Why FG resists terrorist label for Boko Haram

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 61688

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

NBA asks FG to call 2012 OLYMPICS: Ogoni, Bayelsa govt to Blame NSC for Team Nigeria's order ...over own flags, anthem woes — Ajunwa —SeePageBack —P.6

Why FG resists terrorist label for Boko Haram •Says it 'll elevate status of sect •Two bomb couriers killed in explosion

—Ambassador

BY HUGO ODIOGOR & LUKA BINNIYAT

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AGOS—NIGER IA’S Ambassador to the United States, Prof. Ade Adefuye, yesterday, proffered reasons why Nigeria is against plans by Americans to classify Boko Continues on page 5

OGAGA IFOWODO •P.19

ROTIMI FASAN •P.19

HAKEEM BABA-AHMED •P.17

DEAR BUNMI •P.38

Mr & Mrs JONATHAN MEETS Ex-IGPs—From left: President Goodluck Jonathan with former Inspectors-General of Police, Mohammed Gambo Jimeta, IbrahimComassie and Mike Okiro during a meeting at the State House, Abuja, yesterday.

SPECIAL REPORT: Iva Valley massacre

accelerated independence •100 yrs of trade unionism in Nigeria....OWEI LAKEMFA'S book serial on Pgs 32&33 C M Y K

Presidential c'ttee kicks against state police •P.6

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POCKET CARTOON

Why FG resists terrorist label for Boko Haram Continues from Page 1 Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO).

Ambassador Adefuye who was guest speaker of the Third Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, (NIIA), symposium on the visit of US Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton to Nigeria at the Louis Mbanefo Hall of the institute in Victoria Island, Lagos, said such classification will subject innocent Nigerian travellers to undue embarrassment and humiliation from U.S immigration authorities.

The envoy who gave a background on the recent visit of Mrs. Clinton to Nigeria said some members of Republican Party in the U.S. Congress have been mounting pressure on the Obama administration to classify Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, but Nigeria is opposed to it because it will elevate the status of Boko Haram and embolden them.

The classification could pave way for the U.S. to use its unmanned drones to attack the leadership of the group.

Adefuye said: “We know from the experience of Afghanistan and Pakistan, such unmanned drones could lead to destruction of vil-

lages and people who are not directly involved in the activities of Boko Haram."

According to Ambassador Adefuye, “ we believe that Nigeria has the capacity to contain the threats of Boko Haram; we have dealt with a more complex threat represented by the Niger Delta militancy which threatened the economic interest of America.” He said Boko Haram has not threatened the economic interest of U.S and the proposed plan to classify them as FTO, will elevate the status of the local terrorist group and will equally make it easier for Boko Haram to attract more international support from other terrorist groups in the international system.

Ambassador Adefuye said the experience of Abdulmutallab in 2010, which resulted in U.S. placing Nigeria on the Global Terror Watch list, is a guide to his embassy to strongly resist the move by the US diplomatic and political community.

Former Nigeria’s ambassador to the US, Professor George Obiozor in his contribution told the audience that Boko Haram is a big embarrassment to Nigeria in the international arena and its existence remains a major threat to

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

W

HAT can be avoided should be avoided. It is never wise to gain by battle what may be gained through bloodless negotiation.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us — Joseph Campbell

S

TEVE Pavlina in his motivational writings af firmed that our passion, purpose, and talent can extend beyond limits. The best place to start with purpose is by listening to your conscience. Once you know that, then move on to passion and talent — each of these will likely contain many possibilities. There are probably several things you love to do and several things you can become really good at. List them out for each category. Then take time to reflect on possible areas of overlap between purpose, passion, and talent. Remember that the talent circle can be moved with additional education and skill-building.

When you find the area of overlap between purpose, passion, and talent, the need area tends to be fairly easy to fulfil. Decide that your life is worth enough to you to get all of these areas working together. You don’t have to stop doing what you love. Take some time to reflect on what kind of career, what kind of life, would allow you to put these factors in harmony — all of them pointing in the same direction. No conflict. It can be done.

attracting Foreign Direct Investment to Nigeria.

Two bomb couriers killed in Kaduna explosion Meanwhile, two male youths suspected to be members of the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, yesterday, died after an explosive device they were transporting on a motor bike to an undisclosed target in Kaduna suddenly went off, killing them on the spot.

According to an eyewitness account, the incident happened around 3:30pm along Aliyu Akilu Road, close to NNPC mega station by the junction of an exclusive Hausa/Fulani en-

clave of Abakwa in Kaduna metropolis.

Sani Musa, 21, a cobler, who spoke to Vanguard after the incident, said the two were heading to a target somewhere not far from where they got killed.

