appearance in the United States the same year, but played in just one of the four matches.

The 51-year-old,describes coaching Togo to qualification for the 2006 World Cup finals as the highlight of his coaching career.

But a fallout with star player Emmanuel Adebayor saw him replaced in Germany.

Key player: Victor Moses

Moses moved to England from Lagos aged 11 and played at Under-21 level for his new country before switching his allegiance to Nigeria.

In a heady 2012, he won his first cap in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Rwanda in February and then transferred from Wigan Athletic to Chelsea.

He has since netted vital goals for Nigeria in both Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup action.

Injury kept him out of the Confederation Cup in Brazil earlier this year, but he moved soon after on loan to Liverpool.

And more minutes on the pitch for his club mean Moses will be hoping to have a big impact for the Super Eagles in Brazil.

How they qualified: One of five direct African qualifiers 2012 June 3 Namibia H W 1-0 I U c h e June 9 Malawi A D 1-1 Egwuekwe 2013 March 23 Kenya H D 1-1 O d u a m a d i June 5 Kenya A W 1-0 Musa June 12 Namibia A D 1-1 O b o a b o n a Sept 7 Malawi H W 2-0 Emenike, Moses (pen) P l a y o f f Oct 13 Ethiopia A W 2-1 Emenike 2 (1 pen) Nov 16 Ethiopia H W 2-0 Moses (pen), Obinna World Cup record: Previous appearances: 4 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2010) Best performances: Second round 1994, 1998.

Odds: William Hill odds to win World Cup (Nov 2013): 250/1

Mo Moyyes expects mixed reception from Ev er Ever ertton fans M

anchester United manager David Moyes has paid tribute to his Everton successor Roberto Martinez as the two sides prepare to meet for the first time since the Scot swapped Goodison Park for Old Trafford in the summer.

With Moyes not enjoying an entirely smooth start to his reign, Martinez’s side head down the East Lancs Road three places above their north-west rivals.

And Moyes knows what a positive impression Martinez has made since his own move from Wigan.

Everton ready to make statement at United

n not afraid of World Cup contenders

nager backs his side to do well and f Argentina Roy Hodgson has stated contenders in the 2014 World Cup, can push any time aside, reports the and are unseeded in the World Cup s the Three Lions will have to play ht seeded sides, including likes of r even hosts Brazil.

England manager has quoted to say his squad to do the job, especially gentina. ”We don’t know how good d we don’t know if they are stronger we get the chance to play Argentina,

we will beat them. When we get on the field we will believe we can do it.”

Argentina sit third in the world behind Germany and Spain, and have some quality in their team, with the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain. As Alejandro Sabella’s team finished top of the South American World Cup qualification campaign, only losing two matches from 16 games. England played two friendlies in the previous month against Chile and Germany both at home, which they both lost; losing 20 to Chile and 1-0 to Germany, four days later.

“He is doing a very good job,” said Moyes.

“He has very good players there. I always told them they could play without a manager because they are very well organised.

“But Roberto is doing a really good job keeping it going.”

Moyes confirmed striker Robin van Persie “has a chance” of being fit after sitting out three games with a combination of groin and toe problems.

“He is doing okay,” said the United chief.

oberto Martinez’s R appointment as manager of Everton was almost overlooked amidst the fall-out of the club’s former boss David Moyes moving to Manchester United to replace Alex Ferguson.

Yet Everton travel to Old Trafford today above them in the league and playing with a style

and confidence which suggests they are realistic top-four contenders.

When the new Premier League season kicked off in August all eyes were on Moyes as he began the almost impossible task of succeeding Britain’s most successful football manager.

United’s 12-match unbeaten streak after a dismal start has lifted the spotlight slightly away from Moyes and it is Spaniard Martinez who is suddenly attracting attention.

His side have lost only once in 13 league matches, are only below fourth-placed Liverpool on goal difference and thrashed Stoke City 4-0 at the weekend with a performance that showed the Goodison Park club have quickly adopted Martinez’s philosophy.

C M Y K

34 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013 — 35

36— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Convoys as agents of death, torture and oppression F

OR the disabled and non-privileged children in Lagos Cheshire Homes, Wednesday November 13, 2013, could be described as the longest day in their lives. It was a day life played another cruel joke on them.

The day started with a ray of hope but turned out to be one the inmates would wish never existed. The events that unfolded that day reminded them about the cruelty of life.

Little wonder they reportedly embarked on hunger strike in reaction to the untimely and unavoidable death of their caretaker, Mr. Adebambo Olumuyiwa.

The deceased was one of the victims of an accident that occurred at U-turn Bus-stop on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway. He was allegedly hit by a truck which was trying to avoid the convoy of the Kwara State Governor’s wife, Mrs. Omolewa Ahmed.

He was said to have died about an hour after the accident at the Ile Epo General Hospital.

Coming at a time when the nation was still nursing the pains of the death of the former President of the Academic Staff Union of UniC M Y K

versities, ASUU, Prof Festus Iyayi, who was killed by the convoy of the Kogi State Governor, CaptainIdris Wada, made the incident one death too many. That apparently explains the level of public outrage it is generating.

Vanguard Features, VF, checks show that many lives have recently been lost due to the recklessness of convoys of “very important personalities, VIPs”. The frequency of these mishaps leaves one wondering why hapless citizens should be sent to the grave by killer convoys of VIPs”?

VF recalls that in October 2009, the convoy of the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko killed six people. In the same vein, the convoy of his Katsina State counterpart was, in March 2011, involved in an accident that resulted in the death of five people, including his ADC .

Growing litany of unavoidable killings Furthermore, on April 28, 2012, the convoy of the Edo State Governor was involved in a ghastly auto accident which resulted in the death of three journalists and injury to four others. The accident which occurred along the Auchi-Warrake Road, in the

Etsako West local Government Area, involved a tipper lorry with the SUV conveying security operatives, the press crew bus and a Hilux van conveying other members of the Governor’s entourage Also, in September last year, a journalist with the Pilot Newspapers, Mr James Umoh was knocked down at NNPC junction, Maitama Abuja while returning home from work by the convoy of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani

,

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

Way back in 1995, the former Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi’s convoy was involved in a crash along Airport Road in which two school children were killed.

Although convoys have existed for years ostensibly for the protection of VIPs, the litany of unavoidable waste of lives associated with them has become worrisome.

Wikipedia, the online dictionary defined convoy as: ‘’A group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, trav-

The convoy of Wada is known for being reckless; this is not the first time this is happening; it does not mean that the worst roads are in Kogi State

,

Alison-Madueke. Umoh was taken to the NNPC Hospital where he passed on. Further checks showed that on September 24, 2012, the Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura escaped death by whiskers when his convoy was involved in a fatal accident in which he lost three of his aides.

elling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organised with armed defensive support. It may also be used in a nonmilitary sense, for example when driving through remote areas. Arriving at the scene of a major emergency with a well-ordered unit and intact command structure can be an-

other motivation.’’ But the contrary is what is obtainable in Nigeria, hence the general conclusion that convoys have become agents of death, torture and oppression.

A former Lagos State Commissioner of Police (rtd), Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, is one Nigerian who is saddened by the development.

He told VF that: ‘’The idea of convoys is not bad because it is used all over the world.

But it is unfortunate that lives have been lost as a result of their recklessness. The drivers should adhere to all known traffic rules. They should also be cautioned.’’

In an obvious reference to the death of Iyayi, Tsav added thus: ‘’The convoy of Wada is known for being reckless; this is not the first time this is happening. It does not mean that the worst roads are in Kogi State.I want to appeal to him to caution his drivers; they are reckless. He should caution them to be cautious on the roads, the roads belong to every Nigerian’’

Executive lawlessness Lending his voice, a human rights activist and lawyer, Mr. Odinna Errita, regretted that the Federal Government has

Continues on page 37

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013 — 37

Con or ture and oppression Convvoys as agents of death, ttor orture Continues from page 36

Culture of denial ‘’The Federal lawmakers should not treat this matter with kid’s gloves. They should

criminalise the abuse of convoys. That in my opinion, would serve as a deterrent to offending public officials. Can you imagine that each time such happens, the VIPs, through their aides, deny being responsible. That shows you that they are lawless and have no regard for the citizenry,’’ he added.

The legal practitioner ’s argument on the denials and indifferent attitude by the VIPs, is not out of place, as further checks by VF showed that it had always been the case.

For instance, the Kwara State Governor ’s wife, Mrs Omolewa Ahmed, had through the spokesperson to the government, Dr. Femi Akorede, denied the report linking her convoy with the traffic accident in Lagos in which two people died.

Akorede said: ‘’I have been reliably briefed by several people in the convoy, including the wife of the Governor and the facts indicate that Mrs Ahmed’s convoy narrowly escaped from the accident rather than causing it. On the said day, Mrs Ahmed was returning from visiting someone in hospital when her convoy narrowly escaped being hit by a tipper-truck, having left the scene of the accident seconds earlier by choice of providence. On noticing the out-of-control tipper truck racing towards

them, the remaining drivers quickly left the junction and joined the convoy. The reported accident, tragic as it is, therefore had nothing to do with Mrs Ahmed or her convoy. However, any loss of life is tragic and sad no matter the cause.’’

Similarly, Kogi State government has meanwhile been debunking the allegation that Governor Idris Wada was responsible for the death of Iyayi, saying the accident occurred because of over speeding, recklessness and wrong

,

done nothing to address the recurring abuse of convoy by VIPs. He said: ’’The matter boils down to the mindset of the man at the top, who is always under pressure because they see politics as a do-or-die affair. That is why this attitude of impunity reflects in all they do. That is why you will find a governor talking to people anyhow, driving recklessly.

For instance here in Lagos I have never heard a single compliant against Governor Raji Fashola. I am not saying that he is perfect but he has displayed a high sense of civility in that regard. Why would other governors not follow his example? ‘’They are always in a hurry.

The Kogi State governor before the death of Iyayi was known to have been involved in a couple of accidents. Also Governor Oshiomhole’s convoy during his campaigns, was involved in two accidents. After that he realised the need to stop that culture of siren and intimidating convoy. Recently the convoy of the wife of the Kwara State Governor was also reportedly involved in another ghastly accident,’’ he recalled.

He was optimistic that the problem can be addressed. ’’For there to be an end to this, the National Assembly should pass enabling laws to regulate the use of convoys. The job should not end with the Federal Road Safety Commission. There should be attitudinal change on the part of the executive. Without the enabling laws, the situation might become chaotic. This executive lawlessness must be stopped urgently,’’ he said.

Another human rights activist, Mr. Asha Okonta, is particularly angry that the VIPs usually deny that their convoy was responsible for the accidents. ‘’Some governors no longer use convoys and I give them credit for behaving in a sane manner. I am worried that many of them are still oppressing the citizenry with their convoys. That act should be stopped because they can’t be sending those who made them governors to early graves. That culture should be modified by the Federal Government,’’ he said.

Eriabane wants the National Assembly to as a matter of urgency, make laws that would regulate the abuse of official convoys by VIPs.

mands no contrary view. Aviators like doctors are trained to protect life,’’Wada’s Chief Press Secretary Richard Elesho said.

FRSC blames crash on untrained drivers The Chairman of the Federal Road Safety Commission,FRSC, Mr. Osita Chidoka, corroborated the state government’s argument linking the accident to over

Of the 700 convoy drivers we trained in the last two years, none has been involved in any road crash; the only crashes that we have seen so far, are from people who have not attended that training

,

overtaking by the convoy.

“Most writers have painted Governor Wada in bad light, tagging him a killer, murderer and hired assassin. They said the accident occurred because of over-speeding, recklessness and wrong overtaking by the convoy. This is sad. Those who know Wada know that the governor abhors violence.

His training as a pilot com-

speeding. He attributed the frequent crashes involving government convoys to the use of untrained drivers. “When we saw that convoy drivers were becoming a problem for the country, we started a process of training them (convoy drivers). We worked with the Governors’ Forum and many state governments submitted their drivers to

training. After the training we decided to develop a category of licenses for convoy drivers in order to be sure that the person is actually qualified to be a convoy driver,’’ he explained.

Continuing, Chidoka said: ‘’Interestingly, the Kogi State convoy has not been involved in this training. I’m just told by the Sector Commander that the Governor has asked him to take all the convoy drivers in Kogi State for this training.

Of the 700 convoy drivers we trained in the last two years, none has been involved in any road crash.

The only crashes that we have seen so far, are from people who have not attended that training because there were vital things they were taught about how to move in a convoy.”

He also disclosed that the Corps would enforce the compulsory installation of speed limiters on the convoy drivers’ vehicles in order to curb their excesses.

According to him, researches conducted by the Corps reveal that nearly half of the crashes in Nigeria are caused by excessive speed.

Chidoka said: “Let me remind our drivers and other road users that maximum speed limit on Nigerian roads in the best of conditions, including road, weather, lights and vehicular situations remain 100kph.”

38—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

The price of migrating without genuine int entions intentions

• A Prisoner

BY VERA SAMUEL ANYAGAFU

A

S the rate at which Nigerians get involved in various crimes abroad increases, some concerned citizens have called for the intervention of the government of President Goodluck Jonathan in the area of providing a better and quick resolution on issues involving some unscrupulous Nigerians who engage in several criminal activities in their various countries of abode abroad.

A Nigerian correspondent cum consultant working with a Chinese magazine, who refused to have his name on prints, told Vanguard Consular Advisory in a conversation that the rate at which a large number of young Nigerians get involved in various forms and levels of criminal activities abroad has become disheartening such that the war against the ugly trend should not be left alone for the government to tackle.

He posited that, “parents should take the highest share of the blame and is high time we stop pointing accusing fingers on the Federal government of Nigeria and other regulating bodies in matters of migration.

Virtually all those who get involved in this criminality and were eventually dragged into prisons, are individuals who out of ignorance, refused to grow in the mist of abundance of skills in Nigeria, rather would give anything to migrate to foreign countries, damning the consequences resulting from their nefarious activities in a situation whereby they are caught.”

He also disclosed that, “over 300 hundred young Nigerians are presently languishing in China prisons for indulging in various drug related business, and fake documentations, and this to a large extent, is drastically affecting the good image and value of the country.

As a correspondent, I have on many occasions diverted reports of any criminal activities involving a Nigerian, but on many of these occasions , I feel completely devastated when it was discovered that

culprits actually jumped borders, and I wondered why a right thinking gentleman would be delighted to lose his identity in a foreign land.”

