Farouk c'ttee collected bribes in pounds, dollars - Police

...towards a better life for the people

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VOL. 25: NO. 61644

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

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Uduaghan''s 70-yr-old cousin kidnapped —Pg.15

Oil import to end in two years — FG FIRE AT NATIONAL STADIUM—Part of the National Stadium, Lagos was gutted by fire in the early hours

—P.7

of yesterday. Fire fighters and others trying to put out the fire. INSET: Another scene as captutred by Sylva Eleanya.

$3M BRIBERY SAGA:

Farouk c'ttee collected bribes in pounds, dollars •House members to reconvene tomorrow •Farouk has Friday deadline to visit Police or...

•Civil society groups finger Presidency

Sting dollars: Between the —P. 17 lawmaker and the oil magnate

80-yr-old Pa Amodu graduates from LASU—P.27 C M Y K

Okonjo-Iweala warns of economic recession Pg.6

— POLICE

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, KINGSLEY OMONOBI, OKEY NDIRIBE & EMMAN OVUAKPORIE AGOS—THE House of Representatives was, yesterday, recalled from break as the cash for clearance scandal widened with the Police disclosing that other oil industry interests besides Femi Otedola gave bribes in dollars, pounds and local currencies to the committee.

The revelation came Continues on Page 5

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Mr & Mrs

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POCKET CARTOON

Farouk committee collected bribes in pounds, dollars — Police Continues from Page 1 as House members fought back, alleging a systematic attempt by the Presidency and other interested parties to damage the credibility of the report produced by the Farouk Lawan led ad-hoc committee that investigated the implementation of the Federal Government subsidy regime.

It also emerged, yesterday, that Speaker Aminu Tambuwal refused entreaties from the State Security Service, SSS to retrieve the bribe passed on to Lawan by Otedola.

Tambuwal, it was learnt, insisted that his touching the money would mean tampering with the evidence.

The discovery that other oil interest groups allegedly paid bribes to the Lawan committee emerged from the work of the CP Ali Amoduled Special Task Force investigating the scandal. There were

also feelers from the Special Task Force that the $620, 000 bribe money admittedly received by Lawan may have been destroyed.

Lawan who has so far not formally appeared before the Police team investigating the scandal now has a deadline of tomorrow to appear before the Police or be declared wanted.

As a source said yesterday: “Lawan is to appear before the investigation team and say all he knows about the bribery allegations against him or risk the consequences as the Police is empowered by law to take such other lawful steps necessary to help with the investigations.”

Chairman of Zenon Oil, Chief Femi Otedola, who claimed to have given Rep. Farouk Lawan marked $620,000 as part payment of the $3m demanded from him as bribe appeared before the police panel on Tuesday during which

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

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HERE is always light at the end of the tunnel After every rainfall the sun will surely rise again. We should not despair but remain focused believing we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

The image you can perceive is the reality you are ready to birth.

Be strong, be courageous and be bold. Encourage yourself to give it a try. Just another push, just another strike may be all that is needed for that important breakthrough.

No venture no gain, if you don’t try it you, cannot be it.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own — Robert A Heinlein.

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HE other day I saw an hilarious cartoon illustration about the nature of love, cupid aims the love arrow at the heart of this young man and anyone would expect a smile of joy that love true is about to happen for him, but instead he brought out a weapon aimed right at cupid. He said: “Don’t you dare, the last time you messed up big time!

When was the last time you loved so deeply, so keenly? Sometimes the only time we feel love as deeply as adults, is when we first fall in love – or when we lose someone we love. We may want to ask, why does the heart go numb? Because every time we have a painful experience, we tend to grow a protective layer around our heart. The unpleasant thing is that this protective layer doesn’t just shield us from pain, it numbs all emotions.

How can the heart awaken? There is a natural way of awakening the heart that we all know about.

It’s falling in love. Ask anyone who is freshly in love, and they will rave about how wonderful the person they love is. But there is a challenge… the euphoria doesn’t always last. Fortunately, there is another way of awakening the heart. A way that lasts. And that is through loving-kindness practice.

he tendered both video and audio evidence of the transaction between him, (Otedola) and Lawan.

A senior Police source told Vanguard yesterday that the investigating team has enough evidence, including the call logs of the discussions between Farouk and Otedola on where, how and when the money will be collected, as well as the fact that Farouk went to Otedola’s house by 4 am to collect the money.

Marketers intimidated Giving more insight into how such bribery monies were collected from other marketers, the Police source said: “They (Marketers) were intimidated, threatened and coerced into parting with various sums of pounds, dollars and naira notes out of fear of attack on their property and investments by Nigerians who were angry over the subsidy removal and payment to a few that had been milking the country dry.

“It was as a result of our investigation into the discussions that transpired between Otedola and Farouk Lawan that we stumbled on other transactions with other oil marketers. The Otedola case was like the straw that broke the camel’s back because he told them he cannot be intimidated into joining others to bribe his way out of an offence he did not commit”.

Vanguard was made to understand that as part of the investigations, if Farouk and his committee members fail to own up, the investigating team may extend its work to find out exactly how much and in which currency other oil marketers paid bribes.

Fears over safety of bribe money A senior Police officer expressed fear that the bribe money may have

been destroyed which could put spanners into the works of the investigating team, pointing out that “Even with the video evidence, they may say what Otedola presented or handed over to them were books and not cash”.

The officer wondered “ why the SSS who provided the marked money delayed in arresting both Farouk Lawan and the Secretary Boniface Emenalo immediately they collected the money from Chief Otedola or as soon as they stepped out of the house. If that was done we wouldn’t be moving back and forth over this matter”.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the House yesterday issued a notice for the House to reconvene tomorrow.

The notice issued by the Clerk of the House M.A. Sani Omolori, read thus: “This is to inform all Honourable members of the House of Representatives that the House would reconvene to hold a Plenary session on Friday June 15th, 2012 at 10am prompt.

Honourable Members are advised to take note and attend promptly, please.”

Being that the House normally does not sit on Fridays for plenary, the House is expected to suspend its rules to allow the sitting to hold.

Speaker Tambuwal was last night meeting with other members of the House leadership and close associates on how to respond to the unfolding development.

One source disclosed, yesterday, that tomorrow ’s session would follow the “rule of law” a description of what some said would make way for Lawan to step down from the chairmanship of the adhoc committee for the purpose of allowing unfettered investigation.

Meanwhile, there were insinuations yesterday that the evolving crisis was being directed towards causing instability in the House.

Sources in the House told Vanguard of how Speaker Tambuwal evaded what was described as a trap when

he was invited to watch the video of Lawan receiving the bribe money by the SSS. The speaker, it was claimed, was told to retrieve the bribe from Lawan but Tambuwal demurred insisting that he is a lawyer and would not want to tamper with the evidence and as such requested the SSS to collect the money directly from Lawan.

“When the speaker refused, they now urged and even pressed him to return the money through any of his aides, but the speaker again refused,” an associate of Speaker Tambuwal disclosed yesterday.

“This has now made us believe that they want to get him involved in the mess so that he could be said to have been involved in the whole scam,” the associate said yesterday.

It's Presidency, oil marketers plot — Group The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) in a similar vein yesterday pointed accusing fingers at both the executive arm of government and some fuel importers who, according to the CISLAC have never been comfortable with the way the present leadership of the House of Representatives conducts its legislative business.

According to the statement issued by its Executive Director, Auwal Musa: “A n offence allegedly committed by an individual member should not be used as an excuse to create another crisis in the House of Representatives.

Human Rights

Monitor, yesterday, alleged a plan by vested interests to undermine the implementation of the report by the Lawan committee. The group in a statement issued by its Executive Director, Festus Okoye said in part: “The allegations of blackmail, extortion and bribery levelled against the Chairman of the said Committee

by Mr. Femi Otedola and the counter allegations of inducement, threat to life and bribery by the Chairman of the said Committee Hon. Farouk Lawan are a case in point.

"We hasten to point out that irrespective of the merits of the allegations and counter allegations of bribery and corruption the report of the Fuel Subsidy Committee is already in the public domain.

Arewa youths react Similarly, the President of the Arewa Youth Congress, in a similar statement urged Nigerians to push for the implementation of the report of the ad-hoc committee saying that the report should not be buried.

In the statement issued by its president, Comrade Ibrahim Abubakar, the AYC which is a coordinating platform for youth groups in the north said: ‘’We have studied the report of the Farouk Lawan-led ad hoc committee that probed the fuel subsidy issue and we are convinced that the panel did a good job.

That is the reason we strongly believe that the recommendations of the committee should not be swept under the carpet,” Abubakar said.

6—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

CAN calls on Jonathan to beef up security in Kano

BY SAM EYOBOKA

AGOS — KANO State branch of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to treat the state as a special case by beefing up security in the area, pointing out that silent killing of Christians is ongoing in parts of the metropolis.

In a telephone interview, the state chairman of CAN, Bishop Ransom Bello who praised the untiring efforts of state security personnel, appealed to the president and the leadership of all security outfits in the country, to beef up security in Kano to forestall the continued systematic killing of Christians in the state.

According to him, there are daily reports of quiet killings of Christians in different neighbourhoods of the Kano metropolis by persons who apparently specialise on trailing their victims to quiet corners where they attack them with daggers and knives before disappearing.

Bello alleged that there

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From left: Women Affairs Minister, Hajia Zainab Maina; Minister of State FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide; Minister of State Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada and the Education Minister, Prof. Ruqqayatu Rufai during the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

Okonjo-Iweala warns of economic recession FG to issue visitors visas at point of entry

BY BEN AGANDE

BUJA — MINISTER of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has warned of a difficult time ahead as she told the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, yesterday, that "government should buckle up and prepare for a possible recession” in the economy.

Her warning came on the heels of the approval of a new visa regime by the Federal Executive Council.

Okonjo-Iweala, who gave the warning during the weekly meeting at the Presidential Villa cited the slide in the price of crude oil as well as the dire economic situation in Spain and Greece as possible trigger for another round of global recession.

Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, who conveyed the Minister of Finance's warning quoted her as saying: “Nigeria may not be so lucky to avoid recession this time as it did during the last economic meltdown and urged the Federal Government to put up measures that will help mitigate the effect of such economic melt down.”

According Maku, the Coordinating Minister, however, explained that occasional delays in meeting government’s obligation to creditors was not a sign of weakness in the

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economy, adding: “Our economy is sound.”

New visa regime According to Maku, the new visa regime is driven by economics to boost investment, tourism, generate employment and fight terrorism.

Maku, who briefed State House correspondents alongside his colleagues Minister of Interior, Abba Moro and Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, said Nigeria was emulating countries that had tried to make it easier for potential investors by liberalizing their visa policy.

One of the highlights of the new visa regime, the minister explained, was the possibility of some visitors to the country to access Nigeria’s visa at various international points of entries into the country.

He said the policy was based on the assumption and dynamics of constantly changing international economy and the need for Nigeria not to be left behind in the drive by nations to attract more highly resourceful, wealthy portfolio investors.

Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, who gave further insight into the new visa policy stated: “The assumption and dynamics on the basis of which we had our old policy have changed in line with the realities of our time.

“Most significantly is the fact that we have been in recent time witnessing security challenges in our

country and it becomes necessary that we must attack the problem from all sides and the way you enter and get out of Nigeria constitute a very vital component of fighting internal security.”

He added: “Today, we have a new visa regime that contains some innovations in the sense that new elements are being introduced in line with the strategic interest of Nigeria and of course most other areas still have to be based on the principle of reciprocity.

Visa at entry point “We now have visa at entry point. So, if a businessman, a tourist or a business delegation or a government delegation has reason to visit Nigeria at short notice to do business with Nigeria and if by any coincidence we don’t have embassy in such country, such delegation or group can come to Nigeria and obtain their visas at point of entry particularly at international airports. Of course, this is without prejudice to ensuring our internal security.

On the abuse of expatriate quota On the abuse of expatriate quota in the past, the Interior Minister said government had introduced appropriate check mechanism that would make it easier to monitor compliance with expatriate quota under the new regime.

“For every expatriate that is employed, two Nigeria

under studies must be employed. If you are coming to Nigeria with $500,000, for instance, in addition to those employed to understudy, you will be expected to employ between 30 to 50 Nigerians.

“We have admitted there has been difficulty in enforcing the expatriate quota before now but with the automation with the business department of the interior ministry, we will enforce expatriate quota.”

New E-Health Policy The other decision by Council was the approval of a new E-Health Policy also known as Regulatory and Business Practices Improvement and Information Management for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Maku explained that the “Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chwukwu had proposed in his memo to Council for approval to procure an e-platform as part of the e-governance to enable NHIS to function more effectively and improve manual work and make the programme more efficient”.

The project is based on the need to promote an efficient plateform for scaling up the installation and implementation of an electronic network that will facilitate transactions between NHIS and other stakeholders in the sector such as Health Management organizations HMO, Health Financiers, Enrollees, Banks and Insurance companies.

had been reports of such mindless killings in the state even when such killings were not reported to the Police authorities and would be extremely difficult for the security personnel to trace the culprits because, according to him, “they cannot be everywhere.”

The bishop listed those killed in the last couple of days to include two young men who were on an errand and a son of a Pastor of Household of Favour Church, Michael Kenang along with one Deacon Henry Giwa Osagie of Church of God Mission who were shot at Yar Akwa, Naibawa area of Kano.

The CAN chairman said one Sister Faith Fioma Omoaka of Word of Faith Bible Church, Kano was also shot on June 1, in the same neighbourhood where she was selling recharge cards by men still at large.

He, therefore, appealed to the president to urgently arrest this development and ensure peaceful co-existence among all tribes and religions.

Dana Air gears up for prompt payment of claims AGOS — DANA Air management has put structures in place to ensure prompt payment of benefits to families of those who lost their lives in the tragic accident of Sunday, June 3, 2012. Consequently, it has opened three dedicated toll-free lines, manned by well trained personnel, solely for claims administration and payment procedures.

Within 24 hours of the unfortunate incident, the airline had set up a Crisis Management Centre at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 (MMA2) to assist families and relatives of victims with useful information. The airline’s decision to open dedicated tollfree lines, said Jacky Hathiramani, Chief Executive Officer of Dana Air, is to make it easier for the bereaved to get necessary details on payment of claims.

Teams comprising Dana Air officials and trained counsellors have been visiting the families to condole with them, as well as to provide information on requirements for speedy pay-

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ment of benefits to the nextof-kin.

“We appreciate that no level of compensation will bring back your much loved one. Nevertheless, we are making arrangements as quickly as possible to compensate every bereaved family in accordance with the law that governs tragedies such as this, and in honour of our duty to you and others”, a letter signed

by Hathiramani to the families of the deceased stated.

Hathiramani also stated: “We do not imagine that this will make up for the pains that you are going through but we, however, hope that this lessens your pain knowing that you are not alone in these difficult times.”

Dana Air insurers, a London consortium, are already well advanced in the payment process, and the first (interim) payments should be made shortly to the families of those passengers who lost their lives. Also urgent steps have been taken by the insurers to identify the families of the IjuIshaga community and establish the extent of the losses to enable appropriate calculations of the compensation to be made.

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VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012—7

OPEC worries over oil prices, economic sustainability HE 5th OPEC Interna tional Seminar, kicked off in Vienna, the capital of Austria, yesterday, with calls for greater attention on educating the global economy more on the oil market fundamentals, the deployment of more sophisticated technology to drive the development of a variety of energy mix.

Speakers at the seminars also maintained that for there to be sustainable and sufficient energy supply, the world must imbibe the culture of efficiency as well as increasing the efficiency of energy use.

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, who chaired a session on Oil and the World Economy, noted that oil prices were increasingly tied to global economic growth.

She said: “In terms of growth energy and in terms of demand, when we talk about oil, especially where developing economies are concerned, we need to look at managing growth in terms of sustainable price, and managing energy poverty. The poorest countries suffer the most in high oil prices.”

In the case of Nigeria, Alison-Madueke noted that the country was blessed with abundant oil and gas

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Scene of the collapsed three-storey building in Apo, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

Petroleum products importation to end in 24 months As FG plans speculative market within 3 years STORIES BY CLARA NWACHUKWU, VIENNA, AUSTRIA

HE Federal Govern ment said it plans to stop refined petroleum products importation within the next two years, after it was done with the turn around maintenance, TAM, of its traditional four refineries, which first phase has commenced with the Port Harcourt refinery.

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, gave the hint yesterday, while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the ongoing 5th OPEC International Seminar in Vienna, Austria.

The minister, who was responding against the background of the observations by panellists at the first day of the conference that high oil prices affect the economies of developing nations more than the others, said the move would reduce the impact of oil volatility on the Nigerian economy.

She said: “The reference here was to oil price volatility because for countries that import crude in a very large volume, it obviously does affect their GDP and that was the discourse.

“We, of course, do import crude but not at too high a volume and also produce to a certain extent, but it affects us as well because higher oil prices obviously affect our Gross Domestic Product, GDP, as well interest rates go up as you heard earlier and cause increases in-country.”

She said government was

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tackling the issue of market volatility from various angles, one of which is to reduce products importation and eventually stopping it completely.

Speculation and volatility With regard to the impact of the activities of commodity speculators on crude oil prices, which spike high

prices, the minister also revealed that Nigeria was in the process of setting up its own trading firms and own its own speculative market.

She said: “In terms of our own assets, we are just actually beginning to look at those markets from an incountry perspective. I know that we are discussing here the global perspective, but we also need to talk about it from the Nigerian per-

spective.

“We have set up a number of trading houses such as Duke and Parson, and we expect that over the next three years, they will mature to a point that we hope we will be able to create our own trading floor and our own speculative markets, and we will also be able to trade on the international market in oil commodity.”

Nigeria’s crude production peaks at 2.48m bpd — Oniwon Says insecurity issue is over exaggerated IGERIA’S crude oil production, which suffered in the recent past on account of militancy and restiveness in the oil rich Niger Delta, has risen significantly to peak at 2.48 million barrels per day, bpd, as at yesterday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has said.

About 700,000bpd come from deep offshore productions, while the balance is from traditional onshore fields, with more volumes expected over the next couple of months, particularly from the abandoned locations.

Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mr Austen Oniwon, who revealed this to our correspondent on the sidelines of the 5th OPEC International Seminar, which opened in Vienna, Austria, noted that current production was way ahead of the 1.4 and 1.5 million bpd the country tried to maintain at the height of

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militancy.

Accordingly, Oniwon insisted that there was no fear of Nigeria not being able to meet its membership quota allocation from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, as more than ever, Nigeria was in a good position to meet its quota.

He said: “As at today, at 2.48 million bpd, which is far, far away from the period when we were doing 1.4/1.5million during the militancy period, there is no question about not meeting our quota. So I think we are doing well and definitely, we are meeting our quota.”

He argued that fears expressed over the country’s ability to meet its OPEC quota on account of current security challenges are over exaggerated, saying, “I think we should not over hype the insecurity issue in Nigeria, the production has gone up and a lot of production is coming from the deep offshore.

“As of today, we are doing over 700,000 bpd from offshore locations, while we are trying to bring back all the land locations that were abandoned and destroyed during the militancy period.”

PIB and oil contracts Oniwon noted that government’s resolve to maximize its hydrocarbon resources was the reason it was trying to tweak existing oil laws through the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, to maximize relationships with the International Oil Companies, IOCs. He said: “We are going on pretty well because we always benchmark ourselves with the rest of the world, and we see that in most of the contracts that we signed with the IOCs, based on the benchmarks, we are not doing very badly. However, there is a lot of room for improve-

ments, and that is one of the targets of the PIB to correct some of these."

Investment in alternative sources With regard to speculations on whether Nigeria will join the United States and some other developed countries in the investment and development of shale gas and shale oil, the NNPC boss said there was no plan towards this at this point in time.

This, he explained, was because “the Nigerian geological survey has not proven much for shale hydrocarbon, but we have not discountenanced that it won’t happen in the future.”

For now, he said government was more concerned with the development of its natural gas resources, and recalled that this was one of the reasons the Gas Revolution was launched by the President two years ago.

resources, adding that the Federal Government was currently promoting the use of natural gas as feedstock, as opposed to conventional fuel.

She noted: “Under our commercialisation programme for economic growth, we are building industries such as petrochemical plants, fertilizer plants, methanol plants, central processing facilities, etc. that will in turn, ensure that our economies have job creation for now and for the future. At the end of the day, that also affects the oil cycle and the economy at very fundamentals.”

Need to reduce market volatility Speakers in this session, which included the oil ministers of Ecuador, Iran, India as well as the Chief Executive of the International Finance Corporation and a market analyst, harped on the need to reduce market volatility in oil prices, for sustainable economic growth.

Specifically, Ecuador’s minister, Mr. Wilson PastorMorris, argued that market fundamentals in terms of demand and supply remained very strong, as oil price performance affects the global economy.

His Iranian counterpart, Mr. Rostam Ghasemi, noted:“Market volatility adversely affects the world economy” especially the developing poor countries, adding that if Europe made good its threats to impose sanctions against Iran (OPEC’s second highest producer, after Saudi Arabia) over nuclear activities, it would further aggravate market volatility and spike off higher oil prices.

According to him, “Sanction will increase price and market volatility, and sufficient and sustainable supply of energy will ensure stability of price.”

Reiterating the impact of high oil prices on the world economy, particularly the consuming nations, the Indian minister, Mr. Jaipal Sudini Reddy, said: “High international oil prices lead to domestic inflation, increased costs, increase in budgeting, which in turn, increases interest rates and exchange rates.”

He estimated that at a sustained $10/barrel increase, high oil price would lead to a reduction of 0.5% of the GDP of developing nations."

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8 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

CHIEF TIMI ALAIBE'S 50TH BIRTHDAY THANKSGIVING AT CHURCH OF ASSUMPTION, FALOMO, IKOYI, LAGOS, WEEKEND. PIX: BUNMI AZZEZ & LAMIDI BAMIDELE

From left: Chief Timi Alaibe, former Special Adviser on Niger Delta to President Jonathan, celebrant, his children, Ebiye, Sunshine and Ebitimi at the event.

From left: Mr. Steve Oronsanye, former Head of Service; General Andrew Owoye Azazi (rtd), National Security Adviser, NSA, and Mr. Gregory Ero.

Poverty not Nigeria's problem —Abdulsalami

BY WOLE MOSADOMI

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INNA—FORMER Military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, has said that Nigeria was not the only country in the world where there is poverty.

Abubakar spoke shortly after prayers to mark his 70th birthday anniversary at his hill top mansion in Minna, Niger State. He spoke against the backdrop of incessant bombings by an Islamist sect with the aim of Islamising the country under Sharia law.

He said: “Yes, I believe there is poverty in Nigeria.

But Nigeria is not the only country suffering from poverty and this should not be an excuse for what is happening.

We can't give up “Certainly, challenges are there all over the world not only in Nigeria. The whole world is full of challenges.

I know in Nigeria you will say we have the Boko Haram and kidnappers.

“It is true there are all these things but we should keep on trying and make sure that those misguided elements are eliminated to give peace a chance.

On elections “I will remind politicians and Nigerians that politics is a matter of give and take.

I will always refer to one of our elder statesmen who was always preaching politics without bitterness.

A contestant cannot win all the time. So whoever is elected and wins should be

given the fullest support so as to build this nation together.”

Abubakar further said the challenges confronting the country were surmountable and that many other developed countries in the world had also passed through similar challenges.

Speaking on his various peace keeping missions in Africa, he said the fact that some African countries are also engulfed in crises does

not mean that his peace mission failed.

Abubakar said: ‘’I will not say our peace missions have failed. You know that always, there is time of turmoil in one way or the other but hopefully, things are getting a little bit normal.

Although it is very difficult and slow, the peace will come.”

“I thank God. God has lifted me to the highest level somebody can expect in this country. So what regret do I have?

“I am married with chil-

dren and grandchildren and they are the people who have organised this reception for me. I am proud of them. Certainly, I do not have any regrets.

“This country has also shown me love and I pray as usual that this country remains one indivisible country so that we can live together to be each others’ keepers.”

His predecessor, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida(rtd), and other prominent Nigerians attended the prayer session.

SEC: Mixed reactions trail Oteh's suspension

BY PETER EGWUATU & NKIRUKA NNOROM AGOS—MIXED reactions have continued to trail the directive by the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, compelling its DirectorGeneral, Ms Arunma Oteh, to proceed on compulsory leave in order to effectively investigate allegation of misappropriation of funds for the project 50 event to commemorate the 50 years of capital market regulation.

While some stakeholders are questioning the power of the board to send Oteh on compulsory leave to effect her eventual removal, some investment analysts and senior stockbrokers that spoke to Vanguard agreed that the SEC’s board possess absolute power to ask her to step

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aside, saying, “they acted within the ambit of the law.”

It is generally believed that the action of the board is not unconnected to the revelations made

by SEC commissioners at the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee’s hearing which interrogated Oteh over the amount spent on the project 50.