He said: “I was polishing a shoe under that three”, pointing to a huge mango tree besides the filling station, “ when I heard something explode and we all jumped and ran to safety. Then we returned and saw an excited crowd. A motor bike was burning. And there were the bodies of two people killed by the explosion. They said that the two who came from Abakwa were trying to turn and ride to the military check point that you can see up

there. But they hit a pothole and the bomb exploded on them”, he said.

At the time of this report, the Police in Kaduna, the State government and the Military were yet to comment on the incident.

Yesterday marked the fifth of such accidental explosions by bomb cou-

riers in Kaduna in one year, the worst being that of last Easter Sunday, when a bomber ’s car exploded at Sardauna crescent junction after the car was denied entry at the ECWA church, Gwari Road, about 200 metres away. About 55 people, mostly Muslims were killed in the explosion.

Boko Haram not religious group — Junaid Mohammed

BY SONI DANIEL

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BUJA—SECOND Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, said yesterday that it was wrong for some Nigerians to associate Boko Haram with Islam or Christianity, saying that the sect was purely a terrorist organisation.

Mohammed, who is the National Chairman of Peoples Salvation Party said: “As far as I am concerned, Boko Haram is a terrorist group; it has nothing to do with Islam or Christianity. Let those who are ignorant stop associating it with any religion and face the reality on the ground.

“People should not bring religion into what should be done through proper leadership,” he added.

The former lawmaker, however, warned Nigerians against vilifying President Goodluck Jonathan over his decision not to use force against Boko Haram, pointing out that it was his discretion to use or not use force in any situation.

He said: “The President is exercising his power of discretion. It is within his power to or

not deploy soldiers to crush Boko Haram or any other group that causes violence in the country".

Mohammed maintained that the National Assembly should however remove the President for allegedly committing impeachable offences.

Asked to name the offences committed by the

president, Mohammed said that the refusal to implement the budget as passed by the National Assembly and assented to by Jonathan as well as the misuse of the subsidy funds were some of the offences for which he should be removed.

Responding to Edwin Clark’s recent call for the arrest and prosecution of some northern

leaders for not doing enough to checkmate Boko Haram, Mohammed asked Nigerians to ignore the antics of the Ijaw leader, as he was just trying to seek relevance from the administration and Nigerians.

“There is no need to dignify Clark with response. It is a pity that a government that wants to make progress can continue to rely on people like Clark,” Mohammed said.

Nigerian couple who beat their kids jailed 14 yrs in London

BY UDUMA KALU, WITH AGENCY REPORTS

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A G O S — W H AT most Nigerians culturally do by using corporal punishment to correct their children when they do wrong and go scot free has become the albatross for two Nigerian couples resident in the United Kingdom.

For beating their six children with brooms, hoovers and wires and even giving their baby a morphine overdose after childbirth, the Nigerian couple have been jailed for seven years each in London, with the UK press calling them all

sorts of names.

But the Nigerian married couple denied the allegations, claiming the children were victims of a racist witchhunt. They were, however, found guilty of cruelty to a person under 16.

The parents convicted of a decade long campaign of abuse against their six children were jailed for seven years each yesterday.

The Nigerian couple, which the paper said claimed their kids were possessed by evil spirits, were found guilty after Coronation Street star Michelle Collins gave evidence against them.

The parents argued

that the children had been ‘brainwashed’ into making the allegations by the police, the London Borough of Haringey and Miss Collins who they said ‘wanted to steal’ them, UK’s Green Crown Court heard.

Jurors rejected the parents conspiracy theories.

When they are released, they face deportation back to Nigeria - despite pleas from their legal team that they have been ‘punished enough’ by having their children taken into care.

As they left the court, the paper said the couple wailed: ‘We are innocent, this is a miscarriage of justice.’

6—Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

NBA asks FG to call Ogoni, Bayelsa govt to order zOver declarations of self govt, own flags, anthem

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

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BUJA—THE Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, yesterday, declared as illegal and unconstitutional, the recent declaration of “selfgovernment” by Ogoni people in Rivers State, just as it faulted the Bayelsa State government for adopting its own flag, coatof-arm and state anthem.

The legal body which briefed newsmen, urged the Federal Government to promptly nip such secessionist tendencies in the bud, saying such acts were capable of fanning the embers of separation and disunity within the federation.

NBA which made this call on a day it enunciated modalities for its 52nd annual general conference scheduled to hold in Abuja between August 26 and 31, 2012, stressed that “no provision in the Constitution allows or recognises any flag other than the Nigerian flag or any anthem different from the National anthem.”

It would be recalled that the people of Ogoni had on August 2, declared its own political autonomy, maintaining that the action was for “the advancement of liberty in freedom and the preservation of the ancestral heritage of the Ogoni people.”