“Nigerians should learn to take each day at a time. That someone has been denied a visa is not a guaranty for that person to change his identity and or lie about his nationality.

In a situation whereby one migrates to a country with false identity and intention to stay beyond validity period, it poses a huge task for the Nigerian embassy in that territory to locate the individual, and or identify him as a Nigerian, whence he did not register his presence upon arrival in country of abode,” he added.

He also urged those who feel embittered with the many bad eggs in their countries of abode to start sensitizing those individuals, through engaging them in meaningful employment abroad and hope for a better out come from such proccess.

Many cite the dangers of keeping the government totally out of the orientation of the youth in ensuring that they desist from indulging in unhealthy activities abroad, and end up languishing in different foreign countries prisons.

They argued that the situation should take priority over other issues since it has to do with Nigerians who are locked up in prisons far away from home, except if the Federal government of Nigeria and other responsible authorities feel the development and welfare are not in the least, worth losing sleep over.”

Vanguard Consular Advisory also gathered that shortly after the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to China, Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of China, Ambassador Wali told pressmen that in many situations than not, the issue of improper and fake documentations have become a huge challenge to the embassy in tackling cases of imprisonment of its citizenry in Chinese prisons.

To be Continued

consularadvisory@vanguardngr.com

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—39

TREM ends 2013 Kingdom Life Confab

T

Beware of western NGOs' antics, Okoh tells Christians

By CALEB AYANSINA

A

BUJA – PRIMATE, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh has cautioned Christians to be wary of donations from Western non-governmental organisations who are using various tactics to lure them into things that are enmity to God. Addressing over 6,000 delegates at the opening of the conference of the third edition of Divine Commonwealth Conference (DIVICON) of the Anglican Church, a non-denominational gathering held at National Christian Centre, Abuja, the primate charged Christian faithful to forge ahead in the

face of a myriad of temptations, persecution, challenges and trials going on in some parts of the country.

Okoh urged them "to look forward to each new day with great anticipation," adding “as we are all aware, our country is going through harsh economic realities: there is unemployment, poverty and frustration all around. Even the rich are beginning to experience giving-fatigue.

“There is a moral deficit in our church, both among the leaders and the parishioners. We are too often and too easily excited and enthusiastic about 'the lust of the flesh', 'the lust of the eye', and 'the pride of life' money, materials and other

Anglican priests urged to preach undiluted gospel

By OLAYINKA LATONA

B

ISHOP of Ife Diocese, Church of Nigeria (An glican Communion), Rt. Rev. Oluranti Odubogun has urged Christian leaders to always preach sound, balanced and undiluted gospel and be progress-oriented by contributing to the development of one another as well as supporting the expansion of God’s work.

Speaking at the end of the 6th annual women conference of the diocese which took place at St. Matthew Anglican Church, Eleyele, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Bishop Odubogun lamented that another kind of gospel is gradually creeping into the church, advising that the Church of Christ must rise to resist the precarious move which he viewed as satanic.

The cleric regretted that those who once had the gospel had backslid by embracing principles and practices that are in sharp contrast to the true Word of God. “Canterbury once had the

gospel but they have lost it and the gospel is being taking back to them from Africa," he said.

Contrary to insinuations, Odubogun maintained that “Anglican Church will not secede” but the perpetrators of another gospel are those “who will be expelled from the Communion and they are already on their way out by the doctrine they are preaching. They are being isolated by the day. The gospel is about Christ; it’s not about Canterbury.”

He also used the platform to commend the Federal Government for privatising Power Holding Company of Nigeria, but called on President Jonathan to ensure there is constant and regular supply of electricity through conscientious commitment, because according to him, “on the issue of electricity hangs our pro-gress and future.

“We know that private sector is more competent to deliver but they are also competent at giving us heavy burden. Doubtless, electricity tariff will soon skyrocket.”

Tyla Dough speaks at VANGUARD end of year fellowship

T

HE annual end of the year thanksgiving/praise worship service of Vanguard Media Christian Fellowship is scheduled for *Tyla Dough Wednesday, December 11 at the corporate headquarters of the is: “Total Restoration” with company in Apapa,Lagos.

The guest speaker excepted inspiration from Joel 2:25.

Obuh said the programme to minister is Pastor Tyla Dough of Christ Visioners Prophetic scheduled for 12 noon at the company ’s premises is exMinistries, Kaduna.

According to the co-ordinator pected to feature choir of Vanguard Media Christian ministration, special prayer Fellowship, Elder Emmanuel sessions for the management Obuh, the theme of this year’s and staff of the company.

short-time values. This has led to serious compromises of moral standards. There is a dearth of spiritual discipline which ought to be the concomitant of any serious profession of the Christian faith,” he stated.

Okoh maintained that there are dangers and obstacles as "we seek to 'go forward'. Among these are the great evils associated with the philosophy of aggressive secularism, which promotes a world view neutral of all theistic considerations, and admits no transcendental reference. It breeds a society which increasingly degenerates into more and more ungodliness."

According to him, several NGOs of western origin are in this category, warning "you need extreme caution and necessary counselling before signing on to do anything with 'dogood packages', from USA, UK, Canada, Europe as a whole!

This philosophy goes hand-inhand with another, namely, materialism.”

HE Redeemed Evangelical Mission, TREM's 2013 King dom Life World Conference with a theme, Open Heaven which started on November 17 ended last Sunday. The conference was graced by thousands of worshippers from different parts of the world including the wife of Lagos State governor, Dame Abimbola Fashola.

*Dr. Mike Okonkwo, Bishop Peace Okonkwo and Dame Abimbola Fashola at the closing ceremony of the Kingdom Life World Conference 2013 with a theme; Open Heaven at TREM international headquarters, Anthony Oke, Lagos on Sunday.

*A cross section of worshippers at the closing service of Kingdom Life Conference.

Enough of this division in the Body of Christ

By JOHN JOSEPH HAYAB

I

T is with great pain, that we of the Christian Awareness Initiative of Nigeria (CHAIN) read the statements credited to the Association of Christian Theologians (ACTS) which was published in the media on Saturday, November 23, 2013 and stating that ACTS was of the view that the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, "could not be trusted to present the views of Nigerian Christians at the conference."

Not only does the statement of this group seek to bring the Church of Christ in Nigeria into disrepute, it further casts aspersions on this theologians group as a whole for the simple reason that what the group has done is against Christian theology as taught by Christ in Matthew 18:15-17; where Jesus said: “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector".

The above steps for conflict resolution are those ordained

by our Lord and Saviour. As theologians, it is expected that ACTS should be familiar with these steps. The question is, have they followed these Godordained steps to resolve any conflict with CAN? How do they want to represent Christians at the National Dialogue with a divided Christian House? We believe ACTS should learn first to dialogue with CAN before meeting other Nigerians if they are going to make a good and godly representation at the conference.

On the contrary, the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, under the leadership of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor has set up machinery to resolve any existing conflict among her groups. Just last week, CAN under Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, called an interdenominational meeting of Christian groups and said: "There is a problem we need to reconcile with everybody". The media was not called, outsiders were not called. Is that not how Christians should settle their matters?

The Bible enjoins us to obey constituted authorities which CAN is one. There may be issues and differences in the way we view matters in this country but we most be seen to be godly in our approach to getting things done right.

The Bible teaches us to obey constituted authorities which CAN is one. Thus we at CHAIN, call on the Association

of Christian Theologians (ACTS), that if they are indeed theologians of the Holy Bible, they should as a matter of urgency purge themselves of this current unbiblical stance of theirs where they take disagreements to the pages of newspapers when they have not made any effort for reconciliation.

It is a settled matter that Pastor Oritsejafor was voted by Christian representatives at the last CAN Congress in Abuja for another final term in office in accordance with CAN Constitution.

We hereby call on those behind ACTS to retrace their steps if they are indeed Christians and adhere to the discipline expected of theologians by submitting themselves to the Ecclesiastical authority of CAN. If they do not like the present CAN leadership, the only option open to them is to engage them in constructive dialogue, pray for God to change their hearts or wait until the next elections and offer themselves for election into the offices of the president and executives of CAN and if they win then they can speak for Nigerian Christians. Until then, ENOUGH OF THIS DIVISION IN THE BODY OF CHRIST.

*Rev. John Joseph Hayab for Christian Awareness Initiative of Nigeria (CHAIN)

40—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Ekiti 2014:

Brain and blood contest

For a state with the moniker, Fountain of Knowledge, the match-up of the intellectually gravitating Dr. Kayode Fayemi and the grassroots mobiliser and lawyer, Rep. Opeyemi Bamidele should have been in the realm of the academia.

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR

B

EFORE his advent into the political terrain, Governor Fayemi had distinguished himself in civil rights advocacy within and outside the continent. His wife, Erelu Bisi Fayemi was also, no less a successful activist in Africa.

Mutual friends of Fayemi and Bamidele say that the relationship between the two was itself, also tied to Bisi, who before marriage formed a convival bond with the two men before a more permanent marital bond with Kayode was created.

The friends also say that Fayemi ascension to the governorship of Ekiti State was greatly facilitated by Bamidele who at the time of the

what many saw as a titanic battle.

However, what many supposed would be a battle of brains between the two, inevitably turned bloody when Bamidele formally made a declaration to contest the gubernatorial election against Fayemi early last month.

Foluso Ogundare one of Bamidele’s supporters was shot dead while another supporter, Madam Beatrice Ige survived to tell her story.

That was not the first physical skirmish that Bamidele would suffer and blame Governor Fayemi for. Last April he was attacked in Igede Ekiti on Friday, 12th April, 2013 during a mobilization visit to the area.

Given the inclination of the political establishment towards a second term for the incumbent governor, it was not lost on

,

,

Must we continue to wrestle for justice within the same boat where injustice has become institutiona-lized ?

nomination for the 2007 gubernatorial contest, was an integral factor in the Bola Tinubu political machine in Lagos.

But how the duo of Fayemi and Bamidele fell out remains a matter of conjecture which both men have so far refused to divulge.

Suggestions that Fayemi has taken his advocacy to the Ekiti landscape is, however, not in doubt given his landmark projects all around the state.

Roads, abandoned tourist locations and social welfare policies adopted by the governor indeed have raised the stakes.

But not everyone in the state that is littered with eggheads is satisfied with Fayemi hs done or his style on ground.

Bamidele who was elected to the House of Representatives after stepping down from the Senate contest that was bestirred by much rancour has been at the head of the criticisms. Even more than the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Bamidele as a member of the then Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN was at the vanguard of the crusade against what he claimed the underachievement of the Fayemi administration.

That was the beginning of

Bamidele, his associates and observers that the APC would not accommodate his aspiration.

It was therefore not surprising that the legislator last Sunday revealed that he would be joining the Labour Party.

The decision may have come as a surprise to many, but definitely not to many leaders of the APC who had been predicting the move.

Giving his reason in a press statement last Sunday, the

•Fayemi: Active on ground

•Bamidele: Not impressed

lawmaker said: ”Must we continue to wrestle for justice within the same boat where injustice has become institutionalized by those who, in spite of what they preach, have consistently demonstrated extreme allergy to internal democracy? Clearly, our answer is NO.” His declaration for Labour Party is, however, bound to elicit strong reaction from the political establishment, especially his political leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

It is even believed to be more provoking, given the choice of Labour Party, which Governor Segun Mimiko of Ondo State is said to be using to undermine the APC in the Southwest.

Mimiko was re-elected last year for a second term after a bruising challenge from the APC spearheaded by Tinubu.

Following his success and the alleged alliance between Mimiko and the PDP administration at the centre, it was claimed that Mimiko had become the linchpin to be used against Tinubu’s hold on the

Southwest. Ekiti and Osun which hold gubernatorial elections next year, it is assumed, are to be the test grounds for Mimiko’s outreach.

By teaming up with Tinubu’s arch foe in the Southwest, Bamidele who served as special adviser and commissioner in Lagos State for twelve years under the patronage of Tinubu may have broken the cord between the two men.His exit from the APC has nevertheless been welcomed by the party in the state which obviously must have been relieved.

Responding to Bamidele’s

announcement almost immediately he made it, Segun Dipe, the director of publicity of the state chapter of the APC, said: “Opeyemi Bamidele’s declaration of his governorship ambition today in Emure and on the platform of Labour Party is a welcome development.

This is democracy and it is about free entry, free exit.”

While welcoming the move, Mr. Dipe nevertheless jabbed: “Why declaring at Emure at a time the dead is still being mourned in the town? Our people can see how he is now dancing on the death of our citizen in Ekiti.

“Governor Kayode Fayemi had to postpone his trip to Emure in reverence of the dead.

Why can’t Opeyemi allow the dead – victim of a recent violence in the town- to be buried before going there to play politics? This confirms our position that he actually masterminded the crisis and fatality in the town for his selfish interest.”

Giving vent to the alleged alliance with Governor Mimiko, the APC rounded up thus: ”More so, since his ambition was concocted in Akure and his supporters are there, would it not have been better he declared there?”

That indeed is an indication of the interesting time for stakeholders and observers ahead of the promising gubernatorial contest in Ekiti State.

NOTE PAD •Bamidele and Fayemi have been buddies from university days •Mutual friends say that Fayemi met his wife through Bamidele •Bamidele is not moved by what some claim as Fayemi’s achievements. According to him, the state is under-performing •Some claim Bamidele was pushed to the wall after Fayemi acquiesced to the removal of his father as ACN ward chairman

Abia 2015: Why not a woman?

BY COMFORT NGWAKWE WE passionately appeal as we count down to 2015 elections, that leaders and politicians must accept that breaking wrong tradition, defying custom, and overcoming discrimination against women who dare to serve requires courage and leadership while deserving commendation.

Over the years women have been relegated to the background on issues of the overall development especially in the developing nations like Nigeria. But surprisingly in Abia state, distinguished Senator Nkechi Justina Nwaogu

representing Abia Central in the Senate and many other women have clearly proven beyond every doubt that women can actually be trusted to deliver the dividends of democracy to her people as well as facing head on, the challenges faced by both the youths and the elderly which stem from social, economic and political problems.

In the past girls were removed from school, they were not allowed into active politics, women were forbiden from employment outside the home, “the private sphere” and were not allowed to appear in public in clear contravention of the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Suffice to say that there is historical evidence to prove that Nigerian women have for long been playing crucial roles in the political life of the country, and this has contributed in no small measure in shaping the political system of the nation.

