Danger - Shipload of toxic waste at Lagos port

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 61793

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ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

PDP: Angry Tukur •Pg.8 VANGUARD/POLICE SECURITY SUMMIT: blasts NWC members Insecurity, money-making •P 6 —Sani ....Says they are traitors venture for politicians •See photos on Page 42

DANGER!

Shipload of toxic waste at Lagos port •Ship quarantined by security, environmental agencies •Contains e-waste considered dangerous by experts L

BY GODFREY BIVBERE

AGOS —SECU RITY and environmental officials, yesterday, quarantined a ship laden with e-waste which they said is toxic and posed major threat to humans. The ship, Continues on page 5

FIRE RAZES ALAAFIN'S PALACE

Back to school

....After holidays, expenses, academics

•P.25

Presidential •P.17 posters, presidential denial

THE HUB •P.19

Mr & Mrs

RAZED—Sections of the Alaafin of Oyo palace razed ,yesterday. Photos: Shola Oyelese. See story on Page 10.

Eagles hit squad for Nations Cup

See Back Page C M Y K

2— Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

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4— Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

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POCKET CARTOON

FIRE AT TIN-CAN—The Barge that caused explosion at the MRS Oil and Gas Company Limited's Tank Farm, yesterday, at Tin-can Island, Lagos. Photo: NAN

Shipload of toxic waste at Lagos port Continues from Page 1 M.V Marevia brought in two containers considered very dangerous and sent port officials into a panic mode. e-Waste consists of old and outdated electronic gadgets and materials such as refrigerators, containing chlorofluro

carbons (CFC) or green house gases. According to Mr Dike Ejiogu, a computer Engineer at the Ikeja Computer Village: “Although some of these gadgets were manufactured for human good, the expiration of the chemicals used in manufacturing them converts them to toxins

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

Y

OUR attitudes to the storms of life can signifi cantly impact how you fair in its aftermath.

Selwyn Hughes calls it the “tilt of the wings”. He says if an eagle’s wings are set at a downward tilt when the storm strikes, it will be dashed to the ground, but if its wings are tilted upward, it will rise, making the storm bear it up beyond its fury.

Let the storms bear you up.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offence cannot reach it —Rene Descartes

H

ERE are some suggestions from Wayne Dyer to help you transcend ingrained ideas of selfimportance. All of these are designed to help prevent you from falsely identifying with the self-important ego.

Stop being offended: The behaviour of others isn’t a reason to hold back on limiting attitudes. That which offends you only weakens you. If you’re looking for occasions to be offended, you’ll find them at every turn. This is your ego at work convincing you that the world shouldn’t be the way it is. But you can become an appreciator of life and match up with the universal Spirit of Creation. You can’t reach the power of intention by being offended. As A Course in Miracles reminds us: Peace is of your higher self, you who are part of God are not at home except in peace. Being offended creates the same destructive energy that offended you in the first place and leads to attack, counter-attack, and war.

which ironically becomes injurious to human health particularly when the gases are inhaled.

“Besides, they are also environmentally unfriendly as they pollute the air and reduce the oxygen which is the main ingredient of the air we breathe for life” he added.

The vessel which is currently anchored at the Tin-can Island Container Terminal (TICT), was quarantined by officials of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) with other port agencies keeping vigil on it.

Reliable sources said the vessel which berthed on January 5 originated from Tilbury in England and that the importers were based at Alaba International Market.

Customs confirm report Confirming this to Vanguard, Public Relations Officer of Tin-Can Island Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Mr. Chris Osunkwo, said that NESREA had written to the Command informing them that they have intelligence report that a vessel which is erroneously called M.V. Mavia, was coming into the country with two con-

tainer loads of e-waste.

Osunkwo said that the NESREA officials in the letter said that the vessel should not be allowed to discharge, adding that the inspection would be done onboard the vessel before it is sent back to it’s country of origin. The numbers of the containers are ECMU 9894590 and ECMU 9870858.

Also contacted, Assistant General Manager in charge of Public Affairs of the Nigerian Ports

Authority (NPA), Ileya Musa, told Vanguard that the management of Tin-Can Island Port was aware of the development, adding that the vessel has since been isolated while the relevant agencies were on ground awaiting the inspection of the vessel.

On where the ship came from, Musa said he did not know but promised to get back to our reporter. He never did at press time.

Efforts to get to the area where the vessel was anchored proved abortive but a source at the TICT told Vanguard that the crew of the vessel had told them that the containers were in transit, adding that the final destination was the United Kingdom.

However, a senior Customs officer who spoke with Vanguard on condition of anonymity , explained that the claim might just be a way of

avoiding detention by officials of the Nigerian government.

It would be recalled that NESREA had on several occasions detained some vessels that had brought in e-waste into the country.

Some vessels detained before now were MV Maersk Nashville and M.V. Gumel.

Head of NESREA at the port, Mrs. Miranda Amachree, told Vanguard when M.V Gumel was detained that they got intelligence report from their counterparts in Antwerp, Belgium, that the vessel was bringing used fridges, television sets, compressor pots and batteries.

Amachree explained that the report from Antwerp was a result of the agreement entered into

by Nigeria and European countries to do away with CFC, which were brought in by the vessel.

Power: FG to meet 10, 000mw target by December — Minister ....Generated 6, 443mw in 2012

BY EMMA UJAH

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BUJA—THE Fed eral Government achieved 6,443 mega watts of electricity power, at the end of last year, the Minister of State (Power), Mrs. Zainab Kuchi disclosed yesterday.

Kuchi noted that power transmission peaked at 4517.6mw on December 23, 2012 due to additional 450mw generated in the fourth quarter.

According to her, the Federal Government would continue to pursue its action plan to-

wards the realization of the 10, 000 mega watts at the end of the year.

This she said, would be achieved through the implementation of a variety of strategies which would include funding the sector through private sector participation.

Besides, sources of the power generation would be expanded to include renewable energy and rural electrification.

Similarly, Mrs. Kuchi said government would fund power transmission projects outside budgetary provisions.

Also speaking, the Spokesman of the Trans-

mission Company Nigeria, TCN, Dave Ifabiyi, said his organization would work assiduously towards a consistent upscale performance of the sector.

“As gas supply continues to improve and more National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs) come on stream, the transmission and distribution companies will continue to harness every available generation to ensure that stable electricity supply is delivered to electricity customers”, he said.

6—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

President Goodluck Jonathan (2nd right); PDP National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola (3rd right); Vice President Namadi Sambo (middle); Senate President David Mark (3rd left); Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal (left); former BoT Secretary, Prof. Jerry Gana (right) and Chairman, Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Board, Chief Tony Anenih (2nd left) after the National Caucus meeting of PDP, at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. Photo:Abayomi Adeshida.

VANGUARD NATIONAL SECURITY SUMMIT:

Insecurity now money-making venture for politicians —Shehu Sani zAs stakeholders identify causes of insecurity

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR, KINGSLEY OMONOBI, EVELYN USMAN & JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU

profitable venture and as such, it has now become difficult knowing which one is genuine and which one is fake.

Our intervention was to get out the facts BUJA — HUMAN rights

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activist, Mr Shehu Sani, who facilitated the aborted dialogue between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Boko Haram sect said, yesterday, that the insecurity in the country had transformed into a moneymaking venture for politicians and many in the security services.

Speaking on the second day of the Vanguard organised national summit on security challenges in Nigeria, Shehu regretted that the original Boko Haram group had split into factions with fake groups masquerading under the guise of the group to acutalise their private financial agenda.

This came as speakers and participants at the second day of the Vanguard organised national summit on insecurity, yesterday, identified manipulation of ethnic and religious differences by some individuals as a primary factor in the escalation of insecurity in the country.

Sani spoke following requests from some participants at the summit for him to shed light on Boko Haram, given his famous role in brokering dialogue between the group and Obasanjo and some other trouble shooters.

He said: “It appears that over the years, since that effort was made, that there have been a series of scams that have been coming out. In as much as insurgency has become an industry, so has the peace process. People are also catching in on it, politicians are using it, people are also turning it into a

“So, our intervention was simply to get out the facts and to know the grievances and to see how we can stop this senseless killing that has taken the lives of our people, for the very fact that we are of the belief that the solution doesn’t simply lie with law enforcement, but it is also about engagement.

“In the literal sense, (the group is) faceless or whatever it is being called, what we should understand clearly is that some people are bombing, they are maiming, so they exist.

“I took former President Obasanjo to meet with the family members so that we can see from our own side as advocates of peace what could we do to contribute. We have seen how many people remained silent out of fear and many people have also chosen not to speak out for other reasons, not for fear.

“What we need to understand clearly is that we are facing a crisis that is not particular to our country. It is there in Sudan , it is there in Egypt , Libya and many other countries of the world. So, by virtue of our geopolitical location and if you follow what is happening in Northern Kenya , it is still the same thing.”

Nature of Boko Haram group Speaking on the nature of the Boko Haram group, he said: “They exist, they have their

structure and they also have the ideology they are pursuing. But what we need to understand clearly and which many people are ignoring, is that when they say sect, there are also other sects that exist and I don’t think that our democracy has stopped anybody from expressing his views on how he wants his country to be governed. But where you cross the line is where you violate the rights of others or impose your own ideology on others by force or do things that breach the law.

“There are sects, we have the Ahmaddiya sect, Izala sect and the Shite sect. Today, the Shite sect nobody is harassing them, but they also have an ideology and they don’t recognise the constitution of the country. They also have their vision of an Islamic state. They also want the Koran to be the constitution of the country, but nobody is going against them for the very fact that no weapon is used in the pursuance of such an ideology.

“My own concept is that you don’t need to kill, you don’t need to bomb to pursue and win converts in the sense that today it is the Islamic Brotherhood that is heading a democratic government which many Christians even voted for them.”

Manipulation of ethnic and religious differences cause of insecurity The stakeholders also identified the exploitation of loopholes in the judiciary and lack of synergy among the nation’s security agencies for the spate of insecurity that have bestirred the nation.

The speakers and participants

spoke in the course of the four different papers presented during yesterday’s second session of the security summit also spoke of the need of putting human security of the population over and above national security.

Four papers were presented at yesterday's two major sessions of the summit that drew participants from various sectors of the society.

The first paper of the day entitled “Religious and ethnic discord as a threat to national security,” delivered by Prof. Sam Egwu, the second paper on militancy, terrorism and arms proliferation as a threat to national security was presented by Gen. Charles Omoregie, a former commander of the Joint Task Force and currently a top security aide to Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State.

The paper on the “role of the judiciary in ensuring national security” was authored by Joe Gadzama, SAN, while the paper on Intelligence gathering and sharing as an effective tool for national security was presented

by Mr. Innocent Chukwuma of Cleen Foundation.

Failure of governance In his paper, Egwu attributed crisis associated with religious and ethic groups in Nigeria to failure of governance and use of language by politicians.

Nigeria, he lamented, was ranked one of the least peaceful nations in the world, an assertion he said did not portray the nation in good light.

He, therefore, called for focus to be centred more on human security rather national security if the nation must succeed as a democratic state.

He explained that while national security tended to focus on the security of the state in military terms and the protection of the state from external aggression, it placed humans which formed the basis of any country as secondary importance.

He said: “For the subaltern groups and classes, national security simply represents an ideology of domination, exploitation and political repression. For this reason, it becomes imperative to go beyond the narrow concern for national or state security and focus on issues of human security.”

In this concept of human security, he said human beings would form the core issue with the fundamental focus on survival, livelihood and dignity as the irreducible minimum.

“The multidimensional nature of this conception of human security is underlined by the recognition given to economic, food, health, environmental, personal, community and political security."

Poverty reduction He also called on the Federal Government to expedite action in the area of poverty reduction, reduction of impunity by security

agencies, a total revamp of intraining, equipment, re-orientation and welfare of the security agencies, justice and accountability in governance and vast improvement in infrastructure to support meaningful human progress.

Discussing the paper presented

by Egwu, Shehu Sani, a civil rights activist from Kaduna and Rev. Joseph Ahaya, also from Kaduna, agreed that Islamic and Christian clergy had in the past tended to exploit even minor and irrelevant incidents to push ethnic agenda.

Bad governance generates high unemployment In his paper, Militancy Terrorism and Arms Proliferation: Implication for Nigeria’s National security, Maj.-Gen; Omoregie (rtd) lamented that the growing spate of militancy, terrorism and arms proliferation posed dire consequences for national security.

He blamed the major cause of proliferation of arms to the rising state of insecurity and privatisation of security.

He also said bad governance over the years in Nigeria had generated high unemployment among the youths and poverty in the midst of plenty. He therefore, called on the Federal Government to accelerate the pace of technological development of the country through reverse engineering and technology acquisition from countries such as China, Israel and Brazil.

Participants blame proliferation of arms on politicians Responding to the paper, Mrs. Victoria Potoki, a retired Warrnt Officer from the Nigerian Army, blamed politicians for the proliferation of arms.

According to her "politicians give these arms to youths to help them during campaigns and elections. But they did not retrieve them from them. Until this is stopped, there may be no solution to proliferation of arms.”

Mr. Max Gbinite, while discussing the paper presented

by Omoregie said the AntiTerrorism Act did not allow the prosecution of those engaged in terrorism, adding that it is the duty of the Attorney General of the Federation and the High Court to ensure that there is the enabling law empowering the judiciary to prosecute those involved in the act of terrorism.

He also raised alarm that cyber terrorism was gaining ground in the polity and advised the authorities to be pro-active by establishing a Police cyber crime detection unit before it ruins the nation’s economy.

zSee more reports on pages 43 & 50

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013—7

Fire at M R S depot, Tin C a n Island, Apapa, yesterday.

Photos: Lamidi Bamidele.

Fire guts MRS storage facility at Tin Can Island Port

BY GODWIN ORITSE & GODFREY BIVBERE & IFEANYI OKOLIE

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AGOS — EXPLOSION, yesterday, rocked the Apapa storage facility of MRS Oil and Gas Company, as a result of a fire that damaged part of the facility.

Vanguard gathered that the fire started from a hose used for the discharging of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

It was further gathered that one of the hoses was being rolled back into the barge when a spark occurred and caused a fire that spread to the vessel. This led to the explosion that shook the entire Tin-Can port area in Lagos.

The explosion led to a commotion as the fire spread to other parts of the facility, including the loading gantry, generating plant house and vehicles parked in the premises.

An official of the security department, who did not disclose his name, said there was no casualty, adding that the fire was contained within the MRS facility.

Sources at Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, said the barge had finished discharging its content and was disconnecting the hoses

when the incident occurred, adding that no death was recorded. Vanguard, however, gathered that two staff who sustained non life threatening injuries are currently receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in Apapa.

The source added that DPR needed to carry out further investigations into the incidence.

An official of the unit branch of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, said the fire was brought under control by firemen from the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA. Meanwhile, Managing Director of NPA, Mallam Habib Abdullahi, has ordered full investigations into the blast.

Abdullahi, who gave the instruction to the Health Safety and Environment Department in conjunction with Marine and Fire Service to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the incident, also appealed to stakeholders, especially port users to go about their normal businesses as the blast did not in any way affect port operations.

When Vanguard visited the MRS facility, a crowd of onlookers and staff of the

company were seen at the gate.

Executive Director, Ship and Trading, MRS, Mr. Marco Straphi, who spoke to reporters outside the gate said: “There are no injuries and no life was lost. We are still investigating the cause of the fire. There are no casualties except for some damages to our office complex. We don’t know the reason for the fire. You know it happened at the waterfront.

Nobody is allowed into the premises because of the state of the fire. I can't say what I don’t know. We will investigate the cause of the fire and report to the appropriate authorities.”

Also speaking to Vanguard on the incident, General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Mr Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said his men and other agencies succeeded in putting out the fire without any loss of life.

He said: “The Lagos State Fire Service was on ground and other agencies. We were allowed access into the facility to combat the fire. You must understand that LASEMA coordinated the exercise."

Court rules on NPAN vs APCON suit today

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BY INNOCENT ANABA

AGOS — A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, will today, rule on the propriety of the suit by Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, NPAN, challenging the constitutionality of some provisions of the Nigerian Code of Advertising Practice and Sales Promotion, as they affect newspaper houses.

The ruling was initially fixed for December 13, 2012, before it was again adjourned till today. The case is before Justice Musa Kurya.

NPAN had dragged Advertising Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria, APCON, along with the Inspector General of Police to court, arguing that the code infringed on the right of members of the association to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinion and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.

APCON had, in a preliminary objection, prayed the court to dismiss the suit, while NPAN on its part asked the court to dismiss the objection. The court is to rule on the preliminary objection.

NPAN in the suit, is praying the court to determine “whether having regard to the provision of Section 1(d) of the Advertising Practitioners( Registration, etc)Act CAP A7, LFN 204, Articles 21 and 137 (a) of the Nigerian Code of Advertising Practice and Sales Promotion are not ultra vires the Advertising Practioners’ Council of

Nigeria, APCON, in so far as the provisions of the Articles affect media houses who do not engage in the practice of advertising.

"Whether the provisions of Articles 21 and and 137(a) of the Nigerian Code of Advertising Practice and Sales Promotion are not inconsistent with the provisions of Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 which guarantees the freedom of expression including the freedom to hold opinion, and to receive and impact ideas and information without interference.

"Whether having regard to the provision of Section 4 of the Constitution of the Federal of Nigeria 1999, it is competent for the Advertising Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria to create offences and impose penalties as done in the Nigerian Code of Advertising Practice and Sales Promotion."

NPAN is asking the court to declare that the provisions of Articles 21 and 137(a) of the code is ultra vires as it affects members of the plaintiff ’s association; that Article 21 that requires all advertisements except public notices, goodwill messages, obituaries, and vacancies to be vetted by the Advertising Standard Panel before publication is inconsistent with the provisions of Section 39 of the Constitution.

It also asking the court to declare that the manner APCON created criminal offences and impose penalties as done in Articles 137 (a) (b) and (c) of the code and the Article 137, is unconstitutional, null and void.

8—Vanguard , THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

PDP: Angry Tukur blasts NWC members zSays they 're traitors

BY EMEKA MAMAH, SONI DANIEL, BEN AGANDE & HENRY UMORU

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MBATTLED Peoples Democratic Party National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday, described the reinstatement of the sacked Adamawa State Executives of the party by the National Working Committee, NWC, as a betrayal of trust.

A mild drama played out at the National Secretariat of the party yesterday as Tukur and some NWC members snubbed one another before the party leaders went into a marathon meeting at the Presidential Villa. The bickering has forced President Goodluck Jonathan to wade into the crisis, urging members to sheathe their swords and work together as a team.

This came as Vanguard gathered that the party could not elect its Board of Trustees, BoT, chairman on Tuesday because the membership of about 50 per cent of those on the board had expired. The party deferred the election of its BoT chairman to enable it weed out the non members of the board, reliable sources told Vanguard.

Ahmadu Ali's ambition scuttled Meanwhile, the ambition of former National Chairman of the party, Dr Ahmadu Ali, to emerge as the BoT chair was scuttled, yesterday, with the retaining of Walid Jibrin as the BoT secretary.

Jubrin is from North-Central geopolitical zone as Ali. The BoT chairman and secretary, according to the party rules cannot come from the same zone in line with the Federal character principle.

It will be recalled that 10 members of the NWC, led by Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Sam Jaja and National Secretary, Olagunsoye Oyinlola had, Tuesday, rescinded the party ’s earlier decision sacking the Adamawa PDP exco and replacing them with a caretaker committee. The reinstatement of the officials behind Tukur, was seen as a big slap on him and an indication that governors elected on the party’s platform have fallen out with Tukur because of their resolve to protect one of their own, Murtala Nyako, the governor of Adamawa State.

The dissolution of the Adamawa Exco, which was loyal to Nyako and replacement with a caretaker committee said to be sympathetic to Tukur, had generated ripples in the state and at the national level, putting the two political leaders at loggerheads.

Tukur, who was apparently

jolted by the decision of the NWC members, was said to be counting on the support of President Jonathan, who brought him on board in the belief that his position as the national chairman would give him needed support to achieve his re-election bid in 2015.

Although, Tukur declined to speak to newsmen who had assembled in his Wuse 2 residence in Abuja on Wednesday morning, he pointed out that the action of the NWC members amounted to a betrayal of trust. “I have nothing to say over what the NWC did yesterday but the fact remains that their action is nothing but a betrayal of trust.

There are documents relating to the Adamawa congresses and they speak for themselves,” Tukur said.

Contrary to the claim that Tukur dissolved the Adamawa PDP Exco and appointed a caretaker committee loyal to him, documents obtained by Vanguard suggested that it was actually the NWC members, who initiated the move that led to the sack of the officials.

After the dissolution of the Adamawa PDP chapter earlier in the year, Tukur and Oyinlola on December 5, 2012 wrote to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, informing him of the decision of the NWC to conduct fresh congresses in the state. In the letter entitled “Notification of Party Congresses in Adamawa State” with reference No. PDP/DOM/GF1/276 and jointly signed by Oyinlola and Tukur, the duo wrote, “In keeping with the provisions of Section 87 of the Electoral Act 2010, we write to inform the INEC that the NWC of our great party has approved the conduct of the following party congresse in Adamawa State.” Under the timetable sent to INEC by the two party officials, the Ward congresses were slated for December 27, 2012, Local Government Congresses fixed for January 3, 2013 while the State congress was scheduled for January 8, 2013.

Based on the letter to INEC, the National Organising Secretary of the Party, Abubakar Mustaphar on December 6, 2012 also wrote to INEC and the Acting National Vice Chairman, North East, notifying them of the approved timetable for the congresses.

Mustaphar also wrote to Tukur and obtained his approval to carry on with the conduct of the congresses, as set out in the timetable. But at the emergency meeting of the NWC on Tuesday, which was seen as a ‘coup’ against Tukur, the members distanced themselves from decisions relating to the Adamawa chapter dissolution and the congresses, describing the dissolution

FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed (right); Justice Minister, Mr. Belo Adoke (left) and their colleagues discussing at the first meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

and the congresses as null and void.

Despite the attempt to disgrace Tukur, Vanguard learnt that the Presidency was not ready to sacrifice Tukur to appease PDP state governors who are trying to position their stooges ahead of 2015.

Vanguard gathered that many of the outgoing governors might not support Jonathan’s re-election bid because of the fear that leaving him behind could make him to move against them once they are out of power and lose their immunity.

Why we deferred election — Ojo Maduekwe Speaking to newsmen why the election was deferred, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, a former National PDP Secretary and current Nigerian Ambassador to Canada, said it was to enable the board to properly align its membership.

Tuesday’s meeting was presided over by President Jonathan at the Presidential Villa. Maduekwe said that a special committee had been set up to scrutinise membership of the board and work for a free and fair election.

He said that the committee, which would be chaired by Prof.

Jerry Gana, was mandated to look into the membership of the BOT and the procedure for the coming election. He listed the other committee members as Dr Shetimah Mustafa, Gov. Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State, Sen. Stella Omu, Sen. Hope Uzodinma and Chief Olabode George.

Jonathan wades into NWC crisis President Jonathan has waded into the crisis within the NWC of the Peoples Democratic Party with the convening of a meeting of the National Caucus of the party with

the view to resolving it.

Yesterday’s meeting which had in attendance the national chairman and members of the NWC as well as the president of the Senate and speaker of the House of Representatives lasted for over three hours. Briefing newsmen at the end of the meeting, Tukur said the PDP was one family that is capable of resolving its internal problems amicably.

Answering question from newsmen, the PDP chairman declined to comment specifically on the Adamawa crisis, saying that the party’s position would be announced today. According to him: “PDP is like a family and like in any family, there maybe some disagreements on principles and we have resolved it. Some differences you need to bring them to light with the aim of examining them and find out why there is the disagreement. As the family head, I can tell you that we are one and the same”. He said there were some misunderstandings but those misunderstandings have been resolved and the position of the party would be made known today.

How Mark’s motion sealed Ali’s ambition Prior to Tuesday’s meeting of the BoT, former National Chairman, Dr. Amadu Ali, was optimistic that the coast was clear for him to emerge as the chairman.

Hours into the meeting, his hope of actualizing his ambition was shattered following a motion by a prominent member from his North Central Zone that the issue of the Secretary of the board be looked into by members.

Vanguard gathered that the motion by Senate President David Mark (Benue North Central) re-affirming the substantive Secretary of the board, Senator Walid Jibrin for another five year term became the last straw that nailed

the aspiration of Ali. It was gathered that at the meeting where the immediate past BoT Chairman and former President, Olusegun Obasamjo was absent, members unanimously confirmed the five year team for Senator Jibrin, just as this may put an end to Ali’s aspiration as the two principal officers of the board cannot come from the same geo-political zone of the country.

Vanguard also gathered that Mark’s motion came up when Ali’s wife, Marian, who was sitting close to his husband prompted him to talk and Ali stood up to say that there was need for members to discuss the issue of BoT Secretary that is being occupied by a member from North Central, restating his leadership qualities and contribution to the party.

Senator Mark in his quest to retain the position of the North central leader then moved the motion. By the constitution of the PDP, as regards the BoT, the principle of Federal Character holds sway. Ali is from Kogi State, while Jibrin is from Nasarawa State, all in North Central zone.

The move by Mark, it was gathered, became imperative because if Ali was elected the BoT chairman, his influence as the political leader of North Central might be diminished. Other details of the BoT meeting showed that the former Minister of Information, Prof Jerry Gana was nominated chairman of the committee to streamline and restructure the members of the BoT, apart from the statutory members of the Board and was given three weeks to submit its report.

Other members of the Gana’s committee are Senator Stella Omu (South-South); Governor Ibrahim Shema (North-West); Shettima Mustapha (North-East); Chief Bode George (South-West) and Senator Hope Uzodinma (South-East).

Vanguard , THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013—9

NIPOST pensioners protest unpaid 69 months salary

BY ONOZURE DANIA & MICHAEL OLADEPO

AGGRIEVED Nigeria Postal Service, NIPOST, pensioners, yesterday, shut down all post office operations in Lagos over 69 months unpaid pension arrears and gratuities, lamenting that no fewer than 421 of them had died for lack of money to take care of their medical and other needs.

Governor Fashola inspecting Alimosho Maternal and Childcare Centre, Lagos, as part of his state-wide projects inspection tour .

Obasanjo calls for even development nation-wide

BY DAUD OLATUNJU

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BEOKUTA—FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, said the country would not move forward or progress without even distribution of resources, condemning what he described as lopsided distribution of opportunities and resources in the country.

Obasanjo spoke in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during a solidarity visit by the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Ogun West, to Hilltop Mansion, Abeokuta, that was partly destroyed by fire recently.

They were led by PDP’s gubernatorial candidate in 2011 election, General Adetunji Olurin (rtd).

He said: “For Nigeria to record any progress, our development must be evenly spread. And development in Ogun State must be evenly led and equally spread and the same for the whole country.

"You cannot have one part of the country in darkness and the

other in light. A hungry dog cannot play with a satisfied dog.

All our dogs must be satisfied together. I don’t want to speak on politics, particularly PDP in Ogun State, because, what we ought to do we have done it.”

Apparently, reacting to the marginalisation of Ogun West in the scheme of things by Ogun East and Central senatorial districts, Obasanjo urged the leaders of Ogun West Senatorial District to put their house in order ahead of the next election.

He said “the reason why I said Ogun West needs a proper attention is that, if we don’t carry our load we will not see anybody to carry it for us. When there are two opportunities in Ogun State, if all the two did not go to East, both the East and Central will share them.

"If it were to be three, two will go to the East while one will go to the central; West will be left with none. ”In case, the opportunities were to be four, both East and Central will share it equally. For how long are we going to be in this

injustice? When I was a military Head of State, whenever there was an opportunity for Ogun State, particularly in education, the polytechnic we established in Ogun State, I was the one that insisted that it must be established in Ilaro.”

Obasanjo while cautioning the leaders of the party in the state, urged them to embrace the returnees when they returned.

"They must not only be welcomed, they must also be reintegrated. Some of them are still sufficiently influential within their own communities.

Speaking, Olurin said they decided to pay a solidarity visit to the former President and at the same time pledge their loyalty to him.

No frosty relations between Fashola and lawmakers — Speaker

LAGOS —

AGOS — GOVERNOR Babatunde Fashola of Lagos, has said his government is a builder, not a demolisher, even as he undertook an extensive tour of ongoing projects across the state.

This came as the governor disclosed that the first phase of the State’s Light Rail Project, from Iganmu to Marina in Central Lagos, would be completed in June this year, clarifying earlier report that the first phase of 10-lane Lagos-Badagry road would also be ready by then.

A statement by Hakeem Bello, Special Adviser to

Governor Fashola on Media, assured, however, that work on the all important LagosBadagry road was continuing.

According to the statement, projects inspected by the Governor during the tour on Tuesday that lasted the entire day, include the Iganmu, Alaba and Mile 2 Light Rail Stations, on-going projects at the Lagos State University (LASU), Maternal and Childcare Centre, FESTAC, OkotaAgo Palace Road, Ejigbo-Ajao Link Bridge, Network of roads around Jimoh Ajao Street, Igando HOMS and Resettlement Relief Camp, Igando

BY DAPO AKINREFON

LAGOS —A FORMER governorship candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, has said that national transformation can only come about if the elites are actively involved in politics.

He said this yesterday at first year anniversary and inaugural lecture entitled: “Elite, leadership and national transformation”, organised by the January 9 Collective, J9C, a pressure group formed after last year ’s January 9 fuel subsidy protest, in Lagos.

Agbaje said it was imperative for the elites not to shy away from politics to correct the anomalies in the country.

While faulting the current political structure, he said “the system is not made to bring out the best but mediocres.”

Agbaje, who was governorship candidate of the Democratic Peoples’ Alliance, DPA, in Lagos, in the 2007 election, said that the country was not beyond redemption.

Pa Yisa Jinadu dies at 84

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

SPEAKER of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Honourable Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has dismissed as false and misleading comments that frosty

We're builders, not demolishers, says Fashola

L

The protesting pensioners most whom were retired in 2006, d e m a n d e d immediate sack of the Post Master General, PMG, and the Accountant General, AG, of the Federation for a l l e g e d l y deceiving them for several months.

Speaking on behalf of the pensioners, Comrade Joseph Fajemilusi, a member of the Pensioners Board of Trustees, who led others to cripple operations at Ikeja Post Office, said the pensioners were tired of being treated like semi human beings.

No transformation without the elites —Jimi Agbaje

Other on-going projects are at Alimosho General Hospital (School of Nursing and Hostel, and Samuel Jinadu Street in Markaz area of Orile Agege, among others.

Speaking at the Iganmu Light Rail Station where he also inspected the tracks already laid for the rail and the coach engine as well as flagging- off the Track Laying, Governor Fashola said while the first phase of the project would be ready in June, work on the rail would continue to Okokomaiko, even as the expansion of the Lagos Badagry Expressway continues.

relations exist between Governor Babatunde Fashola and the House.

If anything, he said, both arms of government had enjoyed the best of collaborative support since 2007, a reason he said made Lagos House the most stable and independent in the country.

“Our governor will score a very good mark when it comes to ExecutiveLegislative relationship. He came in and met me as speaker. We went for elections in 2007 and 2011 and I was returned as Speaker. He has allowed an independent legislature. Lagos is probably the only state in Nigeria where the legislature is not an appendage of the governor,” he said.

Late Pa Jinadu Pa Yisa Ayinla Kolawole Jinadu is dead, aged 84.

He died on Saturday, January 5, 2013 at his residence, 45, Yisa Jinadu Street Ajangbadi, Ojo, Lagos.

Pa Jinadu, who was a retired Deputy Commissioner of Police, was from the Onilegbale Chieftancy House of Isale Eko, Lagos State.

He is survived by his wives, children, grand children and great grand children.

10—Vanguard , THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

Amosun’s wife empowers women with NBC kiosks

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BEOKUTA— WIFE of the Governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, in collaboration with the Nigerian Bottling Company, has empowered 50 women with Coca-Cola Iconic Kiosks to assist them earn a living and boost their standard of living.

Speaking during the commissioning of the Uplifting the People with NBC Iconic Kiosk, held at the South-West Resource Centre, OkeMosan in Abeokuta, Mrs. Amosun expressed her desire to further promote poverty alleviation initiatives in order to carry out their primary responsibilities towards their families and the society without resorting to any debasing acts.