Already, the commission has set up internal committee to investigate the alleged misappropriation of funds.

Investment Securities Provision

& Act

Meanwhile, the Investment and Securities Act, ISA, which established the Commission stated as follows: “The DirectorGeneral and the three full time commissioners shall be appointed by the

President upon the recommendation of the Minister and confirmation by the Senate.

(2) The DirectorGeneral shall hold office for a period of 5 years in the first instance and may be reappointed for a further period of five years and no more."

Scandal hits Kano mass wedding

BY ABDULSALAM MUHAMMAD ANO—THE last mass wedding in Kano State aimed at finding husbands for divorcees and widows is now mired in controversy as Hisbah Board has uncovered two fake couples in the list of those given out in marriage.

Hisbah, the Sharia implementation outfit, has equally suspended one of its field commanders believed to have planted the two married couples in the list to pave way for full scale

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investigations.

Director-General of Hisbah, Abba Sa’id Sufi told newsmen in the state that “the two couples were earlier married in real life,” pointing out that “they made the final list due to connivance of someone within.”

Sufi said: “The board had retrievedallthebenefitsincluding furniture,N20,000empowerment gesture and the N10,000 bride price provided by the state government.

“Henceforth, anyone caught perpetrating sharp practices will be prosecuted according to existing laws.”

Benin monarch pardons Since the suspension, top Igbinedion Benin Palace Chiefs,

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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ENIN CITY—THE Oba of Benin, Oba Erediauwa, yesterday lifted the suspension placed on the Esama of Benin Kingdom, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion.

Chief Igbinedion was suspended in 2008 by the Benin monarch for alleged flouting of the rules of the palace and stopped from participating in all palace activities.

Princes and other well meaning Nigerians had intervened in the matter, appealing to the Oba to reverse his decision.

Vanguard learnt that the Esama had fulfilled all he was asked to do by the Benin Traditional Council, which led to his pardon.

When newsmen visited his residence, yesterday, it was celebration galore, particularly as the Oba’s forgiveness is coming three months to his 79th birthday.

DANA: Govt rules out mass burial of yesterday evening, handling crises that involve victims following a top investigations and probes.

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE & CHIOMA OBINNA AGOS—THERE will be no mass burial of victims of the Dana air crash even though mass burial has been the order of the day in situations of disasters in the country in the past.

This resolution came to light as the final autopsies on the bodies ended at the Lekan Ogunsola Memorial Mortuary, Ikeja.

The ruling out of mass burial was highlighted

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management meeting held at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH. At the meeting attended by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris; the Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr. Wale Ahmed and the Chief Medical Director, Professor Wale Oke, to update information on the on-going processes at the mortuary, it was resolved that mass burial is not the best approach to

Vanguard gathered from a reliable source at the health institution, that the report of the meeting, which is to be presented to Governor Babatunde Fashola at a meeting scheduled for today (Thursday), specifically observes that firstly, for the sake of relatives of the victims, every family would love to bury their loved ones that died because it is part of the cultural attachment in our society.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012—9

Briefly

Man loses N.2m to robbers

BY IFEANYI OKOLIE

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AGOS—A middleaged man, Adeitan Adesanmi, was yesterday, shot and robbed of the N200,000 he withdrew from an old generation bank at Adeniyi-Jones, Ikeja, Lagos.

The mid-day incident, caused pandemonium when the bandits opened fire on the man as he came out from the bank and shot indiscriminately into the air before escaping on a motorbike.

Vanguard gathered that the victim took to his heels when he sighted the bandits, who chased and caught him at the gate of a nearby church where he was shot on the leg.

Lawmaker charges leaders

BY EBUN SESSOU

KEJA—A member of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Mufutau Egberongbe, has urged Nigerian leaders to be sincere in dealing with issues that concerns the people, saying any act of unfaithfulness might create problems for the country.

Speaking on 19th anniversary of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election, which late Basorun Moshood Abiola won, he said same had not only dampened the integrity of the nation but also caused a set-back to its polity.

He said the repeat annulment of any election was capable of crippling the country, adding that 19 years after, the nation had not recover from the pains of not having the right person in power.

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BY INNOCENT ANABA

AGOS—A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday, counselled Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to seek the court’s directives on the management of attached property of the former managing director of Intercontinental Bank Plc (now Access Bank), Dr. Erastus Akingbola, pending when sthe charges against him (Akingbola) would be disposed of.

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Court overrules EFCC over Akingbola's seized property Trial judge, Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako, gave the advice during hearing in a suit by Akingbola against EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde and one E.L. Etudo over moves by the commission to continue to deny him access to some of his (Akingbola) property that were attached by

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KEJA—CHAIRMAN, Air Nigeria, Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, yesterday, denied media reports that the airline's flight operations had been been grounded by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA. Speaking to newsmen at the airline’s head office in Lagos, Ibrahim said NCAA had no reason to ground the operations of the airline, C M Y K

manager, who is to collect the rents and put them in a dedicated account, pending the conclusion of Akingbola’s trial, one way or the other.

The court noted that EFCC should have done that immediately it se-

KEJA—AERO Contractors flight schedules, were, yesterday, disrupted by power outage at Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2, MMA2, Lagos.

Vanguard gathered that the outage occurred early in the morning, as flights from 7:30 through 8:45 were affected.

Aero Contractors first flight for the day was affected as take-off was delayed for more than 30

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PRESENTATION:From left, Group Head Marketing, Ecobank, Mrs. Ama Okyere; Miss Universe 2011, Leila Lopez; Interim National Director, SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria, Eghosa Erhumwunse; and Head, Brands and Communication, Ecobank Nigeria, Mrs. Adetola Osomah, at the presentation of N6 million cheque to SOS Children’s Village, Isolo Lagos.

Edo is must win for PDP — Tukur

BY HENRY UMORU BUJA—AHEAD of the July 14, Edo State gubernatorial election, National Chairman of Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday, said the party must win the election.

Inaugurating the National Campaign Committee for Edo State governorship election at the Abuja National Secretariat of the party, Tukur noted that he had always been winning in politics and business, adding “this relationship between the party and Edo State from its unique perspective has, therefore, positioned the state as a musthave PDP state.”

At the event, Vice-Presi-

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dent Namadi Sambo said the South-South Zone had always been for PDP and shall continue to be for the party, adding, “This committee as a tradition will go and deliver.

The South- South belongs to PDP and it shall continue to be for PDP. This is not time for talk, but for action. We shall deliver as a committee and we are working hard to deliver Edo State.”

He noted that the Edo State election must be free and fair, stressing that President Goodluck Jonathan had repeatedly emphasised on one man, one vote, one woman, one vote and one youth, one vote, adding that this will be displayed during the election.

adding that the airline complied with all international standards safety regulations.

He showed journalists a memo to the airline by the Director, Airworthiness Standards, NCAA, Mr. Patrick Ekunwe, dated June 12, entitled, ‘Domestic and Regional Flight operations of Air Nigeria.’

He cautioned the media to always verify and con-

firm any conflicting report from the airline for clarification, as that was the bedrock of good journalistic practice. The memo read, “Please be informed that Air Nigeria had been cleared by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to resume its normal domestic and regional flight operations.

Please, grant them the necessary flight clearances accordingly.”

cured the order attaching the property in 2009 and adjourned till June 26, for ruling on the matter.

Akingbola in the suit is contending that the attached property had not been forfeited to the Federal Government.

Power outage delays flights at Lagos airport

BY LAWANI MIKARU & DANIEL ETEGHE

Air Nigeria not grounded — Jimoh Ibrahim

BY DANIEL ETEGHE

the court in December 2009.

The court said the interim order of court made in December 2009 was for the attachment of the property and not forfeiture, adding that EFCC had no right to deal with seized property but should approach the court to appoint a receiver-

minutes.

A passenger, who was on board Aero's first flight, told Vanguard that his flight was delayed owning to the power outage.

He said: “According to the pilot, the Control Tower was not working due to power problem. We were in the aircraft for about 30 minutes waiting to take-off.”

When contacted, Public Relations Officer of BiCourtney, Mr. Steve Omolade, denied the claim, saying that there was no power outage at MMA2.

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10 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

WELCOME TO ONDO STATE: Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko and the new Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. D a n l a d i Mshebwala, during a courtesy call at the Governor’s Office, Akure, Tuesday.

FUTA union leaders suspended, varsity shut

BY DAYO JOHNSON KURE—EIGHT leaders of the NonAcademic Staff Union, NASU, and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, of Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, have been suspended indefinitely by the authorities of the institution.

Those suspended included the chairmen of SSANU, Ben Chukwuma and Makinde Faola NASU, who were accused of insubordination, assault, and misconduct and tampering with the property of the institution.

The crux of the crisis in the university in the last two months, is the nonpayment of hazard allowances by the Federal Government to members of the unions.

Also, the Council of the university for the second time in two months, announced the closure of the institution following what it called “distasteful activities” of the over 1,350 members of the two local unions.

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Ogun PDP crisis: Counsel wants judge to hands off case

BY DAUD OLATUNJI BEOKUTA—AS the crisis rocking the Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP, in Ogun State gets messier, the National Secretariat of the party has requested that the judge handling the case at the Federal High Court, Justice Charles Archibong, be changed.

In a letter by PDP’s counsel, Otunba Kunle Kalejaye, addressed to the “Administrative Judge,” dated June 7, 2012, PDP stated that the request became necessary because the party had “on

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good authority that the National Judicial Council, NJC, has commenced investigation against the judge.

The letter indicated that the party was also aware of three petitions against Archibong which alleged improper and biased handling of the cases filled and pending before him.

According to PDP counsel, the request was in conformity with the principle of law and that justice must be rooted in confidence; hence it was seeking the transfer of the two cases in suit numbers FHC/L/1248/11 and FHC/ L/CS/347/12.

LG poll: Ogun ACN leaders hide as youths protest

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

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BEOKUTA—HELL was almost let loose yesterday in Abeokuta, following threats by youths of the state Chapter of Action Congress of Nigeria,ACN, to protest against Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s alleged imposition of chairmanship candidates for the forthcoming council polls.

Vanguard gathered that,

some of the party leaders in the state, especially those loyal to Amosun immediately went into hiding to evade brutality from the aggrieved members.

It was gathered that the leaders of the party, having gone into hiding, allegedly convinced the governor to order the Police Commissioner to protect the lives of the party leaders who reportedly claimed that their lives were in danger.

Policemen were drafted to the headquarters of the party on Abiola Way, to stall the planned protest by the aggrieved party members.

It argued that “a person is barred from deciding any case in which he or she may be, or may fairly be suspected to be biased. This principle embodies the basic concept of impartiality and applies to courts of law, tribunals, arbitrators and all those having the duty to act judicially.”

Man kills 2 siblings in Osun

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

SOGBO—A middleage man, Deji Oloyede, yesterday, in Ipetumodu, headquarters of Ife North Local Government Area of Osun State, allegedly went berserk and macheted two brothers to death.

According to sources, the suspect was said to have killed the twosome , Messrs Ajani Awodele and Julius Awodele, in the early hours of yesterday in their rooms at Latimogun compound in Ipetumodu.

The Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of Ipetumodu Police Division, Mr Musa Okene, who confirmed the incident, said the suspect had been arrested while the case had been transferred to the state Criminal Investigations Department in Osogbo.

He noted that the suspect, who is in custody,

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made useful statements to the police during interrogation.

It was gathered that the suspect and the Awodele brothers lived together in the same house amicably in the last six months.

A resident of the area where the incident happened, Alhaji Musibau Adetokunbo, said the lifeless bodies of the siblings were seen in a pool of their blood after the suspect had reported himself to the head of the compound who later reported the matter to the police.

When Vanguard visited the residence of the deceased, traces of blood were seen all over the house.

The DPO said the corpses of the deceased had been deposited in the morgue of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, OAUTHC, Ile-Ife, for autopsy, saying that the police would investigate the matter to ascertain the cause of their death.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012—11

Owie advises FG against sale of PHCN distribution centres

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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ENIN—FORMER Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Rowland Owie, yesterday, urged President Goodluck Jonathan not to sell off the 11 distribution centres of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, to avoid throwingmoreNigeriansintothe labour market.

He noted that with the recent increase in tariff, rather than sell off the distribution centres as A motorist buying fuel from the black market in front of a fuel station on being agitated by some persons, Station Road as fuel scarcity persists in Port Harcourt, yesterday. Photo: the President should set a target Nwankpa Chijioke. for the distribution zones as

regards returns on government investments.

He said: “I wish to advise our President to be very careful with thosearoundhim,whoareurging him to sell off all PHCN distribution companies. Instead, the 11 distribution zones of PHCN should be fully commercialised and subvention from the government stopped.

With the increase in tariff now, government should set targets for the distribution zones as regards returns on government investment, revenue and also reduce unemployment.

Delta charges oil firms on siting between the of flow stations meeting communities in Oil

John Togo: JTF denies extra-judicial killing NDLF demands release of his remains for burial A

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

BY EMMAAMAIZE ARRI—JOINT Task Force, JTF, on Niger-Delta, codenamed Operation Pulo Shield, has denied allegation by a militant group, Niger-Delta Liberation Force, NDLF, that it (JTF), killed its former leader, “General” John Togo extra-judicially in 2010.

Meanwhile, NDLF has called on Federal Government to release the remains of John Togo for burial.

Spokesman of the group, “Captain” Mark Anthony, told Vanguard, “We want to give a befitting burial to our leader and the government should in addition to paying compensation for his extrajudicial murder release his

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remains.”

JTF spokesman, Lt-Col Onyema Nwachukwu, who spoke to Vanguard, on the readiness of JTF to curtail NDLF and any other militant group that plan to cause fresh violence in the Niger-Delta region, said: “I am not aware of any court of law where JTF had been indicted for the extrajudicial killing of John Togo or any other militant.”

He spoke against the background of the latest threat by NDLF to return to the creeks, if the Federal Government failed to pay N1 billion reparation for alleged extra-judicial killing of its erstwhile commander, “General” Togo, on or before June 21.

On the bombing of a Shell Nigeria Exploration

and Production Company, SNEPCo, trunk line in Delta State on Monday by suspected ex-militants, Nwachukwu denied media reports on Wednesday, that some soldiers reported that there were gunshotssomewhere,notingthat what he said was that he would get back to the reporter on the matter and never confirmed any gunshot anywhere.

SNEPCo’s Media Officer in Warri, Mr. Joseph Obari, also told Vanguard,yesterday,that “SPDC had not received any report of such an incident on our operations.”

The militant group, however, insisted that SPDC’s reserve trunk line at Tuomo town in Delta State was bombed at 7am on Monday.

Meanwhile the militant group, confirmed it had a large cache of sophisticated arms to prosecute another round of oil war in the

Bonny youths set to clash with NLNG over employment

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ORT HARCOURT— YOUTHS of Bonny kingdom appear set to clash with the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, over a recent recruitment exercise conducted by the firm were about thirty three persons were employed.

At a briefing, yesterday, in Port Harcourt, youths of the area who spoke under the aegis of Youths of Bonny Kingdom, said NLNG did not engage anybody from the area among the thirty- three people it recruited, stressing that the act was a violation of the local content law.

While urging the state and federal government to prevail on the firm to employ some of the youths, Mr. Furo Gift said it would be unfair for the area to suffer pollution from operations of the NLNG, yet it youths would be shut out of

the company’s employment opportunities.

He said: "You cannot be taking so much from the people’s land and cannot give them employment; it means that you want them to remain perpetually poor" When contacted, a source

in the media department of NLNG said the thirty-three people recently employed by the firm was purely on merit.

The source said the firm placed advert for jobs on August 2011, and about 4,500 people applied. Adding that the firm shortlisted 1,500, then 158 made it to the interview stage from where the thirty three were picked on merit.

PDP: Tukur sacks Habu-Fari

BY HENRY UMORU BUJA—THE rift between the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and the National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola has claimed a casualty.

Vanguard gathered yesterday that as part of moves to save his headandfutureembarrassment, Bamanga Tukur had no choice

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than to sack his chief of Staff, Alhaji Habu-Fari who also doubledasthePrincipalSecretary to the National Chairman.

It was also gathered that the move to ease Fari out of the nationalsecretariatwasasaresult of pressure on the national chairman by stakeholders and leaders of the party who argued that he was never a member of the NWC and as such he cannot arrogate to himself the powers he never had.

region if the government did not meet their demands.

Mark Anthony said: “We are alsoservicingandoilingourarms, whichtheyrefusedtocollectfrom us when we told them that we are surrendering”.

TheremainsofJohnTogowere exhumed by JTF and brought to the Central Hospital, Warri, after his followers denied that he had been killed.

“The 11 distribution zones can create direct employment for no fewerthanthan31,000Nigerians annually and over 16,000 job opportunities in addition to contributing to the Federation Account substantially. However, ifthesedistributionzonesaresold now, the new buyers will enjoy the new improved tariffs and will reduce the Nigerian staff and bring their own nationals, who are not qualified, as Nigerians.

“More qualified Nigerians will be thrown into the unemployment market to add to the problem of this administration."

SABA—TO avoid clashes between host communities and oil prospecting companies, Delta State Government, yesterday, called on oil companies in the state to site their flow stations in oil producing communities to enable indigenes benefit from their resources.

State Commissioner for Oil and Gas, Mr. Omamofe Pirah, said this at a

Prospecting Lease, OPL 275 and Pan Ocean Oil Corporation in the state, following a reported planned protest over the location of a flow station in Owa-Aladinma, a non-oil producing community.

Pirah, noted with displeasure that some oilbearing communities were usually deserted as soon as drilling in such communities was completed.

12— Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012—13

Controversy as two families lay claim to stolen baby

BY VINCENT UJUMADU WKA—THE Imo State police command is currently battling to ascertain the real parents of a baby stolen from Onitsha in 2010 as two families are laying claim to the same baby.

The baby, Emmanuel Chimaobi Adinna Okoro, who

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was born on 9thAugust 2010, was allegedly stolen from his parents who reside at Awada-Obosi, a suburb of Onitsha in Anambra State by a lady who pretended to be his aunt.

However, when the news of the disappearance of little Emmanuel got to his parents, Mr. and Mrs Chinedu Okoro, who were

not in the house when the incident took place, he immediately reported the case to the Awada police station and the police began the search for the stolen baby who was at the time of his theft, 18 months old.

The efforts of the police paid off when a suspect who gave her name as Ngozi Okeke was arrested as

Education: S-East govs storm Abuja, say FG neglect zone

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU BUJA—GOVER NORS from the South East zone yesterday stormed the Ministry of Education to complain over lack of access to education by people of the region even as the Federal Government promised to launch a campaign on access to education in Enugu next week.

Led by Peter Obi of Anambra State and accompanied

by Sullivan Chime of Enu-

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gu, Martins Elechi of Ebonyi, the governors said they had come to discuss on how best the people of the zone could have unhindered access to education.

Peter Obi who spoke on behalf of others, said the South East governors had deliberation with the Federal Government, explaining that their presence at the Ministry of Education was a proof to the seriousness the zone attached to educ a t i o n .

He said, “we had a fruit-

ful deliberation. For us as a zone, our coming to see the Minister of Education, Prof Ruqquayat Rufa’I goes to show the seriousness with which we attach to education.

"We the governors of the South East zone have decided to take education very seriously and we felt we need to discuss some aspects of what we intend to do with the minister as well as what the Federal Government is trying to do in education".

she allegedly came back to Onitsha from Imo State to steal more babies.

On learning of the arrest, the family of the stolen Emmanuel approached the police with their house help from whom the little baby was stolen and identified the suspect on the spot.

However, following the alleged reluctance of the police to release the baby to them, counsel to the family of the stolen baby, Mr. Ignatius Umennabude, petitioned the Imo State Commissioner of Police, demanded that the police release the child to his parents since they have provided necessary documents concerning the child.

Vanguard gathered that the case took a different dimension when the parents of the baby went to the Imo State police command to claim their baby, but were denied access to him on the ground that another woman was also claiming the same baby.

The baby in question is presently in the custody of the social welfare officer in the Imo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

According to Umennabude, there was confusion when the Deputy Police Commissioner, DCP, in charge of Criminal Investigation Department, CID, in Imo State told the family of Emmanuel that there was another lady who had lodged a complaint that she gave birth to a baby boy who she left under the care of a certain nurse who was at that time being detained by police in connection with child trafficking.

The woman, Vanguard gathered, also told the police that the stolen child, who had been identified by the Okoro family in Onitsha as their son, was also her son, noting that she gave birth to the baby while still in school and decided to leave him with the nurse to help her finish her education.

She was said to have told the police that when she came back from school, she could not find her baby and the nurse.

Though the suspect was said to have confirmed that the little Emmanuel belongs to the Okoro family, she, however, could not account for the whereabouts of the son of the other woman in her custody.

The Imo State command was said to be insisting that there must be a DNA test to ascertain the true parentage of the stolen baby.

Okorocha sacks 6 commissioners

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

WERRI—SIX mem bers of Imo State Executive Council, including the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dr. Obinna Duruji, were yesterday, sacked by Governor Rochas Okorocha.

Okorocha equally dropped Ejike Uche, Public Utilities and Rural Development, Mr. Nelson Ezerioha, Commissioner for Transport and Alex Ogwazuo, Culture and Tourism.

Briefing newsmen after this week’s State Executive Council meeting, the Chief of Staff, Prince Eze Madumere, gave the names of the other affected commis-

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sioners as Mrs. Chioma Ogoke, Housing and Urban Development and Ogueri Enwerem of Commerce and Industry.

He noted that Governor Okorocha named Ichie Mbanaso, Mr. Chinedu Offor, Mrs Nnnanna Ugochi Okoro, Mr. Chima Iwuchukwu, Mr. Emmanuel Ekweremba and Prince Charles Onuoha as the new commissioners-designate, awaiting screening and approval by the House of Assembly.

While saying that some Special Advisers and Senior Special Advisers were equally sacked, Prince Madumere explained that the action was necessitated following the desire of the governor to re-jig the machinery of governance.

APGA is dead, says Chime

BY TONY EDIKE

E

NUGU—GOVERNOR Sullivan Chime of Enugu State reflecting on the current crisis in the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, the party that controls two states in the South East zone, declared yesterday that the party was dead.

The governor made the declaration while receiving members of the South-East Zonal Working Committee, ZWC, of the Peoples Democratic Party, led by the National Vice Chairman (South-East), Col Augustine Akobundu (rtd), who paid him a visit at the Government House, Enugu.

According to him, APGA had no chance whatsoever

at the forthcoming 2014 Anambra State governorship election and future elections in the country because the party no longer had a system and a succession plan, saying whatever was left of the party would finally crumble as soon as Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State relinquished power by March 17, 2014.

Chime, who expressed confidence that the PDP would be in control of the South East after the next elections, however, tasked the ZWC committee members of his party to take advantage of APGA’s extinction to win the governorship election in Anambra State in 2014 and in Imo State in 2015.

Storm displaces 1,000 people in Nsukka As wall collapses on 4-month old baby

BY CHINENYEH OZOR

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SUKKA—TRAGEDY has struck at the university town of Nsukka, Enugu State as a terrible wild wind displaced over 1,000 persons in Nru and Nguru communities even as a wall collapsed on a four months old baby sleeping with her mother during the mid-night disaster, but survived with slight injury.

The wind which spread like wild fire uprooted trees, pulled down buildings and destroyed other valuables forcing victims to take refuge at a nearby town hall.

It also caused havoc at

the parish house of Holy Redeemer Catholic Parish, Nru. Vanguard gathered that at Nru and Nguru communities over 150 residential buildings, including Government Technical College, Nguru were blown off by the wild wind and property running into millions of naira destroyed at both communities.

Some of the victims were widows who were left stranded without any help.

Speaking to Vanguard in tears, one of the widows, Elizabeth Ogbu from Amarika village, told Vanguard that “it is difficult to recount her losses to the wind.”

14— Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2012—15

Uduaghan's 70-yr-old cousin kidnapped

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA SABA—HIGH profile kidnapping in Delta State continued, yesterday, as gunmen kidnapped a cousin of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State, just as the governor was receiving the InspectorGeneral of Police, IGP, Mohammed Abubakar who was on a visit to the state.

The victim, identified as Pa Sam Uduaghan, is 70 years old.

Governor Uduaghan, however, did not betray any emotion as he participated in the interactive meeting which the IGP held with stakeholders at Government House, Asaba. Shortly after, the governor donated some patrol vans to the police and never mentioned the matter.

Reports about the kidnapping was still sketchy at press time, but the governor’s cousin

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was said to have been bundled into a waiting car in his Asaba residence.

State Police Command’s spokesman, Mr.

Charles Muka, confirmed the story.

He said: “We are yet to get the details. I think we were hearing about the kidnap. I will get back to you later.”

... as building collapses in Abuja, injures 3

BY MAMUS UKUEJE BUJA—A storey building under construction in Apo Mechanic Village in Abuja collapsed on construction workers, yesterday, leaving three of them seriously injured and hospitalised.