For development of any kind to be successful, a vantage position should be accorded the women as being spearheaded by the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, and ought also to be supported by those leaders who are supportive of her aspiration with practical action.

Indeed women in Abia have begun to close ranks, synergize, work, fast and pray for the victory of one of their own whom they are by this medium seeking for everyone’s support including His Excellencies, Ochendo Global the supporter of the women, the First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan and His Excellency President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in making this dream a reality in Abia state.

The women and girls are appealing for the support of their husbands and fathers in giving the women an opportunity to showcase the potentials and

Continues on page 41

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013 — 41

Imo: I shake my head in disbelief — Duruiheoma, Imo PDP chairman *Okorocha has failed in all sectors

Imo State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Eze Duruiheoma (SAN) in this interview insists that the PDP did not lose the 2011 governorship election in the state. He also dissects the administration of Governor Rochas Okorochas and says there is no cause for cheer. Excerpts:

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

I

MO PDP lost the gubernatorial seat in the last election. What really accounted for it?

It must be generally acknowledged that the so called loss till today remains controversial because there are so many outstanding issues. The so called loss and so called victory were declared when Oguta results, at least officially, were not in.

And when it is recalled that Oguta has registered voters of over 67,000 then you ask: Why would Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declare somebody who had 40,000 or less than 40,000 votes difference between him and the other party and that is PDP, the winner of an election?

Is this why PDP lost in Imo? This is part of what happened.

It looks like there were too many interests in that election. And one such interest could have accounted for why INEC should declare somebody the winner when all the results were not in.

Coming home, I must admit that PDP was in a pretty bad shape at the time we went into that election. We were riddled by all sorts of internal wrangling.

There was clear and palpable

disunity in our ranks. In fact, after the election, stories were told of how some of our people worked against our party.

We acknowledge the fact that things were not quite well with us. We were not in a very healthy state before we went into that election. We went into that election factionalized. People who lost tickets, may be under questionable circumstances became disgruntled and decided to punish the party. But even at the poor state of health, we could have won that election. The story is now history and we have put it behind us and we are looking forward to the days ahead.

What is the situation now in Imo PDP? We have taken stock of those things that happened. We have since resolved that some of those things that contributed to the type of anger in the membership of the party are not witnessed again. For a start, we have what we call “Mobilization Committee”. They have been going round the state and sensitizing and reconciling PDP members. They are doing a marvelous job. If you remember very well, the rebellion against PDP started with Owerri Municipal. We have addressed that problem sufficiently. I think today, PDP is very strong.

*Duruiheoma So many people are coming back as a result of what they have seen us do. We have stabilized the party sufficiently. We have stabilized Imo PDP along the lines of fairness, equity and justice. The administration in Imo State today is also helping us to realize our dream. Some people like me, knowing some of the characters in the government, are skeptical about them. From day one, I told anybody that cared to listen that these people are not serious.

Well, at that time, so many people did not quite believe me but today, they come to me and say “ you spoke from point of

knowledge.” Everything I predicted has come to pass.

How is Governor Rochas Okorocha helping PDP to realise its dream, given the belief that he has done more work than his predecessors?

Who told you? How many jobs has he created since he came on board? Have you forgotten that one of the first things he did on assumption of duty was the summary sacking of beneficiaries of Ikedi Ohakim’s 10,000 jobs?

Those youngsters are still rusting at home, courtesy of the governor’s order. Imo State has recorded more protests from

Abia 2015: Why not a woman?

Continues from page 40 ability of today’s women in providing an accountable and transformational leadership.

Today, women are participating more actively in political issues than ever before as a result of political re-awakening and awareness.

However more often than not, “WOMEN” are besieged with challenges of which discrimination is more rife, such that some outdated political agents are using currently to undermine and deny Abians and Abia women particularly, their opportunity to showcase the great virtues and leadership ability of Abia women and her men supporters.

Again this poor choice you will agree has consistently to date struck at the most basic of women’s human rights,

depriving them of economic, political, physical and intellectual independence and overturned what women internationally had been struggling to achieve for over five centuries.

Majority of the men more on chauvinistic disposition are preoccupied with the notion that decision making is exclusively for the men folk while women are to be instructed on what to do.

This idea of seeing the women playing the number two role at home has come to play itself out in the political life of the people thereby impeding the very best of the women on the bases of gender.

This ought not to be so with regard to the ever dynamic nature of things globally as women are now seen in other lands as avantgarde in developed nations.

It is not surprising that the same mindset of yester years is

still what is obtained in our country today, but this we must resist and refuse as we march to 2015 elections.

Therefore the political elite in Nigeria and Abia state in particular must also learn from this experience that demeaning an individual or group over time results in stereotyping and the denial of recognition of that groups or person’s accomplishments, contributions and ability to serve the society well.

On this note we call on Abians to note that while the division of spheres, based on sex and known as patriarchy, may have been justified as a necessary division of labor in the early evolution of the human species, this system long ago outlived its functionality and has been challenged by women, and a few men, since, at least, the fifteenth

century. Abians therefore must avoid sentiment and depart from the past to embrace the future, the change that people want and can believe.

May we also remember that even though women face harsh difficulties in politics, they continue with their political ambition, contributing enormously to the political and national development in their own way as the challenges militating against them are not present, although Nigeria is yet to have a female elected Governor or president, women over the years could be said to have recorded some measure of appreciable political achievement in other political fields of endeavour.

*Mrs Comfort Ngwakwe is from Ugwuagbo local council in Abia State.

aggrieved Imolites than we had in the Udenwa and Ohakim administrations put together!

This definitely is not a good testimonial.

When the governor’s aides and some uninformed people associate the administration with what they call “giant developmental strides”, I look at them and laugh. Honestly, what are we celebrating?

How is the economy in Imo? Take it or leave it, the administration in Imo State is a one man show. It is only one man that knows the price of everything government is spending on. If this administration has spent about N200 billion on its self inflicted rescue mission, the question is: Where is the money?

If the money is within the economy, the people should feel the effect. What has sadly happened is that even in the midst of plenty, people are still starving.

Is there no sector you can give this administration a pass mark?

Absolutely no sector! Let me go through them one after the other.

I heard from a reputable medical practitioner a few days ago that all the government medical institutions in the state are grounded, except the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri.

What any responsible government would have done is to find out why the hospitals are not functioning. Your findings will inform your course of action. If it is low patronage, what led to it?

If it is lack of facilities, you address it. The Teaching Hospital is in Orlu and as a teaching hospital, it is supposed to be a referral medical institution. Why is it not performing that role?

Honestly, the whole thing sickens me.

Now let us look at the so called free education programme. To my mind, it is the greatest scandal.

It is a massive fraud on Imo people. Each time I think about this free education, I shake my head in disbelief because there is scarcely any family in the state that does not have a graduate.

After going to school what next?

They are wallowing about without gainful employment.

Why does the administration not address it? Before now, it was widely known that government offered scholarship and bursaries to deserving students. What happened to this programme?

That is something a responsible government should address.

Honestly, the free education programme was not well though out. He only wanted to score a cheap political point. Is anything free in this world?

Is it in Adapalm that there is no controversy? Today, there is a controversy as to who bought Adapalm. There is also an ongoing controversy about who bought Concorde Hotel, Owerri.

Of course, the word they use these days is concession. I am just being charitable to say that.

42 —

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4 4,, 2013

65-year-old hit-and-run victim battles in pains

•

Sends SOS to Gov Uduaghan

BY IKENNA ASOMBA

S

INCE December 2012, fol lowing a hit-and-run incident along Asaba-Onitsha Expressway, 65-year old Rita Obi, has been battling pains of an injured left foot crushed in the incident.

Mama Obi, as she is fondly called, recounted how she was forced to relocate to Lagos in July this year, in search of medical assistance and succour. Unfortunately, she became stranded, and has since pitched tent under the bridge at Ojuelegba.

Stranded

• Injured and stranded: Rita, 65, languishing under Ojuelegba bridge in Lagos.

Speaking to Health & Living, Rita, an old girl of Mary-Moun College, Agbor, Delta State, narrated how she became stranded.

She said it occurred following discovery that the Church she had visited in the hope of getting help - the Morning Star Assembly on Rufai Street, Ojuelegba had closed shop.

Every effort to get details of the relocation proved futile, and six months on, Mama Obi still resides under the bridge in severe pains, at the mercy of the elements of the weather.

Her account: “It all happened in December 2012, in my hometown in Asaba town of Delta State, I was hit by an articulated vehicle along the Asaba/Onitsha Expressway, when I squatted to

What is better than fighting cancer?

E

ACH day we’re reading and hearing about cancer: Breast cancer is defeated again, colon cancer has found its enemy, lung cancer can be early discovered, new methods in curing cancer, etc, but what we’re most of all interested in, if we do not suffer from this terrible disease, is to learn how to avoid it.

We should be concerned in preventing this disease, as it has been shown that, though people with family history are more prone to getting sick, even the ones with no medical history at all can develop one form or another. Instead of hoping to never get sick, we should focus on doing everything possible to prevent getting sick, either talking about cancer, or any other type of disease, which can bring just as much suffering.

Exercise

The mother of all preventing methods is exercising. Practicing any sport, jogging, gymnastics, or even Pilates can help; we just have to keep on moving. A healthy body will fight any disease harder and definitely with much more success; while a good and strong immune system can fight any virus.

Even since antiquity, people knew that working out is good, the ancient Greeks

and Romans transformed exercises into big events, promoting the healthy body as the best way to look and feel good, but also in order to improve one’s mind and thinking abilities. Just as the Roman Poet, Juvenal puts it, “Mens sana in corpore sano”, means “A healthy mind in a healthy body”. The simplified scientific explanation for this would be that the more you exercise, the more oxygen you get into your blood, and the more oxygen your blood brings to your brain, the better your brain will function. Of course there is more to it, but this explains how all the organs in our body work much better once we work out and give them their precious oxygen.

Diet

Prevention also starts in our plates.

Since we are living in the age of fast food, with fries and mayonnaise, we should all know that these foods are cancerous, and the people saying this are not saying it because they want to make anti-commercials to huge corporate businesses, but because it has been proven that these foods are really bad.

We’re the victims of our own taste buds, and we know it but very often try to forget. Besides fast food, even the vegetables

urinate in the drainage along the road. The driver probably had a break failure and was struggling to control the vehicle. As he was coming towards me, I quickly jumped up, unfortunately for me, the vehicle smashed my left foot, and since then, I have been in pains.”

Rita, who made an appeal for aid, recalled she initially treated the wound on her own in Asaba, where she had lived since her husband's demise in Utobuno, Kwale Delta State, in 2008.

“His people drove me away, when he died and I had no option than to return to my hometown. We had a daughter, who is presently in Port-Harcourt. I have not set my eyes on her for so many years now.”

for people with health and spiritual challenges.

Journey to Lagos

“I have been stranded in Lagos since July this year, languishing in pains. As I speak, my leg oozes an offensive odour, which scares people away from me. I am calling on Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, to come to my aid here in Lagos, to save me from this predicament before I die.

“The Governor is a detribalised Nigerian. He's doing a good job in Delta State, so I hope he would come to my aid. I need to be hospitalised. I’m a contented person, and I believe if I'm cured of of this swollen leg, I can fend for myself thereafter.”

Asked why she left her people in Asaba to Lagos, she said: “I came to Lagos about in July this year, with the intention to seek spiritual and medical assistance from my church, Morning Star Assembly, in Rufai Street, Ojuelegba, Lagos. On coming here, things fell apart. I discovered that the church has moved out of the building which it occupied while I was still in Lagos, before my husband's demise.

While I was in Lagos, we used to have a steady prophet in the church who counsels and prays

Horrible experience

“Under this bridge , I 'm mercilessly drenched by the rain and unprotected under the scorching sun. On many occasions, I call little children or even adults to buy food for me, they steal my money, leaving me hungry, because I can't walk.

“Each time I try to walk, I fell terrible pains. It's regrettable that even little children would abscond with my money. Clothes and food items given to me by people are often stolen at night by area boys. I really feel bad being stranded here in Lagos,” she lamented.

SOS to Uduaghan

Julia Oyefunke Fortune

The Chronic Disease

FIGHTER

juliafortune@hotmail.com

we’re buying in our supermarkets can be extremely dangerous, especially since many of them are genetically modified to resist pests, and most of them are sterile fruits and veggies, due to this same modification. They do look better; more coloured, but have in fact almost no nutritional value.

mality in time, is the regular check-up. It can be annoying, but it can save us a lot of time and especially suffering if we discover any type of cancer in due time. Any type of cancer discovered in its incipient stage has huge chances to be healed, and that makes a visit to the doctor’s office once a year worth the trouble.

Fruits and vegetables

Prevention

If you don’t feel like trusting us, trust your taste buds, which will tell you the truth. Naturally obtained fruits and veggies are tasteful, even though less colored and not that big and pretty; while genetically modified ones have surreal colours and taste like cardboard paper. If no vitamins and nutrients enter our body, how do we imagine our body can fight any disease, even a simple flu?

Buy only locally obtained fruits, and buy small quantities, since real fruits and veggies will not last for weeks, like modified ones do, yet another thing to consider.

Last, but not least, our main ally in protecting ourselves against any unpleasant surprises, and help us detect any abnor-

It is always better to prevent rather than to heal, and these are just a few of the solutions, but they are very important, since they help us fight any type of disease, prolonging our life, and making our lives a lot easier.

A healthy body will keep our minds sharp even with old age, less pains and aches are very important, especially after a certain age, and a good health will let us enjoy our life as well as our family and friends for a longer period of time. All these make it worth running a few miles, eating a few fruits and thinking positively, believing in a Higher Power and about what we want to do in our lives. To your health!

Vanguard anguard,, YOUR LUCK TODAY

LEISURE

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 LIBRA; Happenings within your working arena’ll give genuine cause to smile and with efforts on your part you’re in for a rewarding day. Take advantage of your sex-appeal to enhance your love life. Experiment with ideas creatively.

SCORPIO ; Creativity may take front in what’s happening within your base of operation and the best for you is to join them. Lovers are fairly favoured.

SAGITTARIUS ; Tomorrow is your great day. Yet your being creative today can earn you un-expected good result at the end of the day. Be family minded now.

CAPRICORN ; Needed solution to challenges along your career/business lines will come through your being creative. Prepare to take good advice on your finances.

