7 Days after Dana Crash: Blackouts aborts flight 's landing in Abuja by Vanguard Media Limited

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SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 3

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Militants demand N1bn reparation * Give Jonathan June 21 deadline BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA & FESTUS AHON

HE leadership of Niger Liberation Force (NDLF), a militant group in the Niger Delta, has demanded N1bn from the Federal Government as compensation for what it described as “the extra judicial murder of its leader, General John Togo, aerial bombing and killing of innocent citizens of Ayakoromor community by soldiers of the Joint Task Force. The NDLF demand is coming on the heels of the alleged Federal Government payment of N100m compensation to the family of the slain leader of the Islamist group, Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf who was reportedly killed by the police in custody. Spokesman for the NDLF, Capt Mark Anthony, in a statement made available to Sunday Vanguard, said unlike Boko Haram that went bombing and killing innocent citizens, agitation was for local control of oil revenue arising from decades of years of criminal injustice and balkanization by the Nigerian government and

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did not go about the streets of Niger Delta to murder innocent citizens and security operatives. The group, which flayed the Federal Government decision to compensate the family of the Boko Haram leader who died in police custody, threatened to return to the creeks if government refused to make compensation through its legal representatives on or before June 21, 2012. The statement read in part, “The leadership of the NDLF has consulted and authorized our legal team to demand from the Federal Government, on behalf of our organization,

to pay NDLF and the family compensation of N1bn, for the extrajudicial murder of our commander and leader of NDLF, General John Togo, his soldiers and bombing and killing of innocent citizens in Ayakoromor by soldiers of Joint Task Force (JTF) through both aerial bombing and mini warship attacks in 2010/2011. ”Our organization rose from its slumber suddenly when the government of Nigerian paid similar compensation of N100m to the Islamist Boko Haram leader ’s family for extrajudicial murder of Mohammed Yusuf by the police”.

From left : Mr. Willy Nnorom, MD, Reeds & Mark Advertising; Mr. Dennis Okoro, Director, MTN Foundation; Mr Anthony Ifeanyichukwu Udenze, the celebrant; Mr. Emeka Uche and HRH, Eze Eddie Anyanwu, MD, Klin Board during the thanksgiving Mass for Udenze’s 50th Birthday Anniversary at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, Umuakagu- Nsu, Ehime Mbano, Imo State ,recently. Photo by Ayo Onikoyi.

Tragedy averted on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway; oil tanker spills contents BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

ESCUE team, y e s t e r d a y, averted what could have been another tragedy when a fully loaded fuel tanker fell on the Berger axis of the L a g o s - I b a d a n Expressway, spilling its

contents and causing serious traffic jam for several hours. It will be recalled that last weekend there was a multiple accident caused by an oil tanker along the same Lagos-Ibadan Expressway around Shagamu interchange inwhich at least 12 persons reportedly died and several vehicles burnt.

Eyewitnesses said the tanker was about negotiating the hilly bend between Michael Otedola Estate and Capital Oil Filling Station when it veered off its track and fell on its side spilling its contents on the road. The incident forced motorists to make a Uturn for fear of outbreak of fire.

Traffic officials swiftly moved to contain the gridlock that ensued diverting vehicles from the path where the fuel was flowing even as motorists got stuck in traffic. Confirming the incident, Lagos State commissioner for transportation, Mr Kayode Opeifa, said the tanker upturned while trying to reverse at the hilly bend of Michael Otedola

Estate Area, saying traffic officials were able to control the situation. Also commenting, the General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Dr Femi OkeOsanyintolu, said immediately the accident occurred, the scene was condoned off to enable its men manage the scene.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012 — PAGE 5

Blackout aborts flights’ landing in Abuja Continued from page 1 at the NAIA awaiting the arrival of the passengers in the flights. The Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA) blamed the blackout on repairs being carried out on the airport runway, saying the situation compelled the closure of the airport to air traffic between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. The closure, according to NAMA was communicated to airlines. But Sunday Vanguard could not reach affected airlines to confirm the NAMA’s claim. This came just as the Federal Government said it will audit airlines in the country and review their operations. The flights affected by the blackout at the NAIA in the Friday incident, according to aviation sources, were operated by Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways, all foreign airlines and Arik, a local operator. Sunday Vanguard learnt that the Lufthansa flight was operated from Malabo while the Arik flight came in from Port-Harcourt. The Arik flight reportedly arrived Abuja around 6.30 p.m. but had to be diverted to the former federal capital when the runway flights failed to work owing to the blackout. The diversion of the flights left several passengers waiting to board them stranded at the Abuja airport, and consequently accommodated in the federal capital by the airlines. Blaming the blackout on repair works at the NAIA, NAMA officials told Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, that they passed a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) to all airlines informing them of the development. According to them, the repairs on a segment of the runway were to begin 7 February and end June 30. With the NOTAM in place, they claimed, it was expected that flights operating in and outside of the Abuja airport will be restricted as it would be closed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.daily.

“The closure according to the NOTAM would allow for the apron expansion work and upgrading of the approach lighting system on runway 04/ 22 from Cat 1 to Cat 11 in accordance with the ICAO runway lighting system .The NOTAM advised pilots to adhere strictly to air traffic

controllers’ advice ,that will be in place till June 30, 2012”, one of the officials said. Aviation experts told Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, they were aghast about the development, especially coming at a time Nigeria had just witnessed an air crash that claimed scores of lives.

They were unanimous in their opinion that the nation was lucky that none of the diverted airplanes was on emergency to warrant that it had to land at all costs at the NAIA. “It would have just been as bad that we could not stop another air crash had any of

the planes involved in the diversion been caught in an emergency and became inevitable to land at the Abuja airport. We would have had another crash in a week that would have been clearly avoidable. There is no reason why there should be blackout in any airport for five minutes not to talk of being prolonged to warrant aircraft being diverted to another airport almost one hour away,” one of the experts said.

FG to audit airlines

From left: Alhaji Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State; Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State; Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, ACN Leader and Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State at a rally of the ACN in Benin City, yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government plans to audit airlines in the country and review their operations. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, disclosed this at a gathering of businessmen during a town hall meeting in Kano. Okonjo-Iweala said: “In order to streamline their operations, appropriate measures would soon be put in place to ensure safe and efficient operation of the airlines”. According to her, a committee has been set up to carry out the audit. She said that machinery had also been put in motion to support the aviation sector, adding that government’s intervention was to guarantee air safety.

2015: Buhari, Tinubu bury ambitions *To anoint candidate BY JIDE AJANI

ONGRESS for Progressive Change, CPC, presidential candidate in the April 2011 election, General Muhammadu Buhari, and the national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, may have agreed to bury their differences and aspirations as the CPC and CAN rapprochement continues to gather momentum. The two met in Kaduna at the residence of Buhari last

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Thursday. Both men also drove together to Kano to the waiting embrace of a mammoth crowd. It was gathered, at the weekend, that discussions between both men centred on how to proceed preparatory to the 2015 general elections. Of specific concern, Sunday Vanguard was told by a source privy to the meeting, was the issue of presenting a “united front for the presidential engagement”.

Although talks are still on, the source said that one of the first steps to be taken by each of the parties “ would be the movement towards the centre”. To this end, both men are said to be disposed to a compromise that “ would see each relegating his ambition for the common good of the proposed alliance”. If all goes well, both men, according to our source, would seek and anoint candidates for the presidential election.

In fact, the reason both leaders have decided to commence talks in earnest is “just so they would avoid the type of last minute rancour that led to the collapse of talks last year ”, a source said. It would be recalled that lastminute efforts by the ACN and CPC to forge an alliance for last year ’s presidential election collapsed. The inability of each of the party ’s leaders to subsume their ambitions led to the collapse of the talks.

Dana: Air crash reports ‘doctored’ —Ex Aviation Minister

MID the moves by the Federal Government to launch investigations into last Sunday’s plane crash in Lagos that claimed over 160 lives, Sunday Vanguard can reveal why reports of past air crash investigations in Nigeria were never made public. The Federal Government, according to top placed sources, failed to make public the reports because, in some instances, the local versions contradicted the versions prepared by the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) of the US, renowned for air crash investigations across the world. The situation thus puts the

government in a quandary. A former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode corroborated this when he told Sunday Vanguard, last week, that the contents and information retrieved from the black boxes of crashed planes in the country were kept away by some interests “in an attempt to manipulate the reports”. Fani-Kayode said: “I must tell you that in practice what has happened since 2005 is that the contents of and information in the black boxes of the various planes that crashed have either been kept away from the Nigerian public or the black box itself has just disappeared or been stolen. The result is that no one really gets to know the truth about

what really happened regarding these crashes except for those in the corridors of power at the Ministry of Aviation. “Let me tell you what happened in the past. This is done in an attempt to hide that truth and manipulate the report. I sincerely hope that this does not happen in this case. I am also hoping that the government will allow the American National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB which is the agency that is charged to investigate all air crashes all over the world, a free reign and a free hand to do its job to help in establishing what really happened”. Details on pages 9-14…

PAGE 6—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012

Oshiomhole challenges minister on N2.6billion contract BY SIMON EBEGBULEM OVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, yesterday, alleged that the Minister of Works, Architect Mike Onolemenmen, awarded N2.6bn road contract in Uromi, Edo State which nobody could see.Disclosing this in a rally at Egor, Benin City, where he official-

From left: Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State (left) and the Senior Managers from CCC construction, Hisham and Hehmetallah and the Federal Controller of Works company during the inspection of the dual carriage road at UNIZK Junction, Awka.

Edo poll: Anenih warns against violence •Jonathan, Tukur to attend PDP grand rally in Benin June 30 BY GABRIEL ENOGOLASE

ORMER Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, has sounded a note of caution to youths in Edo State against allowing themselves to be used by desperate politicians to cause violence during the July 14 governorship election. Anenih urged the youths to shun all forms of electoral malpractice and violence, even as he warned that adequate security personnel would be on ground in the State to ensure that the election was not disrupted. He spoke at the PDP governorship rallies in Edo North Senatorial District in Igarra, headquarters of Akoko-Edo Local Government and Edo Central Senatorial District in Uromi, headquarters of Esan Northeast Local Government

on Friday and Saturday respectively. Anenih called on parents to counsel their wards/children to resist attempts to lure them into perpetrate acts of violence that could undermine the integrity of the governorship poll. He said in Igarra, “I want to appeal to the youths, because I have children in my house, not to allow themselves to be

used by desperate politicians for violence. “Parents who are here, please, inform the ones that are not here that the youths should not be used or allowed to create violence in Edo State. Please, don’t allow them to use your youths and the youths that are here for malpractices on election day. “I want to assure you

Three killed in cult war in Calabar BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU T least three persons were feared dead in cult war in Cross River University of Technology, CRUTECH, and Calabar metropolis. One of the victims, Master Herbert Akpo, a third year student of visual art and Director of Socials, DoS Student Union Government, SUG, was murdered on Thursday, by

suspected cult members in a restaurant in the university campus. The late DoS, who hailed from Obudu Local Government Area of the state, was said to have received a phone call to come and eat with the yet to be identified assassins in the restaurant. It was gathered that while dinning with the supposedly friends, he was shot in the head from

Ijaw mourn Urhobo leader, Okumagba BY TONY NWANKWO JAW Monitoring Group (IMG) has described the death of leader of the Urhobo Nation, Chief

that on the election day, there would be adequate security. Snatching of ballot boxes in Akoko Edo in the rerun election in 2009 when over 50 AK-47 rifles were recovered from ACN youths or the rerun election into Etsako Central House of Assembly seat and those experiences we had that time will not be repeated on July 14”.

Benjamin Okumagba as the end of an era in the history of the Niger Delta. In a condolence message signed by the coordinator, Ijaw Monitoring Group, Comrade Joseph Evah, they said Okumagba was one of the pillars of the Niger Delta struggle, whose death had robbed the area of a fearless, courageous and patriotic leader. “We mourn with our Urhobo brothers and sisters on the death of this great man of Nigeria, however, the joy of the entire Niger Delta is that the Urhobos gave

us a son that had become a reference point in Nigeria and African affairs”.

behind while the assailants disappeared. Before the killing, one other person, suspected to be a student of the university, was reportedly murdered at Akpanika Street, off Mariam Road, and another killed at Yellow Duke Street. Akpo was said to be a member of one of the cults that had embarked on supremacy tussle, but a lecturer in the Department of Visual Art in CRUTECH, Mr. Justin Obong, who described the deceased as his nephew, denied knowledge of the late DoS involvement with any cult group.

ly received a former presidential aide, Prof.Julius Ihonvbere, into the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the governor asserted that “the godfather and the godson got the FEC into awarding a N2.6bn for a road contract that nobody sees in Uromi”. “I am inviting the President to come and flag off the construction of that road so he can see that the road does not exist, “he added. The governor posited that rather than campaign and tell the people of the state their plans for the development of the state, “the PDP leaders in Edo Cen-

tral and Edo North were busy buying voters cards. As we speak, five of them have been charged to court on account of buying voters cards. Now that the PDP people have been caught red handed, we want to see what punishment INEC and Jega will mete out to these people.” He accused the PDP candidate, Gen.Charles Airhiavbere, of ignorance of events in the state. “The man does not even know the state he wants to govern. He said he will pay salary arrears. Is there any worker we are owing in Edo State?”

Ondo 2012: Monarchs dump Akoko agenda for Mimiko BY DAYO JOHNSON Akure

HE much talked about Akoko agenda collapsed like a pack of cards when traditional rulers from the four councils in the northern area of Ondo State disowned the proponent of the agenda. Politicians, especially from the opposition parties, have been singing to high heavens that it is the turn of the northern part of the state to produce the next governor. That the agenda could not fly was first noticed when the member representing Akoko Northwest/Akoko Northeast in the House of Representatives, Hon. Ganiyu Dauda, went on a tour of the four Akokoland councils on the need for Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s continuity in office. It was during the meeting with monarchs from Akoko North West in Okeagbe-Akoko that

the traditional rulers publicly disowned the a g e n d a . The Zaki of Arigidi-Akoko, Oba Yisa Olanipekun, who spoke on behalf of the traditional rulers in the local government during the tour, said the people of the area would not isolate themselves from other parts of the state by the rumoured Akoko agenda. Oba Olanipekun, who did not hide his love for the governor performance in the last three years, said, “We are not aware of any Akoko agenda, nothing like that. Why should we isolate ourselves to prosecute a parochial agenda? If we want to achieve something in this state, it has to be within the framework of the entire state, we cannot be part of any parochial agenda; we are ready to work hand in hand with other parts of the state to ensure its development”.

DNA: Fashola meets relations of Dana air crash victims BY SOLA OGUNDIPE & CHIOMA OBINNA

N continuation of the efforts by Lagos State government to alleviate the plight of victims of the Dana air crash, Governor Babatunde Fashola is to hold talks with the families of the victims today, Even as nine bodies have been cleared for collection from the Lekan Ogunsola

Memorial Mortuary, Ikeja. A source at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, confirmed to Sunday Vanguard that

salient matters such as the payment for the DNA testing, release of identifiable bodies and compensation, among others, are expect-

ed to top the agenda of the meeting which is scheduled to take place as from 2.30pm at the Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

Ajasin varsity condoles with NUC DEKUNLE Ajasin University, AkungbaAkoko, AAUA, has condoled with the National Universities Commission (NUC) over the unfortu-

nate loss of five of its illustrious staff in the Dana air crash, which occurred in the Iju Ishaga area of Lagos. In a letter of condolence to

the universities regulatory body, the Vice Chancellor of AAUA, Professor Femi Mimiko, described the incident as a monumental loss to the nation.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012 — PAGE 7

THE FINAL RITES OF PASSAGE FOR HRM, BENJAMIN OKUMAGBA (JP), OON, THE OROSUEN OF OKERE-URHOBO KINGDOM, AT THE OROSUEN’S PALACE, WARRI

From Left; Col. David Dungs (Rtd), former MILAD, Delta State; Prof. Amos Utuama, Deputy Governor, Delta State; Chief Wilson Eboh, Otota of OkereUrhobo Kingdom and Chief Emmanuel Okumagba, Awhotu of Okere-Urhobo.

A cross section of Okumagba’s children. Photos: Akpokona Omafuaire.

Chief Edwin Clark (right), with Chief John Odigie Oyegun.

Chief Francis Okumagba welcoming Chief Benard Edewor and his wifeto the occasion.

Olorogun Ogbarode Ogbon greets Chief Ovie Omo-Agege as Chief Ighoyota Amori looks on.

Senator Pius Akpor Ewherido (right) with Senator Ifeanyi Okowa.

Maj-Gen. Patrick Aziza (rtd), UPU President General (right) with Nolly Actor, Mr. Justus Esiri.

Fuel subsidy probe: House wades into alleged $600,000 bribe scandal BY OKEY NDIRIBE AND EMMA OVUAKPORIE

HE House of Representatives, yesterday, hinted it would investigate the allegation that a member of its Adhoc Committee on Petroleum Subsidy took $600,000 bribe from some oil company officials. “While we await investigation into those weighty allegations, we wish to state without equivocation that this honourable House will never take sides with corruption and we will always stand on the side of the rule of law”, the House said in a statement by the chairman of its

committee on media and public affairs, Hon. Zakari Mohammed. The allegation of the bribery blew open after former President Olusegun Obasanjo alleged that there were thieves and armed robbers in the National Assembly and state legislative houses, and the Speaker of the House Hon. Aminu Tambuwal travelled to the former president’s Ota residence to seek audience with him over the statement. It was gathered that Obasanjo showed Tambuwal a certain video recording which showed the committee member collecting a huge amount of foreign currency ( said to be $600,000) from some oil

company officials. Tambuwal was said to have been rudely shocked by the video Obasanjo showed him to justify why he made his controversial allegation against the lawmakers. It was gathered that the Speaker confronted the committee member over the issue in a meeting of principal officers of the House where he had been summoned to defend himself. There were speculations, at the weekend, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had invited the House adhoc committee member for interrogation but this could not be confirmed. Reacting to the

scandal, yesterday, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mohammed, in a statement, said “The attention of the House of Representatives has been drawn to reports alleging that one of its members, has, in the course of his committee work as a member of the ad hoc committee which investigated the subsidy regime, allegedly received a gratification from an oil baron to exonerate his companies from complicity in the oil subsidy scam. “While we await investigation into these weighty accusations, we wish to state without equivocation that this Honourable House will never take side with

corruption and we will always stand on the side of the rule of law. “The reason we inaugurated the ad hoc committee to look into the controversial subsidy regime in the first place was to expose corruption in the sector, as such, we cannot, for whatever reason, support any underhand dealing from any quarter. “However, these accusations, what ever their merits, do not detract from the quality of the work done by the committee. The report of that committee was adopted by the whole House and we stand by the resolutions of the House. “The present House of Representatives will not relent in it’s efforts to

render quality legislation and oversight functions to Nigerians. Today, we are gradually beginning to see the end of this monstrosity that has bedeviled our progress as a nation for so long. “We hope that the Executive will not, because of this allegation, abandon it’s commitment towards bringing to justice, the culprits already identified in the committee’s report.” It would be recalled that the Speaker had heaped praises on the Committee when it submitted its report which was subsequently adopted by the entire House”.

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The secret behind unity in Delta House —Speaker

HE speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Ochei, has attributed the unity in the parliament to the maturity on the part of the lawmakers. “In times past, the House was bedeviled by intrigues, and those intrigues were ostensibly due to a monoparty House, as against the current multi-party House and yet the House remains

BY EDDIE AKALONU

KA Ikenga, an Igbo think-t ank group, says it will hold the “Ojukwu ceremony of tributes and presentation of the book Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu, a man of history with the theme: True Federalism: Citizens rights and national unity, on Thursday next week. Addressing the press on

one, a sign of maturity amongst legislators”, the speaker stated. Ochei also attributed the unity in diversity to the principle of good faith negotiation, “ whereby legislators put their interests on the table for discussion and, if such interests accommodate others ‘interests, okay, otherwise, there would be a recourse to finding a

common ground”. According to him, this mature approach by legislators accounts for the level of camaraderie which would ultimately enhance the actualisation of the state government’s threepoint agenda?

Dana air crash: Jonathan urged to sack non-performing ministers

S Nigerians and mourn

continue to condemn the Dana plane crash, a Niger Delta activist, Chief Michael

Firm launches internet service in PH

AHCLICK yesterday launched its satellite broadband service in Port Harcourt. Explaining the new

internet service provider to newsmen in Port Harcourt, Mr Nadim Chidiac, said the service is provided by Coollink Technology. He said the new product

Aka Ikenga to launch book on Ojukwu the event in Lagos, Aka Ikenga president- general, Dr. Sylvan Ebigwei, said the book of tributes to Ikemba, with 480 papers, by Nigerians from different backgrounds and social leaning, is part of the association’s tradition, saying “It is also to appreciate the efforts and contributions of those who made Ojukwu’s transition

Johnny, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately sack non performing ministers in his cabinet.. Johnny, who was reacting

second to none in the annals of Nigeria.” According to Ebigwei, the work was Aka Ikenga’s book of tribute to the great leader, and an attempt to document the wide range of views expressed by people on Ojukwu’s demise. “Apart from presenting the tributes to a great leader, it is important to present materials that

would help provoke debate to redefine the structure and quest for genuine and committed leadership in Nigeria.” he said, adding “ indeed, the bulk of opinions were emphatic about Ojukwu’s courage, doggedness and commitment to fight for the oppressed especially standing in the defense of his people.”

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would provide uninterrupted high speed internet service to Nigerians nationwide. He added that “Yahclick has state-of-the-art Kaband multi-spot beam technology, provided by the Y1B Satellite which was launched in Doha, United Arab Emirates in April 2012, to deliver a truly cost effective broadband service.” According to Chidiac, the “service is a new cutting-edge satellite broadband service, tailored to provide reliable and affordable internet connectivity to clients, irrespective of their location.

to the Sunday plane crash which occurred in Lagos, said, the series of problems confronting the presidency and the dwindling fortunes in various sectors of the economy can be attributed to the incompetence and non performance of some ministers. He also noted that President Jonathan cannot turn the country around alone, as it is the responsibility of the respective ministers to ensure that all sectors in the country function effectively, lamenting that some of the ministers are not performing, hence there are problems despite the huge allocations to the various sectors annually. According to him: “The Dana crash is a pointer to the fact that some of the ministers are not working and as such should be shown the way out in the interest of the country.”

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012 , PAGE 9

'DOCTORING' INVESTIGATION REPORTS

Between the NTSB Report and aviation ministry’s gambit The complex world of air crash investigations Against the backdrop of the hue and cry that reports of past investigations into air crashes are never made public, this report digs deep and discovers that the reason for this can be traced to the embarrassing disparity between the reports of the National Transport Safety Board, NTSB, of America, and those of Nigeria’s ministry of aviation.

BY JIDE AJANI

t was all about reverse psycholo gy. With more than 13,000 safety recommendations to more than 2,500 recipients in the world, the National Transport Safety Board, NTSB, established in the United States of America, USA, remains the global, authentic investigation agency regarding air crash matters. Yet, the findings and recommendations of the NTSB appear not to have been taken seriously by the authorities in Nigeria. Sunday Vanguard approached three former aviation ministers with a view to understanding why reports of past investigations into air crashes were never really made public. It was only Femi Fani-Kayode who agreed to go on record. The two others refused to go on record but agreed to speak on conditions of anonymity. Interestingly, there appeared to be

a convergence of independent views that “the aviation industry had been beset by large scale corruption and complicity”. Added to this, some senior officials in the aviation ministry were said to have “constituted themselves into tingods and were calling the shots such that the sector was held hostage by them”. Rewind to Saturday, October 22, 2005. That fateful evening, Bellview Airlines Flight 210, a Boeing 737-200 aircraft, crashed shortly after take off from the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos. All of its 117 human cargo perished. The NTSB was invited to assist local authorities in investigating the “immediate and remote causes” of the crash. The findings by the NTSB were shocking. A former aviation minister said the

report of the NTSB was markedly different from the one presented by the aviation ministry. Although the two reports were not readily available for Sunday ’s Vanguard’s perusal, the minister swore that the NTSB concluded that the crash of the Bellview aircraft may have been caused by what was described as a “low incendiary device”.

ressed further, one of the minis ters explained that whereas the mention of the exact device was not in the NISB report, “there were strong indications that there was more to the crash”. Fani-Kayode hinted at this in the interview overleaf when he elaborated on the matter. Asked by Sunday Vanguar to either crroborate or dispel this revelation, Fani-Kayode said “The NTSB report on te Bellview crash said some very interesting and disturbing things

about what actually brought that plane down. It had nothing to do with any failing on the part of Bellview airline but there was definitely another factor which I will not go into here”. Quoting another minister who had spoken anonymously, Fani-Kayode insisted that “all I can simply add is that the American FBI also did a preliminary report in which they even recommended a criminal investigation into the matter because it was clear that there was more to that crash than met the eye”. Surprisingly, he added, “by way of contrast the reports filed by our own security agencies and the Ministry of Aviation under my predecessor in office omitted some things and contradicted it”. Officially, the blame for the Bellview crash was put on cross winds and not the alleged “low incendiary device”. Continues on page 13

PAGE 10—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012 2

The 12 crashes that took place between 2005 and 2012 and which all resulted in loss of lives were 1. 2005- Bellview Airline crash 2. 2006 Sossoliso Airline crash 3. 2006 Light aircraft crash 4. 2006 Crash of plane carrying senior army officers 5. 2008 ADC Airline crash 6. 2008 1st Light aircraft crash 7. 2008 2nd Light aircraft crash 8. 2009 Light aircraft crash 9. 2009 Helicopter crash 10. 2011 Helicopter crash 11. 2012 Helicopter crash 12. 2012 Dana Air crash I should also mention the EAS Airline crash which took place in 2002 and which resulted in massive loss of lives. That was a particularly terrible crash and the Minister of Sports of that day, amongst many others, perished in it. If you add that one then you can conclude that we have had 13 major air disasters in the last 10 years in our country and this has resulted in the loss of over 750 precious souls. This is sad and unacceptable. ers. It tells you that that change has to come at all levels of the sector from the top to the bottom and that the whole place needs to be overhauled. It tells you that the mafia and the cartel that had controlled aviation for many years before and that always cut corners and cover up evil and wrong-

Fani-Kayode

Why air crash reports are never released, by Fani-Kayode, ex-Aviation Minister *Warns of consequences of indifference *`More decisive actions should be taken' BY JIDE AJANI

Excerpts: For about 6 years now we had no cases of air crashes in the country and now we have this. What does it say about air safety in Nigeria? What it tells you is that our skies are no longer safe and that we have gone back to the pre-2006 level of degeneration and rot when it comes to aviation and air safety in Nigeria. It tells you that since 2007 something has gone very wrong and there has been C M Y K

emi Fani-Kayode was drafted from the Ministry of Culture to the Ministry of Aviation in late 2006. As expected, he got there and stormed. Usefully, Fani-Kayode’s tenure experienced what has been described as a turn around because just within a year preceding his posting, five air disasters had occurred. And once he left the ministry, either by a mix of ill-fate or coincidence or negligence, things began another turn around for the worse. Last Sunday’s Dana Air crash in Lagos forced Sunday Vanguard to seek Fani-Kayode out. In this revealing session, he insists that government should demonstrate more willingness to safe-guard the skies. And whereas he says the current aviation minister is trying her best, things could still be better.