In a live broadcast on a newly established radio station, “Voice of Ogoni”, president and spokesman of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, Dr. Goodluck Diigbo had vowed that “By this declaration of political autonomy, we, the Ogoni people are determined to enforce the United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples, without fear or retreat.”

Diigbo stated that “In order to make indigenous rights practicable in Ogoni, we have through a very transparent electoral college process, beginning with community by community elections, set up 272 village councils, while the village councils in turn elected representatives for 33 district councils and the district representatives went on to elect representatives to serve at the centre, as custodians of customs and

traditions, otherwise called lawmakers.

“In taking these measures, we are quite aware of the discomfort to about 56 local politicians that control local government politics in Ogoni; however, we care more about the 1.2 million people that have for too long been excluded."

He announced that a Transitional Committee was already set up to facilitate dialogue to ensure peaceful transition within 30 days, saying consultation with the national government and international community had already begun.

According to him, “we are acting with legitimacy to reclaim all of our rights, without exception, and for the sake of peace and security; let no one test the collective will of the Ogoni people, because we will not surrender our indigenous rights anymore.”

In the same vein, citing Osun State amongst others that earlier took a similar step, Bayelsa State which is the home state of President Goodluck Jonathan, on August 8, rolled out its own flag, coat or arm and an anthem.

The Bayelsa State government which maintained that the customized insignia and anthem would be released immediately the law establishing them is signed by the Governor, Mr Seriake Dickson, said “the decision was taken to forge a common identity for the Ijaws,” saying the action was nothing different from what was obtained in other nine states that have towed a similar path.

In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel IworisoMarkson, Governor Dickson, noted that “In line with the vision of the founding fathers of our dearly beloved state and given this administration’s stand on Ijaw mobilization, Ijaw integration and the need to promote Ijaw fundamental interest, which clearly is not subordinate to any other interests, the government of Bayelsa State has given its approval to have a stateowned emblem to mark and strengthen our sense of identity as a state.”

The decision according to

the statement was taken after a State Executive Council meeting that held the previous day.

Remarkably, the move brought to 10 the number of states with known state paraphernalia with the rest being Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Ekiti, Kwara, Cross River and Rivers States.

No region has right to

self government However, condemning such secessionist acts, the NBA which spoke through its outgoing national president, Chief Joseph Daudu, SAN, warned that: “it is unconstitutional for any section of the country to seek to break away or to engage in any act suggesting that it intends to declare self government.

“Nigeria is a federation, if you have a jingle extolling the virtues of your state, I do not consider such as an anthem. Jingles can extol the cultural virtues of a state; it is not illegal for any state to promote what it does or is known for, like farming, however, such must be done within the ambit of the law.

“What was done by both Ogoni and Bayelsa State, to the NBA, amounts to acts of secession that promotes separation. We should be able to differentiate between things that promote unification of a state and things that promote isolation and independence.

The Federal Government should stand up and nip these in the bud” it added.

No comment on Justice Ayo-Salami Meanwhile, the legal body, yesterday, said it would no longer comment on the protracted controversy surrounding the suspension of the embattled President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, noting that the case is now sub-judice.

However, it dismissed allegation that the national election it held recently was skewed to favour some anointed candidates, even as it dared one of the contenders for the presidency of the association, Chief Emeka Ngige, SAN, to go ahead and prove to Nigerians that two dead lawyers actually voted against him during the electoral exercise.

TANKER, COMMUTER BUS IN AUTO CRASH—A tanker with number plate NO XD 701 RBC carrying kerosene was involved in an accident with a Danfo commuter bus, and somersaulted at Jakande Bus Stop, along Apapa/Oshodi expressway in Lagos yesterday. Here some street boys scooping kerosene at the scene. Photo: Diran Oshe.

Presidential c'ttee kicks against state police zRecommends scrapping of Police Affairs Ministry

BY BEN AGANDE

A

BUJA—THE Presidential Committee on the reorganisation of the Nigeria Police has spoken against the establishment of state police which is being canvassed by some state governors, saying such a move could lead to the dismembering of the country.

Speaking with newsmen after submitting its report, chairman of the committee, Parry Osayande, said the committee also kicked against the establishment of the Ministry of Police Affairs as it has no relevance to operations of the force.

According to him, apart from being illegal, the Ministry of Police Affairs is a drain-pipe to the funds that should be directly managed by the office of the

Inspector General of Police.

He said a comparative study of Police forces in the West African sub-region indicates that the Nigerian Police Force is the least paid police organisation.

The committee, therefore, recommended the review of the salary structure as well as re-tooling of the Police with relevant equipment in order to make it more functional.