AQUARIUS; If you take unusual ideas coming to your mind today more seriously, thins’ll work favourably for you. The more financially ambitious you’re the better.

WEDNESD A Y, DECEMBER 4, 2013—43 WEDNESDA

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Richard Eromosele

I

F I may ask you which is the best way to advertise yourself today, I guess many people will be mentioning the different media through

The Best Advertisement which you do this. Some will even go beyond naming them to talking about their exorbitant prices.

However, I want

TERROR MUDA

to let you know that you do not need to pay money in order to get the kind of advert that can promote you.

How? Fine! Let

in “Never say goodbye”

me ask you a question: Who does Tiger Wood pay to get publicity? What of Ali Baba? Want to be advertised?

Just do s o m e t h i n g newsworthy no matter how little.

By Lanre Kehinde

PISCES; The Moon in your Star sign favours aggressive approach in a favourable way. Here is a day Artist among you can create master piece. Be stead-fast.

ARIES You’ll have much to gain if you’re more co-operative and embrace creative ideas of your close associates.

And it’s good to be friendly, loving and caring.

TAURUS ; Aggressive approach is not what you need at work now, but creative approach. You’ve got nothing to lose if you take good advice from your friends.

GEMINI ; Whatever anybody says about your ambition and desire success will crown your efforts today. The more creative you are the better for your cause. And lovers can make it an exciting and happy day. Show your sex appeal and be loving.

CANCER; Your ideas are brilliant and if you blend them creatively the sky’ll be the limit. Let people within your home base know that you truly care for them.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Pretty Lunatic’

By Andy Akman

LEO; It does not matter who initiates creative idea that lead to success what is important is you should not be left in the cold all alone. The more co-operative you are the better for you. Don’t ignore your magnetic se-appeal.

VIRGO.; Good luck and happiness indicated for you today.

But then, the scope of your success’ll depend on how cooperative and creative you are both with your loved one and at work. Prepare to take good advice especially from younger person(s).

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,

Basic Characteristics of Capricorn?

Because they rarely day dream, Capricorn natives are set of practical people. This is because Capricorn is ruled

by Saturn - the planet of career, sceptical and material things Although, the spirit of pessimism often times tempt the Capricorn born people, to succeed they will need to develop strong will that is indispensable to achievements of higher order because, series of challenges will come his/her way before he/she finally makes it to the top. Most natives of Capricorn are forced to shoulder many responsibilities early in life. Career building comes first in their priority lists which often leads to enviable career achievements that guarantee recognition. And another name for Capricorn is PATIENCE. Yet, he/she can appear mean in the business circle. And tell you that seriousness and business are synonymous. Above all, they are endowed with leadership capacity.

Capricorn ‘s quality is cardinal, element is the earth.

The cardinal aspect makes a natural leader with strong ability for hard work. Natives of cardinal signs crave for action and strongly desire prominence and often times make success of their love of action and desire for importance through relentless efforts.

The earthly connection with Capricorn further confirms innate ability for hard work and practicality . Saturn is the planet of hard task, delay, depression, frustration, frustration but reward after so much struggles. Being a difficult teacher, Saturn usually takes its natives through many different tasks, challenges and delay. All these are meant to teach them virtues of patience and hard work.

However, Saturn usually brings its natives recognition and reward.

The cautious side of Saturn always manifest in all Capricorn born people thus, but it is necessary for them to watch that side of their characteristics as they often push their cautious side too far and most of the time it results to black mood.

VIRGINIA

HOME & ABROAD

dadadekola@yahoo.com

By Lawrence Akapa

44—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Uvwie monarch tasks Police on security

Anniversary

T

D

ETERMINED to contribute to Delta State government’s effort at making the state crime free, HRM Emmanuel Ekemejewan Sideso, Abe I, Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom, has called on the state Commissioner of Police to intensify his security work in the kingdom.

The monarch said there was need to rid Ugborikoko, Ekpan and other parts of Uwvie Kingdom of criminals and their weapons, including all persons involved in the cases of rape, adding that shooting of guns and other fireworks during the yuletide season should be banned.

The monarch, who spoke at the final reconciliation meeting of Ugborikoko community at his palace at Effurun, also proscribed all forms of disciplinary committees/task forces in the area as he noted that such bodies had over the years been abused by some youths.

Abe I said he aligned himself with the Delta State Government’s ban on ‘thugs and criminal’ organisations in the state, particularly in Uvwie Local Government Area.

In the spirit of total reconciliation, the Uvwie monarch also called on those that fled the community during the crisis to return.

SDS: From right— Mr. Awoderu Olusegun, Head, Suzuki Driving School, SDS, a division of C & I Leasing, operators of Red Cab; Mr. Tunde Odumasi, Federal Road Safety Commision, FRSC, Training Officer, Ikeja Command; Mr. Efeoluwa Adelusi, Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Ojota branch and Lagos State NURTW Deputy Organising Secretary; and Mr. Samuel Iboroma, Corporate Communications Executive, C & I Leasing, at the training organised for Ojota NURTW members by SDS in Lagos.

DELTA CENTRAL: Notify Aguariavwodo by substituted service, tribunal orders

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

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SABA— THE National Assembly Election Tribunal sitting in Asaba has ordered that Senator Emmanuel Aguariavwodo, who is the first respondent in the election petition filed by the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate, Olorogun O’Tega Emerhor, be served through substituted service by pasting

it in front of the tribunal venue.

The order followed a motion ex parte brought by Emerhor seeking an order of the tribunal for substituted service on the Senator, following the inability of the bailiff to have him served, despite several efforts.

Emerhor had filed a 15-page petition before the tribunal seeking for the outright cancellation of the election.

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ENIN— PRESIDENT of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Mr. Abdulwaheed Omar yesterday lamented that failure by the Federal Government to fix the dilapidated Lokoja-Abuja Road led to the untimely death of Professor Festus Iyayi.

Omar, who said this when he paid a condolence visit to Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and the family of late Iyayi, described the late academician as a committed activist that added value to the labour movement in the country.

Omar said: “We believe that certain factors led to the

He approached the tribunal for an order directing the third respondent (Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,) to organise fresh election for the office of Senator representing Delta Central senatorial district and in which the votes of the people should count in accordance with the Electoral Act to be contested by the candidates, who participated

Delta community laments ‘communication breakdown with oil firm

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OMADI— THE people of Oyangbene autonomous community in Burutu Local Government Area, Delta State, which host Nigeria Agip Oil Company Limited, NAOC,

have expressed displeasure over what they described as communication breakdown between them and NAOC. Speaking at Bomadi, leader of the three-man community

NLC blames Iyayi's death on failed roads

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

HE 10th anniversary celebration of the Morgan Smart Development Foundation, MSDF, and commissioning of the Morgan Smart Women and Youths Empowerment Resource Centre in Warri, Delta State, will take place tomorrow at the Centre on Oki Street, Okere, Warri.

The Centre comprises a 150-capacity hall (Ayirimi Emami Hall), an ICT laboratory equipped with computers and accessories to run training programmes for about 30 youths per session, and a fullyequipped library that will include an e-library facility.

demise of Professor Iyayi.

“The Federal Government is highly culpable on the issue of the criminal neglect of the Abuja-Lokoja Road, which contract was awarded over 10 years ago.

“We believe if not for the criminal neglect, this accident would not have happened.

Also the executive recklessness on the part of the Kogi Government is glaring.

“This is said to be the third time that the same convoy is getting involved in accidents.”

He challenged Nigerians to rise to the occasion of ensuring that things were done the right way to avoid a repeat of such incident.

Omar said Iyayi's death was not only a loss to the family and the state, but also to the labour movement and Nigeria.

He expressed the hope that his legacies would not be allowed to die with him.

The NLC President recalled that the late professor did his sabbatical at the NLC, describing him as a committed person.

Governor Oshiomhole said there were several lessons to be learnt from the death of Professor Iyayi.

He said: “The fact that he was ASUU President many years ago and yet always identified with the union is a testimony to the level of his conviction.”

representatives, Mr. Arogbo Preye, claimed Agip had ignored letters sent to it by the community several times.

He said the community had earlier informed NAOC of the change of leadership in the community and the need to rub minds over its much-awaited operation in the area.

Preye said though the site preparation and dredging had been concluded by Beks-Kimse Nigeria Ltd., the operations of the oil rig had been delayed and there was absolute communication breakdown between Agip and its host community since the new leadership took over the mantle from the Ekampou-led administration in April this year.

He called on Agip to immediately link up with the new leadership to ensure smooth communication to avert unnecessary misunderstandings, emphasising that the new leadership was the only legal organ of the community through which Agip could liaise with the community on issues concerning the people.

in the October 12.

... only APC

Investigation has shown that only the APC candidate, Emerhor, filed a petition challenging the declaration of Senator Emmanuel Aguariavwodo of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the winner of the election by INEC. Secretary to the Tribunal, Adamu Mohammed Aliyu, confirmed this yesterday in Asaba when Vanguard sought to know how many petitions had been received by the tribunal within the mandatory period set aside for receiving petitions after election.

Burial

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ATE Comfort Kimikakiyen Shaka of Erhuwaren in Ughelli South council of Delta State, aged 98, is dead.

The body will leave Tefia Clinic, Udu Road, to her home town, Erhuwaren for lying-in-state and a Church service at her compound.

Interment is Saturday, December 14. Reception follows immediately at Erhuwaren Primary School, Erhuwaren.

Outing service holds the next day at God’s Grace Mission, Erhuwaren.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—45

GCUOBA LUNCHEON: From left: President General, Government College Ughelli Old Boys' Association, GCUOBA, worldwide, Chief Joseph Akpieyi, his wife Mabel and Chairman of the occasion, Ambassador Tayo Ogunsulire, during the 2013 Annual Luncheon Party, Lagos Branch, in Lagos. Photo: Diran Oshe.

Prof. & Mrs. John Amoda, during the GCUOBA luncheon in Lagos. Photos: Diran Oshe.

Oshiomhole swears in Sole Administrator for Orhionmwon LG

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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ENIN—GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has sworn in Mr. Iyobo Igharo as Sole Administrator for Orhionmwon Local Government Council.

Igharo is to administer the local government for two months, pending the outcome of investigation into the alleged trip to Italy by the suspended chairman of the council, Chief Roland Ibierutowhen, the vice chairman and the entire legislative arm of the local government.

Speaking after administering the oath of office on Igharo, Oshiomhole urged him to work closely with the supervisors to bring development to the area.

He said: “Let me congratulate you for your appointment as the Sole Administrator of Orhionmwon Local Government for a period of two months while the enquiry we have set up is on to determine precisely what to do. I expect you to work closely with the supervisory councillors that are there and who are not affected by the suspension order.

“Between you and your supervisory councillors, it is now your lot to provide leadership for the local government and you are entitled to perform all those duties that the local government chairman is supposed to perform.

“I expect that you would consult, that you would be guided by the Ministry of Local Government under the supervision of the Deputy Governor.

All you do during this period shall reflect the aspirations of the people of the local government area.

“You are being called upon to do a very difficult task. As they say, there can be no vac-

uum in leadership. I believe you have what it takes to do the job.

But know that it is a temporary job. You should try and look at what the long term plans are and what you think you can do. It is not your business to look at long term projects that your short term cannot accommodate.

“Let me be clear that your business is not to take the local government money and share to party leaders or to do any of those things that are unlawful.

Again, in the procurement of the things that the local people do not need, remember you are there as a stop gap pending when the picture is clear and the government decides which direction to go.”

Explaining why he chose Igharo, Oshiomhole said: “I believe we should use a seasoned person like you so that we can insulate the civil service from political ex-

posure which, in the long run, may not be in the interest of the local government.”

Oshiomhole advised him to comply with all laid down rules and follow due process in all transactions so that he would not have any problem with anyone.

Responding, the sole administrator pledged to discharge his responsibility with diligence and promised to justify the confidence reposed in him.

Dickson flays govt's importation of fuel

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

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E N A G O A — GOVERNOR Seriake Dickson Bayelsa of State, yesterday, said government had no business in importing refined petroleum products and expressed the readiness of his administration to partner with the organized private sector to build of a refinery in the state.

Dickson, in a statement in Yenagoa, noted with dismay, the importation of refined products, in spite of the magnitude of the barrels of crude oil produced daily in the country.

The government's planned partnership with the organized private sector in the building of a refinery in the state, he said, would open a vista of opportunities for investors in the oil and gas sector of the economy.

He said aside the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantities in the ancient community of Oloibiri in 1956, the state was the second leading oil producing state in the country and called on investors to avail themselves of the opportunities.

He said: “This develop-

ment is an opportunity for investors with foresight to take advantage of the situation and move in and work with us. We are ready to look at how we can build a refinery that will not be subjected to any bureaucracy; a refinery that will be private sector owned and driven. ”All these opportunities are there; opportunities in petro-chemicals. That is what the story of Bayelsa is all about. There is no restriction for genuine investors; our economy in Nigeria is very free. There is almost nothing a foreigner cannot do."

Urhobo youths warn against sale of refineries

BY FESTUS AHON

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GHELLI—COALITION of Urhobo Youth Organizations, CUYO, yesterday, advised the federal government against surreptitious sale of refineries in the country, vowing to resist every attempt to deprive the Urhobo of anything less than a 51 percent share in the proposed sale of Warri Refinery.

Speaking after a meeting of the CUYO in Ughelli, spokes-

man of the group, Mr. Stephen Ohwokirerhuo, urged the federal government to take into cognizance the pre-emptive rights of the indigenous Urhobo people in the proposed sale of the Warri Refinery.

He said: “We, the Coalition of Urhobo Youth Organization, will resist every attempt to deprive the Urhobo of anything less than 51 percent stake or shares in the sale of the Warri Refinery.

We know that Urhobo sons and daughters have what it takes to buy 51 percent shares in the proposed sale of Warri Refinery.

“The sale of Warri Refinery without pre-empting indigenous Urhobo people will be unlawful, null and void. It is the constitutional right of the Urhobo people as provided for in Section 7 of the Petroleum Act. Any fraudulent arrangement will be challenged with all legal means.”

Amnesty: Yoruba youths condemn clamour for Kuku’s removal

BY OLAYINKA AJAYI

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ATIONAL Committee of Yoruba Youths, NCYY, has condemned the recent call for the sack of Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, by militants in the region.