Despite all the lives that have been lost in the 12 fatal crashes that we have had since 2005 not one person from the Ministry of Aviation has been publicly queried, reprimanded, sacked, resigned or brought to justice

a slow but systemic dismantling of all the standards, reforms and measures that we put in place to save the lives of our fellow Nigerians and to improve the quality of aviation and flying in our country when we were there. It tells you that someone is not doing his or her job in the way that it should be done or with the firmness, discipline and commitment that is needed for Nigerian aviation. It also tells you that things will get far worse unless there is an attitudinal change from those that are charged to run aviation and protect our skies and our air travel-

doing in the sector have crept back in, have been given a free hand again and are operating with impunity behind the scenes. It tells you that the airline operators themselves have not been adequately kept on their toes and they, once again, are putting profit before safety. It tells you that we need to rededicate the sector to the Living God, to work hard and to pray hard. It tells you that we need to ensure that every single person in that sector, including the Minister, the parastatal chiefs, the regulators, the aviation officials and the airline operators themselves do their job properly.

he whole thing is so painful to me. Last Sunday 153 people had their lives cut short just like that in the Dana crash and I am sure that it could have been avoided. It reminds me of the darker days of just a few years ago in 2005. This is how it all started then. It was evil and it was frightening and everyone was scared to fly throughout that period. It is just that Nigerians have such short memories otherwise they would be thanking God everyday for what He delivered us from then. Just before you were re-deployed to the aviation ministry, there had been five air crashes in just one year? Yes! We had a total of 5 plane crashes in just one year and no less than 453 people died in those crashes before I came on board. After the 5th crash, which took place in Abuja and in which the Sultan of Sokoto, his son and grandson together with over 150 other poor souls perished, I was redeployed by my boss, President Olu-

segun Obasanjo, from the Ministry of Culture where I had been serving as Minister, to the Ministry of Aviation. What I met at Aviation was a demoralised and traumatised sector which reeked of death, destruction, corruption, blood and evil. What was the specific charge of Mr. President? My job was to turn things around with a very firm hand, put a stop to those crashes, introduce a series of farreaching and long term reforms, return the light of God to that sector and restore sanity, law and order to the place. My team and I worked hard, prayed hard and took on the powers that be in that sector and, by God’s grace, we achieved all those objectives. Throughout our tenure there was not one crash of either a large or a small plane. Sadly though when we left power in 2007 things immediately started to change for the worse and by 2008/ 2009 they had completely degenerated again and the evil was back. Unfortunately and predictably after we left and after the rot and indiscipline had completely returned to the sector there were three more plane crashes and two helicopter crashes. The three plane crashes were all light aircraft and there was loss of life in each one of them. This was the same with the two helicopter crashes. All this took place under President Yar’adua’s tenure. Sadly it didn’t stop there though.

here was another helicopter crash just a few weeks ago in which my friend, AIG John Haruna, and a number of others died and then there was the huge plane crash of last Sunday which constituted the 7th crash since we left in 2007. I have purposely not included the Nigerian cargo plane that crashed in Ghana last Saturday killing 10 innocent Ghanaians. that were driving past the airport in a bus because that crash did not take place on our soil. Nevertheless lives were lost there too. These crashes were all terrible but the Dana one of last Sunday was particularly horrific and really was a tragedy of monuemental proportions simply because so many people died Continues on page 11

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012 , PAGE 11

Fani-Kayode

in it and because many were killed when the plane dropped from the skies and unto their homes. Can you imagine anything more horrific than that? A plane dropping from nowhere on your house! My heart goes out to all those who lost their loved ones and to those that died in that crash and all the other crashes and my prayer is that their souls rest in peace and that the Lord, who is the great Comforter of all, forgives them of their sins and welcomes them into heaven’.

re you satisfied with the re sponse to the Dana air crash? Well like everyone else I feel a sense of deep outrage about all this and that is why I am speaking out. When something as terrible as this happens I just will not keep quiet and sit in my room and say ‘’it is well’. That is because it is not ‘’well’’. It is not well at all. If it is not Boko Haram bombing people in their churches today then it is plane crashes tomorrow. This is just not good enough. Specifically to your question I must tell you that I am not satisfied with the fact that the rescue efforts were not properly co-ordinated, that ordinary people were forced to use sachets of ’’pure water’’ to try to put out the raging fire of a crashed plane. I believe that the government did the right and proper thing by quickly declaring its intention about an investigation into the crash; by grounding Dana Airlines immediately and by declaring three days of mourning for the souls that were lost. This breeds confidence and encourages the people. I am not pleased that the Minister of Aviation gave a press conference after the crash. Why are you not pleased? If she didn’t speak Nigerians would say she kept quiet because her ministry messed up? Now she has spoken you say you are not pleased, why? Once the President visited the site and a strong team accompanied him that was it. My understanding of the procedure and the way we set it up when we were there was that in the event of a crash it is the Accident Investigation Bureau that is meant to speak to

`The consequences of indifference to air safety'

Continued from page 10

We can blame Dana for not maintaining its fleet properly, yes, but that is not good enough. It should not stop there. Other heads have to roll too. They could not have done it all alone

the public and feed members of the public with the details of the crash. Everyone else, including the Minister and the D-G of NCAA are meant to remove their hands from the whole matter and allow the AIB to take charge, begin its investigation, communicate with and relate to the public and the media and take full control of the situation. From the minute there is a crash the AIB should become the only relevant organisation to discuss the issue publicly. Obviously the Minister can express her condolences and express her regrets about what happened publicly but other than that he or she is meant to keep quiet, step aside and allow the AIB to do its job, to investigate the matter thoroughly and to tell the public what is going on.

hat is what we created AIB for and it was for such a time as this that I established it in 2007. It was meant to have a high level of independence from the Ministry and everyone else, in the event of a crisis or a crash. May be all that has changed now! Other than that I stand by the Minister at this difficult time. I could see from her press conference that she was very badly shaken by these

events and frankly I felt sorry for her. No one would want this sort of thing to happen under their watch. I believe that we should pray for her too and do our very best to assist her and her team to do the right thing and expose the truth. This is not the time to point fingers but to assist and encourage them all. However there must be no cover-ups, no scapegoating and no deceit from any quarters about what has happened. The truth must be allowed to prevail and anyone that is found to be in the least bit wanting must lose their job, resign and/or face criminal proceedings. I say this because human blood and life is involved in this matter and such speak to the very throneroom of God and it cries for revenge. And if it is not avenged and justice is not done it brings curses on the land. Another thing that encourages me is the fact that the black box was found. The contents of that black box will answer a lot of questions.

he euphoria about finding the black box almost always dies down after a while. In the past the black boxes were found yet members of the public never really get to know how the investigation went and what the findings are; why is this so? I must tell you that in practice what has happened since 2005 is that the contents of and information in the black boxes of the various planes that crashed have either been kept away from the Nigerian public or the black box itself has just disappeared or been stolen. The result is that no-one really gets to know the truth about what really happened in these crashes except for those in the corridors of power at the Ministry of Aviation. Yes! People in the corridors of power like you as aviation minister? Wait. Let me tell you what happened in the past. This is done in an attempt to hide that truth and manipulate the report. I sincerely hope that

this does not happen in this case. I am also hoping that the government will allow the American National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, which is the agency that is charged to investigate all air crashes all over the world, a free reign and a free hand to do its job to help in establishing what really happened. The NTSB is an American agency. It is expected to operate independently but in collaboration with local authorities? Its reports are always factual and accurate and as Minister I relied far more on its reports about what happened in some of the crashes that took place the year before I got there than on the reports filed by my own Ministry. That’s an indictment! Why do you say so? The things that I discovered are best left unsaid for now but rest assured that I wrote to the President and told him the truth and asked him to do something about it at that time. For example the NTSB report on the Bellview crash said some very interesting and disturbing things about what actually brought that plane down. It had nothing to do with any failing on the part of Bellview airline but there was definitely another factor which I will not go into here. The American FBI also did a preliminary report in which they confirmed that finding and recommended a criminal investigation into the matter because it was clear that there was more to that crash than met the eye. By way of contrast the reports filed by our own security agencies and the Ministry of Aviation under my predecessor in office omitted all this and contradicted it. There were also issues raised about the ADC and the Sosolisso crash that were kept from the public and I did everything in my power as Minister to have a public hearing on the matter and from there open a criminal investigation. You will recall that 60 children and many adults, including a dear friend and sister, Pastor Bimbo Odukoya, lost their lives in that crash.

wrote to President Obasanjo ex pressing my deepest concerns about these matters, including the shabby conduct of the investigation of the Bellview crash and one or two others and in fairness to him he approved my recommendations on the one on Sossolisso. Sadly though a few unscrupoulous civil servants, who had much to lose if that public hearing ever went ahead and who really hated my guts conspired against me and the President and frustrated it. Consequently we never had that public hearing and after we left power in 2007 the agitation and desire for it petered out. Quite apart from the crashes themselves what made it all the more disturbing was the attitude of some of the airline operators whose planes had crashed. Their nonchalant and arrogant posture and attitude often threw me into a rage. The truth is that apart from Kayode Odukoya’s Bellview Airline, none of the other airline operators that had suffered crashes and that had lost their passengers saw fit to Continues on page 12

PAGE 12—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012

Fani-Kayode: Why we set up AIB Continued from page 11 even pay the compensation that was due to the families of those who died under their watch that time at that time. Bellview Airline however, by way of contrast, not only paid up but they also went out of their way to do the very best for the families of the victims and to honour all their obligations to them. That is why till today I have the greatest respect for Odukoya. Some of the other airline operators were not so decent and they worked closely with some ruthless and corrupt elements within the aviation sector to frustrate our efforts to ensure safety and to stop the cutting of corners.

his was to avoid any watering down or doctoring of those reports because I was mindful of the fact that unless the truth was established about any given accident or crash we would not be able to learn the lessons that needed to be learnt and we would not be able to prevent future crashes. Oduselu is still alive and well today and he can testify to all that I have said here. Unfortunately he left the AIB just a few months ago after an excellent tenure of office as the pioneer DG for 5 years. The fact that he was not asked to stay I think was very unfortunate because the truth is that we need him and people like him now more than ever before to run that place if you want to have an honest, factual and accurate report about what happened

Fani-Kayode

ut when you talk of people be ing powerful and people frustrating efforts, the question to ask is who are they? Who do they work for? Was there no way to check their excesses? My response to people like that was to set up a new Aviation parastatal called the Accident Investigation Bureau, which President Obasanjo graciously approved and whose job it would be to investigate any plane crash in Nigeria independently of the Ministry of Aviation. We appointed a very experienced and highly recommended individual to head that agency by the name of Dr. Samuel Olukayode Oduselu and when he arrived I told him two things. Firstly I told him that I hoped that he and his agency would not have too much to do because I pray that we don’t have any more crashes but that if we did I would immediately resign as Minister because it would mean that I had failed in my duty. Secondly I told him that in the event of a crash he was not to look to me or anyone else or allow himself to be influenced or corrupted by anyone from the Ministry or amongst the airline operators whilst investigating such a crash. I also urged him that in the event of such a terrible thing happening he should send his reports not just to the Ministry but also directly to the Presidency for necessary action.

If the plane had a history of problems as is being suggested in some quarters who were those meant to inspect it and watch it closely from the Ministry and how come it was still flying? Who is the regulator

in the Dana Airline or any other crash from the Ministry. Having said all these, we still need to wait and see how the matter is handled by the Minister and the government, whether anyone will resign, whether anyone will be fired, whether anyone will be brought to justice or whether they will just try and put the entire blame on the head of Dana Airlines and brush all the relevant facts under the carpet. Dana is the Airline so where else would the blame go? May be the ministry officials or those at NCAA? Good! The question is if indeed the Dana plane was faulty or if it had a history of problems as is being suggested in some quarters who were those meant to inspect it and watch it closely from the Ministry and how come it was still flying? Who is the regulator? Who was meant to be in charge and who was supposed to be monitoring all the aircraft and airline operators including Dana? We can blame Dana for not maintaining its fleet properly, yes, but that is not good enough. It should not stop there. Other heads have to role too. They could not have done it all alone. They could not have got away with lowering their standards without some element

of official collusion, encouragement, assurance and support. We must blame others in the Ministry too and those others must resign and be brought to justice otherwise you are going to have more problems in the future. I pray that I am wrong but I am speaking from experience and from a position of knowledge.

ou claimed to have achieved a lot while in office as aviation minister yet there are suggestions in some quarters that …? I believe that we did far more than was expected of us and that it was a very successful tenure. My legacy at aviation speaks for itself and needless to say I am very proud of it. I am also very proud of each and every member of my team from those that worked directly with me at the Ministry to my parastatal chiefs and their respective teams. We installed radar in our airspace for the first time since 1979, restored the TRACON full radar coverage contract and paid for it in full (which is what Nigeria is using for full radar coverage today), curbed the excesses of the few airline operators that were giving the rest a bad name and stopped them from cutting corners, established a ‘’full compliance’’ rule of all the regulations, guided and watched the parastatals closely to ensure that they were doing their jobs properly and keeping the safety standards high, won respect for Nigerian carriers and airline operators in the international community and won many international routes for them; consolidated and increased the asset base of airlines and banned all the small old ones so that they could no longer ply our skies, banned old aircraft and stopped them from flying, commissioned the Bicourtnay MM2 airport in Lagos, supported Nigerian carriers and fought for them to be treated fairly by the international aviation community and ensured that they won many lucrative foreign routes to ply, ensured that some carriers were allowed to fly directly to Heathrow even

though the British government resisted it, put the international carriers in their place, insisted that they operated within our laws and ensured that they treated Nigerians with respect and decency; stopped the spraying of Nigerians with strange aerosol sprays like animals on all international carriers, restored and repaired Port Harcourt runway, restored and repaired the second runway (18LR) at Lagos Airport, investigated and exposed corruption at all levels and reported such matters to the President and the security agencies; appointed excellent technocrats from the private sector to take key positions in the parastatals and Ministry; ensured that ICAO placed us on the ’’Category One’’ level which meant that we could fly directly to America and other countries and that we were recertified as being ‘’riskfree’’ after being designated as a ’’death trap’’ for international air travelers for a number of years, leaving N7.2 billion of the Aviation Intervention Fund in the account when we left in 2007 and properly utilising the N3.8 billion that we spent before leaving on two runways and one other project at the time that we left in 2007 and so much more. I grounded more planes and withdrew the licences of more airline operators than any other Minister of Aviation in the history of Nigeria. We prayed hard too and I literally had an army of prayer warriors praying for the aviation sector and in all of our major airports on a twenty four hour basis.

hat was the key- hard work, due diligence, the manifestation of power and strength from the top. I also had the backing of the Living God who deemed it fit to use me and my team at that terribly traumatic time in our nation’s aviation history. Sadly as from 2008 things started to fall apart again at the aviation sector. I must say that Diezeani Allison Maduekwe tried her very best and so did Architect Felix Hyatt who came after her but after that, things fell apart. All the others were interested in was nailing Fani-Kayode and his team for some imaginary wrongdoing after that and using that to embarass Obasanjo who by that time was their perceived as being their greatest enemy. They forgot about providing safety and protecting the skies and instead they focused on me. I see plenty of cosmetic work and refurbishments going on at the airports which seem to be never-ending. I have immense confidence in Nnamdi Udoh who is the D-G of NAMA, and one or two others that are still in aviation today because they are experienced, knowledgeable and highly skilled. I know this because they both worked under me when I was Minister. Some of the things that you have said here are pretty alarming? Why are you saying all this now only after Continues on page 13

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012 , PAGE 13

`We contended with vicious blood cult' Continued from page 12 a plane crash? Why couldn’t you have said all this before and perhaps it would have helped us to avoid a crash? The vehemence with which you’re speaking now makes me ask, more like self glorification There is nothing in this interview that I haven’t said before. I didn’t just say all this on the pages of newspapers in 2008 but I said it at a public hearing before the Senate Aviation Committee headed by Senator Anyim Ude. It was broadcast live on all the TV stations then and you can still watch it from beginning to end on Youtube today. It was also carried in all the newspapers 3 and a half years ago and we took a four page advert in every single Nigerian newspaper to publish the full text of what I said at that public hearing at my own expense.

don’t know what more I could have done. I told the committee and the Nigerian public everything I knew then. I told them about the challenges we faced, the giants that we saw in the land and that we had to contend with, the dangers and inevitability of more crashes if the momentum that we had established was not sustained and about the vicious ’’blood cult’’ that existed in the aviation sector at

memories. What I have said here is not new and I have said it over and over again even after 2008 Senate Aviation Commitee Public Hearing. Please find the time to go to my website at www.femifanikayode.org and read the document titled ‘’My Mandate at the Ministry of Aviation’’ (which is a copy of the presentation that I made at the Senate Aviation Committee Public Hearing in 2008) or follow the discussions on my facebook page since 2009 and you will see all these things there.

Fani-Kayode that time which needed to be forcefully confronted with courage, dedication, vigour, discipline, prayer and hard work. Most of them understood and appreciated what we were saying though one or two of them were skeptical and they could not fully comprehend or understand it. Well now, seven crashes later and with many more people dead they are beginning to open their eyes and ask the pertinent questions that should have been asked and answered many years ago. As I said earlier, Nigerians have very short

made my contributions, did my bit and I spoke out when I felt that it was necessary to do so at the risk of my life, my family and my reputation. Sadly not many people are listening or are interested in this matter. Even after the tragic events of last Sunday I assure you that after a while Nigerians will forget again until there is yet another crash and then they will just loudly express their horror and pain again and they will lament, moan, cry and talk about it for a few weeks. After that everyone will forget about it and it will be back to business as usual. Little will change in the sector. For me that is the biggest tragedy of all. And yet I hope that I am proved

wrong because I fly as well and so do my loved ones. It is so sad but that is the truth. No one really cares unless it affects one of their own directly and that is why we are in this terrible mess. Despite all the rubbish that has been going on and all the lives that have been lost in the 12 fatal crashes that we have had since 2005 not one person from the Ministry of Aviation has been publicly queried, reprimanded, sacked, resigned or brought to justice as a consequence of any of them. Does that not seem strange to you? Can anything really change if that continues to be the order of the day? There is no deterrent and there is no fear of any sanction so everyone just keeps misbehaving.

hat is essentially the problem of the Nigerian Aviation sector. May God help and deliver us all and may He ensure that we do not have anymore of these horrific crashes. Curiously every single one of these crashes took place on a weekend. On either a saturday or a sunday. Why is that? Is it a mere coincidence? Is there not more to this and is God not trying to tell us all something? The truth is that it is time for drastic change and for the watchers of Christendom to rise up in prayer. The Muslims must pray too. Sanity must be restored. This blood bank that some have turned the aviation sector into has to be completely destroyed and dismantled before more people are killed in mindless and avoidable accidents like the one we witnessed last Sunday. May God help us all!

Between the NTSB Report and aviation ministry’s gambit Continued from page 9 Meanwhile, the report of the NTSB, which was “established in 1967 to conduct independent investigations of all civil aviation accidents in the United States and major accidents in the other modes of transportation, participates in the investigation of aviation accidents and serious incidents outside the United States in accordance with the Chicago Convention of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS)”, never saw the light of day because of the noted disparity. That was not the only instance. Sunday Vanguard was also reliably informed by another ministerial source that the “Sosoliso crash of Saturday, December 10, 2005, may have been blamed on weather but the real reason people died was because there was no water hydrant at the Port Harcourt Airport". The source added: “Contracts had been awarded but the hydrants were not in place and, therefore, when the fire began engulfing the plane there was no water to use in stopping the fire”. In the instance of the Bellview crash report, it was leart that “once President Obasanjo was made to understand that the preliminary report of the C M Y K

investigation into the crash suggested a “low incendiary device”, he insisted that further thorough investigations should be carried out for fear of creating panic. In fact, the NTSB report was said to be immediately treated like a security document. Again, the report by the aviation ministry contradicted the NTSB report. Therefore, Sunday Vanguard was informed, “it became a bit difficult to release two reports of the same air disaster with different conclusions”. In the area of complicity, it was gathered that most of the operating airlines in Nigeria today, “have the backing of very influential and powerful people and some of them are in government”. In fact, prior to the multiple air crashes in the country in 2005, officials of the aviation ministry saddled with the responsibility of investigating air disasters “ were not doing a thorough job hence the very poor state of safety standards in the country”. Interestingly, President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a committee to probe the incident. This may actually be a joke. Competent sources in the sector told Sunday Vanguard that all over the world, platitudes and engagements

that suggest mere posturing are not applied in getting to the root causes of an air disaster. Rather, it is the Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, seeking support of and working in collaboration with the NTSB, that is saddled with the effort.

The committee that has been set up has Group Captain John Obakpolor as chairman. The committee, fears are already being expressed, would be operating under the shadows of the Aviation Ministry. The country awaits the report of the committee.

STANDARD PROCEDURE FOR AIR CRASH INVESTIGATION

he investigating Go Team’s immediate boss is the Investigator-in-Charge (IIC), a senior investigator with years of NTSB and industry experience. Each investigator is a specialist responsible for a clearly defined portion of the accident investigation. In aviation, these specialties and their responsibilities are: OPERATIONS: The history of the accident flight and crewmembers’ duties for as many days prior to the crash as appears relevant. STRUCTURES: Documentation of the airframe wreckage and the accident scene, including calculation of impact angles to help determine the plane’s pre-impact course and attitude. POWERPLANTS: Examination of engines (and propellers) and engine accessories. SYSTEMS: Study of components of the plane’s hydraulic, electrical, pneumatic and associated systems, together with instruments and elements of the flight control system. AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: Reconstruction of the air traffic services given the plane, including acquisition of ATC radar data and transcripts of controller-pilot radio transmissions. WEATHER: Gathering of all pertinent weather data from the National Weather Service, and sometimes from local TV stations, for a broad area around the accident scene. HUMAN PERFORMANCE: Study of crew performance and all before-theaccident factors that might be involved in human error, including fatigue, medication, alcohol. Drugs, medical histories, training, workload, equipment design and work environment. SURVIVAL FACTORS: Documentation of impact forces and injuries, evacuation, community emergency planning and all crash-fire-rescue efforts.

PAGE 14—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012

Nigerians Don’t Crash; We Bounce (1) The question of Randomness and the crash of DANA Air flight 9J -992

BY YEMISI OGBE

aptain Bode Olubiyi was my Uncle. He died on the 20th of April 2012. He had been ill for three years. In the stretch of his career as an airline pilot, he had flown for most of the major airlines in Nigeria: Nigerian Airways, Okada Air, Chachangi Airways, Virgin Airways etc. His career spanned over thirty years in flying Nigerians on Nigerian planes. I was of the opinion that he had impeccable instincts where his job was concerned. But from his change of employment from one airline to the other and his temperament, one could deduce that he was not the model employee. He was known for speaking his mind often to his own detriment. On various occasions, he refused to fly a plane because he knew the history of the plane and he resented being asked to risk his life and the lives of those in his care. He resented enough, was strong enough to refuse to fly and consequently bear seasons of unemployment. On more than one occasion, he got the sack for refusing to fly an airplane. He was regarded as a crank, suspended often yet no one that knew him doubted for one second that he knew his job in and out and that he was a good pilot. It was a contradiction that his family was often impatient with. On the 29th of December 2004 on route from Port Harcourt to Lagos, the Chachangi Boeing 727 with registration number 5N BEU which he was flying developed technical problems. The nose wheel gear of the plane failed to eject. There were 81 people on board as well as 6 crew members. His experience in both navigating the faulty 727 and checking the emergency situation, saved the lives of 87 people and earned him a commendation...a signed piece of pa-

old -hand. He had been coaxed out of retirement, offered a lot of money to fly the plane for Wings Aviation. (4). Wings Aviation had no flight plan for Obudu. (5). Obudu was not an area in which a pilot could rely on his instincts no matter how good they were. The mountains over that whole area, the wind strength and velocity, the unpredictability of the weather, necessitated a flight plan. It was a necessity. Your instincts would fail you. It was mostly about the mountains: One minute you would be comfortably flying the plane, and the next you would be slapped against the side of a mountain, and there the story would end. This was the long and short of it in layman’s terms. (6). Aero contractors “ were” (are possibly) the only fliers who have a legitimate flight plan for the Obudu terrain. They paid good for it and in the Aviation sector it is an edge. The “allegedlys” became more terrifying. (7). The pilot’s body had been sighted outside the plane.The other two were probably inside the plane. I called my husband to give him the details. He made some calls. Then he called back. It was a fantastic story.

On various occasions, he refused to fly a plane because he knew the history of the plane and he resented being asked to risk his life and the lives of those in his care. He resented enough, was strong enough to refuse to fly and consequently bear seasons of unemployment

per from the Minister of Aviation. I saw it hang on the wall. The plane crash-landed at Murtala Mohammed Airport that Wednesday night on its belly barely avoiding the usual sparks and fire. The story was more glamorous than the shabby commendation hanging on the wall.There were many thanks given to God, many references to miracles. And above it all, the inevitable question-mark hanging over the condition of the airplane and whether the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority had its acts together.

had known Captain Olubiyi for most of my life. He met and married my mother ’s sister when I was a toddler. Our conversations about Nigerian Aviation began not because I was interested in airplanes but because Wings Aviation Beechcraft 1900D (5N JAH) belonging to James Ibori, managed by a suave Nigerian pilot Captain Nogie Meggison who had earned his stripes in the industry disappeared off the radar on the night of 15th March 2008. The plane was on its way to Obudu Cattle Ranch to pick up the Executive Council members of Cross River State Government. It was a private charter organised to take the Exco members to and fro their yearly retreat. The plane made the “to” leg, flew back to

Lagos, and on its return at the end of the retreat to take the Exco members back to Calabar, it disappeared. The records state that it contacted Enugu ATC at 7:45pm and at 8:00pm on route to the Bebi Airstrip in Obudu. It had left Lagos at about 7:35pm. Minutes after 9:00pm that night, I received a call from my Uncle, Captain Olubiyi. He wanted to know if my husband was with me. I responded that he was in Obudu at the retreat.

e asked if I had spoken to him. I said I had in fact just spoken with him. In that case he said, he could unreservedly tell me that the Wings Aviation plane that was on its way to pick up the Cross river state executive council members and the governor from Obudu had crashed. I argued with him that there was nothing on the news about the crash. It was a bit premature to conclude that it had crashed. We would have heard something. He became impatient with me. It was of course a naive statement. I allowed him to speak: To voice what at the beginning I classified as inordinate “allegedlys”: (1). The plane had crashed. (2). The wreckage of the plane had been sighted by helicopters belonging to the Accident Investigation Bureau. (3). The pilot was an

he Nigerian Aviation Authorities could confirm that the plane had gone off the radar but suggesting that they could confirm that the plane had crashed and that they were covering up a crash was going too far. It was out of the question. Matter closed. For the next couple of hours, I occupied the tense space between the two people; calling one, and then the other. Trying to tie the possibilities into something coherent. With every detail my uncle offered, my husband became more annoyed and impatient. My uncle on the other end was giving out information that you didn’t offer, not ever in a country like Nigeria. A country of intrigues. 7.The plane was owned by James Ibori and James Ibori was a powerful man. He was one phone call from the NCAA and a good friend of the president. As fantastic as the story was, he could indeed buy a whole industry ’s silence with the promise of a few hundreds of thousands. What is the price of a live person in Nigeria?What is the price of someone who has died? What is the price of three crew members who are already dead anyway? My uncle stood his ground, so did my husband. Our conversations continued over the next couple of days. On the night of the 15th, the media conceded that the plane had disappeared. On the next day, the 16th of March, the NCAA confirmed that the wreckage of the plane had been found at a village in Yala Local Government in Cross River State. Later, the confirmation was retracted. It was some sort of mistake. A strange sort to my mind. But we continued to follow the media. My uncle insisted that the plane had in fact been found the night it crashed. OGBE WAS A COLUMNIST WITH NEXT

To be continued next week

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 15

•Human Genetics and the Designer Baby. Photo: article.wn.com

Genetically engineering a human

EOPLE have been seeking to create designerbabies for centuries. Character and trait selection hasn’t always been done using scientifically proven methods but it has been around for as long as the human race has been procreating. In many respects, human nature seeks to choose those characteristics which we find most attractive. So what needs to be discovered to enable the parents of the future to sit down with their catalogue and tick the hair type, eyes colour, nose shape, and talents and maybe careers boxes of their desired offspring? Several methods that have been used to try to ensure the sex of the baby include: Sperm Sorting ,PreNatal Diagnosis, Traditional Methods, and Pre-Implantation Diagnosis which entails undergoing In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment. An unfertilized eggs will be removed from the women, fertilized in a petri dish and then brought to a zygote at which point cells are removed and tested using a technique know as Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis or Selection (PGD/PGS). The same technique is more commonly used for testing for specific genetic disorders. There are different arguments. Against designer-baby o parents have the right to predetermine the characteristics and traits of their offspring? Does the society have a responsibility to control the use of PGD

as a tool of eugenics? Eugenics is the science of improving ‘good’ human heredity characteristics; in other words, selective breeding? Who gets to decide what’s good and what’s bad? How far should we be willing to go? Many disability rights groups and bioethicists have taken up the debate arguing that people with disabilities should not be seen as a group who should be eliminated from society. They argue that to decide that people with disabilities are not ‘normal’ is to attempt to alter the diversity of human life and to take away from society a sense of caring and consideration. They see the use of pre-natal and PGD testing as a form of discrimination. Further, many people argue that a number of the genetic conditions that are being tested for are conditions that do not produce symptoms until later in life and that, with proper medical treatment, people with some conditions can live full lives. Now, of course, some of the genetic disorders that are tested for are indeed horrific and can reasonably easily be justified as candidates for PGD but if we see these diseases, at one end of a continuum, and then diseases of later life, at the other end, who should be in the position to decide the cut off point and how will societal pressures affect those making such choices? For designer-baby Sometimes we choose the partner we wish to live with, someone who has the features we like,

someone we approve of, has traits or characteristics we desire in our children. Now this process does not necessarily take place on an wholly conscious level but lets not fool ourselves into thinking it is all pure chance. Certainly, in prosperous societies, we have few qualms about modify, ourselves to suit fashion, desires and happiness using plastic surgeries. Why is it now so odd that we should desire to imbue our offspring with such things?

ithin the realms of current scientific capabilities, creating a truly designed-baby is simply not possible; some knowledge exists as theories and some experimentation with animals has taken place, but, so far, to the best of our knowledge, no-one has dared to attempt to genetically design a human. So what needs to be discovered to enable the parents of the future to sit down with their catalogue and tick the hair, eyes, nose, and talents boxes? Now, we know that the formation of the human is a highly complex process of interaction and interweaving and not simply a case of take this gene and change it. Scientist will need to do a lot more work on identifying and isolating the specific genes that control the growth and development of each individual feature, trait, characteristic or talent. Then they will need to work out how to alter the DNA so that the child matches the tick boxes.