Osayande said a stronger and more efficient National Police Council with effective participation of state governors; financial autonomy and better professionalism for the police will mitigate the calls for state police.

He noted that state governments would not be able to fund state police, adding that the funding of the police should be borne by all three tiers of government.

“State police? It is irrelevant. They cannot afford. Do you know how much it is to police a country? What we are recommending is that they allow the Police Council to function.

“The President is the chairman, the chairman of Police Service Commission is a member, governors are members, the IGP is a member, and (governors) will bring their policing plan to the council. They will now decide on what to do. We don’t need state police; the country will break up, take it from me.

“The Constitution provides a tri-lateral arrangement for organisation and administration of the Nigeria Police Council, the Police Service Commission and the Inspector-General of Police.

“However, it is a known

fact that the Nigeria Police Council is inactive as it hardly meets, and hence does not fulfil its constitutionally assigned role of administering, organising and generally supervising the Nigeria Police.”

Speaking further on funding, the committee’s report noted its satisfactory funding cannot be met through mere federal budgetary allocation.

“It is either that funding of the Police be made a first line charge or an intervention/special fund be created to accommodate the needs of the police.

“The committee thus supports the recommendation of the M.D. Yusuf 2008 committee on the reform of the Nigeria Police that Police should henceforth be jointly funded by the three-tiers of government”, it stated.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012—7

Imo asks court to dismiss reinstated LG chairmen's suit

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

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From left: Funke Akindele, Rita Dominic, both Glo Ambassadors, Mr Steve Stretch, Head, Glo 1 and Mr Samson Isa, Head, Glo Value & Added Services, at the presentation of cheques to winners of the Glo Multi Millionaira Text Win to 2012 Promo in Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Shola Oyelese.

WERRI—IMO State Government, yesterday, questioned the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the suit filed by the reinstated 27 local government chairmen against it.

At a hearing, counsel to Imo State Government, Mr. Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, argued that the court did not have jurisdiction to hear the substantive matter.

Akintola, who is defending the Governor, the State Independent Electoral Commission and the State

Obi distances self from APGA crisis

BY VINCENT UJU-

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MADU

WKA—GOVER NOR Peter Obi of Anambra State, yesterday, said he would not join the bandwagon in the ongoing crisis in All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, lamenting enemies were using the little misunderstanding in the party as an avenue to make money.

Fielding questions from reporters after inspecting some demolished structures at the Upper Iweka area of the commercial city of Onitsha, Obi observed that crisis period was sometimes better for some people, but insisted that he would not relent in working hard for the suste-

nance of the party.

“I have a job to do for the party and that is to ensure that APGA is sustained,” he said According to the governor, the state government’s Anambra State Integrated Development Strategy, ANIDS, which strives to develop all sectors of the economy

SSAEAC proffers ways out of PHCN, labour face-off

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-

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YOUNG

AGOS—AS the Fed eral Government and organised labour today in Abuja, meet on the lingering dispute over unresolved

Nsukka group insists on creation symposium organsised of Adada State day at the university town of

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SUKKA—WOR RIED by government’s neglect, over the years, of the geo-cultural zone in Enugu State, through scanty provision of social and economic infrastructure, the Nsukka professionals Group, NPG, has thrown its weight behind the agitation for the creation of Adada State from the present Enugu State.

The group, which comprises professionals from the Nsukka Cultural Zone, living and working/doing business in Lagos, also charged the people to be determined to rise above their present challenges, noting that “the war against poverty, disease and ignorance, factors at the core of the underdevelopment of the cultural zone, can only be waged by the people of the zone for themselves and by themselves.”

In a communiqué issued at the end of a oneC M Y K

simultaneously, was on course and urged the people to see the programmes being implemented to make the state wear a new look as part of the ANIDS. .

He said: “We are committed to the state and her people. We shall not relent in any way. Part of demolition of illegal

Nsukka, with the theme, Nsukka 2020: Agenda for Zonal Transformation, the group noted that “the easiest and most effective way to end the marginalisation and underdevelopment of the Nsukka Cultural zone is for Adada State to be created out of the present Enugu State.”

CORRIGENDUM

T

HE MANAGEMENT of First City Monument Bank Plc, FCMB, has denied Vanguard online publication that an employee of the bank was shot dead at the Gwange Ward in Maiduguri.

A statement by the bank’s head, corporate affairs, Mr Tunde Shofowora said “while we note that the security situation at Maiduguri has become worse recently, we can confirm that all our employees at Maiduguri and their families are safe.”

labour issues and soldiers occupation of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, Senior Staff of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEAC, has suggested ways to address the imbroglio.