A statement by its national president, Comrade Odeyemi Oladimeji, made available to newsmen, said the call by Niger Delta Awareness Coalition and Ex-Militants Forum, was unfounded. ”We have carefully watched events as they unfold in our dear nation and we are disturbed that some people and organisations could be so willing to destroy the legacy of a man who symbolises anything good that could come out of the Yoruba race. We are really concerned that some people in the name of politics would want to do anything to destroy the legacy of a man whom we regard as a symbol of the Nigerian youth. ”We have taken this as a concern not just because of the person involved but because some of our otherwise promising youths are being induced by some politicians to distract Kuku and the Amnesty programme.” he said.

46—Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Jonathan to commission Enugu General Appliances plant Friday

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BY TONY EDIKE

NUGU—PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan will visit Enugu on Friday to commission a multimillion naira ultra-modern integrated air conditioner and water dispenser manufacturing plant built

by White Horse General Appliances Limited.

The plant, which is hundred percent Nigerian-owned and the first in South-East and South-South geopolitical zone of the country, with the capacity to employ over 200 workers, is located at Egede in Udi local government area of Enugu State.

The President will also lay the foundation stone for two other industries – a PVC manufacturing plant and LCD/LED assembly plant, all located within the premises of the company.

Managing Director, White Horse General Appliances Ltd., Chika Okechukwu, told journalists in Enugu that the company sitting on a hundred acres of land was in fulfillment of a dream that started in 2007 when the foundation stone of the place was laid by Enugu State governor, Sullivan Chime, accompanied by his Bauchi State counterpart, Isah Yaguda.

Imo govt to complete NSCDC office

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

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WERRI—THE Imo State Government is to complete the office accommodation at the state headquarters of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in the state.

Governor Rochas Okorocha, who announced this during a visit to the NSCDC headquarters, expressed shock at the shanty structures that had served as office blocks in the state.

The governor, who was taken round the establishment by the State NSCDC Commandant, Mr. Adamu Soja Saddabs, regretted that the officers were working in shanties, adding that the environment did not positively portray the image of the nation’s security organisations.

NYSC sacks Imo Poly graduates over non-accreditation of courses

BY CHIDINKWOPARA WERRI—SCORES of graduates of Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo, dismissed from the 2013 Batch ‘C’ National Youth Service Corps orientation camps across the country for nonaccreditation of their courses of study yesterday besieged Government House, Owerri, to protest their plight.

The aggrieved students, some of whom were putting on NYSC uniforms, were grieved over what they described as delay by the management of their institution to intervene in the matter.

Addressing the protesters, Governor Rochas Okorocha reassured them that government would quickly resolve the matter.

Okorocha was astonished that the graduates were dismissed from the various NYSC orientation camps across the nation.

Narrating their ordeals, some of the graduates explained that they were dismissed from the orientation camps because the courses they studied were not accredited by the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE. One of the graduates told the governor that he was one of the many posted to Plateau State, adding after all the necessary

O

documentations, students of Imo State Polytechnic were ordered to go to the administrative block with their statement of results.

“We obeyed and they brought out their master list and started cross checking our files. Our statement of result tallied with

our various fields but our call up letters bore different courses.

“They ended up accusing us that we forged our results and sent us packing from the orientation camp,” the aggrieved youth told Okorocha.

The sacked corps member told the NYSC officials that what they

presented was what they were issued by their school authoritties as they received them from Abuja.

“The officials were insistent that would not work with what we presented. They asked us to go and meet the school management.

They threw all of us out and collected our kits,” the boy lamented.

CONFERENCE: From left: Managing Director, Products Accenture South Africa, Mrs. Rosett Phillips, Chief Operating Officer, Dangote Group, Mr. Kunle Alake, and Managing Director, Products Accenture Nigeria, Mrs Juliet Anammah, at the conference on the future of the consumer goods industry in Africa, tagged ‘Analogue To Digital’ in Lagos, yesterday.

Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

Chime’s aide slams group over allegd sabotage claims

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BY TONY EDIKE

NUGU—THE Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State, Mr. Chukwudi Achife, has described as ‘’bewildering, and bemusing,’’ claims that the state government was waging an unrelenting war of attrition and unhidden threats against the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.

The Greater Awgu Forum and the Special Adviser to Ekweremadu on Projects, Bethel Onyenyiri, had claimed in some paid advertisements in a section of the press that Governor Chime planned to sabotage or destroy some projects attracted to Enugu West senatorial district, among

other things.

However, Achife, who reacted to the allegations, described them as not only baseless and fallacious but smacked of “paranoia and hysteria” on the part of those behind them.

He noted that contrary to the claims of the group, Governor Chime had ironically, for the

Navy Commander tasks personnel on health

BY ONOZURE DANIA

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A G O S — T H E Commander of the Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS, Beecroft, Apapa,

PPMC moves to boost cooking tons. gas production metric The PPMC said in a statement:

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AGOS—THE Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, through its subsidiary, the Petroleum and Prodcut Marketing Company, PPMC, last weekend moved to boost the production of cooking gas (LP Gas) for domestic use when it announced the commencement of operations in government constructed bottling plants in Enugu, Ibadan, Calabar, Ilorin and Makurdi.

Others are Lagos (Apapa) Kano and Gombe. With this development, the PPMC now has a total storage capacity of 11,000

past few months, been the one at the receiving end of a sponsored smear campaign in the press via articles written by shadowy figures, adding that the identity and intentions of those behind the articles were now becoming clear.

His words: “The claims of Greater Awgu Forum against

“The re-entrance of the PPMC in LPG trading has contributed a lot in enhancing and encouraging Gas consumption from 58 metric tons to 171,000 metric tons per annum. This is aside the upsurge in LPG related businesses.

“The PPMC has recently started to engage in the strategic and deliberate promotion of innovations, rejuvenating existing equipment while building and improving capacities in the Nigerian LPG market.”

Commodore Chris Ezekobe, has advised its officers and ratings on the need to take their health seriously.

He disclosed this during the Navy Health week where free dental, eye, diabetes, high blood pressure and related screening were carried out on naval personnel and people around Apapa area of Lagos State.

Ezekobe, who hosted medical experts at the Naval base, said it was only a healthy force that could make the nation proud.

Many naval officers who were present at the event seized the opportunity offered by the Naval command to know their health status.

Ezekobe, who addressed press men at the closing ceremony, stated that the navy had remained committed to improving the health of its officers and ratings.

Governor Chime can only be described as bewildering and bemusing. The allegations are not only baseless and completely fallacious but the tone in which they were made, smacks of desperation, paranoia and hysteria on the part of those behind them.”

Pa David Eweje dies @ 98

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A DAVID Adeyemi Eweje, 98, is dead. Pa Eweje was one of the pioneer producers of the Famous Grace Bread.

Burial rites will hold on Saturday, November 7, at 11:00am at Kingdom Hall of Jehova’s Witness, Isensi Area of Ijebu-Ife, Ogun State, while interment will take place at his residence, Oba Adesesan Oguntayo Street, opposite Fowobi Petrol Station, Iwaye Ijebu-Ife, Ogun State.

He is survived by children, grand, great grandchildren and many relations.

Late David Eweje

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—47

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AWARD: From left, award recipient/Group Managing Director, Energy Group, Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim OFR; Executive Chairman, Complete Communications Limited and Success Attitude Development Centre, Dr. Sunny Obazu-Ojeagbase, and his wife, Vice Chairman, Pastor Esther, during the induction of Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim into Success Attitude Development Centre Entrepreneur Hall of Fame and presentation of award, at Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

CONFERENCE: From left, Vice President, Namadi Sambo; Comunication Technology Minister, Mrs. Omobola Johnson; National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, DG, Dr. Daura, and the keynote speaker, Professor Pat Utomi, at the e-Nigeria 2013, Nigeria's annual ICT international conference, at Yar’Aradua Centre, in Abuja.

INSPECTION: Chief of Naval Staff, V. Adm. Dele J. Ezeoba, inspecting the Nigerian First Engine Stimulating Centre, at Ogorode Naval CONCERT: From left, Miss Mojisola Akpata, Ms Ugonowa Nwoye and Mr. Larry Engineering College, Sapele, Delta State.

Annetts, Chief Markrting Officer, MTN, during MTN Corporate Elite 2013 concert, at Eko Hotel, Lagos. Photo: Diran Oshe

INSPECTION: From left, Managing Director Captain Abdulsalami Mohammed; Chairman, Chief Babatunde Babalola, and Chief Commercial Officer, Mrs. Olusola Odubunmi, all of DiscoveryAir, inspecting the airline’s Boeing 737300 when it arrived Lagos, in readiness for commencement of commercial operations.

UNVEILING: From left, Mr. Kazuhiko Nakamura, Director, Audio Video Network Business Division, AVC Network Company, Panasonic Corporation, Japan; Mr. Masao Motoki, MD, Panasonic Marketing, Middle East and Africa, and Mr. Kota Plumaf, Panasonic, Dubai, at the unveiling of Panasonic high definition video camera MDH2, in Lagos.

WEDDING: From left, Chairman, Riverdrill Group, Prince Tonye Princewill, his wife, Rosemary; newly wedded, Temitope Sonuga, his wife, former Miss Oluwayemisi Odutola; Chairman of the day, Mr. Basil Omiyi and his wife, and Partner, at Fasken Martineau LLP, United Kingdom, Elizabeth Uwaifo, during the wedding reception of Temitope and Oluwayemisi, at the Event Centre, Oregun, Lagos, weekend.

WORKSHOP: From left, Director-General, Nigerian Chamber of Shipping, Mrs. Ify Anazonwu-Akerele (left); Guest Speaker, Mrs. Jean Chiazor Anishere, and Managing Director, Richardson Oil & Gas Limited, Mr. Akin Osuntoki, at a three-day training workshop on 'Understanding Cabotage and Local Content in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry (Upstream),' at Civic Centre, Lagos.

EVENT: A delegation o f Ijaw Monitoring Group, IMG, led by Chief Shedrack Agboro (5th left), at an event organised in honour of late Admiral Mike Akhigbe, in Lagos.

48—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Kebbi Govt restricts movement of Okada riders

Plateau Police goes tough on cattle rustlers

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IRNIN-KEBBI— KEBBI Government, yesterday, issued an indefinite restriction order on the movement of private and commercial motorcycles between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.

This was contained in a statement by Alhaji Nurudeen Kangiwa, the Secretary to the State Government made available to newsmen in Birnin Kebbi.

The restriction, which is within the metropolis, is part of efforts to curb the incessant cases of armed robberies and other criminal activities.

According to the statement, the ban was approved by the State Security Council.

“Members of the public are requested to comply with the ban on the movement of motorcycles during the prescribed hours in their own interests."

Customs equipped for destination inspection —Jubrin

BY UDEME CLEMENT

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AGOS—THE Ni geria Customs Service (NCS) has allayed fears expressed by some clearing agents and other government agencies operating in the nation’s ports on the recent taking over of Destination Inspection (DI) from the service providers, stressing that Customs has modern technology, skills and the capacity to handle DI procedures for greater productivity in the economy.

The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of Tincan Island Command, Comptroller Zakare Jubrin, said this during the sensitisation campaign embarked upon by the Comptroller General of Customs, Dikko Inde, in Lagos, saying that the full take-over of DI marked the commencement of a new dawn in the Service.

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AGM: From left, Dr. Oluwarotimi Akinola, Chairman, Local Organising Committee, Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria, SOGON; Dr. Fred Achem, National President; Dr. Tolu Fagorala, Public Relations Officer, and Dr. Ayodeji Oluwole, Secretary, all of SOGON, during the 47th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference, in Lagos.

Photo: Bunmi Azeez

Don faults composition of Nigerian Judicial Commission

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI

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LORIN—A PROFESSOR of Law in the University of Ilorin, Wahab Egbewole has faulted the present composition of Nigerian Judicial Commission, NJC, saying that it cannot guarantee a corruptfree judiciary in the country.

Egbewole however, suggested that in order to enthrone a corrupt-free judiciary in the country, any judicial officer caught for corruption should be tried and jailed without any option of fine.

He spoke at the 139th inaugural lecture of the university with the theme, “Judex: Hope for the hopeful and the hopeless,” adding that “for the judiciary to assist the society, it

must cleanse itself of corrupt elements.

“My view on the present composition is that the membership and spread is okay the way it is but the retired justices be restricted to past chief justices of Nigeria and past presidents of the Court of Appeal in order of seniority of retirement from service to be retained.”

He further called for training and retraining of judicial staff for effective service delivery.

According to him,”it takes the deep to call the deep, for the 21st century judiciary in Nigeria, the present formation of the NJC cannot deliver.

“The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies should be mandated to rework

the curriculum and get a mix of academic, legal practitioners and seasoned judicial officers to deliver the modules.”

Egbewole also canvassed that judicial officers should be made to work under a very conducive environment to shield them from corruption in any form and asked governments at all levels, not only to fund the judiciary well but make them self-accounting instead of the present situation where the third arm of government would always go cap in hand to government for all their needs. He called for the amendment to 1999 Constitution on the composition of the NJC.

OS—THE Plateau Police Command, yesterday, said it would henceforth regard cattle rustlers as armed robbers.

The Police Commissioner, Mr Chris Olakpe, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Jos that anybody caught indulging in cattle theft would be prosecuted as an armed robber.

“We shall start considering all those caught stealing the herdsmen’s cattle as armed robbers.

“The armed robbers usually carry arms and ammunition to commit their offence and the cattle thieves do the same thing.

“The robbers most of the time, kill their victims during their operations and the cattle thieves also indulge in killing their victims before carting away the cows.

“We are going to charge anybody caught stealing cows before the court under the same section of law with the armed robbers,” he said.

Olakpe said the command decided to take the measure in order to discourage the youth that had been involved in the business.

Transition

over 1,000 on death row nationwide Late Nelson Onwuka

BY PETER DURU

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AKURDI—OVER 1,000 Nigerians are said to be on death row in various prisons across the country just as only four executions of condemned prison inmates had been carried out in the country in the last one year.

The Head of Office, Avocats Sans Frontieres (Lawyers Without Borders), Angela Uwandu, made this known, yesterday, at a one-day advocacy workshop in Makurdi, the Benue state capital.

Uwandu said that the Avocats Sans Frontieres was

already handling 113 cases of inmates on death row as well as those awaiting trial for capital offences in eight states of the federation in a bid to check the execution of convicts in the prisons.

Her words: “Despite the death penalty, crime levels have continued to increase all over the country; that is why we urge the government to observe a moratorium on the issue of execution of inmates.