PAGE 16—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012 died before the appointed time. I personally miss Professor Sofoluwe for several reasons. I will certainly miss his kindness and consistent encouragement. Prof.usually sent me in-

Man as a being-towards-death: An essay in memory of Prof. A.B. Sofoluwe his death, I, Prof. H.O.D. Longe and others siting nearby enjoyed some banter with him at the Senior Staff Club.As usual, I reminded Prof. that as a graduate of Edinburgh University where the great atheistic philosopher and sceptic, David Hume, studied, he should not be so passionate about Christianity. I drew his attention to

The entire university community is already missing his bonhomie, his good sense and indefatigable commitment to service

wondered, who would fill the vacuum he left? Ijeoma had met the late VC a few times; on each occasion she was impressed by his humility, kindness and infectious sense of humour. Prof. Sofoluwe’s sudden death is one of the most painful experiences I have had in recent years sometimes I still have to remind myself that my oga is really dead. Indeed, some hours before

the book I gave him in February entitled The God Delusion, written by Prof. Richard Dawkins. The late VC replied that the ideas I was supporting are “ very dangerous.” One day, he said, I, Douglas Anele, would repent and “accept Jesus as my lord and personal saviour.” After a few more pleasant exchanges Prof. asked me to see him the following Wednesday. Sadly, he

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Life changing occurrences

IFE changing oc currences are those events that change the course of history; they are catalysts of change and signal a turn in destiny; the beginning of a different era. They become a part of history such that time is chronicled as pre or post their occurrence, they tend to affect perception and change how people live. Natural disasters, wars and disasters are a few of those occurrences that has changed life for different people over time. The loss of a loved one, a benefactor or friend qualifies as life changing since the terrain of reality changes thereafter. Last sunday will go down in history as one of the darkest in the history of aviation in Nigeria. For those directly involved it was a life changing occurrence. It was a day where we woke up to the news of a nigerian cargo plane crashC M Y K

ing on to a bus killing all those in it in neighbouring accra. Later on, a passenger plane also crashed into a heavily populated area of Lagos killing all on board and so many on the ground. You could say something was in the air if there wasn’t already bloodshed on land as a tanker heavily laden with petrol had earlier exploded on a motorway outside Lagos killing scores of road travellers. I would not class June 3rd 2012 as a great day; it was a day when horror unfolded in the digital world; with ghastly images travelling round the world at the speed of light. It should have been a sleepy sunday as my only agenda was sleep and food. It was going as planned till my phone rudely interrupted my sleep around 3:40pm. It was my secretary shouting and saying something about a plane tak-

ing a part of her mother inlaw’s roof as it crashed a few houses away. It seemed a bit far fetched and I had tried to verify but for close to an hour nobody knew what had happened. All television stations went on as normal and it was only a security contact that was finally able to confirm the news. Like everyone else who heard the news I did a quick head count of all my loved ones and began the agonising wait for the manifest. By now I should mention that a friend of mine was confirmed on board and I had been trying frantically to reach him on the phone. It was switched off. A life changing experience is one that breaks perception and opinions; it could be negative or positive. The one that occurred this past sunday was negative; very much so. It was eventually confirmed that I knew 3 peo-

teresting materials on the philosophy of science and the history of computer. He persistently reminded me that I have the intellectual resources to be a Professor:he encouraged me to publish myresearch papers in international journals. Prof. Sofoluwe related to me like a caring elder brother, and I am profoundly grateful for his concern for my career upliftment. He was the most humble, down-toearth and compassionate of the six VCs I have encountered at UNILAG since 1984. The late VC was so nice that, even if he refuses your request, especially if granting it would be detrimental to his reputation and integrity of the system, he would do so in a very gracious and sympathetic manner. Prof. Sofoluwe was a man of peace and a team player, amiable but seriousminded as well. He loved UNILAG so much. In his statement of vision and mission for the university entitled Sustaining UNILAG as a University of First Choice, (also known as the Blue Book) Prof. Sofoluwe outlined his game plan for consol-

o start with, Prof. So foluwe was a sincere Christian. However, despite his imperfections as a human being, I believe that his humane qualities qualify him for heaven, if there is any such thing and if there is life after death. Christians assume without question that the righteous (such as the late VC, I suppose) will enjoy eternal life with Jesus in paradise, whereas unbelievers like myself will be perpetually roasted in the sulphur and brimstone fires of hell. Well, apart from the fact that belief in heaven and hell does not have any scientific foundation whatsoever, evidence from the relevant biological sciences tends towards rejection of belief in immortality. The literature on death and what happens afterwards is intimidatingly huge. But none contains incontrovertible evidence pointing to immortality of the

ple on the plane and my spirits were low. I had sat down a day after looking into the disbelieving eyes of my friend’s daughter and I didn’t have the words of comfort to give her. You see she wasn’t looking for sympathy, she wanted me to agree with her that he could not be dead and that with God all things are possible!! He had promised to be her

ries of the victims are pathetic and heart wrenching. There is a lot of huffing and puffing but we have been here so many times that we know not much will come of the threats and promises from the authorities. There is palpable fear in the air, the skies are not so safe but Sunday proves that neither are our homes!! Some people like me, had the same

destination I saw a number of people gathered in small groups discussing in mournful voices. Forty minutes later, after condoling with few members of the Sofoluwe family present, I went home. I broke the sad news to my spouse, Ijeoma, and she was overwhelmed with sadness. Now that my amiable mentor has gone, she

N a cool Satur day morning of May 12, as I was jogging along the Health Centre road, University of Lagos, Mr. Adebule, a senior administrative staff of the university parked by my side and beckoned me to come. When I got to him, he requested in a very solemn voice that I should enter his car. I asked him why, and he told me that my friend, the Vice- Chancellor, Prof. Adetokumbo Sofoluwe, died around 12 midnight. Immediately I sat down in a state of suspended animation, unable yet to absorb fully the devastating impact of the terrible news I just received. According to Adebule someone called him to break the sad news, and he was on his way to the Vice-Chancellor ’s Lodge. Despite my sweaty and dishevelled appearance, I accompanied him to the Lodge. On our way I was (unrealistically) hoping that somehow the news would be false, that perhaps Prof. Sofoluwe had defied cardiac arrest and was still alive. However my hopes were dashed, because on getting to our

idating the position of UNILAG as a primus inter pares among universities in Nigeria. He was making steady progress, but unfortunately death did not allow him to complete the noble mission he formulated in the Blue Book. The entire university community is already missing his bonhomie, his good sense and indefatigable commitment to service. Now, the death of my dear egbon provides a wonderful opportunity for me to say one or two things about belief in life after death without the illusory consolation of religious superstition.

A life changing experience is one that breaks perception and opinions; it could be negative or positive

date at the prom and in her words “My Daddy never breaks a promise”. I could attest to that; he was a great husband and father and his family meant everything to him. I was torn between a hopeless desperation that there was a faint possibility that she could be right or the grim reality that no one on board survived that crash. This beautiful girl had suffered a life changing occurrence just like other relations of the victims of the crash; the consequences of which will be felt for many years to come. So here we are again, another crash!! The sto-

agenda of food and sleep but were sent to their graves by a plane that fell out of the sky. My melancholy on thursday was interrupted by a message forwarded to me by a friend. It was the opinion of an expatriate and it is worth reading; its an indictment of us all!! ”All their indifference and mad obsession with their own self interest will ultimately come to haunt them. A lack of integrity in all sectors of their lives means that all processes are compromised. Police lending out guns, doctors operating for the sake of the costs associated with it, officials selling free donated drugs

soul – in fact the idea of ‘soul’ as a disembodied spiritual entity is irritatingly unclear. Moreover, belief in immortality is based on the fear of death and uncertainties about post-mortem existence. Clearly, each multicellular organism, including man, must die at a certain point in time, sometimes after producing offsprings. Therefore, the phenomenon of death and the need for survival necessitate evolution, which means that evolution contradicts belief in immortality - for why would any organism evolve, reproduce and adapt to the environment if it has a component which lasts forever? Given the incredible continuity in evolutionary progression from amoeba to Homo sapiens, at what point did biological systems acquire an immortal soul? Belief in immortality and religion stem from the same psychological source, namely, fear of death, fear of the unknown and obstinate refusal to accept the fundamental precariousness and transitoriness of human existence. But the earlier we understand death as theabsolute and ultimate termination of an individual human life the better for us, because it is on the basis of that understanding that we can truly appreciate the inescapable uniqueness and preciousness of the gift of life from our parents by giving our existence authenticity and meaning in the context of man’s ontological finitude and temporality. meant for the poor, fake medicines being made, no emergency response because contracts awarded and never executed! Teachers selling exam papers, people importing fake fuel! Soon, their buildings will be falling, bridges will collapse and yet they will still continue to smile and praise themselves for being able to navigate this hell they have created for thems e l v e s ! After the Dana crash, I listened to them, not a statement about the ills that have created this crisis, not a single appreciation of the scale of the social ill that engulfs them! Tomorrow they will all go about their normal lives, cheating, lying and looting! Come friday/sunday, they will pray for the deceased and in particular that they themselves do not enter a plane destined to crash!” What a people!! I don’t know who this expatriate was but the truth of his indictment is plain to see. We can blame the government for our plights but they are a product of this society; a reflection of each and everyone of us. Something has got to give and it had better be soon, life changing events that are this negative should not be the norm.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2011, PAGE 17

OR a nation so heavily depend ent on export of crude oil, our greatest fear should have been a global recession substantially reducing the price of crude because that would take us back to 1983-86 when the price of crude went below $15 per barrel. Today, we will be in dire straits if it fell below $90. The revolution so glibly invited by some leaders of thought will occur sooner than they think. Open any of our newspapers today and you would think that the most urgent danger to our collective survival is either Boko Haram or the reinstatement of Justice Ayo Salami or the renaming of Unilag or fuel scam or pensions funds embezzlement or Jonathan’s 2015 ambitions. Grave as these matters are, they however pale into insignificance compared with the real calamities gathering over the horizon, and, all inexplicably, ignored by governments and the political opposition at federal and state levels; civil society groups and even leaders of thought and seminar organizers. The Nigeria Economic Summit Group, NESG, that collection of billionaires concerned with only the interests of billionaires has not considered it important enough to organize a workshop to address it. Neither has the ultimate decision making body in Nigeria, the Federal Executive Council, FEC, turned its attention to them. Yet the monsters threatening to consume us faster than all the rest are right on our door steps. The mother of all the dragons at the door is the gradual and unrelenting collapse of the price of crude oil on the international market on account of imminent global recession. This time

The political opposition invariably has no credible plan to improve the situation because they too have become machines for seizing power in order to loot the treasury

last year, the price of crude oil was hovering over the $140 per barrel mark and volumes were up. On Sunday, June 3, 2012, the day the Dana Airline plane dropped on buildings at Iju, a suburb of Lagos, killing more than 150 people, the price of crude oil also fell on top of Nigeria to $98 per barrel or a 30% plunge from last year ’s high. It was the lowest level in 16 months. And while the aircraft tragedy affected only a few thousand individuals, and the damage has more or less been contained, the crash of crude prices has not abated; it is still going down and with it all the promises by governments at all levels and in all the states continue to plummet. This is one tragedy which will spell doom for all 165 million Nigerians; young and old; Muslim or Christian; poor or middle class or rich; employed or unemployed; male or female; urban or rural dweller; and irrespective of the party in power in any state. Actually, the fact that neither state nor federal governments had addressed their minds to how Nigeria will cope with crude selling for under $75 dollars per barrel, which is becoming a distinct possibility, reflects how badly we are being governed today. Everywhere, governors and the president are more concerned with politics than economics which is deteriorating and for reasons, admittedly, outside our control. At the federal level, the persons I had expected would be shouting from the roof tops include our World Bank alumna, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Coordinator for Economic Management, CEM and Lamido Sanusi, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. Certainly, they both know the dire consequences of such

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a drastic fall in the price of crude oil which is imminent; and that given the economic turmoil in the United States, Europe, China and Japan, Nigeria is becoming increasingly vulnerable to the global downturn without the safety net of internal gross revenue generation which would cushion the impact of under $80 crude oil. To state that we are in trouble is to understate the problem. That large segments of our country would be devastated is more like the predictable result. Even the woman running a cafeteria knows that she is in deep trouble if the customers responsible for ninety per cent of her income are laid off or have their salaries slashed. Well, the US, China, Japan, India, and Europe which together account for ninety per cent of our exports are set to start importing less crude oil. Gross Domestic Productivity, GDP, growth in all those countries is almost certain to plummet to less than half of what they were last year and with that global demand for oil will drop drastically. China and India, which for several years grew at more than ten per cent per annum will shrink to less than five per cent; Japan to less than one per cent and Greece, Italy and Spain will lead Europe to negative territory. When that happens, all the governments of Nigeria will be unable to meet their obligations; neither recurrent nor capital expenditure targets will be met and our complaints about infrastructure deficits, atrocious health and education will fall on deaf ears; insecurity, now alarming enough, will take a disastrous turn for the worse. Instead of one deadly menace called Boko Haram, we will face a million and one gangs of toughs menacing us as jobs, already hard to find, will become impossible. No government will be spared; so nobody will escape the catastrophe. The question is: are our governments prepared? The answer, sadly, is: not at all. In every state the focus remains still on politics; the political parties in power want to hang on at all costs because most of their top officials have no other means of subsistence than sharing the national cake. The political opposition invariably has no credible plan to improve the situation because they too have become machines for seizing power in order to loot the treasury. Certainly, none of the parties has alerted Nigerians to the looming danger. Compare this with 1982, when the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, leader of the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, warned the government of President Shehu Shagari that a dangerous economic down turn loomed. Everybody in the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, including Professor Edozien, an economist and the Chief Economic Adviser, ECA, to Shagari, denounced Awo. Well, the recession came, the price of crude tumbled from $20plus to less than $15 and a military coup took place. But, even military takeover did not stop the downward trend; it finally reached $9.95 under Babangida leading to the Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP, and several years of painful adjustment. The economic, social and political corrupt practices which SAP brought about are still with us today. Most especially was the destruction of values which had made Nigeria, once a promising world power, a basket case. We still struggle till today to regain the straight road but we do so lacking a sense of history. Few of the members of the Federal and States Executive Councils were old enough or close to the corridors of power to remember what happened then.

Five stages of grief: The Dana crash and countless of others DENRELE ANIMASAUN FROM LONDON

Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.-VACLAV HAVEL HE crash of Dana Air flight 0992, which killed over 160 people on Sunday in Lagos, came right of the blue( I mean it is not like we expecting to hear of air crash though one has occurred flying from Nigeria to Ghana). It was actually more closer to home because it was closer to home, the family home was not far from the Dana crash site. You do the usual; call everyone you know at Lagos and in Abuja, then your thoughts turn to those who were on the flight. I looked on line to get an update. It was carnage. The lives lost on board and those on the ground ran into over 150 and still counting. Although Nigeria’s air safety record has improved in recent years, the country has a history of major passenger plane crashes - this is the fourth crash in the last decade in which more than 100 people each were killed. The BBC’s Will Ross in Lagos says although some could still be buried under

Quarreling on our collective graves

We are aware that we have been receiving substandard service and treatment and yet we wait for divine intervention

the rubble, so far the emergency teams have found six additional bodies - a remarkably low number given that it is a densely populated city. An NCAA investigation into the cause of the crash is under way, and both the flight data and the voice recorder have been recovered. Then as the story unfolds, you read that the fire brigade’s hose had inadequate water to doze the fire so resident were using buckets. I checked my Face book page to find there were people close to the crash site who were updating us. Then of course, there were conspiracy theories and recriminations. That the airline put profit before people, that the plane was not up to standard; that aviation ministry has incompetent and under qualified personnel; that money to improve fleet was diverted. “(The aircraft) was not supposed to leave Lagos at all, but it left and then got to Calabar, had fault and it was fixed. And then they took it to Abuja, when they should have returned to Lagos but because they didn’t want to part with the little money they will make; they took it to Abuja, loaded full passengers, and then it couldn’t get to Lagos.” And of course, it dredged up so many failings in the public and private structures, many of it justified. One of the recurring reactions from some the FB pages, blogs was the flurry of condolences, they identified friends and family. They also made it more close to home as they were people with families, friends who then put pictures to faces. Then this rammed it home even more so. Something alarming emerged amongst the outpouring of emotions. Those who repeatedly call for readers to pray for

Nigeria, that Nigerians aren’t praying enough. They need to fast and so on. Then the ones laying the blame on the corrupt government, politicians the incompetent officials. Then there was the blame the Diasporas for bad mouthing Nigeria rather than offering solution. There were lots of opinions in diverging camps. In the midst of this we lost focus about the crash and loss of lives. I am afraid, I lost it! I was not alone but I had to respond, so respond I did . I explained to these readers that about time we got up from our knees and pray with our feet; that we cannot expect to be docile and helpless in a matter such as this. We need collective intervention. About time people took their hands off their mouths, ears, and eyes! Apathy, helplessness, hopelessness and general fear has crippled our nation while some frozen at the spot where they pray. Others work towards progress while they pray, you see God is everywhere and he listens. I felt that we have been so apathetic for so long in the way that we deal with anything, everything. We are aware that we have been receiving substandard service and treatment and yet we wait for divine intervention. If Rosa Parks was Nigerian, am sure she would not have got up for a white person to sit, because she feels that she should pray and before she then act. Her decision inspired a young man ,Martin Luther King jr, to mobilise like minded people of different shades and persuasion to make change. And they said then it could not happen but it did! This small but brave changed a whole generation and we feel the gift even now. Martin Luther King Jr. quoted: We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. And he also said: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbour will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others” Well, I for one, put in my six penny’s worth. I did explain that the ills of Nigeria needs collective intervention not divine intervention, after all, God helps those who help themselves. I was perceived by the “pray for Nigeria brigade “as someone who had no faith. I believe in God and I know that God has nothing to do with what happen on the fateful Sunday. The weather was good, the plane was close to the airport when it radioed in that there was engine problem. As far as it has been established, the plane had some repair issues. On Monday, President Goodluck Jonathan declared three days of national mourning and promised improvements to air safety after he visited the plane crash, with the Governor of Lagos. In the space of four days I have observed that some people have gone through David Kessler & Elisabeth Kübler- Ross’s the five stages of Grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance . It seems that people have undergone some mass hysteria, some of warranted and some misplaced. Let me explain for the shock, there was recriminations, anger and fear , hopelessness. We have become so weather worn, emotionally battled scarred ,so traumatised that we have lost the means to cope with life and loss. What happened last weekend has been tragic but also there have been a series of incidents in Lagos within a short space of time , the Dana Crash was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

PAGE 18—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012

madalla bomb blast of last December for instance, a woman who lost her husband in the incident was assured by a top government official who paid her and her kids a condolence visit that government would spare nothing to bring the killers of their bread winner to book. Of what use is such stereotype communication to a bereaved family? Although such visits have a humane dimension, this column reiterates its earlier point that the visits amount to nothing other than governance by condolence. This is be-

URING the tenure of Tafa Balogun as Inspector General of the Nigeria Police, there was the famous anti-crime strategy known as “Operation fire for fire” which was designed to check the upsurge of criminal activities at the time. Tafa was passionate about it and his administration made much effort to impress its efficacy on the people. Now and again, the Police drew attention to how they returned fire for fire every other day in a gun battle with men of the underworld. Unfortunately, neither the victims nor other residents in the affected area of the acclaimed gun battle saw any battle involving the Police at the time of the robbery. Instead, people usually heard sounds of Police fire only after the robbers had concluded their operations and had since left the scene. Those who lost their bread winners in the operations are later consoled with the assurance that the Police were getting better positioned by the day to meet criminals, fire for fire. Painfully, the story did not change with respect to our recent experience of incessant bombings in parts of the country. During the

doubt that our security agencies have made some efforts of recent to secure the nation but their efforts are essentially ‘ wisdom after event’ schemes which have to give way to proactive strategies that can prevent problems rather than seeking to cure them after they have impacted negatively on the people. The way we panic over different disasters seems to suggest that post mortem is our hobby as a nation. Assuming that it is the guerilla warfare nature of criminals that prevents us from overcoming bomb-

Of what benefit is the black box to the passengers, their families and those killed in the house into which the Dana aircraft crashed last Sunday?

cause society would have been the better for it had government made it a priority to create an enabling environment for employment for our teeming youths so as to dissuade them from crimes instead of paying solidarity visits to victims of those crimes. here is however no

ings, armed robbery and kidnappings, how do we explain the nation’s attitude to natural disasters. In February last year for example, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) warned that there would be surplus rains in the year which would result in coastal flooding and ero-

The plunge of the Dana flight

ELESTINE Onwu liri – “Papauwa” – his oldest and closest friends called him, was a brilliant scientist and a committed public servant. He had served as a Commissioner in the Imo state government under the military, and later as ViceChancellor of the Federal University of Technology in Owerri. He had been my uncle’s contemporary as students in the Sciences at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in the early 1970s – he in the Biological Sciences and my uncle in the Physical Sciences. I got to know him at a different level as a student at the University of Jos, where Dr. Onwuliri – as we always knew him – was already a rising star as a research scientist and professor in the Life and Biological sciences, alongside a coterie that included the likes of Agina, Ekwenchi, Akueshi, and so on at Jos in those years. He was avuncular, personable and collegial. His wife Viola – now the honorable minister of state for Foreign Affairs in the current government – was actually a junior lecturer in Biology then and in Graduate school, but also taught the required General Studies Science to freshmen at Jos. It was a young and adora-

ble family, and we had a number of reasons to visit the Onwuliri home socially and notinfrequently at the Faculty and Staff Housing on Bauchi Road; sometimes with my friend Aloy Ojilere, now a Lecturer in Law at Imo state University, when we accompanied his cousin, E.C. Nkemdirim, who later became a Professor of Biochemistry at the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna, but who was working then for his doctoral under the guidance of Onwuliri; or sometimes to visit Eddy Onwuliri, a thorough gentleman, upon whom we imposed from time to time. Indeed, an amusing incident involving Viola Onwuliri and our late friend, Dike Achuko, rather early in our freshmen orientation week at Jos, did emphasize for us the admirable confidence, trust, and ease –that the Onwuliris modeled for us. In all those years, Dr. Celestine Onwuliri remained a kind and thoughtful mentor, especially to many of us from his neck of the wood coming to Jos.It is exactly a week today, when tragedy struck again at the heart of Nigerian aviation, further traumatizing an already fragile national psyche. The Dana flight from

Abuja plunged from the skies of Lagos, down unto a residential building in the Iju neighborhood in the surrounds of Lagos. Among the dead from that crash was Professor Onwuliri, who had not too long ago served out his time as ViceChancellor at FUTO, and had been appointed to the Nigerian Universities Commission, for whose business he was on that flight. It was a difficult call I made to Eddy Onwuliri last week at Abuja to speak about C.O.E Onwuliri in the past. It is a call I’ve found too difficult to make to my friend, the honorable Ike C. Ibe, one time Speaker of the Imo state house of Assembly in the Third Republic for the terrible loss of his wife and daughter. Long before she became Echendu Ibe, she was Echendu Okwulehie – the loveliest girl in town in Umuahia of my adolescence. She was my muse. Her breathless beauty had provoked me to poetry. As the news of the crash began to stream into the wires, my heart lurched from her misspelt name: the Dana manifest registered her as ‘Echeidu Ibe” – but there was a Maria Okwulehie and a Jennifer Ibe, right between that name, and it was in that moment I

knew by some strange instinct that this may be Echendu among the dead. Very recently, Ike had been blogging from Abuja, about the complexities of relocating to Nigeria and re-inserting his family into its social orbit in Abuja. In one of those blogs, he did mention the challenges his daughter Jennifer faced; the irreconcilable values that was thrust upon her from growing up in the United States and now attempting to fit into the profoundly disconcerting realities of Nigeria. But Jennifer was making a good go at it. I’d made a promise to myself to pay a surprise visit to Ike and Echendu one of these days, whenever I was in Abuja. I’d seen Echendu last in 1998, when I was visit-

Post mortem as a national hobby

sion in several parts of the country. We did nothing until heavy flooding a few months later nearly sacked places like Ibadan and Lagos which were among areas specified by the agency as likely to be affected. In Ibadan, some 102 people made up mostly of children and elderly women according to the Nigerian Red Cross perished in the disaster while the nation’s premier university in the city lost valuable irreplaceable items worth over 10 billion naira to the floods. In Katsina, the state emergency relief agency confirmed the loss of a whole village and its crop fields to the flood while 2,000 persons were rendered homeless. In neighbouring Jigawa State, flooding reportedly submerged 25 villages, displaced 7,000 people and washed away 3,000 hectares of crops. In Cross river state, flooding destroyed houses and farmlands worth more than N600 million destroyed. All of these could have been prevented or minimized if only we had listened and acted on the warnings of the experts Air disaster which is our latest source of worry cannot also be distanced from the same factor-the nation’s love for post mortem. Last Sunday, a commercial airline flight crashed into a densely populated suburb of Lagos. The accident which killed no less than 160 people is easily the nation’s worst air disaster in recent years. President Goodluck Jonathan immediately declared three days of national mourning and ordered an investigation

into the cause of the accident. He was indeed at the site of the crash with some members of the National Assembly. Later at the Federal Executive Council meeting, which was dedicated to the crash issue, the President set up a nine-man panel to probe the accident and undertake an immediate review of domestic airlines as well as the total auditing of every aircraft registered in the country. The panel which has six months to submit its report is also to assess the financial health of airlines operating within the country and outline actions to be taken to improve air safety in Nigeria. The President then made a solemn promise that “I assure all Nigerians and the international community that the investigations which I have ordered will be very thorough. Let me warn that where clear dereliction of duty is established, firm action will be taken.” ll these are no doubt good moves. The only A snag is that there is nothing new about them. We have heard them for more often than is rational. Another thing that normally plays itself out like a ritual at a time like this is the fervent search for the black box of a crashed aircraft. Again, while nothing is ordinarily wrong with that, it however calls for some questions. First, of what benefit is the black box to the passengers, their families and those killed in the house into which the Dana aircraft crashed last Sunday? Second, if the arguwith that day in 1998, sleeping peacefully on Ike’s shoulder, was Jennifer. She had her mother ’s looks even as a child. It is all now in the past, as it is for many others, including Livi Ajuonuma, who lit many a Sunday noon on Television with pure gaiety long before he went to the NNPC as its chief spokesman. I never knew the Anyaenes, but this young family was wiped out of the face of the earth in one fell swoop. The dimension of the current tragedy is vast and spectacular, and yes, as the attorney Sonnie Ekwowusi said on a Channels TV program, a single aircrash takes unquantifiable emotional and economic toll on Nigeria. This is particularly true of this DANA airline

No doubt this crash puts a fresh highlight on issues of both aviation safety and public safety

ing in Maryland, where they’d been living after Ike Ibe moved to exile in the US following June 12. Echendu and Ike had come to see me at a friend’s place in Silver Spring, and it was brief, and a lot of time had passed between us. I’d teased her on adding some weight, and I’d made a promise that I’d visit them at their home whenever I was in the DC metro area. I never had the chance to keep that promise. Ironically, that lovely bundle of a child they came

crash. It is happening at a moment of deep national uncertainty and disillusion. The more notable part of Ekwowusi’s statement that raised my hackles indeed, is the testimony that he had written to complain about the condition of the Dana plane the week before. He had traveled in it from Abuja. It felt rickety and unworthy to be in the air. So, the question: was the Dana plane air worthy? Who certified it? According to preliminary reports, the pilot, already cleared for landing

ment is that the box can throw light on the cause of the crash and thus assist us to prevent future crashes, how have the black boxes of the previous crashes of the ADC, Bellview, Sosoliso etc helped the nation? Indeed, what have we done with the reports of previous probe panels on air crashes in the country? While searching for the answer to the question, I ran into a statement credited to Princess Stella Oduah our Minister of Aviation “ that all the reports of past air crashes, the Sosoliso, ADC, etc are ready and when we get the proper approval to release to the public we will do so”. Well, am yet to know who is to give the minister proper approvalis it the African Union? Who set up the panels and who received the reports? These, no doubt, are questions that can create credibility problems for government. Thus, rather than rely on leadership to take appropriate actions people violently air their suggestions. ne Niger Delta group showed this during O the week when it, on its own, decided that Dana air should be out rightly banned from Nigeria. The group alleged that the same airline’s aircraft which crashed last Sunday, had due to loss of hydraulic, made an emergency landing at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Lagos on May 10, 2012. If this allegation is true and the regulators did not call the airline to order at that time, what is going on now is fruitless post mortem. had put out a “may day” miles from the airport. But planes do not just fall from the sky in such manner. Soon talks began to float that protocols that closed the airspace for the first lady had something to do with the tragedy. The government quickly put out a statement denying this. No doubt this crash puts a fresh highlight on issues of both aviation safety and public safety. For one, the aviation minister who choked with tears publicly last Sunday has promised a thorough investigation. Secondly, Mrs. Onwuliri, her ministerial colleague, in one stoical moment has said of her late husband, “the aspect of his death that pains us most is that someone like him, who did his work with utmost dedication, had to die due to the carelessness and greed of others.’’We must quit all the talk and get some action for a change. Images from the rescue operation point to a severe lack of technical ability on the part of the emergency services in Nigeria. The violation of the incident scene by a crowd, and even the picture of a long line of people hoisting the water hose that piped water to the flames is reflective of a terrible level of inefficiency and disorganization. There is a need to build up, retrain, and re-orient emergency services protocol and personnel. There is real evidence that many victims could have been rescued alive, had emergency services been more equipped, efficient, and rapid. These deaths, and the facts, choke me to tears.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 19

Mother’s choice not my ideal! Dear Rebecca

AM a 28 year old man. Some months ago, I wrote to my mother, to tell her that I want to get married soon. A few weeks ago, I returned from work to find my junior brother with a girl sitting by my door. On questioning him about the girl, he disclosed that the girl was a wife sent by my mum. I have a girl from Kano State that I want to wed. Although she is a stammerer, she has all the qualities that I need. The girl from my village is good-looking and hardworking and that was why my mother chose her for me, but she does not have the qualities that I need in a house wife. What should I do? John, Abuja. REPLY

ven though many of us would not want to marry people our families, particularly our parents do not approve of, gone are the days when parents have to choose partners for their children. We all have different tastes and needs, and a partner that suits your brother or friend may not suit you at all. Usually people consider looks, jobs, educational qualifications, and good connections when looking for a marital partner. While these may be desirable, individually, we have things we would like a marital partner to possess. This may be politeness, cleanliness, the ability to cook well, the ability to be friendly and humorous, etc. A person’s character is more important in marriage that his or her job, education, good looks, etc. Look out for kindness, good morals, courtesy and politeness, friendliness, a sense of humour and a good sense of responsibility, among other qualities. The ability for a woman to contribute to the financial running of the home, is essential too these days where there’s a lack of security of most jobs. It helps if incomes come from both husband and wife. Unless, you

earn so well that your wife doe3sn’t ever need to work. Even then, for a woman’s self-respect, she shouldn’t be totally dependent financially on the husband. Now, since you are the one going to live with whoever you marry, you should make the choice. However, it is advisable to listen carefully when our parents say anything about our choice. This is because when we are in love, we tend to be blind to our beloved’s faults, or we think that after marriage, our love will change them. This is not always possible. You consider criticisms carefully and find out if they are justified. Let your girlfriend meet your parents first before you go ahead with marriage. Your mother probably did not know that you have met a lady you want to marry, hence she sent you a girl as soon as you told her that you want to get married. Send the girl back home with your brother, with a letter explaining your situation. Don’t be tempted to have sex with her before she leaves, as that may be seen as a sign that you like her and want her in your life. That’s apart from the fact that one once could make her pregnant, and that would complicate things for you and the lady herself.