She said the empowerment programme was part of her initiatives to complement the state government’s effort on employment generation and capacity building through series of retail training to support the five-point agenda of the state government in uplifting people with special needs.

Repair works have started on my house —Obasanjo

BY DAUD OLATUNJi

A

BEOKUTA — F O R M E R President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday said repair works had commenced on his Abeokuta Hilltop Mansion partly razed by fire recently.

Obasanjo disclosed this in Abeokuta during a visit by the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ogun West led by former gubernatorial candidate in 2011, General Adetunji Olurin (rtd).

The ex-President said “like it has been said, the king’s burnt house adds glamour to it, and God has assisted us. If you get to the place now, repair works have commenced.”

Drama: Ekiti commissioners abandon meals as Fayemi dissolves SEC

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

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DO EKITI — A sense of loss may have forced some of the commissioners in Ekiti State to abandon their meals after Governor Kayode Fayemi, yesterday announced the dissolution of the Engr. Mustafa Shehu, National President of Nigeria Society of Engineers, NSE, (4th); State Executive Council, SEC, as Mr. Ahmed Rufai, Managing Director, NigComSat, (3rd left), flanked by other persons, they dashed out of the Executive during a courtesy visit of NSE to the headquarters of the Nigerian Communications SatChambers, venue of the meeting ellite, on Airport Road, Lugbe, Abuja, yesterday. looking dejected.

The 37-member-SEC, comprising Commissioners and Special Advisers were appointed about two years ago after the inauguration of Dr. Kayode Fayemi as the governor of the state.

The governor was said to have announced the dissolution during the SEC meeting in Ado Ekiti.

A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said “immediately the governor completed all the issues on the agenda and it was time to eat, he cleared his throat and announced the dissolution of the cabinet.

"The Commiss- ioners could not eat their food and some of them left hurriedly.”

The governor, the source said, however, thanked them for their support.

The source said that the acation was taken in order to inject new blood into the system, hinting that five of the sacked commissioners may not be re-appointed.

However, in a statement the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Yinka Oyebode, said "this is a moment of change and transformation."

Alaafin's palace gutted by fire

BY OLA AJAYI

I

BADAN —THE palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, has been gutted by fire.

The inferno destroyed about 21 rooms in the ancient palace.

According to the Media Assistant to the monarch, Alhaji Azeez Fehintola, the fire started around 6a.m. yesterday and raged uncontrollably before the arrival of fire fighters one hour later.

He said: “Immediately I got here (palace) and saw the extent of the damage done to the palace by this early morning conflagration, I could not but break down into tears.

"The fire, which resulted from a power surge, started around 6 a.m. and was contained after about three hours. ”The fire-fighters came at some minutes past 7a.m. and battled it till it was finally put out.

Every part of the affected apartments was completely razed.

2 arrested for killing 50-yr-old woman

BY DAYO DOHNSON

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KURE — POLICE in Ondo State have arrested two persons for allegedly beating a 50-yearold woman to death in the hilly town of Idanre area of the state, last Saturday.

Speaking with Vanguard in Akure, the State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Adeniran Aremu, said that the suspects had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department for discreet investigation.

According to Aremu “one Jollin Akinbowa reported at the Idanre police station

around 9:30a.m. on Sunday that his mother, Dupe Akinbowa, was beaten to a state of coma by some people around 11:30p.m. on Saturday night.

The incident happened at Sabo area, Alade-Idanre when some boys beat up my 50-year-old mother during which she became unconscious and was rushed to the state hospital .

He said the deceased later died in the hospital.

Aremu added that “some officers, who visited the scene of the crime, said that the deceased sustained head injury and bruises on her hands and chest.

It was a really sad day for the ayabas (wives of the Oba) because many of their property were destroyed.

"They keep their monies in the palace. Plasma television, jewellery, clothes, bags and many other valuables yet to be ascertained, were lost.”

Mostly affected parts were the flats of Princess Folasade (Iyaa Meta), Princess Rukayat, and Princess Abibat.

Vanguard gathered that some undisclosed amount of money was burnt.

Besides, some rooms known as Ile Ori, Ile Ifa where artifacts were kept, were also destroyed.

Though no life was lost and nobody was injured, the queens wore forlorn looks.

The monarch did not grant any interview as he was not in the mood to entertain any questions.

He remained indoors and refused to show up.

Ritualists mutilate body of 3-yr-old girl in ilorin

BY DEMOLAAKINYEMI

I

LORIN — The sight of the mutilated body of a three-year-old girl, Aliya Usman, killed by suspected ritualists, yesterday, threw residents of Ile Onigboro, Ita Elefun, Ita Ogunbo, Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State, into deep mourning.

The bereaved family had earlier lost the immediate younger brother of the deceased to a strange illness about 10 months ago, making the death more pathetic.

When Vanguard visited the scene, the severed head of the victim was spotted at a refuse dump covered with a polythene bag while the remains of her badly mutilated body was deposited at a newly constructed soakaway pit.

Most of her body parts and organs were missing, and sympathisers rained curses on the callous and heartless killers.

Also, a red piece of cloth with a syringe carefully wrapped inside was found close to the severed head, lending credence to the assumption that her abductors drugged her before carrying out the dastardly act.

Narrating the incident, which occurred Tuesday, mother of the deceased,

Aminat Usman, who wept profusely, described the death as a rude shock, adding that the family had lost the immediate younger brother of Aliya, AbdulSamad to strange illness about 10 months ago.

Amina said on that fateful day, when she woke up, she had hurriedly boiled rice for the family as Aliya didn’t eat her supper the previous day, adding that after she had eaten, she plaited hair, after which she was dressed in one of her beautiful clothes.

“However, I never knew that I was preparing her for the final journey home,” she added.

The deceased's mother, a petty trader at Adabata, who relocated to Ilorin with her husband on the prompting of their parents to fully care for the children, said she became suspicious when the father, Tajudeen Usman, a driver, who plies the Ilorin-Lagos route at Sawmill garage enquired after the deceased at 12p.m. on the said day.

“I told him that she should be with the other children at her grand-father ’s place. When I didn’t see her at the time I expected, I became very suspicious because this was very unusual of her. "But after frantic search for her yielded no fruit up till about 7p.m., I became very apprehensive. At that moment, I felt cold. It was the shout from the search team later the next morning, at 6a.m. that threw the neighbourhood into agony.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY THURSDAY,, JANUARY 10, 2013—11

Probe sacked commissioner, Rivers ACN urges Amaechi

BY JIMITOTAONOYUME

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ORT HARCOURT— RIVERS State chapter of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has called for investigation into the issues that led to the sack of Mr. Emeka Wogu as Commissioner for Special Duties in the state.

ACN, in a statement in Port Harcourt by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jerry Needam, said it was not enough to sack the commissioner following allegations by the governor that funds were released to him to acquire fire fighting vehicles and refurbish equipments in the ministry to enhance emergency response operations.

He said the allegations should be thoroughly investigated and if the former commissioner was found wanting, he should be prosecuted accordingly.

The party said it would not hesitate to drag the sacked commissioner before Economic and Financial

Shake-up in JTF: Debiro takes over from Ochoga

Crime Commission, EFCC, if the state government failed to order a thorough investigation into the activities of the former commissioner.

He said: “The investigation and prosecution of Wogu have become imperative following revelations by Governor Chibuike Amaechi that tax payers’ money was voted and

ENAGOA—DE FENCE Headquarters has approved the retirement of Commander of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, code named Operation Pulo Shield, Major-General Johnson Ochoga, from the service.

The JTF commander’s retirement, security sources told Vanguard, was based on expiration of his mandatory years of service.

Major-General Ochoga, it was learnt, is expected to formally hand over this weekend to the newly posted commander of JTF, in the Niger Delta, Operation Pulo Shield, Major-General Debiro, from Defence Headquarters.

It was further learnt that Debiro headed the committee set up by the Nigerian Army to organise the participation of the military in the recent burial rites of former National Security Adviser, NSA, late General Owoye Azazi, in Yenagoa.

The new JTF Commander, Major General Debiro, informed sources told Vanguard has commenced a tour of military formations under the operational command of the task force in the region.

tion, the ministry could not mobilise to tackle the outbreak of fire in Gambia Street, Port Harcourt on January 1, that resulted in the loss of valuables with millions of naira.

The party warned the state government to stop shielding alleged corrupt politicians in its circle.

VISIT: Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State (left) exchanging pleasantries with Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State and Governor Abdulaaziz Yari of Zamfara State, when the Bayelsa State Governor visited his Kogi State counterpart to sympathise with him over accident that claimed the life of Wada's ADC.

I’ll transform Asaba, Uduaghan assures

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

Y

released to the sacked commissioner for the purchase of new trucks, rehabilitation of old ones and acquisition of working implements for the state Fire Service.”

ACN said it was regrettable that despite the alleged release of funds to the office of the former commissioner to effectively tackle emergency situa-

BY EMMA AMAIZE

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SABA—DELTA State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has declared his determination to make the state capital, Asaba, an economic hub for investors and haven for tourists.

He spoke when he visited the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Chike Edozien, in his palace, noting that it was that desire that prompted the construction of such mega projects as the new Government House, Asaba; International Airport, Asaba; General Hospital, and new roads in the capital city by his administration.

He said every part of Asaba

will be made accessible, while economic development of the state would record a boost when the 10 new roads and the old ones under reconstruction in Asaba were completed.

Uduaghan noted that it was his administration’s desire to transform the state into an economic hub, adding that improved access roads across the state would facilitate the economic development of the state and enhance the living standard of the people.

He said: “Having good roads across the state is part of my administration’s goals. That is why a massive reconstruction and completion of roads is ongoing and it is my belief that

with good road network, movement of goods and services will become easier and safer.”

He informed the Asagba that due to the unexpected flood that destroyed property of Deltans last year, his administration had embarked on measures to protect the environment and make it safer for the people.

“The disaster was a natural occurrence and there was nothing we could have done to stop it from happening, but I assure you that measures are being taken to ensure that such a disaster will not lead to lose lives or property again,” he said.

Power outage: Delta community gives PHCN District of PHCN on the deone week ultimatum velopment, adding that “they

BY FESTUS AHON

U

GHELLI—PEOPLE of Otovwodo-Ughelli community, Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State, yesterday, handed a one week ultimatum to management of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, to restore electricity supply to the area or risk a showdown with the people.

The community and major parts of Ughelli metropolis and its environs had been without

electricity since November 30, 2012, following the breakdown of the 16 MVA step-down transformer at Otovwodo substation.

Addressing newsmen shortly after a meeting at the community’s town hall, its Chairman, Prince Difference Umudi, lamented that the prolonged power outage in the area was adversely impacting on the socioeconomic lives of the people.

Umudi disclosed that the leadership of the community had paid several visits to Ughelli Business

promised to restore electricity on December 24, 2012, but failed to do so. They promised again to restore power

by December 30 and they also failed.”

He said the community would begin with a peaceful protest should the situation continue at the expiration of the ultimatum. “The entire community would be mobilised for the protest march to register our grievances,” he added.

Abe tasks journalists on professional ethics

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HAIRMAN, Sen ate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Magnus Abe, has charged journalists to see their profession as a sacred responsibility aimed at making society better.

Speaking during an interactive session with journalists from his senatorial district in Bera, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Abe prescribed professionalism and objectivity in the reportage of events as a way of enhancing societal growth.

The senator, who represents Rivers SouthEast in the National Assembly, noted that “objective reportage earns respect,” just as he welcomed suggestions that would move the area forward.

Thanking the journalists for their support and positive sentiments about his efforts, Senator Abe sued for hardwork and unity among media practitioners.

NAFDAC’s activities boost industrial growth

BY EGUFE YAFUGBORHI

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ORT HAR COURT—NATIONAL Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has said that its sustained fight against product counterfeiting was stimulating a boost in local capacity in production of pharmaceutical products.

Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, in a statement by the agency ’s SouthSouth Public Relations Officer, Mr. Cyril Monye, stated this during the inauguration of Cross River State’s NAFDAC Local Government Desk Officers in Calabar, Cross River State.

Represented by NAFDAC Cross Rivers Coordinator, Mr. Kayode Fagboyo, Orhii said NAFDAC’s activities had restored investors’ confidence and boosted local production.

12—Vanguard, THURSDAY THURSDAY,, JANUARY 10, 2013

2015 Delta guber poll: Okowa urged to support Ochei

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OLLOWING ru mours that Senator Ifeanyi Okowa would contest the governorship of Delta State come 2015, a political pressure group, Delta Focus Group, has advised him (Okowa) to work for Mr. Victor Ochei, Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly as governor come 2015.

The group, in a statement by Mr. Joshua Okoh, Chairman, noted that from 1999 till the 2011 elections, Ochei had worked for Senator Okowa in various capacities.

He pointed out that during the Delta North Senatorial election, the role played by Ochei to ensure that Okowa won the election was unquantifiable.

He said: “We are all aware of several times the primary election for the senate in Delta North senatorial district was conducted before Okowa eventually won. The strong opposition during the general elections was not easy to overcome.”

Dickson appoints Doukpola as Post Flood C’ttee Chair

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

Y

ENAGOA—G O V ERNOR Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has appointed Chief Francis Doukpola as chairman of the Post Flood Management Committee.

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, in a statement, said the appointment became necessary following the unfortunate helicopter crash of December 15, 2012 which claimed the life of the former Chairman, General Andrew Owoye Azazi.

Chief Doukpola, a banker by profession and known for his diligence and uprightness, had previously headed various committees under the current administration in the state.

Cure for HIV/AIDS: UNIBEN denounces Prof Ibeh’s claim

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

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ENIN—AS controversy continues to trail the alleged discovery of a drug for the cure of HIV/AIDS by the Dean of School of Basic Medical Sciences of the University of Benin, Prof. Isaiah Ibeh, the authorities of the institution, yesterday, in Benin, faulted the dean’s claims.

Prof. Ibeh had, in a recent interview, hinted of the discovery of an oral drug made from plants extraction in Nigeria for the possible cure of the pandemic HIV/AIDS. Reacting to Prof. Ibeh’s claim during an interaction with newsmen who were at the university to authenticate the alleged discovery, Provost, College of Medical Sciences of the University, Prof.

Vincent Iyawe, said the institution was not in agreement with Prof. Ibeh’s claim for now, alleging that the University was, “not carried along” in the research.

He said: “The School would like to take credit for a breakthrough, but it cannot align

with the breakthrough because the College was not consulted, the University was not consulted, and he did not carry anybody along.

“There are protocols and procedures. Going from stage to stage, we ought to

give it clinical trials, by taking it to the Federal Ministry of Health to do clinical trials and many other things involved. We also needed to take it to National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, and many other things

VISIT: Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State (left) and High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman, DAAR Communications, during a visit by DAAR Communications’ management team to the governor in Benin City, yesterday.

Youths, Delta community leader on war path over sale of land

BY EMMA ARUBI

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ARRI—THERE is con fusion in Ugbuwangue community in Warri, Delta State, as hundreds of indigenes of the community, yesterday, challenged the right of one of their leader, Pa. Agindotan Yonwuren to allegedly sell part of their market to a politician without their knowledge.

The people also queried him for allotting part of the land to some of his children

while leaving out others in the community, saying that it was a community land owned by all.

Pa. Agindotan, who told the protesters that he had the right to dispose of the land as a leader, said he gave out the land as a gift to the said politician, who later returned same to him on the grounds that he had no need for it, adding that the politician told him to do whatever he pleased with the land which was why he developed the

land.

The explanation angered the protesters further, who went on rampage destroying all structures allegedly built on the land illegally.

One of Pa. Agindotan’s sons, who some of the angry protesters said had erected a storey building for his wife on the land, allegedly mobilized two truck loads of mobile policemen to the community to arrest some key players in the protest. After explaining the true situation of things to the team of policemen, the protesters were let off the hook while the complainant was whisked away to safety.

Two women jailed 3 years for illegal bunkering in Delta

BY IFEANYI OKOLIE

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USTICE Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State, has sentenced two women, Helen Itemba and Aladini Money, to three years imprisonment for illegal dealings in petroleum products.

The convicts, who were prosecuted by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, were found guilty on the two count

had to be done before you come out with your claims, in addition to taking it to World Health Organisation.”

He said all the university was doing was to protect Prof.

Ibeh and the integrity of the institution.

charges preferred against them and convicted accordingly. The court sentenced them to a three-year jail term on each count with an option of N300, 000 fine.

The convicts illegally conveyed 136 plastic drums of petroleum products in a truck at Egbidi, Isoko Local Government Area of Delta State, in 2009 without a licence and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap. M17,

laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2007 and punishable under section 1(17) of the same Act. They were arrested in May, 2009 by operatives of Delta State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, along with the truck conveying 136 plastic drums of petroleum products driven by one John Ufo and his co-travellers.

They were handed over to EFCC for investigation and prosecution.

Edo LG poll to hold April 20

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM & GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

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ENIN—EDO State In dependent National Electoral Commission, EDSIEC, has fixed April 20, 2013, for elections into the 18 local government areas of the state.

Elections into the offices of chairmen and councillors in the 18 councils of the state had suffered set backs since Governor Adams Oshiomhole became the governor of Edo State due to court actions instituted by members of the dissolved EDSIEC. Oshiomhole, who assured people of the state of his intention to conduct free and fair elections in the councils, had, penultimate week, appointed new members for EDSIEC that will see to the conduct of the elections.

Chairman of EDSIEC, Mr. Solomon Ogoh, in a statement, said: “Elections to the offices of chairmen and councillors in the 18 councils of the state shall be held on Saturday, April 20, 2013.

“Details of the procedure for the conduct of the forthcoming elections shall be published in the time table to be issued by the Commission soon.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013—13

Pregnant woman, daughter burnt to death in Imo O

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

WERRI—A mysterious fire, which engulfed a house in Ubachima, Awo Omamma, Oru East Local Gouncil Area of Imo State, has consumed a pregnant woman and her two-year-old daughter.

It was not clear how the fire started but two conflicting accounts were peddled by villagers as the cause of the inferno when Vanguard visited the scene of the ugly incident.

The first account had it that the pregnant woman, Mrs. Nkechi Amajuoyi, her husband, Benedict, and their daughter, were cooling off outside the house until it became very chilly for the woman and her little daughter.

Those behind the account equally reasoned that because there was no public power supply in the community on the fateful night, the woman lit the family’s lantern and headed for their living room.

They opined that the late woman was unaware that petrol was dripping from her husband’s parked motorcycle inside the house, adding that it caught fire immediately she entered the room.

Another school of thought be-

lieved that the woman had successfully gone to bed and slept but along the line, fire from the lantern spread to other materials in the room.

Speaking to journalists, bereaved Benedict Amajuoyi said he was a native of Awa, Oguta Local Government

Area of the state and a staff of Consolidated Breweries, Awo Omamma.

He affirmed amidst, tears that he returned from work at about 8pm, had his supper and decided to take a rest on a bench outside the house but was woken up by shouts of his

From left: Former Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara; former Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme; Senator Bode Olajumoke and Sen Onyeabo Obi, arriving for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Board of Trustees meeting in Abuja. State House Photo.

Panel uncovers N23bn fraud in Abia

BY ANAYO OKOLI MUAHIA—A Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up by Abia State Government to look into the operations of its Physical Planning and Infrastructural Development Fund, has discovered a large scale fraud of over N23 billion.

The panel revealed that against its original intention, the immediate past administration in the state allegedly used the agency to divert funds meant for the state into private pockets.

According to the panel, the alleged frauds were committed between the inception of the agency in 1999 and last year.

Chairman of the panel, Justice K.O. Wogu, who disclosed this while submitting its report to Governor Theodore Orji, at Government House, Umuahia, said it also discovered that between 2000 and January 2007, the agency was alleged to have diverted funds accruing from the monthly Federal Statutory Allocation for payments of undisclosed projects on behalf of the past government.

The panel further regretted that the agency allegedly made payments outside the contemplation of the enabling law to the tune of about N4.2 billion which brought the total revenue loss to N23.492 billion within the period under review.

The panel noted with regret

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name that probably came from his dying wife.

Amajuoyi said he ran to the room where his wife and daughter were sleeping and only found out that there was nothing he could do as the inferno had covered everywhere.

that prior to the constitution of the pioneer board of trustees for the fund in 2009, under the chairmanship of Dr. Max Ndukwe Adindu by Orji’s adminstration, management of the fund was an all comers affair and used for selfish and political aggrandizement.

The panel chairman also re-

gretted that the observance of Law No. 28 of 1999 which established the fund was more in the breach, and recommended that the adoption and implementation of the panel’s recommendations for a comprehensive audit of the fund would reveal the exact amount lost and all those involved in the alleged fraud.

Police detain Lamido’s son over fatal accident

BY ABDULSALAM MUHAMMAD

K

ANO——THE police in Kano have detained Aminu Sule, the eldest son of Jigawa state Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido for allegedly crushing to death a middle aged man along BUK road by Rumfa College Kano.

Eye witness told Vanguard that the incident occured at about 8.55pm adding that the middle- aged man died instantly.

Aminu Sule who was arrested recently by EFCC for alleged money laundering has been detained with his SUV sports car at Kwali police statioin in Kano.

Eyewitness account further told Vanguard that “Aminu sule exhibited remorse when

he alighted from the car shotly after the crash, adding that the timely intervention of the police on patrol saved him from mob action.

Confirming the incident, Police imagemaker in Kano, ASP Magaji Musa Majia stated that the driver of the accident vehicle has been identified as Aminu Sule.

ASP Majia stated that the police has equally identified the relation of the victim,adding that the body has been taken to a Government Hospital The police spokesman revealed that the driver and his accident vehicle were being detained at Kwali police station in the city, stressing that investigation had since commenced.

Enugu govt dismisses letter on Chime’s whereabouts

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BY TONY EDIKE

NUGU—ENUGU State Government has dismissed as a nonissue a letter purportedly written by a group, Save Enugu Group, to the Acting governor, Sunday Onyebuchi, asking him to address the state on the whereabouts of Governor Sullivan Chime and demanding that a delegation be sent to visit him.

A statement signed by Chukwudi Achife, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Chime said though government did not intend to join issues with those he described as “habitual attentionseekers,” it was obvious that having realised that their media attacks had not achieved their intended results, they had now chosen to issue baseless statements as a group.

The statement read: “Government does not intend to join issues with these habitual attentionseekers.

“This is, at best, the coming together of men whose views on the incumbent government are w e l l - k n o w n and always predictable.”

14—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha (left) and His Majesty Otunfuo Osei Tutu 11, the Asantehene of Ashanti Kingdom, during the governor’s visit to Ghana.

EFCC arrests Imo Finance Commissioner, AG O

WERRI—THE Eco nomic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday, arrested two Imo government officials for fraud related charges.

The agency’s interrogators are currently quizzing Imo State Commissioner of Finance, Deacon Okafor Chike John, and Accountant-General of the state, Eche Ezenna George.

The two officials are currently in the Abuja office of the EFCC.

But the Atrtorney-General, Eche Ezenna George, dismissed insinuations that they were arrested by the anti-graft agency but admitted they were at the agency’s head office to submit documents requested by it, before attending the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, in Abuja.

It is unclear how the agency effected the arrest of the two officials but a source at the EFCC office in Abuja involved in the

investigations said their arrest was linked to an alleged loan transaction from Zenith bank involving N47 billion.

The Attorney-General, Eche Ezenna George, told Vanguard on the phone last night, that they had been visiting the EFCC and that their interface with the agency yesterday, did not amount to an arrest.

When contacted, the EFCC spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the arrest.

Biafra: Group sues FG over abandoned property, others

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

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WERRI—A Federal High Court sitting in Owerri has been urged to decide whether the indigenous people of Biafra, who survived the Nigeria-Biafra war of 1967-1970, have the right to self-determination.

Bilie Human Rights Initiative, representing Indigenous People of Biafra, made the plea in a suit, FHC/OW/CS/ 102/2012, which the group filed against the Federal Government and Attorney General of the Federation.

The group also urged the court to decide whether by the 1963 Constitution, which took effect on October 1, 1963, and remained in force until the midnight of September 30, 1979, the defendants were right to seize and confiscate the assets, properties, money and all treasures belonging to the claimants by promulgating the Abandoned Properties Act of September 28, 1979.

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The claimants prayed the court to determine “whether the defendants were justified to violate the International Humanitarian Law and Laws of War, known as the Geneva Convention of 1949, to which the defendants acceded and ratified June 20, 1961, by bombing the Biafran civilians, killing the Biafran civilians and us-

ing starvation to kill the children, women and the elderly of the civilian population of the indigenous people of Biafra in the war of 1967-1970, in order to win the war.”

The suit is supported by a 44-paragraph affidavit sworn to by Innocent Obinna Amadi, an engineer, while hearing is expected to begin January 16, 2013.

TUC boss wants OBJ to lead negotiation with Boko Haram

BY ONOZURE DANIA

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AGOS—PRESI DENT of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, Mr. Peter Esele, yesterday, said former President, Olusegun Obasanjo should be appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan to lead the negotiation with extremist Islamist group, Boko Haram.

Obasanjo in a CNN interview on Tuesday, had said that the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration had not been reaching out enough to Boko Haram, and can-

vassed what he described as a “carrot-and-stick” way to address the sect’s menace.

He said President Jonathan had been applying less of dialogue and more of force in solving the Boko Haram issue.

“To deal with a group like that, you need a carrot and stick. The carrot is finding out how to reach out to them. When you try to reach out to them and they are not amenable to being reached out to, then you have to use the stick,” the ex-President had said.

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Vanguard , THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013—15

Police pension scam: Senate to invite IGP over alleged refusal to arrest Maina

INEC inferno: Senate rules out sabotage

BY JOSEPH ERUNKE

BY HENRY UMORU

A

BUJA—AHEAD of the resumption of the National Assembly next week, the Senate has vowed to summon the Inspector- General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, over his refusal to arrest embattled chairman of the Presidential Pension Task Force Team, Abdulrasheed Maina.

According to the Senate, it is a slap on the number three citizen, Senate President, David Mark, to issue a warrant of arrest and it is not honoured and carried out by the Inspector-General of Police.

Speaking with newsmen yesterday, Chairman, Joint Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service and State and Local Government Administration, Senator Aloysius Etok said: "The Senate president, who is the number three citizen in this country, signed a warrant of arrest and the Inspector-General of Po-

lice ignored the order.

“This is very unfortunate but the Senate is left with no other option than to invite the IGP to come and explain why he could not arrest Maina. We want to know if Maina is above the law of the land. The IGP must tell us his own side of the story and whether it is beyond his power to arrest Main a .

"In a committee report which was adopted by the Senate in June last year, we said the continued existence of Maina’s task force is illegal and should be discontinued immediately because nowhere does any task force exist beyond six months.

“This was affirmed by the former Head of Service who appointed Maina, Chief Steve Orosanye. Former Head of Service, Professor Oladapo Afolabi, also corroborated it. Likewise the incumbent Head of Service, Bello Sali, as well as the Minister of Finance.

"We also said Maina is a bad example in the public service and should be relieved of his appointment and prosecuted. He claimed that he has been spending N500 million monthly to pay police pension, and on our own, we discovered that he was spending between N600 million and

N1 billion monthly to pay them.

“Therefore, we say the difference between N500 million and that is the margin of fraud and that he must return the money to government’s treasury. We calculated the money and it was

over N9 billion. We’ve also stated in our report that we found Maina to have ridiculed the system by awarding contracts through splitting to the tune of N1.8 billion without any authorised approval.”

Group wants Oshiomhole to contest 2015 presidential election

BY CHRIS OCHAYI

A

BUJA—A group, Peoples Conscience Movement, PCM, has asked Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, to join the 2015 presidential race, over what it described as his monumental achievements in the state.

Speaking exclusively with Vanguard, the group’s National Coordinator, Mr. Okechukwu Akano, said the courage, commitment and dedication to duty exhibited by Oshiomhole was what was required at the national level to bring succour to the people.

He said: “We feel this is a noble crusade we have embarked on in the last few months and the response so far was overwhelming.

“As I have told you, the consultations have just started and few Nigerians we approached are very joyful and eager to join in the train which is about to move.

“We are confident we will have a marketable presidential material if the Comrade governor will see reason with us to accept our plea to join the race.

“We are talking of a man, a visionary leader, known for achievement and development".

A

BUJA—THE Senate yesterday said it would not suspect any sabotage in last Monday’s fire at the office of director of Voter Registry, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s headquaters in Abuja, even though the development was not the first t i m e .

The Senate equally ruled out the possibility of setting up its investigative committee to look into the inferno, saying such an attempt would amount to duplication since, according to it, INEC is already looking towards that direction.

The Senate, which spoke through its Chairman, Committee on INEC, Senator Andy Ubah, said it was convinced that there was no sabotage in the unfortunate incident.

He also said the Senate would cooperate with the commission to ensure a thorough probe on the disa s t e r .

FAILED PORTION AT BERGER UNDER BRIDGE, ALONG OSHODIAPAPA EXPRESS ROAD. PIX: JOE AKINTOLA, PHOTO EDITOR

Bad portion at Berger under bridge.

Yet another bad spot.

Failed portion at Rainbow Bus stop.

Failed portion at Ijoko-Ota, Sango-Ota, along Lagos-Abeokuta express road.

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16—Vanguard , THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

Nigerian journalists 've worst condition of service —NTA boss

Gunmen kill 2 in Plateau zAs STF arrests 9 over possession of firearms

BY TAYE OBATERU, WITH AGENCY REPORT

I

LORIN—GENERAL Manager, Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, Mr Banji Sarumoh, has said that Nigerian journalists have the worst conditions of service in the world.

Sarumoh made the statement yesterday at a session tagged "NUJ Parliament" organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Kwara chapter.

He observed that the media played pivotal role in the entrenchment of democracy in Nigeria. He blamed poor funding and proliferation of media houses for the impoverishment of journalists, urging the NUJ to clamp down on media houses that could not pay staff salaries.

“Nigerian journalists have the worst condition of service in the world and this is because of proliferation of media houses," he said.

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From left: Chief of Army Staff, Lieut. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, Brig. Gen. Mustapha Onoyivetta and his wife during the decoration of Brig. Gen Onoyivetta.

Suleja bombing: We've no case to answer, suspects tell court

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

A

BUJA—SIX alleged kingpins of the Boko Haram sect in Niger State, who were apprehended while on their way to Kaduna State to attack the venue of an event that was attended by Vice President Namadi Sambo in Kaduna on July 28, 2011, yesterday, challenged the powers of the Federal Government to prosecute them. They include Shuaibu Abubakar, Salisu Ahmed, Umar Babagana-Umar, Mohammed Ali, Musa Adam and Umar Ibrahim.

The States Security Service, SSS, which recommended their trial, had maintained that its investigations revealed that it was the accused persons that masterminded the explosion that rocked office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Suleja, Niger State, prior to the April 16, 2011, presidential election.

A senior Army officer who led the team of soldiers that caught the

Jigawa spends N1.6bn on empowerment

BY ALIYU DANGIDA

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UTSE—JIGAWA State government has spent about N1.6billion in the last five years of Governor Sule Lamido's regime on various empowerment programme.

Commissioner of Economic Empowerment, Alhaji Rabiu Isah Taura, told Vanguard after the graduation of additional set of women and youth who were trained on various skills, saying that no fewer than 6,726 women and youths had received skill acquisition training in the state.

suspects at Gummel Junction at Kachia Kaduna on July 27, 2011, had in his evidence-in-chief told the trial court that a text message found in the in-box of a mobile handset confiscated from one of the suspects, revealed that each of the accused persons was promised an inheritance of 72 virgins in paradise, assuming they succeeded in bombing the event that was attended by the Vice President and some Northern governors.

Similarly, the high court had on December 20, 2012, admitted into evidence, 250 different explosive making devices that were allegedly recovered from the accused persons.

A representative of the Nigerian Army, whose identity was masked by the Federal Government, owing to the sensitive nature of the case, while tendering evidence in court, warned that the dangerous components of Improvised Explosive Device, IED, they were caught with could bring down the whole of the high court

building in seconds.