“Moreover, how are we sure that the people being executed are actually the culprits because as it is, we lack the fo-

rensic to truly ascertain the culpability of those involved."

Uwandu also, spoke of the urgent need to abolish death penalty from Nigerian laws “because it does not serve as deterrent to the commission of crime in any part of the country.”

According to her, “Avocats Sans Frontieres is also advocating that due process should be adhered to in the justice system of Nigeria, right from the point of arrest to the trial of suspects in order to ensure that an individual is not wrongfully prosecuted."

Mr. Nelson Nnakwue Onwuka (Oghafusiaku) of Ugamuma village, Obosi, Anambra State, aged 71, is dead. He died on October 24.

Wake keep/service of songs will be held today at his compound in Ugamuma village. Next day is lying in state, funeral service at St Mary ’s Anglican Church, Obosi, and interment. Thanksgiving service will be held on Sunday at St. Mary’s.

He is survived by wife, children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—49

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50 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—51

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52 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

Edited by: Emma Nnadozie emmadozie@hotmail.com 08023145281, 08111813021

E-X-P-O-S-E-D

How Politicians recruit unleash terror on citizens •as Police round up ring leaders in Lagos

By IFEANYI OKOLIE

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UCCOR may have come the way of residents of Makoko and Iwaya areas of Yaba Local Government in Lagos State, following the arrest of eight persons that took part in a prolonged bloody crisis between street urchins battling for supremacy in the area, early this year. The crisis culminated in the killing of over 10 persons while several others sustained severe injuries.

The residents who were at the receiving end of the crisis which started during the 2008 Local Government Election in the area, lost property worth millions of naira to the crisis, while shops and other business outlets operating in the area were looted.

Crime Alert gathered that operatives of the Special AntiRobbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja were drafted into the area to track down the hoodlums, when talks aimed at brokering peace between the warring factions collapsed.

“On daily basis, he would lead his boys into Makoko to cause trouble and when they come, they will smash windscreen of vehicles parked along the streets, they also looted shops and when they see anyone of us, they will also attack and injure the person

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Police sources disclosed that the police at Adekunle - Sabo Station, their counterpart at the State Criminal Investigations Department, SCID, Panti, and some top officials of the Yaba Local Government Area, had on several occasions attempted to broker peace between the factions, who have made live unbearable for residents of the area, without success.

Unfortunately, according to the sources, all attempts at making C M Y K

peace failed as the hoodlums would return to the streets and unleash more terror on themselves and innocent residents of the area.

The decision to bring in SARS operatives came following the February, 2013, killing of four persons, in Iwaya and Makoko areas respectively. A resident, Tajudeen Owolabi, told Crime Alert that the first killing took place in Makoko, when Moshalangbe Boys, based in Iwaya stormed Makoko with guns and other dangerous weapons and vandalized vehicles, burnt down houses and looted shops. They also succeeded in killing a man identified simply as John, while he was playing football.

Owolabi added that, the Makoko boys who were also known as ‘Citizens Boys’ regrouped and attacked Iwaya, where they killed three persons whose identities are yet unknown.

According to Owolabi “after these killings, we made contacts with SARS operatives and they came into our area and

•The suspected cultists Adewale and Bakare Azeez, told Crime Alert that they were recruited by some politicians to fight during the 2008 Local Government Election, in Yaba.

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,

apprehended some of the hoodlums, while the leader of Moshalangbe Boys was picked up at the Lagos Island. I also learnt that the leader of Citizens Boys was also apprehended.

After their arrest, peace has returned to the area and the entire place is calm,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the suspects identified as Lekan Olaiya, Edun Adeshina, Kazeem Igbalaiye, Irelola Shokeye, Kamilu Oladimeji, Darli

ekan Olaiya, the leader of Citizens Boys, said after the election and a winner emerged, the political crisis snowballed into a tough war of supremacy between his group and those from Moshalangbe based in Iwaya. According to him, “ we are residents of Makoko, while Adeshina, Igbalaiye and Shokeye are our boys. We were all born in Makoko and we formed the Citizens group so that we, the youths, can have a voice in our community. There are also many other groups who had different aims and objectives. In 2008 when the local government chairmanship election began, our group was loyal to a former local government Chairman in the council and the

Moshalangbe Boys were also loyal to one of the politicians contesting to become the chairman. In one of the political rallies in a Primary School, we clashed and there, the fight started. The politician we fought for asked us not to kill anybody but when the election ended, they asked us to stop fighting and go back to out businesses.

But some people who got injured during the fight would not listen and they kept on coming for revenge. Oladimeji, who is the leader of Moshalangbe Boys fought with his boss after the election and he was chased out of Makoko and he relocated to Iwaya where he formed his own group.

“On daily basis, he would lead his boys into Makoko to cause trouble and when they come, they will smash windscreen of vehicles parked along the streets, they also looted shops and when they see anyone of us, they will also attack and

injure the person. We, the Citizens Boys, decided to protect our area from his incessant attacks and whenever these boys enter our street, we will fight and force them out. Sometimes, the police also join us to chase them out because people who have lost their properties to the attacks usually report to the police.

“We also cannot enter Iwaya because if we do, they will attack us. In one of their numerous attacks on Makoko, they killed some innocent people who are not involved in the fight and on February 3, 2013, they also killed one of our friends, Oduayo who attended a naming ceremony in their area. After that attack, they came back to Makoko during an environmental sanitation exercise and killed one John who was playing football.

These killings angered our group and we stormed Iwaya with the police and three of their

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

— 53

Edited by: Emma Nnadozie emmadozie@hotmail.com 08023145281, 08111813021

cultists to

•CP Umaru Manko - action personified boys were also killed when they shot at the police,” he narrated.

In his narration, Oladimeji, the leader of Moshalangbe Boys said he kept on fighting because the politicians he worked for betrayed and abandoned him after he helped in getting them into office. “ I sacrificed and lost so much to the crisis, my father’s house in Makoko was burnt completely and my younger brother was attacked and killed at Oyingbo. The grievance of the Citizens Boys with me was that I led my boys to support a politician they were opposed to. After their candidate lost and the politician I supported succeeded, my boss, Ogun, who brought me in stopped giving me money. He complained that I was becoming too big for his control.

He conspired with Citizens Boys to fight and chase me out of Makoko. I relocated to Iwaya and the boys there welcomed me. Fortunately, the Iwaya boys had an axe to grind with the Makoko Boys and because I am

familiar with Makoko, I led them into fighting the Makoko Boys. They killed some of our boys and we also killed some of their boys as well.”

Shocking: Police officer accused of murder disappears in prison custody

By BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE

T

he Comptroller of Kirikiri prison in Lagos, has told a Lagos High Court in Igbosere that a police officer attached to Ajeromi Police Station, Sgt. Joseph Ugbah, who is being accused of murder of one Okafor Charles at a viewing center, could not be traced at the prison.

The presiding judge, Justice Ebenezer Adebajo, on several adjournments had issued a “Production Warrant” to Kirikiri and Ikoyi prisons. In his reply dated September 13, 2012, the Kirikiri Prison Comptroller told the court that there was no trace of the defendant, while the Ikoyi Prison is yet to give any information on the defendant.

Twenty nine-year-old Sgt. Ugbah (defendant) is facing one- count charge of murder, an offence contrary to section 319 (1) of the Criminal Code Law Cap C. 17 Vol. 2 Laws of Lagos State 2003.

The charge LCD/31/12 reads: “Sgt. Joseph Ugba ‘M’ on April 1, 2010 at about 07.00pm at the DSTV Hall in the Ajeromi Area of Lagos in the Lagos Judicial Division murdered one Okafor Charles.” It will be recalled that the prosecutor, Mr. O. Soetan, had asked the court for a further date to enable him ascertain the defendant’s whereabouts, and the case has seen 7 adjournments before it was again adjourned to February 2, 2013.

Crime Alert gathered that the defendant joined the Nigeria Police in 1992, served in Imo State before coming to Lagos State (Ajeromi Division), where he was attached to the Anti Robbery Team. In a statement to the police, the deceased’s father, Mr. William Okafor, a clergyman, said those who witnessed the alleged murder of his son told him that Charles (deceased) and others were in a film hall when the police from Ajeromi Division stormed the hall and ordered all person’s to lie flat. “The police started searching their pockets and was removing

•Prisons boss, Zakari Ibrahim - who did it? the money in their pockets. On getting to Charles, he challenged the police for searching their pockets and removing their money.

The challenge got one of the police officers angry, and he used the butt of his riffle to hit Charles.

After that, the police officers then asked everybody to leave the hall, while Charles still remained lying on the ground.”

On how the deceased’s father was treated at the Ajeromi Police station, 55-year- old Williams said “I went to the DPO of Ajeromi Police Station and introduced myself as the father of the deceased, and he said he did not send any of his men there to make trouble.

He (DPO) pleaded with the people outside the police station to be calm, to enable the police take the corpse to the mortuary. My late son is unmarried and works as a traveling agent, and I depend on him for survival,”he stated.

CRIME REPORTERS AWARD LECTURE

•Spokeswoman for DSS, Maryln Ogar, recieving a prestigeous award for excellence on behlef of DG of DSS, Mr Ita Ekpenyong from DCP, Admin. Lagos State, Felix Ogundeji flanked by PPRO Lagos State, Ngozi Braide and others.

•Chairman, Police Service Commission and former IGP, Sir Mike Mbama Okiro who also bagged prestigeous award for good leadership unveiling a special edition of “The Eye” Magazine published by the Crime Reporters during the occassion. With him are the President of Crime Reporters, Chris Orji, SSS spokeswoman, Maryln Ogar, DCP Felix Ogundeji and others.

54—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

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Spain dips 6 points on corruption index

K

UN begins drone surveillance in DR Congo T

HE UN mission in Democratic Republic of Congo has started to deploy unarmed surveillance drones to monitor rebel activity near the forested borders with Rwanda and Uganda.

It would be recalled that this is the first time any UN mission has deployed drones.

The first two were launched from the eastern city of Goma, which was last year briefly occupied

by M23 rebels.

The UN force in DR Congo played a key role last month in defeating the M23 but other militias still operate.

The BBC’s Maud Jullien in eastern DR Congo says it has long been suspected that various armed groups in the North Kivu province get their supplies from neighbouring countries.

Both Rwanda and Uganda have denied repeated accusations that they supported the M23 rebels, which were recently defeated with the help of the 22,000-strong UN mission in DR Congo - the world’s largest.

UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous told the BBC that the drones, or “unarmed, unmanned aerial vehicles” would be the “tool of choice” to monitor the activities of

•UN Scribe, Bank Ki-Moon armed groups and the movement of civilians.

“We need to get a bet-

Arafat not poisoned, says French experts

F

RENCH investiga tors have concluded in a report that Yasser Arafat died of natural causes and ruled out the possibility that he was poisoned, a source told Al Jazeera.

“The analysis cannot lead us to affirm that Arafat died of polonium 210 poisoning,” reads the report, according to the source, who has seen it.

The report comes to the same conclusion the French reached in 2004 that Arafat died of a brain hemorrhage and an intestinal infection.

Only 1% of Snowden files published — The Guardian

O

NLY 1% of files leaked by former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden have been published by the Guardian newspaper, the editor of the newspapers has told MPs. Alan Rusbridger told the Home Affairs Select Committee the Guardian was not a “rogue newspaper”.

He insisted the paper’s journalists were “patriots” and he hailed the UK’s democracy and free press.

He said senior officials in Whitehall and the US administration had told the paper “no damage” had been caused.

Last month intelligence chiefs used their appearance before a different committee of MPs to criticise the leaks, suggesting they had endangered national security.

But Mr Rusbridger said their accusations were “very vague and not rooted in specific stories”.

“There are different views about this,” he said.

“It’s impossible to assess because no one has given me specific evidence.”

Asked by committee

ter picture of what is happening,” he said.

He said that if they

were successful in DR Congo, they could also be used in other UN peacekeeping missions.

UN force commander in DR Congo Alberto Dos Santos Cruz told the BBC the drones would only fly over Congolese territory, as they have no mandate to operate in neighbouring countries.

The drones are made by an Italian firm, Selex ES, a subsidiary of the Italian giant Finmeccanica.

UN officials expect three more to be deployed in the coming months one by the end of December and two more by the end of March 2014.

chairman Keith Vaz MP if he “loved this country”, Mr Rusbridger said he was “slight surprised to be asked”.

According to the forensic report presented in Paris to Suha Arafat, the widow of the late Palestinian leader, and her lawyer, Saad Djabbar, French investigators found traces of the radioactive element polonium 210, but concluded that Arafat died of natural causes.

The French tests, conducted independently and in secret as part of a murder investigation,

USSIAN President Vladimir Putin met Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan near Moscow and discussed the war in Syria and Iran’s nuclear program, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

Russia has staunchly supported President Bashar al-Assad during the conflict, which has killed more than 100,000 people since March 2011, while Saudi Arabia has backed rebels trying to overthrow the Syrian leader.

The Kremlin said Putin and Prince Bandar discussed plans for a longdelayed international peace conference on Syria to be held in Geneva on January 22. It did not say when the two men met.

“There was a detailed

appear to contradict Swiss findings, which “moderately supported” the possibility that polonium 210 was the cause of Arafat’s death.

N

ATO foreign min isters have condemned the use of “excessive force” against pro-European protesters in Ukraine after a meeting in Brussels.

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged

exchange of opinions on the situation in Syria, including in the context of preparation for the Geneva 2 conference,” said a statement posted on the Kremlin website.

Russia and the United States first announced plans for the conference in May.

The king’s son-in-law was also charged this year with embezzling millions in public funds.

‘Burden’ Transparency International measures perceptions of corruption, as measuring actual levels is impossible by its nature.

The survey, which was first conducted in 1995, draws on a variety of sources, including World Bank and World Economic Forum assessments, the African Development Bank’s governance ratings, and Transparency International’s own Bribe Payers Survey.

Greece remained the European Union state with the highest perceived level of corruption, although it rose up the list to 80th from 94th with a score of 40 points.

The US ranked 19th and China 80th, both unchanged from last year.

Russia improved slightly to 127th place, from 133rd previously, and Japan was down one point at 18th.

Transparency International says the world’s marginalised and poor remain the most vulnerable to corrupt officials.