Girls keep disappointing me! Dear Rebecca

’M 25 years old. Ever since I was born, I never dated two girls at a time. I date them one after the other; trusting, basing my hopes on her, but they keep disappointing me. I’m all alone. What do I do? I don’t have the mind to date any more. From Abuja Fct. REPLY

ou come across as someone frus trated and dis-

I love your column Dear Rebecca

udos to You!I love your column. I just read the 25th March, 2012 edition about “in love with bother’s girl” story and I love and respect the way you handled the issue. It is very upsetting for Feyi, but at the end of the day, it’s not worth the stress of a feud with a brother over a girl. With time he would move on. Thank you for advising him acc o r d i n g l y . Pam, Asaba REPLY

hank you very much, Pam, not just for loving this column, or commending

us for the way we responded to a reader’s problem on March 25th, but most of all, for taking the trouble to write in. Not everyone would find the time to do this, or want to do it. No human being knows it all and we always say on this page that we merely offer suggestions that may help our readers decide what to do in a particular situation. Even though no-one has complained yet all these years that our suggestion worsened his/her situation, we are always pleased to know that we hit the right mark in solutions proffere d . We’re encouraged in our work here, when we’re commended. Have a nice day.

appointed about relationship with members of the opposite sex. In short, you’re allowing your whole happiness and the reason you’re alive to be dependent on another human being. I sympathize with you, but it’s very wrong to run your life that way. Even if you were born with other people at birth, as a twin, triplet, etc., you still have your own life. You’re not hinged onto another person’s life to the point that you can’t function well without the person. It is wise to love, but we shouldn’t base our total happiness on that relationship alone. This is because as human beings, we can always fail one another. A good relationship is of course a part of our life and happiness, but handle it in such a way that your life is not finished if that relationship doesn’t work out well for you. There should still be other aspects of your life, worth living for. You didn’t mention anything about what you’re doing - whether studying, learning a vocation, working, etc. Your work or future career should mean more to you now than a relationship with girls, because that’s what will define how successful you are in life. Having a girlfriend is not a qualifica-

tion with which you secure a job or admission to institutions of higher studies. It shouldn’t be your only ticket to a happy life. Serious relationship with girls should come after you’ve done something about your career. Before that time, you make friends with girls just as you make with boys. That is, casual friendship with the purpose of getting to study and understand girls more. If you’re not ready for marriage now, you don’t need a special girl friend. That means, you shouldn’t agonize about a relationship with girls. Even when you’ve started dating seriously with marriage in mind, you go cautiously. You form a good friendship with the girl first, then when you find that she has the qualities that you would want your wife and the mother of your children to have, you can then approach her and ask her to be your girlfriend. This shouldn’t be awkward because you’re already good friends. In fact, girls always know when a boy who is a friend wants them as a girlfriend. If a girl refuses, don’t get upset. Continue being friends with her as usual, and don’t become angry when you

see her with other boys, or even a boyfriend. We all have our preferences. The sensible thing to do then is to become a friend to her friends if she moves with responsible young people. That way, you’re enlarging your circle of friends. You will then turn your attention to another girl. Sometimes, a girl who is your friend, but who doesn’t want to become your girlfriend, might help introduce you to a girl she feels could be right for you. As your friend, she knows your likes and dislikes and can match you u p . I suggest you shelve the desire to have a special girl now, concentrate on your future career, and make casual friendship with several focused and responsible girls. As you interact more and more with the girls around you on ordinary friendship basis, you will relax in their company and understand them better. It could be that you’re too serious in the relationships you’ve had, right from the beginning, or perhaps you ask for sex, or go about showing that you own those girls that they don’t last. You need to relax and go for ordinary friendship for the meantime.

•All letters for publication on this page should be sent to: Dear Rebecca, Vanguard Media Ltd, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria. E-mail: dearrebecca2@yahoo.com

PAGE 20 —

SUNDAY Vanguard , JUNE 10, 2012

0808 066 0660 (Texts only!)

“All I’m doing is helping my sister keep her marriage together!”

AMILY comes in handy when you have problems you think are insurmountable. During the last general strike, a few of the staff made it to the office – out of boredom, I’m sure. What’s more, their houses are a few minutes’ walk to the office. There was nothing to do really, so we just sat down and nattered, discussing everything under the sun with particular emphasis on relationships. “How many marriages do you think can survive without sex?” Shot Augusta, one of the participants on a sandwich course from her banking job. “Dunno,” I told her. “Quite a few do, but for short periods only. You can not really be happy is a sexless marriage can you, what would be the point?” The following day, I was really surprised to see her. None of the others showed up and it would have been a good opportunity for me to catch up on the backlog of files I had to go through. Seeing I was more interested in encouraging her to leave then settle to another gossip session, she told me she urgently needed my advise. “It’s my brother-inlaw” she sad when I arched my brow. “My sister is six years older than me and although we were very close when we were young, I was a bit jealous of her as she got to do everything way before I did – like goin gto discos, having boyfriend and

knew I wanted him badly. I wasn’t thinking about Leila now – I was more interested in her gorgeous husband and how desperately I needed to be close to a male body. He lifted me unto the bed leaving me no time to undress. Pushing my clothes up and aside, he climbed on top of me. Afterwards, I was in a daze. The sex had been amazing. Why on earth didn’t Leila want John to love her like this?

wearing grown-up clothes. By the time I was old enough to do all those things, Leila my sister was already married to John, her childhood sweetheart. With time they had two boys. I was at her place on a Saturday when she opened up to me one time. As she talked, she kept her eyes fixed on my face. Was she expecting a reaction? She continued: ould you believe I W no longer find sex interesting? My sister confided in me as we shared a bottle of wine. I love John, ofcourse, but I hate it when he touches me.” I didn’t know what to say. I was a bit embarrassed. I mumbled something about a low sex drive being common for a while after having a baby. But her youngest was four and I urged her to give it time. That the desire would come back. But it didn’t. It was then I realised they had a serious problem. Wasn’t John frustrated? “Leila shrugged. ‘He must be,” she admitted. ‘I wouldn’t really blame him if he started having an affair.’ ‘He’d never do that!’ I replied, horrified. John was handsome, trustworthy and easy-going. Most of all, he really loved my sister. As time passed and they stayed together, I assumed they’d sorted out their differences. Until one night at one of our friend’s

left shortly after, I couldn’t face my sister returning to find me in

30th birthday party. Leila had come alone leaving the children with John and their new maid. We had a bit to drink and I began moaning about being permanently single and how I missed not having regular sex. hat doesn’t bother me T at all, ‘Leila shrugged. ‘You and I are different that way – you love sex, I don’t. ‘What?’ I gasped, my mouth dropping open, ‘you mean you’re still celebrate?’ ‘I haven’t had sex for three years,’ she told me, ‘and I don’t miss it.’ I couldn’t get my head round it. This was no phase. Leila had obviously settled for a sexless marriage. I wondered how

The breath and health tie

C M Y K

cate thoroughness of the exhalation. Breathing in or out, the mostrils must remain passive. There should not be any sniffing sound. The breath is felt at the back of the palate, not the nostrils, even though, of course, we breathe in and out through them. Simply INBOX put, in deep breating, the chief point of contact between breath and the organism is the back of the palate also known as the pharyngeal area. Now that you know what deep breathing constitutes, practise by taking half a dozen deep breaths as you. He relaxaed on your back. Deep breathing can also be practised in the sitting position, either cross legged or on a chair but the spinal column must be held very straight without strain. This becomes possible with time when the muscles learn to support an upright

posture effortlessly. Yet, another way to practise deep breathing is when you walk. You can breathe in as you take, say, eight steps and breath out with the next eight steps going on for a few times. In all these, we have considered the

EEP breathing is nothing mysteri ous. We all resort to it intermittently during sleep. This fact makes deep breathing elemental and, possibly by it, we can establish some contact with the outside forces of nature. Learning to consciously breathe deeply is made simple when you set out to simulate sleep. You lie flat down with no tension in any part of the body, you relax the eye lids such that the eye s are partly open. Place a hand on the lower part of the stomach. Soon you realise that there is a rising and falling of the hand brought on by inhalation and exhalation respectively. Now,during conscious deep breathing, you follow nature, only you take in a lot more air than you do when you’re asleep. The dipping of the hand must be so low to indi-

In deep breating, the chief point of contact between breath and the organism is the back of the palate also known as the pharyngeal area

two basic aspects of respiration inhalation and exhalation. But there is a third

John could cope with that. Men need sex. Had he gone elsewhere? et every time I visited Y their cosy flat, Leila and John seemed so happy and relaxed together, so in love. Then one day, a few months on, I called round to see my sister and John answered the door. He was wearing just a towel round his waist as he was in a hurry to get the door. ‘Is Leila in?’ I stuttered, looking at his rippling muscles. ‘No, she’s taken the kids to a kiddy’s birthday party.’ But he urged me to come in and wait as they’d soon be back. So I stepped through the narrow door, having to slide past him. My body

phase which has to do with the retention of the breath-in between inhalation and exhalation. What you do, is, take in a deep breath slowly and then hold it for about 3 to 5 seconds, and then breathe out equally slowly. Inhalation, retention and exhalation make one round. Five to ten rounds will do initially. Then, you can do more with time as your lungs get used to this mode of breathing in full wakefulness. The following are some positions for deep breathing. The Cross Legged Pose: Technique: With both legs stretched out in front of you, bend the left knee and place the left heel placed under the right calf and then bend the right knee placing the right heel under the left calf. Fold the hands in front or place them on the thigh, whichever feels most comfortable. Keep the back neck and head very streight and commence deep breath-

brushed against his bare skin, still wet from the shower and I cringed. But John pat my bum as he shut the door family. I turned and stared at him quizzically. Like a flash, he pulled me towards him and kissed me passionately, clasping me against his damp chest. “It never occurred to me to stop. I hadn’t had sex for ages and it felt so good. When he pulled away, I suddenly realised I was snugging my sister’s husband. But he was looking at me with such hunger and sadness. Deciding he needed love and passion in his life like anyone else, I let him take my hand and lead me to the bedroom. He throw off his towel and I

suich a state. As I left, I felt guilty, excited, horrible and wonderful! Next day, John texted, suggesting we met up and I asked him to come to my flat. The inevitable happened and it’s been happening ever since. I’ve tried to resist it. But in my heart, I feel as though what I’m doing is helping my sister by keeping her marriage together. If John didn’t come to me for sex, he might start an affair with a stranger, might fall in love and decide to leave my sister. But I’ll never steal Leila’s man away from her. I’m just giving John the passion he needs. Wouldn’t any sister want to do what’s best for her family?!” What kind of an answer would you give to a question like that? She was happy eating her cake and having it. Only time will tell if she gets away with it!

ing. Leg Raise: Technique: Lie on your back with the feet raised up and placed against a wall. Interlace the fingers, and resting the back of the head on them, breathe in deeply for about 10 times in this position. When you’re done with your practice, the next step is to lie flat down

* Leg Raise

INBOX and remain still, quiet and relaxed on your mat for a few minutes. This is to allow the body to soak up what you’ve just done and also afford the body a bit of proper rest of body and mind.

Yoga classes at 32 Ademola Adetokunbo Victoria Island, Lagos 9.10am on Saturdays

SUNDAY Vanguard , JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 21

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

08056180152,

SMS only

Caught in the manipulative grip of a scheemer!

few of you read ers have pleaded that I should treat problems that their youngsters could relate to. From time to time, I’ve tried to do that. So when recently, I got this piece from my e-mail, I jumped at the opportunity to share Roy’s problem with my younger readers. As common as his dilemma is, what rings true is the adage: None are so blind as those who can’t see. “I am 23, currently dating a girl of22,” he wrote: “We attended the same secondary school and that was where I first set my eyes on her. We developed a friendship. Before we started dating, a lot of water passed under the bridge which I must confess left me confused. We met way back in 2005; then we were both in SS1, and we developed affection for each other but none of us was ready to make the first move, yet we were very good friends through thick and thin. 1 remember one Friday night she sneaked into the boy ’s dormitory to see me when I was seriously ill. She was a prefect and a day student. So it was a daring stunt as it spelled expulsion if she’d been caught. “Others who knew what was really happening were of the opinion that I’d lost all hopes of dating her since she was a very close friend to me. There’s a myth that dating a close friend is impossible. March 2005 to be precise, I asked her out but she didn’t accept neither did she decline. She didn’t even ask for time to think about it like most ladies do when they want to stall. She just found out ways to throw me off track and I got the message. There was a day she made a statement; “There’s a very

thin line between best friends and lovers.” I was disappointed but didn’t make a fuss. I loved her so much I was willing to be patient. There was also the fact that she’d once been broken hearted. “Our friendship grew and we wrote our final exams (WAEC) that same year, during this period, we were always together, enjoying each other ’s company. This was helped by the fact that we lived in the same locality. Getting admission into a university was an uphill task, so it was not until 2009 that she got admission in one of the leading universities. I wasn’t that lucky so I had to settle for a predegree programme in one of the Eastern universities. Before then, I’d relocated to Abuja. It was hell coping without her nearby and vice versa. We spent lots of time on the phone and missed each other greatly. The holidays were blissful because we got to see each other and caught up on issues, but at a time, things started going haywire. I learnt from her that she had a current boyfriend and to be honest, I was blindly jealous. I dated none because she was the only one I ever wanted (and still want) it was so painful but what could I do? It wasn’t as if she didn’t love me. “She did. I guess you’re wondering how I knew that. Body language was a major factor. Also, I visited her in school and she had my photo taped to her mirror. But the million dollar question was, why was she doing this? I got mad and in retaliation, I asked a girl out from our old school who I was not in love with. I guess she knew that too. Then I informed my friend. I guess I did that because

OUR column to express your loving thoughts in words to your sweetheart. Don’t be shy. Let it flow and let him or her know how dearly you feel. Write now in not more than 75 words to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, P.M.B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E.mail: sunlovenotes@yahoo.com Please mark your envelope: “LOVE NOTES"

Echoes of love I look through my lonely heart, I see distant echoes of love. I surf through my mind, I imagine the happiness love would have brought my way. I look C M Y K

I wanted her to feel the pains I felt (she later confessed to have felt jealous). Well, things got on and she started having problems with her boyfriend. It turned out he was a chronic player. Of course, this was an opportunity to get her, but I didn’t want to. I tried advising her, telling her to sort things out with him, even when I was hurting inside. “The next year, I got admission to study abroad and I paid her a visit at school. I informed her and I must say she took it hard, she found it difficult to come to terms with it and she was a wreck. I stayed with her for five days so I knew. The first night, we talked throughout the night. We spilled our hearts to each other and she admitted that she had always loved me. That was when she told me the horrifying tale (in tears). “In her first year in school, she had accommodation problems so her parents entrusted her to a neighbour’s care who also schooled there. She was squatting with him until she could get her own accommodation. One night, he raped her! She was a virgin! That much I knew. According to her, she had

grand dreams of saving it for her husband. So she had to stick to him. Meaning she had to date him. She was desperate to keep the relationship, so whenever he demanded for sex, she had no choice. So that’s how he turned her into his sex toy. She admitted feeling used but then, it was too late. They broke up soon after. This was when she broke down and wept and I had to console her. I stayed with her for five days but I had to go home. She was almost through with her examinations but she had a pending practical, she left the paper to go home with me against all resistance from me. “We got home and then everything changed. I told her I’d broken up with my girlfriend, and we started dating. But I’m scared, it’s not as if I actually broke up with the other girl. We sort of drifted apart and right now she’s gpt hold of my number and I think she wants me back. Besides, everything is wrong in my relationship with my old girlfriend. We argue all the time but that wasn’t

around me, I see love,potentially,but not for me,with me. I wish I have the one to love. I wish you are the one. I wish you are here with me, I wish my tears are for love and joy. I wish I can be loved like I love. I wish I'm in love. Stan Stan. stanfeelings@gmail.com 07035709315

My indispensable Angel I love you very much. If your load is too heavy for me, I will never drop it down, in fact let it break my neck...... am ready to go the extra mile for you. Always know that I love you more than words can say.... much kisses to you, to you, I mean only you. Omor Ville omorville@gmail.com, 08062486549

My dream woman

how we started. It was blissful in the beginning. The guy in question (her ex) bought her a phone but she lied to me. She told me it was borrowed from a friend. I found out the truth from a mail he sent to her. We exchanged passwords to our mail addresses. She admitted lying to me but attributed it to fear, she said she was scared of telling me because she was still dating him. But he still comes around begging her to accept him back. God! I’m so confused, she doesn’t even tell him she has me. She claims to be protecting me. “Thinking about all these brings out these questions in me; before “the beast” (I chose to call him that) did what he did to my first love, he must have shown interest or asked her out earlier so; did she date him before? If she did, did she spur him on then lost control and decided to chicken out, thereby inciting what happened? Is she trying to cover up? Why did she decide to date me? Was it because I was about to travel abroad? etc. “These are questions I

need answers to, but I don’t know how to go about them. I don’t want to hurt her feelings. But she can be very jealous at times. The option of travelling abroad fell out and I’m yet to gain admission but she’s in her final year. She doesn’t flaunt it. Besides, our sex life is pretty bad. She’s not romantic at all. She’s a drama queen when it comes to bedroom antics... She grudgingly prefers oral sex. I know she’s suffering from her past trauma. But it’s been two years and we’ve dated for one year six months, and 22 days. Isn’t this enough, time to get over it? I want the chance at a normal life with her. I need some advice, that’s why I have poured my heart to you. I like the way you handle people’s problems. You’re the only one I’ve confided in and I will be very very grateful if you could help me out. It’s presently 1:45 a.m. and you can guess, can’t you? I’ve got insomnia. And I can’t continue like this. I’m so hurt inside I don’t know what to do. So what do you think? Please help me”. The earlier Roy moved on from this tender trap he’s fallen into, the better he couid make a stress free life for himself. His so-called girlfriend had had sex not once, but several times with a man she claimed raped her. Yet refused to make love with this supposed love of her life. She’s lied about everything, including her feelings for him. She obviously enjoys this cat-and-mouse game she’s playing with him. He simply has to free himself from her clutches and walk ... He should then give himself a lot of years to plan a future he’ll be proud of before embarking on another serious relationship.

With you, every talk is majestic and every touch magnetic. I hear the beats in your chest & feel the heat of your breasts. You are my discrete musical scion, my sweet-sweet mystical onion. Oh enigmatic queen, reach out to your dream man. He longs to kiss your lips. He longs to be your king. Chibueze Ngene kingkoboko.wordpress.com 08020501373

My Love You are so near, so dear to me. Do you really love me? as for me, I do. I have put all the egg of my love into your hands, please don't ever let it fall down; If you do know that you have hurt the greatest part of my body, and that part can not be easily heal. I love you very much, please accept this simple heart of mine and love me the way I have love you. Kiss!! Kelechi Ndubiusi (KC) kconeofafrica@gmail.com, 08032900530

PAGE 22—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012

Perhaps, Aginighan’s most valuable contribution to the development of the N-Delta is his selfless commitment to peace brokering and building enduring bridges of friendship amongst the diverse ethnic nationalities of the N-Delta and Nigeria

struggle, paid glowing tributes to PZ in a press release issued in Lagos. He described PZ as a blessing to the present and future generations of Nigerians. The Niger Delta Youth Movement (NDYM), an umbrella body of Niger Delta youths, in a statement by its National President, Comrade Godspower Odenema, said the recognition did not come as a surprise. “We have it on record that PZ courageously demanded the release of the funds owed the NDDC by the Federal Government even while he was an employee of government. His vocal campaign for dialogue as against the military option in addressing the Niger Delta question is public knowledge”. Saint Vincent’s College Okwagbe Entry Class 71 spoke through their President Mr Daniel Obruche Siloko. He wrote: “It has not come to us as a surprise that you made this rare honours list. Your integrity has never been in doubt right from our college days. Over the years, you have proved to be like gold which comes out purer with every passage through fire. We celebrate with you for this remarkable recognition which gives a promise of hope for a nation that is passing through one of the most challenging moments in her history”

Prof Steve Azaiki,OON and many others. The United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy (UNDEDSS), in statement signed by Prof Pat O. Utomi and Mr Tony I. Uranta, President and Secretary-General respectively, stated: ‘As we celebrate this well-deserved recognition on our compatriot, we heartily congratulate our dear Odudu, for standing tall as one of those very rare gems in Nigeria, a Nigerian technocrat and civil servant who reached the pinnacle of public service, and still was officially and publicly acclaimed as blemish-free’ The National Coordinator , Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG) Comrade Joseph Evah, the fiery mouth-piece of the Niger Delta

The Arogbo Ijaw Youth Network, Ondo State also acknowledged PZ’s contributions to the improvement of the quality of life of the peoples of the Niger Delta. The body in a statement signed by its National Public Relations Officer Mr Ofoyeju Pereboh wrote: “The inclusion of Pastor P. Z. Aginighan does not come to us as a surprise considering his doggedness, never-say-die attitude ……. which he exhibited during his days as Ag Managing Director and later Executive Director, Finance and Administration in the Niger Delta Development Commission”. There is only one deduction one can make from these tributes. Aginighan truly merits the recognition. Dime lives in Port Harcourt.

Aginighan, Ijaw and the Niger Delta BY FESTUS DIME

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF A former NDDC chief in the eyes of his people.

IGERIA is not lacking in men of substance. They are everywhere. They stand out in the crowd. Pastor Power Ziakede Aginighan, fondly called PZ, is one of them. He rose through the ranks in the public service to the top. He started off as Accountant Grade II at the College of Education, Warri before joining the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Commission (OMPADEC) as Assistant Director of Finance and was later absorbed into the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Aginighan became the Acting Managing/CEO of the NDDC in April 2009. Before then, he had, at different times, been Deputy Director, Finance and Supply and Executive Director, Finance and Administration. He retired from the career public service after 29 years of unblamished service. His academic background must have prepared for the robust public service. He attended Rivers State University (then College) of Science and Technology. Aginighan is an Associate Member of Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM), Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria, ICEN (2010), Fellow of Institute of Public Management of Nigeria (2011) and Fellow of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (2011). Perhaps, Aginighan’s most valuable contribution to the devel-

opment of the Niger Delta is his selfless commitment to peace brokering and building enduring bridges of friendship amongst the diverse ethnic nationalities of the Niger Delta and Nigeria. He was the moderator of the cease fire peace conference by the Warri Ijaw/Itsekiri Grassroots Peace Front held at Warri Club under the auspices of the Joint Military Task Force in June 2004 which marked the formal end of the seven years of hostilities between the Ijaw and the Itsekiri of Warri. He initiated the peace process that led to the end of the bloody conflict between Ogodobri in Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State and Ekeremor in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State in August 2003 by affecting the return of captives of war from Ogodobri to Ekeremor. Aginighan used every opportunity he had as Ag Managing Director of NDDC to appeal to the erstwhile Niger Delta freedom fighters who were in the creeks to press for better living conditions for their peoples to lay down arms and embrace the olive branch of the Presidential Amnesty that was extended by the late President Umaru Musa Yar ’Adua. It is symbolic that his tenure as Ag Managing Director ended on the 6th of August, 2009 when the Amnesty Proclamation took effect. Currently a member of the Governing Council of The Apostolic Church owned Samuel Adegboyega University, Ogwa, Edo State, PZ Aginighan, an ordained Pastor in The Apostolic Church Nigeria and happily married to Amerikaere for 30 years is blessed with four boys and three girls. It is view of his contributions to his community and the larger society that Aginighan was recognised recently as a Distin-

guished Nigeria of Merit in a publication in Vanguard Newspapers. The recognition elicited excitement from far and wide. Ijaw National Congress (INC), the umbrella body of the the Ijaw within and outside Nigeria, in conjunction with the Ijaw Elders and Leaders of Thought Forum, reacting to the recognition in an advertorial published in Vanguard Newspapers, said: ‘’ To our son PZ Aginighan, you have creditably served the Ijaw Nation in several capacities from your days as a Student Union activist to the present day. You also served the Nigerian nation for 29

VIEWPOINT

years as a career public servant from College of Education, Warri to OMPADEC to the NDDC without blemish before your retirement from service. We are delighted that you have been recognised for forthrightness, modesty, courage and integrity with which you rendered service in various top management positions in the Niger Delta Development Commission”. The advertorial had the endorsement of Ijaw National Leader and Elder Statesman, Chief Dr Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, OFR, CON, the Ag President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Chief Joshua Benamaisia, Chairman, Ijaw Elders and Leaders of Thought Forum, Senator Amatari Zuofa and foremost Ijaw Elders throughout Nigeria, including Justice Adolphus KaribiWhyte, CON, CFR, King(Dr)

Edmund Daukoru, Mingi XII, King Alfred Diete Spiff, Seriyai II, OFR, DF, JP, HRM Ebitimi Banigo,Okpo XXI, OFR, Alabo Tonye Graham Douglas, Admiral Festus Porbeni, rtd mni, CFR, Chief Albert Korubo Horsfall, OFR, Professor Rev C A Dime (Founding INC President), Chief Joshua Fumudoh (Former INC President), Professor Kimse Okoko (Former INC President), Chief (Dr) M T Akobo, Ambassador Lawrence B Ekpebu, OFR, Professor Turner Isoun, OFR, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo, Justice Francis F Tabai, CON , King A J Turner , Obigbo Mikimiki I,

Between UNILAG and MA-U: What’s in a name? BY ONWUKA ANTHONIA

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF Adamant positions on the renaming of a university

HERE has been so much noise and arguments for and against the renaming of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, as Moshood Abiola University, MAU. For those who are against the renaming, their grouse is that UNILAG is a brand name and, therefore, changing its name would affect the brand. They also argue that the late Chief MKO Abiola, who was denied the opportunity of being declared the winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, fought for democracy and died in detention; so, he should have been honoured with a democratic or a national institution since Abiola’s effort was a national effort. They say he should have been honoured with the National Stadium, Abuja or the University of Abuja. Those who say there is nothing wrong in changing the name from UNILAG to MAU insist that if MAU was the original name

and was to be changed to UNILAG, people who are today opposing the name MAU would equally oppose the name UNILAG that is described as a global brand today. In fact, they say UNILAG is very befitting for Abiola because it is a global brand and democracy, too, is a global issue. To them, the cry that Abiola was never honoured since the return of democracy in 1999 was too bad such that any attempt by anybody to honour him should be seen as a welcome development. Some have even come out to say that renaming UNILAG after Abiola is not enough at all considering his contributions. The consolation is that the opposition to the new name is gradually receding. Although the university has been closed because of students unrest which erupted immediately the change of name was announced, it is expected that by the time the students return, peace would reign. Interestingly, one of the reasons some students claimed they are opposing the name is because of the prestige that they claim comes with the name. They say Oxford University and Cambridge University in Britain remain citadels of learning in their excellent form. They then ask why the British

government has never thought it fit to rename Oxford University or Cambridge University after its late war-time Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. They also point to the University of Texas that continues to retain its name. And then they equally ask why this university was not named after John Fitzgerald Kennedy, JFK, who was killed while in office as America’s President. But in all of these, based on reports about the concern of the students, it is more about resistance to change and the fact that Abiola did not die yesterday or last year. If the renaming had been done immediately after Abiola’s death when his contributions to democracy were still very fresh in the mind, it would have had more impact. Most of the students who are protesting today were either not born or would be in primary schools in 1993 or even 1998 when he died in detention. The significance of the name and the contributions of Abiola is obviously lost. But away from the seriousness of the issue! Nigerians have been coming up with very funny names about universities that may be renamed and what the names would sound like.In fact, the creativity of Ni-

gerians in this direction is very interesting. Nigerians have already started renaming universities in their own way and the list is very funny. Not just the names of the university but the acronym made out of the proposed new names sound like something from a comedy

VIEWPOINT

Most of the students who are protesting today were either not born or would be in primary schools in 1993 or even 1998 when he died in detention

show. For instance, University of Port Harcourt, if renamed Patience Ebele Jonathan University, would become PEJU. They say since some people who are dead are being honoured, the University of Ilorin, Unilorin, can be renamed Abdul Karim Adisa Memorial University, which would then be tagged AKAMU.