An eyewitness told Vanguard that the workers had barely resumed work on the building, yesterday morning, after being away for sometime, only for the building to collapse on the workers at about 7:30am.

It took the intervention of a team from the

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National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, in collaboration with residents of the area, to rescue three trapped workers who were taken to the National Hospital, Abuja.

NEMA’s Public Relations Officer, Yushau Shuaib, told Vanguard that “three victims were rescued alive and taken to the National hospital.

Local volunteers assisted in rescue efforts.”

Other eyewitnesses told Vanguard that the contractor supervising the building bolted soon after the incident and was still at large.

HEALTH MONITORING: From left— Dr. Femi Olugbile, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health; Dr Jide Idris, Commissioner for Health, and Dr. (Mrs) Yewande Adesina, Special Adviser on Health, at the inauguration of the Governing Board of Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, HEFAMAA, in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: Shola Oyelese.

Gunmen kill 3, snatch LG salary in Borno

BY NDAHI MARAMA

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AIDUGURI— FIVE suspected armed robbers, yesterday, killed two policemen and a staff of Guzamala Local Government Area of Borno State and carted away millions of naira that was meant for the payment of salary of the local government employees.

Witnesses said the police had escorted the staff of the finance department of the local government, who withdrew the unspecified amount of money at a new genera-

tion bank in Maiduguri, the state capital, but were intercepted along Magumeri-Gubio highway.

A staff of the local government told our correspondent on condition of anonymity that the armed robbers who drove in a white Starlet saloon car at about 2.30pm, intercepted the vehicle carrying the police escort and the local government officials.

The source said: “They brandished sophisticated guns and shot the victims before they took away all the money that was withdrawn from the bank.”

Chairman of the local

government said: “Nobody can say from where the gunmen came. The unfortunate thing had happened. Lives have been lost and colossal amount of money robbed.”

He said he had informed top officials of the Borno State government and security agencies.

“We have also recovered the dead bodies for burial,” he added.

Police spokesman in the state, Mr. Gideon Jubrin, said he was yet to be briefed on the incident and promised that he will get back to this reporter as soon as he gets details.

AGF donates N10m, bus to alma mater

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BUJA—MINISTER of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN),yesterday in Abuja, announced a donation of N10 million and a bus to Government Secondary School, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, his alma mater.

He announced the donation when he received a delegation of the school’s old boys association (OGSSOBA) in his office.

Adoke recalled his experience in the school and at-

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tributed his career growth to the laudable academic and moral teachings of his tutors. He urged Nigerian youths to renew their faith in the future of Nigeria which, he believed, will sur-

mount its current challenges.

He said: “We all have a stake in the future of this country; we must remain totally committed to its unity and survival.”

Maku-Eyituoyor assures on compIetion of road

S

APELE—SPECIAL Project Director of the on-going SapeleAbigborodo-Arunwon road construction in Delta State, Mr. Francis

Maku-Eyituoyor, has given an assurance that the project will be expected within two years.

Mr. Maku-Eyituoyor gave the assurance when the state Commissioner for Special Duties and Infrastructure, Mrs. Orezi Esievo conducted an inspection on the road project.

The commissioner expressed satisfaction on the progress and quality of the work done so far and also commended the special project director for his dedication in making sure that the road contractor is doing a good job.

She further reiterated the commitment of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan to the continued development of the state.

16— Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012—17 ARDON me please, but in a manner of speaking, the s..t has hit the ceiling fan of Nigeria’s political and business elite; and the dangers are real, that a lot of well-starched apparels are likely to be soiled.

Big time! The Chinese curse says may we live in interesting times and these are the best of times and the worst of times in our country! If per chance, the ruling class in Nigeria “wobbles and fumbles” through the myriad of problems dogging its every step and misstep, it would go down as one of history ’s greatest survivors. But it is too compromised by its irresponsibility; the institutions of state are rolled over by incompetence and the innards of ruling class hegemony are threatened by the incredible levels of corruption, that the survival of its class project can only be because its nemesis have refused or been unable to make the critical transition, which all students of radical political philosophies know very well, from class-in-itself to class-for-itself. More than ever before, the times in Nigeria have seen the ripening of the objective conditions for revolutionary upheaval; but the subjective factors are underdeveloped; compromised and unorganised. And since society, like nature abhors vacuums, Nigeria is witnessing anarchic forms of rebellion in response to the crass irresponsibility of the ruling class.

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f I have done a more radical reading of our reality today, it is precisely because that is what is called for in the unfolding mess around the $3million bribery scandal in the House of Representatives. The fuel subsidy probe is arguably, one of the most important developments since Nigeria’s transition to civil rule in 1999.

Nigerians discovered, thanks to the work done by the Hon. Farouk Lawan led committee, that the subsidy regime was one of the most corrupt processes in Nigeria’s recent history.

Payments under the regime saw mind-boggling increases: in 2006, N261.1 Billion; in 2007, N278.8B; N346B was paid out in 2008 and they rose to N2.5trillion in 2011.

Meanwhile, N999million was paid out in a total of 128 cheques amounting to N127.

872Billion, WITHIN a 24hours period, on the 12th and 13th of January, 2009. And to stretch our wonderment further, different departments of government could not agree on exact sums paid the barons of fuel importation. The officially quoted amount was N1.3trillion; then the Account General of the Federation gave us N1.7trillion while the CBN said the amount was actually N1.8trillion. It took the Farouk Lawan-led committee to “finally” reveal that the country actually paid out N2.5Trillion!

The probe achieved a lot; it revealed the real reason why the nation’s ruling elite DELIBERATELY dithered about the construction of new refineries; it was too profitable for a few importers of refined products for them to refine here.

For them preachments about creating jobs and strengthening

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Hon. Farouk Lawan national sovereignty meant nothing. Their profits were far more important than the country. They also revealed the deep and complex ties between and within the political and business elites of Nigeria. Those paid corrupt monies read like the Who-is-Who of major donors to the electoral fortunes of the PDP. So the probe exposed the ugly hind place of Nigeria’s bourgeoisie; even a student of Pol. Science 101, can see how corruption ties up the nation’s political and business life.

Instead of being a nationbuilding ruling class, Nigeria’s own rulers and their class project have increasingly become a danger to the survival of the country itself! The fuel subsidy probe represented the finest moments of an activist and people-responsive House of Representatives; the moment also found its man in the diminutive Hon. Farouk Lawan, a four-time ranking member of the House. Lawan is a very adroit manipulator of the opportunities which parliamentary life gives to individuals who combine cunning with the ability to read the portents of politics and predict exactly where the pendulum of power and influence swung! An ambitious man with a sweet-sounding voice as well as a reservoir of deep opportunism often camouflaged as ‘principle’, Hon. Farouk Lawan lapped up the moment to kill many birds with the subsidy probe boulder: strengthened his ‘integrity ’ bona fide as well aspositioned himself at the front of the 2015 gubernatorial queue in Kano state. It was too good to be true!

The probe ruffled too many feathers and those at the receiving end were baying for blood. Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done to prevent a mongrel dog from eating fecal matter. Historically, the legislature, since 1999, had established an unsavoury reputation as the centre of sleaze; between 1999 and 2007, President Obasanjo used monetary inducement to stoke

the greedy instincts of parliamentarians.

With that, he got his way with often, controversial and selfserving laws and in the process also held the entire Second Tier of government hostage. It was the cat-and-mouse game played out between him and his greedy parliamentary hostages, which led him to constantly demonise them, whenever they objected to his increasingly absurd requests and the final nail in the coffin of their

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Several accounting distortions

Sting dollars: Between the lawmaker and the oil magnate

Mr. Femi Otedola looked like Farouk Lawan, for once, did not read the political portents too carefully. He lost the plot! By allegedly demanding the bribe, he overplayed his hands and seemed to have allowed greed to override his survivor ’s instincts; how could he fail to know that this was one moment to reign-in the propensity for greed? Did he forget the

Those implicated in the elaborate fuel subsidy scam would have reasoned that if the chairman can be caught on video collecting bribe, why should his report not lose credibility?

But that is precisely the point. We must not allow the baby to be thrown away with the bathwater! Nigerians must protect the sanctity of the report of the fuel subsidy probe panel

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troubled relationship was the rejection of the Third Term Agenda, despite the reported billions of naira parliamentarians had allegedly collected from the old despot.

The bitterness will not clear in their relationship; that explained why the old dictator recently went back to describe them as rogues!

Sacred cow, importation guru and perpetual donor

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o when the story broke this week, that Hon. Farouk Lawan had demanded a bribe of $3Million from one of the “sacred cows” of that tie-in between the world of politics and business, Femi Otedola: diesel importation guru; member of the Presidential economic team; perpetual donor to PDP presidential funds and a ubiquitous figure in the presidential entourage, it

number of powerful toes the committee stepped on in the course of its exposes? Given the years he has spent in the National Assembly, did Hon. Farouk Lawal somehow forget that the powerful forces he constantly alerted as trying to bribe the committee he headed were going to fight back dirty, using the apparatus of state security? In the end, it was that apparatus which allegedly nailed him in a sting operation, video evidence and all!

It was therefore an obviously shocked and embarrassed House of Representatives, which spoke through Hon. Zakari Muhammed, at the beginning of the week, that “this House will never take sides with corruption and we will always stand on the side of rule of law”. The underlining reason for the sting operation was not just to catch Hon. Farouk Lawal collecting bribe from Femi Otedola; the central

purpose was to discredit the fuel subsidy report that exposed the political elite and their business allies. Those implicated in the elaborate fuel subsidy scam would have reasoned that if the chairman can be caught on video collecting bribe, why should his report not lose credibility? But that is precisely the point. We must not allow the baby to be thrown away with the bathwater! Nigerians must protect the sanctity of the report of the Fuel Subsidy probe panel. Those implicated as having fleeced our country must be prosecuted and be made to return the loot to the Nigerian people. That is without prejudice to whatever punishment fits the alleged misdemeanour that seem set to destroy Hon. Farouk Lawal’s political career; he rode the tiger of political opportunism for so long and is now looking like ending as meal for that voracious beast! The revelations of the past few days are very startling, but Hon. Farouk Lawal is fighting back; this week, it was revealed that he reported to law enforcement agents as far back as April 24, of pressures to bribe him to influence the report of the fuel subsidy investigation committee. On the same day, he had intimated the Chairman of the House Committee on Financial Crimes of Otedola’s persistence to offer him bribe to influence the outcome of the investigation. When pressed on why he did not inform the House in session, Hon. Lawan said he kept mute because it would overshadow the essence of the fuel subsidy probe.

Events tally but spin differs

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hen news of the bribery allegations initially surfaced, Hon. Lawan had warned that “the present mudslinging is not unexpected in view of the caliber of people whose actions and inactions were found wanting in the report”. He added further in response to the dramatic video footage that “I am aware that in their desperation to discredit the report and divert attention of the public from the real issues of large scale fraud in high places established in our report, a video footage displaying a caricature of my person allegedly having a dealing with a marketer reminiscent of the military era when dignitaries were invited to the villa to watch a video clip of a phantom coup involving Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is already in circulation”. From an observer’s point of view, we can see that details of events tally, but the spin differs. Somewhere between the lawmaker and the oil magnate, is lost the truth of the unfolding scenario. The scene is set for the mother of all roforofo fights. That was why I said that the s..t has hit the ceiling fan and very few overstarched Babar Riguna and other choice dresses of members of the political and economic elite of the nation, can escape the s..t! Nigeria’s ruling class is in a terrible mess. They brought home ant-ridden faggots of corruption and misrule and in the process, have invited the visit of anarchic violence that dogs our country today!

18 — Vanguard, THURSDAY , JUNE 14, 2012 NOBODY expected the weighty allegations made against fuel importers and their collaborators would have gone without a major reaction. The growing bribery scandal on the committee that turned out that report could just be one of the reactions.

This assertion in no way suggests the allegations are correct or wrong. Did the Lawan committee solicit $3 million from Femi Otedola to doctor the report? Was a part payment made? We do not know. What is before the public are allegations that the committee was compromised. The logic would be that a report produced in those circumstances would not serve the interests of Nigerians, the unfortunate bearers of the brunt from the mismanagement of national resources.

It is for the accuser to prove his case while the accused proves his innocence.

When we go through these processes, it would be easier to establish what happened and apportion punishments.

However, there is nothing so far in the allegations that should warrant the House of Representatives throwing away the report that

Beyond Farouk Lawan Scandal detailed the discrepancies and conflicting allocation of public expenditure to importation of fuel. If anything, the allegations mean that the House of Representatives has more work to do in erecting integrity in its members work.

Public perception of the House is important in everything it does. The House should not in self-regulation indulge its members or pander to the wishes of forces that always want things their way.

Scandals are part of the House’s attributes.

It is either probing scandals by others or by its members. None of these exercises should prove a distraction.

Are there more allegations of the committee

demanding gratification from other organisations? Did those organisations pay?

Were the organisations the report indicted those that refused to pay? Did some organisations pay and were still indicted?

These issues – as well as getting to the roots of the propriety of the high cost of importing fuel - should rightly occupy the attention of the House. It would also be crucial for the House to focus on making fuel available at a reasonable cost by clearing the bottlenecks.

Who profits from scandalising the report so that it would not be implemented? What was Mr. Otedola’s motive in offering the bribe, since his companies were not involved in shady deals?

It is unfortunate that the bribery scandal is about to consume the collective efforts of Nigerians last January in protesting the increase in the price of fuel, which resulted in setting up the committee.

The House owes itself and Nigerians a firmer resolution in fully investigating the fuel subsidy report. As for the Lawan committee, the security agencies should apply similar

OPINION

BY TOCHUKWU EZUKANMA

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EMOCRACY ensures peaceful transfer of power because it recognises the people as the ultimate repository of power.

And as such, power is derived solely from the will of the people.

Democracy does not guarantee the election of good leaders.

However, it empowers the people to peacefully remove bad and/or discredited leaders.

The election that brought Goodluck Jonathan to power was fair and free. Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for him. However, he has proven to be the worst president that this country has ever had. Nigerians are exasperated by his failure to fulfill any of his campaign promises. And they are frustrated by his insensitive and inhumane economic policies. Therefore, it is most likely that in 2015 they will endeavour to remove him, peacefully, through the ballot box, from the presidency.

But what of if the constitutional right of the people to democratically change an underperforming president is subverted by entrenched interests and forces of greed and insensitivity in 2015? It might lead to violence in this our volatile and already violence-rife country. After all “those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable”.

The Jonathan administration exhibits disquieting dictatorial tendencies. It has virtually no respect for the right of the people to peaceful protest. In its self-righteousness, it feigns immaculate blamelessness. Consequently, it takes no responsibility for its repeated political blunders. Instead, it blames everybody and everything for its continued bungling of national governance. It is paranoid and defensive; thus, it is rattled by every criticism. It overreacts to every critical comment, be it pedestrian or lofty, pertinent or irrelevant, wrong or right.

These dictatorial tendencies and self-righteousness were irrefutably evident in the administration’s handling of the Nigerians’ disapproval of the removal of the fuel subsidy. The Minister of Labor, Emeka Wogu, refused to understand that to increase the price of petrol in a swoop by more than 100percent

What is wrong with Buhari's comment? was a tactless and heartless move that was to deeply infuriate the Nigerian masses. He chose not to realise that with such unspeakable provocation, no matter how passive and docile Nigerians are, they must raise a voice in protest. With his half closed eyes and his look of a street brawler or a night club bouncer, he had the temerity to blame the protest on some opposition figures that were inciting the people against the government.

The presidential spokesman, Ruben Abati, speaking for a petulant and arrogant presidency, and of course, with a streak of his own false feeling of importance, dismissed a resolution of the House of Representatives as just an opinion. Does not the resolution of the House have constitutional and legal validity?

Was it not supercilious and overbearing to dismiss the resolution of the legislature as just their “opinion”? Finally, in a move that repudiated every tenet of democracy and was disconcertingly reminiscent of military highhandedness, the President rolled out tanks and deployed soldiers in the streets of Nigerian cities to intimidate Nigerians into not expressing their democratic right to peaceful demonstration against detestable government policies.

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n his campaign, President Jonathan promised to curb corruption, improve healthcare delivery, boost electricity supply, etc. Thus far, he has not made good on any of these promises. His purported war on corruption is a charade; and Nigeria remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

His government’s recent refusal to prosecute an egregious case of corruption – the N1.7 trillion oil subsidy scam - further reinforced an unvarnished fact: His administration lacks both the moral authority and political will to rein-in corruption in Nigeria. The health care delivery system remains in a disgraceful

state. It must be the worst in the world because it accounts for the highest rate of maternal and infant mortality in the world.

The supply of electricity is now worse than it has been in a very long time. The economic consequences of inadequate provision of electricity are staggering. It is forcing many industries to fold up and tens of thousands to lose their jobs because privately generated power is very expensive and renders many business ventures unprofitable. It increases the cost of production across the board by 30 to 40 percent, and these increased costs are invariably passed on to the consumer. His anti-people economic policies foster deepening poverty and economic misery amongst the generality of Nigerians. In addition, his government has demonstrated increasing inability to protect Nigerians from criminal predators and terrorists. Many Nigerians believe that the country is dangerously hurtling towards a precipice.

If Nigerians are to grade his presidency, it will score something scraping to a zero. Therefore, it is almost certain that Nigerians will elect a new president in 2015. With their votes, they will protest against Jonathan’s continued stay as the President. In such a case, decorum dictates that the President drinks of the politician’s hemlock – rejection by the electorate – and calmly accepts the people’s electoral verdict.

But if his government’s responses to an earlier protest are indicative of its attitude towards protests in general, then Nigerians have reasons to be apprehensive of the presidential election of 2015 when it is obvious that the people will again protest against his government (this time with their votes). Will his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in desperation to remain in power in defiance of the will of the people, rig the election?

It is reasonable to expect that if this happens, there will be trouble – violence – inescapably attended by bloodshed. Was that not all Mohammadu Buharia said in his own words? And what is wrong with such a direct, unequivocal and honest statement? Absolutely, nothing! *Mr. Ezukanma, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Lagos.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012—19

, Abia: A foundation, 21 years later!

BIA State is unlike many of its peers around the country.

It was one of the states created by the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida on August 27, 1991.

All the new states (like Abia) which started off on virgin capital cities did not have Government Houses. But all of them now do, except Abia State, which is still being operated from private residences acquired from individuals.

The Governor ’s Office is a storey building which belonged to the late Air Marshall Emeka Omeruah. It was commandeered from him with compensation, while another plot of land was allocated to him within the city.

The Governor’s Lodge where the first family resides was a rundown government guest house which the regime of Dr Sam Mbakwe built in the five major cities of Old Imo State – Owerri, Aba, Umuahia, Okigwe and Orlu.

The cabinet offices were once classrooms of Library Road Primary School, while those of

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top government functionaries, such as the Chief of Staff to the Governor and the Media Office were private residential houses.

The only new structures located within the present seat of government in Abia State are the office of the Deputy Governor, the Chapel and the Multi-Purpose Hall. All the others were made over and converted. Today, the Abia State Government House is probably the ricketiest of its type in the country.

For some curious reason, no regime deemed it fit to lift the status of Umuahia into a befitting state capital. Former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu simply hunkered into these shacks for eight years, choosing to pay more attention to his businesses and his hometown, Igbere. He was copying the template of his friend, Chief James Ibori, who focused attention on making his hometown, Oghara, the real seat of the Delta State government.

Orji Kalu intended, long after he had completed his constitutional

TA's Abia was ranked among the few “solvent” states, with a pass mark in prudent utilisation of public funds; (the) state started slow; but it looks like a very good start

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terms of office, to continue to call the shots from his hometown as a political godfather along with his mother, Madam Eunice Kalu.

But fate had other ideas. The centre in his camp could not hold.

Governor Theodore Ahamefula Orji whom he chose to succeed him, spent the first three years of his first term trying to please a political family whose greed and arrogance got worse by the day.

Umuahia is his hometown. In fact, the seat of government is within his native district, Ibeku.

Apart from a few roads and street lights he put up in the early months after he was sworn-in in 2007, T. A. could not do very much under the Orji Kalu political clan. By the time the infighting within the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, boiled over, Orji Kalu and his supporters touted “poor performance” as their reason for denying T. A. a second term ticket.

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t was after three years under the Orji Kalu political clan

that T. A. broke free. In creating a platform to enable him win the 2011 governorship election he was able to rally all the feuding political forces within and outside the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, a party he had returned to). His crossover from PPA to PDP was dubbed the“liberation” of Abia State. It was this general belief that the state had been freed from the clutches of the Orji Kalu family (more than any pretension to performance during his first term) that catapulted T. A. to a landslide victory. He spent the final year of his first term battling kidnapping and violent crimes and getting re-elected. Today, apart from Cross River and Ondo, Abia has the lowest violent crime rate among the nine Niger Delta states.

Even though the Governor has spent five years on the gubernatorial seat, he is almost like the newcomer governors who are celebrating one year in office.

The difference, however, is that where most of the newcomers are building on the gains of their predecessors, T. A. has decided to start laying the solid foundation for the development of the state – at last! The pace of development has dramatically picked up, with the construction of a new, befitting government house, expansion of the State Secretariat, construction of two new multi thousand-shed markets and reconstruction of major access roads into Umuahia at advanced stages.

A lot of work is also going on in Aba, the commercial nerve of the state. The blocked access into Ariaria Market at Ukwu Mango has been cleared and more roads are being done. The Big Gutter

constructed by the colonial masters to drain the city of floods is being de-silted, and illegal structures that clutter the town making it look like a jungle city are being brought down. A lot of effort is also being made to create more rural roads. I was made to understand that the next two years will see a lot more effort made in construction of new access roads in every rural community, including mine (Abiriba!).

I was able to go round in the company of officials at my request. I am in a position to report that things are picking up in the state, though the journey to Uhuru is a long one requiring sustained and coordinated effort.

Luckily, the finances of the state appear to be improving compared to the Orji Kalu years when both old and new debts incurred by that regime combined with graft to put shackles to the pace of development. T. A. knows there will be no hiding place for him if he ends up the way he started. He has no choice but to drive himself into the good books of the people.

The modest gains of the state have not gone unnoticed. In its May 27th edition celebrating the Democracy Day of 2012, THISDAY Newspaper x-rayed the performance rating of the 36 governors in three categories: Above Average, Average, and Below Average. T. A’s Abia State was rated Average. It is a big step away from the bottom. Again, Abia was last year ranked among the few “solvent” states, with a pass mark in prudent utilisation of public funds.

Abia state woke up late and started slow. But it looks like a very good start.

The candidate and the aspirants for the people. There is a sharp irony here, though: Why is our rate of unemployment still higher than theirs? Put differently, why are we poor when we are so industrious?

This is perhaps the title of a good book waiting for an author.

Back home, the battle for Osadebey Avenue is raging. The new comer to Nigerian politics soon comes in contact with two words that are seemingly related and sometimes confusing: aspirant and candidate. One is a journey to the other.

The point at which the journey ends forms an integral part of today’s piece.

When those innocent children made the point that there are three candidates in the July 14, 2012 governorship race in Edo State – Adams, Aliyu and Oshiomhole – they were severely criticized for some obvious bias. What the children mean is that Oshiomhole is the Governor of Edo State and that others are aspiring to be where he already is. To that extent, they are aspirants. We want to seek the permission of our esteemed readers to adopt this position for today, if only in a loose sense.

For sure, this position puts a heavy burden on Oshiomhole: He must set the pace for the aspirants to follow. He has been doing this very dexterously. Each time he mounts the podium, he points to where he started and proceeds from there to point out what he has done to lift Edo State from the inherited rot – the completed projects, the ongoing ones and what he intends to do if re-elected.

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his also puts a big burden on the aspirants. In a more decent society, the aspirants would have to first acknowledge some of the good things that Governor Oshiomhole is doing before proceeding to say they would beat his

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HESE old men at The Hague, with their goggles dropping on their noses, carefully calculate the relative life span of the accused and to make up for error factor, they just add about 10 years, and that’s the sentence. Where they are not sure, it makes the job simpler: The accused bags a life sentence.

The penultimate week, the former Liberian leader, Charles Taylor, got 50 years behind bars, while the immediate past Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak, got a life sentence. It did not matter to the Egyptian talakawas back home that their former leader suffered a heart-attack on his way to prison after the sentence; they still poured out to the streets to demonstrate that the judges were too lenient. They are questioning why Mubarak’s aides were set free.

This past week, we witnessed the activities rounding off the celebrations of the diamond jubilee of our Queen, the Queen of England, Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II, on the throne. To the glory of God, Mama still looks very strong, which means Prince Charles has to wait much longer. On the final day of the celebrations, she had a Thanksgiving service at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, some distance from Buckingham Palace. It is instructive that there was only one dispatch rider in her convoy.

In a similar situation, a Nigerian leader would have had close to 100 dispatch riders, 10 pilot and escort cars and myriads of other side wastes. Incidentally, these ones do not go into the equation when we calculate our cost of governance.