It will be recalled that Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, last Wednesday, gave Government oneweek ultimatum to withdraw soldiers from PHCN installations and commence meaningful dialogue with the unions in the sector or face a nationwide strike.

SSAEAC in a seven-page petition to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power and his House of Representatives counterpart, detailed the genesis of the current crisis and alleged tissues of lies and misinformation being giving out to the public by the agents of the executive.

The petition by PresidentGeneral and General Secretary of SSAEAC, Bede Opara and Abiodun Ogunsegha said: “The issues of pension, gratuity and supperannuation fund must be addressed conoclusively. Government should pay gratuity to all in accordance with provision of the Staff Condition of Service reviewed in 2010."

structures is to make the entrance into the state as beautiful as that of other tates.”

Obi said the planned visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to Anambra State later this month would restore the pride of the people of the state as three world -class in-

dustries built in the state and offering jobs to thousands of the people would be commissioned.

He appealed to those propagating negative things about the state to realize that it was not about an individual, but about the future of a society their children live in.

House of Assembly in the suit, told the court that technically there was no case before it.

“With due respect Sir, this court does not have the jurisdiction to hear this matter because the tenure of the claimants expired August 8, 2012. Again, there is an extant law that must be obeyed, which gave the claimants two-year tenure”, Akintola argued.

Defending himself, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Soronnadi Njoku, argued that the issue of jurisdiction was fundamental, stressing that when raised, every other thing must stand still.

“Jurisdiction is the live wire for the continuance of every suit. Apart from this, I was only served this morning and I need at least 24 hours to react appropriately”, Njoku argued.

Presenting the reinstated chairmen’s case, their counsel, Mr. D.O. Agbo, argued that the only motion ripe for hearing was that filed by the claimants seeking to nullify the dissolution of the local councils by the Governor.

8—Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

20 Nigerians, 11 organisations get Productivity Awards

BY JOSEPH ERUNKE

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BUJA—IN a bid to remind its citizens of the need to develop a productive mindset, the

Federal Government will, tomorrow, confer National Productivity Award on 20 Nigerians, who it said distinguished themselves in national

productivity.

Eleven organisations will equally benefit from the award expected to be presented by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Among the recipients of the award is Lady Sandra AgueborEkperuoh of the Lady Mechanic Initiative.

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, who addressed journalists, yes-

HONOUR: From left— Mrs. Olusola Oworu, Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry; Mr. Adeola Ipaye, Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, representing Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, and Mr. Olutoyin Ayinde, Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, at the presentation of the achievements recorded by Governor Fashola's administration within the first 1,900 days in office for Lagos Central Senatorial District, in Lagos Island, last Friday. PHOTO: Bunmi Azeez.

terday, in Abuja, said the development was in line with the directive of Federal Government, which had, at the launch of Operation Excellence in Service on February 21, 1990, declared that February 21 of every year be observed as National Productivity Day. Wogu said: “This declaration was further given a boost when National Policy on Productivity for Nigeria was approved by Federal Executive Council in February this year.

“A key point in the policy is the declaration of a day to be celebrated as National Productivity Day all over the country.

“A major component of NPD is the National Productivity Order of Merit Award, NPOMA, which is an award of honour and dignity conferred on the most productive organisations and individuals in Nigeria.”

He said that 236 individuals and organisations had so far received the award between 1991 and 2009.

Road safety critical for national growth— Anyim

BY CHRIS OCHAYI

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BUJA—SECRETARY to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, has said road safety management was a critical component of national growth and development.

Senator Anyim, who

received a road safety specialist from the SubSaharan Africa Transport Programme, SSATP, Mr. Per Mathiasen, noted that safety management underscores the huge investment by Federal Government on road construction and rehabilitation across the country.

He said the Federal

Road Safety Commission, FRSC, had taken giant strides to showcase best road safety practices to the outside world as seen by the World Bank adoption of the commission as a model for lead agency on road safety management in Africa.

He said: “I feel overwhelmed that FRSC is to

be presented as a case study to other African countries at a SSATP workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia later in the year.

“I am aware that the World Bank has contributed immensely in capacity-building for the Corps as well as provided operational equip-

Auditor-Gen debunks reports on 2012 annual audit

BY BEN GANDE

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BUJA—AUDITORGeneral for the Federation, AGF, Mr. Samuel Ukura, has denied media

reports that he was using the report of the 2010 annual audit, recently submitted to the National Assembly, to harass some agencies of government.