University of Jos, Unijos, can be renamed Yakubu Gowon University, and that would become YAGO. Ogun State University, Ago Iwoye, would become GBEDANU, if renamed Gbenga Daniel University. Federal College of Education, Owerri, would become DAMSEL if renamed Dieziani Allison Maduekwe School of Education. The Lagos Business School, LBS, if renamed Ngozi Okonjo Iweala School of Economics, would become NOISE. While no insult is intended, this approach to renaming institutions brings a funny side to a very serious issue. And although President Goodluck Jonathan has declared that there is no going back on the new name MAU, the students of former UNILAG are yet to come to terms with the new name. In fact, it is pronounced MA-U and not MAU. Even at that, none of the pronunciations appear attractive in the estimation of the students when compared with UNILAG or LAG as they prefer to refer to the University of Lagos. For now, the students are home. And the President says MA-U stays. Onwuka is an HND II Mass Comm Student of the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 23

Why Edo PDP leaders went to Jonathan —Imasogie BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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Owere Dickson Imasogie Central. And you are also aware that even after that Oshiomhole intimidated those traditional rulers in Edo Central to come to Government House and adopt him again, even after they expressed their support for the PDP. So since he decided to take his case to the Enigies, we are also not wrong taking our own case to the Enigies and other traditional rulers. But we are happy that the Enigies have started realizing that Oshiomhole is using them and, very soon, some of them will not be staying in their domain because of this their partisan politics which they are not suppose to. Why blame the Enigies because they are under the Oba and the Oba is backing Oshiomhole’s second term based on his performance in his domain; why is the PDP crying over that? The Oba is our father, he hardly goes out but it is the propaganda by Oshiomhole that his royal majesty is listening to. We go out and we know that

Owere Dickson Imasogie is a former Vice-Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State and now a leader of the party in the South senatorial district. In this interview ahead of the July 14 governorship in the state, the PDP leader says his party is fully ready for the poll. He declares that Edo belongs to PDP and gives the reasons PDP leaders went to Abuja to see President Goodluck Jonathan. Excerpts: The forthcoming election is about five weeks from now, what are the chances of your party and why the so much tension in the state? There is no tension on our side, the tension is being caused by Governor Adams Oshiomhole and his ACN. All along, we have said that this is a PDP state and we are going to prove that this state belongs to the PDP. In 2007, we won massively but the court gave it to Oshiomhole; so we want to reclaim our mandate. And if you will recall, it was Edo South that gave Oshiomhole that victory and that was why when I was asked by a reporter why PDP performed woefully in Edo South in 2007, I said that the ACN and Oshiomhole used the name of our royal majesty. They almost declared me an enemy of the palace but I knew what I was talking about. The palace said I should apologize, but you saw the apology I rendered, that apology was neither here nor there. I only respect our royal majesty, that was why I said I had no other option than to apologize, other wise I knew what I was saying. But today I have been vindicated because if you notice, whenever any of the Enigies declares support for the PDP, it is either that person is intimidated or they try to compromise him. Then the next day that Enigie will adopt Oshiomhole. That confirmed what I said before but as I said earlier, Edo is a PDP state and it will return to the PDP. But the PDP has been contradicting itsself on this issue of car gifts to traditional rulers; the same PDP still went to beg these same traditional rulers in Edo Central for support even when you condemned the car gifts to them by government? We did not start it. They started the game in the South; so we moved to Edo

doing anything. But a former Head of State, Gen. Gowon, came to commission projects including the road leading to Dr Samuel Ogbemudia’s residence. Are you saying those things and many others are not laudable projects? Those projects are World Bank projects and not Oshiomhole’s projects. Even the school projects are UBE projects. If you recall when former Governor Igbinedion was there, there was litigation over the UBE matter and ex-Governor Osunbor inherited it. So while the problem existed, the money was accumulating and when Oshiomhole came, he dissolved the board that was set up by Osunbor and that is why he has all the money he is spending today. So he has not done anything fantastic. The argument about this UBE thing is that your PDP refused to pay the state’s counterpart funding for ten years and that left the schools in comatose but

We know that Lucky’s era was a disaster, but those who managed that administration are the same people with Oshiomhole today

Oshiomhole has not done anything. Even in Oredo which he claimed he has turned to London, what has he done? Now he is committing almost N16billion to Airport Road project that is not more than eight kilometers. He is still fumbling there. He said he is building walkways and drainages, these are things that will not work. He said he is building a new structure at the Central Hospital, you are aware the place collapsed. What job has he commissioned so far? He is only doing propaganda on television and that is what our royal majesty is watching and he is not wrong in supporting Oshiomhole because of that. But we know he is not

Oshiomhole came and paid the counterpart funding and Edo people are happy with him. I told you it was because of the litigation over the membership of SUBEB that was the problem when PDP was in power. But I can tell you that in the next one year you will notice that the speed in which he is building these schools now will reduce because the funds come yearly or quarterly. He is able to do what he is doing now because of the accumulated funds during the PDP administration due to the court case. Comparing the ten years of the PDP and the three years of Oshiomhole in the state, are you saying that

nothing has been achieved so far? I will want to look at the corrupt aspect of it. If a PDP government was to be in place and any government tells me that it has used N16billion on the Airport Road project, I will lead a protest to Government House. During Lucky Igbinedion’s administration, I told him he was not performing even though I was a PDP member. I even had problem with Chief Anenih in 2003 when he said no vacancy in Osadebey Avenue. I told him that it was vacant and I started supporting other candidates, but the party stopped me and that was how Lucky went back for a second term. However, look at those surrounding Oshiomhole today, is there any one of them that did not serve in Igbinedion’s era? I never visited Government House when Igbinedion was governor even during Osunbor before Isaiah Osifo started factionalizing the party. Osunbor performed during his short term, he constructed the road in Uhumnwonde from Ehonbanosa to Igbanke. What has Oshiomhole done within three and a half years? The only project he is trying to do in Uhunmwonde is the Ugoneki Road to Ehor and, for more than nine months now, they are still within four kilometers. So we know that Lucky’s era was a disaster, but those who managed that administration are the same people with Oshiomhole today. Why are PDP leaders running to Abuja to see President Jonathan? Does it mean you people have lost hope? When Asiwaju Bola Tinubu came here to assist Oshiomhole, no one grumbled. The governors of the ACN states were here to assist him in his campaigns, no one grumbled. Now, we have the president as the leader of the party, why won’t we seek his assistance? You remember when Oshiomhole said Yar ’Adua supported him in 2007, we want Jonathan to come and tell the world that he is not sponsoring Oshiomhole’s election; so let him come to Edo and talk to the people. Not as if we are not capable or we are scared of Oshiomhole. Edo is not the only state the president or his vice will go for campaigns, he is the leader of our party; so we only went to ask him to come and join us in our campaign. Majority of the PDP leaders such as Uyigue, Obadan, Sado, Isaiah and others have dumped the party for the ACN, even your governorship aspirants are not campaigning with candidate Airhiavbere. Do you sincerely think that you stand a chance in this election? The truth is that for more than three years, those people you are referring to have stopped being PDP members. You remember that there was a time Oshiomhole took Uyigue to the Presidency and introduced him as the chairman of PDP in Edo State. So how can you say such a person is still in PDP when a governor in the opposition party is introducing him to the leader of our party? So for over three years now, we don’t regard those people as PDP members. For Isaiah Osifo, I will not want to talk about him because you know he has been changing from one party to the other. He was also castigating the same Oshiomhole that time. Again, saying that our governorship aspirants are not campaigning with

TIT-BITS Angst over alleged arrest of opposition member Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ibillo, Akoko Edo Local Government Council of Edo State, woke up, Monday morning, to discover that one Dr Leo Omoluabi, an activist in the area known to be an ardent critic of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, had been arrested by the police. They stormed the streets in protest and accused the governor of ordering the arrest of those against his second term ambition. The PDP members from ward 7 described the arrest as childish and asked Oshiomhole and his ACN to learn to accept criticism. But the actual cause of the arrest was yet to be made known by the police in Auchi.

Oshiomhole counselled on Anenih Governor Adams Oshiomhole has been told to stop attacking the former Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih. The former Transition Chairman of Ovia North East, Mr Solomon Odemwingie, reminded the governor that Anenih is a great leader who can even be his father. “After the death of his assassinated aide, Olaitan, Oshiomhole renamed Delta Crescent where Anenih’s house is located after Olaitan. Every day in his campaign, he abuse our leader. A man of Anenih’s status does not deserve the insults coming from Oshiomhole all the time. If Chief Anenih decides to ignore him, some of us who are his followers can no longer keep silent. Enough is enough”.

Cousins at war Do you know that Senator Ehigie Uzamere, the lawmaker representing Edo South (the Binis) in the Senate is a cousin to the governorship aspirant of the PDP, Gen. Airhiavbere? But, surprisingly, Uzamere is not in support of the governorship project of Airhiavbere. Asked why, Uzamere, a ranking senator under the can, said “First of all, my brother did not inform me that he is running for the governorship of Edo State; if had told me, I would have advised him better. He is a very good man, kind at heart but I can tell you that if it were even my father that is running against Oshiomhole, I will still support Oshiomhole. I believe in the cause Oshiomhole is fighting, god fatherism. The god father rejected me, embarrassed me in public, but Oshiomhole gave me clothes and told me I could make it and he made it possible. The same god father enslaved my Benin people for years but today it is over. On Oshiomhole we stand, you can see that in my Uzamere Youth Vanguard for Oshiomhole.”

The day Gowon stormed Benin-City A former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has thrown his support behind the second term bid of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, urging the electorate to give the comrade – governor their total support. Gowon made the plea when he commissioned Iheya and ten adjoining rods and street lights in Benin City. According to him, from the performance of Oshiomhole, the people have appreciated him and will continued to appreciate him. “I know you want him to continue. If anyone is doing well, he deserves the gratitude of everybody. From what I have seen, I want you to give him your total support so that he can continue to do what he is doing in all the communities.”

PAGE 24—SUNDAY VANGUARD,JUNE 10, 2012

Re: Disparity in fares, yellow card & our self respect

was glad that some readers agree with me that we should cultivate the habit of living within the rules of the land, wherever we find ourselves, whether in this country or abroad. We shouldn’t carry our penchant for bending the rules to suit our purpose, to other countries, otherwise Nigeria would get branded as nation with unruly citizens, and even those who try to obey laid down rules would get the same humiliating treatment as offenders. I may be wrong, but I can’t think of any nation that treats us decently at present. The sad thing is that the majority of Nigerians who travel don’t seem to mind much, as long as they’re allowed into that country after all the humiliating treatment. They just shrug off the experience. The sensible thing is obviously to clean up our act and present ourselves as responsible and law-abiding ambassadors of our nation wherever we go. “Madam, thank you for having the courage to bring out that article which stressed the need for Nigerians to learn to respect the laws of other countries, and not feel that because they can get away with disregard to laid-down procedures here in Nigeria, they can do the same thing in foreign countries. If they try this, they would be punished, and they would ruin the reputation of our country further. I’m a retired diplomat, and I can tell you that for many years now our image continues to deteriorate by the day, and shows us up as a nation with lawless citizens. Uptill the end of the eighties, we had a good image, but things began to decay with speed from the early nineties. In the course of my duties abroad, I had cause to intervene many times to help rescue some Nigerians who fell foul of the laws of the land where they were residing or visiting. There were some criminal activities alright, but the majority of the offences had to do with disregard of rules and regulations. I hope your piece was read by those who are in a position to do something concrete about this important attitude. Good day, madam. - Pa Olu, Ondo State.” “Helen, I think charity should begin at home and our people should start to make it a point to obey the rules of the land. Obey traffic rules, and don’t drive against traffic; stop at red lights, even in the dead of the night. Motor bike riders, and Keke NAPEP drivers shouldn’t think that they are not obliged to obey road signs and rules . Obey land rules and don’t build over drainages. Don’t turn overhead bridges in the cities into market stalls, or places for begging. If you need the yellow fever booklet, don’t buy outside embassies, but go to government designated places. The government itself should make things easy by ensuring that there’s an abundant supply of the relevant documents, licences and papers that we need to function properly with, under the law – travel certificates, drivers’ licence, vehicle licence, etc. If we do this, there would be no market for fakes in any form. As for stopping foreign airlines from operating in this country because of disparity in 1st class and business class fares when compared with those they charge in Ghana, we shouldn’t cut our nose to spite our face. Listen to the root cause of the matter objectively, without any self-interest and react accordingly, mindful of the fact that jobs would be affected if you suddenly close shop with those airlines. We would further be worsening the unemployment situation. Also, if we feel we’re mature/ disciplined enough to float a national carrier again, and run it well and profitably at low fares, well, let’s do that. When we’re comfortable with that, then we can C M Y K

View-Point

Helen Ovbiagele Woman Editor

Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah. from Celestine, mnse.” “Madam Helen, your article was quite interesting, but it also contained some hard truths. First, the disparity in airfares between what Nigerians are charged and what Ghanaians are charged for the upper classes by two British carriers. Since this is not a violation of the rights of the down-trodden in Nigeria, and the fares are not worsening their lot in life, why should the Aviation minister take up the war cry and talk tough, about an issue that is not a win-win situation for her ministry? Instead of wanting to stop these airlines from operating in the country and throwing her fellow Nigerians out of their much-needed jobs, she should quietly advise those who are feeling the pinch about those airfares to take their custom elsewhere, by using the airlines which fares they think are fair to their pockets. Personally, I can’t see their problems. If there’s a boycott of those two airlines and they feel that the Nigerian route is no longer profitable for them, they will either stop operating in country, or they will lower the fares for those classes.

If our law-makers are not comfortable with the fares of those foreign airlines, well, float a national airline and make it mandatory for travellers taking off from here or landing here to use it afford to ban foreign airlines. - Thanks, Patty, Lagos.” “If our law-makers are not comfortable with the fares of those foreign airlines, well, float a national airline and make it mandatory for travellers taking off from here or landing here to use it. Ethiopian Airline has been doing that for years. I don’t know how profitable this airline is, but their fleet of aircraft are in the majority on their tarmac in Addis Ababa, and they fly to all the continents. Also, why grumble about those two British airlines only? Are the fares of other foreign airlines more favourable? Are they cheaper? So, what’s the situation now? Have our 1st class and business class travellers stopped using those two British airlines? It would be interesting to know. We should check this habit of blowing hot air, and making threats when we haven’t a concrete Plan B to fall back on and carry out those threats creditably well.” “Aunty Helen, bonjour! Well, it’s a known fact that the disparity in airfares between Nigeria and Ghana bound flights to the United Kingdom is as a result of the insatiable appetites of our political/elite persons in Nigeria for luxury services, as per flying 1st/business classes. They should sort out the disparity in fares aboard British carriers quietly with the minister for

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Period! Thanks, Simon, Benin City.” “Mrs. Ovbiagele, I believe it’s time to start teaching etiquette, and good character traits in all arms of our educational institutions. Also, travellers of all categories should be given a last minute talk in the various departure lounges of our international airports around the country. This will go a long way in improving our national image, and checking unruly behaviour of our citizens in foreign lands. Those to give these talks should be experts drawn from the relevant NGOs and government agencies – NDLEA, the Police, Immigration and Customs officials, etc. From an early age, our children should be seriously taught to obey the laws of the land, and told the consequences of not doing so. Parents alone cannot bring up their wards to be lawabiding. How many parents these days have the disciplined character that their children can emulate, or, how many of children actually listen to, and obey their parents? At the end of the day, our young people’s character reflect on our national image, as they are our future. - Fisayo, Lagos.” We thank all those who sent in their views.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 25

Muri Munene Efiong Mbukpa

Ndabu

Muri Bassey

Chief Henshaw

Cross River chief engineers colleagues’ kidnapping, detention for armed robbery Calabar Genesis of crisis ince Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State visited the Muri Munene and paramount ruler of the Efut nation, Efiong Mbukpa, during the electioneering campaign for his second tenure in office, neither the palace, the Munene nor members of his cabinet, including the kingmakers known as Muris, have known peace. This is because Imoke commended the Munene that, in the over two years of his reign, Calabar South Local Government Area, which was notorious for violence and thuggery, had witnessed relative peace. The governor promised to give him the certificate of recognition soon after his election. Besides, Imoke advised the monarch to ensure that there was unity in the Efut nation. Soon after these comments were made, hell was let loose as some powerful individuals in government, the traditional institution and some persons who had indicated interest in the monarch’s position rose to cash in on the long lacuna which the non-presentation of staff of office to the monarch had created. It was gathered that three days after the natural father set up a peace committee, led by the State Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Archbishop Archibong Archibong and the Chancellor of the Catholic Archdiocese of Calabar, Rev. Fr. Malachy Ephraim; and the founder of God’s Her-

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itage Church, Bishop Josef Bassey, among others, to reconcile all the aggrieved Efut sons and daughters, another group of Muris, which some people described as factional Muris, announced that they did not recognize Mbukpa and described him as an imposter. This led to an orgy of violence, allegations of attempted kidnapping, intimidation and harassment which many people interpreted were to tell the governor that there was no peace in the area. But before this time, government had set up a panel of inquiry to look into the succession problem on the Efut throne; the panel was chaired by Dr. Am-

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU,

Mbukpa should be issued with the certificate of recognition. Beating and ‘decapping’ But on April 25, a factional group of the Muris broke into the palace with youths suspected to be hired thugs, manhandled the monarch, removed his cap, broke the royal stool, and allegedly broke into the palace scribe’s office and carted away vital documents. Kidnapping Three traditional rulers, said to be loyal to Mbukpa: Muri Francis Efa Bassey 1V, the Muri of Efut Uwanse, Ndabu Archibong Effanga and Chief Edem Henshaw, on May 2, were allegedly kidnapped by some young men.

Three traditional rulers, said to be loyal to Mbukpa: Muri Francis Efa Bassey 1V, the Muri of Efut Uwanse, Ndabu Archibong Effanga and Chief Edem Henshaw, on May 2, were allegedly kidnapped by some young men

brose Akpanika. The panel has long submitted its report to government.

source close to the panel told Sunday Vanguard that, after deliberating on the matter and having considered the totality of the memoranda and other relevant documents received as well as oral evidence obtained during the public sitting and in the course of its visits to some communities of Efut and historical facts, the panel recommended that

Narrating his ordeal to Sunday Vanguard, Bassey, who has petitioned the Inspector General of Police and the Cross River State Director of State Security Service, alleged that on May 2, 2012, at about 10 a.m., three of them, alongside their driver and a woman, Chief Grace Iron Bar, who is a Chief Nursing Officer with the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, were in the same vehicle travelling along Enebong Avenue in Calabar when four vehicles carrying armed young men blocked

them. According to the petition, written on their behalf by their solicitors, “The men forced open the door of our clients’ vehicle and dragged them out. They collected our clients’ cell phones, all the money on them and some of their personal effects. Then they beat up our clients especially Muri Francis Efa Bassey. “Eventually they forced our clients into their own vehicles and drove off leaving behind our clients, driver and the lady who was with our clients. Our clients were blindfolded by their abductors. However, immediately after the abduction, our clients driver and the lady ran to the nearest police station to report the incident.

he DPO of the local po lice station reacted immediately by mounting a manhunt for our clients. Apparently due to this prompt police response, our clients were released by their abductors at about 4p.m. on that day. “A Muri, who is a fellow traditional ruler in Calabar, is the owner of the compound where our clients found themselves after they were released. The compound is fenced with a huge gate and is located within the Calabar town. “The Muri himself met our clients in the compound. He told our clients that he wanted the kidnapping experience to serve as a warning to them not to oppose his ambition to become the Muri Munene (paramount ruler of the Efut people).” The petitioners further claimed that the Muri in whose compound they found themselves later told them that he

had invited the police to come and take them from his compound, adding that a few minutes after some policemen from Zone Six Police Command arrived in the compound and took them to their headquarters.

here, our clients were told that the Muri had reported that our clients came for armed robbery in his compound. Fortunately when the police team, led by the DPO of Efut Division, who had been searching for our clients since their kidnapping, was informed that our clients were at Zone Six Police Headquarters; they went there and secured our clients release.” The petitioners regretted that, after medical attention was given to them and after making their statements at the Efut Division and the transfer of the matter to the State Police Command, nothing had been done about it. “Unfortunately, all further police investigation into the matter has been stalled at the State Police Headquarters because of the influence wield by the principal suspect. Our clients have therefore lost confidence in the ability of Cross River State Police Command to conduct a thorough and unbiased investigation into the matter.” Also narrating what happened, the woman, who was with the chiefs when the alleged kidnapping took place, said, “It was on May 2, and, before this time, there was a land dispute with somebody that lives close to me. I had to call the Muri and he called other chiefs on that Wednesday morning and they went to see what happened to settle it”.

PAGE 26—SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 10, 2012

Country News

Agony of a woman:

‘I lost husband, two children to chieftaincy tussle’

OR 24-year-old Mrs. CHINYERE GODDY of ITUNTA, UMUOKOO community in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State, the emergence of a chief in the community has put her in agony. The disapproval that preceded the enthronement of the chief claimed the lives of her two children and thirty-fouryear old husband, Goddy Friday, who was allegedly beaten to death by soldiers at a camp in Ukwa West Local Government Area of the state. Her husband’s house was destroyed, forcing her to relocate to her father’s house. The husband’s alleged offence: He collaborated with others to oppose the chief ’s emergence. The wife denied the allegation. Chinyere told her story to Sunday Vanguard in tears. She narrated how on May 6, 2011, at about 2 a.m., armed military men reportedly stormed the village and arrested her husband with eleven others who they alleged were kidnappers. Her father-in-law, 65-yearold Friday Ikendi, and broth-

EMMA AMAIZE, Regional Editor, South-South

BY ERIC UGBOR

The disapproval that preceded the enthronement of the chief claimed the lives of her two children and thirty-fouryear old husband, Goddy Friday, who was allegedly beaten to death by soldiers

er-in-law, Osinachi Friday, were also among those arrested that fateful day. According to her, the chief was acting under the belief that the victims were opposed to his enthronement. She explained that two days later, her father-in-law returned while her brother-inlaw, who spent nine months in the military camp, returned to inform them that her husband had allegedly been beaten to death in the military camp. Mrs. Friday, who said she was some months pregnant

then, said the death of her husband devastated her, made life unbearable and pushed her into a suffering that she wouldn’t know the end. “Few days after they broke the news of the death of my husband to me, my two children died from poisoning carried out by some people and our only thatched building where we lived while my husband was making arrangements to build a house was destroyed; I had nothing left than to flee to my father ’s house to save my life and that of my remaining two children”.

er condition was pa thetic as the pains of survival with the remaining two kids were visible while she appealed to public spirited individuals, the wife of the state governor, Mrs Mercy Odochi Orji specifically, to come to her aid. The father of the late Goddy, Mr. Friday Ikendi, who was equally arrested but released after two days, confirmed that himself, two sons and eight others were arrested and taken to the military camp where they were allegedly tortured and beaten to

confess that they were kidnappers. He stated that they also asked them to explain their involvement in the chieftaincy tussle in the community and he told them that he was a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and would not involve himself in any political issue. The emergence of the chief, who received his staff of office from the state government but yet to be coronated, in the community, had reportedly sparked crisis that tore apart the six villages that made up Umuokoo and turned them into enemies. It was alleged that the chief didn’t emerge through due process as he was said to have connived with some prominent

people in government to impose himself on the community.

our of the six villages that made up the community are said to be opposed to the chief. There were seven contenders to the stool. Many indigenes of the community also accused the chief of being responsible for inviting soldiers that have continued to raid the community for over a year now. They called on the Abia government to withdraw recognition for the chief and allow due process to prevail in the selection of the occupant of the chieftaincy as that is the only solution to the crisis in the community. The chief was not available for comments.

Ex-militant leader, fighters turn to beggars in N-Delta

ELTA State-born exmilitant leader, “Gen eral” Godday Smith Bounanewei, aka god of forest, who was not enlisted in the amnesty programme by the Presidential Amnesty Office, Abuja, because he did not accept amnesty within the 60day period deadline given by the Federal Government in 2009, has resorted to begging on the streets for survival with his boys. Bounanewei, who confirmed his plight to Sunday Vanguard, said,” It is sad to mention that I, General Bounanawei and my ex-soldiers are begging on the streets for survival after embracing peace in Niger Delta. I have made several appeals but the Amnesty Office ignored me because I have been

The late Goddy Friday & wife

collected the weapons from his group and that, before then, the Chairman of Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, and the National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi, on behalf of the Federal Government, assured him, at a meeting in Abuja, “that my soldiers would be reintegrated into the amnesty rehabilitation programme and pay me a compensation adequate for the submitted weapons”.

* Bounanewei ... With his boys

disarmed and Federal Government felt I am now a toothless dog”. He added, “As part of achieving enduring peace in Niger Delta, I voluntarily embraced peace by accepting the amnesty programme with my soldiers on 24 February, 2011 and submitted all my barracks’

(militant group) high caliber rifles, rocket propeller launchers (RPGs), GPMGs, ammunition, dynamites and other dangerous weapons to the Joint Task Force, JTF, at my home town, Gbekebor, in Burutu LGA of Delta State”. He said one Colonel Alechenu led the JTF soldiers that

urprisingly, about two years now; the Federal Government, it appears, deceived me to surrender and collected my weapons without any form of compensation, rehabilitation and training for my ex- soldiers. “Therefore, I am using this

medium to appeal passionately to Mr. President to direct the Office of the Amnesty Programme to engage my soldiers who have decided to embrace peace into the programme immediately and pay all their entitlements as well as compensation for my weapons. “ The early intervention of Mr. President into this matter will continue to strengthen the existing peace in Delta State of Niger Delta. “I have my records in Niger Delta and I urge government to allow the sleeping dog lie. That is, Federal Government should not do anything that is capable of truncating the peace in Niger Delta. “For the record, the pains that took us to the creeks in Niger Delta remain unresolved.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 27

News: Air Crashes, Road accidents, Boko Haram bombings.

"Another dawn at sunset in a land of impunity and immunity.God save Nigeria".

MAILBAG

All letters bearing writers' names and full addresses should be typed and forwarded to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, Kirikiri Canal, P. M. B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E-mail: sunvanguardmail@yahoo.com

PHCN: Paying more for darkness Dear Sir

T is very shameful that despite the fact that the new electricity tariff took off on 1st June, we are still subjected to a whole day without

electricity supply in the part of Awka I (which is almost one quarter of the capital territory) until the following day when it is our turn to get light which will never last up to 10 hours. This has been going on since 2007 and we are

What future for Nigerian children? Dear Sir,

IGERIA celebrates children and youth day every year. Speeches are made by the President, the governors and local government chairmen. Promises are made but are broken the very next day. The broken promises show that Nigerian children and youths do not have a bright future. A few examples will suffice. Move around the country and see some of the classrooms where Nigerian children are taught. The sight calls for weeping. Go to the motor parks and bus stops and you will see children who should be in school touting and acting as bus conductors. Many Nigerian children do not have basic school materials like pen, pencil, exercise books, textbooks, school uniform, and a pair of sandals. What future has the Nigerian children? It is a pity that no government from the military to the democratic government has ever had a well articulated children and youth policy that will advance the well being of the Nigerian children and youths. The Nigerian children and youths are today plagued by cultism, examination malpractices, drug use and abuse, child trafficking, school dropout, prostitution and other vices. What efforts are various governments putting in place to see that these vices or evils do not crush the Nigerian children and youths? Our leaders amaze and amuse me on matters concerning the future of the Nigerian children and youths. We call them â&#x20AC;&#x153;future leadersâ&#x20AC;?. But how can they be future leaders when they have no faith in the future and have no future. After all, the future belongs to those who have faith in it.

The lip-service the leaders at various levels of government give to issues concerning children and youths must stop. Concrete measures must be taken to help children and youths realize their potentials. We can start with education because the future of Nigeria is in the classroom. The time for action is now. Doing otherwise implies that Nigerian leaders and all adults must be ready to be on the run the day Nigerian children and youths will stand up to assert their right. Tony O. Ekwe Mbutu Umuawuka Emii P.O. Box 30, Owerri 08033898583

therefore forced to use our generating sets on a daily basis. Since January this year, the situation became worst to the extent that we went for days without electricity until when you see light. Does the government want to use the money realized from the new tariff to improve the electricity supply to our area and other parts of our country that suffer a similar fate with us? Should it not have been proper if electricity supply has improved tremendously before the increase in tariff? This is a clear case of putting the cart before the horse and a blatant exploitation of the masses, similar to the recent increase in fuel price which is uncalled for if we have had more refineries to satisfy our domestic needs and export. If this had been the case, there would not have been the fraudulent subsidy payments for which we the masses have been forced to pay through the nose for petroleum products, especially

kerosene, all due to the inefficiency and corruption in NNPC and its subsidiaries and the vested interest of private Tank Farm (Depot) owners who will fold up, if our refineries are run efficiently or more were built. It is really a pity that the black gold which is a free gift from God, had not benefited the areas and the people where it is exploited, but had devastated their farm lands and polluted their air, had not launched our country to greatness, due to the greed of our ruling class and dishonest civil servants who since the 70s till date, had enriched themselves, their families and cronies from the proceeds of the said black gold to become richer than our country! Ifeka Okonkwo, Plot 44 Ahocol Housing Estate Phase II, G.R.A, Awka Anambra State.