We do not question our leaders for behaving the way they do. After all, they have to be alive to lead us and this could also be their way of providing employment

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In essence, the moral message of the aspirants is that if they get elected, those projects that are very dear to the people will be abandoned; and the voters are listening!

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record. Rather than do that, the aspirants are telling the people that Oshiomhole has done nothing and achieved nothing.

Any campaign that is based on deliberate falsehood must collapse sooner than later. There was the case of an aspirant who was telling the people: “You have no school in your town. I will provide school for you as soon as I come on board”.

Meanwhile, this campaign was taking place in the premises of a secondary school that has been renovated and equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.

On another occasion, an aspirant went to Iruekpen in Esan West Local Government Area and told the people that they have no water and promised to give them water as soon as he gets elected. Unknown to him, Iruekpen is one place where borehole water had been provided by the

Oshiomhole administration when everyone had given up hope of ever getting water in the area. Up till now, these aspirants are unable to understand why they were booed out of such places.

The difference in the campaigns is very clear: While the candidate is saying: “I will complete all ongoing projects and provide lots more if re-elected”, the aspirants are fixated at the level of mudslinging and name-calling. In essence, the moral message of the aspirants is that if they get elected, those projects that are very dear to the people will be abandoned. And the voters are listening!

One particular project that has constantly come under the attack of the aspirants is the water fountain at Oba Ovonramwen Square at the very heart of Benin City. They insist that the project has no economic value to the people. They are unanimous in their view that if elected, the water fountain would be destroyed in the same way that the Oshiomhole administration destroyed those amorphous roundabouts it met at the junctions of First and Second East Circular Roads on Akpakpava. And the voters are listening!

To the extent that the aspirants are unable to lift their campaigns above this level of self-destruct, they will only remain what they are – aspirants! Because of their past experience, the electorates in Edo State are so mentally alert and politically aware that no amount of money or bags of salt and rice can buy their conscience.

20—Vanguard , THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2011

I can’t pray properly anymore — Awani

By Dotun Ibiwoye Mr Amaju Awani and his wife, Oseri...Died in the Dana plane crash ARELY two days to his 55th birthday, Mr Amaju Daniel Awani held on to his beautiful wife, Oseri Georgina Awani, as they walked happily towards the boarding point of the Dana Airlines at the Abuja airport, obviously looking forward to reconnecting with the commercial ambiance of Lagos after spending the weekend in Abuja.

Just like other passengers, they sat down and waited for the 50 minutes flight to Lagos. Unfortunately, that 50 minutes turned to eternity.

The Awanis are one of the three couples who died in that tragic Sunday plane crash in Iju-Ishaga, Lagos.

Since the crash that killed over 166 people on board and on ground, families and relations of the victims have been finding it difficult coming to terms with their tragic loss, confessing that life will never be the same for them.

That is the case with the relations of Amaju Daniel Awani, an Itsekiri from Ajamogha/Okere village in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State and who was the Managing Director of Barcelos Eatery.

At their home at Ikeja GRA, the atmosphere was gloomy.

The immediate elder brother to the late Amaju Daniel Awani, Mr Henry Bawo Awani, said that he has been in shock since his brother’s demise, adding that he cannot and does not even know how to pray anymore.

With tears in his eyes, he informed that he was on the verge of questioning God but

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quickly called himself to order when the thought cropped up.

According to him: “My brother was such a lively human being.

Very generous. It is difficult to describe my brother. Although he is my junior brother, he did things that the older persons could not do. He was a philanthropist. He did things that left me wondering how he was able to do them.

“If you get to my brother’s house, you will see people who

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Why should he be the one to die first?

It is a painful; when I want to pray, do I say thank you Father?

Thank God for taking away my brother? Can you see my predicament? I can’t pray properly anymore

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are not even members of his family or extended family and he was taking care of everybody”.

He added: “He was going to be 55 years old on June 5 and he shared the same birthday with one of my children. So you can see how close we were. I don’t even know what to say. I don’t even know how to pray any more. Because when I want

to pray, do I say thank you Father? Thank God for taking away my brother? Can you see my predicament. I can’t pray properly anymore.

“When I get down on my knees, I begin to question God and I also realise that what I’m doing is wrong by questioning God which is a sin. I love my brother so much. He is the youngest member of our family; most of his nephews and nieces are older than him.

“The age bracket between us and the older ones is very wide.

So we now wonder why should it be him that will have to die?

We are still alive. Why should he be the one to die first? It is a painful”..

The proprietress of CTC International School, where two of their children attend, Mrs Bimbo Fisayo, also affirmed that the Awanis were philanthropists.

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ccording to her: “As part of the deep care that they have for the growth of their children and other children, earlier on this year when we had a PTA meeting and we told the parents association about the renovations that we wanted to do in the school, like the very quiet conservative people that

they are, they didn’t say anything during the meeting but right after the other parents had left, they called me aside and they said: ‘Which one do you want us to handle for you’?

“Right there the wife said she would handle the library and the husband said he would take care of the computer lab. They were parents we were exceedingly glad to partner with because they wanted value for the money they paid for their children’s education. They did their part concerning home work and moral upbringing; they were a delight to work with”.

Dana crash: Time to overhaul aviation sector

BY VICTOR AHIUMAYOUNG SSOCIATION of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions, ASSBIFI, has said the ill-fated Dana crash that killed over 170 persons, has provided opportunity for Nigeria to completely overhaul the aviation industry.

ASSBIFI in a condolence message to government and the families of those who lost their loved ones in the June 3 air disaster, urged the Federal Government to be firm on the decision to bring to book those whose actions or inactions culminated in the criminal negligence that caused

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this calamity and global embarrassment to the nation.

The condolence message by ASSBIFI’s President, Comrade Sunday Salako, read in part: “On behalf of the National Executive Council, NEC, and entire membership of our Union (ASSBIFI), we express our heartfelt sympathy to the President and Commanderin-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, the bereaved families, the Dana Group, other casualties at the crash site and other Nigerians on the air disaster of Sunday 3rd June, 2012.

“This incident once again revealed the inefficiency and rot in the effectiveness of our regulatory agencies. One

begins to wonder if there are any mechanisms put in place

by Nigeria Airport Authority and others, to ensure routine checks on the maintenance of our aircraft in the fleet of the airline operators in the country, and it is obvious that from the incident, the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency, NEMA’s, response time during emergency situations is far from the global standard and practice.

“We urge the Federal Government to be firm on the decision to bring to book those whose actions or inactions culminated in the criminal negligence that caused this calamity and global embarrassment to the Nation”.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012 — 21

CSCS upgrades facilities, targets full dematerialisation

By MICHAEL EBOH HE Central S e c u r i t i e s Clearing Systems, CSCS Limited has disclosed that it is undertaking the upgrade of its engines and automation of all its processes to enhance transparency and efficiency, which is also targeted at ensuring its agenda of full

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dematerialization of the Nigerian capital market.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the CSCS, Mr. Kyari Bukar, who was speaking in Lagos, reiterated the commitment of the CSCS to achieving the full dematerialization of the capital market.

Dematerialisation is the conversion of physical certificates into

an electronic format He called on shareholders still holding their physical share certificates to ensure that they dematerialise them and enjoy the numerous advantages associated with dematerialisation.

According to Bukar, the implication of nondematerialised certificates is that they are not being traded in

the system, noting that such share certificates face the risk of being lost, stolen or defaced among others.

He said, “CSCS is working with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and registrars to ensure that investors enjoy all the benefits of dematerialisation and

this is the time for shareholders who are still holding their share certificates in physical form to convert them into electronic form and enjoy all the benefits including safety and high liquidity among others.”

Bukar noted that the CSCS is the backbone of the nation’s stock market because of its crucial role as the clearing house for all securities in the market.

“We need to work and talk seamlessly with the NSE and other operators in the market. We are, therefore, upgrading our engine and automating all our processes to enhance transparency and efficiency,” he said.

Bukar averred that the CSCS had contributed immensely to the growth of the stock market since it commenced operations in 1997.

He said: “In pre-CSCS years, transaction was an upward of six months

but today transaction cycle is T+3 (three working days after transaction). This has led to great dynamism in the market due to the turn-around effect on investments of investors.

“Talking about standards, CSCS is to be fully compliant with CPSS-IOSCO standards for payment, clearing and settlement systems,” Mr Bukar said.

S p e a k i n g further, Bukar noted that trade alert invites the investor to join the fight against fraud. It offers transparency.

He advised shareholders to provide correct and updated phone numbers in order to receive the alerts.

“This will support CSCS aspiration to be a highly transparent organisation with the vision to be the globally respected and leading Central Securities Depository in Africa,” Bukar said.

NSE, Lotus Capital sign MoU on Shari’ah Equity Index

BY WILLIAM JIMOH From Left: Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Jibril Aku; Miss Universe 2011, Leila Lopez; Executive Director, Corporate Banking, Ecobank, Ms. Foluke Aboderin and Company Secretary and Legal Adviser, Mrs. Denike Laoye, at the visit of Miss Universe 2011 to the Ecobank Corporate Head Office in Lagos. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele.

Stockbrokers bemoan absence of code of conduct for public officers OME stockbrokers has said that the weak accounting regulation and poor code of conduct for public officers were eroding investor confidence in the economy.

They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the financial leakages and allegations of scandals being levelled against top public officials were stifling economic growth.

Mr Emeka M a d u b u i k e , Chairman, Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), said that allegations of bribery against the House of Representatives Committee on fuel

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subsidy could erode investor confidence in the market.

Madubuike said that capital flight from the stock market to money market instruments following the 14 per cent rise in treasury bills rates had worsen investment climate in the country.

According to him, many investors are shunning the capital market that offers only about five per cent returns in a week to take advantage of treasury bills that offer higher investment margin.

AlhajiRasheed Yussuf, the Managing Director of Trust Yield Securities Ltd., said that the market would continue to decline until the fundamental

problem of illiquidity was resolved.

He said that the Federal Government should ensure quick resolution of the stockbrokers’ margin loans estimated at about N300 billion.

Yussuf said that stockbrokers, who were the major drivers of the market, had remained redundant due to the problem of margin loans.

Another stockbroker, Mr Emma Ndidi, said that the Federal Government’s tight financial policy was affecting the market as some contractors, who were active player in the market had not been paid Ndidi also said that the failure of the market makers to takeoff and the absence of

securities lending as well as short sell were the obstacles affecting the market.

HE Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Lotus Capital for the development and management of a certified Shari’ah compliant Index.

This initiative, according to a statement signed by Mr. Wole Tokede, Head, Media, NSE, would increase the variety of investment

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Access Bank, Nickelodeon partner on financial literacy for kids

BY PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU CCESS Bank Plc, in partnership with Nicklodeon, an entertainment brand on DSTV channel 305 has launched an interactive financial literacy campaign for kids, parents and educators.

The campaign tagged “Access Early Savers Financial Literacy for Kids” is Nigeria’s first financial literacy campaign targeted at kids between 4 and 9 years old

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and a demonstration of the Bank’s commitment to the activation of its financial inclusion strategy which seeks to cater for the unbanked in the society.

The campaign is developed to educate kids on the basics of finance.

Specifically, the “Access Early Savers Financial Literacy Campaign for Kids” will leverage a multidimensional approach in teaching the principles and value of money to the young children thereby inculcating strong virtues

classes in Nigeria as the Islamic Equity Index joins the family of indices of The NSE. He disclosed that the Islamic Equity Index will be known as the ‘NSE Lotus Islamic Index’ and will consist of companies that are in conformity with the principles of Shari’ah.

“The index will increase the breadth of the market and create an important benchmark for such investments as the alternative non-interest investment space widens. It is the first index created to track the performance of Shari’ah compliant equities on the floor of the NSE. Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Chief of Staff/Head, Corporate Division, NSE, Mr Bola Adeeko, explained that investment instruments like Exchange Traded Funds, ETF, can be built on the Index, and that investors with a preference for ethical/ Shari’ah compliant investments can invest in same.

He described the signing of the MoU as a vital development step for the market.

22—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

•Molue buses at Bolade, Oshodi...struggling to remain relevant

Molue: The ‘dinosaur' fights back A

FTER the civil war, Nigeri ans in their droves headed for Lagos in search of the proverbial Golden Fleece. The military government of the time, through it populist programme, hosted the All African Games, World Boys Scout Convention and the Festival of Black Arts and Culture, FESTAC. These events were all held in Lagos and were global in nature. They attracted an additional population to the mega city.

This influx of additional population took on a very drastic toll on services provided by the mega city.

Although the government of the day tried to provide alternative forms of accommodation, it was not enough. Accommodation was the first casualty. Shanty towns and make-shift dwellings began to spring up in every available space to take care of the teeming population. Next to be assaulted was the sanitation of the megacity, known in the past to run on a very efficient waste disposal system.

It was mandatory those days for each house to have a large refusedrum placed in the front of the house. Subsequently refuse vehicles of the city councils went round on specific days to empty these refuse drums. However all of a sudden things began to change, refuse dumps began to appear at different parts of the city, in the streets and even in the drainages that were swept occasionally to allow for free flow of run-off water.

With an increase in population, there arose the major concern on

how the transport system on ground could cope. Before the civil war, Lagos was strictly an administrative city, with its various sections divided to cater for the different segments of its population. Thus you had the Victoria Island accommodating the elite and foreign nationals; Yaba and Surulere were strictly for the middle-manpower personnel. IsaleEko, though on the Island was the traditional home of the indigenous population, while other places like Badagry, Ketu, Ojota, Gbagada, Ikorodu, Lekki and Epe were outposts of homogenous population far from main city at that time.

Stratification of persons Despite the stratification of persons, there was bound to be some form of interaction and the transportation system on ground at that time could not cope. During the time in question there were very few personally owned private cars, while the then popular Redcoloured Lagos City Transport Buses could not cope with the increase in the number of passengers. There was barely any private sector input in the transportation system. Thus it became crucial for the city buses to reach the outskirts of the city where a majority of the population lived.

Another short-coming of the bus transportation system at the time was that all its terminals were located within the city. Thus to enjoy services of these city buses one had to either get to any of its bus terminals or join it from along any of its designated routes. It

thus became imperative to have some sort of ‘Transportation Bridge’ for the population living in the outskirts which would connect them with the existing transportation system. What existed before were inter-regional forms of transportation, which was where the likes of bolekaja, an oversized wooden axial bus came in handy. It had a Bedford engine front compartment and a wooden back section was built as an attachment where passengers would seat.

It had only one exit and it took considerable to get passengers to disembark. Most times this simple act of exiting the buses led to numerous fights among the passengers, hence the origin of the name of the buses - bolekaja (come down and let us fight). The bolekaja was very popular within the Western region of the country. The bolekaja was most patronised by indigenous farmers and merchants criss-crossing the entire region of the country trying to network their business concerns.

Counterpart in Midwest region There was also its counterpart in the then Midwestern region run by the Armels Transport Company. This version differed slightly from that used in the Western region as it had a compartment called the ‘second class,’ directly behind the driver's and passengers' seats in front. This section was patronised by middle-level civil servants on transfer to the different parts of the Western region from the Midwestern region.

In response to the transport problem of the time came a private sector initiative in the form of monster-looking and yellowpainted buses. This was a response to the yearnings of the teeming population, located in satellite towns like Maroko, Ketu, Iyana Ipaja, Egbeda, Okomaiko, Mushin, Bariga, Ikorodu, Ayobo, Ojota, Orile Iganmu, etc. Unlike the bolekaja, this form of transportation was built with the Mercedes Benz 911 front engine compartment, while the passengers sat in a built-up metal compartment that had rows of seats that could take three passengers on

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By VICTOR OMOREGIE

filled the gap the government could not provide. For most job seekers, students, marketmen/ women, factory workers and lowincome civil servants, the molue was it. Thus the molue in the 70s and 80s became the symbols of Lagos' burstling transport system, hauling large numbers of the citizenry from one end of the state to another. It represented the bustling and pulsating signature of Lagos and never-say-die spirit of the average Lagosian. The molue made no pretence for comfort or cleanliness, all it did was to ferry its teeming passengers from end of the town to another. It has been said that the dominance of the molue in the transportation system in Lagos may had led to the collapse of the Lagos State Transport Corporation, LSTC, despite its huge promises and virtually brand new buses. But the truth of the matter, however, was that like all government ventures

The molue made no pretence for comfort or cleanliness, all it did was to ferry its teeming passengers from end of the town to another

both sides of the compartment, with an aisle separating the rows.

At the back to complement the rows of seats was a longer seat that took at least eight passengers. There were two versions the 30-seater and 40-seater.

Enter the MOLUE, which became the ‘King of Lagos Roads’ for over two decades. The sobriquet molue is a corruption of the words “Maul Him” that was given to it by the city’s elite, who were appalled at the manner in which the passengers had their clothes and in some cases their flesh torn while trying to embark or disembark. The attraction of molue was because of its very affordable prices and they readily

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that ought to do well by making profit, LSTC was run aground and ended up being ‘white elephant’ projects. The molue bus enigma was just around at the right time.

The great Afro beat icon, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, aptly described the situation in the molue bus in his monster hit titled ‘Suffering and Smiling.’ He described the seating and standing arrangement common in most molue buses in his lyrics which satirically referred to the 44 sitting passengers and 99 others standing, manner the passengers are packed in the molue.

The average day begins for the Continues on page 23

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012—23

sort is the continuous on-going arguments for and against on very topical issues. Inside the molue you are bound to hear the latest gossip about whatever celebrity.

If you are one that is finicky about your dressing or the odour around you, then the molue bus is not for you. It conveys both man and goods in the same compartment.

The end of the era of the molue bus could have come during the tenure of Alhaji Lateef Jakande as Governor of Lagos. Governor Jakande had proposed a masstransit transport system to be called the Metro Line.

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Molue: The ‘dinosaur' fights back Continues from page 22

typical molue driver as early at 4:30 a.m. when he picks up his passengers at the nearest terminals. With seats filled, the aisles are then crammed with passengers who would be forced to stand by choice and then the buses begin their racy journey to its destination.

The driver is enclosed in a small compartment with a mesh of wire separating him from the passenger section. His steering wheel is a big as the tyre wheels. The dash-board is virtually non-functioning, while there is extreme heat coming directly from the engine in front and the gear-box by his side.

This often makes drivers of most of the molue buses to become permanently naked on their upper bodies. The molue has open portions of the back compartment that serve as windows, but this is the nearest you can get because when it rains, the passengers close to these open sections bear the brunt of the heavy down pour.

Different destinations As you enter the bus you are notified of the various fares for the different destination stops along the route. There are usually two conductors manning most molue buses. One is at the rear of the bus and he is responsible for collecting fares from passengers,

while the second acts as a traffic monitor to assist the driver in navigating the hectic traffic as they head toward their destinations.

He informs the driver when it is safe to change lanes, when to overtake; when to slow down for a passenger to get down and to pick up new passengers.

The rear conductor begins his job by collecting fares from the back and then works his way to the front of the bus. Before he collects fares, commuters are told to bring out their monies for the trip to make it easy for collection.

When the rear conducter gets to the front lines he steps off the bus to return to the rear, at the same time urging the commuters standing in the aisle to move forward to make room for new passengers to enter from the rear of the bus.

Back at the rear of the bus the conductor begins the process all over again. This is to pick out those passengers he missed and also to collect fares from new passengers in the bus. It is a general rule that passengers must board the molue from the rear. This is to help check payment of fares by all, but if in times of contingency you board from the front, the front conductor would either collect the fares from you or point you out to his colleague to collect the fare.

When the molue driver takes off, his main aim is to quickly reach the final destination and return to its starting point as many times as he can. This he has to do because of the very stiff competition

among his fellow drivers who are also scrambbling for the same passengers. As the buses head on their journey, the front conductor bellows out names of the busstops and advises disembarking passengers to come close to the door as they hear names of their individual bus-stops. The molue bus does not stop at the bus-stop but merely slows down. You have to learn to disembark or you might find yourself sprawling on the road. The technique is to run backward as you step off the bus, as trying to run forward would lead to an increase in uncontrollable acceleration that would eventually make you fall down.

Typical town hall meeting A trip in a molue bus can be likened to the attendance of a typical ‘town hall meeting’ of some sort. You will find inside the molue the itinerant medicine retailer, who has the cure of any ailment on earth, the preacher man who aside from wanting to save souls is out to make some few pennies from donations made by passengers to augment his daily bread, to the dupes on the lookout for gullible passengers that they can sell their scams to. There are also pick-pockets, who take advantage of the tightly packed passengers to fleece their pockets and pick valuables from them.

To cap this town meeting of some

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•Molue buses at Bolade Oshodi...before the advent of BRT and LAG buses in 2009

ts establishment could have taken care of the transport needs of the teeming population in search of an alternative form of transportation. But because of the ‘politics of bitterness’ of the day, the project did not see the light of the day. Alhaji Jakande had successfully completed and embarked on an educational project that brought education to the door-steps of practically every Lagosian, with the introduction of neighbourhood schools.

His housing project was another success story. The metro line project would have introduced rail-lines that would have crisscrossed the entire length and breadth of Lagos. It would have been a good replacement for the molue buses, as it would ferry as much or even more passengers than all the molue buses put together.

The metro line was meant to cover longer distances in the shortest possible time and with more conducive environments for its passengers. The Nigerian Railway services were not doing enough at that time as its trains

What the average commuter needed at that time was a commercial vehicle that would pick him from the closest point from where he lived and then drop him at his destination.

The smaller buses were into ‘relay-transportation’, dropping off commuters at terminal boundaries, from where the commuter would have to board another vehicle to continue his journey.

Aside from the inconvenience of jumping buses, it costs more while changing buses. But with the molue bus, it was just one straight journey, from pick-up point to your final destination.

Above all it was just one fare and very cheap.

What signalled that the end of an era for the molue buses was gradually coming to an end came when Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola on March 17, 2008 commissioned a set of blue Bus Rapid Transport, BRT, buses, with a definite road-map to cover the entire Lagos State. To achieve this he invited members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers of Nigeria, NURTW, to partner with the Lagos State government in the venture.

Operators of the new project The move was a master stroke as it assured members of the NURTW that the government was not necessarily going to disrupt their means of livelihood. In fact operators of the new project would support their members, who could purchase these buses by getting soft loans through the formation of cooperative societies.

To further enhance the viability of the project, the BRT buses were given dedicated lanes to ply on the roads to the Island. This ensured that they got to their destination on time and did not have to contend with the usual traffic grid-lock usually experienced in Lagos.

To further spread the populari-

A trip in a molue bus can be likened to the attendance of a typical ‘town hall meeting’ of some sort. You will find inside the molue the itinerant medicine retailer, who has the cure of any ailment on earth

were reduced to plying a restricted route - Agege-Oshodi-Iddo axis.

This draw back became a plus for the molue buses and gave then a breather to continue on its operations, without regard to its passengers, who had become addicted to this form of transport, without choice. However, the signal to the end of the days of glory of the molue began when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu banned molue buses from Victoria Island.

This move restricted their operations to Obalende, Falomo roundout and Idumagbo axis. Again, all this was just a small chip off the entire route network of the molue buses.

A lot of the citizenry still lived in the outskirts of the city, mostly in the satellite towns. The little buses (danfo as they were called) were meant to replace the molues, but they could not meet the demands of most commuters.

Aside from fact that they were too few, they were extremely costly.

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ty of the BRT buses, the Lagos State government went ahead to build modern bus terminals all over the state to cater for commuters that would patronize it. With this move, most of the routes hitherto covered by the molue were gradually being taken over. Another master stroke by the Lagos State government was the conversion of open spaces to recreational parks, which hitherto used to serve as ‘motor-parks’ for molue buses.

The most glaring one was that at Oshodi, opposite the rail-lines and under the bridge. With the demolition of illegal structures, the government turned the open space into a leisure park and then built a modern bus terminal at Oshodi. The molue buses were now forced to manage out at Bolade bus-stop, which could only take a few of them.

To be concluded

24—Vanguard , THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012 — 25

DANA CRASH, OTHER MISHAPS:

Encounters with insecurity, death on way to school

BY LAJU ARENYEKA

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he June 3, Dana crash seems to reopen old wounds for parents, teachers and other stakeholders in the education sector. The over 170 people left dead in the wake of the crash include five members of the National Universities Commission, a 300 level student of Bowen University, two secondary school students among others.

The crash has no doubt sent many on a sad journey down memory lane. Until June 3, except in the hearts of those closest to the 108 people — 60 of them children in their uniforms- who met their tragic end in the Sosoliso crash on December 10, 2005, the incident seemed to have taken a sevenyear old seat in old newspapers, and barely-recently-visited internet links.

Until that black Sunday, many seemed to have forgotten that barely three months ago, 42 female students were attacked by armed gunmen on the way from their secondary school in Enugu to their homes in Lagos.