Ukura, in a statement, yesterday, noted that though “it is true that I had recently complied with Section 85(2) of the 1999 Constitution, with the sub-

Lar faults calls for state police

BY AKANINYENE EZEKIEL

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OS—ELDER statesman and first civilian governor of Plateau State, Chief Solomon Lar, has urged those clamouring for the formation of State Police to recall the experiences citizens had in the hands of the local police system known as Yan Doka, which existed in the late 50s till early 70s until the 1979 constitution addressed the issue.

Chief Lar said local po-

lice were exploited by politicians, which made them oppressive, hence the need to weigh the options before calling for it.

Addressing newsmen at his residence in Jos, yesterday, Lar blamed deeprooted corruption for every misfortune facing the nation and called on everyone to come together to fight the common enemy for other things to take shape in the country.

On the problems confronting Plateau State, he

said had the recommendations of the Peace Panel he headed and other panels before it were implemented, the problems would have ended before now.

He said: “It is unfortunate that Jos and indeed the entire state has become what it is today.

“This state received a medal for good governance and for being peaceful and people were coming from everywhere to live and do business here and we did not discriminate against

mission of the 2010 annual audit report of the federation to the National Assembly, the job of the AGF ends after the submission of the report.

“It will be out of place for the AGF to comment or grant media interviews on the report, which had not been considered by the appropriate committees of the National Assembly.

“Allusions to the purported interview with AGF or crediting him with quotes and statements as had been done in some of the reports purported to be excerpts from the 2010 Annual Audit report, are not only unprofessional but also ill-conceived.”

He denied that he spoke to journalists and media houses about the audit report.

ment to be used on the corridor.

“The country also benefited from a World Bank-sponsored capacity review. Recently, I hosted two Police Officers, who came on assessment of enforcement capacity and needs of FRSC under the auspices of the bank.”

Earlier, Mr. Mathiasen said he was in Nigeria under the auspices of SSATP on fact-finding on the administrative and operational activities of FRSC, which will form part of a presentation at a regional workshop at Ethiopia, later in the year.

Okupe denies ACN's accusation, points at Ikuforiji

BY BEN AGANDE

A

BUJA— SENIOR Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, yesterday, denied allegation

by Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, that he was being investigated by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Okupe, in a statement in Abuja, yesterday, by his Director of Media, Mr. Sanya Awosan, said he was not being investigated for any alleged unwholesome act, while executing a contract in Benue State.

National Publicity Secretary of ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had alleged that Okupe was on the list of those being investigated

by EFCC over a contract running into millions of naira. He alleged that Okupe bolted with the over N200 million mobilisation money paid to him by the state government.

However, Okupe said: “Checks revealed that the whole brouhaha was a calculated attempt to malign me, as my mandate among others is to properly propagate the programmes, achievements and policies of this administration.

“Mohammed had called for my resignation, but it is hypocritical of ACN to latch onto allegations published online and ignore the huge fraud allegedly perpetrated by the Speaker of ACN-led Lagos House of Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji.

“Ikuforiji is still battling allegations of a N7 billion fraud. Ikuforiji, who had been quizzed by EFCC, allegedly siphoned N500 million running cost through first line charges.”

Elder Ogunmodede for burial

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LDER Isaac Ogunmodede, 53, who died August 9, would be buried on Friday in his house in Magboro, Ogun State.

A Christian wake will hold tomorrow at 2, Olayemi Adegoke, off Miracle Avenue, Magboro.

Christian outing service is scheduled for the Magboro Assembly of The Apostolic Church, opposite Eleja, on Magboro Road, immediately after the interment.

Late Ogunmodede is sur-

vived by a widow, children, aged mother and other siblings.

Late Elder Ogunmodede.

Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2012—9

BY SHOLA OGUNDIPE & CHIOMA OBINNA

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KEJA—THE family of retired Assistant Comptroller of Fire Service, Mr. George Moses, a victim of the June 3 Dana air crash, yesterday, raised the alarm over the whereabouts of his corpse, just as the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, condemned the assault on Mr Benedict Uwalaka, a photo-journalist with Leadership newspapers.

Describing the alleged disappearance of the body as “insincerity” on the part of the hospital authorities, a member of the late Moses’ family, Mr. Achief Olajide, who spoke to journalists, alleged that in June, the name of the victim was among the 29 identified names pasted at the Lekan Ogunsola Memorial mortuary of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja.

Brandishing documents and photographs, he said: “After the June 3 crash, we came the following day to the mortuary to identify the body. I entered the morgue, saw Moses' body and it was intact and he was also identified by his ID card which was in his wallet. ''We were asked to wait at the hall for briefing. Professor John Obafuwa brought out the list of identifiable bodies which was up to 29 names. My uncle’s name was number 22 on the list.

Search corpse

for

the

“The professor asked us to bring the photograph of the deceased. We brought the photograph, but the professor changed his word that the deceased's body cannot be released again that they were going for DNA testing. After two months, we were called that the result was out.”