Nigerians should not lose hope Dear Sir,

ESPITE the current challenges Nigeria is facing, like threats to security, social injustice, youth unemployment, political killings, labour unrest, bombing, among others, there is hope and Nigerians should not lose hope of divine solution. Nigerians-at-large should pray to God to redeem and deliver our country, for, only God could redeem the nation from the present fears of insecurity and poverty in the land. Only God could heal our wounds to ensure that there is peace in the land. Prophetically, I want to assure Nigerians that with the prayers of the saints very soon all-will-be-well, as, God is ready to intervene and heal our

land, if we humble ourselves and fear God. With the potentials available in the country, if we repent from our sins and do the will of God, from the leaders to the followers, there is hope for Nigeria and Nigerians in all spheres. There is also greater tomorrow for Nigeria, if we pray fervently and put all hands on deck, to move the nation forward. Nigeria had faced many difficult situations in the past, but, God had always proved to be faithful. As the problems facing Nigeria presently are big, God would come to our rescue once we keep relying on Him. The current security challenges in the nation could be attributed to high level of corruption and bad governance on the part of the leaders. Since government is not to be trusted again,

the people had lost the trust in those holding offices in government, while the situation has created environment of political killing, poverty, unemployment, insecurity, among others. Nigeria now desire political leaders that will turn our bad situation to better, and whose primary concerns are to build institutions and empower the people. Prophet Oladipupo FunmiladeJoel (Sekunderin),General Overseer, The Way of Reconciliation Ministries (TWOREM ) Intâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;l, Lagos, Nigeria & CEO, Messiah Broadcasting Network (Cable Tv) Nigeria. 08057741511

28 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;SUNDAY, Vanguard, JUNE 10, 2012

Alpha-May Club marks anniversary With Ayo Onikoyi

08033286159

Edwards Ayo-Odugbesan bags degree at Oklahoma THE family of Funmi Ayo-Odugbesan and friends recently joined Edwards Ayo-Odugbesan in celebrating his graduation from Oklahoma City University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical science and a Minor in Business Entrepreneurship.

lpha-May Club marks its 27th Anniversary with the Theme; Ingredients Of Unity Among The Ethnic Nationalities In Delta State. The ceremony took place at the Metropolitan Club Victoria Island Lagos last weekend and many notable Nigerians graced the occasion. Photos by Shola Oyelese

Edwards cutting his graduation cake withhis aunties and uncles

L-R: Mr Robinson Eyoyibo,VC, Mr Alex Eyengho (PRO)Chief Arthur Mbanefo,Chairman of occasion, Mr Isaac Sobotie, Secretary and Dr Mike Ugbeye Chairman of the Club Edwards receiving his certificate and handshake from Mr. Robert Henry, President of Oklahoma City University

L-R:Mrs Funmi Ayo-Odugbesan, Edwards AyoOdugbesan and Mr Sunday Odusote

L-R: Mrs Kofo Ojomo, Mrs Rolake Adeite, the graduand, Mrs Motunde Oredipe, Mrs Funmi Jaiyeola and Mrs Funmi Ayo-Odugbesan

L-R: Pastor Wale Adeduro, Edwards Ayo-Odugbesan and mum, Mrs Funmi Ayo-Odugbesan

L-R:Chief Brodrick Bozimo, guest speaker,Ojoye Oma Eyewuoma and Bar Mrs Grace Ogbemi and husband, Engr Franklin Ogbemi

Final burial rites for Pa Frank Nani

he burial ceremony of late Pa. Frank Ejoughara Nani, father of Honourable Barr. John Nani, member, Delta State House of Assembly, representing Ethiope-West took place at St. Peters Anglican Church, Jesse Town, Delta State. Photos by Nath Onojake

L-R: Mr Robinson Eyoyibo and Engr and Mrs Ben Atsenyinku

C M Y K

R-L: Chief William Ibori,Chief Tom Amioku and Chief Williams Makinde

R-L: Prof. Amos Utuama [SAN] Deputy Governor,Chief Ighoyota Amori and Hon. and Mrs John Nani

R-L: Hon. Barr.John Nani, member, Delta State House of Assembly, Mrs.Judith Nani (widow), Mr.Peter Nani and Mrs Evelyn oyowe [ nee Nani]

L-R: Hon.Talib Tebite, Hon.Godfrey Ofobruku and Hon.Charles Emetulu, Commissioner of Power and Energy,Delta State

L-R: Barr. Oti Edukugho, Prince Yemi Emiko,Ojoye Oma Eyewuoma and Tsola Aragho

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 29

By Gift Gabriel

I dropped out of university to rediscover myself —Nike Ogunlesi,Ruff ‘N’ Tumble CEO

The evolution Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. Just when she was at the brink of giving up on making clothing for women to focus on her children, she stumbled into an untapped goldmine. That was at a time when no local clothing line dared to manufacture solely for children as they were believed to be non-lucrative. “It started off as a need which I had as a mother to get some pyjamas for my kids, and I couldn’t find anything that I liked. So, I decided to make some myself because I was making women’s clothing at that time but was in-between slowing down to focus on my children who were still very little at that time and were supposed to be my priority. After making the pyjamas for them, I mentioned it to my sister- in-law who immediately demanded that I make her seven pairs for her daughter. It eventually dawned on me that there must therefore be other mothers in need of pyjamas. So, I made eight different samples with a size range, and whenever I took my children to school or went to pick them up, I would say to mothers there: “I’ve got these lovely pyjamas at the back of my car, would you like to see them?”. When they started buying them, I decided to go round to people selling children’s clothing. That was in 1996”, says Nike. A challenge surfaces But just when Nike thought the business of clothing children was thriving, she was faced with a challenge; as usu-

al, some stores preferred international brands to indigenous brands. That somewhat put her off, but prepared her for a new task- the task of having to market her products herself, using different strategies and platforms. She recalls: “A woman ordered 40 pairs from me, but nobody else did because they were locally made. That really infuriated me because I began to wonder why people should question the quality of products simply because they’re locally made. I therefore decided to sell my pyjamas myself without necessarily supplying shops. I started by taking advantage of the various bazaars going on at that time, and eventually, one of my neighbours, Mrs.Gbemi Sasore, invited me for a Teddy Beer Bazaar she was putting together. So I made a whole range of children’s clothing; not only pyjamas, and then I got my kids and some others to model for me, and when we went for the bazaar, the reception was amazing and people didn’t believe that they were locally made because I was very particular about quality.” Persistence, courage prevail

er tale is one of a kind. What started as a need to provide her kids with night wear has transmuted into an international clothing line. Today, Nike Ogunlesi has built a reputation for being one of the best indigenous manufacturers of children’s clothing in Nigeria with her label, Ruff ‘N’ Tumble. With more Ruff ‘N’ Tumble outlets springing up in big cities across the country, one cannot but wonder how this award-winning entrepreneur came this far. Ijebu-Ode-born Nike who is of a Scottish mother is our Inspirational Icon today. Enjoy!

Johnson Reagon which says “Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyse you, they are supposed to help you discover who you are” The trick! However, to sustain her brand, Nike didn’t just stay optimistic; she upgraded her standard! “I was challenged by people’s preference for international brands. So, I had to prove that Nigeria has great talents and only needs the right resources and leadership, and believe me, nobody will catch this country. So, what did I do? I had a natural flair for textile, having grown up with my mother who was into collecting textiles and making clothing. So, I ensured I made use of the best of fabrics. Also, I bought wears from from my trips abroad, and would set them apart to see how they were constructed. We’ve got the same machine they use, and I believe we must prove that we have the talents in Nigeria. That’s why I always advocate that indigenous manufacturers strive for international standards no matter what we’re producing because it is important that we’re able to stand at par with anything that comes from anywhere

I was challenged by people’s preference for international brands. So, I had to prove that Nigeria has great talents

aving successfully estab lished a footing for her clothing line, Nike became courageous enough about opening a little store for her brand, and, this time, the reaction was quite encouraging because for every person who didn’t want it because it was made it Nigeria, there were other people who were wowed by the fact that it was made in Nigeria, and they wanted it. Subsequently, that little store evolved into the hundreds of ‘Ruff ‘N’ Tumble’ boutiques scattered across the country, where she now stocks her brand, as well as other international brands. Perhaps if Nike had allowed despair to overwhelm her when her products were rated secondclass because they were locally made, Ruff ‘N’.Tumble would never have been heard of. This immediately brings to mind a famous quote by Bernice

in the world. We have to shape up, improve our quality and service in all fronts. We’ve got to prove that as Nigerian brands, we may be indigenous, but we’re of international standards”, Nike says. Convinced by passion Most intriguing about our Inspirational Icon’s success story is that she is a university dropout! She had resumed the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria to study law, though uncertain about what path she wanted to tread. A week after, a weary Nike packed up her things and went back home for self-rediscovery “I didn’t know what I wanted, but I was sure that I wasn’t where I wanted to be. At that time, I hadn’t made the connection between my love for fab-

Nike Ogunlesi rics and my creativity. I took everything that my mother did for granted even though I learnt them from her from a young age. Upon coming home, my mother insisted that while waiting to rediscover myself, I must work with her at her shop, and that happened to be the best thing that has happened to me. When I resumed work at her shop, I knew immediately that I would like to toe her line, and I never went back to the university again”, she recounts. Hiding under the umbrella of passion? But the big question is: Except for one who is of very poor academic performance, which child would drop out of school barely two weeks after resuming classes? “Well, whoever wants to think that I wasn’t intellectually sound is more than welcomed to think so! But the truth is that with the expansion in my business, I’ve been to the Lagos Business School for courses on business management, and I have so many books which I read. I’m a strong believer in personal development and in executive education; knowing how to manage people, strategise for your business as well as staying focus, is very important for any business. Like I was saying earlier, I think it was just a clear case of my not being connected to what I was doing at the time when I entered the university. This is something I believe is a learning point for so many parents because a lot of children go to school to study what their parents want them to study, come out of the uni-

versity and then go to pursue their passion. Why don’t you just go and pursue your passion if you know you’ve found your passion? Pursue it with all your might, and read whatever there is about it. It doesn’t mean that you’re not intellectually sound; you’ve only chosen a different path of learning, and that is what we have to open our minds to. Look at the musicians we have today! Look at fashion designers! Look at some of the fantastic work coming from them simply because they’re happy to be pursuing their talents! What we now have to do as a nation is to support those talents to generate wealth and create jobs”, Nike explains. Revisiting the trade school She calls on government to help by revisiting the trade schools. “When I was a little girl, there were trade centres which were skills acquisition centres. But what we’re finding is that the present-day skills acquisition centres are not really equipping people with the right set of skills. For example, we went to the Lagos State Skills Acquisition Centres to recruit for the fashion industry, but we couldn’t hire anybody there because their skills were not of the standards that we required. If boys who have no education can go to a tailor who trains them, and they come out and can cut and sew top-notch, and we can hire those kind of boys, then what are the skills acquisition centres teaching people? With the increasing rise in unemployment, I still feel a lot has to be done in the skills acquisition centres to truly empower and equip the young people coming out”, she says.

“Find something that you’re really interested in doing in your life. Pursue it, set goals, and commit yourself to excellence. Do the best you can.” — Chris Evert

PAGE 30—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012,

PAGE 31

PAGE 32—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012

BY VICTORIA OJEME

he Indian High Commis sioner to Nigeria, Mahesh Sachdev, says diplomatic ties between his country and the host country are strong but believes things can be better. What is the state of relations between India and Nigeria? India was the first to have diplomatic ties with Nigeria, that was two years before Nigeria got her independence. We opened a High Commission in Nigeria in 1958 and the goal of the government of India was to give its official support to Nigeria for the independence. The ties have been exceptionally close; never have India and Nigeria defaulted on any issue and people to people contact has remained great. We have been engaged with Nigeria for decades at people to people level, business to business level and government to government level. Today, we count Nigeria as one of the top 15 trading partners of India. For instance, India’s trade, last year, was higher than India’s trade with the United Kingdom meaning that we traded more with Nigeria than with the United Kingdom. What is the volume of trade between India and Nigeria? The vibrancy is easy to quantify when it comes to trade according to the Indian data. Bilateral trade with Nigeria in 2011 was $16. 376 billion; what India exported from Nigeria was worth over $13billion and our own export to Nigeria was only $2.648million. In other words, the total trade was $16. 376million; we had $11billion trade deficit with Nigeria. So, India was contributing to the tune of $11 billion to the Nigerian economy. That figure makes Nigeria our second largest trading partner. Commodity wise, majority of trade export to India is crude oil but our export is slightly more diversified; we are talking about transport equipment such as cars, buses, trucks, machineries and instruments which Nigeria needs for its economy. Pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals, rice and electronics are five top major components of Indian export to Nigeria. I also have figures from Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics for the last quarter of 2011 which show that India was the 3rd largest recipient of Nigerian export,

With $16.4b trade, Nigeria and India should have direct connectivity — Envoy *‘The medical tourism link between the two countries’

MAHESH SACHDEV...India was the first to have diplomatic ties with Nigeria 3rd largest source of import into Nigeria and overall 3rd largest trading partner. The trade between both countries is doing very well despite the challenges and I believe there are opportunities for the trade to grow further. For example, India needs $9billion palm oil every year, and we did not know of palm oil until the white man came to West Africa especially the Niger Delta.

ow we don’t get any palm oil from Nigeria. Isn’t that a potential area for the two countries to collaborate so that palm oil can be revived on large scale in Nigeria and exported to India? There are other areas as well where we can collaborate. India needs a lot of cashew nut; some of it comes from Nigeria but cocoa,

shea butter are also needed in the country as well and Nigeria is welcome to take even more prominent place in the Indian market. What are the major challenges impacting on the India, Nigeria relations? The trade relationship is doing well, it is not stagnant or receding; so I will not like to accept the word challenges, but why we are not able to leverage the opportunities. If that is the question, I could answer it by suggesting that we need a better frame work, awareness of each other’s capability, more openness and transparency, equivalent of standards so that some products, once tested in India, can enter Nigeria; they don’t have to be tested again in Nigeria. For instance, Nigeria and India can put together a preferential trading document so that Nigeria’s export can go to a large india market of 1.1 to

2billion people and India’s export can go to the Nigerian market without hindrance, without standard customs, without all those checks. If we are able to have no customs duties, no standard related checks, Indian companies will come to Nigeria and invest in palm oil and plantation so that they have supply security and they know that they can take the palm oil to India without hinderance. I think if we can put it in place together that will be wonderful. At another level, trade is encouraged if we have direct shipping, direct banking and direct connectivity between India and Nigeria. For instance, if you ordered for something, the payment has to be made in two to three countries because there is no Nigerian bank in India and no Indian bank in Nigeria. The goods arrive but not in a container that is shipped from Mumbai and Lagos, it first goes to maybe Singapore, Dubai, South Africa, then it is transshipped and that raises cost. With $16.4 billion trade, it should be possible to have direct services for shipping. So these are the factors that impede the growth of trade, if these factors are ameliorated, a trade, which is already doing so well, will do even better.

ndia has acquired a rep utation as a major medical tourism destination. How did India achieve this feat? I think we are privileged to be trusted by the Nigerian health sector. Our medicines are the best selling in Nigeria today; more than a third of Nigerian medicines are of Indian origin or made in Nigeria from India. About three years ago, the medical tourism sector picked up between Nigeria and India. It was not done through active promotion but through word of mouth from Nigerians patients who returned from India after treatment. Initially, the number was small, but, after three years, the number

rose and today constitutes the biggest component which has been given by the Indian High Commission Lagos and Abuja to Nigerians. We are sensitive to Nigerian patients and we do our best to give fast and careful service. We are not allowed to impede a critical ill patient from going to Indian hospitals. I believe Nigerians find Indian health care providers, preferable and it has indeed become a byline for preference because the cost and quality of Indian health care providers are quite good. Secondly, I believe Nigerian patients see Indian health care providers as treating them with greater dignity.

he patient and the health care provider are taken into consideration and told what exactly is wrong with the patient and what are the various options available and then the patient, with his health care provider, decides what option is best for him or her,and this is quite unique. The Nigerian patient is treated as an automobile; you know, an automobile doesn’t have to be consulted on whether there are parts that need to be changed or to be repaired. In India, the Nigerian patients are treated with dignity. I would also like you to know why tourism to India might have mature. This is not an ideal situation because, it is inhuman for a seriously ill patient to be forced to travel 7,000 kilometers to receive treatment in a strange country, undergo two or three flight connections, negotiate with taxi drivers at the airport, cope with bureaucracy and so on and so forth. I prefer we come to table and provide Nigerian patients care in their own country, care that is of international standard. I am happy to note that an Indian hospital is operating in Abuja and nearly 50 Indian health care providers and doctors are rendering tertiary service to patients in their own country.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 33

Our vision at Little Saints was for just 25 children (2)—Rev. Dele George By SAM EYOBOKA

been very many children that have passed through here. Are the children expected to stay permanently here? We don’t want them to remain permanently. That is not our vision. Our vision is to reform them and reintegrate them back to the society and the way of reintegrating them is through adoption and fostering. Adoption is doing very well now; we want fostering to do very well as well in Nigeria. Because are many Nigerians that have lots of money and have big houses; they will say to you that all their children are grown up and they are looking for company. Such people should go for fostering. They should look for a good government registered orphanage and have establish a relationship with the child and once that is done go for approval from the state government, take the child home and take good care of such child.

part from sending them to school what other things do you offer these children? We are spiritual organization so there is a lot of spiritual impartation on the children. We have fellowship every Sunday; all the children come together on that day to have fellowship. What we are trying to do is to raise them up in the way of the Lord. We want them to be able to impart the love we have imparted to them back to the society. So, there is a lot of coaching on how to relate to people and we also get them to go out and to visit places. They get invited to parties. The whole idea is that we don’t want to isolate them, but reintegrate them to the society. We encourage them in all kinds of extracurricula activities. We encourage them to read books; we have a library because we want them to be book readers. They engage in singing, acting

HEN these children get married my husband and I are the ones to represent their parents. I didn’t adopt them legally. It’s like we are fostering them and that is what we are encouraging Nigerians to do. There could be someone out there who has a dream to look after orphans but may not have the resources to establish a big orphanage, he or she could consider fostering two or more children. Families like that can come forward and say; we can take care of two children or more and still allow them to have relationship with their biological parents. When you do that, you are rendering service to the society; because all the children on the streets have parents but because their parents cannot afford to care for them they are released to the streets to fend for themselves. So, this is what we are trying to do and I believe that this is the next stage of the crusade to rid our society of street kids. I appeal to Nigerians to open our homes and foster children, educate them and integrate them back into society as worthy citizens that would not come back and torment our children and the society. I think this is the next stage that we can get to in Nigeria. This is what happens in Europe. You can never see children on European streets because such children are in foster homes, although they get moved from foster parent to foster parents, because children like to be with their own parents but where their parents cannot afford such they begin to grudge society. They think its society’s fault that their parents could not look after them; but if at some point some parents can stand in the gap, I think we can have a better society. How do they get to the homes? All children are brought to the orphanage through the Police or the Ministry of Youth and Social Development. Right now, if any child is found in Lagos State he/she is taken to the Police station because it is a criminal offence to abandon a child and the Police will inform Social Welfare who will locate that child to nearest orphanage home to where that child is found. A Good Nigerian should not take a child straight to an orphanage. It should rather be taken to the nearest Police station so that a crime diary can be opened for that child to show what happened. Since 1994 how many children have passed through this home? In fact; hundreds of children have passed through this home, because some stay two days, some a week, others months and some others a few hours. In some cases, the Police can call us to say that the child that was lost at Ojuelegba, the parents have shown up and we should bring the child back to the Police. So, there have

Rev.Dele George...Adoption is doing very well now. I have some that have gone to PEFTI to learn acting and such related trades. We try to stir up their natural skills

If a woman has any problem with her children or problem with a new born child all she needs to do is to walk into the Ministry of Youth and Social Development and talk to the officer in charge and I am sure they will help them

and generally to display their natural talents so that if they are academically inclined their other endowments can be developed to make worthy living for themselves in future. Some are engaged in vocational institutions to learn catering, fashion designing and such like. They have different dreams.

because I believe that is what God has given to everybody. We sponsor them through donations that we get and some sponsors come to take the responsibility. What is your advice for Nigerian women who still abandon their child? I will say there is no need to aban-

don a child because it is criminal. God will see such act as murder if that child should die. That means that woman has committed murder. A child is given to us as a gift and not only as a reward to that woman but a reward to the society. It’s the responsibility of the society to take care of these children and that is why we have lots of registered orphanage homes in Lagos State. I also thank God that the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development has been doing a great work in rehabilitating women by giving them help. If a woman has any problem with her children or problem with a new born child all she needs to do is to walk into the Ministry of Youth and Social Development and talk to the officer in charge and I am sure they will help them. There is no need to abandon a child now. Before they used to abandon child because they were afraid of persecution by their families or frown at them or Police will arrest them; but now government can take that child away from you and take you through counselling. So, there is help. C M Y K

PAGE 34— SUNDAY

VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012

Paying more for darkness How the hike in electricity tariff affects you Amadi, to appear before its Committee on Power on the issue of planned increase in electricity tariff. The consumers perspectives PHCN must provide consumers with pre-paid meters Mr. Ndubuisi Nwogbo, Company Secretary, Blueseas Maritime Services Nigeria Limited, Apapa: I am totally against the new tariff. There must be a

PPARENTLY, the new increase in electricity tariff by 11 per cent, from June 1, 2012 by Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is unsettling for most consumers in the country. While some Nigerians see the development as a way of compelling people to pay more for darkness, others called on the Commission to provide pre-paid meters for all consumers to avoid discrepancies in the volume of power consumption and amount accruable to government every month. The Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, had recently, explained that the proposed increase would enable the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to recover the cost of generating and distributing electricity for domestic and industrial consumption, even as he stressed that Nigeria is far below South Africa in electricity generation and must increase tariff for serious investors to come in, in order to optimise output in the sector. According to him, the current power generation capacity of between 3, 600 and 4,800Mega Watts (MW) daily, out of which about 200 megawatts are kept in reserve to take care of system collapse, is not sufficient for a population of over 160milion. He explained that Nigeria needs at least between 22, 000 to 25,000 MW of daily electricity generation capacity to ensure constant and uninterrupted power supply. Amadi gave an insight into the urgent need for more private investors to come in and put sufficient money to revamp the sector for greater efficiency. He said that there must be reasonable tariff increase and propelled government intervention to provide a conducive operating environment that would drive private sector investments in the power sector now and in the long-run. However, the NERC stated clearly that Nigerians living and doing businesses in rural areas have nothing to worry about, as government has made necessary arrangements to subsidise electricity consumption for them. In that capacity, the sum of N60 billion had been provided as subsidy for electricity consumption by the poor and rural dwellers for 2012 while N50 billion will be spent for the same purpose in 2013 fiscal year. Sunday Business gathered that the meters are categorised into R1, R2 and C1 among others. R1 customers would no longer pay both the meter maintenance fee and fixed charges as they would only pay for the energy they con-

C M Y K

Dr. Sam Amadi sume at the rate of N11 per kilowatt hours. The R2 customers would pay a monthly fixed charge of N500 in addition to whatever is consumed at the rate of between N11 and N12 per kilowatt hours. Meanwhile, many Nigerians are urging NERC to provide sufficient pre-paid meters to ensure accuracy in electricity pricing. But our investigations revealed that the PHCN has not been able to provide meters for all consumers of electricity in the country by June 1, not to talk of pre-paid meters. Recently, NERC boss said about N7billion was needed to provide meters across the country, even as he said that, with the assistance of the World Bank, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had already been provided with about 40 per cent coverage of metering system within the region. Some experts who spoke with our correspondent advised government on the need to explore alternative sources of power generation such as hydro, coal, solar and more gas powered stations to be built in strategic places in order to ensure sufficient gas supply to power the plants. Electricity generation The current power generating capacity stands at 3, 600 and 4,8003,400mw. 2011 generating capacity was between 3,800 and 3,900. Generating capacity in the last quarter of 2010 was between 3,700mw and 3,800. In 2009, the sector witnessed just a slight increase in the level of outputs from the previous 3,500mw of electricity generated in 2008 to about 3,700 MW. The 2009 economic year brought more investments in the sector through the release of N59billion, which the late President Umar Yar’Adua approved in the last quarter of 2008. The initiative was to enhance execution of major projects in the sector, yet that year ended without tangible achievement, even as the expectation to achieve 6,000mw capacity in December 2009 was not realised. Intervention The House of Representatives has, in the meantime, summoned the Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, and

STORIES BY UDEME CLEMENT

vide the pre-paid meters for people to know precisely what they consume in order to pay adequately for the services. I feel very strongly that what government is doing is wrong. We need private sector initiative- Mr. Okwuoili Daniels: Assistant Director, Legal Services, Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC): Government is trying to enhance efficiency in

Aside from electricity tariff hike, NERC has also approved new charges, which must be paid by customers for installation of meters across 11 distribution companies under the supervision of PHCN

clear road map on how they want to go about improving electricity in Nigeria before talking about increase in tariff. The government must issue a comprehensive time-table on how to provide electricity so that people can buy into the project for efficiency in the sector. What are we paying for? Government should borrow money to invest in the sector. The first priority should be to remove the old meters and pro-

the electricity sector by allowing private investors to come in. In that case, government is trying to create an enabling environment for the investors to operate and improve their margin. Do you expert people to come and put money in the sector without recouping their investments? It is just like the telecom sector, because private investors in the sector are making profit in order to stay afloat in business.

Why did the House of Representatives support the unbundling of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and the issuing of licenses to private investors without a public hearing to know that no investor would like to put his money in a venture that would not improve his margin? They suddenly realised the need for public hearing when they ought to have done that before unbundling PHCN. Government should provide consumers with the pre-paid meters to enable people and investors determine electricity consumed daily and the amount that should be paid for it. Aside from electricity tariff hike, NERC has also approved new charges, which must be paid by customers for installation of meters across 11 distribution companies under the supervision of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). Sunday Business gathered that under the new tariff, high voltage maximum demand customers that are referred to as Residential 4 (R4) customers under the Kaduna Distribution Company are to

Continues on page 35

Dana air disaster: AON calls for immediate probe

HE Airline Operators of Nigeria, (AON), has called on the appropriate agency to carry out a thorough investigation into the recent crash of Dana aircraft in Lagos, which claimed over 153 lives. Speaking with Sunday Business in Lagos, Assistant Secretary General of AON, Alhaji Mohammed Tukur, frowned at the way in which some individuals who do not understand the workings of the aviation sector were making volatile statements on the issue, advising Nigerians to allow the appropriate authority to conclude investigations, in order to ascertain the cause of the accident. On the resolution by the Senate asking the director general, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Mr. Harold Demuren to step aside, he said, “Let Demuren remain in office and be investigated. If he is found guilty, then he can be prosecuted. Why should he be asked to step aside? Government must consider the fact that aviation is a specialised sector and requires individuals who are professionals to handle it to enhance efficien-

cy in the system. We are advising government to be very careful because leaving the sector in the hands of individuals who are not professionals means more disaster for the country and the economy.” He added, “The reality is that telling the DG of NCAA to step aside will not help the situation. The Dana plane crash is a very sad development because it is a national disaster, but government should allow the agency charged with the responsibility of investigating such issues to finish it findings before taking any action. What happened was an accident because even a new aircraft can crash. The engine of an aircraft is man-made and can develop fault at any time”. On the issue of autonomy that government granted NCAA, he said, “For instance, before now, government granted NCAA autonomy, but the autonomy was only on paper, because the same government was still interfering in the activities of NCAA. We must learn to do the right thing in this country if we want to achieve tangible economic growth and development like what obtains in advanced

countries. Throughout the period Demuren was doing very well as the DG of NCAA, nobody appreciated his efforts. Now some people are trying to humiliate him because of the accident.” Responding to question on the suspension of Dana’s operating licence, he said, “That action was a wrong step. It is not done anywhere in the world. Nigeria is not the only country where we have issue of plane crash. There are crashes in Europe and other countries, so government should not take action that will portray the image of Nigeria in bad light. What is usually done whenever there is issue of plane crash is for the authority of the affected country to ground the airline involved for a short period, in order to check the state of the remaining aircraft owned by such airline. How can you suspend the licence of an airline when you are expecting compensation to be paid to the families of the victims? It does not make economic sense.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 35

Banking sector risks: W/Africa Monetary Zone calls for close supervision BY UDEME CLEMENT

HE West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) has called for the immediate establishment of colleges of supervisors in the West African sub-region to enhance information sharing on effective supervision of the banking industry to forestall bank failures resulting from risks exposures, even as it stressed the need to set up explicit deposit insurance schemes within the region to mitigate deleterious consequences associated with systemic crises in the sector. A director, Administration/ Finance, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Mr. Euraclyn Williams, made this known while addressing participants at the regional course on ‘Foundation Banking Supervision, organised by WAMZ in collaboration with WAIFEM, saying that there is the urgent need to build capacity of staff supervisory agencies in credit analysis and risk management in banking organisations to ensure effective supervision. He added, “In such a

dynamic financial environment, it is vital for the regulators to have a firm grasp of the different risks associated with various banking activities such as credit, default risk, foreign exchange risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, because here lies the rationale for adopting risk-focused approach to banking supervision. The growing number of financial conglomerates presents significant supervisory challenges as different agencies are responsible for each traditional segment of the financial industry. An effective mechanism must be put in place to co-ordinate supervision of such conglomerates. The importance of capital adequacy is indubitable. Capital serves as a risk-absorbing buffer should enable banks to be prudent in risk taking activities.” “Risk-focused banking Supervision (RFBS) entails the development of a supervisory plan that is relevant to the organisation’s changing risk profile. Its effectiveness depends on the existence of rule of law that ensures

enforceability of contracts. The existence of regulatory agencies should be both operationally independent and sufficiently funded to carry out their duties. The banks and financial sector supervisors must work closely to achieve effective supervision. This can be achieved through timely information flows, facilitated by enhanced information technology and implementation of the suggestions requires overhauling the legal and financial oversight frameworks and the changes in the supervisory framework of our countries”, he said. According to him, “tremendous development in technology, financial services are evolving from transactional to information management and the structure of delivery channels are changing to electronic distribution channels. Internationalisation and deregulation have also increased the possibilities for contagion as evidenced by the spread of financial crisis from Thailand to the rest of Southeast Asia, to East Asia, Eastern Europe, South America in the late 1990s and

How the hike in electricity tariff affects you Continued from page 34

pay N156, 356.00, those under Eko and Ikeja are to pay monthly charges of N118, 830.56 and N109,449.20 as fixed rates. Also, high voltage maximum demand customers in Jos, Kano and Port Harcourt are to pay fixed charges of N117,267. 00 every month and the same category of customers in Yola must pay N100, 849.62. R4 customers in Abuja and Benin will pay N113, 358.10 and N101,631.40, while those in Enugu and Ibadan will pay N117, 416.46 and N117,267.00. Increase in electricity tariff: The new electricity tariff in June will be the second time NERC is increasing tariff this year. The commission approved an increase in electricity tariff by over 50 per cent from January 2012, saying it was in line with the on-going reforms in the power sector. The consumer with single phase meters were made to pay N10.85 and N14.60 per kwh as against the current rate of N7.30 per kwh, while customers currently paying N11 per kwh paid between N16.50 and N22 . The residential category of the lowest paying customers at the rate of N2.20 per kwh increased to between N3.30 and N4.40 while the highest paying consumers at the rate of N15.60 per kwh increased to between N23.40 and N31.20 C M Y K

under the new tariff in January this year. Years statistics: In 2009 : NERC effected 10 per cent increase in electricity tariff In 2009 and the cost of electricity per unit was N7.00/ kw In 2010: The cost of electricity went up to N8.50/kw By July 2011: The cost of electricity moved to N10/kw. BY June 1, 2011: NERC has again increased the cost of electricity by 11 per cent. Power sector crisis/shortage of gas supply: SHORTAGE OF GAS SUPPLY According to experts, shortage of adequate gas supply is the major constraint in electricity generation and transmission in the country. For instance, the previous government built power plants in strategic locations across the country, but lack of sufficient gas supply to power those plants made it difficult for electricity generation to be realised from such plants. At present, there are power plants everywhere in the country, but no gas to power them. Also, some individuals who spoke with our correspondent said there is lack of synergy between gas producing companies and PHCN to ensure adequate supply of gas for power plants built with huge sums. THE GAS MASTER PLAN/

GAS PRICING POLICY: In 2008, the Federal Government approved the Gas Master Plan to ensure availability of gas supply for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity to meet demands for both domestic and industrial consumption in the country. Despite the approval of the gas master plan, government could not realise the 6,000MW by December 2009. Experts are of the opinion that the Gas Master Plan as well as the Gas Pricing Policy must be properly implemented to boost development in the sector. The initiative should favour domestic users in order to make the domestic gas affordable to the consumers, and to bring economic gains to the industry and the economy at large. Prior to the approval of the Gas Pricing Policy, there was no real pricing formular in the gas sub-sector, and that made everything worked in contradiction without a synergy in the system. The new policy was designed to boost industrial development in the country by ensuring competitive gas prices for all gas consumers, such that Nigeria ’s gas could be supplied at the lowest commercially sustainable prices to the strategic domestic sector, which provides electricity for domestic and industrial consumption.

the recent global financial crisis of 2008. Not to be outdone, West African banks have also increasingly gone global in their operations, opening offshore branches or establishing foreign affiliates. Rapid innovations in financial markets and the internationalisation of financial flows have changed the face of banking almost beyond recognition. Technological progress and deregulation have provided new opportunities for an increased competitive pressures among

banks and non-bank financial institutions. As such, banking supervision to ensure risk management is quite imperative”. The course which drew participants from various countries within the subregion covered an overview of the WAMZ regional financial system and regulatory framework, the function of the central banks and the role of the financial institutions, need for banks supervision and the impact of bank failure, legal and institutional framework for regulation of banks, basic accounting and interpretation of financial statements, an overview of the internal control measures, offsite monitoring techniques and risk management.