Chris Sanders from the group said: “In practice, these numbers mean that corruption is a constant burden in daily life. This June, our global survey showed that you are twice as likely to pay a bribe if you live in a poor country.”

Table and rankings of countries

Nato condemns crackdown on Ukrainians

Russia, S/Arabia discuss Syria, Iran war

R

•Arafat

EY global survey of international perceptions of official corruption has put Spain down six points to 40th place after a series of recent scandals.

Only Syria, in the middle of a civil war, lost more points in the survey, carried out by the Berlinbased Transparency International.

The list of 177 countries put Denmark and New Zealand top with 91 out of 100.

The UK is ranked in 14th place, up from 17 last year, with a score of 76 points out of 100.

Scandals involving cash channelled to Spain’s politicians and its royal family saw the country lose points.

The top and bottom places were unchanged on 2012’s survey, with Denmark and New Zealand still joint first, while Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan tied for last place.

As well as Spain, other countries that were heavily marked down were Gambia, Mali, GuineaBissau and Libya.

Corruption in Spain was highlighted this year when the the former treasurer of Spain’s People’s Party told a judge that he had channelled cash donations from construction firms into politicians’ pockets, and he was found to have almost 50 million euros in a Swiss bank account.

Ukraine to “listen to the voices of its people”.

Earlier, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov apologised in parliament for the use of police force against protesters.

Mass protests were sparked by the government’s decision not to sign an association deal with the EU last week.

“We urge all sides to conduct themselves peacefully. Violence has no place in a modern European state,” Mr Kerry told reporters.

The ministers said in a statement that they urged “Ukraine... to fully abide by its international commitments and to uphold the freedom of expression and assembly”.

153 154 154 154 157 157 157 160 160 160 163 163 163 163 167 168 168 168 171 172 173 174 175 175 175

Angola CAR Congo, DR Tajikistan Burundi Myanmar Zimbabwe Cambodia Eritrea Venezuela Chad Equ. Guinea Guinea Bissau Haiti Yemen Syria Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Iraq Libya South Sudan Sudan Afghanistan North Korea Somalia

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7 6 5 5 5 6 8 7 4 7 5 3 4 5 6 4 3 6 4 6 3 6 3 3 4

18 16 15 16 17 15 14 15 2 16 13 15 15 14 14 11 12 14 12 10 11 5 3 2 5

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New York train driver lost focus Teror suspects sue Poland over

T

HE driver of a New York commuter train that derailed on Sunday, killing four people, told investigators he “lost focus” and went into a daze shortly before the crash, according to a law-enforcement source.

A second source also briefed on the investigation said the driver, William Rockefeller, 46, lapsed into a “highway hypnosis.”

The seven-car MetroNorth train was traveling

at 82 miles per hour, nearly three times the 30-mph (48-kph) speed limit for the curved section of track where it crashed, investigators have said. The brakes were applied just seconds before it derailed.

The crash also critically injured 11 people and snarled travel for the roughly 26,000 regular commuters on the MetroNorth Hudson line which serves suburbs north of New York City.

‘CIA torture’

T

HE European Court of Human Rights is hearing a case brought by two terror suspects who accuse Poland of conniving in US human rights abuses.

The two men are currently held at the US Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. It is the first time that allegations about a CIA “black site” prison in a European country have

been heard in an open court.

Abu Zubaydah and another al-Qaeda suspect say they were tortured at a secret prison in Poland in 2002-2003.

Nearly a year ago the court ruled against Macedonia for abuses suffered

by Khaled el-Masri, another suspect who was held for CIA interrogation.

56—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

BLACK-OUT: FG, operators trade blame … as Nebo gives marching orders to Abuja DISCO

BY SEBASTINE OBASI & CHRIS OCHAYI

A

BUJA — OPERATORS have blamed the continued epileptic power supply being experienced by Nigerians on the Federal Government, thus frustrating domestic, business and economic activities.

They argued that government’s huge investment in the power was not being commensurate with the dilapidated state of existing infrastructures.

The criticisms came even as government gave marching orders to the new owners of electricity assets to buckle up and improve on electricity supply, and even called for further investigations into the money pumped into the sector.

Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, yesterday, issued the new management of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (DISCO) a marching order to speedily implement the target of uninterrupted power supply 24/7, both in quality and quantity in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

But operators insist that the charge should have been given to all the DISCOs managements, as the electricity situation is presumed to be worse in other parts of the country than in Abuja.

Marching orders to Abuja DISCO

Nebo, who gave the order at the commissioning of two-type x 15MVA, which is one of the many National Integrated Power Project, NIPP, injection sub-stations built by the Niger Delta Holding Company, NDPH, defended that the Abuja DISCO must lead in the campaign for uninterrupted power supply.

He said it was from Abuja that the scheme would be replicated in other major cities across the country.

The minister, therefore, enjoined the new team to brace up to the challenge, by ensuring optimum use of old and new facilities to greatly improve the quality and quantum of electricity available to users in Abuja.

Stakeholders react

Some business operators, who

spoke with Vanguard, yesterday, noted that for decades, government had failed to deliver on promises of stable power to fast track economic development.

Mrs Benedicta Godwin, Managing Partner, Global Electric Installation Limited, argued that government’s investment in the power sector was not commensurate with the current state of electricity generation and distribution nationwide.

She said: “The former and current ministers of Power should be blamed for the recurring crisis in the sector. The amount of money government invested in the power sector should be investigated to ascertain if was well managed.”

Similarly, Mr. Adeogun Babalola, Chairman, Infinity Engineering Company, said government’s intervention in the power was enough to develop effective technical models for the new power managers.

He argued that less than 40 per cent of Nigerians have access to power, adding that the poor electricity supply is driving many companies out of business.

Economic development

Mr Fashola Thomas, Chairman, Scalps Electrical Engineering Nig. Limited, said Nigerians, especially theorganised private sector, had not benefited from government’s investments in power.

Thomas said the inability of Nigeria to meet its development goals, as captured in Vision 20-2020, especially on electricity generation and supply remained a major setback in economic growth.

According to him, development plans will only become a reality when they are complimented with practical commitment, adding that sustainable development can only be achieved through aggressive investments in infrastructure and strategic plans.

Thomas further argued that the nation’s poor electricity generation and supply were serious obstacles to domestic and foreign investments.

Managing Director, Dolby Engineering Company, Mr Felix Duru, said with the snailspeed development in the power sector, Nigeria had

failed to meet the 35,000 megawatts electricity generation projection in the last seven years.

He said: “I am not sure we can meet the projection of achieving 40,000 megawatts of electricity by year 20-2020.

Generation now at 3,781MW

The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, had announced that the nation’s power generation now hovers between 3,800MW and 4,000MW, as against 3,781MW last October.

Mrs. Seun Olagunju, TCN General Manager, Public Affairs, said the restoration of power to 4,000MW followed the repairs of the vandalised pipeline supplying gas to Okpai power plant in Delta State.

According to the TCN spokesperson, “I want to assure Nigerians that from what we are seeing on ground, from the end of this year, I believe that there will be greater stability of power in the country.

“Even now, there is marginal increase in power generation. We have taken it from less than 2,000MW to over 4,000MW now.”

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—57

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58—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—59

phant”.

Addressing journalists yesterday, chairman of the UNIBEN Chapter of the ASUU, Dr Anthony Monye-Emina who was recently involved in the accident that led to the death of ProfessorIyayi, advised parents to inform their children to stay at home, insisting that the strike action will not be called off until the Federal Government implements the agreements.

According to him: “We want to advise parents not to send their children back to campus in the event of any announcement of resumption of classes by the university administration in line with the supervisory Minister’s directive. The union has not called off the strike. The President should continue on the path of honour to dialogue with the union as this is the only way to find an immediate and lasting solution to the crisis in the university system.”

VISIT—From right: Gift Ogete, Head, Production, Core Media Services Ltd; Mr. Olajide Adediran, MD/CEO; Shakira Bello, Head Client Service and Hakeem Yussuf, Executive Director, Admin and Finance during a courtesy visit by the Management of Core Media Services to Vanguard Media Head office in Lagos. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele.

FG bows, extends deadline to Dec 9 Continues from page 5 dent of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Dr. Nasir Issa Fagge, yesterday, gave conditions for the suspension of the six month old strike. Fagge who spoke on Channels Television, yesterday morning, said once government opens the bank account with N200 billion, requested by the union, the strike would be suspended.

He said “once that is done, and the committee that is supposed to disburse the funds starts working, our members will have no reason not to suspend the strike action”.

Dr. Faggie said the union insists on documentation.

He asked: "Why won’t government make available this money so that we know the money is there and the universities commence drawing from this money to address the problem of decay in infrastructure, teaching and research facilities? When that is done, our members will suspend the strike.”

The ASUU president dismissed insinuations in some quarters that the union had been split. On suggestions in some government quarters that ASUU was being influ-

enced by opposition parties, Dr. Fagge said “ASUU is a union of cerebral intellectuals”. He said the union is not influenced by religion, or ethnicity, saying however that members of the union are free to associate with any political party of their choice.

UNICAL resumes today

The University of Calabar has announced that the university resumes today for academic activities and directed all students who did not finish their registration to do so immediately.

But Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities, UNICAL chapter, Dr. James Ekprinya has warned parents that the university is still on strike and that any one that releases his ward is doing that at his peril.

The university in a press release by the Deputy Registrar, Academic division, Mr. Mike Monity stated that, “Normal Academic/Allied activities will resume tomorrow, the December 4, 2013 at the University of Calabar.

Monity in a release said the resumption was

the decision reached at an emergency meeting of senate held at the senate chambers of the Institution.

It further stated that “the decision is in compliance with the directive issued by the Minister of Education” and that details of the revised university calendar would be disclosed in due course.

It also advised students with pending activities like second semester registration, Final year and Post Graduate research projects to start immediately as the school works out time table for lectures.

The ASUU chairman, Dr. Ekpirinya said that the congress rose from its congress with “a strong resolve to continue the strike until the agreements are implemented to the letter.

“We did not close school, we will not reopen it. We warn parents that any one who decides to send his or her ward to school is doing so at his or her peril.”

Iyayi: UNIBEN ASUU vows to continue strike University of Benin

chapter of ASUU, yesterday, vowed to continue the current strike action and admonished President Goodluck Jonathan to embrace dialogue with the union rather than threats.

Meanwhile, no sign of resumption of academic activities at the university yesterday, despite the announcement by the university authorities Monday, calling on students and academic staff to resume duties.

When Vanguard visited the university, it was observed that registers were opened as directed by the Federal Government but none of the academic staff were sighted on campus.

Rather members of the ASUU and students were observed preparing for the burial of the late former President of the union, Professor Festus Iyayi which is scheduled for this weekend.

Some of the students who spoke to Vanguard, condemned the Federal Government’s order that the ASUU should resume duties or risk sack, just as they urged President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the supervising Minister of Education, Mr Nyesom Nwike, whom they described as a “syco-

UNIJOS ASUU waits for directives The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), UNIJOS, chapter said, yesterday, that classes would only resume in the institution if directed by the national body.

The chapter Chairman, Dr David Jangdam told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos that the lecturers were waiting for directives from the nation body before the fivemonth strike could be called off.

“Classes will only resume if directed by the national body,” he said.

Jangdam told NAN that the decision of the national body was final and binding on all local chapters. A correspondent of NAN, who visited both the temporary and permanent sites of the university in Jos reports that they were deserted.

NAN further reports that the only visible presence was those of security personnel at the various entry and exit points.

Jangdam also rejected suggestions that the lecturers had not been fair to university education in the country. “Nigerians should ask the leaders why the educational sector is usually the least in their priorities,” he said.

He, however, said that the union on Monday met with the institutions Student Union Government (SUG), at their instance to explain its position on the

continued strike.

The SUG President, Mr Ajik Magaji told NAN that he would not comment on the outcome of the meeting for now. He described the strike by ASUU as a huge threat to national security while blaming the Federal Government for reneging on agreements.

Magaji lamented that the strike had caused the students a whole session.

“In UNIJOS, for instance, we lost a complete session to strikes; some of our classmates in other schools have graduated and we are still here,” he said.

ASUU -UNAAB warns members against signing register The University of Agriculture Abeokuta chapter of ASUU has vowed not to be cowed by the sack threat by the Federal Government, warning its members against signing the register by the University.

Addressing newsmen, yesterday, at the COPLANT auditorium of the University, the chairperson for ASUU UNAAB, Dr. Biodun Badmus said the Union would not resume as directed by the Federal Government.

Badmus who was flanked by some past leaders of the union in the university advised the Federal Government to implement the agreement made with the Union for the sake of the students in the country.

Speaking on the plans by the union against any member that signs the register, Dr. Badmus said that the union would not hesitate to discipline any member of the Union who signs back to work register.

He said “ Of course, even in the days of Jesus Christ there are Judases, it is envisaged and the union has its practices and code of conduct and there are laid down procedures to thrash out such areas should anybody sign back to work”.

While proffering solution to the problem, the Union leader said “the ball is in the court of the Federal Government, ASUU has not closed its doors to dialogue. We appeal to the Federal Government to do what is needful. “If any meeting should be called, the National officers of ASUU are ready to meet the government to resolve the issue on ground”.

60 —

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 4, 2013

Masters Athletics 2014 FIFA World Cup Draw: Maigari African Championships hold in Lagos leads Nigeria delegation to Brazil T

P

RESIDENT of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Aminu Maigari will be at the head of Nigeria’s delegation to this week’s 2014 FIFA World Cup Draw Ceremony taking place in Costa do Sauipe, Salvador in Brazil.

Chairman of the NFF Technical Committee, Barrister Chris Green, Super Eagles’ Head Coach, Stephen Keshi and NFF’s Director of Marketing, Adama Idris will also be in the party, as well as NFF’s Assistant Director (Media), Ademola Olajire and Super Eagles’ Team Administrator, Dayo Enebi Achor.

The delegation will travel to Johannesburg on Tuesday night and then connect a South African Airways flight from Johannesburg to Sao Paulo on Wednesday morning, before flying to Salvador.

Friday’s Draw Ceremony, porgrammed to last 90 minutes – the regulation time for a football match – will hold at the Costa do Sauipe Resort in Mata de Sao Joao in Salvador, State of Bahia, and will kick off at 16hours GMT. Host Brazil, record fivetime champions, will head Group A of the finals taking place between 12 June and 13 July next year, with reigning champions Spain, three-time champions

Wrestlers promise medals at C/Wealth championship

C

OACH Purity Akuh, an Assistant National coach, has predicted that wrestlers for this year’s Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in Johannesburg, South Africa would win laurels for the country.