Consequently, trial Justice Bilkisu Aliyu declined to take custody of the evidence comprising IEDs and bundles of connector wires, even as she granted the SSS leave to take them away for safe keeping pending when it would be needed for examination by the court.

Meanwhile, at the resumed hearing on the case yesterday, the accused persons, through their counsel, Mr Nureni Sulaiman, contended that the Federal Government failed to establish a nexus between them and the alleged crime, just as they expressed intention to make a no-case submission on the charge against them.

Basically, a no-case submission is made when an accused person believes that the prosecution has failed to prove the ingredients of the offence for which he is charged or that the evidence adduced in court was such that a judge cannot rely upon to pass a sentence.

By Bartholomew Madukwe

PEOPLE SPEAK

08102479985

OS—THE sporadic at tacks on communities in Plateau State yesterday moved close to the residence of Governor Jonah Jang as suspected cattle rearers stormed a ranch at Du, the governor’s home village in Jos South Local Government area, killing two people.

This was even as the Special Task Force, STF, arrested nine persons for allegedly being in possession of sophisticated fire arms.

STF Media Officer, Capt.

Salisu Mustapha, who paraded the suspects before newsmen in Jos, alleged that they were arrested around Du, Shenabe and Bisichi villages in Jos South Local Government Area of the state.

Mustapha listed items recovered from them to include one AK-47 rifle, one FN rifle, one sub-machine gun, one locally made shot revolver and a locally made long revolver.

The gunmen said to have gone to the village in a Hilux van, struck at about 2.am shooting indiscriminately and killing the two identified as Gyang and Davou in the process.

The attackers were said to have attempted to shoot their way into the well-fortified ranch but eventually retreated when they found it impenetrable.

Members of the community subsequently mobilized to repel the attackers trailing them into the surrounding bushes but could not find them.

(nwamad@yahoo.com)

Nigerians' New Year messages (3)

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DUCATION is very expensive in this country. So my wish in 2013 is for government to make education easy for all. Even removal of fuel subsidy has affected everything. So let them bring back subsidy so that things can be as it was before. Miss Nike Iwasokun—Student.

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HERE are some people that can comfortably pay the debt of Nigeria, so let such people remember the needy living around them.

So this year, let wealth be centralized so that it should spread to all. Mr. Akintimehin Jewel—Producer.

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N 2013, I wish that eth nic discrimination should be put to a stop for the country to develop. It is high time we began to see each other as one and show love to one another.

Whether Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa; we all are one Nigeria. Mr. Stringzy Oluwaseun— Student.

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HE government should face major problems confronting its citizens and fashion out a way of addressing them. In this New Year, let the government stop eating with 10 fingers and Nigeria will grow. Miss Oluwatosin Ajeshola— Student.

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feel that Nigeria as a country should have a stable power supply by now. If that is done, then our economy will get better in 2013. Our leaders should be more focussed and sincere to the people they are leading. Miss Owei Funpere— Student.

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Y New Year message for Nigeria is that we should try and eradicate corruption in the country.

It has eaten deep into the system. Corruption has become a monster that we must put our hands together and fight, for the country to develop. Mr. Nelson Damilola—Student.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013 — 17

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HE beginning of a New Year has become very instructive in understanding the Jonathan presidency. Last year as Nigerians were coming to terms with expenses incurred during the Christmas/New Year festivities, President Goodluck Jonathan imposed a punishing increase of prices of petroleum products on the country. A very angry population launched a massive protest which forced the administration to beat a disorderly retreat. So badly dented was its reputation, that it has been unable to recover. The Jonathan administration squandered the goodwill of the Nigerian people a few months down the line from an election it claimed gave it legitimacy. Realising the depth of last January’s faux pas,, the administration quickly informed the nation it had no plan to increase fuel prices this January. The assurance meant nothing, given theincreases which became attendant upon the scarcity of fuel in the past one month.

In the Jigawa area, I purchased petrol at N135 per litre last December!

But January saw the emergence of Presidential campaign posters all over Abuja. They belonged to “candidate” Goodluck Jonathan and the message was as arrogant as could be expected from the PDP: “There’s no vacancy in Aso Villa”. And those rooting for candidate Goodluck reminded that: “one good term deserved another ”!

They were indeed a ‘ wonderful’ New Year ’s “gift” with the same toxicity as the fuel price increase of 2012.

Naturally enough, the president’s political opponents have reacted with anger and incredulity, while the

Presidential posters, presidential denial

President Goodluck Jonathan president’s camp has been strenuous in its denial. Presidential spin doctor, Reuben Abati denied that the posters came from “candidate” Goodluck, but

added almost disingenuously, that “If some people have taken it upon themselves to go and print posters, they are doing that on their own.

Those pasting the posters are trying to express their own view”. It is amazing that the oftenoverzealous s e c u r i t y services were nowhere to be found to stop those “trying to express their own view”. If they had been anti-Jonathan posters, the story would have been different.

Sule Lamido and delightful Dutse N the last few months of 2012, I made a couple of visits to Dutse, the Jigawa state capital. On one such visit, I placed a call to former minister,Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu telling him that I was visiting his homestead. He was pleasantly surprised; he then asked how I felt about the changes that the SuleLamido administration had wrought on Dutse. “Dutse has been transformed”, he emphasised. Frankly, I was impressed about what I saw on the different visits and I recall the early days of Sule Lamido on the seat of power; he had invited a team of editors from Lagos and Abuja to see the state of Jigawa at the onset of his administration. What we found was frightening! I recall the Government Commercial College; a stone throw from the hub of government. It was like a piece of hell and we just couldn’t fathom how such degeneracy was allowed.

So over several personal trips to Dutse, I have seen how a steady transformation overturned the rot. It is obvious that Sule Lamido approached things with a deep sense of history, which taps into the radical tradition that he emerged from. From the Malam Aminu Triangle and the Sawaba monument, which recalled the emergence of NEPU radicalism in Northern Nigeria, through to a futuristic Manpower Development Institute; new housing estates; wellpaved roads; renovated specialist hospital; the new state secretariat and the Dutse ‘Three Arms Zone’ to the careful effort at ‘greening’ the capital, there is no gainsaying the fact that Jigawa has found a place in the sun, in a manner of speaking.

Incidentally, because all my visits had C M Y K

been private, it was only on the eve of the New Year, that I finally met Governor SuleLamido. The backdrop to the meeting was the arrest of his son

by EFCC operatives and the politics of the arrest. It seemed to me after our short meeting, that the cloak-anddagger propensity of politics was very much alive to Lamido’s detriment and his perceived presidential ambition was a central part of the son’s saga and

,

I

His perceived presidential ambition was a central part of the son’s saga and that is without excusing the foolishness of under declaring the sum of money he was taking out of Nigeria

,

Gov. Sule Lamido.

that is without excusing the foolishness of under declaring the sum of money he was taking out of Nigeria. Personal indiscretions of children can have very severe political consequences! This week LEADERSHIP newspaper has reported plans by the EFCC to further squeeze Sule Lamido and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, speculated as Lamido’s running mate in 2015. There cannot be the EFCC smoke without the fire of presidential political manoeuvring!

But nothing can detract from the work whichSuleLamido has done in the past few years to transform Dutse into a delightful capital and one with tremendous possibilities of further growth. I spoke with a cross section of people on the different occasions that I visited and there is an understandable sense of pride on the evolution which the capital and the state have undergone with SuleLamido at the helm of affairs. I have enjoyed my various visits in the past few months and I felt it was only fair to comment upon the positive changes that I have seen. I do that with the privilege of having seen where Sule Lamido commenced work from; it was very challenging but what has been achieved further underlined how far we can go as a nation, when leadership can find the dedication to serve the Nigerian people.

SuleLamido has provided a leadership which has turned Dutse into a delightful destination.

The emergence of presidential posters and a strenuous presidential denial of same are two sides of presidential politics; the opposition can continue to dither; they will discover too late that the political horse bolted a long time ago from the barn and if they check the political horizon, they will see a man with a bowler hat riding into 2015

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But those who expressed surprise either deceive themselves or are guilty of a frightening naivety. Jonathan is poised to deliver a master stroke of politics by lulling his opponents to a delusion that he might not run; or if he eventually would, might obey political rules they had somehow crafted. It will not work that way. The 2015 battle began a long time ago!

Those expecting “governance” to dominate proceedings in 2013 deceive themselves. In the next year, the president and his party will buildup the financial war chest to take on all comers in 2015. It will not be about a record of service delivery that the administration knows it does not have.

The emergence of presidential posters and a strenuous presidential denial of same are two sides of presidential politics. Welcome to the future of politics which began a long time ago.

The opposition can continue to dither; they will discover too late that the political horse bolted a long time ago from the barn and if they check the political horizon, they will see a man with a bowler hat riding into 2015.

Agriculture by Mobile phones L

AST week, Permanent Secretary of the Federal ministry of Agriculture reported that the FG would spend between N40B and N60B to procure 10million telephone handsets from China and the US, for free distribution to rural farmers before the end of March. “And I tell you that the money is available, it’s on ground. We are looking at the first quarter of this year to roll-out the phones….The handsets will be the tools with which to communicate with the farmers in the rural areas…” It is curious that the budget for Agriculture in 2013 is N81.41B. The Minister of Agriculture, AkinwumiAdesina later said it was to be achieved using the notorious PPP model. Well, Chinua Achebe once said, of the Agricultural program of the Shagari administration, that it gave us more food for thought, than food for our stomachs. With Adesina we might end up eating more slogans than grains!

18 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013 WHEN she came into office in 2011, Minister of Aviation Princess Stella Oduah promised a new national airline by September 2012. Her deadline passed with a word about the airline which was her solution to challenges air travellers face.

The latest on the matter is that the Federal Government would buy 30 aircraft for private airlines to boost their domestic operations and as Mr. Dati Yakubu, General Manager, Corporate Communications, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, said, reduce the cost of domestic air travels.

Controversies are swirling around the issue.

The authorities have denied that a $500 million loan from China would finance the deal.

Apparently the planes would still be purchased and handed to the airlines under conditions that are at most clouded in secrecy.

Yakubu, in bringing this matter to the public, in Benin City, was re-echoing what FAAN’s Director of Operations, Mr. Henry Omeogu, said in Port Harcourt last November.

“We are going to have about 30 brand new aircraft and they (aircraft) will be our national carrier. The effort will be private-sector driven.

BY MIKE UDAH Continued from yesterday's pg 18

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ERE, he gives the impression that he hails from Anambra North and that zoning is illegitimate and unconstitutional .

Nothing can be more fallacious than this claim! Is the Federal character principle which is enshrined in our nation’s Constitution not an affirmation of zoning ? Has it been expunged from our Grundnum?

Let us return to another fallacy committed by the author of the article in reference and I want to quote him for effect: “Perhaps, Governor Obi is trying to divert attention from the failure of his government to provide visible amenities and infrastructure in our senatorial zone” (Anambra North). What he is saying here is that Governor Obi is perhaps now appeasing Anambra North because he has not provided amenities and infrastructure there. This again is laughable, naïve and illogical.

The truth of the matter is that Anambra State under Mr Peter Obi’s watch since 2006 has witnessed revolutionary transformation. This transformation is noticeable in all three senatorial zones – Anambra South, Anambra Central and Anambra North.

To debunk the purported claim of neglect of Anambra North, one will make bold to state that the first road to be flagged off by

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Of Nigeria’s 30 Planes We will insist that others who would want to be part this should come with brand new aircraft,” Omeogu said.

According to Yakubu, “The Federal Government is making plans to bring in 30 aeroplanes to assist local airlines. We believe that one hour flight in Nigeria should not cost more than N10, 000 to N15, 000 and the whole idea is to make business cheaper and easier to operate, so that the beneficiaries would be the passengers.”

There are contradictions that should worry anyone who takes utterances of public officials serious. Is the Federal Government setting up a new airline as Omeogu said or buying planes it would hand over to private

operators according to Yakubu? Does “private sector driven” mean that government use public funds to buy planes for private airlines?

How would government determine the benefiting airlines? Would domestic airlines with foreign ownership benefit from the largesse? How does government intend to benefit from the expenditure?

The point about new planes guaranteeing safety or lower air fares are made by those who side step important, unaddressed issues in aviation. FAAN’s parking charges, cost of aviation fuel are major concerns for airline operators. New planes may result in fuel efficiency, but FAAN’s charges keep rising.

Moreover, there are still no improvements on the slack supervision of airline. FAAN’s challenges in this direction are recounted once there is an accident and forgotten when the media attention moves to other issues.

Government has too many competition interests that purchase of airlines for private operators should not be its priority. Will it also buy buses to tackle increasing road accidents?

OPINION Why Anambra guber zoning will hold(2) Mr Peter Obi after his assumption of office as governor is the Anaku-Omor –IfiteOgwari-Umueje-Omasi Road measuring forty-two kilometers . Governor Obi was sworn in in March 2006. He flagged off the construction of that road on May 1st 2006. The long stretch of road had since been completed , and that is the first road to have been done by any Government ever in that area.

In the same Ayamelum Local Government Area, Gov. Obi prevailed on the Federal Government to give the Omor Rice Mill to Anambra State so that it could be revitalized. He has taken a number of steps to resuscitate that rice mill which was abandoned by the Federal Government under other presidents( not President Goodluck Jonathan). From the same Ayamelum Local Government Area, Governor Obi appointed for the first time since the creation of the old and new Anambra States , a chief Judge for the State who served out his term, and is now retired .From the same Local Government , He (the Gov) also appointed the former Secretary to the Anambra State Government. Gov. Obi sited a General Hospital in Ayamelum too.

The current Secretary to the Anambra State Government is from the same

Anambra North Senatorial zone just as the Finance Commissioner , Political Adviser , Chairman of Universal Basic Education , Chief Press Secretary, Security Adviser and a whole lot of other office holders hail from this zone which Okudo claims is marginalized .

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n Anambra North Senatorial zone, Gov Obi has rebuilt the Umueri General Hospital destroyed during a communal crisis; rebuilt Fr Joseph Memorial High School ,Aguleri, constructedthe UmuezeAnam-Mmiata Road in Anambra West Local Government Area, executed the Otupu Bridge project , re-constructed innumerable roads at Onitsha , Ogbaru etc. The list of his projects / infrastructures in this zone is endless contrary to the view expressed by Okudo.

Another wrong impression created in this article under reference is that Gov Obi has barred candidates from Anambra Central and South Senatorial zones from contesting the next gubernatorial elections because he has allegedly zoned it to the North. Far from him to do this! He does not even have the power to do this, and he is neither power crazy nor idiotic. This impression does not hold water. Candidates from other

senatorial zones have even begun to emerge , and it is their right to so do. For the records, what drives Gov. Obi’s suggestion to have someone from Anambra North to become the next governor is his knack for justice and equity. He believes that both the Central and South Senatorial zones had tasted Anambra’s governorship to the exclusion of the North.

And majority of Anambrarians share this view, for during the recent meeting convened for the amendment of our country ’s Constitution at the Women Development Centre, Awka, stakeholders unanimously voted in favour of a rotational governorship in Anambra State to the chagrin and discomfiture of a former “governor “ who apparently forgot something in the Government House which he is desperately striving to come back to retrieve.

Contrary to the feelings of the Okudos of this world, Gov. Peter Obi has not decreed that he will anoint the next governor who must come from Anambra North. He has merely expressed his opinion to which he is entitled . Let those crying and wailing hold their breadth. Gov Peter Obi is a democrat par excellence; he is not going to hang anyone who holds a contrary view. At the end of the day, Anambra people will speak.

Concluded *Mr. Udah, a political analyst, wrote from Awka, Anambra State.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013—19

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ODAY’S article was delayed.

It was intended for publication last October.

Incidentally, there was a glut in political activities at the time hence this piece went into voicemail. Even if it is coming after the Town Hall meetings orchestrated nationwide by the House of Representatives last November, as they say in local parlance, nothing spoil. William Shakespeare puts it more succinctly, “love’s night is noon”.

Each time we attempt to redraw the political map of Nigeria, we get incrementally confused and our efforts yield only limited results. At independence in 1960, this big elephant stood on a tripod in the name of Regions – the North, East and West.

In August 1963, however, a fourth entity, the Midwest, which was carved out of the then Western Region, joined the league of Regions. Essentially, this baby of the league – the Midwest – remains the only member that was democratically and constitutionally created, a majority of the present 36 States, being military contraptions.

To jettison the Midwest could also be reminiscent of our allergy

to constitutionalism and rule of law. By way of coming to equity with clean hands, no opportunity should be spared in reminding the old Western Region (the current Southwest zone) of its indebtedness to the Midwest for its share of the assets of the West.

At creation, the Midwest was simply pushed into the cold without any share of the common wealth. We shall save this for another day.

Some have argued that the creation of more States is a way of taking development to the grassroots. This argument has limited validity because no one, even among the greatest advocates of states creation, has come up with the view that if Nigeria were bulkanised into 1000 states, its development strides would correspondingly increase by 300 per cent. If anything, the units and levels of corruption and cost of governance would skyrocket at a geometric proportion far beyond 300 percent.

The grassroots argument soon got into the heads of the military juntas and once they embarked on indiscriminate creation of states, there was no stopping

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them. States creation and the citing of their Capitals soon became veritable means of satisfying personal friendships and relations.

It is confounding that some people are still demanding for the creation of more states. This column has consistently maintained that perhaps the only way to satisfy such demands is to break the country into 160 million states so that every Nigerian would have his/her own state.

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or all we know, many of the 36 States are not viable.

Some States have become so lazy that they are mere “stealing centres” that exist just for the purpose of sharing the monthly allocations from the Federation account. In fact, the non-viability

Abia: A time of universal pretense

BY ODIMEGWU ONWUMERE

T

ELLING the truth is not always easy in a land that is characterised by untrustworthiness; therefore truth becomes an art of rebellion or opposition in the eyes of men and women whose only trade in stock is betrayal; hence men with no conscience are not unconnected to betrayal. This could be the reason Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi said to Young India, 22 October 1925 thus: The Roots of Violence are Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles. (And these are not unconnected with the present administration in Abia State).

It is perturbing as it is also perplexing when Governor Theodore Orji freshly asked the people of his state to find out what he did to Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, the immediate past governor of the state, that the later has been unveiling the hidden agendas of the former. Though, Orji termed it opposition. But l ike it was said earlier: Telling the truth is not always easy in a land that is characterised by untrustworthiness.

How on earth would Orji want to sell such deceit to the world that he had ruminated in his mind and could not find anywhere he wronged Kalu. News reports have it in Orji’s own words thus: “I challenge you, some of you are his friend, ask him to tell you what I did to him.

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Please, ask him to tell you one bad thing he can point at from the time I was Chief of Staff till the time I left PPA, as the wrong I did to him. But I have a litany of the wrongs he did to me. I am the only Governor who has been given a query, even on the pages of a newspaper. Let him tell you one bad thing I did to him. Let him tell you, just one bad thing.”

It is despicable that Orji did everything to exonerate himself from the shoddy web that he has entangled himself, but ended up in. . How apposite would it be to remind Orji that the good people of Abia State voted for him even while he was in the prison because of Dr. Kalu? Would it be also apposite to ask Orji why he gave Kalu such a bad name that he (Kalu) was draining the coffers of the state, hence he (Orji) distanced himself from Kalu and the PPA which were the platforms that he was elected as governor? What about being a Chief of Staff to Kalu? Did Orji not give Kalu such a horrendous image because Kalu asked him to give account of his leadership due to Orji’s gloomy governance?

The height of irresponsibility in leadership is to rule on propaganda. Most people did hate Kalu then when he was given that bad name by Orji until the claim became obvious that Orji didn’t want Kalu around him due to Orji’s self-seeking reasons as people can see in Abia State today which was once God’s own state, but regrettably has been turned to goon’s own state. Nigerians of good will can see this in the way the Orjis in Abia State talk and

of some of the states came to the fore after the Minimum Wage Act, 2011, which many states have been unable to implement till date. Ideally, what we should be asking for now are acquisitions, mergers and consolidations of the weaker states as the Central Bank has been doing with the commercial banks.

People have toyed enough with the zonal arrangement in which the country was arbitrarily divided into six geopolitical zones. This gained currency during the Constitutional Conference of 1995, when an attempt was made to enshrine it into the Constitution. The truth, though, remains that apart from serving as occasional outposts for loose political party congresses, business seminars and religious conventions, the six-zone structure has remained a deadletter right from inception, understandably so because, in the main, the arrangement depicted a marriage of odd bed fellows.

At various fora, Pharmacist Simon Owa, currently based in Benin City, Edo State, has consistently advocated the abolition of the six-zone structure and the establishment in its stead, an eight-zone structure, which will promote equity and stability. Hear him: “We should build on a past that has been well defined and tested as a foundation for our continued existence, especially as it affected the old minorities of the North, the West and the East before the civil war. Nature and equity have defined what zonal structure we should have starting from where we were in 1967”.

Under the eight-zone arrangement, the North and the South will each have four zones.

While the North will include the Northwest, North Central, Northeast and the Middle Belt; the South shall have the

,

Eight geopolitical zones for Nigeria

The eight-zone structure will give expression to the aspirations of the nation’s minorities as it will summarily address the inherent alienation of the old minorities of the North (the Middle Belt), the old minorities of the East (the South-South) as well as the old minorities of the West (the Midwest

Perhaps, Orji assumed Kalu was not supposed to speak in the state because government in the state is about Orji and his entire household

,

reason. For one, they have written all sorts of malicious stories against Yours’ Truly in the blogs they always create to malign the image of critics and observers of the Orji-misled government, because they are anti-truths.

Perhaps, Orji assumed Kalu was not supposed to speak in the state because government in the state is about Orji and his entire household. Governor Orji has not substantiated his claim against Kalu.

And Kalu has remained resolute not to deal with Orji with the same measure because he (Kalu) is a more matured person.

It is therefore sad that a man like Orji cannot tell the world the truth because he has never told himself the truth. Has he not left Abia State worst than he claims he met it? Would posterity not judge Orji for giving an amiable man like Kalu a bad name so that he can be hung.What else is wickedness if not an act like this?

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or this reason, it behooves Nigerians to continue to disagree with the lies the Orjis in government have always

Southwest, Southeast, SouthSouth and the Midwest.

In the particular case of the Midwest zone, the supporting argument is that no reasonable nation ever throws away the good thing it already has while embarking on an unreasonable wild goose chase. Under the regional arrangement, the Midwest was very viable and there is no reason to believe that it will be any less viable now.

Again, the viability of any zone cannot be determined by sheer size. Even at that, it is reasonable to expect Bayelsa State to form part of the Midwest zone, particularly against the backdrop that a large part of today’s Bayelsa -- Sagbama and its neighbouring communities -were originally part of the Midwest Region. It is another case of the chicken coming home to roost. With Bayelsa State in the Midwest zone, we shall have three states each in the Midwest and the South-South zones.

The eight-zone structure will give expression to the aspirations of the nation’s minorities as it will summarily address the inherent alienation of the old minorities of the North (the Middle Belt), the old minorities of the East (the South-South) as well as the old minorities of the West (the Midwest).

In many areas, the existing sixzone structure stoically ignores the concepts of homogeneity and contiguity, which are very important political considerations. A situation in which Lamkpese at the extreme northern flank of Edo State bordering Kogi State is grouped in the same zone as Ogoja in Cross River State is simply amorphous and does not make for political or administrative convenience. The eight-zone structure is an idea whose time has come!

targeted against Kalu. There is no gainsaying that Orji has failed the good people of Abia State wolefully because he has not delivered dividends of democracy.

Has he lived up to the people’s expectation? Not at all.

And when Orji talks about Kalu hating him, the question is, would it not have been modest if Orji had lived up to the challenges of good governance in Abia State? It is a pity! The roads in Aba today are in a very bad state, yet Orji says he did not know where he wronged Kalu. It is not only Kalu that Orji has wronged, but the 95 percent of Ndi-Abia.

How could anybody defend Orji when he has refused to get it right? Did he not say in the media that his problem with Kalu is that Kalu asked him not to contest again because he (Orji) would not give first class perforance? Instead of doing what was expected of hi, he just continue to draw attention to himself, but sadly, the attention is unnecessary. Orji can go to a state like Akwa Ibom and see for himself how a governor who means well can draw necessary attention with developmental strides.

Notwithstanding, why did Orji get the media involved in his tango with Kalu? If he has a conscience as he claims, why did he not place a call to Kalu before journalists and ask himwhere he went wrong? Or does he want to also pretend that he suddenly has lost touch with Kalu? he cannot speak for both himself and Kalu.

Orji should stop seeking for universal sympathy with pretense. He has shown by his open confession of asking Kalu where he went wrong that Kalu is more humane and honourable. Ndi-Abia do not enjoy his Crocodile tears.

*Mr. Onwumere, a poet/author , wrote fromAba, Abia State.

20—Vanguard , THURSDAY, JANUARY 10,, 2013

Debate of the masses

HELP! From police to army road blocks

BY EBELE ORAKPO

Cross section of the children a the event

Dancing time for indigent children, courtesy of foundation •As Baale laments poor state of roads, drainage system

By JEMI EKUNKUNBOR

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HE need to be our brothers keeper and to bring development to the urban poor was recently stressed when the Jegede Paul Foundation, organised a one-day get-together outreach for children of Onituere community of Isale Iwaya community Sabo-Yaba.

The event which took place last weekend in Lagos at the palace of the Baale of Isale Iwaya, also marked the formal launch of the Foundation and its socio economic activities.

Founder of the foundation and CEO Japaul Oil and Maritime Services Plc, Mr Jegede Abiodun Paul, said feeding the poor was a good way to

,

For the moment, their low estate was temporarily suspended.

The event was further spiced when Timi Dakolo joined forces with Infinity to render Michael Jackson’s “Heal the world” For the lanky Timi Dakolo, his healing has come and identifying with the less-privileged children was his own way of giving back to the society because according to him: “That was the kind of environment in which I grew up”.

Baale of Isale Iwaya, Chief, Sade Ogunsemi, said he was happy that the Foundation chose his community for their pilot project. “We are so happy about this programme coming to our community. You can see the children so happy, clapping and dancing. I even danced at a time to show you that I am very happy about it”.

He said in spite of efforts from other NGOs to help people in his community, the challenges remain. Chief Ogunsemi lamented the poor state of roads and drainage system causing water meant to flow into the Lagoon gather in the community. He added that although the community has been engaged in self help projects, the effort remains largely inadequate.

“So we are happy that this new foundation is also willing to train those who cannot further their education in this community”.

Mr Paul also announced award of scholarships for exceptional indigent children.

Established in 2012, Jegede Paul Foundation is a charitable organisation with a mission to uplift the society through socio-economic and ethical empowerment and a vision to partner with members of the society to change lives and impact the society as fast as possible.

In the future, the Foundation will partner with a group of international surgeons to campaign against and offer free operation for everyone suffering from Noma- a disease caused by malnutrition which is common to the poor.

Their little faces sparkled with joy and excitement as Infinity Group thrilled the children with their hit song “Olori Oko”

start the new year, to give hope to the children that they are not forgotten and be relevant to their plights.

According to Mr Paul: “We visited many slum areas like this where you have people who are not well cared for and who cannot care for themselves.

Many of these children eat from dumps and some go days without food. We have created this happy moment to share, eat and dance with them to add value to their lives”.

And dance they did. The presence of Timi Dakolo and the Infinity Group caused no small stir as scores of children who got wind of their presence, cleaned themselves up and filed out in their Christmas best to be part of this new thing happening in their community.

Their little faces sparkled with joy and excitement as Infinity Group thrilled the children with their hit song “Olori Oko”. They responded enthusiastically, voicing the chorus in unison as they clapped and danced, trying to outdo one another with the Iyanya contrived Kurukere dance moves.

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,

“Hey, park!” barked a uniformed soldier at the driver of an Nnewibound commercial bus along the Oba-Nnewi road in Anambra State as the bus came to one of the numerous roadblocks along the road.

“Ha, Naija! You can never beat us. Try to solve a problem and before you say Jack Robinson, they have created another one,” commented a passenger by name, Ossy. “I thought the new Inspector-General of Police, IGP, had ordered the dismantling of these illegal roadblocks on Nigerian roads?” asked Ossy.

“E be like say you no dey see clearly. These guys are not policemen, they are soldiers. Soldiers have not been asked to vacate the roads,” stated Obi, another passenger in the bus.

As the driver parked the vehicle, he asked the bus conductor to give the soldier a N100.00 note.

“But we have paid them this morning,” argued the conductor.

“Please, just pay and let us go. We pay as often as they demand,” replied the driver.

“But Oga, we paid the last time we passed here,” said the conductor to the already angry soldier.

“You chop craze goat this Christmas? You wan make I beg you? Just park very well. No block road o. You never ready to go,” barked the soldier at the driver as he went away to stop another commercial bus.

“See me see trouble o!

The police were removed because of this exact thing and now the socalled disciplined soldiers are doing the same thing, extorting money from drivers and causing fare increase. Is that what they have been sent here to do?” asked Emeka.

“Discipline? Discipline left the Armed Forces, especially the soldiers, the day they ventured into politics. They have been baptized into indiscipline and corruption,” said

Rose.

“This reminds me of what used to happen along the Lagos-Benin Expressway. But today, thanks to the IGP, God bless him, the story has changed. Travelling along that route is more enjoyable now. In those days of checkpoints on that route, travelling used to be a nightmare because to get from point A to B that should ordinarily take 20 minutes, one spends two hours. It was horrible,” said Innocent.

“But you still find policemen along the highways though they do not disturb anyone,” noted Nkechi.

“Yeah, those are highway patrol officers but these soldiers are not highway patrol officers.

They mount illegal roadblocks just to extort money from people. They block the roads with heavy logs of wood, causing traffic hold-up. It’s like we are going back to the days of illegal checkpoints. If the authorities fail to act now, we may get to a stage where drivers who refuse to pay will be shot and killed like it used to happen with the police those days,” commented Rose.

“God forbid! But I think the soldiers are there to check the activities of kidnappers,” said Obi. “Which kidnappers? Is that the way to go about it? Don’t they have intelligence officers to go into all the nooks and crannies of the nation, gathering information on the activities of these criminals?

Once they get the information, they pass them to the appropriate quarters for necessary action.

Do you think these criminals are fools? Why would they pass through routes they know have army roadblocks? If these soldiers continue extorting money from drivers, one day, they too may be kidnapped,” said Ossy.

“They are free to patrol the highways but not to mount roadblocks,” said Innocent, to which all agreed.

CONTACT: mykeboh@yahoo.co.uk

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013 — 21

ITF opens 37 industrial skill centres, trains 37,000 youths

Maritime stakeholders tackle police over cargo clearance

BY GODFREY BIVBERE

A

S a means of facilitating speedy cargo clearance from the ports, stakeholders in the maritime industry met with top management of the nigeria police in lagos over alleged interference of the police in clearing process at the port.

The meeting which took place at the office of the assistant inspector general (aig) of police in charge of zone 6, mamman tsafe, saw the stakeholders complaining about the incessant harassment of customs licensed clearing agents by officers and men of the police.

They told the police chief that the unnecessary interference with cargo clearance by the police on the long run, impacts negatively on trade facilitation in the ports. They noted that some necessary intervention sometimes to enforce law and order, usually lead to avoidable accidents and deaths, because of bruised ego on the part of the police officers involved.

A police officer who spoke on behalf of other officers at the ports said that most police officers in the line of duty are usually treated with disdain, as if they are lesser beings this attitude by port users who contravene the law usually infuriate the police officers and therefore pleaded that police officers should be treated with respect too.

Responding, tsafe pleaded that all grievances narrated to

him has been heard before, requesting that such complaints should be appropriately documented and forwarded to his office, copying the asst.

Comptroller general in charge of zone ‘a”.

He also charged stakeholders who have complain to copy the comptroller general of customs (cgc) and inspector general of police (igp), since the issue at hand cut across several security and government agencies. He pleaded for a corporation

between the police and customs, suggesting a starting point with the customs area controllers (cac’s) and the port divisional police officer (dpo).

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he aig said he has already called the cp lagos and cp-ports to restrain his officers from harassing customs agents or interfering with cargo clearance. If there are security challenges emanating from port operations, police should endeavor to synergize with sister organizations and share

information for the benefits of all involved and the nation.