From left: Mr. Essa A.K Drammeh, Director, Banking Supervision, Central Bank of Gambia- a facilitator; Mr. Ousman Sowe, Director, Financial Sector Management Department, WAIFEM; Mr. Euraclyn Williams, rep of the Director General, and Mr. Emmanuel Onwioduokit, Deputy Director, WAMI and a facilitator, during the regional course on Foundation Banking Supervision organized by WAIFEM in Lagos.

From left: Pioneer chairman, Business Section of Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. George Etomi; member, International Chambers of Commerce, Nigeria (ICCN),Arbitration Commission, Mrs. Doyin Rhodes-Vivour; Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Gabriel Olawoyin and the visiting General Secretary, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Mr. Jason Fry, at the Launch of 2012 International Chambers of Commerce Rules of Arbitration, in Lagos. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

From left: Mrs. Elizabeth Amkpa, Head of Sales, MultiChoice Nigeria, presenting Microwave oven to Mr. Seyi Sangodeyi, a DStv subscriber who won in the monthly DStv rewards competition assisted by Mr. Akinola Salu, Head of Marketing, MultiChoice Nigeria. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

PAGE 36— SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 10, 2012

Nigeria’s problem is poverty — Sule Lamido

`How we have turned people’s lives around’

Avoid 2015 debate now, he says

JIGAWA State Governor, Sule Lamido, in this interview, argues that the current debate over who becomes Nigeria’s president in 2015 is a misplaced priority. He adds that no part of Nigeria can singularly lay claim to the 2015 presidency. He defends his anger over the comments made by the National Security Adviser on the alleged role of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the current insecurity plaguing Nigeria. Lamido also speaks on other issues of national significance. BY CHARLES KUMOLU

C M Y K

he question of which section of the country would produce the next president in 2015 is overheating the polity. People are saying President Goodluck Jonathan will contest, while others are arguing to the contrary. What is your take on the issue? As a Muslim, I believe tomorrow belongs to God. That is very important. Of course, you may wish, but the determinant is God Almighty. Now, that is very basic. Thereafter, people have faith to dream dreams; people also have faith to aspire to anything. But what are you talking about? Are you talking about a Southern Nigerian president or you are talking about a Nigerian president? If you are talking about Nigerian president, all forces must come together to make him. We know the North may say we must get it, because the North tried it last time. Atiku, Babangida, Aliyu and Bukola, when they all lost, they focused on Buhari. It has to be Nigeria’s consensus. People are just fooling themselves. There is no way one section can lay claim to it. All the northern governors supported Jonathan in 2011. All we want is for everyone to join forces and create a Nigerian president. Why would the debate start so soon? Talks about 2015 are all political talks. There are more pressing issues to the nation than 2015 debate. You were once quoted as calling for the sacking of the National Security Adviser, NSA, because of the comments he made about the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on the current insecurity in the country, what is your grouse with the NSA or his comments? That is your interpretation of my comments on the NSA. If you go out of Nigeria and say Nigerians are mad people, how would that feel? If I go to England and say that Nigerians are crazy people, how would you feel? We have many parties in Nigeria and I belong to PDP. I am a founding member of the party and I know the culture and ideals of the party. I know the pains and crisis we have been through in PDP. We have also suffered personal pains for the sake of the party. How can someone who just joined the party last year, say such a thing about PDP? What he said, whether in context or out of context, is against the party. I made comments about NSA because I am defending my party and I stand by my comments. The security challenges facing the country appear to have stemmed from agitations by different sections of the country. Which part of the country would you sincerely say is genuinely marginalised?

So, the question you would ask is ‘how do I make Jigawa State conducive?’ You can’t do anything without security. Security is very paramount. Beyond the government, there is also the contribution of the people

It’s all politics. I want you to look at the poor man in Ibadan and the poor man in the riverine area around Bayelsa, with the poor man in Jigawa State and the poor man in Sokoto State. Also, look at the rich man in Kano, the rich man in Bayelsa and in Lagos, you find out that they share things in common.

igeria’s problem is poverty, and no matter what you say, human beings will always say ‘give me more money, either do or die; I want resource control’ etc. You see, so long as we remain a country, we can only be safe, if the entire country is safe. If there is hunger and hardship in one state, then, no state is safe in Nigeria. Today, in Nigeria, all these political noises about marginalisation, your Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Boko Haram, Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) and so on are all manifestations of failure. If the people are happy, if the people are contented, and, therefore, there is peace, there would not be face-off. But when you see despair and pain in people’s faces; there is no future for them, naturally, they will act.

o matter what you do in terms of making money for yourself, if the country’s majority of people are not happy, you cannot be happy your-

Governor, Sule Lamido

self. You can build the best house, you can put an high rise wall, you can put American wire, CCTV camera, hire a guard and put bullet proof doors and gates, you are still not safe, because they will call you and say ‘Mr. Hiding Man,’ we are coming tonight. So, why don’t you begin to look at how you can contribute to building a good society? Nobody wants to be a thief; nobody wants to be a Boko Haram; nobody wants to be a thug; nobody wants to be a Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) member; nobody wants to be a member of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC); and nobody wants to be member of MEND. But what is the essence of this? If they feel abandoned, what do you expect? The problem is simply what do we do to raise the status and the standing of our fellow brothers nationwide, whether they are Northerners or Southerners, whether they are Muslims or Christians or even whether they are pagans. They are Nigerians whose well-being is also important. It is believed that the revenue accruing to your state is meager. Yet, you have been able to achieve some physical development, apart from putting in place a social security system on which millions are spent monthly. From where do you get additional funds to do all these? Governors are elected to operate as governors of their different states. You don’t think everybody would adopt the common kind of approach to governance. We all campaigned. So, what else would I be doing in office, if I don’t do what I am doing now? Before we came in, as a political party, we

were going to our people to canvass for their votes. They saw us as people they could trust and voted us in. What next do you expect? Of course, you begin to exercise that authority. That is all. Why should people be grateful to me for doing what I am supposed to do? You see, it is because our level of political education is low. We should raise the level of dedication; we should know that there are certain expectations in governance from leaders. When they don’t perform, you should demand. People have this mentality of the conquered and, therefore, see governance as patronage, as if it is privilege to be given what is yours by right. There is something wrong with us. Why is it that you always mark Democracy Day with public lectures in Jigawa State since you have become the state governor? Right from the day I came into office, I came with a very clear vision of what I wanted to do with the office. And I come from a political clan where, to us, politics is not something mercantile; it is not something you see like an industry. Our political philosophy is all about serving your people. When I got elected, a major problem I observed with Nigeria was that government and governance have no bearing on people. May be it is because of military incursion into politics; obviously, the military, when they came in 1982, destroyed our dialogues, because they didn’t run a government which would think of anything called legitimacy. And because they used the power of gun and so on, the system of their operation has no diplomacy, no due process. Continues on page 37

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 10, 2012— PAGE 37

Continued from page 36

`We have turned people’s lives around’

hat I did on my first anniversa ry in 2008, was to go over the radio from 1 May up to 29 to begin to address the people on activities of government. The party chairman was the first to appear on the programme, reminding the people that this is the party that campaigned last year; that asked for your votes. The speaker, the

look for profit, and in business, there is no relation and there is no friend. America sells arms, war planes, war ships and so on. These things, they know, are dangerous. Yet, they keep on producing them, because they are searching for the profit there. Under war situation some countries and people would make money. During Biafran war, different people kept singing ‘go into the trenches.’ From the war, they were making a lot of money.

Governor, Sule Lamido

hey begin to make the law on the way they want to govern you. Normally, discussions, consensus, brainstorming on opinions characterise democracy. But the military, when they come, they design their own kind of law; your feelings, your well being, your opinion and whatever have no meaning to them, because they don’t need them. So, majorly, they destroyed all the values that made our system responsive; which made the system accountable to the people. And they began to impose brute force through their government. And naturally, the people became afraid and they became disconnected. So has it been over the years, in the last 25 or 30 years. Anybody today in Nigeria who is 30 or 40 years might not have known what they call good governance. Anybody who is 30 years today must have been born in about that time we are talking about. Anybody who is 40 must have been born then. So, the younger generation of Nigeria’s population has had no access to government based on law and order. And because they all carry this lacuna in them, anything you do, they celebrate it. In simple terms what sort of intervention have you made about this since 1999? Our effort since 1999 has been to restore this procedure, this conduct, the regulation, law and culture of running according to law. Though, the operators are elected, but then, it will take time to change the psyche and orientation of a system which has been so embedded; so engraved in people’s minds. The moment the institution of government is deficient, an aberration becomes the norm. So, it is this link that is really missing; that lacuna. When they speak, you find out that they have no reference point. We want to set the agenda; what do we want for ourselves as a federation; as a country? Define that first. When you define that, then we will march on to what I call sovereign benchmark; something which will unite us as a people with common ownership. You have to know how you want your country to be. It has to be properly defined. How do you think this can come about – at least from your experience? The question is ‘how do you restore governance to the people?’ The people’s ownership of it is very important. If you have the ownership, then you are able to link up. People have to be linked. People look at government in a very abstract way; like ‘it is your government, it is not my own.’ So, first, return ownership to the people, by doing things according to the stipulation of law and order, under due process, transparency and accountability. It is for me to reconnect the people with the government.

There is no way one section can lay claim to the presidency in 2015. All the northern governors supported Jonathan in 2011. All we want is for everyone to join forces and create a Nigerian president

head of service and the chief of staff came on and addressed the people. And the people called in because it was a live programme. It was rounded off with a public lecture entitled; Political Parties and Party Culture. It was to teach that political parties are not vehicles for making money. They are vehicles for fighting a larger cause. Nigeria’s failure is the failure to look at the human question. Across the country, it is the same story. For instance, you say textile industries are closed.

he same happened in Kaduna, Kano and Lagos. The cotton is produce in Nigeria by Nigerian farmers. It is exported to Germany and other foreign countries and then they make them into these fabrics, the lace or whatever. And they bring them back to us here, because they don’t wear it; we wear it here. So, we feed their market, while we undermine our own economy. And again, nobody will wear Nigerian fabric. If 100 million Nigerians could purchase only 20 metres each of Nigerian fabric, that would amount to two billion metres. Imagine the number of people that would work to produce that two billion metres of fabric; the cotton farmers, the cotton sellers and so on.

This country is endowed; it is blessed by Allah. It is the people that are undermining their own country. Nigeria’s story is the same in Enugu, Abia, Bayelsa, Borno or Sokoto or Ibadan. As I said, our failure is that we have not improved wellbeing of the human person. Whatever we do must focus on the development of our people. We should be able to have contented citizens. So, it is part of our efforts that we have been organising the lectures every year. Last year, I think the topic was The Missing Link in Contemporary Nigeria. What is that? What is the missing link in contemporary Nigeria? It is all about value. It is part of our own contribution to broaden the frontiers of democracy, because democracy cannot suddenly flourish on its own, it just has to be developed. You want your democracy to be like America’s, you must know that in America, there is what they are doing for democracy. Here in Nigeria, ordinary basic law of hygiene is difficult for people to obey. You claim to be civilised, yet, you defecate by the side of the road. Americans don’t do that. We must continue to reflect on daily basis. So, our effort here is to deepen democracy for coordinated national development. Some of the projects on ground in your state are said to have been initiated by your government. This could mean that the economic standing of Jigawa is just being fired now. Can we know any more efforts you are making to give the state a sound economic footing? I am in the PDP. I’m different from an All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) governor. Obviously, they are two different cultures. What I’m doing is PDP programme. Number two, development; what do we mean by development? Who are you developing? For you to develop, which area are you looking at? And how do you ensure that each area is working in tandem with the other? You have to ensure that things are working right for a purpose. And so, to be able to attain development, you must first of all do something. Business people will normally

o, the question you would ask is ‘how do I make Jigawa State conducive?’ You can’t do anything without security. Security is very paramount. Beyond the government, there is also the contribution of the people, which is very important. After my election, I called all stakeholders; I called the emirs, I called the mallams and I called all our elders who were ministers under Sheu Shagari and even those who served with Tafawa Balewa who have become aged and experienced. I called non-governmental organisations (NGOs), political parties. I said this is Jigawa. And this is the burden of Jigawa by Nigeria and Nigeria through donour agencies; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank etc. This is what we are. Then, we said let us close our doors, though we meant metaphorically, so that we can work harder inside. Can we know about your government’s social security programme? The purpose of government and governance is their effort to provide intervention to save what may be considered a near emergency or a very serious nightmare. It is an intervention. For me, to have a humane society; for you to have a society with heart for feeling and compassion, you must look at the weak people. Who are the weak people? How do you save them? Look at a man who is 50 years old and is crippled. There are 45-year-olds who are lepers with stump as hands. This condition of theirs is not their making. The system of government in the last 45 to 50 years failed to address such problems ab initio. Simple routine immunization in the last 45 to 50 years; regular vaccination; regular medical examination would have been able to take care of these. Some of them are of very old age; they should not be abandoned as the destitute and all money spent on those who are healthy. So, it is for intervention. At least, before they die, give them comfort. Don’t look at the quantum; don’t look at the amount being spent on it. Look at the role it has played to instill sense of humanity in those people. Some of these people are trainable and we train them so that they will be useful. There is one that is crippled and we trained him to make shoes. But there are some that cannot be trained. For example, someone that is being pushed in a wheelbarrow, how do you train that? How do you train someone whose hands are stumps? How do you train a 70-year-old man to acquire skill and make a living? That would be callous. C M Y K

PAGE 38— SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012

Big Mummy Peace marks diamond jubilee

L-R: Senator Remi Tinubu, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, Bishop Mike Okonkwo and Bishop Peace Okonkwo dancing to ministration by BUCHI. PHOTOS: OSCAR OCHIOGU

By SAM EYOBOKA

HILE Queen Elizabeth II was finalizing arrangements for her diamond jubilee celebration, the matriarch of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, TREM, Bishop Peace Okonkwo was being treated to a musical concert courtesy of the Women of Global Impact, WGI, one of the numerous non-governmental organisations established by her with a vision to reach out and empower the womenfolk. It took place at the Expo Hall of Eko Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos. The event which featured the biggest names in the Nigerian gospel music industry including Buchi, Dame Onyeka Onwenu, Midnight Crew, Evangel Voices, Temitayo George of West African Idols fame, Ese of Project Fame, Tolu Odukoya—another Bimbo Odukoya in the making, Precious Singers and an American music minister and a very familiar face at TREM, Genet Chenier was attended by the crème de la crème of the Nigerian society. There were a few male attendees from the US. The list included the First Lady of Lagos, Dame Abimbola Fashola, her immediate predecessor, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the Benue State First Lady was represented, General Overseer, Fountain of Life Church, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, Archbishop George Amu, Bishop John Osa-Oni, Rev.

(Mrs.) Dele George, Dr. (Mrs.) Iloh and several top notchers from the corporate world. The event which marked the diamond jubilee of the woman every TREMite loves to call Big Mummy kicked off immediately the ebullient couple, with their daughter, Uche in tow, walked gallantly into the hall after spending a moment at the red carpet while press photographers and television crews struggled to outdo one another. Nobody was left in doubt as to the focus of the programme which was packaged to draw attention to a very deadly disease currently plaguing Nigerian women, some of whom do not live to tell their stories, especially in the rural areas of the country. It was to create awareness for cervical cancer, provide free check-up at designated places and assist in the treatment of infected women. To this end, after dancing so heartily to music supplied by Buchi, Midnight Crew and others, all of whom literarily attempted to bring down the roof, participants were treated to a documentary chronicling the tireless efforts of the humble woman of God to bring succour to Nigerian, nay African, women. The mission of WGI, the documentary stated, included the desire to positively affect and touch the lives of women for the better, enabling full realisation of a woman's potentials and helping national development through empa-

thy, trust, motivation and nondiscreminatory support initiatives. To this end, WGI has perfected plans to screen 10,000 women across the nation for cervical cancer; a slow growing cancer often preceded by certain precancerous changes in the celss of the lining of the cervix. It noted that there is a very gradual change from a normal cervix to pre-cancer cervix with cancer, pointing out that "the period of gradual change is why cervical cancer is one of the few cancers that can be prevented once caught early." A team of professionals have therefore been assembled to tranverse the length and breadth of the country, for the onerous task of screening women with a view to preventing the desease and if there already, offer medical solution to the victims. Big Mummy expressed delight for the enablement God had provided for the onerous task of empowering the womenfolk in this country. The screening of 10,000 women across the country is not a one all thing, she explained, adding "it is an ongoing thing. It will not stop, we triust God to take us from glory to glory and to provide the resources." Asked to advise the youger women in the country, Bishop Peace said her marriage had been smooth all through so I want to advise women that God grace had sustained her. "There are trying times, there are challenges that come your

*The celebrant, Big Mummy (r) and her hearthtrob, Big Daddy Okonkwo at the red carpet.

*Uche Okonkwo and parents cutting Mummy's birthday cake way, but I just decided that I was going see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living," she stated adding that there are always challenges of trusting God for food, children and what have you; but God is able." An excited husband and presiding bishop of TREM, Bishop Mike Okonkwo was particularly overjoyed by the impressive attendance, which according to him, is an indication that people actually are more concerned about the needs of the society. Asked to identify one special thing about his wife, Big Daddy could not pin point one particular thing, saying: "the reason why I find it difficult

to pick one thing is that everything is special. She has been a very big pillar of support to me. Probably, if God had not given her to me, I would not have fulfilled ministry, because the way I am made...I am a people's person and if I had married a different woman she not have unmderstood that, as a pastor, I am a father to a lot of people." He therefore counselled would-be husbands to acknowledge the fact that God does not bring two perfect people together, rather "He brings two imperfect people who are expected to run each other and grow to understand themselves and that way it becomes sweeter and sweeter."

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012--- PAGE 39

ILLOGICAL CHRISTIANITY

HERE is no one in the bible as illogical as Paul. He claims he preached the gospel: “not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.” (I Corinthians 1:17). Nevertheless, Luke says: “(Paul) reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath.” (Acts 18: 4). Paul’s “reasoning” is often incoherent and contradictory. To accept some of the things he says, one has to take leave of one’s senses.

Contradictions galore Paul maintains salvation is not contingent upon our works, but is “by grace through faith” in Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2:8-9). Then he puts his foot in his mouth by saying to the Galatians: “You who attempt to be justified by law have fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4). But if grace is unmerited favour, then a man cannot fall from it. If the favour is unmerited, it cannot be lost by demerits. Paul says we were “bought at a price,” ostensibly by Christ. (I Corinthians 6:20). But only slaves are bought; sons are not bought but birthed. Then he says we are forgiven. (Colossians 2:13). But if we are forgiven, nobody needs to pay for us; and if we are paid for, then we don’t need to be forgiven. Paul says: “there is none righteous, no not one.” (Romans 3:10). He then boxes himself into a corner by saying: “the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (I Corinthians 6: 9). But if there is none righteous and only the righteous will inherit, where then will God find the righteous who will inherit his kingdom? Paul just cannot think straight. His defective logic about the non-existence of the righteous does not even recognise “Jesus Christ the righteous.” (I John 2:1). Compare Paul’s irreverent generalization to Jesus’ recognition of

Paul’s illogicality cannot be the word of “the only wise God" God’s exceptionality. Jesus says: “No one is good but One, that is, God.” (Matthew 19:17). In I Corinthians 2:14, Paul sets a trap for himself and falls into it. He says: “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Then he says: “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.” (I Corinthians 15:46). But if the natural is first, how can the natural then become spiritual when, according to Paul’s ingenuity, the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God? Thereby, Paul nullifies his own doctrine and shows it to be idiotic.

Convoluted logic Paul tries to compare the coming of the New Testament with the second marriage of a widow. But he muddles everything up; casting serious doubts on his alleged Pharisee training. He says: “The woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. ...Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another- to Him who was raised from the dead.” (Romans 7:2-4). But a widow does not die because her husband dies. A dead wife does not remarry. In actual fact, it is Christ, the “ new husband,” who died. The law, the “old husband,” is still alive. Quoting Epidemedes, Paul says: “One of them, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’” Surprisingly, Paul agrees with this, saying: “This testimony is true.” (Titus 1:12-13). But

if Cretans are always liars, this statement by one of them must also be false. Thereby, Paul trips on his own shoe-laces once again.

Double-mindedness Paul comes up with this lofty principle: “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corrupt-ion, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” (Galatians 6:7-8). However, he then nullifies it by insisting those who sow to the spirit should reap in the flesh. He says: “If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?” (I Corinthians 9:11). This is the hypocritical theology of the money-minded con-man which has so many adherents in the pastors of today. Paul says: “The doers of the law shall be justified.” (Romans 2:13). Then he contradicts himself in the same breath: “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified.” (Romans 3:20). He says to the Galatians: “Bear one another’s burdens.” (Galatians 6:2). Then he says: “Each one shall bear his own load.” (Galatians 6:5). If each man shall bear his own load, how can we then bear one another’s burdens? Paul says: “All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law.” (Romans 2:12). Then he contradicts himself by saying: “where there is no law, there is no transgression.” (Romans 4:15). If, as he says, no law means no sin; how then can he also say no law means sin leading to condemnation? Listen to Paul in his own self-implicating words. He says to the Thessalonians: “Our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, NOR IN GUILE.” (I Thessalonians 2:3). Then he says to

the Corinthians: “I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you WITH GUILE.” (II Corinthians 12: 16). In short, by his own account, Paul is not deceptive and he also is. Which of these is the infallible word of Paul? Certainly, such illogicality cannot be the word of “the only wise God.” (Romans 16:27).

Nonsensical Christology Lagos drivers are terrible. We drive with scant regard for traffic laws. We drive on the pavements and on the wrong sides of the road. We beat red lights, violate one-way traffic signs, and park in no-parking zones. But one day, a man called Jesus came to Lagos. He was a perfect driver and he obeyed scrupulously all the traffic laws. In recognition for his fastidiousness, the Lagos State Government repealed all traffic laws on the grounds that Jesus had fulfilled them. Any man who believes in Jesus is then deemed to have also obeyed all the laws. Nevertheless, the government sent Jesus himself to the firing squad for violating traffic laws, even though in actual fact he had obeyed them all. This is a parody of Paul’s Christology. Why should Christians believe such arrant nonsense? With the repeal of all traffic laws because of Jesus’ perfect obedience, would Lagos drivers automatically become “new creatures” on the roads? No! What if Paul maintains: “there is now no condemnation for Lagos drivers?” (Romans 8:1). Would that improve the situation? Not likely! What if Paul declares: “There is no good driver, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10). Would that make the difference? Certainly not! What if Paul tells Lagos drivers all things are lawful on the roads, but they should avoid things that are not expedient? (I Corinthians 6:12). Would they therefore drive with circumspection? Definitely not! What if Paul reassures Lagosians the Chief Judge of the state now “justifies ungodly drivers?” (Romans 4:5). Would that make them good drivers? Absolutely not! And yet, that is the foolishness and ludicrousness of Pauline Christianity.

Adeboye prays for parents By Olayinka LATONA

ENERAL Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye last Sunday offered prayers for parents and intending parents at a special monthly programme at the church national headquarters, in Ebute Meta, Lagos. Delivering a sermon titled; "Peace at last”, Pastor Adeboye assured the congregation that in whatever situation they find themselves, God will not forsake the faithful, rather He would make them more than conquerors. Pastor Adeboye explained that man can only enjoy the peace of God when he abides in God and trust Him, adding that it is only God that can bless man, make one fruitful and open all closed doors. “God will keep, in perfect peace, those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in Him. If you trust and abide in the Lord, He will not forsake you but make you fruitful and excel. When God opens a door for you no man can shut it,” he averred. Adeboye contended that praise can be a major antidote for one to have peace, charging Christians to cultivate the habit of praising God because He is always moved when men praise Him. “If we want God to make a way for us, we must try praising Him and He will arise on your behalf", he said. The Special Assistant on Administration/Personnel to the General Overseer, Pastor Funsho Odesola after the special service, told journalists that the next special prayer session is scheduled for Sunday, July 1 at the same venue, adding that several stakeholders in the industry are expected to grace the occasion.

L-R: Mr. Samuel Sanusi, Church/PR Manager, Pastor William Kumuyi, General Superintendent, Deeper Life Bible Church; Rev. Fred Odutola, General Secretary/CEO of Bible Society of Nigeria and Mr. Benjamin Mordi during a visit to Pastor Kumuyi last Sunday.

Cleric lauds NYSC scheme

BUJA---REVEREND Bob Alonge of the Convenant Ministerial Chaplaincy, CMC, has thrown his weight behind the sustenance of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, for training youths to become future leaders, reports CALEB AYANSINA. Alonge, who was speaking at the 2012 CMC Heroes Award, where 12 distinguished Nigerians were given award for their humanitarian service, however, noted that there is room for improvement. “If anybody thinks that NYSC is not doing well, he/ she should have a rethink”, he stated, explaining that four out 12 awardees for this year were youth corpers who performed excellently in their various posting. According to him, “any nation that truly aspires to greatness must not only identify her heroes and heroines, but must also celebrate them with deliberate gusto and fanfare. "There is no better time in the history of Nigeria than these perilous times when violence and harbingers of annihilation hold sway, to bring into national prominence, Nigerian men and women who have dedicated their lives to serve. They are our unsung heroes”.