According to Olajide,

Dana crash: Victim's corpse ‘disappears’ in morgue the search for the corpse began on Tuesday August, 7, after announcement of the arrival of the DNA test results from the United Kingdom. He said the name of the late Moses was not on the list pasted at the mortuary.

Asked if he was aware that the LASUTH authorities said there were 16 bodies yet to be identified either because they were excessively charred or the samples submitted by relatives could not match the bodies during the forensic analysis, Olajide said: “I understood there were 16 bodies burnt beyond forensic analysis or some families could not show up with reference samples. But our case does not fall into any of these categories. So, where is his body? ''They must give me the corpse because the family cannot tolerate any excuse this time out.”

No word LASUTH

O b a m u w a b u , Mohammed avowed: “Any person that wages war against any journalist in Nigeria; that an attack

ist in Nigeria should continue to fight for ourselves no matter how highly placed is the individual.

From left, Chief Ernest Shonekan, former Head of Interim National Government, ING; Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu, Deputy Governor, Kebbi State and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, at the launch of a book, Olusegun Obasanjo: Passing the Torch, written by Ambassador Albert Omotayo, at Obasanjo Presidential Library Hall, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, yesterday. Pix: Wumi Akinola.

from

Efforts to contact LASUTH officials for comment proved abortive.

Meanwhile NUJ has frowned on the assault meted on the photo-journalist. “We cannot continue to fold our hands while journalists who are carrying out their duties are being battered by some miscreants. We cannot continue to fold our hands, rather at every point in time we will continue to fight for our rights,” said NUJ National President , Mr. Garba Mohammed .

Speaking at the opening of the Nigeria Association of Nigerian Journalist, NAWOJ through his Vice, Mr. Rotimi

on any journalist is an attack on every journalist in Nigeria. We will continue to resist any attack by anybody, and journal-

Chairman of the occasion, Chief Afe Babalola, SAN; presenting the book.

Police Inspector, 2 suspects die in gun duel

BY EVELYN USMAN & BOSE ADELAJA

L

AGOS—A police in spector drafted to a second generation bank on Warehouse Road, Apapa, Lagos, was, yesterday, shot dead during a shoot-out with a fiveman robbery gang.

However, the deceased, identified as Inspector Taye Ajetunmobi, was said to have contributed immensely to foiling the robbery while two suspected members of the gang were shot dead by his colleagues who were on patrol.

Also, no fewer than five people were seriously injured, yesterday, in an accident which occurred about 2pm at Jakande Busstop on Apapa/Oshodi Expressway.

Report said the robbers, who pretended to be customers, attempted to enter the bank but were accosted by the Inspector.

During the shoot-out, one of the gunmen reportedly shot Ajetumobi on the head, killing him on the spot. The patrol team which arrived the scene engaged the gunmen in a shoot-out and when it became apparent that they were being overpowered, the robbers reportedly fled the scene.

When the dust settled, an ID card bearing James Williams, staff of a fumigation company on Lekki/Epe Expressway, was found on one of the dead suspects.

Police ignore LASTMA's claim of banker killing its official ...Court grants her bail over traffic offence

BY EVELYN USMAN & BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE

L

AGOS—CONTRARY to claims by the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, that a female banker, Mrs Yinka Johnson, crushed one of its officials to death while driving against traffic last Friday on Lekki/Ajah Expressway, the police, apparently satisfied from their investigation that she did not commit the crime, only charged her for driving against traffic, thereby confirming Vanguard’s story that she was exonerated on the charge.

Also, the Igbosere Magistrate's Court in Lagos where she was charged for traffic offence, yesterday, granted her bail, after

spending four days in police custody.

Operatives at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, charged the banker for driving against traffic, at the end of the investigation.

The magistrate, Mr. Jacob Adegun, granted the 35-year-old banker bail in the sum N50,000 with one surety in like sum, after having pleaded not guilty on a one count charge of reckless driving against traffic.

Police prosecutor, Inspector Agoi Oluwagbemileke, told the court that Mrs. Johnson was arrested on August 10 at 8.30 a.m. at Mega Chicken area of Ikota in Lekki, Lagos, for reck-

lessly driving a Range Rover Sports Utility Van, with number-plate CY 276 LSD. According to the prosecutor, the defendant was caught driving on a one way traffic without reasonable consideration for other road users, adding that the offence is punishable under Section 29 (1) of the Lagos State Road Traffic Laws of 2003.

He said: “The accused refused to obey government officials who tried to stop her from taking the road.”

But, defence counsel, led by Mr. Emeka Okpoko, however, urged the court to grant her bail, arguing that traffic offences were bailable.