Other stakeholders present at the meeting were: The national president of anlca- prince olayiwola shittu, founder of nagaff- dr boniface aniebonam, chairman, anlca- tin can chapter- kayode collins farinto, secretary- apapa chapterolumide fakanlu, customs area comptrollers in charge of apapa, tin can and ptml commands- dahiru umar, tunji aremu and zabairu jubrin respectively.

Chairman, Daar Communications Plc, Chief Raymond Dokpesi (left), presenting a proposal on “On-Air ICT Education solution” to Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State during a courtesy visit by the management of Daar Communications Plc, in Abeokuta.

CPC directs Abuja park & pay to harmonise services

By FAVOUR NNABUGWU

P

EEVED by the excesses of Abuja ‘park and pay’ operators, Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has directed that the operators of these services to harmonise their operations.

Ify umenyi, the director general of the council gave this charge in abuja following multiple complaints from abuja motorists, stating that the agency would engage the fcta over the issue with a view to finding solution to it.

The dg said the charge became necessary in view of the different complaints by motorists over incessant harassment by the different operators manning the parking zones in the city.

The federal capital territory authority (fcta) ladt year licensed two firms which include integrated parking

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services (ips) and platinum parking management services (ppms) to run a park-and-pay system on major streets in the city under a public/private partnership whilst the third firm, automaten technik baumann (atb) was brought on board the scheme.

Under the policy, designated parking spaces were created on busy highways, marked out in white lines, and motorists parking on these spots are charged a fixed fee per parking, raging between n50 for 30 minutes and n850 for 12 hours.

The parking spaces were shared among the operators who sold their cards or tickets to motorists parking in the areas. Defaulters are slammed with n5,000 or n10,000 penalty. Cars are clamped (locked) until the fine is paid.

The director general said “some

motorists complained that after buying the park and pay recharge card from an operator they still found it difficult to park in any of the areas in the city manned by another operator without being asked to pay, failure to which they will have their cars clamped”.

The excuse of the operators according to her was that there was no way they could accept another operator’s card in their area of domain because they don’t yet have the means of reconciling the account.

The dg said the concern of the council was that motorists are tactically forced to buy card from all the operators to enable them park anywhere in the city, which implies that a motorist should carry three cards at a time, the situation she said strangulates the consumers.

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

T

HE Industrial Training Fund, ITF, has established 37 industrial skill training centres in the six geo political zones of nigeria Meanwhile, the fund has so far trained 37,000 youths across the country. director general of the fund, prof.

Longmas wapmuk, who disclosed this to newsmen in abuja, said the decision to embark on the establishment of the centres was part of the funds’ efforts at addressing the obvious shortage of skilled manpower acquisition in the country.

Itf was established to promote and encourage the acquisition of skills in industrial and commercial sectors of the nation’s economy with the view of generating a pool of sufficient indigenous trained manpower to meet the needs of the private and public sectors of the economy.

Wapmuk explained that the centres would enhance apprenticeship scheme as well as the training of young entrants and other skill workers thereby reduce over dependence on government.

He said the fund had already established three centres in ikeja, kano and jos, adding that the agency is, in collaboration with itee of singapore, establishing a model skill training centre in abuja.

146.25

-1.65

2,252.00

-3.00

19.42

-0.03

110.18

-0.62

90.62

-0.25

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL DOLLAR 154.77 155.27 POUNDS 250.2476 251.0561 EURO 204.1107 204.7701 FRANC 169.0367 169.5828 YEN 1.7957 1.8015 CFA 0.2935 0.3035 WAUA 2238.3891 239.1593 RENMINBI 24.8398 24.9205 RIYA 41.2632 41.3965 KRONA 27.3561 27.4445 SDR 237.866 238.6345

SELLING 155.77 251.8645 205.4295 170.1289 1.8073 0.3135 239.9294 25.0012 41.5298 27.5329 239.4029

CBN Exchange rate as at 2/01/2013

22—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

D-G WAIFEM, Rewane discusses economy at FICAN Roundtable

BY CHINEDU IBEABUCHI

I

N T E R N AT I O N A L Breweries Plc gained 184.21 per cent or N10.5 while Cadbury Nigeria Plc gained 154.39 per cent or N17.6 in share prices to emerge the most profitable stocks on NSE 30 index for 2012.

The nation’s capital market which closed year 2012 on a positive note despite opening on a weak investors’ patronage, saw many blue chip stocks attracting strong investors’ confidence to end the year-to-date on a strong positive note.

In the major market indices, 2012 Year-to -Date, YTD performance review of the NSE 30 index reveals that twenty-four (24) stocks currently trade in the green zone while the remaining six (6) stocks trade otherwise, a review by Proshare Investment Company Ltd revealed.

The NSE 30 index companies come from’ a variety of different industry sectors in order to reflect a diversified view of the overall performance of the stock market. Of the many indices available to track the stock market, NSE 30 is the most popular. The components of the index are changed periodically to reflect the matrix developed by the bourse. top gainers for 2012 in the NSE 30 index include International Breweries Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc and Diamond Bank Plc. Meanwhile, the top losers are Total Nigeria Plc, United Bank of Nigeria Plc, UBN and Mobil Nigerian Plc. The NSE 30 Index recorded 43.26 per cent appreciation YTD gains in 2012 as the AllShare Index, ASI also records 35.84 per cent appreciation YTD gains in the same period.

International Breweries Plc which opened the year at N5.7 per share, gained 184.21 per cent or N10.5 to close at N16.2 per share; Cadbury Nigeria Plc rose by 154.39 per cent or N17.6 to close at N29 per share from N11.4; Diamond Bank Plc opened at N2.01 per share, rising by 145.77 per cent to close at N4.94 per share.

Other share price gainers include: GlaxoSmithKline Nigeria Plc N22.3; Access Bank Plc N4.01, United Bank for Africa Plc N1.96; FBN Holding Plc N6.65; Nestle Nigeria Plc N276.62; Guaranty Trust Bank Plc N8.88; Unilever Nigeria Plc N17.5; Fidelity Bank Plc N0.86; Dangote Flourmill Plc N2.97; Nigeria Breweries Plc N51.97, among others.

In 2011, out of the 30 Blue Chips stocks on the Index, six

D

Governor Mua'zu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State planting rice, during the official flag off of 2013 dry season rice farming in the state at Majin Gari, in Lavun Local Government Area. With him are Minister of State Agriculture Alhaji Bukar Tijjani (first right) and Speaker, state House of Assembly, Mr Adamu Usman (3rd right).

Int’l Breweries, Cadbury emerge most profitable stocks in 2012 (6) closed the year with positive figure while the remaining twenty-four (24) closed negative.

Top gainers on the 2011 list are Union Bank of Nigeria Plc; Guinness Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Breweries, Nestle Nigeria Plc and Unilever Nigeria plc; while the top

losers are Diamond Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, UBA, Dangote Flour Plc, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc and Ashaka Cement Plc. The NSE 30 Index recorded 16.06 per cent losses in 2011 as ASI also recorded per cent 17.42 per cent losses in the same

period.

The NSE Banking Sector was the 2nd best performing index, giving a return of more than 23.47 per cent in the year 2012. The Bank Index went up from 275.07 on January 3, 2012 to 339.63 points on December 31, 2012.

IRECTOR-General, West African Financial and Economic Management, Prof. Akpan Ekpo, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company Limited and Mr. Sewa Wusu who is the Head of Markets, Sterling Capital will lead economic experts to discuss the direction of the Nigerian economy in 2013 at the 2nd Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) Rountable on the Economy.

The FICAN Roundtable is scheduled to hold on Friday, January 11 at the Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja, with the theme: Nigerian Economy in 2013: Issues and Expectations.

The event, which is the second in a series starts by 9am and will have representatives of real sector of the economy, policy makers, industrialists, financial sector operators, telecommunications, mining, energy, financial markets, infrastructure development experts as well as electronic and print media, among others in attendance.

Other participants include senior business executives from across the country, the international business community from industry, government institutions and strategic investors.

Courtville targets N64m profits in Q1 2013

BY NKIRUKA NNOROM

C

OURTEVILLE Business Solutions Plc listed on the Commercial Services Sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), has said that it is targeting after tax profit of N64.66 million for the first quarter ended 31st March, 2013. This was contained in the company’s quarterly financial statements made available to the NSE, on Tuesday and obtained by Vanguard.

According to the notice filed with the NSE, the company expects to hit the target after parting with N12.32 million as taxation for the review period.

It also hopes to also post N498.99 million total revenue within the period, while profit before taxation is expected to hit N76.97 million It would be recalled that the company had recorded turnover of N550.516 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011, indicating an increase of 30.2 per

cent over N384.445 million in recorded in the corresponding period of 2010.

Profit after tax stood at N131.31 million, down from N245.35 earned in the corresponding period of 2011.

Commenting on the result, Group Managing Director, Mr. Bola Akindele, said conservatism had helped the company to achieve the feat.

He said the company will continue its conservative approach to ensure that shareholders fortune is enhanced.

According to him, the company has not been too extravagant in spending money in getting the business done, “We have just tried to maintain the status of being reasonable in the way we conduct our business. We will pay dividend according to the profit made by the company; we will also consider the position of the company’s balance sheet at the end of each financial year before proposing any dividend,” he said.

He disclosed that Courteville had

exhibited at the Africa Fashion Week (AFW) in London United Kingdom (UK) in its bid to support and provide ebusiness solutions to companies; including Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs).

“Courteville is a business solutions company, but we always strive to support small businesses and new initiatives coming out of Nigeria especially. We came not only to support part of the Fashion Week but have come to showcase some of the products and services that we get to Meanwhile, shareholders had at the 7th annual general meeting demanded higher dividend. Speaking at the company’ s 7th AGM held in Lagos, Sir Sunny Nwosu, National Coordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) declared that Courteville had consistently rewarded investors with dividend, but called for enhanced dividend.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013—23

Skye Bank provides 40% equity funding for gas plant

BY PETER EGWUATU

S

KYE Bank Plc has again demonstrated its commitments towards development of indigenous capacity in the oil and gas sector with the provision of finances for the Pan Ocean Oil’s Ovade-Ogharefe Gas Processing Plant (OML98).

The Ovade-Ogharefe Gas Processing Plant was designed as a Carbon Emission Reduction Project with the capacity of delivering 200mmscf/d of dry gas to the domestic gas market for power generation and industrial development. The Gas Plant is located in the OvadeOgharefe area of the Niger Delta Region.

Reputed as the largest in West Africa, it earns carbon credits for its operations under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol where its operations were reported and established.

Pan Ocean is the operator of the OML 98 under a 60:40 Joint Venture with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Skye Bank provided funding for Pan Ocean’s 40% equity under the Joint Venture with NNPC. Executive Director, Corporate and Investment Banking, Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Timothy Oguntayo said the funding to Pan Ocean Oil was another demonstration of the active supports of the bank towards actualizing the Federal Government’s local capacity and content in the oil and gas sector.

He noted that the gas plant would not only benefit all

stakeholders but also improve Nigeria’s environment rating.

According to him, among other things, the plant will ensure zero routine flaring in all areas of its operation due to the adopted modularized plant concept which makes the plant expandable for additional gas finds in her concession areas.

He added that Skye Bank’s partnership with Pan Ocean Oil Corporation (Nigeria) Limited has been credited with the company’s success in processing gas which could have been flared from its gas processing plant.

Rather than flare the gas emanating from its operation, Pan Ocean Oil processes its gas in compliance with the carbon credit scheme of the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) for which the company was qualified in February 2009.

Experts have identified hindrances to the development of the oil and gas industry in Nigeria to include high capital requirement, dearth of critical trading infrastructure, low manpower and poor defining rules.

Oguntayo reiterated that despite the challenges associated with oil and gas finances, Skye Bank would continue to support committed Nigerian investors who have defied the odds by making substantial investments in the sector in order to raise the Nigerian flag high.

Known for its very tough and stringent entry requirements

which are difficult for the indigenous investors to meet, the Nigerian oil and gas industry has been dominated by foreign corporations. Besides the overriding influence of foreign multinational oil companies in terms of industry operations and size, industry estimates also indicate that more than 60 per cent of the senior management officers and highly skilled technical managers are expatriates.

The Local Content Act was legislated to redress this unequal participation in the industry. But finance has been major impediment to the quick realisation of the gains of the Act. Industry analysts said banks that are providing finances to support the realisation of indigenous oil and gas capacity deserve special recognition and commendation given the high risks inherent in the sector.

From left: Toyin Adepate, Registrar/Chief Executive, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN; D.C. Alaribe, Council member and Doyin Owolabi, President, ICAN at a memorial service of late Prince Adebajo Babington-Ashaye at All Saints Anglican Church, Yaba, Lagos.

World Bank expresses satisfaction with implementation of STEP-B projects T

HE World Bank has expressed sat isfaction with the level of implementation of the 180 million dollars Science and Technology Education, Post-Basic (STEP-B) projects in selected federal institutions in Nigeria.

The World Bank Senior Education Specialist in Nigeria Dr. Tunde Adekola, expressed the feeling in Abuja on Tuesday at a meeting of the National Education Sector Steering Committee on Donors’ Assisted States Education Projects.

Adekola said that the bank was pleased with the level of implementation of projects since it started in 2007. He said for a long time, Nigeria went back and forth rat-

ing unsatisfactory and moderately satisfactory. “World Bank is currently spending N55 billion on education projects in 10 states and we are planning to expand the intervention this year. “We are basically spending 95 million dollars in the Lagos Eko project while 90 million dollars is for Lagos, five million dollars will be for federal. “We are also spending 150 million dollars on Programmatic Result Learning project in Bauchi, Anambra, Ekiti and Edo and 100 million dollars on Global Partnership on Education in Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna and Sokoto, ‘’he said. Adekola said by June the bank would introduce a policy note

on basic education and skills acquisition in Nigeria, where more than 100,000 households had been interviewed. The Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’I, ,on her part, appealed to states to address the challenges of the education sector. Rufa’I said that challenges that could hamper progress had been identified in the sector, including developing sectoral plans and conducting annual school census. Others are improving literacy, building and equipping technical schools and access to matching grants. She thanked the World Bank for the continuous support of the Nigerian education sector.

AfDB doubts Nigeria will attain MDGs target by 2015

BY CHINEDU IBEABUCHI

W

ITH only two years to 2015, the African Development Bank, AfDB doubts that Nigeria will attain the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs target.

The Bank said only MDG 2 – Achieve Universal Primary Education; and MDG 8 – Develop Global Partnerships for Development – have the potential of being met.

The rests are not likely to be met despite tremendous efforts on the part of Nigerian authorities to achieve them, AfDB said in its Country Strategic Paper for Nigeria, 2012 – 2016.

The Country Strategy Paper (CSP) proposes a strategy for supporting Nigeria’s development efforts over the period 2012-2016 and is anchored on creating a sound policy environment and investing in critical infrastructure.

The strategy is aligned with the long-term development agenda of the new administration as outlined in the vision 20:2020 and anchored on the Government’s Transformation Agenda (TA:2011-2015), AfDB said.

The Bank posits that Nigeria’s business environment does not encourage investment and competitiveness in its industrial sector. Although the private sector is the main employer accounting for over 80% of employment and the primary source of export earnings, there has been little improvement in the business climate over the past few years.

The World Bank’s 2013 “Doing Business Report” ranked Nigeria 131st out of 185 countries, compared to 133rd out of 183 countries in the 2012 Report.

The slight improvement is due to the improved ranking in the “ease of getting credit”. Any other indicator deteriorated in its ranking relative to 2012, the CSP report disclosed “The cost of doing business is high due to cumbersome procedures and delays in operating a business and moving goods across borders, and the additional uncertainties in settling commercial disputes.

“The security challenges in the country could further hamper private sector confidence. In terms of competitiveness, Nigeria has been on a declining path since 2008 and ranks well below most of its peers in the region.

24—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

New cement policy to accommodate pricing, export — FG T

• From left: The Permanent Secretary, Mr. Dauda Kigbu; Chief Cletus Ibeto, Ibeto Cement; Abdulsanni Rabiu, Bua Group; Minister Olusegun Aganga, and Mr. Joe Hudson, MD/CEO, Lafarge during a stakeholders meeting between government and CEOs of cement industry.

“We have achieved everything we set for ourselves 10 years ago when the Backward Integration Policy was introduced and we want to thank all stakeholders and investors in the sector for the success story recorded so far. “ I am delighted to say that after 10 years of implementation of BIP, the good news is that we started with 2 million tons capacity but today we have about 28 million tons capacity of cement, investment of about $6billion; which provides direct and indirect employment for about 2 million people.

“And because of what we have done together, we have been able to save the country foreign

exchange of about N210 billion per year annually.”

“However, we want to take the next step as part of our strategy on the way forward. We are forming a group of people that will look at the cement policy in details and come up with the policy response that we need to have in place to take that next step that will make us a major exporter and user of cement in terms of consumption.”

“In 2002, the major priority of the country ’s Backward Integration Policy was about cement production from limestone.

“For the first time ever, this ministry did not issue any import licence in 2012. This is a remarkable achievement and a major

Normalcy yet to return to fuel stations — NACCIMA

BY NAOMI UZOR

N

IGERIA Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), has said that President Jonathan’s pronouncement may have relieved Nigerians of the burden of doubts over the removal of subsidy on fuel in 2013, but normalcy is yet to return to all fuel stations.

In a parley with Journalists, the National President of NACCIMA, Dr. Ademola Ajayi, said normalcy is yet to return to all fuel stations as many still sell the product (petrol) at between N120 and N140 per litre

BY FRANKLIN ALLI & TOHEEB IDRIS

T

BY FRANKLIN ALLI HE Federal Government is set to build on the success of the backward integration policy in the cement sector with plans to further review the policy to accommodate pricing, availability and export to international markets.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, made this known in a meeting with local producers of cement and importers in Abuja during the week.

“In 2002, the major priority of the country ’s Backward Integration Policy was about cement production from limestone.

“For the first time ever, this ministry did not issue any import licence in 2012. This is a remarkable achievement and a major economic success for our country.

However, we want to carry out a deeper review of the cement sector to ensure that it is more competitive not just locally but internationally because we are at a point where we should be thinking about exporting some of our products,” he said.

He said following the tremendous success recorded through the introduction and rigorous implementation of the Backward Integration Policy in the cement industry, we are planning to review the entire policy to consolidate on the gains so far recorded.

Minister, DG charge business journalists on economy reporting

as against the approved pump price of N97 per litre.

According to him, the authorities need to note that the citizens are naturally apprehensive and more interested in the pump price they pay for fuel and the resultant usual rise in transportation cost, adding that the chamber expects the authorities to put their acts and mechanisms together, remove inherent corruption already unmasked and free up this important sector from frequent problems and distractions.

“What the Government needs to urgently do is for the Department of Petro-

leum Resources to live up to its responsibility by attacking the incidence of sabotage in the supply and distribution channels of fuel in the country.”

Unless something is done and very fast to arrest the situation, the upcoming yuletide period might be marred by the usual unpleasant scarcity of petroleum products” he said.

He said the chamber commend Government for reviewing the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which is expected to transform the entire oil and gas sector and present a new legal framework to guide the industry when passed by the National Assembly.

economic success for our country.

However, we want to carry out a deeper review of the cement sector to ensure that it is more competitive not just locally but internationally because we are at a point where we should be thinking about exporting some of our products. ”This means that we need to look at the overall structure including the current pricing, availability, affordability, in addition to developing an export strategy for the sector,” he said.

Mr. Isa Tata Yusuf, who spoke on behalf of the cement producers in the country, promised to surpass their current total production capacities.

“We are happy with the way the government has implemented the Backward Integration Policy in the cement sector, since inception of the policy ten years ago. We strongly believe in the industry and will work together to surpass the current growth,” said Group Representative, Dangote Industries Limited, Mr. Isa Tata Yusuf.

“We want to thank the Nigerian government for its consistency in keeping faith with the implementation of the Backward Integration Policy in the cement industry. Nigeria is a shining example globally in terms of success story in cement production. We see a long term future in Nigeria and we are ready to work with the government and all the stakeholders to grow the sector,” said Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc, Mr. Joseph Hudson.

HE Minister of Trade and Investment, and the Director General of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria have charged business journalists to write in a manner that lifts the economy rather than to pull it down.

In a separate statement, Olusegun Aganga the Minister, and Olayinka Akande, DG, both lamented that the media is a washed with negative reports about the country from cover stories to editorials and inside pages.

Speaking during the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria annual conference held recently at MAN House Ikeja Lagos, Akande, observed that journalists focus more on negative reportage like bomb blasts, kidnappings, plane crashes to sell their papers.

In his presentation on ‘The Real Sector/ Media Impact,’ he said: “Reading Nigeria newspapers is like there is nothing good happening to Nigeria, moreover there are other countries that are worst than Nigeria.”

“Take for instance, when Standard & Poor increased our credit ranking rating, no Nigeria newspaper put it in their

front cover. Likewise, the rail road from Lagos to Kano has started working but you won’t find that on the front page of a national daily; no stories that builds investors confidence on the economy; it’s only issue of kidnappers, crash, bomb blast you will found there,” he said.

I don’t say you should not be critical of government but you should balance it; you should be doing accurate and incisive analyses of economic issues to put the public and private sectors on notice concerning implications of the trend on the economy and to give priority to items that can encourage foreign and local investors alike and will develop the Nigerian economy for instance, let’s stop being negative as opinion molders; your role should be to galvanise economic activities.

Aganga further advised the journalists to be a bit lenient in what “you report about the country because of its image; your report should celebrate growth in the following areas: success story of backward integration policy in the cement sector, 7.7 percent manufacturing GDP; Stable exchange rate. Your mandate should be to assist the economy and not to bring it down,” he said.

NGOs flay BATN sponsorship of NMMA Industry category

T

HE Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has flayed the yearly British America Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) sponsorship of “Best Industry Reporter Endowment” being organised by the Nigerian Media Merit Awards (NMMA).

In a statement issued in Lagos, ERA/FoEN described the BATN endowment as a tactic of muzzling the media and suppressing critical editorials that expose the dangers of tobacco use and the activities of tobacco firms.

“This is simply an affront on public health and the noble practice of journalism in Nigeria. An industry promoting a lethal product cannot at the same time also ingratiate itself among the society’s watchdog, talk more of sponsoring an endowment on Industry reporting,” said ERA/FoEN Director, Corporate Accountability & Adminis-

tration, Akinbode Oluwafemi.

Oluwafemi said: “We have watched with dismay how on a yearly basis BATN has been exploiting the prestigious NMMA to breach Articles 13 of the FCTC which explicitly rejects all forms of advertising, promotions and sponsorships that the tobacco industry twists to paint itself in good light while promoting its lethal products. This is a twopronged strategy of indirect advertising and sponsorship as BATN unwittingly gets good media mention.”

“We reiterate our conviction in the reward of excellence that the NMMA promotes, but it is time now for the organisers of the event do a proper sieving of the brains behind the various award categories. BATN cannot simply be allowed to portray itself as responsible corporate organisation.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013 — 25

D

ecember comes with merry-making and shopping for Christmas and New Year. But parents do these with tuition fees and school materials in mind, because immediately after the fun time, schools resume. Across the country many resumed on January 6 and others will resume on January 14.

Though the second term of every academic year is not as hectic as the third, it is still packed with academics and extracurricular activities.

Vanguard Learning went to town for the views of parents/ guardians on how they have prepared for their wards.

A principal, who pleaded anonymity, said parents should not to wait till resumption before making arrangements for their wards’ school fees, should prepare them psychologically for resumption and also treat them for malaria and typhoid.

Resumption costs a lot, especially for those with more than one kid to send to school and have to keep a special budget for school materials. “I have just a son in day care and it costs me N30,000 to keep him there,” says Mrs. George, a banker.

She said: “If I spend this much on day care, you can imagine what it would cost when he enters primary school and would require school uniforms and books.”

Mrs. Uzor, a mother of two, says keeping two children in school is not an easy task.

“Aside the N28,000 school fees, I have spent N22,500 on books. The annoying thing is, poor quality aside, the books used this year are not the same for next year. So my daughter can’t pass the books down to her younger one,” Uzor said.

Wearing the proper school uniforms is imperative in Nigeria, especially among private schools. This has popularised shops specialising in the selling of school uniforms. So it is no

Future of Nigeria education lies with the private universities — Prof Mafiana C M Y K

•NEF President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu with the Spelling Bee One Day Governors at their annual reunion luncheon, recently.

Back to school…

After holidays, expenses, academics

BY AMAKA ABAYOMI wonder that the prices of some school materials like uniforms, exercise books and reading materials have slightly gone up. Mrs. Uzor had to pay additional N1,500 for her daughter ’s school books.

However, for the Managing Director of Tobola School

Shop, Mrs. Kunbi Adewunmi, business is not at the peak as there is no rush for school uniforms as against September, which is the beginning of the school year.

According to her, “aside parents who need that odd shirt or skirt or for those changing school that need new uniforms, business is just okay and there has been no considerable change in the

prices.”

Another factor is that being a new year, new changes and innovations are expected to enhance learning. According to the Chairperson, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, Mrs. Gbolahan Daudu, the Board would build more libraries and provide more learning materials other than text books to usher in the needed

change that would reposition education, especially in Lagos State.

Daudu said: “We would also focus more on teachers’ training because the teachers have to get it right for us to effect the kind of change we want. So far, we have trained teachers in 600 schools remaining 401.”

This was corroborated by the Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Lanre Bajulaiye, who charged parents to pay more attention to their wards as teachers are better trained to impact more knowledge to them.

Senate charges FG on technical, technological education

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

I

rked by the spawning certificates that often fail the test of time in terms of skills and qualitative knowledge, the Senate Committee on education has charged the federal

— Page 26

government on the need to establish more technical and technological institutions of learning across the nation.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, at the public presentation of the 2012 Implementation

Rhythms of music education — Page 29

Report of the 4-year Strategic Plan (2011-2015) by the Ministry of Education in Abuja recently, said government should save the country from the wanton parade of certificates by those he described as educated illiterates.

How safe are Nigerian campuses?

— Page 27

“There is need for the federal government to focus on technical and technological education so we can have qualitative education and experience middle level manpower.”

Chukwumerije, who was incensed with the huge certificates churned out from tertiary institutions annually without qualitative graduates, reiterated “ what we have continuously spawned in this country are educated illiterates.

“After 50 years of independence, Nigeria is still importing virtually everything. For us to give Africa the right leadership that Nigerians keep holding on paper, we need to pay

Continues on page 26

26 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

Future of Nigeria education lies with private universities —— Prof Mafiana, NUC director

BY DAYO ADESULU

P

rofessor Chiedu Felix Mafiana is the Executive Director, Quality Assurance, National Universities Commission NUC. This arm was created in 2005 following the observed need to restructure and strengthen the capacity of the Commission to monitor and ensure the quality of academic programmes in the Nigerian University System (NUS).

The Professor of Parasitology, who is also the President and Chair of the Executive Board, African Quality Assurance Network (AfriQan), in this interview spoke on sundry issues bordering on the university system and the way forward.

Excerpts How would you rank private and public universities in the country?

I won’t base my comment on who is doing well and otherwise, but generally from what we have observed from Quality Assurance, a few of the university would be struggling because of their age. We believe that the future of this nation lies with the private universities. When we say some of them are fledgling, it is because they will suffer from the pain of just beginning a programme, which forms the fulcrum of the issue.

In other words, a new university definitely cannot have the entire infrastructure and other resources that are required. The environment cannot mimic what you have in the older varsities, just in the same manner as we complained when no Nigerian university was in the global ranking.

There is no basis for ranking Harvard of 1463 with

•Prof. Chiedu Mafiana aNigerian university of year 2010. Private university system is a young system in Nigeria and we expect that they would do well if they follow our quality assurance.

However, a good number of them are doing well to the extent that they have institutionalized the training needed of their staff, have adequate infrastructures and also have enough funds to carry it on.

Where a private university is grappling with the problem of funds, then we must be careful with the rate at which it’s expanding.

When you hear people say Ghana's education is better than Nigeria’s, it is not true

Technological education Continues from page 25 attention to technical and technological education.”

The Senator, however, commended the Minister of Education, Professor Ruqquayat Rufa’I, for increasing access to education and revamping the sector.

While presenting the 4-year strategic plan, Rufa’I, also called for the need for technical education, saying Nigeria must empower its people with the right skills to enable them compete globally.

“The Nigerian education system must be in a position to perform its basic role of developing individuals with the right skills and C M Y K

competence to compete globally. Our industries must have, at their disposals, workers with the skills to help them maintain competitive advantage.

“We must establish efficient guideline and counseling mechanisms in our institutions so that students can be appropriately supported.”

Commenting on the education sector in 2012, Rufa’I said some significant improvements were recorded in the sector.

“2012 was a good year for the education sector as we made progress in our drive to enhance access to education and also improve quality of education.”

as the only thing is that their system is stable. If you go in today, you already know when you would be leaving, which is not the same here.

Is there no hope for the public universities?

Well, it depends.

Everywhere in the world, workers are entitled to withdraw services after giving adequate notice. I was a Secretary of ASUU, yet I believe that there are certain things that could be taken away from it.

They have reasons for the actions that they take but some of actions are also unreasonable. For instance, if Rivers State University has a problem with the VC, then the entire Nigerian universities goes on strike, that is indiscipline and irresponsibility.

Governors should take responsibility for what happens in their universities because they have a Council.

This means that if there is an agreement by the National Union of ASUU, the states are under an obligation to also domicile that law within their territories or renegotiate it as the case may be.

When ASUU had an increase in salary, Delta State University was among the first that paid highest. When they were earning more, nobody went on strike, it depends on what value you present for your profession.

Is the poor quality of education being experienced a direct result of private varsities not focussing on PG programme and not feeding the younger varsities with lecturers?

On the issue of poor quality

education, are you aware that a Biochemistry girl in Novena University, Delta State, went to South Africa and outshone some of them. That means there is something good about our education.

Moreover, you will be amazed at how well some youth corps members who were offered scholarship by President Jonathan to study in the UK are doing academically.

On poor quality, many varsities are not following the rules. Say for instance, if government is not giving DELSU enough money, they must generate funds.

Varsities think that they can only generate funds through part time programme, which is wrong. What is the university doing? There are three universities in this country, one in Lagos which has up to 18,000 students in part term, if you give them 20,000 in full time, by law, they are not suppose to have more than 6 to 7 thousand students per time.

You have three universities being run in another university. Who are the teachers, when they graduate, whose certificate do they bear? They bear that university’s certificate. They do not say it is part term, they give them the same certificate.

We do not have the way of knowing who passed through the normal education. When they are so many in a class, some don’t come to class and some lecturers will be happy because some don’t come to class so that they too can find their ways.

So at that level, there is corruption and at the institution level, there is also corruption and the end result is the poor quality of education.

But I can tell you that I will vouch for a student who went through the full time programme and had a 3 rd Class than a student who went for part time and had a 2nd Class.

We are aware of what happened in one of the Eastern varsities that were mobilized for service where some of the students could not write their names. So what went wrong?

I do not say that Nigerian education structure is so terrible. But let me tell why we are noticing it now. We were not having many more people wanting to go to school, we are now having many more people coming out of school. It was not as if people were not having 1st Class in those days or pass degree. When they say our graduates are not employable, it is also not correct, because there is nobody who is where he is that was taught what he expected to do outside work, not even the journalists, you came out and learn the work.

SCHOLARSHIP

Approaching deadlines

A

s a way of thanking Nigerians for making it Nigeria’s number one flight carrier, Arik Air Nigeria is offering scholarships to 15,000 undergraduates and postgraduate students to study at home and abroad.

This scholarship program is open to students in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

Post-graduate students hoping to study abroad are also eligible to apply.

Applicants are visit http:// www.arikscholarship.com/ for details as application form closes January 31, 2013 while the computer base test will commence from February 11 to 15, 2013.

Netherlands Fellowship programme for Master’s, PhD and short courses

T

he 2013-2014 Netherlands Fellowship Programme is now open to students from 61 countries around the world. Pursue a Master’s Degree, PhD Degree or a short course at selected universities in Netherlands. Deadline is 5 February 2013, while course starts September 2013. Go to http:// scholarship-positions.com to apply.