PAGE 40—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012

When airline brands fly too low(2) I

choice but to live with the careless irresponsible brand, such consumer becomes a despondent consumer. In a perfect market situation, on the other hand, such brands die. One of the peculiarities of our local market is very high level of consumer-ignorance and carelessness. But again, one can only be careful to so

T was like we started writing on this topic last week out of premonition. The Dana air crash of Sunday, June 3, 2012, took the breath away from every normal person. The enormity of loss of human life is huge; too sad Dana airline and the nation suffered the crash of last week Sunday. May the souls of the departed (those victims who suffered the ultimate consequence for disregard for o human life, obstruction of established system, blatant disregard for calculable mechanics and obvious system corruption (by those that should otherwise have been responsible!) rest in Perfect Peace. Last week we focused on pointing out those issues concerning air travel brands management that are impacting negatively on operators in our local market. Well, may we state here that never stretched our imagination, in the negative, to the point of near-mishap, not to mention an outright air plane crash, when we set out to peep into brands management in relation to air travel brands. As with every brand, our focus was (and still is) to challenge brand owners and managers in the industry into higher standard professional practice and service delivery in the management of their brands, by articulating those evident short-falls and point the way to system over-all, for the good of all. In all intent and purpose, MC&A Digest is concerned with guiding top standard professional brands management by bringing to fore, the grand rules in brands management, advertising and marketing communications practice and service delivery, in the prevalence of professional compromises, short-cuts in the name of technological advancement, etc. Customer-centric or consumer-focused brands management theories are gone from the modern day practice handbook. Brands are now designed to be self-centered, uncaring, rude, aggressive and wild. Brands are now ruthless in the drive to satisfy self. We once said brands share in human character emotionally sensitive – and the whole talk about consumer experience is giving expression to that fact. A consumer‘s reaction towards a brand after the initial experience or encounter, can be said to be equal and opposite to the impression the brand leaves with the consumer at the first encounter. This is true and fundamentally so for every brand – even in a monopoly. So, in worst case situation where the consumer has no

have discounted the risk to pursue immediate gains, by insisting that aircraft do the rounds. Here we are today, counting and mourning our loss of human lives. Put in another way, but for the loss of lives, that aircraft would have still been doing the rounds. I was on a flight from Abuja to Lagos mid-May, 2012, and mid way we

Talking of character traits, a brand must be emotional to the point of caring for its consumer’s well being, as a way of life. But again, this is Nigeria, and as is often said, anything goes.

blame the consumer because the situation is nurtured by the authorities who have refused to guide and protect their citizens and people. So on the one hand, about 70% of the market are falling short of being discerning because their ignorance and illiteracy. On the other hand the regulatory authorities and custodians of consumer protection, aid those who are bent on perpetrating evil for selfish and quick gains, to humiliate and even kill the innocent consumer (at a price borne by the consumer). It is sad, indeed. Reactions on the Dana crash have been quite emotional, and at times like this, logical reasoning tends to give way. However, one thing has been clearly established: this monumental loss of lives would most likely to have been averted if someone did his/her job properly. The Black Box is yet to tell its story, but revelations have been coming through to the effect that the particular aircraft involved in the last Sunday crash has been showing signs of failure since before now, and that it should have been grounded long ago. Going by that story, therefore, Dana brand owners would

experienced water rushing from the hand luggage compartment, pouring profusely on the passengers two rows ahead of me. Well, in response, some of the cabin crew members came rushing with tissue paper to mop up the water from the passengers’ clothes. I was embarrassed on behalf of the airline. But what surprised me more was the reaction of the crew members; the incident was not coming strange to them! What has happened is that the airline has not bothered to take care of that roof water leakage, so far as the aircraft in question could still fly. Now, that is what we consider blatant disrespect for the consumer, a criminal compromise, lack of concern for consumer satisfaction. The value essence of air transport is speed and luxury comfort. Otherwise other travel options are railway, water transport and road transport. Any of these can go to cover distance. The unique offer of air transport as stated above, constitute the key selling point of competitive advantage, for air transport. Now, if any of the parts that make up this unique offer is taken out, what then becomes the benefit of air travel to the traveler? It is even worse when a failure to deliver on such

promises is due to negligence, carelessness and utter disregard for the consumer’s person. A consumer satisfaction-driven brand will ensure it delivers on its promise at all times, at all cost – because it knows and respects the fact that the consumer ’s satisfaction is the whole essence of its being. So talking of character traits, a brand must be emotional to the point of caring for its consumer ’s well being, as a way of life. But again, this is Nigeria, and as is often said, anything goes. If it were to in India that crashed aircraft would not have been permitted to leave the ground. But in Nigeria, somebody somewhere can choose to look elsewhere. Same reason those running fake and adulterated drugs will go all the way to India, Indonesia and even Korea only to ask for very poor quality semblance of known brand names (some of them even have the effrontery to name their own brands) to be produced for them, for sale in Nigerian market – where anything goes. That is why we at MC&A Digest will also hold the authorities responsible for the rot in our market(s). In every market, world-wide, quality of goods and services are closely screened to meet acceptable standards, in protection of the people against abuse at the market place. So, while KIA Auto is reported to be the fastest growing auto brand in the US, it clearly the cheapest new car in Nigeria. That tells the entire story, if we know the strict adherence to top-most quality auto standards of the Americans. Nobody in America will go near the Nigerian spec or variant of KIA Automobile – the same KIA they rush for in America. Can you imagine that? While one will not like to play racial discrimination here, we like to state that the Indian is most likely to push for more till the goose that lays the golden egg dies. But let’s leave system failure aside, what will it profit a brand to gain all the profits in a short time and loose its soul? As of a fact, every brand that sins at the market place shall die, with time. Think of generational transfer of consumer loyalty; how can a brand with negative image at the market place live for long in the mind of its target users? It will all come to nothing at the end. As we once listed in one of our articles on this page, permitting all such compromises poses some threat to the brand itself, the owners and the consumer. So, we are all affected at the end of the day. We are sure that plenty negative reaction would have trailed any attempt by us to mention that compromises in brands management could result in death or loss of human life, before the recent Dana air crash. But here we are; 153 passengers plus crew members and some ground-level casualties have passed on as a result of poor brands management practice! The accident of last Sunday amounts to national tragedy. This

nation has lost men and women of immense value by any standard and promising children this country would have gained from, in the future. As mere mortals, we commit the accident and the incidence to God, as we believe in His Almighty. Last week, we ended the consideration of those key and definitive characters of a good brand at RELIABILITY, from where we are continuing this week. As a character trait, reliability is loaded in definition of behavioral pattern. Reliability is in itself a combination of TRUST and DEPENDABILITY. So to the extent that a brand is considered reliable, it must be trust-worthy and dependable. You will agree with me that these are all very precious character traits difficult to earn and very important and necessary of all our protection. Which of the brands in Nigerian market today can be said to be RELIABLE? It is not enough for a brand to deliver on its core promise to be reliable. To earn consumer respect a brand must invest in respecting its consumers, demonstrating respect goes beyond the ordinary surface value relationship. A local airline in Nigeria must know and appreciate the fact that average Nigerian will consider having to pay for light refreshment at about 35,000 feet above sea level an affront on his/her person (after struggling so hard to pay the exorbitant sum for the flight ticket. How do you appease a man hurrying for a scheduled meeting only to suffer undue delay at the airport leading up to his missing the appointment – yet the airline shows no regret; and continues in that pattern as a business practice?! How would such brand expect to be considered reliable? That air travelers still patronize such a brand is only due to constraints, especially lack of better alternative – which time will take care of. We are constrained to cut back on the extent of this analysis of healthy brand character traits, because of the immediate fall-out of the Dana air crash. With the increased federal Government’s interest at overhauling the aviation sector, we can only hope the industry will be sanitized for better and more responsive service delivery. However, operators within our market must know they are brands in a competitive market; a growing market with all the trappings of a free market. They must begin to expose themselves to learning the theories and practice of brands management and they must begin to consider engaging brands management experts for over-all better brand personality. A badly managed brand is doomed to fail with time, no matter the size of its initial investment. So, for their own good, they need to properly position as brands, in line with global best practice.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 49

chimeena@yahoo.com

are those made of rolled- up pieces of fabrics placed orderly on a board, those made of flattened and folded pieces of aluminum foil and those made up of papier mache on a board. But the metal works dominate the collection. And with the fusion of the above materials, he is able to produce stunning works that send his message across. Though, the latest evolution might be seen as a new realm of experimentation, but viewed critically, one notices that Alex is gradually towing the lines of El Anatsui, Olu Amoda and others who are known artists to experiment in this form. From the look of things, this medium is gradually becoming a preferred ground for artistic expression. Some of the works include: A Tale of two cities, which has two panels depicting Abuja and a nameless place in the Niger Delta. The work shows the economic imbalance caused by the political class in Nigeria where the Niger Delta that produces oil is underdeveloped.

•One of the works displayed at the exhibition

Visual Calligraphy in Nwokolo’s new media VISUAL

lex Nwokolo is one of Nigeria’s artists who engage in the exploration of forms and new media of expressions. As a talented colourists, Nwokolo explores artistic possibilities with his body of works, but in his latest exhibition titled, Authenticity of Thought, he is seen to have shifted his experimental ground from the usual paintings to the exploration of materials in a new body of works in mixed media. The exhibition which is organised by Sachs Gallery, Lagos and supported by Access Bank, Vueve Clicquot and Arra Wines opened yesterday and runss till 13th June, 2012 at the Lagos C M Y K

BY JAPHET ALAKAM

The focus of the show according to the artist is based on the desire for change and the need to have global perspective in his art

culture house, Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.

he new body of works which took Nwokolo several months of tinkering, altering and reconfiguration to develop into new forms is an exploration of materiality and the extant possibilities of working in various media in very creative ways, whereby materials are presented in ways that make them indistinguishable from their recognizable states. The focus of the show according to him

is based on the desire for change and the need to have global perspective in his art. The exhibition features about 25 works in fabric, aluminum foil, papier mache, enamel paint etc. The works actually show a drift from his usual painting works to constructed objects. However, they also reveal the trajectory of his creative talents as he is able to combine painting with his design and craftsmanship. In assembling the works, the artist made use of four main dimension of material: they

nother piece titled Subsidy Unrest, a metal work that illustrates the shock Nigerians received from the fuel price hike announced by the Federal Government of Nigeria on New Year day and how the people flooded the streets in protest over that pronouncement. Also, there were works that highlight inhuman treatment meted out to people even in the developed countries of the world. For example, the piece titled Guantanamo Bay, a very big work that highlights the U.S’s battle with human right issues. Guantanamo Bay jailhouse shows black men and white men in chains as well as illustrations of other prisoners dressed in American prison smocks. There is also the Holding Cell in countries in Europe where they establish immigrant’s cell for illegal immigrants. These works reflect on the state of human right abuse across the globe, and especially, in America. There is also a piece titled Ubulu, the tree of life that depicts the childhood memories and the cultural significance of a tree in the village. This work is very important, especially now that the world clamour for green environment. Speaking about the works, Nwokolo stated that the desire for change and the need to have global perspective in his art instigated a stimulus for this current effort: “This works offer me yet another opening to contribute to an existing international calligraphy, which is a pictorial language – not necessarily figurative – of symbols and media derived from everyday socio-cultural signs and symbolism, where elements are assembled and dissected onto a surface resulting in a hybrid between painting and sculpture.” He said.

Kunle Ogunfiyi wins NIPHA Photographer of the Year

HISDAY Online Photo Editor, Mr. Kunle Ogunfuyi, has emerged the Outstanding Photographer of the Year at the second edition of the Nigerian Photography Awards (NIPHA) ceremony held last week at the Grandeur Event Centre, Ikeja, Lagos State. In an event organised by Fullhouse Entertainment Limited, several photographers around the country were nominated for the award in categories ranging from nature, entertainment, wildlife, wedding, action, culture, documentary art and conceptual photos among others. In an interview with reporters shortly after the award, Ogunfiyi said he submitted pictures for five entries among the listed categories and was nominated for four, which eventually won him best in documentary and the most outstanding photograph of the year category. He said: “I felt reluctant to enter this year call for entry as I was nominated last year without emerging winner. After several deep thinking, I submitted some of my works to complement some of the categories they offered. I was nominated in four categories namely, wildlife, action, documentary and culture photography respectively.”

n elated Ogunfuyi also said that at the time he lost contention for the culture category and thought all hope was lost because according to him that is where his strength lies in the profession. He also said he was surprised to be announced the overall winner on the night. “I was amazed at the time I was announced overall winner on the night because I had colleagues who had bagged three to four awards from other categories, I had only one from documentary. But I believe this is the moment I need to be grateful.” he enthused. According to him,it was an honor to be nominated alongside reputable photographers in the country, adding that he knew it was not going to be easy competing with them. He also noted that the likes of Shola Animashaun, Mustapha Ayodeji, and Luqman Olanipekun among others are colleagues whom he respects so much and hope the good relationship continues.

PAGE 50—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012

chimeena@yahoo.com

DRAMA

n recent times, there have been concerted efforts aimed at discovering talents early in children especially in the area of stage performances both by schools and non academic organizations. Such efforts have seen the young ones reenacting before the public, best selling works of literary icons in Nigeria and Africa. One of such talent discovery exercises was the stage performance of late Prof. Zulu Sofola’s King Emene by Dawn of A New Era drama club of Atlantic Hall School, Lagos, and held weekend at the Agip Recital Hall, MUSON Centre Lagos. Parents and their children including guests, defied the heavy down pour as they trouped to the venue of the show with great enthusiasm and the show as many expressed at the end, was worth the hassles and the ticket. Adding glamor to the play which was produced and directed by Gboyega Jerome were well made costumes that suited each act and scene, the stage accessories were perfect and the lighting well distinguished the stage from the rest of the Hall. Also, the make up was not badly done at all as some of the young actors were made to appear like elders, while the cast appeared tailor-made for the roles. And to crown it all, the young actors and actresses who were selected from different classes saw themselves interpreting their roles like professionals. The drummers headed by Gboyega added African flavour to the drama as they entertained during a well coordinated cultural dance and also drummed while ushering a new scene or act.

Superb performance

o say the least, the students put up a superb performance and the Prof if she were to be alive would truly be proud of the young artistes for reminding the audience who filled the hall to the brim, of the essence of promoting the rich cultural heritage of the country as documented in King Emene. King Emene narrates the tragic story of an over ambitious Queen mother (Nneobi) who murders her step son who is the rightful heir to the throne so that her own son becomes King. It is customary for the King to transform into a god and enters the shrine to carry the problems of his citizens to their God during a tradition in the land known as Peace Week. According to the tradition, the King must be pure and undefiled and the oracle together with the goddess of the kingdom must confirm that all is well before the King enters the shrine. The King is advised not to enter the Peace week except there is a public confession of the murder and an accompanying purification of the throne. Rather than heed the advice of the elders, the King sees the advice as a plot to destroy him. He dies as a result. There was a well coordinated suspense on who actually committed the sacrilege. The King’s rage and attitude towards the messengers of the C M Y K

Walking Zulu Sofola’s lane at Atlantic Hall

•A scene from the play

BY PRISCA SAM-DURU

The students put up a superb performance that reminded the audience who filled the hall to the brim, of the essence of promoting the rich cultural heritage of the country

gods actually portrayed him as the culprit. A solemn silence however hit the entire Hall when eventually, Nneobi confesses of being the killer. But it was already too late; the King pays with his life. There wouldn’t have been a more appropriate time for the show than a period when children all over the world were celebrated. In line with this, the director who spoke shortly after the performance appeared highly fulfilled that the children did not disappoint. He said,” We started this journey over five years ago but there was never a plan for its public presentation because of the fear that the students may not be able to perform to expectations. But I was able to convince the school that the training I have given them is enough to make them put up an amazing performance.” King Emene’s reenactment was the first major outing for the Atlantic Hall School and the choice of the book according to Gboyega was informed by the fact that the drama is one of the recommended literature books in the school which has lessons to be drawn from and also, cuts across all ages. Fifteen year old Ife Akingbade

(Nneobi) an SS2 student who exceptionally interpreted her role could not hide her excitement about the performance and according to her, “I feel I have been able to achieve one of my heart desires” adding that her vision is to see herself in Hollywood in future.

While 14 year old Ebuka Ihejirika (King) sees being part of the act as something that will help his performance in future, Maduagwu Chidera (King) both in SS2 who described himself as an all round student decided to be serious with acting because “one can never be too sure how life goes in future”. The originator of the club Mr. Andrew Jedras who expressed great relieve that the performance which had taken five years to organize, had finally ended successfully, noted that the show was part of education for the students who are being groomed to be confident and well prepared to face the future.

Splendid Literature and Culture foundation calls for entries T

he Splendid Literature and Culture Foundation is calling for submissions of entries from eligible young Nigerian writers, aged 11 to 21, of children’s literature from all over the country for the Splendid Literature and Culture Foundation Series. The body is a non profit making organisation located in Surulere, Lagos with the aim of promoting young writers by making sure that books written by young writers that will entertain, enlighten and appeal to children of ages 8 to 12 readers are published. The submission of entries opened on

the 24th of May, 2012 and will end on 31st July. The entry is open to only young writers resident in Nigeria and their stories should have strong Nigeria/African content. All entrants’ works must be original, unaided and unpublished works of fiction in English as Plays and poems are not eligible. The work should be between 30003500 words, typewritten and double spaced and should be sent to the foundation's office at Surulere. All scripts received will be reviewed by a panel of Judges and the best six (6) will be selected for publication.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 51

C M Y K

PAGE 52, SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 10, 2012

Being in love

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SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 10, 2012, PAGE 53

C M Y K

54 — SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 10, 2012

Academic excellence, key to football greatness — DeMiao

Euro 2012:

Don’t underrate Italy, T Pique warns team-mates

•Pique

pain defender, Gerard Pique says opening Uefa Euro 2012™ rivals Italy, are never as dangerous as when they appear to be down, so there will be no underestimating them when both sides meet

today in Gdansk. Italian football is currently in the doldrums owing to a match-fixing scandal, which led coach Cesare Prandelli to consider withdrawing the national side from the Euros. But Pique says Spain

must be on their guard as they seek a third consecutive major title which would be a first. “It seems Italy have been destabilised and have their heads elesehwre.But those are the circumstances in which they are at their strongest,” insisted the Barcelona defender. “I am convinced that Italy will be a very complicated opponent to play against and that they will qualify for the quarters,” Pique told reporters. The “Calcioscommesse” match-fixing allegations have made all the headlines and Prandelli withdrew Domenico Criscito, a Zenit St Pe t e r s b u r g - b a s e d defender implicated in the scandal. But with the matches starting attention is now beginning to switch to the event itself and Pique says Spain will be on their guard. At the same time, the Spanish see their last meeting with the Azzurri as hugely significant as it came in the shape of a quarterfinal win on penalties at Euro 2008. Pique reckons that game was a turning point in Spanish fortunes as they finally laid to rest their quarterfinal hoodoo after a series of exits in major tournaments at that stage.

Racing Eagles acquire land for track complex By IME BASSEY

rincipal/Owner of Team Nigeria Racing Eagle, Ribi Adeshokan has disclosed that the team has acquired acres of land to build a race track complex. Ribi told S u n d a y Vanguard Sports in an interview that the motor complex will contain a hotel and an engineering site that will serve as assembling point for

the cars. He also said that the team is bringing not just motor racing, but motorsports industry to Nigeria. “The idea of motorsport is the enabling avenue for car manufacturers to create a new product that can be introduced into the market. This is what we intend to bring to Nigeria. We have met with Audi Nigeria and other car manufacturers in

the country to join in this large industry in which everybody will benefit from. We don’t just want to focus on the sporting aspect of the industry, but the total package the sports brings, which is commerce, tourism and entertainment. We have obtained acres of land around Lekki area and development will start before the end of the third quarter,” Adeshokan said.

om DeMiao is a New York City based American soccer tactician and currently heads the Coordinating Team of MTN Football Scholar Season 2. Besides being a soccer pundit and administrator, DeMiao was a college player who made his mark on the field of play. He also worked on the season 1 of MTN Football Project. Recently he spoke to newsmen on the ongoing Academy 1 of the Football Scholar. Excerpts: The Concept MTN Football Scholar is conceived to give opportunities to young men who desire to

•DeMiao

combine athletics with education. It is a great idea that gives enormous opportunities to young Nigerians from different background to further pursue higher education in United States. The participants chosen in our tryouts across the country are currently in camp. This is the stage we call academy One. Here we prepare them for SAT examinations and also receive soccer instruction from elite Nigerian and American coaches. It is a daily schedule of classroom and football. Experience with the Boys in the Academy The experience has been so great; we have brilliant boys which we believe will make good grades in SAT examinations. They are also very talented as well. They are skillful players who we believe will go far in the game of football. I can say we have a set of boys in the camp who are academically sound and also play good football.

Today in football, academic excellence is very important; it is like a key to attain greatness in the game. That is why we are devoting more time for the guys to do academic work. They have the raw talents, there is no doubt about that, but these have to be combined with international exposure to bring the best out of them. View on Nigerian Soccer Development Nigeria is a great football playing nation and Nigerian a very passionate about the game. But the kids have challenges in becoming educated football stars; this is not only a Nigerian factor but Africa as a whole. Advice to Aspiring MTN Football Scholars Hard work and determination are the keys. They should not relent on their efforts to be part of the programme. One day, it will be their turn. They should maintain a good desire to succeed. This is a great opportunity to win scholarship to American University; it is one opportunity that I believe every young person will continue to crave for. So they should

Sky Deep: From vigilante group to football club By PATRICK OMORODION

hat started like a vigilante group on a lonely and narrow lane at the Afolabi Bus-stop by Ebute Kekere way at Akesan near Igando in Lagos has metamorphosed into a football team of 20 street footballers under the tutelage of Peter John, coach cum proprietor of the modest team. According to John, a 1995 Business Administration graduate of the University of Benin, “ I played football from primary school to secondary and up to the university where I played for my school then,” but he had to dump football after graduation because of hardship. The dark complexioned man always spotting an afro hairstyle from Edo

State added that after securing a job so that he doesn’t starve, he decided to float a football team for the following reasons, to be known, participate in competitions and help raise players for the country. The club named Sky Deep Football Club was formed in 2010 and have participated in a few competitions around Lagos. Conditions for registering in the club which for now attracts no salary, John said, include just possession of a pair of boots and a passport photograph. “The players don’t earn anything for now. We only share any prize money we earn playing in any competition”, he said, stressing that they didn’t learn about the 2012 Gulder Ultimate 5-

•John Aside Football Competition on time hence they couldn’t raise the money to sort out the registration formalities. “Many of my players are into full time football. They come here ( a piece of land on Ebute Kekere street) every Saturday and Sunday mornings for training. I don’t give them any money for now but we share winning prizes anytime it comes,” he said, adding, “I will need a financier to support what we are doing now.” C M Y K

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 10, 2012 — 55

Keshi’ll prove his worth to Nigerians — Isima By KATE OBODO ORMER Super Ea gles player, Okey Isima has said that coach

Stephen Keshi is capable of qualifying the nation for both the Nation Cup and World Cup following the rebuilding

Obodo: Police comb Effurun, Warri for kidnappers BY EMMA AMAIZE AND AKPOKONA OMAFUAIRE WARRI HE Delta State Com missioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, yesterday, confirmed the abduction of Christian Obodo, when contacted by Sunday Vanguard, saying the police were combing for his kidnappers. The commissioner, however, noted, “The police are surprised at his abduction as Obodo did not inform us about his presence for adequate security to be provided for him”. Aduba said, “We heard about the kidnap and we are not resting on our oars to track down the people that kidnapped him. If we could provide security for expatriates that come into the state, there is no way we could not have provided security for him if he had informed us”, he said. A security source said, “The Super Eagles player is a high profile Nigerian and easily a target for kidnappers in such places like Warri and Effurun , and what he should have done was to hint the police about his visit so that they could keep an eye on him to avoid what had just happened. It was gathered that Obodo who was born in Warri on 11 May, 1984, came to Warri to reunite

EAGLES ARE EAGLES... Super Eagles stand-in captain, Vincent Enyeama (l) leading his team-mates in the match against Namibia in Calabar. Ex international Folorunsho Okenla has asked Nigerians to stop labeling the team home-based or foreign-based. Photo by Sylva Eleanya

with some old friends and had attended different clubs on Friday night with friends. Some informants, believed to be working for a kidnap gang, who wit-

nessed how he showed off in one of the clubs, contacted the kidnappers who tailed him Saturday morning and abducted him, while cruising in his customized car.

Stop labeling Eagles, Okenla charges Nigerians BY EDDIE AKALONU

X-INTERNATION AL Folorunsho Okenla has said that it was high time Nigerians stopped addressing Super Eagles home based

and foreign based, adding that the practice has been a source of the dichotomy in the national team. Okenla, who spoke in Lagos, hailed the Eagles for beating Namibia in the World

Gulder 5-Aside: Ikpeba, Rufai, set the stage for Grand finale TAKEHOLDERS in Nigerian football have commended the Gulder Ultimate Five Aside Football tourney even as the draws for the knock out stage of this year’s edition took place at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. The draws, which were conducted by ex-Nigerian Internationals, Peter Rufia and Victor Ikpeba, saw the top teams from each zone seeded into separate groups. Following the conclusion of the draws, the knock out stage will take place from Tuesday 13, to Sat-

Security was beefed up in Warri and environs after the incident as the police patrolled different parts of the city in search of the footballer. It is believed that those

who knew Obodo very organized his abduction on Jakpa Road, Effurun, to fleece money from him, but as at press time, it is not known if they had mentioned any ransom. His car was reportedly abandoned around New Layout area, also in Effurun by the gunmen to avoid detection, but his whereabouts were not known. A top security official confided to Sunday Vanguard, “We don’t believe that those who kidnapped Obodo came from the moon, they are around us, they may not even have left town, they could be keeping him somewhere within and around the state to ask for ransom later, so we are not going to take chances”. “They would want to keep him in a place they think is secure before they begin to ask him to call his family and associates for ransom, but we strongly advise that such information should be passed to security agents to enable us track them down”, he said.

urday 16, June 2012 Amongst the guests present at the impressive ceremony were ex-Nigerian Internationals including Henry Nwosu, Victor Ikpeba, Peter Rufai, Edema Benson, Alfred Kpoto and Lawrence Orairo. Rufai, who praised Gulder for bringing the aspiring football players from their humble backgrounds and giving them a chance to become super stars, said, “I remember how I started playing football then in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Back in those days we hardly had football pitches so we

had to make do with cement floor as our pitch. But with this initiative from Gulder, the aspiring football stars now have an easier route to achieving their dreams in football, “he said. For Ikpeba, he thinks the competition is helping to take the boys off the streets and keeping them crime free. “I think it is really commendable that these kids are being kept away from crime. They have the opportunity to express themselves through football and that is a big thing,” he added.

Cup qualifier played in Calabar. He said that not labeling players would help bring harmony to the team and insisted that it does not matter where a player resides but should be recognised as a professional if he plays as one. “First I will insist we must drop naming players home-based and foreign-based but recognise players as professionals earning a living playing football. We should not mind whether such

players do so here in Nigeria or elsewhere. So long as we have players here who play professional football, then they should be recognised as such. I say this having realised it’s one of the issues causing problems of dichotomy as in the recognition accorded some players, cutting across welfare package, match bonuses and allowances. So let us end it now to help us move forward.” he said.

process he has started. He said they won’t have it rosy in the qualifiers but was sure of Keshi’s competence in tinkering the team to greater heights, adding that he (Keshi) would prove his worth to Nigerians like Clemens Westerof did on local players. “His idea of rebuilding the Eagles shows that he is following the footstep of Westerof. Westerof was the best football gift Nigeria ever had. In life nothing good comes easy but consistency brings out the best in the end, which I think Keshi is embarking on,” he said in a phone interview.

Cross River sports ministry, SERVICOM sign deal BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU HE Cross River State Ministry of Sports and Youth Development has signed a service level agreement with SERVICOM to be committed to the delivery of quality service to the people of the state. The U.J. Esuene stadium, Calabar was selected as the venue for the Super Eagles matches in their 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil qualifiers and the nation’s senior team is expected to play Rwanda in Calabar on June 17. The State Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development Mr. Patrick Ugbe, who signed the agreement on behalf of the ministry Thursday, said the level Service Agreement was a significant exercise which exacts commitment from public servants quality service delivery and transparent service to the people whom they have been appointed to serve.

Balogun advises Ilesa youths on sportsmanship he had since then loved HE Executive Secre tary of Ilesa East Local Government Council, Lanre Balogun, has reminded lovers of sports in Ilesa East Local Government and Osun State that the spirit of footballing is not only to win but to also show love and togetherness. Honourable Balogun

made this assertion during a novelty match between members of the executive council and the local government workers at Ilesa East local government council recently. The Executive Scribe who said he has been playing football from his secondary school days, added that

to be in the close to the game and had actually while in London, contributed his best as a goalkeeper with his club. He said that the game of football enables one have a good physical and functional health, apart from the financial benefits attached to it nowadays. C M Y K

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 10, 2012

Former Eagles star, Obodo kidnapped •Delta FA blames it on his lifestyle ELTA State has con demned the kidnap of former Super Eagles midfielder Christian

BY ONOCHIE ANIBEZE

Obodo and said that the

World Cup: Enyeama's act costs Eagles full marks •Maigari, Onigbinde lament NCE again the Super Eagles failed to manage a lead won off the powerful nod of midfielder, Gabriel Reuben in the 89th minute in yesterday’s World Cup qualifier against the Flames of Malawi inside the Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre no thanks to the bizzare goalkeeping by stand-in captain, Vincent Enyeama. Both the Eagles and the Nigerian delegation led by President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Alhaji Aminu Maigari were still on their feet celebrating the late goal that could have earned them maximum points for an unassailable lead of the group when a horrendous mistake by Enyeama gave Malawi’s substitute John Banda pulled off the painful draw. Enyeama had a simple job to do to push away a floated ball in the area, after hollering at his defenders to leave the ball for him. But he went for the ball with only one hand and fumbled, leaving the Malawians with a heaven-sent opportunity to earn a point on the day. Like in the Calabar game against Namibia, the Eagles had many begging chances but they either fluffed them or the Flames’ goalkeeper, Simplex Nthara proved too impregnable for the Eagles attack led by Ikechukwu Uche who missed two glaring opportunities. Despite Enyeama’s error, he was at his best at a

•Enyeanma, during one of his best days point to punch over a vicious shot by Chimango Kayira while a few moments later just as Nigerians were on their feet to celebrate a goal when Uche freed himself to a one-on-one with Nthara, the goalkeeper saved it. It was heartbreaking for the Nigerian delegation as Mauritian referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn blew off the game with Maigari, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, Chris Green, Chairman NFF technical committee and the NFF scribe, Musa Amadu, all

RESULTS Malawi Botswana Zambia Uganda Gabon Congo Russia Poland Holland

1 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 0

Today’s matches Spain v Rep of Ireland v

Nigeria South Africa Ghana Senegal B/Faso Niger Czech Greece Denmark

1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1

Italy Croatia

5 pm 7.45 pm

voicing out their frustrations. “It is unfortunate that they (Malawi) scored with that last touch and denied us three points. But I believe our boys did well considering the fact that this team is work-inprogress. “We would have loved the three points, which appeared to be in the bag, but we must look ahead and plan how to win the remaining four games in order to qualify for the last

round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers,”Alhaji Maigari rued. A shocked Chief Onigbinde, a CAF Technical Committee member said,. “This is a case of two points lost. We had the three points. I don’t understand why Enyeama didn’t allow his defender to head the ball away.” Barrister Green who was in the advance party to Blantyre to prepare

grounds for the Eagles said,“The equalizer was very painful. Three points would have been just reward for our hard work today. But we cannot be crying over spilt milk,” just as Barrister Amadu, who was also pained said, “We were already on our feet to celebrate three points. This kind of thing can be painful. After Gabriel Reuben scored, we should have found a way to keep the advantage.”

state government was making frantic efforts to ensure that the player was released . However, spokesman of Delta Football Association Timi Ibikagbaro last night frowned at the life style of Obodo whom he accused of “showing off and attracting unnecessary attention that possibly led to his unfortunate kidnap.” Timi said that Obodo had gone to a night club Saturday night in a customized car that had “Obodo 5” as number plate and had spent a lot of money to entertain his friends. “Contacts are being made and every hand is on deck to ensure his release,” Timi said, adding “but we have advised players to inform us when they are on holiday so that we can provide security and also advise them on their life style. Obodo showed off which was not necessary going by the mood of the nation after the Dana plane crash and even security issues in the country. This is in no way trying to cast aspersions or condemn Obodo as a person. But some life styles attract these kidnappers. It was possible they trailed him from the night club to when he retired and picked him up. Security men are, however, doing everything possible to ensure his release. Contacts have been made and work is going on to free him.”

•Obodo ACROSS 1. African Country (7-4) 5. Ooni’s domain town (3) 7. Human being (3) 8. Nigerian currency (5) 9. Matter (5) 10. Dwelling (5) 13. Charity (4) 16. Night bird (3) 17. Donkey (3) 19. Female title of respect (5) 22. Speech defect (4) 23. Nigerian state (4) 24. Architectural moulding (5) 26. Tree (3) 27. Paid notices (4) 29. Smallest particle (4) 31. Strength-giving drink (5) 34. Consumed (5) 35. Fish (5) 36. Fish (3)

37. Friend (3) 38. Amused (11) DOWN 1. Long backless seat (5) 2. Angry (5) 3. Friend (3) 4. Forebode (4) 5. Introduction (for short) (5) 6. Enlists (6) 11. Eye-socket (5) 12. Taste (6) 14. African river (5) 15. Yoruba thunder god (5) 18. Nigerian State (6) 20. Play (5) 21. Nigerian soup (5) 25. Horse’s gate (6) 28. Metal (5) 30. Underaged (5) 31. Giant (5) 32. Doctrine (5) 33. Greatest footballer (4)

SEE SOLUTION ON PAGE 5

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