Unconfirmed reports say that some were raped. Only last month, two females in a bus conveying passengers from Lagos to Abuja were raped by armed robbers who attacked their bus at Sagamu area of Ogun State. Reports have it that one of the rape victims was of school age, barely 18. Another passenger on board the bus was a final year pupil of the Nigeria Military School, Kaduna State.

A devastating addition to campus cults, hostel bullying and attacks on corps members in some states, the scope of threats to the young citizens of our nation’s citadels of learning has widened to include death traps on the road and in the air as they travel to and from

school. With stringent rules concerning movement and identical time tables that are germane to secondary schools with boarding facilities, there is no doubt that secondary school students who study in other

states are at the greatest risk in this regard. Does this therefore mean that children should only be allowed to attend secondary schools in the states where they reside? Many who spoke to Vanguard Learning do not

think so.

One of such, Elizabeth Abutu said: “If not for the crisis and the security situation in Nigeria, it should be an exciting thing to expose our children to study in other states, to learn other cultures because education really isn’t just about schooling but exposure. Studying in other states also helps eradicate bias.”

Another parent whose three

grown children had their secondary school education far away from home supported Abutu’s stance by saying “studying outside the state where they live is an opportunity for them to be able to make decisions for themselves as they meet people from different parts of the nation and the world. My three girls

Continues on Page 33

*Vice President Namadi Sambo flanked by the Education Minister, Prof. Ruqqayat Rufai and the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike (l) while the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed; Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije (3rdl) and others in a group photograph during a book presentation ceremony for primary school pupils organised by the Universal Basic Education Commission at Model Primary School, Maitama, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida

FG spends N4.9bn on textbooks, library resources for schools …Warns officials against sale of N14m free books

By FAVOUR NNABUGWU

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RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has flagged off the distribution of 14 million textbooks and library resources valued at

N4.9 billion to primary and junior secondary schools across the nation as the Federal Government warned against the sale of the free textbooks anywhere in the country.

Jonathan was represented by the Vice-President, Arc.

Namadi Sambo at the event in Abuja recently for the symbolic distribution of textbooks including English, Social Studies and Basic Science and Technology for primaries 1 and II and Library Resource materials for Junior Secondary Schools across the country,

said the initiative was in line with the commitment of his administration to encourage reading culture amongst youths while at the same time encouraging high quality of learning.

He said education constitutes an important Continues on page 26

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Jonathan’s book gift to the Nigerian child — Page 33 C M Y K

‘Soil and land resources must be put to good use ' — Page 31

Pa Amodu graduates at 80 — Page 27

26 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

Our education system is on the path of growth — WIKE

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Talking about the books, what measures are in place to ensure that they get to Nigerian children?

We have worked out different strategies to get the books directly to the children.

The Federal Ministry of Education and the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, have established

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inister of State for Education, Barr.

Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, in this interview with FAVOUR NNABUGWU, declares that after one year in office, President Goodluck Jonathan has started the process of transforming Nigeria from different sectors of national life especially the education sector where he says the president has made significant impact. Excerpts: What areas of the education sector do you think President Jonathan has performed?

Naturally, I will speak on the Education sector where I am very conversant of development initiatives of the President. In the last one year, the President has made giant strides in the education sector.

This has been appreciated by all stakeholders in the sector.

The President has directly touched the basic and tertiary education sectors in very fundamental ways. The very first and most profound achievement in the education sector is the initiation of the four-year strategic plan to completely re-position the nation’s education sector. As you know, this is a total step aimed at ensuring that the nation gets a qualitative educational system. Under this four-year strategic plan, the Jonathan administration is working towards six critical components. However, in order to ensure a faster revival of the sector, the government is working strategically in the areas of access/quality and standards/quality assurance.

In the last one year, the administration has created access to quality education, both at the basic and tertiary levels. Schools have been built for the almajiris, the girlchild, nine new federal universities and approval given for the setting up of private universities. A few days ago, Vice-President Namadi Sambo on behalf of the President, flagged off the distribution of books to primary school pupils and junior secondary students. In the area of ensuring standards and quality assurance, the administration has directly worked on the improvement of the capacity of our teachers in the basic education sector.

Over 500,000 teachers have received training from Federal Government-initiated programmes in collaboration with state governments.

In order to ensure a faster revival of the sector, the government is working strategically in the areas of access/quality and standards/ quality assurance

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committees that will work with officials of the State Universal Basic Education Boards to take the books to children. We have different levels of supervision mechanisms to check those intent on diverting the books. We are also working with the law enforcement agents to track the books and the distribution channels. We have branded inscriptions on all the pages of the books to deter those who in the past tore off the first page that had the branded inscription, only for them to sell the books. In this case, once you have the book, we

can easily track you down if you are selling them. The books are to be given free of charge to all Nigerian children in public schools and we will deliver the books to them.

What about our federal unity colleges, any positive steps to improve them?

When I took over, I noticed some challenges that hampered the development of these schools that serve as the models for other schools in the states and other proprietors of schools. From the very beginning, we indicated that we would rehabilitate these schools and return them to their days of glory. As of today, we have actualized our promise in this area. We adopted a phased rehabilitation of federal government colleges in all the geo-political zones.

Beginning this year, we have selected schools in the zones for complete rehabilitation. In the selected schools, we will fix the libraries, laboratories, classrooms, hostels and assembly halls. Between now and 2015, we hope to tackle the infrastructural deficits in all the 104 schools. For the schools not selected for the phased rehabilitation for this year, we have worked out a framework with UBEC to make direct interventions in the junior secondary section which falls under the present UBEC mandate. These schools will not remain the same again. Beyond all these, we are in the process of amending the UBEC Act to give the commission a new mandate. When the bill goes through the National Assembly, UBEC will directly have interventionist powers in the federal unity colleges.

Other than infrastructure in the federal unity colleges, the

•Barr. Nyesom Wike President has approved the regularization of the appointment of 1,305 parttime teachers in the federal unity colleges. This is in addition to the employments of another 2000 teachers in Mathematics, English Language and relevant science subjects. Remember, we made these gaps that existed for years before the President took over. Gradually and strategically, the President is resolving these challenges for the development of the education.

In the tertiary education sector, all the existing federal universities have received direct grants for infrastructural development purposes.

Why do you think the President has given education priority attention?

The reason is simple. Tied to any development in the country is education. As we develop infrastructure, health and other critical sectors, we must develop the education sector. This is because any development not premised on a sound educational system cannot be sustained. If you build infrastructure, you must have qualified engineers groomed from the education

system to sustain these infrastructure.

The grooming of these engineers starts from the basic education level through the tertiary level. The same applies to the health and other sectors. As an educationist, the President knows that this is a legacy that will drive the economy, the social and political life of the nation.

Our education system is on the path of growth, thanks to the President's foresight and political will. The commitment he has shown to changing our educational landscape has attracted the National Assembly, both the Senate and the House of Representatives to collaborate with us in the Education Ministry to drive home the Transformation Agenda in this sector.

Now that you have mentioned the Transformation Agenda, do you think it is working?

I know it is working and the ordinary Nigerian knows it is working. I am a practical person and as a Minister, I do not just sit in the office to expect report. I have been on the field to monitor the progress of work in all the numerous projects that we have embarked upon.

Anywhere I went, I received kind words for the President on the transformation that he has brought to bear on the nation. People are indeed grateful. On more than three occasions, highly respected traditional rulers in different parts of the country told me that they were pleased that the President is a man of his words. They explained that he said he was going to intervene in the almajiri issue and he has practically done so.

Several past administrations made the same promise and nothing was done. The same goes for the girl-child schools and the pledge to completely turn around the education sector.

FG spends N4.9bn on textbooks, library resources to schools Continues from page 25 component of the government’s transformation agenda, assuring that his administration will continue to provide needed support to lay strong foundation for basic education in the country.

Jonathan who noted that procurement of instructional materials has been the feature of basic education, however, urged stakeholders to ensure that the books get to the right pupils in order to add value to their education.

Chairman, Senate

Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, in his remark, urged the government to ensure that professional and qualified teachers were engaged to guide the pupils for efficient utilisation of the instructional materials.

He said it would be meaningless spending huge amount of money on procurement of instructional materials without the requisite people that would teach it.

On her part, the Minister of Education, Professor

Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i said the administration had discovered that the major cause of decadence in the education sector was the lack of instructional materials especially textbooks in schools.

She noted a huge amount of funds has been invested in the provision of the books and library resources.

According to her, in 2010, 24.5 million textbooks worth nearly N10 billion were provided for primaries 1-3, while in 2011, a total of N5.1 billion was expended in

procuring over 15 million text books for primaries 1-2.

Also, in 2011, a total of 4.144 million library resource materials were acquired at the cost of N1.5 billion for junior secondary school pupils.

Handing down the warning at the ceremony which took place at the Model Primary School, Maitama, the Minister of State for Education, Barrister Nyesom Wike cautioned that the books should not by any means be sold anywhere in the country but given freely to the beneficiaries.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012 —27

Meet Nigeria’s oldest university graduate:

Pa Amodu graduates from LASU at 80

BY IKENNA ASOMBA

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earning is a life-long process and there’s no age limit to learning.”

“It’s better late than never,” they said; when a 74-year-old retired military officer, Colonel Layiwola Adegunju, was earlier this year admitted to study Law at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, encomiums poured in from various quarters. Today, another record breaker has emerged at the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo. It is the story of 80-year-old retired civil servant, Pa Alimi Olarenwaju Amodu, who is amongst the over 27,087 students presented by the university for its 17 th convocation, holding today.

Pa Amodu is undoubtedly Nigeria’s oldest university student, graduating with a Second Class Honours in Sociology. He is a father of seven and hails from Oniyangi in Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State. In spite of his age, he is courageous and determined to search for knowledge.

He revealed to Quadlife that he sets his eyes on becoming a Ph.D holder before he returns to the Creator, even as he had currently sat for and passed a Master ’s degree examination to study Industrial Relations in LASU. After his Ph.D, he plans to give back to the society by

*Pa Alimi Amodu (right), at the LASU Convocation Thanksgiving Service, held Sunday, at the university’s Chapel of Light. establishing a primary school in his home town, Oniyangi.

His zeal and love for education spurred the Rotary Club of Lagos to encourage him with an award for his steadfastness in 2010. He also won the “Man of Repute” Grand Award of the Department of Sociology, LASU, in 2004, being his first year in the university.

During his undergraduate days, the octogenarian was popularly known and called the “Youngest Student” and “Baba Bookwarm.” Like a resilient fighter, “Baba Bookwarm” didn’t fail any

Frequently Confused Words BREAK – BRAKE Break and brake are homophones but not synonyms. Break as a verb means ‘fracture, split, crack; to smash or shatter; (rules) to violate; to discontinue’. The past tense and past participle of break are broke and broken respectively.

Brake can be used as a noun or verb. As a verb, brake means ‘to check; to slow down or make a vehicle slow down using the brake. Brake, in noun form, is ‘a device for slowing or stopping a vehicle; a device for slowing or stopping the motion of a wheel by friction.’ A brake-light ‘is a red light on the back of a vehicle that comes on when the brakes are applied’. It is also called C M Y K

course during his undergraduate days.

Asked the secret, he said: “It was by God’s grace that I graduated from LASU without having to re-sit for any carryover course. Although during my undergraduate days, I faced a lot of challenging moments like having to wake up very early to catch a bus to school. What really helped me to succeed throughout was that I had from the foundation learned from my mother to wake up as early as 3.00 a.m.

I usually read from 3.00 a.m. to 6.00 a.m to constantly update my scope of knowledge, and I thank God

who saw me through to this point.”

During his undergraduate days, the likes of Dr. Wahab Elias, Head, Department of Sociology and Prof. Atere Adewole were his favourite lecturers. While he best enjoyed the former ’s course on Sociology of the Third World, the latter’s was Criminology. It was Dr. Elias that Pa Amodu first approached when he came to LASU in 2003. The don advised him to apply as a full-time student, instead of the part-time he had in mind. He was also his project supervisor in his final year.

On how he felt sitting

stop light in American English. Do not confuse break with brake!

Examples: If you drop the plate, it will break into pieces.

When he got to the T-junction, he had to apply the brake on the vehicle.

When driving, you don’t need to break at every bend.

CAST – CASTE Cast and caste are two distinct words though they sound alike.

Cast as a verb means ‘to throw or fling’, cast also refers to actors in a play, film or movie etc. The past tense and past participle of cast is cast. Caste‘is a breed, a social class, especially one where members do not allow others to join; any of the Hindu hereditary social classes’. Pay attention to the spelling of the two words.

Examples ’Cast your burden upon Jesus’, says the Scriptures.

Dr Akin Sofoluwe was a member of the cast of Ola Rotimi’s The Gods are Not to Blame.

The caste system is found in the Hindu society.

Canon – Cannon Do not confuse canon with cannon. The two words are different in spelling and meaning. A 'cannon‘is a large, heavy, powerful gun; an automatic gun that is fired from an aircraft.’Canon has more than one meaning. A canon is ‘one of the clergy in the staff

together to receive lectures with students who are young enough to be his grand children, he said: “That’s very good. It was a stiff competition between me and them. When you are competing with young students, there’s no age consideration. I have to always struggle to sit at the front in class. Another point is that the lecturers address everyone as equal in the university.”

Sharing his most memorable moment on campus, he recalled the incident that occurred in class sometime ago, when he dozed off during a lecture. “That day, my lecturer caught me dozing in class. He said to me: ‘Baba you are sleeping’ and I said, 'No sir, I wasn't sleeping'. So he said: ‘If you weren’t sleeping, what did I say last?”

I couldn’t answer. He asked me what I ate before coming to school, and I told him I ate rice. Then he advised me not to take heavy meals before coming to school , but just a cup of tea and some slices of bread. The funniest thing is that I was disciplined by standing up till the end of the lecture.”

Pa Amodu, however, disclosed that he had been offered admission by several universities in the past, but the ultimate sacrifice of giving the best education to his children, did not allow him to go. He said: “You see, the ultimate sacrifice you can pay as a parent is to give the best of education to your children. of a cathedral; a Christian priest.’ A canon is also ‘a basic rule or principle; a generally accepted rule, standard or principle by which something is judged’. It also means ‘a list of the books or other works that are generally accepted as the genuine work of a particular writer or as being important.’Another meaning of canon is ‘a piece of music in which singers or instruments take it in turns to repeat the melody’.

Examples: The troops returned fire with machine guns and cannons.

Christian women can also be made canons.

Things Fall Apart is a central book in the canon of African literature.

CONTINUES NEXT WEEK. Send requests/problems to Gabriel Osoba, Ph.D, Department of English, Lagos State University, Ojo, through Editor, Teach Yourself English, Vanguard Newspapers, PMB. 1007, Apapa, Lagos, or email: editor@vanguardngr.com & gabosoba002@yahoo.co

28 — Vanguard , THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012—29

Winners emerge at Winifred Awosika Foundation Tournament

By EBELE ORAKPO

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T was a battle of wits weekend inside the Vic tor Awosika Hall, Chrisland School, Opebi Lagos. It was the finals of the second edition of Winifred Awosika Foundation Scrabble Tournament for Schools, WASTFS 2012.

At the end of the keenly contested tournament, Miss Mofetoluwa Lawal (Hallmark School), clinched the star prize of N250,000 and the trophy, Samuel Enegbuma (St Peter’s Angli-

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can Pry School) got the second prize of N150,000 plus N100,000 for the best public school. Pese Alo (Hallmark)came 3rd to win the N100,000 prize while Lanre Fajoyomi (Chrisland, Ladipo Oluwole)went home with the 4th prize of N50,000.

Chebem Obi (Queensland Academy),Glory Obri (Ogundimu Pry Sch.), Dara Olayanju (Hallmark) and Jomiloju Ijose (Chrisland Opebi), the 5th - 8th placed, did not go emptyhanded as each received N5,000 cash and a certificate.

Other prizes won at the event were: N20,000 for the youngest participant donated by Chief (Mrs) Nonye Mojekwu Chukwujama. This went to Jomiloju Ijose, a Primary 3 pupil of Chrisland, Opebi who got to the quarter-final. The eight public schools that participated got prizes from Mrs Kadijat Dawodu, Executive Chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board.

According to the sponsor of the tournament, Dr. (Mrs.) Winifred Awosika, the tournament was

born as a result of her desire to give back something to the society.

“I want to give back some of the opportunities I was given in my own childhood in education. I believe that this competition is another aspect of educating young ones outside the classroom. In the competition, they are able to think for themselves and express themselves. They are involved in creative activities and this will help them to develop and become people with all-round ed-

ucation. It will improve their quality of life, command of English and the way they think,” she said.

Chief facilitator of the tournament organised by the Protégé Centre and Scrabble in Schools Initiative, Mr. Kelechi Chioma said: “We came up with the initiative to take scrabble to schools but the sponsor is the Winifred Awosika Foundation. It is to help children improve their vocabulary through scrabble, but beyond that, we want to help them begin to think outside the box, be more creative and more innovative."

30— Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14,

2012

*From left: Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Pro-Chancellor, University of Ibadan and Dean of the Faculty of Law, OAU, Prof. Ademola Popoola, at the National Moot and Mock competition in honour of Chief Wole Olanipekun, organised by Justice Chambers, Faculty of Law, OAU, last week at the OAU campus, in Ile-Ife, Osun State.

UI Pro-chancellor urges caution over UNILAG’s name change … As UNILAG extends resumption day

By DAYO ADESULU

A

gainst the backdrop of the call for impeachment of President Goodluck Jonathan by some sections of the Nigerian society over the renaming of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to Moshood Abiola University, Lagos, the former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) has

urged caution over the issue, saying there “is no leader anywhere in the world that does not make mistakes.”

Olanipekun who is also the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan stated this last week at the closing ceremony of the third edition of the annual Chief Wole Olanipekun National Moot and Mock competition held at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife in Osun State.

He noted that the problems

facing the nation today predates President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime.

“President Jonathan is a human being, every human being might err or make mistake, Obama makes mistakes, Gordon Brown made mistakes, even the Queen of England makes mistakes and no one talks about removing them from office. So, why should anyone call for Jonathan’s impeachment?”

He said everyone was

bound by the rule of law and if the President renamed UNILAG, it was not enough for the students to start protesting on the streets.

“You can’t encourage violence as there is an alternative vintage alternative, factual alternative, latent alternative - you can go to the court to seek redress, so why impeachment?”

Mainwhile, in a release, the Senate, University of Lagos has resolved that the proposed renaming of UNILAG is not acceptable and is rejected in its entirety, saying that it is a mere declaration of intention with no legal effect, adding, “The University of Lagos Senate supports all legal processes being carried out by all stakeholders on the subject” The Senate has however increased the two weeks suspension of academic activities by one week, saying that all academic activities will resume on Monday, June 18, 2012.

The two-day competition which was organised by Justice Chambers, Faculty of Law, OAU had eight participating universities including Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ebonyi State University (EBSU) and Nnamdi Azikwe University.

Others are Madona University, Ekiti State University (EKSU),University of Abuja and Lagos State University (LASU) while students from the University of Ibadan (UI) were absent due to a recent industrial action in their school.

OAU emerged the winner of the competition when it defeated University of Abuja in the final of a mock trial judged by Justice Aderonke Adewunmi, a high court judge in Oyo state, who represented the Chairman, the chief judge of Oyo State,

Nutricima to support Lagos schools feeding programme

BY AMAKA ABAYOMI

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utricima Limited has pledged to partner with the Lagos State government by providing milk to public primary schools in support of the free education programme and to commemorate the World Milk Day on June 1, 2012.

This was disclosed last Thursday when Nutricima’s management team, led by its Managing Director, Mr. Glentzes Meletis, paid an advocacy visit to the Lagos State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Joke Orelope-Adefulire.

According to Meletis, “In furtherance of our CSR and in support of the objectives of the World Milk Day and the Lagos State Government, we are glad to announce our desire to partner with the state government’s free education programme through the provision of our C M Y K

milk products for consumption in selected public primary schools within the state.

“Nigeria needs to increase per capita consumption of milk currently put at 9kgper annum or about 25ml of milk per person, compared to 29kg per annum in China and 68.7kg per annum in India.

“These figures mean that while Nigerians on the average take a glass of milk every 10 days, the Chinese take a glass every three days and the Indians a glass every day. The per capita consumption figures for the industrial world translate to three glasses every day.

“There is the need for Nigerians to be empowered with the knowledge and practical application of milk in human nutrition. One cup of milk (250ml) contains 285mg of calcium and this gives 25.29 per cent of the daily recommended intake of

calcium, which is vital for women and growing children.

Responding, the Deputy Governor promised to canvass

for increased advocacy and awareness on the benefits of milk consumption so as to elevate the nutrition status of Nigerians.

NUFOR cautions pupils on road use O the school pupils in Ikeja Local Government Area, the best way to celebrate children’s day is to storm the streets and sensitize other children on the need to adhered to road safety rule and make their request to the government.

According to Mr Adedapo Oyedipe, representative of Nigerians Unite For Road Safert (NUFORSA), (NGO) people who died on road accident yearly are more than those killed by malaria and HIV/AIDS combined. He said: “ Base on United Nation gazette, at least I.3 million people die yearly on road accidents and most of these people are from Africa.”

He noted that road safety should be the business of everyone and not just the children alone, adding, “We are focusing on children today to celebrate them because they are the future of tomorrow.”

“If we inculcate road culture into them while they are young, when they grow old, they will understand better,” he said.

As the children were matching on the road, some of them expressed their mind to the government.

Ogunenika Omobolanle, Opebi Nursery Primary School said: “We want our government to give us quality education and provide electricity. We are tired of staying in the dark.”

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BRIEF Meadow Hall celebrates 10 years of academic excellence

BY EBUN SESSOU t was celebration of academic success as the management, staff, parents and students of Meadow Hall School celebrated 10 years of existence.

Speaking with Vanguard Learning, the School Director, Kehinde Nwani, said: “At 10, the school has recorded many successes including building a Meadow Hall, expanding to incorporate its own college, establishing Meadow Hall Consult, a resource centre, a field trips unit and entering into partnership with the Obafemi Awolowo University to run the satellite campus which offers training opportunities to teachers all over the country.

She also said the school has been able to establish a foundation which has successfully catered for the needs of some indigent students in Lagos and in some cases, offering full scholarships. However, she promised that management of the school and all other stakeholders will not rest on their oars in ensuring that more success stories

I

NGO mulls academic empowerment for street children

By NKIRUKA NNOROM nternational Centre for Children and Peace Initiatives in Africa (ICPIA), a non-governmental organisation based in Lagos, has said that plans are underway to academically equip street children and other delinquent youths in the country.

To this end, the group said that it is already putting modalities in place to establish mobile schools for the children, while older ones that have lost interest in academic pursuit will be equipped with various skills.

Speaking to journalists in a rally organised to create awareness on the rights of children, the founder, Barrister (Mrs.) Abigail Ogbonnaya stated that the initiative was part of the group’s contribution towards ameliorating the plight of suffering children and youths in African society.

She said: “We are looking forward to going into the rehabilitation of street children."

I

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012 — 31 which means that some soils are fertile while some are not.

In the northern part of the country, they have the problem of desertification such that no matter what you do, if the soils don’t have water and organic matter, you cannot grow anything comfortably whereas down south, a good number of soils

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RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Soil and land resources must be put to good use — AMALU

BY EBELE ORAKPO

S

uccessful agricultural practice is not just about getting good, quality improved seedlings and state-of-the-art farming equipment and storage facilities. It is much about the soil because they will avail very little if the soil that nurtures the seedlings is diseased. So as some scientists are working on getting improved, high yielding seedlings and some on getting equipment to make farming easier and more interesting, others, like Prof. Uche Cyprian Amalu, a professor of agronomy in the Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Wildlife Resources Management, University of Calabar, Cross River State, is working on improving the soil for better yields. He spoke with Vanguard Learning in Calabar recently.

Excerpts. mandate in the university is The beginning: teaching/manpower “Basically, I am an development. There is also a agriculturist but my special third mandate in the area of interest is soil science university system - community and crop nutrition,” said development. This is one area Amalu. that people usually do not pay After his first degree at the attention to but it is very University of Nigeria, important and as soon as you Nsukka, Prof. Amalu was can be called a professor on posted to the then Bendel merit, what is needed of you State for his one year in the society is the horizontal compulsory service to development of the society. To fatherland. “I did my National what extent will your Youth Service in1980/81 in the knowledge and experience Nigerian Institute for Oil palm Research, Benin City. So I started in a purely researchoriented institute in Nigeria and my major thrust was oil palm and all other palm trees - coconut palm, date palm and raffia palm. I worked on this research mandate until 1990 when I felt that I had a higher calling, not only to do research but also to impart knowledge and that was why I crossed over from the federal research institute to the university teaching job. In a research institute, you do 100 per cent research but in the impact the society that either university, you do teaching helped you to get up there or primarily and research. You on whose back you rode to the can combine them at 50/50 or rank of professorship?”