2013-2014 TUMS Scholarships for International Students in Iran

T

ehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) has announced scholarships for international students to pursue studies in medical fields. These scholarships are available for all those students who are seeking undergraduate or graduate degree as well as fellowship positions in Iran. Applications are evaluated on the basis of prior knowledge, experience and publication in the desired field of study.

Eligibility: an applicant must be non-Iranian citizens, be over 18 years old, have completed and obtained high school diploma (for undergraduate studies), have completed and obtained a post high school or university diploma (for graduate studies), and be able to communicate in English.

Applications for 2013-2014 scholarships close on March 30, 2013. Apply at http://scholarshippositions.com

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013—27

How safe are Nigerian Campuses?

BY ADEBAYO CALEB

I

C M Y K

Students of Federal Ploytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa State, vacating the school after the massacre of over 40 students of the school. security. A recent incident of a male student disguising as a female Muslim student, garbed in hijab, who used the disguise to steal blackberry phones from the female hostels has also shown that students are dynamic in inventing newer methods of perpetrating criminality.

Security officials should also be proactive in providing newer approaches to tackling criminality.

Majority of students on campus are youth between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five.

During this period of life, the youth have an unquenchable thirst for adventure. Hence they delve into joining cults, and engaging in anti-social activities like drinking, smoking, taking of drugs etc.

In the same stride, youths can

,

begged for them to kill me because the pain was too much to bear ’ the victim of Abia state University August 16 gang rape testified. This young girl was molested sexually for over an hour by persons suspected to be cultists. That incident was only a demonstration of the fact that our campuses as not as safe as we think them to be.

A beehive of activities is almost always an easy target for criminals and criminality.

The campus could be said to be a small city of its own, with students as its citizens.

However, unlike the use of armed forces and the police force in the country, the campus mostly limits its security to trained campus security men and a few policemen who most of the time don’t wield guns. It is due to this that the students of Nigerian campuses are left vulnerable to the menace of criminal-minded individuals.

Safety remains the pursuit of every human being on earth. In everything we pursue, we do it to either enjoy safety now or at a realisable future date. The greatest fear of any person is that his environment is no longer safe for him; that his life is no longer secure where he is. If this is the fear of the Nigerian student, then there is a problem we need to solve.

Cultism has proved a major concern for even existing security agencies on campuses. This ranges from the fact that the cultists possess, in many cases more deadly and functioning weapons than the campus security agencies to the fact that many of the cult groups engage supernatural powers in their activities. Also, many of cult members are users of hard drug, and can act in unthinkable ways when they are under the influence. What is now dominant on many Nigerian campuses is fearthe fear of moving about after dark so as to avoid rape, robbery or hold-ups by cult boys.

The incidents of armed robbery and theft have also shown that the campuses are not secure enough. Theft has proved to be a fast growing enterprise on our campuses, and despite activities of student union security committees and campus

The question that comes to mind now is ’Who is to blame for the insecurity on our campuses; the student, the security agencies, the university management or the government?’

be equally useful at this stage of their life if they decide to.

It is due this dynamic nature of the major population of our campuses that the security on our campuses has to be beefed up.

It is also inevitable that the security situation in the country spills over into the campuses. Where the citizens of Nigeria are not safe, the

,

campuses cannot be safe. This is simply a clarion call for an improvement of the efficiency of security agencies in the country The question that comes to mind now is ’Who is to blame for the insecurity on our campuses; the student, the security agencies, the university management or the government?’ For instance,

who do we blame for the ABSU rape incident? While it is important to know where the problem is so as to properly fix it, it is more important to fix the problem than the blame. There is no doubt that everyone has a role to play as regards their individual safety. For instance, the student who is much aware of incessant cultist activities which take place from the hours of 8pm on his campus, and decides to go and watch a football match at 9pm has just put his safety at risk. The management of the Universities also have a part to play in ensuring security on campus. Many times, the lack of basic infrastructure like street lights on campuses has proved disastrous to safety conditions. Again, the lackadaisical attitude of security personnel may be caused by the meagre pay they receive, which is no incentive for them to risk their lives before a juju-wielding cult group. Many of these security personnel are also not properly equipped; they lack cars to carry out their duties, as well as lack functioning walkie-talkies for communication. Special anticultism agencies should also be set up within the campuses to combat cultism. These should be properly addressed by the management of universities, because our safety concerns all of us.

It is my contention that Nigerian campuses are just not safe enough for us and without an assurance of safety in a learning environment, the primary purpose of being a student becomes defeated.

We all have a duty to make sure that our campuses become a safe place to reside.

OAU commissions bakery

BY SIKIRU AKINOLA

T

he Vice Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof. ‘Tale Omole, has commisioned the Great Ife bread and confectionery bakery.

A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the university, Mr. Biodun Olarewaju, the VC, who said that having a bakery was a step in the right direction, challenged the management of OAU Investement

Company Limited, OAUICL, to be in the forefront of integrating cassava flour in baking bread as being advocated by the Minister of Agriculture and an alumnus, Dr. Adesina Akinkunmi.

Eulogising the enviable virtues of the chairman of OAUICL, Dr. John Agboola Odeyemi, Omole described him as an industrious and enterprising man who is willing to try out new ways of doing and achieving things which have

resulted in the great success recorded by OAUICL. Odeyemi, in his welcome address, said “the Great Ife Bread and Confectionery would extend its market across South West and Abuja, and OAUICL as a conglomerate would continually contribute its own quota towards the satisfaction of human needs, provide employment to teeming Nigerian youths in the labour market and to OAU.” The Managing Director of

OAUICL, Mr. Adenrele Adeyemi, in his welcome address observed that the mission of the OAUICL has always been the provision of essential goods and services for healthy and comfortable living of staff, students and the university community and Nigeria.

He thanked the magnanimity of the VC for the release of substantial amount of fund in facilitating the operation of the OAUICL Bakery.

28—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

BY LAJU ARENYEKA

C

racked lips and white feet are for those who don’t read Quadlifestyle .You, dear reader have no excuse not to look hot in this harmattan season. Look no further; these tips could save your life!

Save sandals for later: Let’s face it. They average quadlifer’s mode of transportation is walking.

That doesn’t mean you should make it obvious to the world. Arm your feet with flat shoes that cover as much as your feet as possible, don’t forget to keep your feet properly oiled.

Gloss for everyone: Guys, you can’t go macho with white lining on your lips. Please suck in your ego and admit

that everyone needs lip gloss.

Facing a tight budget? If your case isn’t so bad, use your deodorant allocation. But seriously, if gloss is too feminine for you, make up for it by using petroleum jelly. Oil your lips as often as possible during the day.

Read the handwriting on your cream: If your cream

,

Pants or long skirts: This is definitely not the season to show off your hot legs by wearing short skirts or farmer shorts. Go for longer clothing items in order to save your skin from displaying white patches caused by the harmattan.

written on it, you should switch products till the season is over.

Oil your skin often with products that provide more moisture.

Hair apparel: Cold weather has “for dry skin” gives you clearance to do all manner of hair styles that you once avoided for fear of heat. Whatever it is you have on, be sure to oil regularly, and comb more often than usual.

Naturally, the harsh weather conditions will steer you towards thicker clothes and darker colours.

Don’t be stubborn. Allow the body to protect itself.

Oil your skin often with products that provide more moisture

,

Foundation awards scholarship to students of Mass Communication

BY ESTHER ADEYANJU

F

OUR students of mass communication have emerged beneficiaries of this year ’s Simeon Erimiakhena Olaghere Memorial Foundation Scholarship award.

The students, Olaide Seinde, Akporowve Hope, Esther Adewunmi Adeyanju and Simbiat Atinuke Awe, were adjudged successful after individual discussion sessions with the scholarship administrator, Chris Doghudje, an advertising icon and former Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).

The scholarship award is to the tune of N100,000 each and, according to the chairman of the foundation, Mr. Jimmy Olaghere, is renewable annually on the presentation and verification of satisfactory academic results.

The essay competition titled “Challenges in Nigerian Advertising” of not more than a page was opened to all students of public relations and advertising across the C M Y K

country. Six students were shortlisted for interview out of which four students from University of Lagos and Lagos State University, School of Communication, emerged

winners.

The Chairman, Olaghere, said the Foundation was established in honour and memory of his father, Mr. Simeon Olaghere, an icon in

outdoor advertising in Nigeria and West Africa, to promote, develop and sustain the study and practice of advertising in Nigeria.

Oy o students elect leader Oyo leaderss

BY SIKIRU AKINOLA (OAU)

T

he National Association of Oyo Students (NAOS) has elected leaders who will steer the affairs of the association for the next academic session.

The election, which took place amid tight security at the Old Atiba Local Government Secretariat, which now houses the National Secretariat of NAOS, produced Daud Temitope of the University of Ibadan as President while the Presidentelect of the National Association of Political Science Students (NAPSS), Adebayo Taiwo Hassan, emerged as speaker.

At the inaugural sitting presided over by Hassan, the

400 level student of Political Governor Abiola Ajimobi of senate meeting which took Science charged the new Oyo State for giving place at the headquarters of executive committee to sit up governance a new meaning Ibarapa Central Local and rise up to the challenges in the state. This was Government, Igbo-Ora, last ahead, adding that the disclosed at the FOSSU week. association must be repositioned to attain an enviable height.

Responding, the President, Daud, thanked God for the newly inaugurated executives and parliament.

He noted that his administration is in for many tasks which shall be achieved collectively.

From right: Principal, Eko Boys High School, EBHS, Mrs Mgbokwere Meanwhile, the Federation of Oyo Chiemeka Dora; Group Managing Director, FirstBank Plc, Mr Bisi National President, Eko Boys High School Old Boys’ State Students Onasanya; Association, EKOBA, Chief Idowu Sofola and Chairman, EBHS Union, (FOSSU), Centenary celebration Planning Committee, Navy Capt. Adisa Raji at has praised the the school centenary anniversary press briefing at the school premises.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013—29

BY LAJU ARENYEKA

N

o doubt, the Nigerian music industry is a force to be reckoned with internationally. Classrooms are filled with youngsters whose mentors are the singing sensations on their television screens. Is music education meeting up with the task of providing quality for the booming industry, or are music teachers still stuck in singing “do, re, mi.” Dr. Bababtunde Sosan is the Acting Director, Muson School of Music, Lagos. In a chat with Vanguard Learning, he talks on the trends in music education.

Considering your wealth of experience and skill, why did you decide to be a teacher?

I started teaching music because I have a passion for it. You can’t be a music teacher without passion. If you love what you do, it will impact the way your students respond to you.

What training programmes does the Muson School of music offer?

We have Diploma courses for people who already have knowledge of music. The programme is sponsored by MTN and the students don’t pay. We also have Basic school. Basic school is an avenue for those who haven’t had any form of training to come and learn from scratch.

We have different teachers that cover areas such as singing, piano, brass instruments etc. It’s a flexible time table that is for people of all ages.

How long does it take an average person to learn how to play musical instruments?

It depends on how interested the person is. As soon as students come to me, they almost always want to know how long it will take them to learn a particular instrument. But there is no hard and fast rule about it. The students’ level of interest will determine the time limit for their learning.

What is your take on Music education in Nigeria?

The music education climate is alright, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

At the basic level, we have nursery rhymes, basic musical songs, call and response etc.

But at the secondary level, there are few schools that have taken it to professional standards. One major concern I have about general music education is that teachers pay more attention to theoretical music education than to the practical aspect. Theory and practical should go hand in C M Y K

Rhythms of music education

•Dr. Bababtunde Sosan hand. But most times, teachers bombard students with a lot of information, and when the students come out, they are more or less half baked. Balancing theory and practical application is what provides the total package for any musician.

What do you think is the reason for this?

It is as a result of the level of training given to teachers.

Some teachers themselves have not had enough experience in the practical. If we have more qualified teachers in our system, it would go a long way to raise the standard. I also think that something should be done in the area of funding.

Government should actually show more interest, because I believe music plays a large role in nation building.

What role does music education play in nation building?

Let me answer that with this example. I got an email from London recently. They needed some of our students to play at the upcoming diamond Jubilee of the Queen of England. In many established countries, music is an important part of what they do. The Queen is celebrating her diamond jubiliee and we have choirs coming from all over the country to celebrate her. It

enhances unity and world peace, and if we apply practical music education to our country, it would be a golden opportunity for music to unify us, just as football does. I think music might even play a much stronger role in that aspect.

Tell us about some popular Musicians that have gone through your centre?

Bez, popular guitarist and singer, was my student in Basic school. I had lessons with him for a short time. He told me that he wouldn’t go on for a long time, because still had a lot of recording to do, but he just needed to

learn some things about playing the piano. He wanted to be able to play his own songs on the piano when practicing. Another person I taught was Naomi Mark. She was a finalist on Nigerian idol season one. She found it quite difficult to learn the classical way of singing because she was already used to contemporary singing. But she was able to adapt quite well eventually.

What differentiates artistes who have had formal training from those who haven’t?

Again, let me answer this with another illustration. Let’s Say we have a crowd of about

5,000 people waiting to hear two different artistes perform; one of them is well known, without any training, and the other a well trained classical musician. Very likely, when the classical musician comes on stage, everyone is quiet at first because they don’t know what to expect. But there is a dexterity with which such a person performs. There is a certain depth to the performance of trained musicians that causes the audience to stop and meditate. Such performances leave an impression on members of the audience long after the music fades. But then suppose someone else comes up, plays a popular beat and all he says is “Lalalalala Baby O,” from the beginning to the end.

Because we are Africans, and we get very excited at rhythm, the audience will make a lot of noise for such a person.

But at the end of everything, you have to ask, which of those performances left a lasting impression on the audience?

What can a parent do if he/ she notices musical talent in a child, but cannot afford training or buying of musical instruments?

The most important thing is to keep the child as interested in music as possible. For example if a child seems to show interest in drumming by hitting things all around, and if you can’t afford to buy him an actual drum, there are toy drums sold around that you can get for him; just to keep him interested. There are also videos of people who play instruments that are not expensive. You could buy such videos, hence providing him visual training. But a time will come when you will still need to provide quality education for that child in the area of music.

100 NYSC members rewarded

BY VERA ANYAGAFU

O

ver a hundred outstanding Nigeria Youth Corps Service members for the period of 2010 – 2011 have been rewarded with a training program by the U.S Consulate in partnership with Gordon Barrett, a Human Resource Organization, for their selfless commitment, and tireless development work.

The training program which was aimed at preparing them for the future to bring about a better Nigeria economy, was held at the Public Affairs Section of the U.S Consulate

Lagos, and using “The 7 Habit of Highly Effective People”, the U.S Public Diplomacy Officer, Rhonda Watson, expressed the importance of determining specific goals and ways of achieving such goals through the seven habits, stating that, “ When you sow a thought, you reap an action, sow an action, you reap a habit and then from habit to change, and as young adults, you should continue to learn and teach others on how to proactively choose their responses to circumstances, rather than reacting without regard for the consequences.”

Also addressing the

participants, Chief Executive Officer, Gordon Barrett, Ms. Tazir Ajala, urged the youth to be more resilient in their different levels of capabilities to ensure a better and prospective Nigeria.

Ms. Tazir also commended the U.S government in recognizing the importance of the work of the Youth Corps members, by way of rewarding them with the training workshop, one of the laudable programs embarked upon by the U.S President, Barack Obama administration to empower the Nigeria youth.

30— Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

Amosun rewards best teachers, students

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

T

he Ogun State Gov ernment has presented cash awards to some teachers who emerged winners at the “2012 Presidential Teachers and School Excellence Award” held in Abuja last year.

Also rewarded were some secondary school students who did the state proud at various national academic competitions.

Speaking at the cer-

C M Y K

emony, Governor Ibikunle Amosun, represented by the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Segun Odubela, said the reward was a fulfilment of an earlier pledge and appreciation of the giant strides of the awardees so as to motivate others to perform excellently.

Amosun said his administration would continue to take the necessary steps to provide qualitative education and en-

hance teaching and learning through the provision of facilities, while those who achieved academic excellence would always be rewarded.

“Our government will continually provide all the impetus for all-round transformation of the education sector in the state to maintain the lead and Ogun State shall remain the best.”

The awardees are Mr. Adeniji Olufemi, the overall Best School Adminis-

trator in Nigeria in the Secondary Schools category, Alhaji Nosiru Alli, winner of Junior Secondary category and Alhaji Musibau Ayinde Falade, the second Best School Head Teacher in the Primary School category in the country.

Others are Mr. Sobande Abidemi Olakunle who emerged as the second Best Teacher in the Junior Secondary category and Mrs. Sotonwa Tanimowo, the third Best

Primary School Teacher in the country.

The students are Master Uwa Benjamin, winner of Cowbell Mathematics Competition; Miss Christianah Adeloye, the 2011 Best candidate in the West African Senior Secondary Examination in the country and 2nd best in West Africa; and Omoniyi Ayodeji, the 2012 Best candidate in the West African Senior Secondary Examination.

Fashola gets EBHS award

BY DAYO ADESULU

G

O V E R N O R Babtunde Fashola and the Group Managing Director of First Bank Pls, Bisi Onasanya, both alumni, Eko Boys High School (EBHS), Mushin, will lead the list of awardees as the school rolls out drums for its centenary celebrations this week.

This was disclosed by the National President, Eko Boys High School Old Boys’ Association (EKOBA), Chief Idowu Sofola (SAN).

According to Sofola, others to be honoured with Centenary award of Excellence at the Sir Adetokunbo Ademola Hall of the Law School V.I., on Sunday, include former military administrator of Bauchi and Borno states Navy.

Capt. Rasheed Adisa Raji; a New-York based banker/real estate consultant, Babarinde Thompson; multipleaward winning Mathematician, Prof Aderemi Kuku; Police Commissioner, Tunji Caulcrick, and the late socialite and former president of EKOBA Alhaji Santos Anjorin, among others.

In a briefing organised

by EKOBA at the school premises in Mushin, Sofola called on other old students of the school, governments, corporate organisations and wellmeaning Nigerians to join them in their efforts towards reviving the lost glory of the ‘first indigenous private school in Nigeria'.

To make the centenary celebrations memorable, the week-long event, which commenced on Wednesday with a public lecture titled: ‘Private Participation in Education: Past, Present & Future; Lagos State as a case study,’ was delivered by an alumnus of the school Prof Solomon Fagade.

Sofola also paid tributes to Rev. Euba, the founder, who dissented from the practice in those days whereby people’s affiliation with missionaries or religions played a key role in admission of their children into mission schools.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013—31

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Whatever we do to the environment will come back to us – Charity Musa

BY EBELE ORAKPO

A

s the Holy Book says, little foxes spoil the vine.

In other words, little things we think do not matter are actually the major problems. One of the main contributors to the yearly floods in a state like Lagos is the indiscriminate manner that wastes are disposed.

People throw garbage into gutters, blocking them and forcing water to seek alternative routes.

Though the Lagos State Government has been up and doing in the area of waste disposal, it can't do it alone. To contribute their own quota, some Master’s students of the Environmental Adult Education Department, University of Lagos, embarked on a project and enlightenment campaign that will go a long way in helping preserve the environment.

A member of the group, Mrs Charity Musa spoke to Vanguard Learning on the project and what they hope to achieve. Excerpts: Why we embarked on the project: “This project is about sustainability, how we can sustain our environment. Our environment is part of us, there is no way we can separate ourselves from our environment; we relate together, we interact together since we are in an open system.

Every human being is an open system so in one way or the other, we interact. In fact, the relationship between us and our environment is symbiotic.

We are interdependent on each other, we give, the environment gives and we exchange for our survival.

We observed that in most cases, what we do in our environment creates hazard to the environment. For instance, we don’t sort out wastes, we just lump everything together paper, polythene, plastics – we are now canvassing and creating awareness that such things are wrong. We are supposed to sort the wastes, C M Y K

plastics in one place, polythene in one place, papers in another place, glasses in one place. The plastics can be reused by various companies.”

Waste bins in different shapes: To help them in spreading the good news of proper waste disposal both to the literate and the illiterate, they created waste bins in different shapes to help users identify which bin is for what waste.

“The bottle-shaped bin is for bottles, there is one for paper and one for nylons/polythenes.

The key part of the project that we are paying close attention to is the self-designed bottleshaped bin and the idea is that if we have a waste bin that is shaped like a bottle, people will look at it, whether literate or illiterate, the concept of the bottle is to give them the idea that the waste bin is for them to put their bottle waste.

The key point of the project itself is the design of the bottleshaped bin which we are thinking of patenting and introducing it to the outside community and if people can embrace the idea, it is something that can be used all over the place.

Anywhere they place this particular bin, people can understand that they should put their waste bottles there, it will go a long way in helping the culture of recycling which starts from people separating their wastes,” she said, adding; “Actually, before we started this, we did something like intervention and awareness programme just in our department alone, as a case study. We kept some in our department, took some to the residential quarters so on a daily basis, we go there to check the outcome, if the people are really following instructions.

"By the first week, nothing came out of it, they still muddled up everything together. After sometime, we started noticing some changes, their attitude towards waste disposal was changing because initially, when we opened the waste bin for plastics, you will

BREIFS

Group trains 22 schools on character devt

BY KEMI BALOGUN

A

•Waste bins see pampers, sanitary towels, a lot of things, despite the fact that we labelled it Bottle waste only!.

After a week or two, we started seeing that with time, people could actually change. After collecting the wastes, we empty them into the final refuse bin created by the school authority.”

Creating wealth from waste: “Recycling of waste is not a new thing at all but in this part of the world, it seems to be a new thing because when we talk of recycling, it’s just a process, it’s not an end in itself and we must realise that nothing is a waste. What you consider to be waste today was useful to you yesterday and there is this impression on the part of the public that whoever that recycles wastes has a very poor background. It shouldn’t be.

We need to protect our environment. Again, in terms of the economy, it can help. In some places in Lagos today, you see women who go about picking plastic bottles, polythene bags,etc. And people are wondering, what is this all

•Charity Musa

about? They use it as a source of income generation to sustain their homes and at the same time, take care of the environment,” she stated.

The evils of environmental abuse: “If our environment is well catered for, flooding disasters will be minimised. All over the country today, we are facing a lot of environmental challenges which could have been averted if only the people were aware of what they are doing to the environment. Even burning of refuse pollutes the environment and can affect human health. So all these are what we are trying to tell everybody.

“There is what we call environment sustainability.

The way we use our environment today should not be at the expense of those that are coming. Whatever we do to the environment will eventually come back to us, like the socalled natural disasters we are witnessing today, are manmade disasters. Look at the hydrocarbon being emitted into the atmosphere, it causes depletion of the ozone layer and exposes the whole world to the ultraviolet rays of the sun and also increases the earth’s temperature.

The arctic region of the world, the green land is ice, so when the earth’s temperature increases, the ice melts and that increases the volume of water in the oceans and seas and what eventually happens is flooding.That is the problem we are having.

Again, when the ozone layer is depleted, it is likely to burn our skin which will lead to skin cancer. So the message we are spreading to the larger populace is that we must imbibe this culture of recycling at least to protect the present generation and the coming generation and make the environment worth living in.

S it is the global practice, Good Character Development Initiative exclusive Partners of the Josephson Institute of Ethics USA in Nigeria, recently organised a 3-day workshop for schools on how to effectively implement good character and impart same on pupils and students in their various schools.

The training hosted senior staff members and school owners from 22 international schools in the country, and was aimed at giving senior members of the schools firsthand training who will retrain other members of staff in their various schools as qualified Character Educators.

Meanwhile, the group had also kick-started Good Character Development Initiative, GCDI, in some schools in the country, such as British International School, Caleb International School, Chris-land International School, Legacy Preparatory, Legacy High School, among others.

According to the initiator of the pro gramme, Prince Nnagozie Ochie “the value system of Nigeria is dead and the decadence of character is nothing to write home about, so in order to drive home good characters into the Nigerian society, our children are inevitable tool to re-brand Nigeria and achieve such a live time project,” he stressed.

Group tasks govt on retirement age

T

th he 14 National Delegates Conference of the Senior Staff Union in Colleges of Education, Nigeria has called on the state-owned colleges of education to quickly implement the retirement age of its member to 65 years.

In the communique issued at the end of the conference in Warri, Delta state, the National President, of the union, Comrade Muhammed Sani Uwaisu, also said that the Nigerian road are not motorable.

“The union equally calls on the National Commission for Colleges of Education, NCCE, to compel the few state-owned colleges of Education yet to implement the 65 years retirement age for staff to do the as a matter of urgency.”

32— Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

Tinubu tasks One-Day governors on greatness, patriotism

BY DAYO ADESULU

I

N its bid to celebrate and inspire past winners of Spelling Bee Competition known as Council of One Day Governors (CODG), President New Era Foundation, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has charged the OneDay governors to aspire for greatness and be willing to give back to their country.

The luncheon which was tagged “A Future Sown in Greatness” was attended by the President, New Era Foundation, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregebesola, who was represented by the Commissioner for Health, Dr (Mrs) Temitope Ilori; ACN Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila; Sir Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas; Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Barr. (Mrs) Olayinka Oladunjoye; Chairman, Committee on Education, Science & Technology, Lagos State House of Assembly Hon. Wahab Alawiye-King; Chairman Amuwo-Odofin LGA. Comrade Ayodele Adewale, Princess Aba Folawiyo, and many others.

Senator Oluremi Tinubu said “Strive for greatness and also give back to society that is the only way to standout and to focus on self development and positive

thinking in every sphere.

“We have total interest in societal development and making meaningful impact in changing the leadership issues in Nigeria. Our job as an NGO is to provide a role model for high ethical behaviour, instil the respect and trust needed for youths to take up key leadership positions in this country."

In a paper presented by the Osun State governor,

Aregbesola said that, “Nigeria is quite fortunate to have wellgroomed young people like you. I have no doubt that by the time you finally come out of the purifying furnace of enriching soul, body and mind development, you will be better equipped and well-placed to provide enduring illumination to the overly dark corridors of leadership in Nigeria.”

A future sown in greatness I take refuge in the timeless

thought of the perceptive German artist and politician, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, that ‘ambition and love are the wings to great deeds’.

There is no doubt that you all have your feet on the rung of the ladder of greatness, carefully climbing to reach the summit of success in your individual career.

You are here today because you severally have ambition to be great and make a difference

•Reading is Fun Club children and parents during an excursion to Lantern House, Ikeja, Lagos, recently.

Noah’s Ark takes photo journalism to secondary school

BY DAYO ADESULU

N

oah’s Ark Communications Limited, organisers of the three-day workshop on Creative Photography and Makeup for students of Wasimi Community Senior School, Maryland, has said that the initiative was to boost the practice of photojournalism and entrepreneurship among youths.

During the first two days of the workshop, the students were taught different skills such as how to handle a camera, creative photography (practical demonstration and photo session) and makeup (basic makeup techniques and simple makeup hygiene while on the third day ,the students were hosted to a small party.

Speaking at the workshop, the MD, Noah’s Ark Advertising Limited, Mr. Lanre Adisa, explained that C M Y K

in your society.

Now that you have those requirements Goethe outlined as important for any good deeds to take place, there is yet another inevitable demand that will ensure the birth of those good deeds.

Also, if the future that you have sown in greatness will impact humanity for good, you must never jettison honesty, diligence and sincerity.

the company decided to expand the frontiers of its CSR initiative beyond the donation of solar reading lamps to empowering and helkping the students shape their future by impacting on them skills in the areas of photography and makeup.

“We started this last year with the donation of reading lamp to the students and this year we are trying to impact their world by helping them take up careers in photography and makeup.

Adisa noted that the 3-day workshop will go a long way in future career development of the benefiting student as some of them may take interest in either of the two key areas and develop to become professionals of repute in the future and to become entrepreneurs thereby creating job for others.

On the choice of only Wasimi Secondary School, Adisa

stated that the agency believes in starting its CSR drive by directly touching lives and impacting on its immediate environment in which the school is located.

He hinted that the Agency has plans to adopt the school

and support it in different ways from time to time.

Describing the workshop as an opportunity of a lifetime which will go a long way in the lives of the students, the school, the Vice Principal, Mr. Abdul-Kabir Abubakar,

thanked the Agency for lending a hand to the school to prepare the student for the future and for choosing the school.

Some of the students established that they learnt new skills in photography and make up as well as entrepreneurship skills which they hope to put to use in the nearest future,

Government schools still the best if….

By FAVOUR NNABUGWU

C

HAIRMAN, Senate Committee of Federal Capital Territory, Senator Smart Adeyemi, has said government schools can still regain its past glory if the Federal Government can improve funding and infrastructures to the schools.

Adeyemi, at the Cultural/ Founders Day of Ultimate International School, Abuja, appreciated the contributions of private schools to national development but for the cheap

labours and high school fees.

“The private schools are helping to a large extent but these government schools can be at par if they are effectively funded and the teachers well trained and monitored to transform the delivery of education to students of public schools.

Represented by the Clerk, Senate Committee on FCT, Mr. Folajin Olufemi, Adeyemi blamed the decay in public schools on government’s failure to do the right thing.

“In our days, we studied hard so as to be admitted into

any of the federal government colleges or secondary schools but the reverse is the case today. All these would change if public school teachers are well paid and entry level into a teaching profession is enhanced.

“Not that I don’t believe in private schools, but some of them don’t play by the rules anymore. A typical scenario is teachers come to class and the next thing is to give assignments or make them to copy notes, even till the parents come to pick them up."

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013 —33

D/I extension: Stakeholders call for transition committee STORIES BY GODFREY BIVBERE

S

TAKEHOLDERS in the maritime industry have called on the Federal Government to constitute a committee to work out smooth transition of scanning functions from the Service Provider to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at the end of the six months extension.

Some of the stakeholders who spoke with Vanguard noted that unless such a committee is put place quickly, the extension period may be fruitless.

National President of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Mr. Eugene Nweke, said there is need for government to set up a committee to ensure smooth transition at the end of the extension.

Nweke also stressed

the need for Customs to have a rethink about its decision to suspend the implementation of PreArrival Assessment Report (PAAR). He explained that there is need for the Service to continue running the programme along with the Risk Assessment Report (RAR) so that operators would be used to it by the time the extension expires.

Similar, the National Secretary of National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Mr. Uchu Block, wondered why Customs would suspend PAAR in the first place if they are serious about taking over the function.

Block advised the Service to meet with government, Service Providers and other relevant stakeholders to fashion out ways of operating PAAR along side the present system, so that both can

be harmonized at the end of the extension.

An official of one of the Service Providers called for the federal government to establish a transition monitoring group, made up of those knowledgeable in the trade and those with relevant experience to monitor the transition processes.

They advised that members of the group should be those that are truly committed to the Nigerian Project and those who honestly wish that Nigeria gets it right within the extension period.

They stressed the need for the Scanning Service Providers to work closely with the officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service to fully impart the technical knowledge required whilst officers and men of the Nigeria Customs Service are expected to see the Scanning Service Providers as partners in progress

and willingly collaborate with them to achieve the anticipated objectives.

According to the Service Provider, “Six months, we believe is a very short period to achieve this, but the transition monitoring group should be left to determine the appropriate

time schedule for the transition to be fully accomplished.”

They explained that but for the extension, those who have negotiated trade instruments were at sea as to what becomes of their goods that were in transit to Nigerian Ports while others

who were still negotiating some trade deals were confused as to what constitutes authentic documents for international trade with the Nigerian trading community, the Service Provider concluded.

FG launches water transport scheme in Lokoja

T

HE Federal Government has launched a new water transportation scheme that is aimed at encouraging Nigerians to imbibe travelling by water and reduce over dependence on travelling by road.

The scheme which was kick-started with the acquisition of 50 boats is aimed at covering the littoral areas of the country. The scheme which is driven by the management of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) on behalf of the government, was launched in Lokoja late December 2012 with a 23 seater ferry boat that conveyed about 13 passengers to Onitsha from lokoja, the kogi state capital.

Managing Director of the NIWA, Ahmed Aminu Yar’Adua, who launched the scheme, addressed the passengers before their voyage from Lokoja, described water transportation as the safest means of transport.

According to Yar’adua, it was the first time government through NIWA would embark on commercial transportation on the dredged river Niger, adding that the maiden voyage was a test run and that other route will soon be introduced.

He said the whole idea was to let the people know that water transportation was possible in the country and the easiest way to decongest the road.