The championship has been scheduled to run from Dec. 5 to Dec. 8. Akuh said yesterday in Akure that the wrestlers, currently in the camp in Bayelsa, were prepared to shine in South Africa.

He commended the president of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation (NWF), Daniel Igali, for organising early camping for the wrestlers and providing them necessary equipment for the exercise.

CONFRONTATION: Super Eagles defender, Azubuike Egwuekwe confronts Italy forward Mario Balotelli during a recent friendly match between Nigeria and Italy. The match was a dress rehearsal of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Germany, two-time and Belgium (the other drawn into eight groups of winners Argentina, two- seeded teams) heading four teams each, with the top two teams advancing time winners Uruguay, seven other groups.

All 32 teams will be to the Round of 16.

Switzerland, Colombia

HE tartan tracks of the Teslim Balogun Stadium will be on fire from December 6 as the 2013 African Masters Athletics Championships begins in Lagos. The competition ends on December 7, the Local Organising Committee of the competition has said.

President of the Nigerian Masters, Dr. Gloria Obajimi, said the event, which is second in the series and initially scheduled to hold in mid2013, was delayed till the end of the year due to a lack of fund. The first edition of the competition was held in South Africa last year.

Belgium, Egypt , Niger Republic , Ghana , South Africa , Cameroon and Ivory Coast are some of the countries that will be represented at the 2013 edition.

“We’re expecting about 250 former athletes at the event,” Obajimi said on Tuesday.

“It is an invitational competition but it is also open to athletes over 35

Kwankwaso rewards Eaglets’ captain, Bello with houses ...splashes N8.9m on team E

NGINEER (Dr.) Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the Executive Governor of Kano State, yesterday rewarded the two indigenes of the state in the Golden Eaglets, captain Musa Muhammad and defender Bello Zaharradine with houses, promising to name a street on their behalf at their preferred choice in Amana, Bandirawo or Kwankwasiyya city.

The Governor announced the package and a sum of N9.8 Million to the players; officials and accompanied NFF’s officials for winning a record fourth FIFA Under17 World Cup in the UAE last month.

The sport-loving Governor who hosted the team at the Kano Government House alongside Kano Pillars for wining a back-to-back Premier League title; and the Kano Pillars Basketball team for winning the 2013 Dstv Championship, said

•Gov Kwankwaso the Golden Eaglets are pride of the continent for their exemplary conducted at the championship where they swept the stake with Kelechi Iheanacho emerging as the MVP, Dele Alampasu with the Golden Gloves and the overall Fair Play Award.

At the ceremony were top government officials in the state; Alh. Abbas Sanusi( Wambai Kano) who represented the Emir of Kano; the President of the NFF, Alhaji Aminu

•Iheanacho Maigari as well as board members; Hon. Suleiman Kwande, Alh. Yusuf Ahmed Fresh, Dr. Shehu Adamu and Dr. Muhammed SanusiHead of competitions at the NFF. Professor Umar Patrick Jibril. The state’s Hon. Commissioner of Information Youth, Sports & Culture said the gathering was a celebration of resilience and success under the leadership of Alhaji Maigari led- NFF in

the outgoing Year 2013 particularly with the sterling performance of the Golden Eaglets at the World Cup. Speaking on the Golden Eaglets, Governor Kwankwaso said the state was dutybound to host the team since the captain; Muhammed and Bello who were fulcrum of the team that won the championship in the UAE are indigene of the state.

years. We don’t expect anyone to perform at the optimum level which they were used to at major events; they should compete in the standard their ages can afford.

“Lack of funds has caused the competition to be delayed till now. The several corporate organisations we’ve cried to for help have not responded but we’re determined to host the event this year.

The fund is still not available but members of the Local Organising Committee have decided to make individual contributions and ensure Nigeria does not disappoint the world by not being able to host the event.”

Obajimi said the essence of the competition is to keep the former athletes healthy and create the platform for them to interact with their former sporting rivals.

MultiChoice hosts inaugural ‘Let’s go to Brazil’ draws

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ULTICHOICE, Nigeria’s leading provider of premium pay-TV on the DStv, GOtv, mobile and online platforms, has restated its commitment to rewarding its loyal subscribers, as the first set of winners of its festive season promo tagged: “Let’s go to Brazil 2014” were unveiled at an event held at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos, on Tuesday, December 3, 2013. Ten subscribers emerged winners of return tickets to Brazil while several others won prizes ranging from DStv Explora decoders, DStv Walka devices, LED TV sets, among others, through a live draw supervised by officials of Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and Alexander Forbes, leading actuaries and consulting firm.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013—61

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62 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 4, 2013 — 63

S-H-O-C-K-E-R!

Abdullahi scores football 4 over 10 D

ESPITE winning AFCON 2013 and the U17 World Cup, Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi has rated Nigeria 4 out of 10 this year.

The Super Eagles also qualified for a fifth World Cup in the outgoing year, and the country’s team of domestic league players qualified for the first time to the Championship of African Nations (CHAN).

However, Abdullahi has maintained that although the country has done well in football in the outgoing year, there was still a long way to go to take the sport to its desired height.

“For me, I thank God Almighty that we try to do our best and God is helping us achieve results. But for me, we need to do a lot more than we are doing,” the minister said.

“And I’m the first one

to tell you that in a scale of one to 10, 10 being where we should be, where are we today? I would say 4.

“Yes! We won the AFCON, the U17 World Cup, yes, very good, but until we are able to build a system that ensures that regardless of who is in the office, we can confidently say we will win or we can win, then we have not reached where we are supposed to be.”

•Maigari

Oboabona, hero turned villain in Rizespor loss

N

IGERIA defender, Godfrey Oboabona, had a mixed outing for his club, Caykur Rizespor in the Turkish Super League game against Konyaspor on Monday.

Though Oboabona scored for Rizespor at the Konya Ataturk Stadium, it was his own goal that helped the hosts claim all points late in the match.

After a goalless first half, Konyaspor took the lead through Omer Sahiner on 49 minutes.

It took Caykur Rizespor 24 minutes to draw level and it was the Super Eagles centre-back who popped up at the other end to score for his team.

The defender shot past Konyaspor ’s Cameroonian goalkeeper, Charles Itandje, with a left-footed strike from Cenk Ahmet

Alkilic’s assist.

But Oboabona’s joy was short-lived as he erroneously turned in the ball into his own goal leaving Serkan Kirintili in goal for Rizespor with no chance.

Colombia, Germany, Switzerland, Uruguay Pot 2: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chile, Ecuador Pot 3: Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras Pot 4: Bosnia, Croatia, England, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, France Note: A pre-draw will be held to move one of the nine European teams into Pot 2. That European team will then be drawn against one of the four seeded South American teams to preserve the

half an hour into the encounter.

However, his compatriot and teammate, Uche Kalu played for 78 minutes before he made way for David Depetris.

Rizespor have dropped from 12th to 13th position in the Turkish league standings following Monday ’s loss at Konyaspor.

A

DVANCE fee fraud practitioners and their agents have hacked into the yahoomail account of President of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Aminu Maigari.

Maigari, crowned the Sports Administrator of the Year at the Nigeria Sports Awards in Lagos Tuesday last week, among several honours in a truly fulfilling year for Nigeria football, said he woke up on Tuesday to the shocking realisation that his email account had been hacked.

“The hackers posted a message that I had travelled out of the country and needed

•Oboabona

geographical balance of the draw.

The four South American seeds: Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina will form a temporary Pot X. The three teams not drawn against the European team in Pot 2 will return to the main draw.

FIFA also confirmed at least a 33 percent increase on the amount of prize money available in 2014 over the totals from 2010, when $420 million was up for grabs.

FIFA’s SecretaryGeneral, Jerome Valcke confirmed that at least 33% inc in total prize money for Brazil 2014 World Cup compared to SA 2010’s $420 million

NFF Continues from B/P “It’s now up to the leadership of the NFF to come up with a proposal to that effect. If they do that, I can assure you that the parliament will favourably look at such a proposal.

“If they have a need to ask for more, they will outline such in a proposal to the House,” he said.

Head coach of the Nigeria national team, Stephen Keshi is currently owed salaries, with the NFF identifying lack of funds as the reason for the anomaly.

Continues from B/P almost caused the country to miss out on this year’s Fifa Confederations Cup. Players threatened to strike over a 50% cut in their bonus for June’s 2014 World Cup qualifiers in Kenya and Namibia.

Sports minister Bolaji Abdullahi has forwarded a code of conduct, drafted by a committee he set up for immediate implementation by the country’s football federation.

The minister had said that the report of the Segun Adeniyi Committee would be implemented to the letter.

“That’s the right step to take so that the Nigeria Football Federation can implement this before the World Cup,” Julius Ogunro, special assistant to the sports minister, told BBC Sport.

“It [the code of conduct] was kept away to allow the team focus solely on securing a World Cup ticket.

“Now is the right time to get it done and the NFF as a parastatal of the sports

everyone who read the message to come up with a sum of money to complete a project I am working.

“This is far from the truth. I am right now in the country and will only be traveling to Brazil on Tuesday night for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Draw Ceremony. I am not working on any project for which I need anyone to give me a loan.

“I wish to alert friends, family, the Nigeria football family and teeming lovers of Nigeria football at home and abroad that the message is not from me. This is the handwork of fraudsters and should be discountenanced.”

NNL clubs hold congress tomorrow in Abuja

T

HE annual Nigeria National League (NNL) Clubs Congress will hold in Abuja on Thursday, December 5 with the arrival of delegates billed for a day earlier.

Minister

FIFA Continues from B/P

The centre-half in a bid to protect his goal turned home Mehmet Uslu’s free kick into his post.

The former Sunshine Stars man played all 90 minutes nevertheless and was even booked

Scamsters hack into Maigari’s email account

ministry are well aware of its importance.

“We need to prevent a bonus row like the one which fueled anger and almost embarrassed the country before the last Confederations Cup in Brazil.”

Back in June, Nigeria’s players had initially refused to to go to the Confederations Cup following their 1-1 draw in Namibia in a World Cup qualifier as they were unhappy with the bonus payments offered by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The Presidency intervened and made extra money available, eventually allowing the squad to travel to Brazil two days late and only about 24 hours before Nigeria’s opening game against Tahiti.

The five-part document spells out the obligations of the NFF, coaches and players called up to the national team. Noncompliance could lead to fines, suspensions or even expulsions.

Pay rows have often

According to the NNL Secretary, Lawrence Katkem, the Clubs Congress will take place at Crown Princess Hotels located at Wuse, Zone 7, Abuja tomorrow.

surrounded Nigerian teams, with coaches not paid regularly, while players have resisted any attempts to review their win bonus during important qualifiers or at major tournaments.

There have been several attempts to introduce a code but they have often been met by a stiff resistance from players in the past.

“This will hopefully bring an end to ugly incidents that often portray the country in a bad light during major tournament,” Ogunro said.

The code of conduct spells out some dos and donts for the Eagles and the football administrators.

It mandates the NFF to officially inform players what they are entitled to before assignments so that bonus row will be avoided.

Players, through the captain or representative are obliged to remain in camp under the code of conduct or leave.

Other matters under the code of conduct include media relations, players’ conduct in camp, authority of coaches over players, etc.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2013

World Cup Draw FIFA puts Nigeria in pot 2, raises prize money

F

IFA yesterday announced the following pots to be used for Friday’s draw for next year ’s World

BRAZIL 2014 WORLD CUP

Code of conduct for Eagles

Cup finals when the 32 teams will be placed into eight first-round groups of four.

Pot 1 consists of the eight top seeds, one of each to be drawn in Groups A-H. The remaining pots are based on geographical criteria.

Hosts Brazil will be allocated position A1 in the draw and will play the opening match in Sao Paulo on June 12.

Pot 1 (top eight seeds): Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Belgium, Continues on page 63

More money for NFF

T •Abdullahi

N

IGERIA football officials are set to implement a code of conduct which they hope will prevent future rows with the national team over bonus payments.

The move is designed to ensure there is no repeat of the dispute that Continues on page 63

•NOT YET UHURU: Sports Minister says there is nothing to celebrate yet.

HE Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will receive increased funding from the Federal Government in 2014.

Disclosing this, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Hon. Godfrey Gaiya explained that the reason for this is the increased number of major global competitions the NFF

will prosecute next year.

“If you look at 2014, it is a year that is loaded.

Consequently, more money will be required to execute such programmes,” Gaiya exclusively told supersport.com.

The lawmaker however revealed that the ball is now in the court of the NFF in that regard.

Continues on page 63

Abdullahi scores football 4 over 10 — P.63 QUICK CROSSWORD

Sudoku TODAY'S

PUZZLE

YESTER DAY'S YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 1 Forbidding (4) 4 Beaker (3) 6 Final (4) 9 Deed (3) 10 Pennon (8) 11 Tolerate (4) 14 Colour (3) 16 Material (5) 19 Argued (8) 21 Measure (5) 23 Fragile (8) 24 Kingly (5) 27 Knock (3) 31 Store (4) 33 Stirred (8) 34 Owing (3) 35 Repair (4) 36 Loiter (3) 37 Go by (4)

DOWN 2 Ceremony (4) 3 Bearing (4) 4 Vied (8) 5 Divide (4) 6 Tag (5) 7 Expert 93) 8 Begin (5) 12 Viper (5) 13 Employing (5) 14 Odd (3) 15 Dissuade (5) 17 Sea (5) 18 Inn (5) 20 Postponing (8) 22 Tear (3) 25 Escape (5) 26 Helped (5) 28 Drop (4) 29 Moist (4) 30 Muddle (4) 32 Sister (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Status 5, Expand 8, Hawthorn 9, Rare 10, Gap 12, Flair 15, Let 17, Lea 18, Ewe 19, Era 20, Theme 21, Van 22, Ire 23, Die 24, Den 26, Diary 29, Rue 33, Char 34, Pedantic 35, Propel 36, Ousted.

DOWN: 2, Tiara 3, Tutu 4, Stool 5, Ennui 6, Port 7, Nerve 10, Greed 11, Plain 12, Fated 13, Arena 14, Reedy 15, Lever 16, Tense 25, Ether 27, Impel 28, Radio 30, Unite 31, Grip 32; Onus.

How to Play Sudoku

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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