Major interest: 60/40, but the primary

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•Infertile soil.

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•Prof. Uche Amalu

Our job is to make sure that soils that are naturally infertile are brought back to being fertile and soils that are naturally fertile but mismanaged, are restored.

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The soil science and plant nutrition expert who has 80 per cent of his publications in the area of soil science and crop nutrition, said: “The bedrock of agriculture is the soil. Your crops must be planted in the soil for them to grow. Your farm animals and livestock that supply your protein needs must eat the crops to add what you will eat in form of meat. That is why our major thrust is to make sure that the soil provides very good medium for any person to grow his crop.

In Nigeria, you are trained first and foremost to be an agriculturist, but my special area is soil science and crop nutrition.”

The problems with the soil: “Ab initio, from nature itself, soils are very heterogeneous; they are never homogenous

are fertile because of the thicket of vegetation. Now, even the fertile soils can be degraded or mismanaged just like human beings. Some people are born with the problem of infertility and some are born fertile. Some of the people born fertile might also mismanage the fertility and become infertile so our job in agriculture first and foremost is to make sure that soils that are naturally infertile are brought back to being fertile and soils that are naturally fertile but mismanaged, are restored.”

Amalu noted that increasing population of human beings worldwide, urbanisation and industrialisation put pressure on soil fertility like any other natural resource and this will continue to diminish the fertile land area.

“So long as you continue to occupy the land with things other than nature, you are encroaching on the soil resource and our job is to ensure that whatever is left of the soil and land resources are put to good use especially in the area of fertility so that we can continue to grow our crops and our crops will continue to provide raw materials for us and our livestock.”

How we go about it: The methods for soil

I must let you know that even the richest of men in the US and in Nigeria are all agriculturists in their own right. Aliko Dangote for example, one of the richest men in the world is an agriculturist as an entrepreneur

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investigations are very common across geographical boundaries. You study the soil by making use of standard tools and instruments, tools for you to go into the field and sample the soils and when you come out, you subject them to laboratory analysis and from your laboratory analysis, you do your data analysis and use statistical packages to find their levels of significance and impact on the environment and your crop. Thereafter, you do the interpretation. It is the interpretation that will enable you to advise a farmer or an entrepreneur. I must let you know that even the richest of men in the US and in Nigeria are all agriculturists in their own right. Aliko Dangote for example, one of the richest men in the world is an agriculturist as an entrepreneur.

“So apart from imparting on our students the knowledge to appreciate the resourcefulness of our soils, we study the soils by investigating first the origin, the developmental processes, their capabilities and their capacity to sustain crop growth such that at the end of the day, whoever is an entrepreneur, whether an agriculturist or otherwise, makes profit because for whatever venture you want to embark on in life, if it is not profitable, you certainly will not continue because man, by nature, is a rational being and being rational means you are also economical, you don’t waste resources. So our contribution is imparting knowledge and contributing research-wise to what will benefit the society.

“For me in particular, I can say that I have made contributions to the oil seed especially in the area of coconut palm. That was my main thrust while in the research institute.

32 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

SUCCESS RECIPE WITH

UDEME ARCHIBONG

BORN TO STRETCH

•As ALOFOS winner emerges

BY DAYO ADESULU ommissioner for Education, Lagos State, Barr Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye has said that a nation that is not looking at developing her science and technology cannot be said to be a serious nation.

“A nation that is not looking at technological development that is based on science intervention is not a serious nation,” she said.

Oladunjoye who stated this while inspecting the technological projects of over forty-six secondary schools at the first ALOFOS Science Competition, held at Government Technical College, Agidingbi, Lagos, said that it will take a combine efforts of the government and other stakeholders in education sector to make Science and Technology thrive in a nation.

The Commissioner who hailed ALOFOS Science Foundation for partnering with the government on promoting science and technology urged that the spirit of science and technology should be sustained in our country adding: “Once sustained, our future will be guaranteed because this is what we need to grow as a nation.

Oladunjoye who identified power as a major challenge to science and technology in our country, reiterated that without electricity supply we cannot accomplish much.

“The availability of

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•Olayinka Oladunjoye electricity is beyond the state level, it is Federal Government project,” she added. She however explained that at State level, Lagos state is doing something about electricity to help generate enough power.

According to her, “Some of our schools in Lagos Island have been connected to ICT at the Island. We have started and we are going to spread it across the whole local governments in the state.

Speaking in the same vein, Vice Chair of ALOFOS Foundation, Dr Mrs Olayemi Sofolat in her address said that Science and Technology are two major prongs that drive advancement and development in many parts of the world, adding that Nigeria cannot be an exception.

“Early exposure to science,

technology and strategic educational targets will result in achieving Nigeria’s vision 20:2020 to be one of the twenty leading economics by year 2020,” she said.

Sofola noted that the objectives of the science and technology foundation among others are to promote the interest of youths in research and career in Science and Technology, to collaborate with top flight local and international experts in science and technology in exposing Nigerian children and youths to additional resources and knowledge base, and to promote and increase the interest of youths in cutting edge developments in science and technology.

Community Senior High School, Surulere emerged the winner of the contest.

Ex-British PM’s wife appoints Imoke’s wife education ambassador

By JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU

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IFE of Gordon Brown, the former British Prime Minister, Mrs. Sarah Brown has appointed the Cross River State First Lady, Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke as the ambassador of her Education for All and Education without Borders projects which is geared towards ensuring that children worldwide are given quality education. Mrs. Brown who announced this when she visited Cross River State according to close sources, said that appointment was based on Mrs. Obioma Imoke’s C M Y K

visionary contributions to the education development of children of Cross River State.

The Cross River State First Lady had championed the passage of Child’s Right Act in the state which makes it compulsory for every child to have the right of quality education in the state, she also established refuge home for the abandoned babies and pregnant teenage girls; mother against child’s abandonment and the Destiny Child Center, a resettlement home for the rehabilitation and re-integration of homeless and vulnerable children.

Speaking in an interview on her appointment by the wife of

former British Prime Minister, Mrs. Imoke explained that Mrs. Brown has a project called education for all and education without borders where she intends to reach the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs that every child must be in school.

According to her, “She (Mrs. Brown) heard about Cross River State and what we are doing in Cross River State and that we have free education for children and compulsory for them at that age and she thought that she would like me to be her ambassador for her education for all in Nigeria.”

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balloon’s potential lies in its floating ability irrespective of its colour and size. When a balloon is deflated it becomes useless because its potentials are not being utilized at that point in time. However, when the balloon is inflated it expands, and when allowed to go up, it floats in the air. The more the balloon is inflated with air the more it expands and the more the balloon expands the higher the height it reaches as it goes up. As it is with balloons so it applies to humans. We were made to stretch and the more we stretch the higher we ascend in life. What does it mean to stretch? To stretch means to expand; to develop and grow. And we can’t grow without learning. Therefore, at the root of growth lie our willingness and our capacity to learn. We were designed to stretch our thinking, imagination, potentials and abilities.

Without stretching, life becomes plain and ordinary.

Geniuses are just ordinary people who have learnt to stretch.

The statue of David created by Michelangelo several hundreds of years ago is ranked probably as the most beautiful piece of sculptor in the world. Let’s unravel the life lessons behind the creation of the magnificent masterpiece. Michelangelo was commissioned by the Medicis who were the wealthiest and most powerful family in Italy at the time to design a statue for the main square in Florence. It took Michelangelo two years to search for a block of stone that was befitting to create the masterpiece. There are no shortcuts on the road to success.

Success requires patience in the pursuit of excellence; the quality of your preparation determines the quality of your performance and also the sustainability of your results.

Eventually, he discovered a huge slab of marble that was partially overgrown with weeds and covered with dirt.

Michelangelo had walked past the street many times until the day he stopped and looked closely he discovered the unused marble. Here lies the key; we are so familiar and accustomed to our lives that we fail to stop and look closely to discover unused inner resources.

Overgrown and covered with weaknesses, faults, hopelessness, depression lie unused potentials, abilities There are no and creativity.

As shortcuts on the Michelangelo began studying road to success. the block of marble, he imagined the statue of David Success requires and saw it in its entirety. patience in the Here’s the catch; your pursuit of imagination is the workshop of your life and the director of excellence; the your life movie. Until you quality of your mentally see it you cannot preparation become it; until you “see” it you cannot have it; until you determines the “see” it you cannot do it. The quality of your mental picture you hold in your performance and mind determines the actual also the picture you will realize in your experience. Michelangelo sustainability of began the physical creation of your results the masterpiece by hammering and chiselling to create the rough outline of the statue which took him another two years. At this point, we learn that mental creation precedes physical creation; and it is either the mental creation of our conscious design which results in a great life or the mental creation of other people’s agenda, circumstances or of past habits which results in a failure ridden life. Laziness inhibits our stretching abilities. Success in life requires hard work both mentally and physically and there’s no alternative route. The Sculptor dedicated two extra years to polishing and sanding before the statue was complete.

Success demands excellence and leaves no room for mediocrity. In all Michelangelo created the statue of David in six years. That implies that success in life is a process that requires an everyday involvement. Therefore, you do not jump into greatness; you grow into greatness. When the statue was showcased to the public it was a marvel to behold; people cheered, women fainted. And immediately Michelangelo was recognized as the greatest sculptor of his age. Thereafter, Michelangelo was asked how he was able to create such a masterpiece; he replied “I saw David complete and perfect in the marble. All I did was to remove everything that was not the David.” That’s a principal message; you need to remove everything that does not depict the mental picture you hold in your mind about yourself; you need to remove the lid of limiting beliefs placed on your abilities. Michelangelo was already popular as a sculptor before he designed the statue but he still stretched to bring out the best. Never allow complacency to stop you from being the best you can be; There are always new horizons to explore.

Challenges are a wakeup call to stretch our potentials. To stretch you need to work on yourself by learning and practicing persistently until you maximize all the talents and abilities buried within you.

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Commissioner tasks govt on science tech dev

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012 — 33

Jonathan’s book gift to the Nigerian child

BY SIMEON NWAKAUDU

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n Thursday, June 7, President Goodluck Jonathan flagged off a mass book distribution initiative aimed at returning the country to the days of qualitative learning with a view to building a critical foundation for the general development of the nation. The flag-off which was performed on behalf of the President by the Vice- President, Namadi Sambo was witnessed by state Education commissioners, chairmen of State Universal Basic Education Boards, teachers and pupils from the 36 states of the federation.

Vice-President Namadi Sambo who represented President Goodluck Jonathan at the event held at the Model Primary School, Maitama Abuja took time off to personally distribute the books to selected children from the six geo-political zones from the primary and junior secondary school cadres. From the faces of these kids, one could see their joy and appreciation for the President’s worthy priceless gift to them.

In the next few weeks, the Federal Government will conclude the direct distribution of 14million copies of primary one and two textbooks in English

Language, Mathematics, Social Studies, basic science and technology. Also to be distributed are assorted library resource materials for junior school pupils totaling 4,929,593million copies. These books are to be distributed directly to benefitting Nigerian children.

Many stakeholders have raised the issue of the distribution network of the books. There are fears that like in the past, the books may not get to the intended end user, the Nigerian child. To this end, the Federal Ministry of Education and UBEC have

put in place mechanisms to check the activities of fraudulent officials in the supply chain.

One of such measures is the setting up of all-encompassing books’ distribution commitees from the federal through the states, down to the the local government councils to ensure that the books get to the Nigerian child. Timelines have been given to the committees with the overall supervision by the Minister of State for Education to be assisted by the Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr Ahmed Modibbo Mohammed for the

direct distribution of the books to the children. At the different levels, independent monitoring schemes have been established to prevent criminal diversion of the books to markets.

Another measure introduced is the bold inscription on every page of all the books that they are not to be sold, but to be distributed free of charge to the less privileged Nigerian child in public schools.

Beyond all these is the involvement of security operatives to participate in the monitoring process. Security operatives at the states and local councils have been detailed to arrest and prosecute any official or trader found to be in possession of diverted copies of the books.

Minister of State for Education, Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike believes that the structures put in place by the Federal Ministry of Education and UBEC are robust enough to protect the interest of the Nigerian child and ensure that the books are not diverted.

Simeon Nwakaudu is the Special Assistant (Media), to the Minister of State for Education

*Mrs. Olufunke Fowler-Amba, Director of the College (middle) and members of the high table with the prize winner at the Vivian Fowler Memorial College For Girls' 6th Annual Mathematics, Art & Essay Competition prize-giving. Photo: Biodun Ogunleye.

DFID spends N46.2bn on education sector projects

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

HE UK Department for International Development (DFID) has said that the agency has spent N46.2 billion in promotion of education in Nigeria through projects support.

This was made known in Abu-

T

ja when the six International Development Partners (IDP) paid the Minister of Education a courtesy visit to highlight some of the progress they have made so far in the operational plan of 2010-2014.

Barbara Payne, DFID’s Senior Education Adviser at an interactive forum with the Minis-

ter of Education, Ruqayyatu Rufa’I in Abuja said over 186 million pounds (approximately N45.2 billion) has been injected into the education system in Nigeria to boost capacity but that the impact has not trickled down effectively.

He said their target is to get 800,000 children into school

Encounters with death, insecurity on way to school Continues from Page 25 went to unity schools, so I can say that it really helps for social integration.”

Chinyere Okwebinna enthused that it doesn’t necessarily depend on whether the children are studying far away or not. “What will happen will happen,” she said “after all, there are a larger number of people who go to school far from home and have been protected from accidents and attacks.”

Another mother, who simply C M Y K

referred to herself as Mary said: “I won’t want my child to school outside the state. It is very risky, and I won’t be at peace if I was in such a situation. I guess some parents do it because they want their children to experience new environments so that they can adapt anywhere.”

Mary blazed the trail in providing solutions to the security situation for such students when she suggested that such vehicles transporting children should have adequate security and should be well

maintained. An educationist and mother said that in addition to proper maintenance, and the presence of security personnel, parents should also pray for their children because according to her, “accidents and other mishaps are things that you cannot predict.”

Sunday Michael, a concerned parent, pointed out that if children cannot even be protected, then no one is safe in this country. “I think the government has to do more, and we as citizens have to be very alert,” he added.

and accessing improved learning outcomes by 2014. She pointed out that the agency is committed to the project so that by 2015, all children will be in school.

Payne said that their focused support for education programmes in Nigeria is to improve the learning outcomes for children in primary and junior secondary schools,especially in the north.

She also said that 36 million pounds will be spent on training of 66,000 teachers for the next six years while N12.7 billion is budgeted for the two new programmes that will be introduced soon.

Barbara Payne said that the team is currently carrying out a composite survey to see the impact of the Education Sector Support Programme (ESSPIN) they introduced in 2008-2013 in six states of the federation, adding that ESSPIN started implementing a school effectiveness model in 1,000 schools and is now planning to work in up to 10,500 schools in six states.

College commissions classrooms

BY AISHA MOHAMMED TIFFIN

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s parts of efforts to sustain high academic standards in its students through provision of state-ofthe-art learning facilities, St. Gregory ’s College, Ikoyi, Lagos, weekend, commissioned 15 Junior Modern classroom blocks and some other infrastructural projects.

According to the Administrator of the school, Rev. (Msgr.) Edmond Akpala, the College Projects Committee, a collaboration of the College Board of Governors and the Old Students Association as approved by the Proprietor of the College and Archbishop of Lagos, His Eminence, Anthony Cardinal Okogie, has done well to renovate and refurbish the existing structures and facilities and has carried out many other projects.

Akpala held that the College Projects Committee has put in place for blessing and commissioning: “15-classroom junior block named after Archbishop John Kwao Aggey; two staff rooms; eight staff quarters; eight tuck shops; two lawn tennis courts;one basketball court and the renovated Jubilee Hall and Old Boys Secretariat with packaged airconditioning units.”

Thanking the founding fathers for their contributions to setting up the 84-year-old college, he said: “Looking through the college’s log book, one would thank the founding fathers and appreciate their aims and objectives in setting up this great college, whose great objectives is educating the whole man, physically, mentally, academically and spiritually,” adding, “these qualities are clearly distinguished in the solid college building, the physical, mental and the spiritual aspect of intuition exhibited by the students of the college over the years.”

The administrator, however, gave praise and thanks to God, thanking the proprietor of the college for all his support and encouragement to the college, even as he made clarion calls to all Gregorians, at home and abroad, parents/guardians and corporate bodies to donate towards the actualization of the school’s “Olympic Standard Track and Field; 400bed modern hostel; expansion of the College Chapel and the reconstruction and expansion of its Catering and Laundry departments estimated at N800 million.

34 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

dayobenson@yahoo.com I N S I D E

Courts refusal to grant adjournment not denial of fair hearing

Counsel Corner

— Pg 34

— Pg 35

As the bill to amend the Central Bank Act runs into hot water...(3) — Pg 36

Is compulsory blood donation breach of fundamental right?

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH S today is observed as World Blood Donor Day for the recognition and appreciation of millions of blood donors across the globe by the World Health Organization (WHO), the issue of blood donation has again come to front burner, even as the act of donating blood to save life is now more becoming controversial.

In the ordinary sense, it is important to ask for the necessity behind the call or demand for blood donation as it is practiced today across the world.

Medical sources revealed that blood donation became necessary in order to fulfill obligations such as taking care of surgical patients especially those with cancer, accident trauma patients, women with pregnancy-related complications such as hemorrhage and ectopic pregnancies.

Others that may need blood transfusions to survive are children with severe forms of anemia who may be short of blood in their body.

To fulfill the above obligations, which has almost become a great task for hospitals and medical personnel, it is probably easy to conclude that donating blood should be a compulsory task for every human being that meet the minimum requirements needed to donate blood for free to do so.

Considering the importance of sourcing for blood to fulfill the above listed obligations, question may be asked whether it should be made compulsory for donors to do so, especially when it is now compulsory for the spouse of a pregnant woman to donate blood before she can be registered at public hospitals for prenatal medical services.

This practice was a basis of a petition recently written by a nongovernmental organisation, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC) to the Lagos state governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, requesting that the state government should as a matter of policy stop what it called “Compulsory Spousal Blood Donation Policy”, to protect the fundamental rights of some of the women who may one way or the other prevented from having opportunity to get blood donated to the blood bank before they can enjoy the government facility in the public hospitals in the state.

According to the executive director of WARDC, Ms. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi who signed the petition, “ our

A

investigations and findings have revealed that majority of women who couldn’t fulfill the obligation of donating blood as condition precedent to register for pre-natal find themselves either losing their pregnancy or pay dearly while running away from implementing the government’s hospital policy.”

In the petition which was addressed to Governor Babatunde Fashola, SAN, Akiode-Afolabi, who is a lawyer appealed to the governor to use his

,

C M Y K

Akiyode-Afolabi

Governor Babatunde Fashola

The practice of compulsory spousal blood donation is contrary to the Nigerian National Blood Policy (the Policy), developed by the National Blood Transfusion Service, Federal Ministry of Health, in April 2006

,

good office to reverse the conditional donation of blood, She noted that the “call to the state government was imperative to enable pregnant women access maternal health facilities and services in all Lagos state owned hospitals as the existing compulsory spousal blood donation policy inhibits pregnant women from accessing ante-natal services, and as a result, women have suffered untold hardship even some losing their pregnancies or lives.”

According to her , “the compulsory spousal blood donation has multiple negative consequences on pregnant

women who are unable or unwilling to compel their husbands to donate blood. These consequences includes: husbands’ refusal to permit their wives to access antenatal, intra partum, and post-natal services; women’s exposure to domestic violence if they attempt to compel their husbands to donate blood; additional hardships for pregnant women who are unmarried, or whose husbands become ill, abandon them, or pass away during the course of the pregnancy.

“These women have no option but to pay the fee in lieu of blood donation, which they may not afford.” She stated further that “the practice of compulsory spousal blood donation is contrary to the Nigerian National Blood Policy (the Policy), developed by the National Blood Transfusion Service, Federal Ministry of Health, in April 2006. The Policy provides guidelines for blood banking and transfusion services.”

She added that “blood therapy is a lifesaving component of modern health care … (and) blood should be sourced from low-risk, voluntary nonremunerated blood donors.”

Akiyode-Afolabi argued further that ‘compulsory spousal blood donation’ was not in line with internationally recognised principles and well established standards, developed by the WHO and other key international organisations that are involved in or depend on the provision of blood services.

Apart from the above reasons offered, over the years there have been running battles between the hospital authorities and some

Bamidele Aturu individuals who have refused blood transfusion on the ground of their religious belief.

Without mincing words, the process no doubt has also become a big challenge to many prospective blood donors who may be willing to submit themselves to donate blood but are afraid to undergo series of preliminary tests that will be carried out on them before they can be certified to donate their blood.

To address the issue of compulsion in the donation of blood, Vanguard Law and Human Rights sought the views of legal and medical experts who argued that the idea of donating blood to save life is a sterling one.

However, majority of them were of the opinion that under the law and natural justice, one cannot be compelled to donate blood compulsorily.

A lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Lagos State University, Ojoo, Dr. Lateef Ogboye who differentiated Continues on page 35

EDITORIAL TEAM Dayo Benson (Editor) Innocent Anaba Wahab Abdulah Ikechukwu Nnochiri

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012 — 35

Law Report

Courts refusal to grant adjournment not denial of fair hearing Issues: HETHER the refusal of the learned trial Judge to relist Suit No. W/185/ 2004 right in law.

Whether the striking out of Suit No. W/185/2004is not an error of law and consequently breached the right to fanhearing of the appellant.

Whether the learned trial Judge was right when he held that he is functus officio raising the issue suo motu affording parties opportunities to address court on it.

Facts: The plaintiff sought declaratory reliefs in the High Court of Delta State that; his purported dismissal from the defendant as President of Area Customary Court, Delta State was wrongful, null and void and of no effect, his employment with the defendant subsists, order directing the defendant to

W

AUGUSTINE I. ODIGWE V JUDICIAL SERVICE COMMISSION, DELTA STATE COURTOF APPEAL (BENIN DIVISION) AMIRU SANUSI JCA (Presided and Read the Lead Judgment) GEORGE OLADEINDE SHOREMI JCA OYEBISI FOLAYEMI OMOLEYE JCA reinstate the plaintiff with all his benefits; salaries and promotion since the day he was served with letter purporting to terminate his appointment and restraining the defendant from preventing him from continuing his job as president of Area Customary Court or interfering with his employment or rights, privileges and benefits attached thereto. When hearing commenced, the plaintiff filed a motion for amendment of his claims and

while plaintiff’s counsel was arguing the motion, he applied to withdraw the motion on grounds of a mistake therein. The trial court adjourned the matter and the plaintiff filed another motion for amendment which he also applied to withdraw.

The trial court struck out the motion, refused to grant an adjournment and invited the plaintiff to commence the hearing. Plaintiff ’s counsel thereafter sought to tender a document which admissibility was objected to by defendant’s counsel. Plaintiff ’s counsel

thereafter sought an adjournment which was once again to proceed with the hearing, which the counsel declined. The trial court struck out the application on grounds of functus officio.

Aggrieved, the plaintiff appealed to the Court of Appeal.

In determination of the appeal, the Court of Appeal considered the following rules: High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 1988 of Bendel State, applicable to Delta State, Order 37, rule 6(2) and Order 47, rule (l) Order 37, rule 6(2) provides: “If when the trial of an action is called on, neither party appears, the action may be struck out of the list, without prejudice however to the restoration thereof, on the direction of a Judge.”

Order 47, rule 1, provides thus: “Where a matter arises

in respect of which no provisions or ‘•( no adequate provisions are made in the Rules, the court shall adopt such procedure as will in its view do substantial justice between the parties concerned.”

Held: (Allowing the appeal) When a discretion is exercised judicially and judiciously and attitude of appellate court to exercise of discretion by trial courtA discretion is said to be exercised judicially and judiciously where it is so exercised on sound principle of law based on sufficient material and also given sufficient prevailing circumstance of a given case.

It must be exercised strictly on the facts and circumstances of the particular case and not based on the whims and caprices of the court.

To be continued

Is compulsory blood donation breach of fundamental right?

Continues from page 34 between blood and transfusion and blood donation said the practice of blood transfusion could be encouraged but not make compulsory.

He said, “In term of blood transfusion, an adult of sound mind can consent or not to allow a transfusion to be carried out on him or her.

There is no way you can force a person to perform blood transfusion or donate blood.

First, whoever is carrying out the transfusion must agreed with the person, from whom he intends carrying out the medical transfusion.

“However, concerning a minor, you have to get the consent of his or her parent or guardian. It is concluded that their (minors) view is as same as that of their parents.

This however may not be applicable to a pregnant women. A decision may be taken by the authority to save her pregnancy in some cases.

“In term of blood donation, if a woman say she doesn’t want to donate blood, nobody can force her to do so. By extension under the law, it is very wrong to force the husband of a pregnant woman or her relatives to donate blood compulsorily. I do not think it is right, it is illegal for the authority to force anybody to donate blood. In most of the cases where people were forced to donate blood they can challenge this in court.