According to him water transportation was possible, especially through collaboration with the private sector. ”NIWA is expecting about six boats but only one has arrived now and by the time others arrived we would put them on other routes. We will put one in Lagos, two in Yenegua - Brass, one in Port Harcourt and one in Calabar- Oron. We also hope to put one in Onitsha that will ply the south- south area as far as Bomadi and also we want to deploy another one from Lokoja to Makurdi,” he said.

While emphasizing the importance of water transport, Yar ’Adua said at the end the journey people would believe that water transportation ‘is safe’ and will begin to patronize it He said private sector would soon key into the initiative as many companies had already indicated interest in the business.

“About three or four people have shown interest that they want to part-

ner with us and we will soon sit down and discuss that. It is still something new so there are things to be sorted out.

“Now price is not really the matter, we have to continue bringing in people so that they get used to it. As the maiden voyage was successful it is an indication that water transportation is possible,” he said.

•Dr. Taiwo Afolabi, Group Vice-Chairman/CEO,SIFAX GROUP ((right), and Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, Alhaji Dikko Abdulahi, when the Customs boss paid a isit to Ports & Cargo Handling Services Limited (Operators of Terminal “C”) of Tin Can Island Port, Apapa. Lagos.

NPA donates relief materials to flood victims in C-River

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU

T

HE Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, on Tuesday donated relief materials worth millions of naira to the affected victims of flood disaster in Cross River State.

Presenting the items to the Cross River State Emergency Management Aggency, SEMA, in Calabar, the manager, Corporate Affairs of NPA, Mr. Shola Adesanwo said the donation was in response to the Federal Government’s directive that its agencies donate relief materials to affected disaster victims across the country to assuage the pains and losses they incurred.

Adesanwo said, ‘These items which is a symbolic gesture is our social corporate responsibility

and a way of supporting Cross River State to facilitate timely response to assuage the pains and loses of people affected by flood and other disasters in the state”.

He said the donation was spread across the thirty six states of the

country including Abuja, explaining that some states that may not have been affected by flood and windstorm may had been inundated by other natural disasters such as fire or desertification.

“We have supplied relief materials to Kogi,

Benue, Plateau, Ekiti, Ondo, Ogun and Oyo and on Thursday we will be in Maiduguri for the same exercise, The entire states in the country would benefit since one form of disaster or the other may have affected each state of the federation,” he said.

NGO Incorporates Nigerian Maritime Industry Hall Of Fame

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HE Maritime Indus try Advocacy Initiative (MAIN) a non-governmental Organization (NGO) has incorporated the Nigerian Maritime Industry Hall of Fame as a special recognition platform for outstanding stakeholders in the Nigerian maritime industry.

The NGO said in a statement that the idea of incorporating the Hall of Fame was informed by

the discovery that as vital and strategic as the maritime sector is to the Nigerian economy, there is no life-time platform to immortalize outstanding players and also put their achievement on records for posterity.

Giving an insight into the motivation for the new platform, MAIN’s executive director; Mr Sesan Onileimo explained that what the industry currently has are

flurry of awards that are not designed to have a lasting effect.

“What we see every year are awards upon awards, but the Nigerian Maritime Industry Hall of Fame is not an award, it is a life-time achievement scroll that was subjected to a rigorous incorporation process by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) before it was approved,” he stated.

34—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

I N S I D E

Still on Justice Kayode Eso... (2)

In 2013, NGOs must return to the trenches — 36

— 35

CJN, CJs can address problems of courts by Practice Directions — Boma Ozobia

BY INNOCENT ANABA

Mrs Boma Ozobia is President of Commonwealth Lawyers Association, CLA. She was elected in Hyderbad, India in 2011. In this interview, she spoke on her tenure, which will come to an end in April this year, with the election of another president in South Africa. She also said that most of the problems facing the courts can be addressed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chief Judges of the respective states by putting in place, appropriate Rules and Practice Directions, which they have the power to make under the constitution.

Excerpts:

H

OW would you appraise the performance of the judiciary in

C M Y K

•Mrs Boma Ozobia I had been asked on many occasions why the Nigerian Judiciary does not have more judges of courage, ‘Judicial

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2012?

Judges in Nigeria, like their colleagues in many of the developing Commonwealth countries, live and work in very difficult circumstances.

They have very little control over the number of cases coming through the system on a daily basis from the appellate courts and indeed, even in the courts of first instance. Meanwhile, they are not able to increase their numbers to meet the growing demand due to constitutional and other provisions. A typical example is the situation in the Court of Appeal. Do you know that as we speak, the backlog of cases had resulted in the absurd situation where, if all panels of the Court of Appeal sit for seven days a week for the next one years, they would still not be able to conclude all currently pending appeals before the courts? This is a systemic failure and it would be unfair to blame judges as we often do. The blame game is the easy option but it does not provide a solution.

How can the problem be resolved?

The truth of the matter is that we need a radical and total over haul of the system to properly address this problem. Nigerian judges are relatively poorly equipped in comparison to their counterparts in the developed Commonwealth. The Nigerian judiciary is grossly underfunded, which means that there are insufficient funds to provide our judges with adequate support by way of properly qualified research assistants, well-resourced libraries, comfortable and well-equipped courts and other tools that make service on the Bench a worthwhile and rewarding undertaking in other countries.

Recently, a former President of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA felt compelled to take action on behalf of the Nigerian people as a result of the reduction in the budgetary allocation to the judiciary in the 2013 budget.

I personally do not think our judges lack courage, quite the contrary, I also believe there is much to be said for making haste slowly when it pertains to the justice delivery system

,

activists’ as they are often described, and India is most commonly cited as the bench mark for this ‘Judicial activism.’

It is widely believed that our judges, particularly in the Supreme Court, lack the intellectual debt and courage to deliver such robust judgments we had in the days of Justice Kayode Eso, JSC of blessed memory, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, JSC; Mohammed Uwais, CJN. But we hear of such judgments in India and others commonwealth countries. What is your reaction to this?

The Supreme Court in India had

quite properly’ in my view, given public interest litigations a fair hearing and made decisions to address the wrongs suffered by the poor and disadvantaged in that society within the provisions of their constitution. However, there are many, including leading members of the profession in that jurisdiction, who feel the Indian Supreme Court has crossed the line and has effectively appropriated some of the constitutional powers of the executive arm of government. I personally do not think our judges lack courage, quite the contrary, I also believe there is much to be said for making haste slowly when it pertains to the justice delivery system.

What can we do now to get it right?

I would recommend the Ugandan example as a benchmark in this regard for Nigeria, which is grappling with very similar challenges. Having said that, there is much that can be done to make the administration of justice more efficient, without changing the law as it currently stands. Those the Chief Justice of Uganda had been able to address successfully by various administrative measures. For instance, in July 2008, the Ugandan Judiciary administratively established a specialist anti-corruption court by designating judges of the Uganda High Court as specialist judges of the High Court’s anti-corruption division.

This Anti-Corruption Division commenced hearing corruption or corruption related cases only, in December 2008. I asked the Chief Justice how he was able to achieve this without a change in the law and he responded that their constitution gave him the power to issue orders and directions to the courts as necessary for the proper and efficient administration of justice. After that conversation with Justice Odoki, I looked up the provisions of the Ugandan constitution and compared the provisions with that of the Nigerian constitution. In so doing, I was able to confirm that the Chief Justice of the Federation, the President of the Court of Appeal and the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court had similar powers. At state level, the Chief Justice of the state is similarly empowered, as are the administrative heads of the Sharia and Customary Courts.

Some lawyers have advocated for specialization as a way of improving the quality of legal services to our clients. What is your reaction to this?

A lawyer who claims to be an expert in every area of law is in my view, an unethical and unprincipled lawyer. A client engages your professional services because you have held yourself out to have expertise in that area of law, not because you know where to find the books to read. If you have to read it up to even understand the basic principles of that area of law, you cannot hold yourself out to be an expert. The danger of that approach is that you may not find all the books and a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Having said that, I am willing to accept that litigation or Court Room Advocacy, which forms the bulk of many practitioners’ work in this jurisdiction, may, as it had been argued, be an exception. But my response to that argument is that litigation in itself is a specialization.

Needless to say, I am an advocate for specialization and our practice has Continues on page 36

EDITORIAL TEAM Dayo Benson (Editor) Innocent Anaba Wahab Abdulah Ikechukwu Nnochiri

T will be appropriate to note that the committee’s visit to Lusaka Zambia, coincided with the first trip by Dr. Nelson Mandela outside South Africa after his release from incarceration. I can still vividly recall His Lordship’s determined attempt to record with his camera, Mandela’s entry to the Hotel in the company of the late Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and equally late General Joseph N. Garba, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Chairman of the UN General Assembly at the time.

He acknowledged that it was his first time of deploying the very sophisticated gadget and his disappointment at not documenting the event, was total. His humaneness came to the fore on a further trip to Zimbabwe where upon the conclusion of our official assignment, our hosts offered us an insight into non-judicial life. A trip to a crocodile farm was the main attraction. On a guided tour, we came by a massive crocodile that was out of water and very calm. Upon His Lordship’s enquiry, we were told that the adventurous croc had crossed boundaries in search of a female companion not knowing that its would-be companion was attached. A fight ensued between the two crocodiles resulting in a dislocation of the jaw.

The invading crocodile had to be tranquilized in order to have its jaw sutured. His Lordship just smiled and said ‘O mashe o’ (pardon the misspelling if any). Next on the itinerary was a visit to the Zimbabwe High Court. It proved a very intriguing experience as we heard details of laws which were deeply rooted in apartheid and the UDI in former Rhodesia.

His Lordship was appalled by a piece of legislation which forbade a black driver from overtaking a vehicle driven by a white man! We saw photographs of the judges that dealt with the very famous case – Madzimbamuto v. Lardner Burke, a matter arising from the Unilateral Declaration of Independence and which had extraordinary bearing on constitutionalism and revolutions. The assignment took us further to Tanzania where we attended a Training Programme of some sort organized by the Crown Agents.

Again, after the official assignment, His Lordship suggested a trip to observe wildlife at the Ngorongoro crater. Our base was Arusha and I do recall that I was reluctant to go on the trip having learnt that the trip was to be funded in Dollars. As a young lawyer, with a young family, I was determined to save my Estacode in order to make provision on more essential necessaries of life.

Once His Lordship found that persuasion would not work, he found a better strategy while in my hotel room, I heard a rap on my door and when I opened and found that it was My Lord, in the company of his wife, I knew there was no room for further excuses, ‘Awa’, His

The SAN's Pulpit with AWA Kalu

Still on Justice Kayode Eso...(2) Lordship said, ‘it is time to go’. I packed an overnight bag and off we went to what proved an unforgettable experience. Make no mistake about it, I was brought up in pure Christian tradition and thus never labored under any doubts about the existence of God. Nevertheless, that fortuitous decision to accompany His Lordship and his lovely wife to Ngorongoro Crater put the existence of God beyond dispute and proved that even in wildlife in the animal kingdom, there is a modicum of respect for ‘bigger’ animals and a semblance of order. I recall that we had a reservation in a reasonably sized guest house located in a massive coffee farm. At night, huge guard dogs were released to ward off very dangerous predators.

All guests were advised to

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I

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013—35 following morning for Arusha.

The abiding lesson from that trip justified what I had previously heard- ‘travel is part of education’. Of course, on our earlier trip to Zambia, His Lordship had taken his entourage to the Victoria Falls, itself a fantastic wonder to behold. We also took a visit to the vicinity of the Kilimanjaro Mountains. Our trip in totality, revealed that Africa is blessed and is far from being the ‘dark continent’ as earlier European travelers characterized it. It is rather difficult because of the time that has elapsed, to recount in it minutiae, my offthe-Bench encounters with the deceased jurist. In sum, it will be a fitting tribute to affirm that on and off the Bench, His Lordship was a great man. It was by reason of his undeniable greatness that my wife and I proposed and His Lordship accepted, to stand as a Godfather to our last son, Somkele. Of course, his second Godfather is another great man, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, His Lordship’s exemplary conduct I must recall, led all the Hyenas sighted the members of the National approaching Lion, they took Committee on Corruption and off at great speed and we Economic Crimes to come to noticed that the huge animal what was an unhesitating and was by then paralyzed with unanimous decision to honour fear. A kick on the jugular His Lordship when he retired from the Lion brought down from his meritorious service the huge animal with its on the Bench. Dr. Bayo throat torn. Another Lion now matched out with several cubs Kumolu-Johnson proposed, and we all agreed, to and in no time, only the celebrate his retirement in a carcass of the slain animal unique way, at least by remained. Satisfied that the Nigerian standards. A luxury cubs had been fed, the Lion and Lioness escorted the cubs cruise on a Boat from mile 2, Lagos into the Atlantic and back into the recesses of the back did the magic. Good bush. (Please pardon the reference to Lion and Lioness, food, a live band, a comedian and wonderful conviviality it has been a while and I am not a Diarist) At this time, the provided an unforgettable experience for all who were two Hyenas returned just to aboard. Justice Kayode Eso lick the blood of their victim. may have departed from this His Lordship found it realm but we are left in no amazing that despite the handwork of the Hyenas, their doubt that his footsteps will remain deeply implanted in reward was a mere pittanceall blood and no flesh. He told the sands of time. Indeed, his signature which is easily me to ponder whether that decipherable from the spectacle did not suffice to landmark judgments he explain the world of delivered will continue to capitalism- ‘Monkey dey work, Baboon dey chop’. After guide the hands of judges yet unborn. a hectic day observing wildlife, we returned to our base in the farm and left the AWA Kalu, SAN

•Hon. Justice Kayode Eso annoyance.

His Lordship, out of curiosity, asked the tour guide if he had ever witnessed a Lion kill its prey. Just before the gentleman had the opportunity to answer, and as if on cue, we saw a frightened, very massive

In sum, it will be a fitting tribute to affirm that on and off the Bench, His Lordship was a great man

remain within in order to avoid surprises. We left the farm for the park the following morning and at the gate, we received instructions about the dos and donts of the park.

Wild animals, we were counselled, could not be befriended and one for instance, was not to offer Bananas to monkeys and Baboons as visitors to an ordinary zoo tend to do. If one saw a Rhinoceros at rest, the car was to maintain a distance of not less than fifty feet or so in order not to cause

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wilderbeast fleeing from what in comparison was a little Hyena. As the scene unfolded before our very eyes, the Hyena in pursuit was joined by another and in no time, both Hyena’s held the wilderbeast on its massive scrotum. It was at this time that we saw the wonders of wildlife. As if the Hyenas were in contemplation of their next line of action, a Lion came out of the blues and headed to where the two Hyenas had the wilderbeast under arrest. Once the

36—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

In 2013, NGOs must return to the trenches N the last three years, the situation of human rights in Nigeria has deteriorated more than in any other time in our history since the civil war. It is time to call up activists, NGOs and democrats to the trenches: marshalling the strategies and combativeness with which we fought the military regimes.

With return to civil rule, NGOs and activists changed strategies and adopted more engaging and constructive methods. But it is clear that the Nigerian politicians are not ready to engage in good governance. In all angles, there are obstinate resistance public officials to meet popular demand for good governance. From the north to south, east to west, there are huge insecurity of life and properties, huge wastage in governance, high level corruption and failure to prosecute corrupt officials, increased rape of women and other gender-based violence, hyper-inflation resulting in rapid increase in poverty rates, high unemployment of young people, deteriorating social infrastructure, etc.

•Chino Obiagwu Nigerian human rights NGOs have recently rallied together under the umbrella of Human Rights Agenda Network reaching and calling out all civil society actors to the trenches, so as

to strategize on effective ways to challenge public misgovernance. It is an urgent call, an agenda for 2013.

The reasons are obvious.

They stare us on the face. We must rise up now or be damned.

In every angle of life, the situations are deplorable.

Poverty levels are escalating and respect for life and rights are daily plummeting.

Government officials are adamant and uncaring of the needs of the people.

Corruption is now on mind-blowing proportion: most governors, ministers and personal assistants buy up houses on the entire streets and steal away billions of naira to foreign banks. Legislators take home more than a quarter of national wealth as earnings, and almost 85 percent of the country’s income are stolen away or spent maintaining public officials. Schools, hospitals, roads, railway, refineries, airspace, etc are completely unattended to and in deplorable conditions.

Nigerians are so numbed and stunned by the huge levels of stealing of public funds. Even when

government says it investigates corrupt officials, no one is punished. Since 2007, no politically exposed person has been effectively prosecuted and jailed for stealing public funds. We must not allow this charade and travesty to continue.

There are six critical areas of human rights that must form our joint NGO human rights agenda in 2013.

The first is unlawful killing and insecurity. A recent

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I

BY CHINO OBIAGWU

Legislators take home more than a quarter of national wealth as earnings, and almost 85 percent of the country’s income are stolen away or spent maintaining public officials

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report by NGO LEDAP said that gun violence is the highest cause of untimely deaths in Nigeria, with an average of 6 Nigerians being killed every day since 2010.

More worrisome is the lack of

prosecution of the perpetrators. It appears that the government has lost any more ideas on how to deal with the insecurity situation.

Several other expert reports confirm deploring insecurity and severe threat to right to life. UN Special Rapporteurs on Torture and on extrajudicial executions, summary and arbitrary killings recently reported that excessive use of force are acceptable tools of policing and law enforcement in Nigeria. The total failure of government to punish perpetrators of unlawful violence constitutes high level impunity. It encourages potential offenders and result in increased loop of violence.

The use of arms in law enforcement should be revisited, and easy access to small arms and light weapons be seriously addressed.

The circle of violence that engulfed north central and north west Nigeria since 2004 have resulted in killings of hundreds of thousands and displacement of many more across the country. On 18 November 2010, the International Criminal Court (ICC) expressed concern over these unresolved killings and the absence of government’s redress to the victims.

•To be Continued

CJN, CJs can address problems of courts by Practice Directions — Boma Ozobia Continues from page 34 been built along these lines.

What reforms would you like to see in the judiciary this year?

I will like to see the judiciary make more use of the Registrars and qualified lawyers in dealing with administrative matters to reduce the burden on judges in the future. It may take more than a year to put in place the required structure in terms of policy and guidance but it is commonplace in many Commonwealth jurisdictions and I commend it to Nigerian judiciary. In South Africa for instance, senior lawyers are drafted to sit in quasi-judicial capacity to deal with those interminable applications that take up so much of a judicial working time. In England, practising lawyers sit as Recorders or part time judges for the same reason. I am not saying we should import this practice whole sale but there is much to commend it and it is certainly worth considering.

We all agree that justice delayed is justice denied and we do not want our citizens to get so frustrated with the inefficiencies of the system that they resort to self-help. It is already happening, therefore, urgent measures have to be taken to alleviate the situation for the litigant, particularly the poor and disadvantaged in our society.

What has been your experience, piloting the affairs of CLA in the last 23 months?

It has been a privilege to serve in the capacity of

President of CLA for the past 23 months. Thankfully, the secretariat deals with all administrative matters, which means that my role as President is effectively ambassadorial. We also have a very structured governance system in place. This ensures that no one individual, regardless of title or role can make decisions on behalf of the organisation without the consent and approval of the majority. Coming from a country like Nigeria, where we have the tendency to build ‘Big Men’ rather than ‘Big Institutions,’ I appreciate the independence and sanctity of the institution and decision by majority vote. Naturally, this can sometimes mean that we do not take decisions as quickly as we would like, but the pros far out weigh the cons.

As President of CLA, what have been your greatest challenges in office?

The greatest challenge had been the physical impossibility of being in two places at once and the relatively poor connectivity between the six continents generally and Africa in particular. I will give you an example, each time I had to travel within Africa on CLA business, it takes me four days to make the return trip on average with the exception of the West African sub-region.

Of course, the time devoted to CLA activities also reduced the time available for fee earning legal work and impacted on my firm’s bottom line to some extent.

What are the fundamental

principles that CLA believes in?

CLA quite simply exists to promote the rule of law and standards in the profession across the Commonwealth.

With our shared history and system of law, Commonwealth countries have much to learn from each other and CLA provides a platform for this interaction and exchange of knowledge. It is quite simply the largest and only global platform for common law practitioners the world over.

•Boma Ozobia All common law jurisdictions are concerned with the preservation of the highest standards of ethics and integrity in the profession, which is why it is a central objective of CLA as well.

Naturally, ethical lawyers make ethical judges and advocates, which mean that the society is better served and the citizens will continue to have confidence in the justice system, which in turn

will result in respect for the rule of law. Pursuing these two key objectives from CLA’s perspective would, therefore, really equals a win-win for all concerned.

You had advocated mentoring of young lawyers as a way of giving back to the society its contributions to your professional training.

How far have you achieved this?

Mentoring is a crucial part of training in all professions, including the law or some might say, more particularly, the law. There is so much one can only pick up from experience, which is simply not available in standard academic books, no matter how well written. If I had traveled by road to Ibadan and I know there is a trailer park on the way that could result in delay to the unsuspecting traveler, it would be helpful to that traveler, if I am able to share my experience. The traveler can set out earlier, allowing time for any delay at the trailer park. This is a rather simplistic explanation of the importance of mentoring. But this is essentially why my friends and I wrote the two books ‘Sisters in Law’ and ‘Survival Manual for New Wigs.’ It is also the reason Sterling Partnership had engaged the Nigerian law school to organise an annual mentoring talk at the Lagos campus for the past four years. It is also the same reason I am involved with WISCAR, a formal mentoring programme for young women professionals interested in

moving up the career ladder.

These efforts have yielded great results, for which I cannot take the credit. The results were achieved by team effort in all these instances and the credit goes to all who make up the team, including the mentees.

You are to hand over the Presidency of CLA to another person in South Africa.

I will definitely hand over at the end of the conference in Cape Town. We usually hold an AGM on the first day of the conference, where the officers of the CLA are elected.

Usually the institutional members such as the NBA will field their candidates in accordance with the CLA constitution. However, individual candidates may be nominated by individual members, nominations are not restricted to the institutional members only.

Lawyers complain that some programmes of International Bar Association and sometimes CLA, do not address specific and particular problems facing developing countries such as Nigeria. How did you address this?

The IBA conference is a global legal conference with papers and contributions from civil law jurisdictions and other systems of law whilst the CLA is quite simply about the common law. This means that every session, paper and discussion is relevant to your practice as a Nigerian lawyer for many reasons, not least because the decisions from other common law jurisdictions have persuasive authority in our courts.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, January, 10, 2013—37 The first thing I checked after settling into the cab was my money which the ‘man of God’ had chipped off at the edges. I had thought that they would have disappeared but I was surprised to find them intact. I told the story as much as I could to the taxi man and he shared some more terrifying stories about the activities of these people whom he assured are all over the place now especially as it was the end of the year.

According to him, 2012 was particularly difficult and stressful for a lot of people. For those who think they might not be able to cope with more stressful financial problems in 2013, ritual money is a quick way out of their problems.

When we finally got to my house, I reached into my bag and gave him all the money which was more than he’d asked for. He wanted to turn it down but I insisted that I did not want to take the money into my house as it might be a means for the evil men to know where I am and come back for me. The man assured me that they had no such powers. They were more likely to be ritual killers than kidnappers

Deceit, danger all around (3)

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AYO, (23), fresh graduate, says she is convinced she was hynotised. She concludes her story below: I quickly summoned up courage even though I didn’t know where it came from. I told the taxi driver calmly to stop for me to come down. He neither looked back nor answered, like he had become deaf. So, I went further and threatened that should he fail to stop, when we get to the next check point, I will raise alarm and they will be arrested. They probably thought I was joking as the driver just ignored me and continued to speed away.

Then, it dawned on me that these men were either ritualists or kidnappers. Ritualists will be more appropriate as they neither knew me or anyone close to me, so, it was most unlikely that they will want to kidnap me for a ransom.

Being ritualists, it meant they were taking me away to be slaughtered for ritual purposes in some remote bushes or village. I became determined more than ever to escape from the cab. I would rather jump off from the car

and sustain injuries or even loss of body parts than lose my life to these people.

Everything started happening so fast from the moment I realized what they wanted to do to me. I realized that the cab mechanism was not so sophisticated though it had an air-conditioner which had been kept on all the while.

The windows had manual winders, so I just began rolling it down. The ‘man of God’ tried to grab my arm and I swung it hard.

It hit him across the chest and face and then they realized that I meant serious business, as almost at the same time, I swung the car door open. The driver quickly brought the car to a stop before we arrived at the Road Safety stand and without even waiting for it to stop, I swung one of my

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HI,As if the stories of kidnap ping and bombing across the country are not enough, the “ember months” including the beginning of a new year are considered precarious whether by design, myth or reality. A lot of weird, incredible stories make the rounds during this period, all of them twisted with violence, spiritual and physical manipulations, loss of property and death. For those who are lucky of a chance to tell the bone chilling stories, life may never be the same as they once knew it. In this series, some of these people will be sharing their experiences with us. The story you are about to read today was recently told by a young lady who claimed she narrowly escaped being kidnapped after she boarded a taxi right in front of her house.

However, what is also true is that darkness can never overcome light, evil cannot overcome good, the devil can never defeat God and since God was on my side, that was why I was able to escape

legs out of the car and found myself rolling in the sand. They did not try to stop me but sped off immediately. I felt relieved but really shaken and stood looking at their car as it sped past the Road Safety officials. Apart from my now dirty clothes and hair full of sand, I sustained no injury.

Very few by-standers were interested in what they just witnessed until a young man approached me. When I explained what had happened to him, he drew the attention of other people and they gathered round me, asking questions and thanking God for my life while others rained curses on them.

With the help of the guy and one other guy, I was assisted into another taxi. The guy offered to follow me home but I told him I would be fine. The taxi driver too assured them I was in safe hands.

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and since their hypnotism had not really worked on me, they will just forget about me and look for another prey. But I still gave him the money.

You can only imagine how happy my family were when I narrated to them what had happened to me all in a space of about two hours or so. Everyone had been surprised to see me back so early because I was expected back in the evening. My mother had to do a special thanksgiving in the Church the following evening at the midweek service even though it was not yet Sunday. As I speak, even a month old baby in our Church must have heard this story over and over again.

But for God, I would be dead to the world by now. I would probably be hanging in some realm, making money for some people.

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Understanding your partner’s passion

BY ONOZURE DANIA

S

EXUAL expression plays a huge role in relationships. It is a way for people to show their lovers what they feel about them through passionate and intimate ways.

As wonderful as sexuality can be, it is often misunderstood, which is why the average couple faces sexual conflicts and challenges at some point during their relationship. This is in no way a generalization of men and women, but the truth is, men and women handle their sexuality differently on an average.

If couples spend some time to truly learn and understand their partner’s sexuality, they can build a happier and healthier sex life together, instead of facing the conflicts that stall their relationship from blossoming further. You now know that for your sex life to improve you need to understand your partner’s sexuality but where do you start?

This is a good question that one needs to ask but there is no particular area to really start. You can start at any angle you wish, as long as you are learning something about your partner’s sexual behavior. of course, the most advisablesuggestion would be communication; every couple’s conflicts exist because of poor communication that needs to be improved.

This may be true, but it is a very general suggestion.

Too general for you to understand where to start. You see, this is because you do not know what communication to improve. Many couples may have wonderful communication between

each other and get along great, except for when it comes to making love.

How can this be if you communicate so well? The answer is very simple, yet most people would not think of it. In fact, the average person sees communication as a general skill that works for all areas of life, which is why most couple gets confused when their sex life starts to lack. The answer is, you need to improve your sexual communication.

Fine, that sounds simple enough. So all you have to do is talk about your sex life with your lover to clear any confusion? Talking about what is going on in your bedroom certainly helps you both understand what is going on in each others minds but that is not the entire solution. Besides talking about it, you have got to do some research and work on your own.

This means you need to make an effort to study your partner’s sexuality by learning what triggers good and bad sexual responses. This is where it can get challenging because men and women view sex differently.

Though men have times they are not in the mood due to other things going on in their life, they usually can tune out everything when it comes to having a lovemaking session with their partner. In fact, for many men, sex is a great way to help them feel better and relax, like a stress reducer.

For women however, sex is a more fragile subject and involves a lot of emotion. If a woman is having a bad day or has a million things going on in her mind, it distracts her from getting involved in good sexual activity.

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38—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

North does not believe in Nigeria's unity— Omo Omoruyi •Jonathan’s political agenda is cloudy Professor Omo Omoruyi, a political scientist, former Director – General of the defunct Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS) and former Deputy ViceChancellor of the University of Benin in this interview with Vanguard Politics in Benin, spoke on a host of national issues including why fears that Nigeria may disintegrate persist.

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OU were reported to be close to dying before you were quickly taken to the United States some months ago. How close were you really to death?

In 2008, when I went to the hospital in Boston, the doctors gave me five years to live. They said they had tried for me and that if after five years I am still alive, then I am a ‘miracle patient’. If you read my book, I wasn’t expected to live more than five years. In Boston, the Doctor said, ‘Omo, we have tried for you.

For your kind of cancer, five years is the maximum.” But I said Doctor, I want to do more. Now I am undergoing a unique cancer treatment plan. This time around, they put me on the newest drug for the treatment of cancer by the name of Xtiandi.

Leaving a legacy The drug is a unique one that has just been approved by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States. It costs about 8000 dollars a month and I am supposed to take it for 11 months.

Days before 2013, I was worried, asking if I would make it but we are in 2013 now. So, I really thank God for my life.

Looking at the way you were treated at the National Hospital in Abuja and the way you were treated in the United States, what can you say about the health system of the country?

I think one has to be selfish here. If President Goodluck Jonathan must leave a legacy, he must do what President Obama is doing in the United States. We must have a ‘Jonathancare’ like the Obamacare. It must be a complete health package that will take of the aged, the downtrodden and everybody. He must equip one hospital in every zone of the country and make it a specialist hospital for the treatment of a particular disease instead of the present arrangement whereby every hospital takes care of 1000 diseases.

It appears the North wants to C M Y K

kill the Petroleum Industry Bill, what do you think could be responsible for this?

I will go back to what I said in the past. In 1978/79, I delivered a lecture, a presidential address at the Nigerian Political Science Association. I said if oil was found in Enugu Awka, Kano or Ibadan, who owns the oil will not be disputed. I can assure you of one thing, if oil was found in the North many years ago, the North would have seceded long ago.

That is what is responsible for the craze to explore oil in the North.

There is still that fear that the country will break up and that whatever you can grab, quickly grab it now. A document I put together for General Ibrahim Babangida when late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was to become president contained three vital issues.

They (northern leaders) wanted Yar’Adua to pursue the dredging of River Niger down to Babangida’s locality in Baro in Niger State. They also wanted Yar ’Adua to initiate the construction of a highway from Kano to Tripoli and quick exploration of our oil. The question is why were the three issues so important to them? The reason is that they did not believe that Nigeria will last.

Dredging of river Niger If Nigeria breaks up, they would not need to go through the ports in Lagos or Port Harcourt.

They just didn’t want to rely on the South if Nigeria broke up.

As at that time, Jonathan and his people were opposed to the dredging of River Niger. I was in Yenagoa then in 2005 working for Babangida to become president. They said they would not support him because he was pushing for the dredging of River Niger.

They said I should go and tell him that he should make a public statement that he would not support the dredging of River Niger. Jonathan was deputy governor while (Diepreye) Alamieyeseigha was governor.

So, sometimes you wonder: at what stage did Jonathan become a captive of the North? It was understandable when he was vice president but now that he is president, he is still pushing forward with the dredging of the Niger. Right now, the dredging is expected to be completed soon. So, to the question, do the northern leaders have faith in the country, the answer is no; they don’t believe the country will last.

Looking at the level of insecurity in the country, do you think the warning given by the US that the country may not survive beyond 2015 is real?

The fear of disintegration is definitely real, it is permanently there in the sub-conscious, but whether the country will disintegrate depends on the political class.

The fear exists in the minds of northerners and southerners and everybody is not working to overcome it but to see how they can get the best out of the whole situation. All these people who are saying they don’t want the PIB and are busy chasing oil around the Chad (Basin) are doing so because of this fear.

•Omoruyi wants, they usually put together a majority to do it. So, Jonathan should put together a majority to achieve whatever he wants to achieve. The majority should include members of the ACN, ANPP and the CPC because there is no permanent majority for the achievement of certain ends. Jonathan should lead this country; he is not leading now.

He is too dependent on the PDP. He should be able to say this is the legacy I want to leave behind.

,

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

All these people who are saying they don’t want the PIB and are busy chasing oil around the Chad (Basin) are doing so because of this fear.

Everything is based on this knowledge that the country can disintegrate at any time

Everything is based on this knowledge that the country can disintegrate at any time. So, don’t blame the Americans; the Americans are only saying, with this prognosis will this country last? It is not that they wish the country to disintegrate If the North succeeds in killing the PIB in the National Assembly, what do you foresee?

President Jonathan should build his own majority to achieve certain goals. He can do that through a realignment of forces.

It depends on what he wants to achieve. Whatever the North

,

What about his economic performance?

Dismal, dismal! Jonathan needs a political agenda, not an economic agenda. Political agenda of where Jonathan wants to take us to is not clear. Now, we are gradually going to the third year of Jonathan’s four-year term in office. Let me tell you what that means. First year of a four-year term, you are just coming in and trying to balance. It is that year you try to plan and plant something. Second year, what you planted must start to germinate. Third year is a

nomination year, whether you like it or not while the final year is the election year.

Nobody will ever believe you if you say you want to start doing something towards the end of your third year and in the fourth year, there is an alternative to you within and outside of your party. For instance, Atiku (Abubakar) is already talking about 100 per cent derivation to oil-producing people.

That is his manifesto and position. So, talks about campaign posters are even too late because preparations for another election start from the day one is concluded. The man should own up and say I am contesting for a second term or whatever term it is.

So, any group that is working for him is perfectly in order. Let him own up and say based on what I have done, though I don’t know what he has done, I am seeking another term. He must be able to say I have stabilized the country and I have given Nigeria leadership. So, if Jonathan cannot face those who want to take his job in and outside of the PDP in the third year, he should forget about a reelection.

But should he contest?

Why should he not contest?

Constitutionally, is he entitled to contest?

What about performance?

Performance is to be judged by the people, not by him.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013 — 39

Jonathan must deliver in 2013—Akinjide, others N line with his promise that 2013 would be better than 2012 for the citizenry some prominent Nigerians have tasked President Goodluck Jonathan on fulfilling his promise.

A cross section of people, who spoke to Vanguard on the matter, said it was high time they began to hold their leaders accountable, in the event of any failure to deliver on a promise, stating that lack of performance by government at all levels had pushed Nigerians to the wall.

This situation, it was gathered might snowball into a dangerous war of survival or revolution if not addressed, some of them said.

Some respondents were disappointed that even if the military were to be blamed for the socio-economic woes of the country, 13 years of uninterrupted democratic rule was enough for the ruling class to bring about the desired change.

Speaking on the matter a former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the

Federation, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), argued that it was not proper to dismiss the president's pledge.

“It’s improper to speculate.

How can I speculate on whether he will truly make good his promise or not? Those who are expressing the fear and distrust that he won’t do

,

I

BY BASHIR ADEFAKA

consider.

He also expressed hope that the present administration had shown enough political will to tackle insecurity and other challenges in the country.

It is improper to speculate failure Spokesperson of the Save Nigeria Group, SNG, Mr.

A cross section of people, who spoke to Vanguard on the matter, said it was high time they began to hold their leaders accountable, in the event of any failure to deliver on a promise

as he has promised, let them say whatever they want to say.

But for me, I have no view on that,” Akinjide said.

Similarly, the Lagos State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP called on Nigerians not to listen to the antics of those who do not see anything good in the present administration.

Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Gani Taofeeq, who said this, warned that revolution was not anything any patriotic Nigerian should

,

Yinka Odumakin had a contrary view. He said there was nothing he could remember that the government achieved in 2012 for which it should be praised.

“Bombings, subsidy embezzlement; you know the Faruk Lawan/Femi Otedola saga. All these were caused by corruption. In 2012, people suffered a lot; no food, no job.

It was hard. Nothing was achieved in 2012 that I can remember quickly that we can praise the government for.

Tambuwal: The Gentleman Speaker clocks 47

generation, strengthening national security, curbing corruption, tackling general infrastructural decay, improving health system and the educational system.

Perhaps I needn’t add that in a move that verged on statesmanship and humility uncustomary to previous sessions, Speaker Tambuwal graciously conceded that the House accepted responsibility for failures and unconscionable gaps in meeting its brief.

BY IMAM IMAM

H

ONOURBLE Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Speaker of the House of Representatives, is 47 today. To his country men and women however, it is not attaining the milestone that is of much concern to them, rather, it is the direction which the amiable lawmaker from Kebbe/ Tambuwal federal constituency is leading the country that has continued to elicit positive reactions from people across all walks of life. Since his election as speaker, Tambuwal has continued to thrill Nigerians with his innovative approach to leadership and lawmaking.

A lawyer by profession, a politician by popular will, an accomplished leader by popular choice, a legislator by trust, Tambuwal has shown enough political dexterity to make him one of the most respected political figures in Nigeria today . His meteoric rise in the legal profession and C M Y K

One thing that I can say make me happy is that, nobody was reported to have committed suicide in spite of everything,” he noted.

Meanwhile, a prominent member of the opposition, who pleaded anonymity compared Jonathan’s administration with President Umar Yar ’Adua’s and said the President lacked the political will to move Nigeria forward.

“What manner of •Akinjide country has ours been turned into?! I’m sure that if Yar’Adua did not only stabilise Yar’Aua had not died, Nigeria the economy and halt the would by now be much better. activities of militants in the He was said to be slow but he Niger Delta but also, he was also noted for being steady admittedly said he knew that even as slow as he was. the process that brought him Because he was making into power as president was progress in removing the hands fraudulent but that he was of the so-called mafia from going to do all within his their grip on the nation’s socio- powers to correct the process economic and political and encourage a better development so much that electoral process that would even Obasanjo that imposed allow for truly free and fair him never really had his ears,'' elections with a view to he noted. producing the leader of Continuing he said, '' Nigerians’ dream.''

Statesmanship and humility

•Tambuwal politics has reaffirmed his position as a master tactician in disciplines built on the philosophy of self respect, fair play, hard work and the spirit of give and take.

As argued by some scholars, the basic challenges of leaders reflect two fundamental, enduring aspects of leadership.

First is the humanity of leaders in revealing their hopes and fears, traits and instincts.

Second, is the unchanging agenda of leadership, in all times and places, as revealed in the setting of goals, plans, purpose and strategies, and working through with other

people to actualise their vision in a world that is often uncertain, recalcitrant and sometimes perilous. To appreciate the legislative footing of the Seventh House in its attempt to fill the void created by the challenges of leadership confronting Nigeria, one needs to revisit its inaugural agenda. I will recall here the kernel of the legislative blueprint which was unveiled June 28, 2011 and remains a study in specific prescriptions. It traversed constitution amendment, revival and diversification of the economy, employment

“We will be responsive, transparent and accountable in all we do. My period of service as the Speaker of this hallowed chamber will restore the House of Representatives as an institution where the will of the people is done,” he told Nigerians.

Almost two years on, the chamber has kept faith with this agenda. It’s peopleoriented footing bears this out.

The Seventh House has been at the fore-front of defining important national issues for public discourse.

Tambuwal has used his considerable experience towards the development making the legislature a people-oriented entity that elevates participatory

lawmaking to an art. As he celebrates his birthday today , it is not just the intriguing narrative of how he was elected Speaker of the House that should resonate with political scientists. That experience should also serve as a reminder of the many profound achievements we could record if we rise above the inhibiting considerations of tribe and religion. At 47, Tambuwal’s youth points to a future of hope and possibilities. Besides, his apparent willingness not to be encumbered by the political exigencies or double-speak that had stunted our progress is quite inspiring. For him, what matters is the nation’s interest.

Call that an unyielding idealism and you won’t be entirely wrong.

No doubt, Tambuwal’s candor, nationalistic outlook, ability to make fair and inclusive decisions, maturity and his desire to interact freely and affectionately with all members in the House in a professional context, has today earned him the confidence of his colleagues and all Nigerians alike. To this great man of ideas, I say a happy birthday.

*Imam is the Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs to Speaker Tambuwal

40—Vanguard, THURSDAY THURSDAY,, JANUARY 10, 2013

Legal Aide Council wants more cooperation with Abia govt

U

MUAHIA—MRS Ijeoma Alinnor, Coordinator, Legal Aide Council, Abia, has called for closer collaboration between the council and the state government.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, yesterday, in Umuahia, Alinnor regretted that the council was not close to the government.

She said that the council was a Federal Government’s establishment which the host state should offer necessary assistance to for smooth operations.

According to her, the council’s free legal services are supposed to cover the entire state.

She said: “We lack sufficient funds and logistics to enable us reach the indigenes outside the state capital that are in need of legal services.”

Alinnor said that the situation had inhibited the pace of the council quest to actualise its objectives of equal justice for all.

Understand present times, cleric charges Nigerians

BY FESTUS AHON

U

GHELLI—ARCHMINISTER of God’s Kingdom Mission, Mr. Roland Ogene, has said the present time would herald the impending tribulation and conflict that the world has ever known.

Ogene in his homily, during the 2012 Christian Feast of Tabernacles, charged Christians to understand the present times, adding that the close of this age that would bring an end to all evil in the world.

He said: “No human war, no matter how sophisticated or destructive the weapons used can be compared to it.

It will be worst than Noah’s flood which destroyed only earthly creatures. The destruction of Armageddon will be total and final both of evil in the earthly realm as well as in the spirit.”

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From left: Senator Babajide Omoworare; Mrs. Titilayo Tomori-Laoye, Deputy Governor of Osun State; Governor Rauf Aregbesola and others, during the Afenifere leaders’ visit to the Governor in Oshogbo.

Sympathisers at the scene of a fire which razed two buildings, at 8-10 Mba Streeet, Boundary, Ajegunle, Lagos, Monday. Photo: Biodun Ogunleye.

Gana debunks plot to sack Tukur by PDP Govs A

BUJA—THERE are no plans by the governors of Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, to remove the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, as speculated in some quarters, an official said.

Prof. Jerry Gana, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees, who gave the assurance, yesterday in Abuja, while fielding reporters’ questions, described the governors as “loyal and disciplined party men” who would never contemplate such action.

Gana said: “I would like to

say very clearly that the governors of Peoples’ Democratic Party are law abiding governors; very disciplined party men who respect the various organs of the party. So, I can assure you that there is absolutely nothing like that has come before the BOT. “We, as a party, we believe in resolving conflicts, in resolving matters within the family and therefore we want to assure the nation that there is absolutely nothing in terms of the governors of the party going beyond the institutions of the party and position of

the party to remove the National Chairman, nothing to that effect at all.”

He said that the party was doing all it could to address its internal crises including the party’s problems in Adamawa.

According to him, already the party’s BOT has resolved to constitute a team of party elders to find a lasting solution to the problem.

“I would like to also assure you that the problem in Adamawa State has received tremendous attention at the meeting and we have resolved to raise a team of elders togeth-

Best NECO, SSCE candidate gets Anambra scholarship

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

A

WKA—MISS Sandra Anazor from Anambra State, who emerged the overall best in the last National Examinations Council, NECO, and West African School Certificate, WASC, examinations, has been awarded scholarship by Anambra State Government to further her education in the university.

The recipient studied at Federal Government Girl’s College, Onitsha, for the junior secondary and Queen of the Rosary College, Onitsha for the senior secondary education.

During her school years, she won many laurels at various academic competitions.

Receiving Anazor at Government House, Awka, yesterday, Governor Peter Obi handed her a cheque of N2, 220,000 to cover the six years study at the University of Ibadan, where she had already secured admission to study medicine.

Obi, on the occasion, said he was proud of Anazor’s accomplishments, adding that performances such as hers encouraged him to keep visiting secondary schools in the state to encourage students to take their studies seriously.

He used the occasion to list

Anambra people who he described as champions in their fields, explaining that the state would keep searching for such people wherever they are with the view to presenting them as role models to the younger ones.

The governor gave example with the heart centre his administration was building at St. Joseph’s Hospital, AdaziNnukwu, which was named after a foremost American– based Cardiologist, Dr. Joe Nwiloh, from Anambra State, adding that other Anambrarians who have excelled in their fields would be similarly recognised.

Nwachukwu tasks media on nation’s image

BY PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU & PROVIDENCE OBUH AGOS—GENERAL Ike Nwachukwu (rtd), has called on the Nigerian media to protect the country’s image, as the media is to inform and mould public opinions with a view to protecting its image.

“I am not asking for cover ups, but publications that

L

ridicule our country and its citizenry, should not be celebrated.”

Nwachukwu said this during a paper presentation at the 50th birthday anniversary of the Managing Director of CMC Connect (perception manager), Mr. Yomi BadejoOkusanya, with theme: “Managing Nigeria’s image; whose responsibility?”

He urged the media to avoid painting the country with a tar brush, He said: “The Nigerian media need to examine its strategy regarding the laundering of nation’s image. It is true that the media is to inform the general public, and mould public opinion but it must do so with the aim of protecting the image of our country.”

er with Mr President, the Vice President, the Senate President and the Speaker to do our very best to find a lasting solution to the problem in Adamawa State.”

Benin chief lauds Erediauwa on Igue festival ...Plans 500 jobs

BY ETOP EKANEM

LAGOS—THE Odunanoba of Benin Kingdom, Chief Henry Omorodion, has congratulated His Royal Majesty, Oba Erediauwa, the Oba of Benin and the entire Bini people on the just celebrated annual Igue festival.

Speaking with newsmen at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos recently, the Bini chief noted that the festival represented a period of thanksgiving and peace and admonished all those causing unrest in the state to desist from such.

Omorodion expressed regrets over the spate of kidnappings in the state and attributed it to the fact that successive governments at different levels had not done enough to guarantee the basic things of life to the ordinary citizens of the country. He called on well-meaning indigenes of the state to come together and solve the problem since kidnapping creates fear and scares investors away from the state. He saw employment creation as a panacea for kidnapping.

He said he planned to create 500 jobs within the next one year., saying he would do this through his large and ultra-modern petroleum products depot in Koko near Benin and partnering with foreign government and investors on the development of his palm oil plantation and mill at Igbanke.

Specifically, he frowned at the Ika Language Programme aired recently on Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS), anchored by an Igbontor indigene, a platform upon which Moses Omorodion was congratulated on his ascension to the throne of the Enogie of Igbontor.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013 — 41

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42—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

2ND DAY OF THE VANGUARD/POLICE NATIONAL SECURITY SUMMIT IN ABUJA

L-r:Mr Amechi Ogbitse Ogbona, Chief Tony Ede and Pastor Jason Nworah

R-l: Chairman, Vanguard Editorial Board, Ikeddy Isiguzo; Advert Manager, Emeka Nkwocha; Assistant General Manager, Brands, Fred Odueme; Crime Editor, Emmanuel Nnadozie and Mrs Ethel Igbechie at the summit

L-r: Chief Babs Alasa; former FCT CP, Lawrence Alobi and Gen. Charles Omoregie (rtd) .

Photos: Gbemiga Olamikan

From right, Mr Frank Mba; Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN; and Mr Evans Uchendu

L-r:General BVZ Kwaji and Mr Fola Arthur-Worrey

R-l: Mallam Shehu Sain and Rev. Joseph Hayab Special Adviser on religion Affairs to Kaduna State Governor

L-r: Mr Salau Ademola, Mr Jacob Maji and Mr Charles Ojeme.

L-r: Special Adviser to Ebonyi Governor on Security , Hon Collins Agbo and AIG (rtd) Chime Richard

L-r: Prof. Sam Egwu of UNDP, and DIG Kachi Udeoji

Vanguard Editorial Board, Mr Ikeddy and Hon Victor Ogene

INEC CP, Mohammed , DIG Leha and AIG Muhammed at the summit

Cross section of AIGs.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013—43

L-r: Minister Internal Affairs, Comrade Abba Moro; Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar; and others at the National Summit on Security Challenges in Nigeria organized by Vanguard Newspapers and Nigeria Police in Abuja. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan

By IKEDDY ISIGUZO, Chairman Editorial Board

A

NY regular visitor to Abuja would notice the heightened security in the city.

Some roads have been closed, especially near military facilities and important government offices. The surroundings of the Abuja International Conference Centre, tucked between some of the facilities of security, was a beneficiary of extra security when the Vanguard/Police National Summit on Security Challenges in Nigeria held there Tuesday and Wednesday.

Once inside the expansive centre, passing through the security screening, you enjoyed a peace that surpassed your fears about Nigeria. Speaker after speaker confirmed how bad the situation is, but there was hope in abundance on ways of changing the security situation so that Nigerians can have peace, without which development is more challenging.

Is there ethnic or religious discord? - Arthur-Woreign He promised to use privilege as chairman of the session judiciously. His father was Urhobo, born in Jos, who spoke no word of Urhobo, and married a Yoruba woman. I married an Oron woman, so I represent many nations, but I present myself as Nigerian.

We held a summit in this hall about nine years ago, during which I represented the then Lagos State Governor. We are still discussing the same issues. We should take the bulls by the horn and implement the wonderful recommendations by the experts.

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Every delay makes the changes more expensive, we cannot run away from security challenges.

Is there religious and ethnic discord in Nigeria? If there is, how does it manifest? In some places like Yoruba land, one family could have six different religions and live in peace. Is there discord or an opportunity for people to cause problem?

Political leaders have a greater responsibility for careful engagement since they are elected and they have sworn to be fair to all. We should cancel the barracks and get the police to live in decent places. It is took much expecting people in such places to be effective. - Chairman of the morning session: Fola Arthur-Woreign, Former Solicitor-General, former Commissioner for Land, Chief Executive Officer, Lagos State Security Trust Fund

No boundary between religion, ethnicity - Egwu There is an overlap of religion and ethnicity, without clear boundary. We live in a highly plural society reflected in 300 ethic groups, 36 States, 774 local governments. Diversity is an advantage if well managed.

Democracy offers great opportunities for managing diversity.

Image of Nigeria is changing rapidly. The impunity of attackers and failure of state to provide security, and attack on symbols of state authority are so of the ways that the attackers are using in their course. Ethnic and religious loyalties affect the resolution of the conflicts, where security agents take sides.

Failure of development and state building projects are

responsible for the conflicts. Why are people thinking more of their ethnic groups than Nigeria?

National security is not about the state and people in power.

Governments should invest in the people, not only by huge budgets for security agencies, but improvement of the well-being of the people.

Ethnicity and religions are real and are identities that people are willing to die for; they cannot be dismissed. Ethnicity is exploited, manipulated by those who can use them to cause problem.

Religion is a double-edged sword that can create, acquiesce or fuel fights against injustice.

Fighting against injustice The two identities feed on sentiments. Issues that drive the conflict – unequal ethnic relations in competition for power and resources. Perception that the state is not a neutral arbiter in struggles among people sustains some conflicts. Conflicts coincide with economic problems, economic insecurity erode people’s sense of nationalism.

Citizenship as it affects the ethnic divide, and the distinction about indigenes are other causes of conflicts. Politicians appeal to ethnic sentiments to get votes.

Better equipment for security agencies, a move from national to human security, dialogues, civic and political education can help. Both religions have strong codes that can enhance behaviours of people in conflict.– Prof Sam Egwu of the United National Development Programme, UNDP, on Religious and Ethnic Discord As A Major Threat To National Security.

Religious and ethnic conflicts are real or not, depending on how we see them. Religion and ethnicity are divine arrangements, but man manipulates them. The religious class manipulates religion which the politicians use. Religious leaders should speak the truth.

Do religious and ethnic groups have roles in nation building and development? If the Christian Association of Nigeria is looking at developing the country and Muslims do the same, we can sit on the table peacefully. Poverty and disasters do not discriminate against religions and tribes.

Religious leaders have become prayer contractors who go to the politician’s house to pray for him.

Nigeria comes before my religion,

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Security, safety, welfare – fears, hopes

We have prayer contractors – Hayab

institutionalised, governors who are amassing wealth when the people are getting poorer, they are inciting people. People are having difficulties surviving. We have to deal with the political issues of proper election; rigging and imposition are not part of democracy.

We cannot have ethnic and religious sentiments if the country is not peaceful. Under the military some from the North refused to join the protests, people are using the same sentiments of “it is our son” to defend what is going on today.

We cannot have peace in a country that honours thieves and we expect that those who have been denied those resources would keep quiet.

Extra-judicial killing is also injustice. This gathering would be different if we tell those those are benefitting from the crisis the truth. The people are not faceless. My reason for suggesting meetings with them is to get first hand information.

They have raised some issues.

The crisis is not different from those in Sudan and Northern Kenya. Insurgency and the peace process have become industries that people are exploiting. The solution does not lie with law enforcement alone, but engagement. - Mallam Sani Shehu - Human Rights Activist, Discussant

Nationalities need political space - Sagay We were not always Nigerians.

We became Nigerians after the colonial balkanisation of Africa by 1885. There should be political

We cannot have peace in a country that honours thieves and we expect that those who have been denied those resources would keep quiet.

Extra-judicial killing is also injustice

but my religion helps me to be a better Nigerian – Rev Joseph Hayab, Discussant

We should speak out – Shehu Hayab is from Southern Kaduna and I am from Northern Kaduna. We get on very well and people should emulate us. I spent four years in prison under Abacha, for alleged coup. I was sentenced for life. A country passes through challenges. A regime of silence and fear is sustaining the conflicts. There is power in speaking out. We have no other country than Nigeria, whether Christians or Muslims.

Christians were deported from Israel, Muslims were deported from Saudi Arabia – they were telling us to go to our country.

Once injustice is

,

space for the various nations in the country. We were doing well operating with some level of autonomy until 1967. The unitary Constitution called federal, in 1979 contributed to the insurgency. If we restore true federalism, Adamawa should have been able to develop its own resources. Suppose the government has parochial interests that do not spread to Adamawa? The governors are all the time in Abuja because everything is in Abuja.

We should transfer resources and power to the States for their development instead of coming to Abuja for allocations that are wasted. There is no incentive for internal generation of revenue.

It is all sharing and no productivity. We should restore the authority, resources and fiscal Continues on page 50

44—Vanguard, THURSD AY, JANUARY 10, 2013 THURSDA

• People who recently lost their jobs are among the 1in 8 people who suffer a heart attack or other life-threatening cardiac event \and go on to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder.

Heart attacks more common among the unemployed — STUDY

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE EOPLE who recently lost their jobs are more likely to suffer a heart attack than their employed peers, a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine has stated.

Researchers found that people were especially likely to have a heart attack during their first year of being out of work, and that each successive job loss was tied

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to a higher chance of heart problems among more than 13,000 older adults though it's not clear if or how unemployment, itself, might have caused the extra heart attacks.

Researchers on the report from the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, North Carolina, said a combination of stress, worsening lifestyle and poor management of chronic conditions

without health insurance may be to blame. Those without a job may be unable to control their high blood pressure or to manage their diabetes (with their usual medication), or rates of smoking may be exacerbated.

But it's too early to know for sure what's behind the link which means it's also too early to recommend ways to ward off heart problems among the recently-

unemployed.

The new data came from a large U.S. study of 13,451 adults who were interviewed every other year, for an average of 12 years, about their health, lifestyle and life events such as employment and job loss.

Study participants were 55 years old at the onset, on average, and two-thirds of them were overweight or obese. One in seven people was initially unemployed. During the research period, 1,061 of all participants - almost eight percent - had a heart attack.

Researchers found the more times people had been let go leading up to the latest survey, the higher their chance of having a heart attack. Unemployment was still linked to a 35 percent increased risk of heart attack after the researchers accounted for the effects of poverty and education, as well as race, age and other heart risks.

Researchers weren't surprised to find the association, but we were surprised to find that the effects were so large, on par with classic risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes. They said the associations are strong, and they remain despite accounting for a whole host of possible explanations.

While more research is needed to understand why unemployment may affect health and who

Japanese scientists create cancer killing cells

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ESEARCHERS at the RIKEN Research Centre for Allergy and Immunology have succeeded for the first time in creating cancerspecific, immune system cells called killer T lymphocytes.

Findings published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, says Japanese researchers who created cancer-specific killer T cells say the development paves the way for the cells being directly injected into cancer patients for therapy.

The team induced killer T lymphocytes specific for a certain type of skin cancer to reprogramme into iPS cells by exposing the lymphocytes to the 'Yamanaka factors' - a group of compounds that induce cells to revert back to a non-specialised, stage.

The iPS cells obtained were then grown in the lab and induced to differentiate into killer T lymphocytes again.

COMMON SEXUAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR NOVELTY BASED SOLUTIONS (ADVERTORIAL)

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ELLO everybody and happy New Year once again.

Here is wishing that this New Year will be better than all the rest. New Years represent fresh starts and that is why today, we will begin by revisiting the fundamentals of human relationships.

You see, whereas we can recommend products for you that can enable you have the best sex ever, you still need to get the fundamentals right in order to have happy and fulfilling relationships. These fundamentals are not things you can buy like erections supplements, sex toys etc. By fundamentals, I am talking about friendship and goodness. Sex in general is a lot more meaningful and satisfying when the couple involved are wonderful friends who are good to each other. So friendship is important and so is being good to one another. Yes there are some of us who are only interested in casual sex and one night stands but for those of us who value relationships as well, friendship and goodness is vital to our cause.

So let this be the year we began to be nicer to each other. Let this be the year we decided to make our partners, wives, husbands, girlfriends and boyfriends enjoy our company even more. Let this be the year we decided that we want to be reliable, kind, compassionate and helpful people because these are good values.

These are values that we too will enjoy from others so we should endeavour to give others these wonderful gifts as well.

I know a lot of you have had some questions for us since we have been gone for the holidays so let us use this opportunity to catch up and answer a few questions from our readers.

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She is hardly in the mood for sex even when I force her and her vagina is always dry and cold. I need your best products that can make her go crazy…maybe a gel or medicine. Please reply as soon as possible because I need them – Toriola Toriola she needs an arousal gel called Mood Arousal Gel - Warming Mint. This special gel will lubricate her and eliminate the dryness. It will also arouse her and warm up the vaginal interior. Secondly, you will need Max Desire libido booster and a vibrator to facilitate her sexual enjoyment – Uche That’s it for today. Adults in need of these treatments/ novelties can reach us on 08191978308 or 08027901621 to order or they can order online at www.zeevirtualmedia.com. Zee Virtual Media delivers to you wherever you are in Nigeria. For enquiries email us at custserv@zeevirtualmedia.com. Happy holidays Uche Edochie, MD, Zee Virtual Media

Vanguard,THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013—45

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

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ICE-PRESIDENT of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Issa Aremu, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan, to call the Chairman of the Presidential Pension Reform Task Team, PRTT, Adulrasheed Maina, to order. Aremu who is also the General Secretary of National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, NUTGTWN, urged President Jonathan to make the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, work in Nigeria and not to allow it to be undermined through illegal raid diversion of its fund to other purposes rather than pension payment as being canvassed by some economic hit men and pension fund scavengers.

Jogging activities In a statement during jogging activities to mark his 52nd birth day, the NLC Vice President, said it was very important for President Goodluck Jonathan to take the responsibility of safeguarding and protecting the 8 year-old pension reform of 2004 which has now yielded not less than N3.6 trillion.

According to him, “ Stakeholders including the organized labour led by NLC watched with utter dismay how Abdulrasheed Maina last year defied public summon by the Senate Joint Committee on Establishment and States and Local Governments during its concluded public hearing on public pension administration.

“Also clearly unacceptable is the way and manner the controversial chairman of what is supposed to be a short term

Celebrant, Comrade Issa Aremu; his wife, Hajiya Hamdalat (left); National President, NUTGTWN, Comrade Tunde Hunsu, and Director General, Michael Imoudu National Institute of Labour Studies, MINILS, Ilorin, Dr. John Olarewaju, at the fitness exercise on Keeping Fit For a Better Nigeria and a Greater Africa to mark Comrade Issa Aremu's 52nd birhday in Kwara State, Ilorin. Photo: Olu Ajayi.

Labour demands time line for Presidential Pension Reform Task Team •Asks economic hit men, scavengers to keep off new pension fund presidential task force carries on as if the task force meant to manage police pension fund mess which clearly lacks any legal backing whatsoever has come to stay permanently.

“Presidential task force cannot and should not be another alternative pension commission in the country. There is only one regulatory pension commission and that is National Pension Commission, PenCom estab-

lished by an Act of parliament in 2004.”

“Maina has been making an ill-informed, unguarded commentary on the accumulated pensions assets contributed through the hard earned savings of Nigerian workers in both the private and public sectors of the economy in the past eight years the Pension Reform Act of 2004 came into being.

These commentaries if un-

Pension scam in Nigeria: Role of regulator

BY IVOR TAKOR

(Continued from Thursday, January 3, 2013)

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ECTION 30 of the Pension Reform Act 2004 established the Civil Service Pension Department; the Military Pension Department; the Police Pension Department; the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Department and the Security Agencies Pension Department and called the departments, Pension Transitional Arrangement Departments.

Apart from the Act providing that the Departments shall on a monthly basis render returns of comprehensive list of pensionable staff, pensioners, deceased pensioners and their next of kin to the National Pension Commission, the Act also provides in Section 30(4) that these

departments shall operate under the rules, regulations and directives made by the Commission from time to time.

Section 35(1) provides that the Commission shall regulate and supervise the activities of the Departments to ensure compliance with the Act. However, the National Assembly has amended the Act to remove Military and Security Agencies from the Contributory Pension Scheme.

However, What we have not confirmed is if removing them from the Contributory Pension Scheme also legally provides that the pension administration of these sectors of the public service are exempted from regulation. The above provisions effectively put the Pension Departments, with the exception of the Military and Security Agencies Department under the Commission.

Consequently, any other ar-

rangement put in place to run the Pension Transitional Arrangement Departments such as the Pension Task Force under the leadership of Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina, without the involvement of the Commission will be an act that is wallowing in illegality and those that establish them are promoters of illegality, and should be called to account for such illegality.

It is high time the executive and legislative arms of government stopped these illegal acts. The key success factor in the operation of the National Pension Commission is the quality of its human resources: the Commission has a competent staff and members who are not draw exclusively from the existing bureaucracy.

IVOR TAKOR, Executive Director, Centre for Pension Right Advocacy, CPRA

To be continued

checked are capable of undermining the budding national pension fund and even subverting the entire pension market.

For instance he was recently quoted as saying that about N3 trillion already built in the pension system commendably managed by National Pension Commission, PenCom, the scores of pension fund administrators, PFAs, as well as pension fund custodians, PFCs, should be made available to the state governments for their s o - c a l l e d infrastructural development in clear violation of pension reform Act of 2004 and investment rules guiding pension fund in the country.”

Aremu declared that “Pension fund totaling almost N4 trillion contributed by 6 million workers is a contributory fund by workers for pension after work. Nigerian workers in between the two extremes, namely official government neglect and public sympathy, none of which is beneficial to them. CPS which is now in trillions is a legitimate right of workers.

It is a deferred payment, which both the workers and employers are compelled to set aside so that workers at old age will not be living on some degrading charity as if they are destitute. The challenge lies in how to make the principle of contributory pension work in Nigeria and not undermine it through illegal raid on the fund and sheer diversion to other purposes rather than pension payment as being canvassed by the likes of Maina.”

He added that “Pension Reform Act of 2004 represents a progressive labour legislation because it attempts to address the naughty issue of compensation after work. The scheme is also strong on corporate governance arrangements that are radically different from the past public sector schemes; National Pension Commission supervises the Pension Fund Administrators and Custodians.”

“President Jonathan must put a time line on the activities of the Task Force. It is not the amount of billions the task force claims to have recovered but how many pensioners on the relevant public sectors have been paid their pensions and gratuities. The president must strengthen the new contributory pension scheme by allowing for more unions participation in its corporate governance.”