What happens in the case of a pregnant woman, who donates blood through her husband or one of her relatives and eventually the blood is not used? So, C M Y K

donation of blood supposed to be voluntary.

“In general discussion however, donation of blood by a willing donor is good for both the donor and those who may need the donated blood.

So, the exercise is encouraged and anybody is free to donate blood if he is certified.”

Speaking in same vein, a medical practitioner, Dr. Akeem Agboola said the poor attitude of Nigerians to call for blood donation may be responsible for government's action in making it as part of requirements to register in the children hospitals in the state.

He argued that donation of blood is almost equal to giving life. However, he disagreed with the idea of forcing people or making the donation of blood as condition precedent before registering a pregnant woman in public hospitals.

He said, “They

(government) do not have to make the blood donation as a precondition for ante-natal booking. In a situation whereby people did not voluntarily go to the blood bank and donate, you can imagine what happen. If people are doing that voluntarily, may be the condition will not be applicable. “If you look at it, most of the blood being donated are not being used by these women. The blood are donated in case the women will need blood during child birth. So, for this reason, I agree to that, that government can in a subtle manner encourage blood donation.

“If there is another means of getting blood from the people, that is, people are donating blood voluntarily, the condition of government taking steps to compel people to donate may not arise.

However, if there is another

way of getting blood from the people voluntarily, it would be better.

“What I observed is that the blood being collected are being kept as an insurance against any eventuality. In a condition where the husband of the pregnant woman is not healthy to donate blood, the family of the woman or that of the husband can donate.”

Speaking in line with the call made by WARDC, Dr Agboola said, “If the state government feels that that is the only way in which the people can donate blood into the blood bank for those who need it at point of death, one cannot blame them. In order to prevent our government from doing that, we should also encourage ourselves by donating blood voluntarily for the blood bank.

In his own view, a Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Bamidele Aturu

said, making it compulsory to donate blood in the hospital in whatever form is wrong.

“Asking somebody to donate blood without his consent is illegal. It is not a consent.

Such a consent can be regarded as consent under duress.

“I understand the importance of donating blood.

It is needed to take care of human being, this has to be done through persuasion. It is good for us to donate blood.

But in a situation where you force somebody to donate blood overtly or covertly, and the person dies in the process, his/her relatives can claim damages. Also, one can equally claim damages if one is forced to donate blood.

“I appreciate the need to donate blood, we should encourage Nigerians to do that. But this can’t be a condition precedent, or be forced to do so."

36 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

Vanguard Law In Pix Multi-Door Courthouse celebrates 10th anniversary

Rights of workers I do benefit from your counsel corner in Vanguard Newspapers and I will like to know the position of our law on the right of workers on contract to belong to trade union where they are working.

Thanks —Kareem Every workers has the right to belong to a union wherever he or she works, because trade union act or any other Labour law does not prevent workers from belonging to trade unions. Even, casual workers have the right to belong. It should be noted that every employment is a contract, the only thing is that some are fixed and others are not.

2005 “membership of a Trade Union by employees shall be voluntary and no employee shall be forced to join any trade union or be victimized for refusing to join or remain a member ”

The Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse last Friday celebrated its 10th anniversary with dinner & awards night in honour of the retired Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Inumidu Akande at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Ikeja-Lagos. Here are the faces at the ocassion as captured by Wahab Abdulah

Justice Inumidun Akande (left) and Lagos Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye.

From left: Justice Opeyemi Oke, Mrs Hairat Balogun, Life Bencher, Justice Raliat Adebiyi and Justice Toyin Taiwo.

From left: Outgoing Justice Inumidun Akande, Justice Opeyemi Oke and in-coming Chief Judge of Lagos, Justice Ayo Philips.

Justice Olusola Williams (left) and Justice Habeeb Abiru

Kazeem Adebayo, Chairman Nigeria Bar Association Ikorodu branch (left) and Taiwo O. Taiwo , Chairman Lagos branch.

From left: Adeleke Adebimpe, Abimbola Adeyinka and Taiwo Lambo.

From left: Magistrate Tajudeen Elias; Chief Registrar, Mr. Gani Safari; and Folake Oladogba.

From left: Justice Morenike Obadina, Justice Lateefat Folami and Mrs. Bukola Balogun.

From left: Craig De Savoye, Executive Director, AI coastal; Olateju De Savoye, Director FTBS Construction Nig Ltd; and Maureen Dike, CEOOwn World Consulting,UK.

Justice Akin Holloway (rtd) (left) and Mr. Lawal Pedro, SAN.

Length of time on quit notice Please Dayo, how many months interval should a landlord give to his tenant after quit notice?, and if it happens that the tenant had a problem that made him/her unable to afford this fee at the needed time, is there any consideration and negotiation? Please advice me on this.

— Success, Onitsha This law requires a landlord to issue a quit notice to his tenant either directly or through his lawyer whenever he deems it necessary to do so especially where there are sufficient grounds. The length of time to be given after expiration of the period of quit notice depends on other factors, for instance, where the tenant is in arrears of rent the period to be given is as stipulated by law. In some jurisdiction, the nature of the tenancy and the arrears of rent owed automatically determines the tenancy.

In the case of a quarterly or half-yearly tenant that is in arrears of rent for six months, the court shall determine his tenancy and make an order for possession and arrears of rent if there is a proof of the arrears by the landlord. Except on human ground on the part of the landlord, due process of the law is expected to be followed once quit notice is issued. Negotiations can only take place where the landlord agrees on out of court settlement in which case, the length of time to be given will be at his own discretion.

Wrongful detention I am self-employed. My speciality is aluminum window frame design and fittings. I have been doing this for years and I never had any problem with people I work for. Recently, I introduced a friend to somebody who needed some carpentry work to be done at his building site. After linking the two, I had no idea of what transpired between them.

One day I received a telephone call from the man I introduced the friend to. He asked me to meet him at a particular place. I had no inkling of what was in the offing and I didn’t have any misgivings since I had earlier worked for him.

Unknown to me, a policeman was waiting to arrest me over my friend’s misdeed. I was taken to a police station at Ikeja and detained from morning till late in the evening.

I paid before I was released on bail. My offence was that my friend abandoned the job half-way after receiving full payment. It was a traumatic experience for me. My efforts to get my friend or his family refund the money I paid to bail myself have been unsuccessful. What can I do?

— Akin IT is a pity that you were made to suffer wrongfully for the sin of your friend.

It would have been a different situation if your friend were your agent in which case you as a principal would have vicariously liable for his omission or commission. Your illegal detention by the police was a flagrant breach of your fundamental human right. You can write a petition to the police authority and if no action is taken, you can sue. On the issue of paying to secure bail, it was unlawful because bail is free. You should insist that your friend refund the money, at least he was paid for the job he abandoned.

You can send your questions to dayobenson@yahoo.com or 08056180119 (text only) C M Y K

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

— 37

As the bill to amend the Central Bank Act runs into hot water...(3)

BY AWA KALU, SAN Continues from last week Are the net consequences of a law perfectly knowable from either perspective or does the possibility of unforeseeable consequences exist?

Can the unforeseeable risks be minimized either by construction of the laws to allow for contingencies or by regulating other rules or contributing factors? Do solutions from either perspective negatively impact human and/or civil rights? Do these negative impacts outweigh the positive effects to those greater human and/or civil rights of all?” (See www.jonathanturley.org) Surely, not all the indices above apply to the Central Bank Amendment Bill. Nevertheless, the Central Bank Governor and all the discerning participants of the hearing showed perfect understanding of the issues at stake. A gentleman seated next to me throughout the occasion kept needling me in a humorous manner with parables and anecdotes. His concern was whether a well-dressed lady should be undressed without just cause or without justification. Put in other words, the CBN Act has worked

perfectly since the CBN was established several decades ago. As was explained by Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, since inception all the Governors of the bank have been known for their knowledge and versatility in matters of banking and finance.

They have always been men of integrity who, in discharge of the onerous responsibility of Central Banking, have been assisted by equally cerebral persons. The enabling Act upon which the powers to manage the fiscal and monetary policies of this country are derived, provides for a Board of Directors of which the Governor is the Chairman.

All the Deputy-Governors are members of the Board together with five other men of integrity whose nomination by the President requires confirmation by the Senate. To cut a long story short, the Act provides for a board constituted by twelve persons of esteemed disposition. If you trust these persons to manage the nation’s economy, why can you not trust them to propose and approve the budget with which to fulfill the Bank’s mandate? On a hilarious note, the Minister of State for Finance whose

•Awa Kalu, SAN presentation was well-informed, asked why a Gynaecologist should be given instructions on how to perform a Caesarian section! Further explanation was provided indicating that the accounts of the apex bank are subjected to internal audit and scrutinized by external auditors appointed by the President. The Auditor-General of the Federation equally has oversight over the bank’s expenditure profile in addition to regular queries from the Public Accounts Committee of the National

Assembly. The Honourable Minister of State (Finance) in my view, rightly drew a distinction between other parastatals and the Central Bank which he characterized as “a special animal” which must be treated differently. The proposed amendment excludes all the deputy-governors from the Board and proposes an outsider as Chairman. No one in the audience had any support for this idea.

Having provided the checks and balances which have worked well for years, the inevitable task for the supporters of the amendment bill was to overcome the overwhelming opposition to the bill. Senator Eta Enang, the bill’s sponsor arrived when the proceedings were well in progress and rather ominously, NEPA/ PHCN (or whatever alias they have assumed these days) took their light.

Was this a message from the gods indicating that when something is working you do not need to fix it? Our Senators and Honourable Members of the House of Representatives are alive to their responsibilities and assuredly will let a dog that is enjoying its sleep, lie.

The Supreme Court doctrine in the interpretation and construction of statutes (2) the Electoral Decree, 1977 as amendintends the ordinary and natural lead, in our view of the case, to an

BY PROF LAWRENCE ATSEGBUA Continues from last week Canons of Interpretation and Construction.

It is an accepted fact that words have no proper or specific meaning until they are put into a context of situation.

A word may bear: (a) the meaning put upon it by the user,(b) that put upon it by the recipient, or (c) the ordinary meaning. As a result of the uncertainty over the meaning of words, statutory interpretation has been described as a non subject. The courts in their attempt to construe ambiguous statutory provisions have developed rules and principles which will aid them in this regard. As a result of the roles which the judges play in interpreting or construing statutes, Lord Devlin has concluded that, the law is what the judges say it is. While this may be the practical effect of the role which the judges play in interpreting vague and ambiguous statutory provisions, it is the consequence that arises from the fluid nature of words used by the legislative draftsman.

When confronted with an ambiguous statutory provision, the basic task before the judge is to ascertain the intention of the legislature. In ascertaining the intention of the legislature, the courts have developed three basic rules.

These are: the literal rule, the golden rule and the mischief rule. Let us examine these rules briefly. (a) The Literal Rule According to Jervis, C.J., if the precise words used in a statute are plain and unambiguous, in our judgment, we are bound to construe them in their ordinary sense, even though it do C M Y K

absurdity or manifest injustice.

Similarly, the Supreme Court of Nigeria stated in Africa Newspaper v.

Federal of Nigeria, that: Where the words used in a statute are direct and straight forward and unambiguous, the construction of those words must be based on the ordinary plain meaning of the words. If the intention of the legislature can be found in the ordinary and natural meaning of the words used, no difficulty arises.

Where however, the words are ambiguous and are capable of more than one meaning, the literal rule of interpretation breaks down.

The literal rule may therefore be regarded as expressing an irrefutable presumption, that the legislature

meaning of the words it employs.

The modern approach to statutory interpretation was succinctly brought out by Lord Diplock in the case of Carter v. Bradbeer, when he said: If one looks back to the actual decisions of this House on The question of statutory construction in the last thirty years, one Cannot fail to be struck by the evidence of a trend away from the purely literal, towards the purposive construction of statutory provisions.

The case of Awolowo v. Shehu Shagari, illustrates the need for a purposive approach to statutory construction. In this case, the issues before the court were inter alia: (a) What is the correct interpretation and application of section 34A (1) (c) (ii) of

ed; (b) Where under section 34A (1) (c) (ii) of the Electoral Decree two thirds of a state is synonymous with two thirds of the physical or territorial area of the state; (c) What is the duty of a court where there are two possible meanings conveyed by the words of a statute in question? (d) Whether the ordinary meaning of words used in a statute can form the subject of judicial notice. The facts of this case were as follows: On 11th August 1979, the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO), a body charged with the duty of conducting election into the office (among other offices) of the President of the Federation, conducted an election into that office.

To be continued

Judiciary must be truly independent — Justice Akande

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH RETIRING Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Inumidun Akande, has said the nation’s judiciary must be truly independent in order to deliver justice in line with constitutional democracy.

Justice Akande at a send forth programme organised for her by the state judiciary, noted the state judiciary under her leadership, was able to record some progress and achievements due to the “separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive arms of government.”

She called on her successor not to sacrifice the independence of the judiciary, but “strengthen the cause of independent judiciary in the state.”

Akande, who spent 1004 days in office as the 13th Chief Judge, said she had been nicknamed ‘Madam separation of power’ because of her position to maintain an independence of the state

judiciary.

Justice Akande urged her successor, Justice Ayotunde Philips, to build on her achievements in office, saying by so doing, this will enhance the growth of the state judiciary.

“To a large extent, I must note at this point, that what we had clearly demonstrated by these catalogue of the achievements point to the fact that with a well focussed, purposeful and visionary

leadership, ‘nothing shall is impossible.

“However, in view of the foregoing and consequent on the provisions of Section 121 (3) of the 1999 Constitution, may I at this point suggest the imperative of the need to build on the existing structures, which shall be taken as judicial policy to which succeeding administrations must strengthen and sustain to move the state judiciary forward,” she added.

DANA crash: Agbakoba requests inquest AGOS Lawyer, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN has asked the Chief Lagos Coroner to carry out investigation into the cause of the Dana airline crashed that occurred in Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos. In the petition to the court, Agbakoba urged the court to consider the collateral damage caused by the air crash which resulted in fatalities in residential accommodation located at IjuIshaga and constitute a panel to investigate the accident.

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The petition was jointly signed by Dr. Agbakoba and Mrs. Bisi Akodu, a senior partner in Olisa Agbakoba and Associates. They brought their petition pursuant to Section 15 (1) of the Coroners System Law 2007 of Lagos state which provides that whenever death of a deceased person lying within his Coroners District was a result of death in a violent, unnatural or suspicious situation, the Chief Coroner should investigate its cause.

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

Tenant’s tales: ‘My landlord killed my wife’ (4)

Everyone called me his son, but I assumed it was just a joke.

For all his care, it was not as if baba was the only one making sacrifices, he benefited from me too in several ways.

I did not have any soft spot for the girl, at least in an intimate manner and I was sure that the girl did not like me that way too, so why was the man bent on forcing us together? Why was he so desperte for a relationship between us?

Finally, I had no choice but to report my fears to my mother, who kept crying and asking over and over, why I had not mentioned anything to anyone before now.

She said it was the practice in baba’s part of the country to give their daughters out to whoever they chose,while the daughter would have no say in the matter, adding that despite the modern technology.

My mother advised me not to confront baba while she carries out her

wife and married a much younger lady who decided to be giving him children he could not take proper care of. Shortly after his retirement, he'd suddenly gone down with a stroke which left him partially crippled.

Thus, every evening, you will find him sitting in the small varander of

,

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i,the problems associated with landlord versus tenant relationship are innumerable.

From indiscriminate hikes in rent to molestations over how occupants manage the premises. In extreme cases, landlords and tenants have had to trade punches or taken their grieviances to the courts of law.

Almost every tenant has a story or another to tell about their landlords, from the bizzare to the hillarious.

Stories of greed, jealousy and hatred and of course, kindness and love.

Our first respondent, Amune,(42), Manager with an oil firm, shares a peculiar story. He claims his wife was murdered by his landlord. Why? Follow us as he continues his story below. Happy reading!

He said he knows he is a good landlord who does not like to molest his tenants but that he does not think he will be asking for too much if I include him in my budget and buy him a crate of eggs too when I buy mine

investition.

A few days later, she came back and told me that she had been informed that unless I move out of baba’s house, re-marrying will not be that possible.

Tega, (32), banker, was forces to park of his former apartment when his Oliver Twist of a landlord asked for too much. He tells his story below: I was forced to pack out of my former apartment when my landlord asked me to buy him a car!

You may find this pretty difficult to believe but my landlord actually asked me to buy him a car!

The man is a pensioner, a retired civil servant who had managed to build the house when things were quite good for him.

It was a bungalow with a boys quarters at the back which was where I rented.

He had divorced his first

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his house watching everything and everyone pass by.

I came to the conclusion that he was always waiting for my arrival just to see if I was alone or accompanied and what I brought home.

One day, he called me as I passed by that he would like to see me for a few minutes.

When I reported at his post later that evening, he told me he wanted to talk to me like a father would to a son.

He started by commenting on my perceived love for women, stating that women were good and created for men to enjoy, but that too much of women was bound to lead the toughest of men astray.

He said he did not like the traffic of women and even the number of men accompanied with women who come into the compound.

He asked if I had plans

to get married anytime soon and I told him I was still too young for such a thing which he agreed with without even bothering to ask how old I was.

As the conversation went on, he called one of his sons to go and get us some bottles of beer, describing to him where he would find the money.

But the boy returned to say there was no money there.

Then he suddenly turned to me that I should buy the drinks as I was the younger one. As if hypnotised, I dipped my hand into my pocket and gave the boy the money.

As we drank and just chatted generally, he began talking about how much he'd fallen out of the social circle and that he'd not enjoyed himself that much ever since his illness struck.

He said he liked me a lot especially as he became aware that I like the good things of life too. He pointed out that he'd also discovered that I do not joke with my stomach because of the types of food I buy, adding that he was just like me when he was a young man.

All his rantings was concluded with the comment that he sees me when I walk in with a crate of eggs every week.

He said he is aware that I cannot finish a crate of eggs every week and that it was my girlfriends and others that eat the bulk of everything I buy. He said he knows he is a good landlord who does not like to molest his tenants but that he does not think he will be asking for too much if I include him in my budget and buy him a crate of eggs too when I buy mine.

The way he said it just made me burst out laughing.

He was like a little boy, anxiously waiting for what my response would be. I told him it was not a problem and that I did not know that he loved eggs that much, adding that I will be giving him regularly.

It was this single act that opened the gate for a flood of requests from baba landlord.

From slippers to sunshades, watch, crates of minerals, beer and sometimes clothes. He would always say he loves.

Friends Searching Males •Brendan,27, slim,6ft tall, a marketer and resides in Akure, Ondo state, needs a God fearing, caring and right thinking girl, for a serious relationship.

07033120239 •Nd, 27, handsome a graduate, awaiting NYSC, from Enugu, needs a lady, aged 23-26, that can assist him, for a relationship that would lead to marriage.08183596659 •Frank, 30, a student in Delsu, needs an employed lady, for a serious relationship. 08075903559 •Xavi, 20, fair in complexion, handsome, from Delta state, needs a beautiful, lovely, romantic lady from Anambra state or Delta state, who is financially ok, for a serious relationship, aged 25-40.08133403322 •Timmy, 26, chocolate in complexion, an intelligent undergraduate, in Lagos, needs a pretty and caring lady, aged18-26.08164206572 •Ade, needs a Muslim Yoruba lady, who is honest, good looking, aged 25, for marriage. 08065968873, 08077224645 •Ryan, 49, resides in Warri, needs a lady, for marriage, C M Y K

aged 30-60, for a romantic and fun filled relationship.

08081252381, 08078033371 •Olis, 22, dark in complexion, average height and from Delta state, needs a beautiful, sexy and romantic girl, aged 18-20, for friendship. 08162198070 •Laye, 22, from Delta state, needs a girl, for a serious •Dear readers, please note that neither Vanguard, nor Yetunde Arebi will be liable for any error in the publication of requests on the Lovezone that may result in any form of embarrassment to any member of the public.

Also note that we do not run any match-making agency in or outside the country. Any reader who transacts business with anyone claiming to be our agent does so at his/her own risk.

Henceforth, only messages sent through the numbers readers want to be contacted on will be published.

This notice is necessary in order to serve you better in our refreshingly different style. To get your requests published, just text it to the code number 33055. For further enquiries, call 08056180122. Cheers!

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BY ONOZURE DANIA

Saving your marriage after an affair

BY ONOZURE DANIA

EALLY, if couples are willing to save their marriages even after an affair, they can.

But unfaithfulness in a marriage at times, can make things seem impossible to reconcile even if both parties involved want the marriage to work.

Saving a marriage after an affair is hard but not impossible, with true effort things can be better than ever. Knowing how to approach this delicate situation is usually the difference between a successful marriage and divorce or deep seated resentment.

One of the things you need to do as a man or a woman who is guilty, is to first apologize from the heart. If you are the one who had the affair, it is important that you realize what you did was wrong and that you fully express that to your spouse.

Your apology may be met with deserved resistance or resentment but this is to be expected in this situation.

Do not try to minimize what you did even if you had a good reason to have the affair.

The fact is, you could and should have handled things in a different fashion. Remember that if your goal is to truly save your marriage, then you lay the foundation to make that possible. Many times after infidelity, one of the common mistakes couples make is to try to pretend that it didn’t happen. Or that there may have been valid reasons for the affair.

Try and find out what the reasons were in order to refrain from revisiting those same behaviours through open hearted and honest conversation with your spouse.

These conversations will not be comfortable for either of you but try to keep the goal in mind, which is saving your marriage.

Having a mediator of some sort if you cannot afford

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counseling may be helpful if you are both comfortable with whom you are speaking in front of.

After the truth comes out it, it will be easier to avoid the same thing in future and to disarm a problem that arises. Rebuild the bridge of trust, most things that are of value take time to make, as well as wounds take time to heal.

Remember that you both have scars that will need to heal and it may take longer than you want to rebuild.

Trust and forgiveness can be very fickle at times in that as human beings, we can forgive but often times cannot forget deep pain.

This affair will remain in both of your minds for the rest of your lives but even if you are the one who remained faithful, you should not always use your partner’s infidelity to justify yourself in all instances.

This is a hard pill to swallow for those who remained faithful if that is the case but it is an essential step that will allow your partner a true opportunity to rebuild the bridge of trust with you.

Without a real chance to do so, there will always be a barrier that will never be overcome, possibly opening the door for future headaches.

Refrain from revisiting, this does not mean to pretend that it didn’t happen or not to communicate about the affair, but to stay away from the causes of the affair and the temptations that caused the faith backslide so tospeak.

Both parties are responsible for the upkeep of the marriage even when one may not be able to fully commit or put in like the other may wish at times.

Picking up the slack is needed.

Now that you have both talked about why the affair happened, you should be able to identify when something may trigger that insecurity in the future.

relationship. 08103985589 •Aikejement, 27, needs a beautiful and romantic lady, aged 30-55, for a long lasting relationship.

07053073657, 07031938879 •Akpos, 28, a Christian, from Delta state, needs s lady, from Rivers, Delta or Bayelsa state, for a serious relationship. 08062409798, 07030628814 •Chris, 20, chocolate in complexion, average height and an undergraduate, needs a girl, who is chocolate in complexion, aged 18-25, for a serious relationship.

08084020762, 07034296282 •Stephen, 20, needs a girl, who is slim, a graduate and employed, aged 23-28, for a relationship.

07035743493, 08182132774 •Kingsley, from Delta state, needs a sweet, romantic, hot and comfortable girl, for a serious romantic affair.

08063913051 •Uz, 23, a student, from Delta state, needs a sexy, slim and beautiful girl, for a serious relationship.

07086152879 •Evidence, 28, handsome, a graduate and employed, needs a beautiful and sexy girl, aged 18-27, for a serious romantic relationship.08157040267,

40—Vanguard,

THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012 YOUR LUCK TODAY

LEISURE THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

VIRGO; As Saturn enters your Star Sign today it is important you are more practical and seek all important supports of the influential people around you. Be more loving.

LIBRA; The more ambitious you are today the better for your cause. And here is a good day to plan for the future but you must do away with whatever can not be placed above board. Yong-at-heart among you may be in for a romantic day.

SCORPIO; Even if you are tempted to gamble by whoever and/or whatsoever reason you must resist it or else you would be the loser. Being aggressive may help SAGITTARIUS; Provided you are willing to cooperate with other poople things will not go out of hands but exhibition of inordinate ambition can earn you avoidable trouble.

By Richard Eromosele

Are you a thief?

ARDON me if I have hurt you. I do not mean any offence.

However, I am asking a question: Are you a thief? Don’t answer it until you have fully digested the passage.

Conventionally, a thief is someone that

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steals another person’s property. I guess the issue will now be which person’s property am I accusing you of stealing? Now read this: Do you cut corners? Do you accept benefits for doing

TERROR MUDA

nothing? Do you get something without giving anything? Do you play smart? Do you expect to reap where you did not sow? Its your own idea about life just taking, taking and taking? What have you given back to the

in “Never say goodbye”

society? If you have given nothing to humanity and your answer to the other questions are in the affirmative, then you are a thief. You are stealing from humanity.