46 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

Edited by MCPHILIPS NWACHUKWU 08026350360 E-mail: chimeena@yahoo.com

COLLOQUIUM:

Cyprian Ekwensi Library

How Ekwensi’s tales erase ethnic lines... Aliyu, Soyinka I

T wore two caps: politics and literature. As politics, the 2nd annual Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu Colloquium preached unity and peace in a country wrecked by the evils of ethnicity, terrorism and corruption. As literary, it promoted education and used its rich heritage to preach unity by honouring the literary icon, the late author Cyprian Ekwensi by naming its new elibrary the Cyprian Ekwensi Library. It was commissioned by the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka who was also the keynoter. The theme was Nigerian Literature, Conflict and National Unity. At the occasion,Governor Babanginda of Niger State, also donated N10m to Association of Nigerian Authours for the publication of a literary series.

Literary series Still, it was a celebration of books and the arts. For example, the governor, Babangida Aliyu launched two books at the same time- 1st MBA Book of Proceedings by the Chief Servant, and another book titled A Northern Icon.

There were other books such as A book of citation, presentation of a Nupe Film, based on an adaptation of Ignorance is a disease, a book by Prof Mohamed Kuta Yaya, Chief of Staff, Government House who had spoken on the state’s drive for education, a poetry disc, pamphlets, plays etc. There were arts exhibitions, dance

and drama presentations by Niger State students at the Hilltop Model School, Minna, as well as an adaptation of the national anthem by students of Government Secondary School, GSS, Minna.

Yet, the event was only a nd colloquium, the 2 annual MBA (Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu) National Literary Colloquium, 2012 held in Minna, Niger State last month.

In a way, it pointed to the designed plan of the state under the guidance of its governor and the young writer, BM Dzukogi as aided by its leading writer such as Alhaji Abubarkar Gimba, Aliyu Dangana, among others to remap the path of literacy and literary development in the state.

Digging into the history of the state as a railway territory which led many Nigerians to settle in the areas like Zungeru when it was headquarters of the Northern region, the state serves as root to many great Nigerians who have either turned out as presidents or leading politicians and writers.

Some of the examples of such personalities include Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, whose father settled in Zungerou as a railway staff. There is still an abandoned Azikiwe press centre in Zungeru today. The late Biafran leader Emeka Ojukwu was also born there as were the late K.O. Mbadiwe and writers such as Cyprian Ekwensi, Ben Okri, Abubarkar Imam, Haruna Mohammed, Abubakar Gimba, Yaya Dangana and so many others including journalists.

It was perhaps in recognition of this mix and contributions that the state came up with its campaign of making it the intellectual capital of the world.

This may be a long fight but it surely puts it on a sound footing to emphasise the value of education among the youth

,

BY UDUMA KALU

the library which Was witnessed by the family of late Ekwensi led by his first son, George, Aliyu noted the importance of unity and the value of education to restore peace to the country.

He noted that until we respect those that teach and write, Nigeria will keep drifting.

Teachers, he said teach values but many of the teachers in the North are not qualified. There is therefore need to celebrate those contributing to development in a country where about two million students graduate every year and there is dearth of teachers.

He said the state gave its name to Nigeria and was home to notable Nigerian leaders with its railways attracting people from all cultures.

Ekwensi utilised much of his environment in his novels such as the Burning Grass which depicts truthfully the Hausa culture, Passport of Mallam Ilia etc. The e library, he went on, is important as everything today in the country has gone electronic such as WAEC, NECO, “We teach our people to approach education in e way”.

At the launch of the library where Soyinka tested some of the internet facilities by logging in to the Google search engine,Gov. Aliyu asked that all Ekwensi’s published books be bought and kept for use in

What we are celebrating now is not literature; it is an evocation; a sense of gratitude for knowing what we have come to know

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not just in the state but in the whole country.

At least these were some of the things the state governor, Aliyu Babangida, who is also chairman of the 19 northern governors told thousands of delegates that graced the event. At the commissioning of

the library. How this might be done can be difficult since almost all the books are out of print.

But Soyinka said it was wonderful to be around people of the book.-readers, writers, publishers, students. Ekwensi used to invite him as a hunting

partner to check out the Minna wildlife. The two explored the forests, taking advantage of Ekwensi’s firsthand knowledge of the Minna environment.

Ekwensi and Soyinka attended the same secondary school, Government College, Ibadan at different times. Ekwensi’s Iska was for Soyinka the introduction to the North.

“Cyprian Ekwensi introduced this part of the world to the rest of us”, Soyinka said. “He was a cultural mouthpiece for the North. Ekwensi’s writings had prepared me for an extensive tour of Nigeria which I undertook in my Land Rover shortly after Nigeria’s Independence.

Sense of gratitude "What we are celebrating now is not literature; it is an evocation; a sense of gratitude for knowing what we have come to know; what has made many of us contemptuous of petty dividing lines.

“Ekwensi was a great hunter.

His works cut across ethnic divides and promoted national unity. What we are celebrating today is an evocation that breaks petty dividing lines. His work was a revelation to many of us. He introduced this part of the world to many of us in the south,” he said.

At the lecture held at the Idris Legbo Kutigi International Conference Centre, Soyinka asked, “What is the most valuable gift that writers can bequeath to others? Or what does the writer value most? Is it the sense of excitement that comes from transforming reality?’

The writers’ mission, he went on, is simply to bear witness, and thus implicitly, propose alternative national philosophies and such philosophies can be inducted by future generation as a viable direction for social conduct and insight into existence itself.

Beyond that, no one should look to the writer for salvation.

Creative Alliance, WriteHouse host Artmosphere in Ibadan…

CREATIVE Alliance, organisers of Literary Star Search contest, in association with WriteHouse Collective, a creative enterprise, culture and arts firm, will convene the January edition of Artmosphere, the quintessential music, poetry, performance and arts event in Nigeria in Ibadan. Significantly, winner of the 2012 edition of the N1 million short story prize contest will be announced.

The three short story writers in the race for the prize are M.S.C. Okolo with ‘Chasing Lizards’, Bode Asiyanbi with ‘The Woman Without a Name’ and Bonaventure Chukwu with ‘Mother’.

The monthly Book, Culture and Lifestyle

event is tagged “Time Lines”. This month’s event is scheduled for Saturday, January 19, 2013 at ibridgehub, Nustreams Conference Centre.

Artmosphere’s Time Lines will also play host to Funmi Aluko, prolific womanist poet and internationally acclaimed writer, Atilola Morounfolu, spoken word artiste, creative entrepreneur and author of Antonyms of a Mirage. The event will also feature Nwachukwu Egbunnike, editor, blogger and author of Dyed Thoughts, and poet Rasaq Malik Gbolahan. There will also be beautiful music performances and free books for early comers.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013 — 47

Obama pressures GOP to accept more tax revenues T

HE U.S. Congress should accept in the next round of deficitreduction talks that revenue from taxes must be raised further if it expects President Barack Obama to sign off on a deal, the president’s top economic adviser, Gene Sperling, said in an interview. The White House and Congress are trying to reach an agreement that would delay planned austerity measures and keep funding the government, while at the same time cutting the budget deficit

over the long term. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has ruled out raising revenues as part of any deal, but Sperling said a significant chunk must come from higher taxes.

“The president is not suggesting that in this next round of deficit reduction it all be on revenues,” Sperling said in an interview taped on Tuesday with Reuters TV’s “Impact Players.”

“He’s just suggesting that we continue to do it in a balanced way so that our overall agreement

beginning of the year that may have pushed the economy back into recession.

However the deal only postponed by two months some of the harshest measures: across-the-

Boeing’s Dreamliner suffers set back

B •Obama really is about two dollars in spending cuts for every dollar in revenue.”

Republicans and Democrats reached a deal last week to soften an austerity package scheduled to kick in at the

OEING Co’s 787 Dreamliner jet on Tuesday suffered its second mishap in two days, with the same airline and at the same U.S. airport - the latest in a series of setbacks that have heightened safety concerns over the new aircraft.

A fuel leak forced a 787 operated by Japan Airlines to cancel takeoff at

Boston’s Logan International Airport, a day after an electrical fire on another 787 after a JAL flight to Boston from Tokyo.

Asian customers rallied behind the U.S. planemaker, saying the incidents were glitches that can happen on new planes and confirming they had no plans to scale back or cancel orders for the

Freed Iranians arrive Damascus after prisoner swap F

ORTY-EIGHt Iranians freed by Syrian rebels in exchange for more than 2,000 civilian prisoners held by the Syrian government arrived in central Damascus yesterday , a Reuters witness reported.

The Syrian government has not referred to the prisoner swap and the whereabouts of the civilian prisoners was not immediately known.

Opposition groups have accuseed it of detaining tens of thousands of political prisoners during his 12 years in office and say those numbers have spiked sharply during the

21-month-old civil war.

The Syrian rebel alBaraa brigade seized the Iranians in early August and initially threatened to kill them, saying they were members of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sent to fight for President Bashar alAssad.

The Islamic Republic, one of his staunchest allies, denied this, saying they were Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims visiting shrines, and it asked Turkey and Qatar to use their connections with Syrian insurgents to help secure their release.

The freed Iranians

arrived at a Damascus hotel in six small buses, looking tired but in good health, each carrying a white flower, and they were welcomed by Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Reza Sheibani. They did not speak to reporters.

Bulent Yildirim, head of the Turkish humanitarian aid agency IHH which helped broker the deal, told Reuters by telephone from Damascus shortly beforehand that the reciprocal release of 2,130 civilian prisoners - most of them Syrian but also including Turks and other foreign citizens - had begun.

Lew succeeds Geithner as Treasury secretary “Budget Control Act” negotiations Obama.

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RESIDENT Barack Obama will nominate White House chief of staff Jack Lew as his next Treasury secretary today, replacing Timothy Geithner, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Lew had been widely expected to be tapped for the role. He has served as budget director for Obama and for former President Bill Clinton.

The 57-year old policy wonk, who was a State Department deputy early in Obama’s first term, will have to confront a host of tricky economic topics if he wins Senate confirmation, ranging from how best to scale back the government’s role in the housing

under

Iranians released by Syrian rebels arrive at a hotel in Damascus January 9, 2013

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ANY Egyptian viewers were horrified when preacher Hisham el-Ashry recently popped up on primetime television to say women must cover up for their own protection and advocated the introduction of religious

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market to how to respond to China’s growing economic heft.

The White House sees Lew as well-placed to guide U.S. economic policy domestically and internationally after experience as a member of the executive branch and as a congressional staffer.

Lew helped lead budget talks with Congress under Clinton and spearheaded the

UPPORT for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Social Democrat rival in this year’s federal election has tumbled following his complaint that German leaders are underpaid, a survey, according to a survey yesterday. In the latest of a series of damaging gaffes, Peer Steinbrueck said last month that German chancellors received inadequate compensation, drawing rebukes from both his political opponents and his own centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

A poll for stern

aircraft, which has a list price of $207 million.

Chavez fails to attend swearing in ceremony

U

N C E R TA I N T Y pervades world political landscape of Venezuela as the presidential swearing-in of the ailing President Hugo Chavez may have been put on hold.

This is even as opposition party members have approached the country’s Supreme Court on the postponement of the swearing-in ceremony which supporters of Mr. Hugo Chavez have canvassed. The 58-yearold former soldier who has dominated the South American OPEC nation since 1999 has not been heard from since surgery on December 11 in Cuba his fourth operation since he was diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer in June 2011.

Egyprian preacher stirs trouble police. That an obscure preacher could get publicity for such views was seen as another example of the confused political scene in Egypt since the revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak gave birth to a cacophony of feuding voices.

Chancellor Merkel’s rival stumbles in poll •Jack Lew

board spending cuts in areas like defense and education.

•Angela Merkel magazine and RTL television showed backing for the acerbic former finance minister slipping to 22 percent from 26 percent before Christmas, while Merkel saw her support leap

seven percentage points to 58 percent.

The German chancellor’s pay is set to rise by 930 euros per month to 17,106 euros in 2013 along with pay rises for ministers and members of parliament, increases that have been criticized by some for sending the wrong signal in an era of austerity.

Steinbrueck previously raised eyebrows in Germany, especially on his own party’s left-wing, with the revelation that he has earned some 1.25 million euros as an afterdinner speaker in the past three years.

“I was once asked: If I came to power, would I let Christian women remain unveiled? And I said: If they want to get raped on the streets, then they can,” Ashry told Nahar TV last week.

Introducing a Saudi-style anti-vice police force to enforce Islamic law was “not a bad thing”, he said, and added: “In order for Egypt to become fully Islamic, alcohol must be banned and all women must be covered.”

Few take Ashry, who admits he flew to the United States dreaming of a Western lifestyle and romance but instead found truth in preaching, seriously. But his views have stirred emotions.

With the economic downturn and rising food prices putting pressure on the government, moderate Muslims, Christians and others worry their newfound political freedom is at risk of being exploited by hard-line Islamists.

48— Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013 — 49

C M Y K

50—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10,

2013

Security, safety, welfare – fears, hopes Continues from page 43 resources of the States. Abuja can do with some benign neglect.

Under the 1960 Constitution, 43 items were on the Exclusive List.

Today, there are 68 items on the Exclusive List and the government is taking up more. We should have a lean federal government with few responsibilities that it can handle well. Good governance is not the responsibility of the security agencies. The lack of performance of governments is responsibility for most of the security issues, which are social and economic matters that the governments should have handled better. Prof Itse Sagay, Chairman of paper Militancy, Terrorism and Arms Proliferation As A Threat To National Security Freedom from fear, want – Omoregie Well being of citizens now considered the most important considerations in security. We

should be free from fear and want if we are secure. Security issues elsewhere pose threats to others; an example is Mali where the militancy is spreading to other countries. The proliferation of small arms helps in the execution of their activities. Vigilante groups started in 1988 by Gov Abdul One Mohammed in Bauchi to help the police to curb armed robbery. Initial successes, but gradually the vigilante groups started using their position to settle personal scores.

Privatisation of security has helped in arms proliferation.

Unemployment, inadequate infrastructure, poverty, bad governance also fuel insecurity.

The growth in economic figures has not reduced poverty or created more jobs. The Edo State Neighbourhood Watch is designed to assist the police, it is not state police.

Maj-Gen Charles Omoregie (rtd), former Commander JTF in

the Niger Delta, Chairman of Edo State Neighbourhood Watch, Community Policing, who spoke on Militancy, Terrorism and Arms Proliferation Implications WIith National Security

1966 coup, first terrorism - Gbanite I disagree that Major Adaka Boro’s group began the terrorist movement in Nigeria. The 1966 coup that displaced an elected government was the first act of terrorism. Emergence of Pentecostalism and Izalaist among the Muslims pushed the frontiers of the insurgency through religion. We got to this point because we lacked intelligence infrastructure.

General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma said that if there was intelligence infrastructure the civil war would have ended in weeks. Why are foreign countries

interested in Nigeria’s internal security? Foreign media reporting of the events invited the foreign interest.We should diversify the economy by commencing mining in the North. Adamawa is potentially the richest State in the country.

There should be national ownership of the crisis; it does not belong to the State where it occurs. The President should visit the conflict areas to give confidence to Nigerians who live there. Vibrant intelligence units and community intelligence units that start from the wards are important. We should equip the Navy and the marine sectors of the Police and National Civil Defence Corps for effective policing of our coastlines. Cyber terrorism is the next wave of terrorism. We should monitor the international media in the country, in particular areas of our countries. The police should be better trained about bombs and explosives. We should encourage the President to issue amnesty to Boko Haram, he would not

lose face. Those with light weapons should surrender the arms for purchase. - Max Gbanite, a doctoral candidate, security expert

Security is collective responsibility – Alobi NIGERIANS have encouraged insecurity by not empowering the security agencies. Arms in wrong hands are serious threats to national security. Police are meant to maintain law and order with other agencies assisting; Section 214 of the Constitution created the police and clearly stated their role in internal security. Rather than empowering the agencies, government creates others, weakening the existing agencies. Bad governance and leadership make the people poorer. Leadership is concerned about controlling and dominating the people, not empowering them. - Lawrence Alobi, lawyer, former Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory

Vanguard, THURSDAY THURSDAY,, JANUARY 10, 2013—51

N195bn pension fraud: Senate to summon IGP

BY HENRY UMORU

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BUJA—THE Senate has complained against the Inspector- General of Police, IGP, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, for allegedly failing to arrest the Chairman of the Presidential Pension Task Force Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, warning that it would summon Abubakar to appear before it over the issue when the National Assembly resumes next week.

The Senate said it was a slap on the face of Senate President, David Mark, for Abubakar not to carry out his order to arrest Maina, whose warrant of arrest was signed by Mark.

Speaking with reporters in Abuja yesterday, Chairman, Joint Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service and State and Local Government Administration that is probing the management of the pension fund, Senator Aloysius Etok, said: “The Senate President, who is the number three citizen in this country, signed a warrant of arrest and the IGP ignored the order. This is very unfortunate, and the Senate is left with no option than to invite the IGP to come and explain why he could not arrest Maina. We want to know if Maina is above the law of the land. The IGP must tell us his own fears and whether it is beyond his power to arrest Maina. We will seek to know all these

‘Only 34 lions left in Nigeria’

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HIRTY years ago, there were 200,000 lions roaming wild across the African continent but now there are only between 15,000 and 32,000 left. Of this number, it is a estimated that there are just 645 genetically distinct wild lions left in Western and Central Africa, with only 34 left in Nigeria.

That is the most recent report from leading charity to protect and conserve endangered lions worldwide, LionAid, as reported in the UK Daily Mail.

Dr. Pieter Kat, trustee of LionAid told the UK Guardian: “There has been a catastrophic decline in the populations of lions in Africa, and particularly West Africa.

These lions have been neglected for a very long time and do not have adequate protection programs.”

from the IGP. “In our committee’s report that was submitted to the Senate in June last year, which was adopted by the entire Senate, we said the continued existence of Maina’s task force was illegal and should be discontinued immediately because nowhere does any task force exist beyond six months.

This was affirmed by the former Head of Service who appointed Maina, Chief Steve Orosanye. The former

Head of Service, Professor Oladapo Afolabi, also said this, likewise the incumbent Head of Service, Mr. Bello Sali, as well as the Minister of Finance.

“We also said that Maina was a bad example in the public service and should be relieved of his appointment and prosecuted. He claimed that he had been spending N500 million monthly to pay police pension, and on our own, we discovered that he was spending between N600 million and N1 billion

monthly to pay. Therefore, the difference between N500 million and N1 billion is the margin of fraud that he must return to government’s treasury. We calculated the money and it was over N9 billion. We’ve also stated in our report that we found Maina to have ridiculed the system by awarding contracts through splitting to the tune of N1.8 billion without any authorised approval.”

VISIT: Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu (left), decorating the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands to Nigeria, Mr. Bert J. Ronhaar, during a courtesy visit to the governor at Government House, Minna.

Forex demand falls by 71% as CBN injects N159bn zEquities value drops by N42.41bn

BY BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE & CHINEDU IBEABUCHI

L

AGOS — FOREIGN exchange demand fell by 71 per cent, yesterday, to $43.2 billion at the auction conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Meanwhile, the CBN will tomorrow inject liquidity of N159 billion into the system through repayment of matured treasury bills. Data from Financial Market Dealers Association of Nigeria (FMDA) showed that the apex bank will tomorrow repay N35.29 billion worth of matured primary market treasury bills, and N123.99 billion worth of secondary market bills.

Result of the Wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS) conducted, yesterday, showed that demand for foreign exchange fell from $150 million on Monday to $43.2 million, implying 71 per cent decline. The decline, however, did not impact on the value of the naira as the official exchange rate and the interbank foreign exchange rate remained stable at N155.7 and N156.5 per

dollar respectively.

Cumulatively, the CBN had sold $193.2 million in 2013, while the official exchange rate remained stable at N155.7.

At the interbank money market, interest rates rose across all the tenors, following decline in idle cash (excess liquidity) in the system from N190 billion on Monday to N152 billion. Interest rate on Call/Overnight borrowing rose by 29 basis points (bpt) to 12.5, 7Days rose by 25 bpts to 13 while 30Days rose by 42 bpts to 14 per cent.

Meanwhile, the value of equities listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, yesterday, dropped by N42.41 billion occasioned by investors taking profit from the capital market which had been witnessing consistent appreciation in recent time.

Specifically, the market capitalisation which opened at N9.297 trillion, lost 0.46 per cent, to close at N9.255 trillion.

Another market indicator, the AllShare Index, also depreciated by 0.46 per cent or 132.69 points to close at 29,956 points from 29,089.52 points.

Thirty one equities lost in share price value compared to twenty

equities that gained.

DN Meyer Plc recorded the highest share price loss, dipping by 10 per cent to close at N1.26 per share from N1.40.

This was followed by Presco Plc that lost 8.48 per cent of its share price value to close at N20.50 per share, while Fidson Healthcare Plc dropped by 6.72 per cent to close at N1.11 per share.

On the other hand, United Bank for Africa Plc topped the gainers’ chart, rising by 9.92 per cent to close at N5.65 per share from N5.14. This was followed by Ashakem Cement Plc that rose by 9.01 per cent to close at N20.69 per share, and Forte Oil Plc appreciated by 4,.94 per cent to close at N8.93 per share.

Similarly, the volume of equity transactions fell by 53.7 per cent, recording 378.26 million shares valued at N3.15 billion exchanged in 4,340 deals as against 398.82 million shares valued at N2.77 billion exchanged in 4,340 deals recorded the previous trading day.

Prof Okonjo’s kidnap: Two gang members arrested in Anambra

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

A

SABA—TWO per sons who allegedly played key roles in the kidnap of Prof.

Kamene Okonjo, mother of Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, from her husband’s palace at Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, have been arrested.

Delta State Police Commissioner, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, said: “Following the dragnet spread in the ongoing investigation into the kidnap of the wife of Obi of Ogwashi-Uku and the mother of Minister of Finance, Prof. Kamene Okonjo, our net, on January 5, 2013, at Uga Junction in Anambra State, caught two of the suspects who played key roles in the kidnapping incident.

“Both suspects are currently helping the police in tidying up investigations after which they will be made to face the full wrath of the law.”

The two arrested suspects bear Chiboy and Biggy as nicknames.

It will be recalled that one Andrew, who was in charge of bringing food to the hideout but later broke away from the gang because he was shortchanged in the sharing of the ransom, had earlier confessed at the state Police headquarters in Asaba, that Chiboy and Biggy were members of the gang, referring to Chiboy as the boss.

He had said that “for now, I know why I am arrested. Some friends of mine, they indulge themselves in kidnapping . One of them is Chiboy and another is Biggy.

“The person I know well is Chiboy. It was through this Chiboy that I met this Biggy. I was trading on fairly used shoes and my business was not moving well. So Chiboy told me that there was something he wanted me to do. I asked what was it. He said that there was somebody I was going to drop food for, that I was going to drop food twice a day and he would settle me.”

52 —

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

EAGELS' ROAD TO SOUTH AFRICA 2013 Pix: AFP

THE WAY FORWARD . . .

Super Eagles’ coach Stephen Keshi (L) yells as he gives instructions to his players during a training session in Vilamoura on January 8, 2013, on the eve of their friendly football match against Cape Verde, in preparation for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

GETTING READY . . . Eagles’ defender and captain Joseph Yobo takes off his track suit in readiness for a training session.

SHAPING UP . . . Nigeria’s midfielder John Mikel Obi (2nd L) vies with Striker, Ike Uche during a training session.

ALL WORK & NO PLAY . . . Super Eagles players, John Mikel Obi (3rd L), Obiora Nwankwo ( R ), Nosa Igiebor ( L ) and Ibrahim Lawal ( 2nd L) take time off their training session to share jokes C M Y K

THAT WAY . . . Eagles coach Stephen Keshi (back) points the way forward Eagles’ defender Uwa Elderson .

STRATEGY TIME . . . Coach Stephen Keshi © giving a pep talk to his players during a training session.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013 — 53

Afcon 2013 Countdown••• Afcon 2013 Countdown ••• Afcon 2013 Countdown••• Burkina Faso play Niger for Eagles

Zambia name final 23 Z

AMBIA’s squad for the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa will include 19 of the players that won the 2012 edition in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Veteran defender Chintu Kampamba, who has been without a club since June, was left out of the final 23-man squad.

French coach Herve Renard named his final squad after Zambia drew 0-0 with fellow finalists Morocco in a friendly in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

That result halted a three-match losing streak for Chipolopolo.

“Doing the preparations, we can see

Ndanusa, Omotose welcome greater autonomy for Federations

T

HE President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) Sanni Ndanusa has described the move by the National Sports Commission (NSC) to grant more autonomy to the Sporting Federations as a welcomed development and in fact long over-due.

He stated that the new policy would move Nigerian sports forward and make administration of sports in the country in tune with global best practices.

“Greater autonomy will definitely make the Federations more effective, especially if adequate monitoring mechanism is put in place,” Ndanusa stated, adding that, “the NSC should give the Federations targets and review their performance yearly to ensure success of this policy.”

It will be recalled that

earlier this week, the NSC had announced plans to recall Secretaries of Sporting Federations and empower the Federations to appoint their own Secretaries. This was in line with the Commission’s commitment to reform the Federations and reposition them for greater efficiency.

The NSC will however set the guidelines for the appointment of Secretaries and develop eligibility guidelines that will guide elections and appointments into the Boards of these Federations.

Similarly, Kayode Abdulwahab, President of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), stated that the new policy would improve performance and is “akin to putting the right step forward in a race.”

the players are not 100 percent yet,” Renard said.

“It’s my fourth Africa Cup. We’ll do our best.

We’re not Ivory Coast, we’re not Ghana.

“Why do you think we come to the Africa Cup? To drop out in the first round?

“There are 13 days till our first game. We are better than three days ago and we will be better in three days.”

Morocco coach Rachid Taoussi was happy for the practice against the continental champions.

“For Morocco, playing against the African champions was psychologically very important,” he said.

“It gives players confidence.”

“Morocco didn’t qualify in 2010. In 2012 we fell out in the first round. This time we’d like to reach the quarterfinals.”

The holders continue their preparations with a game against Norway in Ndola on Saturday and a final friendly against Namibia in Nelspruit next week.

They open the defence of their title with a Group C match against Ethiopia in Nelspruit on 21 January, before facing Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

S

•Kalaba

UPER Eagles group opponents, The Stallions of Burkina Faso will today take on Menas of Niger in a tune up match, preparatory to the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations beginning January 19, in South Africa.

Apart from today’s tie against Niger in Nelspruit, Mombela, the Burkinabes have also lined up another friendly, this time with Tanzania January 14 and South African club Orlando Pirates on the 16th.

The 1998 hosts are placed in group C alongside champions Zambia, 1994 winners Nigeria and Nations Cup returnees, Cecafa representatives Ethiopia.

Delta begins implementation of Sports Summit Report •Okagbare to run in Sapele

I

MAGINE what it could be like for the likes of Blessing Okagbare, Ogho Egwero and other big names in athletics competing in a local fiesta in Sapele, Delta State.

Well, it will come to pass in February at the Awoturo Eleya Athletics Fiesta in Sapele as Delta begins to implement the report of the Sports Summit it held in Asaba October 30 last year.

The Fiesta would engage junior, intermediate and senior athletes who will compete for honours.

The senior category will be open and it is largely meant to add colour to the show and also inspire some local athletes who will enjoy the benefit of interacting and even competing with international stars.

Champions of the junior events will compete in the Africa’s Athletics Under 17 Champiomships that Warri would host on behalf of Nigeria in March this year.

For the Junior events, athletes will compete from the ward levels to Local Government level.

Two finalists in each

event from a local government area will then represent their areas for the Senatorial final that will again produce two finalists in each event from each Senatorial Districts. The winners will then qualify to compete for the finals of each Senatorial Zone which will in turn produce two finalists from each event for t the Awoturo Eleya Fiesta in Sapele. It follows that six athletes will qualify from each event for the grand finale in Sapele.

C M Y K

54— Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013 — 55

C M Y K

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 2013

Super Four: Pillars, Rangers lose

F

EDERATION Cup c h a m p i o n s Heartland Football Club of Owerri and Lobi Stars FC of Makurdi got off to bright starts on Wednesday, as they defeated Pillars FC and Rangers International

respectively in the opening matches of the 2012/13 NPL Super Four League holding in Kano.

In the opening match Lobi Stars defeated Rangers International of Enugu 1-0. An Okolie

Daniel shot from 35 yards made the difference in the 25th minute.

In the second match, Heartland shocked NPL champions, Pillars by the same margin.

Keshi names killer squad for Africa — Page 55

N

IGERIA Captain Joseph Yobo will play in his sixth Africa Cup of Nations finals after making the final list of 23 released on Wednesday night by Coach Stephen Keshi.

The 32-year old defender, who started off as a junior international striker when Nigeria hosted the 10th FIFA World Youth Championship (now FIFA U-20 World Cup) in 1999, has previously played at the 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010 finals, winning bronze on four occasions.

Chelsea FC of England midfielder John Mikel Obi, 11-year veteran goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama and ace forward Ikechukwu Uche are also included. Apart from Yobo, goalkeepers Enyeama and Austin Ejide, defender Elderson Echiejile, midfielder Mikel Obi and forward Ikechukwu Uche who were at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, the rest are profile-on-the-rise and ambitious performers ready to captivate Africa.

•Keshi TODAY'S

PUZZLE

YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

List of players Goalkeepers 1 Vincent Enyeama, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel 2 Austin Ejide, Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Israel 3 Chigozie Agbim, Enugu Rangers, Nigeria Defenders 4 Elderson Echiejile, FC Sporting Braga, Portugal 5 Juwon Oshaniwa, Ashdod FC, Israel 6 Joseph Yobo, Fenerbahce, Turkey 7 Efe Ambrose, Celtic, Scotland 8 Azubuike Egwuekwe, Warri Wolves, Nigeria 9 Godfrey Oboabona Sunshine Stars, Nigeria 10 Kenneth Omeruo, ADO Den Haag, Netherlands Midfielders 11 Mikel Obi, Chelsea, England 12 Nosa Igiebor, Real Betis, Spain 13 Obiora Nwankwo, Calcio Padova, Italy 14 Fegor Ogude, Valerenga FC, Norway 15 Gabriel Reuben, Kano Pillars, Nigeria 16 Ogenyi Onazi, SS

ACROSS 1 Paradise (6) 5 Final (4) 8 Under (5) 9 Court (3) 10 Image (4) 11 Region (4) 12 Dizzy (5) 13 Empower (6) 16 Every (4) 18 Spike (4) 20 Sprite (3) 22 Obtained (3) 23 Firearm (3) 24 Abscond (4) 25 Watched (4) 28 Delineate (6) 30 Inclined (5) 32 Stray (4) 33 Pitcher (4) 34 Anger (3) 35 Money-bag (5) 36 Rind (4) 37 Doghouse (6)

Lazio, Italy Strikers 17 Ahmed Musa, CSKA Moscow, Russia 18 Emmanuel Emenike, Spartak Moscow, Russia 19 Brown Ideye, Dynamo Kiev, Ukraine

20 Victor Moses, Chelsea, England 21 Ejike Uzoenyi, Rangers Enugu.

22 Ikechukwu Uche, Villarreal, Spain 23 Sunday Mba, Rangers Enugu.

•Mikel

•Enyeama

•Oboboana

DOWN 1 Cable (6) 2 Divine (8) 3 Eatable (6) 4 Enchanted (9) 5 Charging (7) 6 Crooked (4) 7 Snare (4) 8 Swamp (3) 14 Keenness (9) 15 Clamour (3) 17 Modest (3) 19 Hearing (8) 20 Moose (3) 21 Apprehensive (7) 26 Stage (6) 27 Rescind (6) 29 Barter (4) 30 Conduit (4) 31 Sheep (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS: 3, Train 9, Lessee 10, Teeter 11, Asset 12, Emit 15, Tact 17, Perused 20, Doe 21, Debit 23, Slip 25, Chit 26, Crass 28, Age 30, Earnest 33, Lead 35, Gate 36, Leapt 38, Rather 39, Lament 40, Token.

How to Play Sudoku

THE VIGILANTE

•Yobo

DOWN: 1, Sleep 2, Astir 3, Tea 4, Rested 5, Item 6, Net 7, Stead 8, Grate 13, Message 14, Tunice 16, Contest 18, Dense 19, Tic 22, Thing 24, Pry 27, Sample 28, Alert 29, Earth 31, Eased 32, Teeth 34, Zero 36, Let 37, Tan.

e-mail: rowolove@yahoo.co.uk

Place 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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