Don’t just live, add value to your living by giving something back to your society.

By Kola Fayemi

CAPRICORN; Element of luck will assist you. Those of you who are more hard working will have more positive things to show for your efforts. Take care of your health.

AQUARIUS; Many natives of this Zodiac sign will be excited either because of romantic interest within your working arena or practical advancement at work.

PISCES; Reason with those you can take as veterans within your base of operation because if you want to force your way without carrying necessary and more experienced people along it would back-fire now or soonest.

ARIES; The more creative you are the better for your cause. However is typical day when too much expectation can bring disappointment. Be more family minded.

TAURUS; If your priority is financial success you may not be disappointed provided you prepare for a few challenges. For now both your mental energy and physical attributes are enough to win you love not MONEY. Be more receptive.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Princess Shii’

By Andy Akman

GEMINI; This is your day when both good luck and your personal efforts will bring you success. Try to be as caring as possible to those within your base.

CANCER; Although there will be challenges at the end of it all you will have genuine cause to smile. The more secretive you are the better for your cause. This is not the right time to ignore your sex life. Do away with unnecessary argument.

LEO; This is not the right time for you to either gamble with money or take friends for granted. Secret lovers may be in for an exciting day.

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING Send your date and place of birth to the Astrological Counselling, P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos

VIRGINIA

dadadekola@yahoo.com

Should I remain hopeful?

Dear Joshua, I want your in-depth analysis and tell me about my social life, and the time I am likely to have my much desired break-through in life. I am hopeful though Anonymous Nigeria.

Dear Anonymous, Yes be very hopeful. And what you will find hereunder will answer your questions YOUR SOCIAL LIFE Social life will always bring you attention good luck envy opposition and possibly fame. The best way for you not to be constant loser in the social world is to always study situation practically and know that your finance will not suffer (if it can not be beneficiary) from the setting before taking responsibility.

As for influential friends you will have them but never always take them for granted.

Sudden SUCCESS will come your way during your 40th year on earth and will serve as a breakthrough year you can build great foundation of endless success on. But the same 42th year will bring love related challenges you must manage with all maturity or else it will linger till after your 44th year on earth.

Commen3

by Lawrence Akapa

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You can eat your corn and have your health eatrightconsult@yahoo.com T 08091276796 HE freshly harvested corn emits a mouthwatering aroma from the pot or roasting grill. When cooked with beans, it gives it an entirely different flavour, making beans consumption an unforgettable experience.

Corn is a good source of energyproducing vitamin B1, vitamin B5, and phosphorus; heart-healthy folate and dietary fiber; and free radical-scavenging vitamin C and manganese. Antioxidant phytonutrients are provided by all varieties of corn.

The exact phytonutrient combination, however, depends on the variety itself.

Yellow corn is richer in carotenoids, especially lutein and zeaxanthin.

The high amount of fiber present in corn helps lower cholesterol levels and also reduces the risk of colon cancer. Corn, if consumed in moderate quantities, has been seen to be beneficial for those suffering from diabetes.

Being rich in folate, corn helps the generation of new cells, especially important before and during pregnancy.

Those suffering from anemia have shown positive effects after consuming corn.

The pantothenic acid present in corn helps with the physiological functions of the body. Owing to the presence of thiamin, corn has been said to help in the metabolism of carbohydrates.

Corn has also been found to be helpful in treating kidney problems, including renal dysfunction. Regular consumption of corn, in moderate quantities, has been associated with better cardiovascular health.

The beta-cryptoxanthin in corn makes it good for the health of the lungs and may

with Funke Oshifuye even help prevent lung cancer. The insoluble fibre present in corn makes it useful for people with digestive ailments like haemorrhoids and constipation.

While corn is a staple vegetable for many people, some may worry about the effects of eating corn and being diabetic.

Fortunately for people with diabetes, corn

is a nutrient-rich food classified as a starch on the Diabetes Food Pyramid, along with grains, potatoes, peas and beans. With a glycemic index (GI) of 42, corn is also classified as a low-GI food, meaning that corn raises blood sugar by a relatively small amount.

The healthy effects of eating corn may be negated, however, by consuming the wrong type of corn products.

The most common negative effects of eating corn products come from high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener made from corn and commonly found in processed foods.

A combination of glucose and fructose, high fructose corn syrup may not raise blood sugar level as much as regular sugar

does, but unlike glucose, fructose does not stimulate the release of insulin or the hormone leptin, which triggers satiety.

High fructose corn syrup, then, leaves people with diabetes in need of insulin to regulate blood sugar and unsatisfied with their meal or snack, resulting in the possibility of overeating.

Eating canned corn with salt added, or adding table salt and butter to fresh corn, can cause people with diabetes to unconsciously consume unhealthy amounts of sodium and fat when eating corn with a meal.

Butter and other fats should be eaten sparingly in a nutritious diet, so adding them to corn and other starches reduces the healthy benefits.

Corn cannot cure any disease, but it has been used in managing celiac disease in children because it is free from gluten.

UNIPORT, PaxHerbals sign MoU on development of African medicine ISTORY was made recently when the Vice Chancellor of the University of PortHarcourt, UNIPORT, Prof. Joseph Ajienka, on behalf of the University, and Rev. Fr. Anselm Adodo, Director of PAX Herbal Clinic & Research Laboratories, PAXHERBALS, signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, to collaborate in research activities towards the development of African Herbal Medicine and Alternative Therapies.

Speaking during the formal signing of the agreement, the Vice Chancellor of UNIPORT, Prof. Joseph Ajienka says the philosophy of the MoU is to harness the unique strengths and experiences of the

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two institutions for the development of herbal therapies and healthcare.

According to Ajienka, it will involve, among other things, a review of the curriculum on alternative medicine for undergraduate Pharmacy students in the University, with opportunity for practical training at the PAX Centre in Edo State.

According to the terms of the agreement, both parties shall, as equal partners promote inter-institutional co-operation, science and knowledge exchange, establish and encourage mutually beneficial research studies and activities and exchange Research and Academic staff members for the purpose of training, research, teaching and presentation of special courses in

their fields of herbal therapies healthcare.

Other terms of agreement include; sharing knowledge and expertise in herbal therapies and healthcare which involves the establishment of an outlet for displaying and sale of PaxHerbal products at the University of Portharcourt.

However, in their remarks at the end of the signing ceremony, Prof. Ajienka and Father. Adodo re-affirmed their resolve to ensure that the partnership would bear practical fruits in the life of the society at large.

PAXHERBALS is Nigeria’s most outstanding, science and research oriented and institutionised herbal therapies outfit

COMMON SEXUAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR NOVELTY BASED SOLUTIONS (ADVERTORIAL)

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EAR Sir, please I went for a sperm test and the doctor said that I have staphylococcus. My sperm count is very very low (just 3%) and he gave me tablets to take. What will I do to boost my sperm count to normal? My doctor said that if I am through with the medicine he gave me, I should come back.

He said the normal sperm level is 64% – Tayo Dear Tayo, when you are done with your staphylococcus treatment, see your doctor like he suggested.

He may recommend a medicine that willboost your sperm count as well. If he doesn’t and dismisses you, then you can take Repro Aid for Men. It is a natural supplement that improves sperm count and motility to boost fertility – Uche My husband wants more children even though we have four children (three girls and a boy). I think it is because he wants more boys. But what if we try again and have another girl? I need your advice – Mrs Okoye Dear Mrs Okoye, four children is more than enough, no matter how rich you are. Children require attention. When you have too many children, you cannot give each of them enough attention and it becomes very stressful doing so too. Besides, in this day and age, we should learn to appreciate the gift of God, whether boy or girl. A lot of married people try for years without even getting pregnant so you are very lucky.

So please explain to your husband to be grateful for the children God has given you. He should also be very careful not to give your female children the impression that he does not value them. That will be terrible - Uche Please I want to ask if I can get any natural product to enlarge my breasts. My breasts are small which doesn’t make dresses fitted on me. This makes me to use extra pads added to my bra most times when I dress up. My man doesn’t complain but he sometimes wishes it were bigger – Stella Stella you can try Grobust supplement. It is a natural supplement for breast enlargement – Uche

I am a regular reader of your column and I recently found out that I cannot perform more than one round during sex. Please I need your help – Stanley Dear Stanley, a natural performance supplement such as Cockstar or Enzyte, will help you have intercourse several times without being tired. They will also give you stronger erections – Uche Good day and thanks for helping people through your column. I am 29 years old and I have a very small penis. It is even smallest when not erect. I want it bigger. I also ejaculate within minutes of having sex. I need your recommendation. Thanks in anticipation – Obiora Dear Obiora, a penis is supposed to be small when not erect. But if it is still small when fully erect and you want to enlarge it, then you can do so with a penis pump, an enlargement cream or an enlargement supplement. If you want to use a pump for enlargement, ask for PrecisionCalibrated Pump. If you prefer an enlargement cream, ask for Mega Me Enlargement Cream and if you would rather use a supplement for enlargement, ask for Max Size supplement. They are all very good. To prevent premature ejaculation, apply the Emperor’s Delay Cream a few minutes before sex – Uche I am female, I have never had an orgasm and that is why I don’t enjoy sex – Martha Martha you need a vibrator and an orgasm gel. Use the Daffy Deep Stroker vibrator and Liquid Sex orgasm gelduring intercourse and you will climax over and over – Uche That’s it for today. The names of the people featured here have been changed for their privacy. Adults in need of these treatments/novelties can call 08027901621 or 08051924159 or any other number here to order or they can order online at www.zeevirtualmedia.com. For enquiries, send your emails to custserv@zeevirtualmedia.com - Uche Edochie, MD, Zee Virtual Media.

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Syria: US, Russia trade blames over arming fighters

BY VICTORIA OJEME

NITED States and Russia are engaged in a proxy war in Syria where both countries are accusing each other of arming the fighters and escalating the crisis. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday accused the US of supplying weapons to Syria’s opposition forces, just one day after Washington said Moscow

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was sending to “attack helicopters” to aid Damascus.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that she had information that Russia was sending to Syria “attack helicopters... which will escalate the conflict quite dramatically”.

It was the first time Moscow has directly pointed the finger at Washington. Previously, it had said unidentified

“foreign powers” were arming Syria’s opposition. In Nigeria, Russia’s Ambassador to Nigeria Alexander Polyakov, yesterday

defended his government support for the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad of Syria, however insisting that his government also

supports the Kofi Anna peace plan.

The Russian envoy who spoke in Abuja, during the occasion to mark the National Day

of the Russian Federation further accused some states in the Persian gulf of supplying arms to rebel fighters in the war torn country.

Ben Ali bags 20 more years in Tunisia ITH a sentence of over 66 years already slammed on him, former Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali yesterday got another

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20 years imprisonment in absentia from a military court in Tunisia.

Ben Ali who is the second North African leader to jailed in the past one week, faces countless tri-

als aon a range of other charges including drug trafficking and embezzlement. Ben Ali, was found guilty of “inciting disorder, murder and looting,”including the

death of four youths, shot dead in the town of Ouardanine in mid-January 2011.

Murdoch probe splits British govt RITAIN’s ruling coalition split along party lines yesterday when Liberal Democrats refused to support Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron in a row over his attitude towards a minister accused of pulling strings for Rupert Murdoch.

The prime minister himself is due to testify at the televised inquiry all day on today but the Lib Dems, junior partners in the coalition, said they would abstain in a parliamentary vote on a motion calling on Cameron to order an inquiry into the actions of Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative secretary of state for culture and media.

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Church of England attacks govt on gay marriage HE Church of En gland attacked government’s plan to allow gay couples to marry, saying on Tuesday it was ill thought out and risked creating the biggest rift between the state and the Church for centuries.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s government wants to extend the full legal status of marriage to homosexuals, who have since 2005 been able to contract unions known as civil partnerships.

The plan has provoked anger from church leaders including the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and some within Cameron’s own Conservative party who accuse the government of interfering in religious matters.

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RMD gets two-year Blues deal S C

HELSEA have ap pointed Roberto Di Matteo to a permanent position as manager.

The news was reported by the team’s official website and states that Di Matteo has been signed to a two-year contract.

Di Matteo, 42, who took over from Andreas Villas-Boas in March on an interim basis, led Chelsea to the Champions League title and FA Cup glory last season.

The former Chelsea and Italy midfielder said: “I’m obviously delighted to have been appointed as manager and first-team coach. ”We all achieved incredible success last season that made history for this great club. Our aim is to continue building on that and I’m already planning and looking forward to the squad’s return for pre-season.” ”Roberto’s quality was clear for all to see when he galvanised the squad last season and helped the club make history, and the owner and board are very pleased he will be continuing his good work,” said Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay.

UPER Eagles goalkeeper and stand-in captain, Vincent Enyeama has assured Nigerians to expect victory in their 2013 Africa’s nations cup qualifier against the Wasp of Rwanda at the U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar, Cross River State on Saturday.

Enyeama while fielding questions on the expectations of Nigerians after the not-to-good performance in the 2014 FiFA World cup Brazil qualifier against Malawi last weekend which ended in 1-1 draw said that the

•Di Matteo

Enyeama, Uzoenyi sure of Eagles victory

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU, Calabar Saturday game will be great and that towards the end of game the Super Eagles will come out victorious.

On his performance so far, he said, “I have served this country for ten years now and I have given my best even though my best at one point or the other

UEFA fines Russia $150,000 •condemns Poland violence EFA has fined the Russian football association $150,000 after its fans attacked stadium stewards at a European Championship match.

UEFA says Russia could be deducted six points in its Euro 2016 qualifying group for a repeat offence. The probationary period expires at the end of Euro 2016 qualifying.

Russian fans were filmed fighting with stadium staff in Wroclaw after a 4-1 win over the Czech Republic last Friday. Police said violence flared when stewards

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tried to detain a man they believed threw a firecracker.

Russia’s fine was also imposed for the thrown firework and because fans displayed nationalist flags.

UEFA rules hold football associations responsible for their fans’ behavior inside stadiums.

UEFA has condemned the violence that marred Poland’s European Championship match with Russia, but it was unclear whether either team would face any sanctions.

NFF congratulates Chive Kaave

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the cheer for the Super Falcons in their 2012 African Women Championship qualifying m a t c h against the Mighty War-

Warri Continues from BP events is the women high jump, where twotime All Africa Games high jump champion, Doreen Amata will begin to look over her shoulder for Uhunoma Osazuwa. Osazuwa is not your regular high jumper. She is the national heptathlon record holder but last month cleared 1.84m at a meet in Canada to be in contention for podium placement here.

Ahounoawan Odile of Benin Republic and Marie Michael of St Vincent are other outsiders for the title.

Amata, who last year in Maputo, Mozambique successfully defended the high jump title she won in 2007 at the Algiers All Africa Games has been strug-

gling with injury since the start of the season but the mother of one insists there is no cause for alarm. “ I am fit and battle ready ’’, observed the athlete who is on record as the first Nigerian woman high jumper to make it to the finals of the prestigious IAAF World Championships in Athletics last year in Daegu, South Korea.

“Things have not particularly gone as I wished it to be this season, especially after I came back from childbirth to have what is definitely my best season last year,’’ continued Amata who holds the national record at 1.95m and has been dubbed Nigeria’s greatest high jumper of all time.

riors of Zimbabwe at the Teslim Balogun Stadiu m on Saturday.

The amiable, sportsloving Mrs Fashola will be accompanied to the Teslim Balogun Stadium by top officials of the Lagos State cabinet including the Honourable Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Mr. Wahid Enitan Oshodi and the Chairman of Lagos State Football Association, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi.

The Falcons won the first leg 2-0 at the Rufaro Stadium, Harare on May 27 but are leaving nothing to chance as they confront the visitors with an even stronger armoury.

HE Nigeria Football Federation has congratulated a former Board Member of the Federation, Barrister Chive Kaave on his r e c e n t appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Argentina.

Kaave, a former Chairman of the Benue Cement Company (BCC) and member of then NFA Board between 1999 and 2002, under the Chairmanship of BrigadierGeneral Dominic Oneya (rtd), was among 93 new envoys who received their letters of credence in Abuja on Tuesday.

Speaking in Abuja, NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari said: “We congratulate Barrister Kaave on his appointment and we wish him all the vesy best in his new endeavour. It is a huge challenge, but we believe that he has the ability and the capacity to do Nigeria proud.”

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Lagos First Lady to cheer Falcons FFICIALS have confirmed that the First Lady of Lagos State, Her Excellency, Mrs Abimbola Fashola will lead

may have not been the best, I won’t feel bad.

“I have done my quota and I think I deserve a bit of applause. A whole lot of games I wasn’t at my best everybody knows and there are a whole lot of games I was on top of my game. I don’t like talking about my negativity, I like talking about my positivity that is me, I look forward, I don’t look backwards,” he said.

Also speaking, the Super Eagles striker Ejike Uzoenyi who plies his trade with the Rangers International Football Club of Enugu said that the spirit of the players are high for their match against the Rwandan team and that the team had worked hard to deserve victory.

“We are prepared, we are working hard and by the grace of God, we are going to do our best. We expect to have a great game come Saturday.

Hopefully, Saturday will be a different game from what we have played before.”

SILVER LINING ... Portugal’s Silvestre Varela celebrates his late winner against Denmark yesterday.

We’re not tourists •Rwanda warn Eagles WANDA have warned they are not tourists here for a good time on arrival in Nigeria Wednesday ahead of a crucial Nations Cup qualifier.

“We are not tourists here on a sightseeing tour, we are here to win the ticket to the next round of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series,” said Rwanda coach Milutin Sredojevic aka Micho.

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Nigeria were held to a goalless draw by hosts Rwanda in the first leg match in February.

The overall winners of this match-up will advance to the final qualifying round of the 2013 AFCON between September and October prior to the tournament proper to be hosted by South Africa early next year. flight from Accra on Thursday night, before proceeding to Calabar on Friday morning.

Saintfiet ‘shocked’ over speculations ELGIAN coach Tom Saintfiet has said he is “shocked and disappointed” that an agreement to be Nigeria’s technical director could be revoked.

“Yes, I got the information through the media (that

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the country ’s sports minister wants his contract cancelled) but nobody contacted me, I didn’t get any information, I’m shocked and I’m surprised because I’ve got an agreement with the Nigeria Football

Federation,” Saintfiet told MTNFootball.com in an interview Wednesday.

“I applied seven months ago and I’ve started planning the structure that I will use to work. I want to come and bring Super Eagles back to

when they were fifth best in the world.

“I want to work with Nigeria. It hurts me, I’m disappointed.

They selected me based on my previous experience with Namibia, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012 — 53

Torres eyes win against Ireland

F

ernando Torres says Spain are ready to move on from their Euro 2012 opening draw against Italy and will now turn their attention to their next group game

against the Republic of Ireland.

Torres believes a point against Italy represents a good result – but says Spain must pick up two wins from two in their remaining group fixtures.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a disaster but we have to win every game now,” he said.

“We knew it was Italy and what we were up against. Now we have to try and finish top of the group.”

Police arrest 184 for violence

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olish police have detained 184 people involved in clashes between Russians and Poles before and during their match at the 2012 Euro Football (soccer) championship in W a r s a w .

The first clashes took place Tuesday during a march by thousands of Russian fans to National Stadium for “Russia Day,” which marks the fall of the Soviet Union.

Violent incidents also

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occurred during the game, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

Officials said more than 150 Poles and 24 Russians were among those arrested.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, Poland’s sports minister, Joanna Mucha, said the incident left her “ashamed” and disgusted.” She said the people involved were “hooligans,” not f a n s .

Croatia target Pirlo

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roatia coach Slaven Bilic says that playmaker Andrea Pirlo is Italy ’s “most important” player and that stopping him will be key to Croatia’s chances when they meet on Thursday at Euro 2012.

Bilic said Wednesday that Pirlo is “creative, he’s always running” and that “his technical skills are just perfect.”

If Pirlo plays well, the rest of the team plays well, Bilic adds.

The Croatia coach said he has yet to decide how to counter the 33-yearold midfielder, who impressed in Italy’s 1-1 draw with defending champion Spain on Sunday.

Polish Interior Minister Jacek Cichocki said there will be “fast track” criminal procedures with the foreign nationals detained so sentences can be issued within two days and they can be expelled from the c o u n t r y .

54— Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012—55

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VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

Amavubi arrive for Eagles WANDA’s delega tion to Saturday’s 2013 African Cup of Nations qualifier with Nigeria flew into Lagos on Wednesday afternoon aboard Rwanda Air flight.

The contingent, made of 25 players and 11 of-

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WAR IN WARSAW

ficials, is scheduled to be airlifted from Lagos to Calabar aboard an Arik Air flight on Thursday morning. The players and officials will stay at Channel View Hotel in Canaan City.

It is eight years ago since Rwanda’s senior

team clashed with the Super Eagles in a competitive match in Nigeria. On June 5, 2004, in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying match played at the National Stadium, Abuja, Obafemi Martins’ two goals gave Nigeria a 2-0 win.

EURO: Varela saves Ronaldo’s blushes ARELA got Portu gal’s Euro 2012 campaign back on track, grabbing a late winner as they defeated Denmark 3-2. His winner came minutes after captain Cristiano Ronaldo had missed two scoring chances when the game was tied 2-2 Portugal, who lost their opener to Germany on Saturday, looked to have thrown away a two-goal lead after a brace from Nicklas Bendtner cancelled out early goals from Pepe and Helder Postiga.

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Pacquiao cries for revenge

However, Varela came off the bench to smash in an 87th minute winner to keep Carlos Queiroz’s hopes of a quarter-final place alive with their first win of the tournament.

Today’s Fixtures Italy v Croatia 5pm Spain v Republic of Ireland 7:45pm

Result Portugal 3 Denmark 2

Uduaghan for Warri Grand Prix ELTA State Gover nor, Emmanuel Uduaghan will grace the Warri Grand Prix today.

His government has backed the hosting of the grand prix largely as a contribution to Nigeria’s qualification for the re-

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lay events of the London Olympics. Uduaghan hopes the relay teams will garner the points that can help their qualification today. Awoturo Elayae, the man the event was named after will be there too.

Warri hosts athletics world today LL is now set for the first Warri Relays and athletics buffs are awash with expectations of seeing top level competition as had never been witnessed before in the Oil City.

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TODAY'S

The meet is the brainchild of Athletics Federation of Nigeria president Solomon Ogba who is a great admirer of the American Penn and Texas relays. Of course, today’s fiesta also incor-

PUZZLES

porates the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Grand Prix which upgrades it to an Olympic qualification meet.

Athletes competing today in Warri are from USA, Jamaica, Bahamas, YESTERDAY'S

St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent, Egypt, Cameroon, Botswana, Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Ethiopia, Liberia and Uganda.

The setting presents a

beautiful atmosphere for Nigerians to see their top athletes compete for honours before heading down to Calabar for the final Olympic selection trials. One of such Continues on Page 52

•Ogba

QUICK CROSSWORD

ANSWERS ACROSS 3 Language (5) 9 Reviled (6) 10 Wandering (6) 11 Shun (5) 12 Roster (4) 15 Evil (4) 17 Deleting (7) 20 Rabbit (3) 21 Claw (5) 23 Flat (4) 25 Unhearing (4) 26 Plunged (5) 28 Marry (3) 30 Illness (7) 33 Hero (4) 35 Regretted (4) 36 Crow (5) 38 Pill (6) 39 Company (6) 40 Cash (5)

DOWN 1 Sword (5) 2 Ration (5) 3 Meadow (3) 4 Coming (6) 5 Flag (4) 6 Bow (3) 7Inflexible (5) 8 Tally (5) 13 Commanded (7) 14 Enquired (5) 16 Bewilder (7) 18 Stared (5) 19 Deity (3) 22 Not ever (5) 24 Pinch (3) 27 Swell (6) 28 Humorous (5) 29 Suspect (5) 31 Presage (5) 32 Bordered (5) 34 Singer (3) 37 Attempt

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Assist 5, Impact 9, Aroma 10, Cudde 11, Plague 12, Eagle 14, Iced 17, Dry 18, Mere 20, Canoe 22, Aired 23, Prowess 24, Sewer 26, Peril 29, Trod 30, Her 32, Rate 33, Hades 35, Editor 36, Notice 37, Level 38, Tugged 39, Wedged.

How to Play Sudoku

THE VIGILANTE

Down: 1, Arctic 2, Sodden 3, Sale 4, Tired 5, Imply 6, Male 7, Agler 8, Teemed 13, Growled 15, Caper 16, Doped 18, Misser 19, Remit 21, Err 22, Asp 24, Street 25, Voting 27, Raving 28, Legend 30, Hared 31, Renew 33, Hole 34, Sale.

e-mail: rowolove@yahoo.co.uk

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

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