Okpoko urged the court to grant her bail in liberal

terms since the gravity of the offence was not severe, saying that the defendant, being a banker and a nursing mother, will not abandon her job.

He further told the court that the defendant would always be available to attend court proceedings.

Contrary to some publications, Okpoko said the charge before the court showed that the defendant was not the one that killed the LASTMA official.

The case has been adjourned till September 5, for mention.

Meanwhile, some eyewitnesses, who claimed to have witnessed the incident last Friday, were present on the court premises.

C M Y K

10— Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

Briefly

Women cocoa farmers protest

BY DAYO JOHNSON

A

KURE—HUN DREDS of women cocoa farmers, yesterday, protested at the headquarters of Cocoa Farmers' Association of Nigeria, in Akure, Ondo State, over the choice of agro-chemicals by the Federal Government.

The women, who came from all the cocoa-producing states, urged Minister of Agriculture, Professor Akinwunmi Adesina, to look into their request Led by Mrs. Dorcas Ekpo, Alhaja Aminat Usman and Mrs. Comfort Arifalo, they said the minister should be concerned about the development of the sector.

Ekiti FRSC decries illegal use of govt number-plates

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

A

DO-EKITI—THE Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Ekiti Sector Command, has decried the use of government number-plates on private cars by retired civil servants in the state, just as it dragged 32 people to court for traffic-related offences.

The Sector Commander, Mr. Rindom Kumven, said in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday, that the way motorists and motorcycle riders were breaking traffic rules were becoming alarming.

Major Akinyemi dies @ 58

M

AJOR Akinloye Akinyemi (rtd), scion of the late Canon and Mrs J. A. Akinyemi of Ifewara, Ilesa, Osun State, is dead, aged 58.

Major Akinyemi, who joined the Nigerian Army as a cadet in the regular 13th course of the Nigerian Defence Academy, was at Shrivenham Royal Military College of Science.

He is survived by two sons, a daughter, brothers —Venerable (Dr.) Akinwumi Akinyemi, former Vicar-General of the Jos Anglican Diocese and Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, former Minister of External Affairs.

Shonekan tasks leaders on national devt

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

A

B E O K U TA — FORMER Head of Interim National Government,ING, Chief Ernest Shonekan, yesterday, tasked political office holders to work hard and

ensure national development.

Speaking in Abeokuta, at the launch of a book written on former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, ‘Passing the Tourch’ by Ambassador Albert Omotayo, Shonekan said there was

need for statesmen, professionals and politicians to lay good foundation for the coming generation.

He said successful and patriotic statesmen, professionals and politicians needed to show Nigerians coming behind that work is beneficial and also be

conscientious in their callings.

The former Head of the Interim National Government said: “It is important to always celebrate some of the leaders who had contributed immensely to national development,'' adding that in Nigeria, people were fond of condemning leaders who had achieved so much but made one or two mistakes.

He stressed that there was a need for a change of attitude in this regard, stressing that the former president remained an enigma whose contributions to national and international development was worthy of emulation.

At the event, First Lady,

Dame Patience Jonathan, described Obasanjo as an enigma, urging researchers to work on other notable personalities.

Mrs. Jonathan, who was represented by Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, said: “It is important for all Nigerians, especially the youth, whom leaders will hand over to eventually, to have a good understanding of their sociopolitical antecedents.''

Chairman of the occasion, Chief Afe Babalola, SAN, called for the documentation of good works and policies of the country ’s leaders whose achievements in office were exemplary.

5-man gang on parole caught in fresh robbery

BY OLA AJAYI PRESENTATION: From right, Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko; National Publicity Secretary, Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Alhaji Sulaiman Gambari, and Ondo State Chairman, NUT, Mr. Michael Fanimokun, at the presentation of an Award of Excellence to the governor at the 4th Quadrennial (12th) State Delegates' Conference of Ondo State Wing of NUT, in Akure, yesterday.

Ogun PDP canvasses unity among factions

A

BEOKUTA—OGUN State chapter of the Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP, under the leadership of Mr. Adebayo Dayo, has canvassed the need for all the groups within the state chapter of the party to close ranks and work for its interest.

Addressing party leaders and elders at a meeting in Ijebu-Igbo, yesterday, speakers emphasised the need for all the groups within the party to forget their differences and unite even as it prepared for future challenges.

Those who spoke included a Second Republic politician, Chief Robert Adenaike; a former Secretary of the party, Chief ‘Pegba Otemolu; a party chieftain from Ogun Cen-

tral, Chief Zacchaeus Oyekunle; ex-member of the House of Representatives, Kayode Amusan and a party stalwart, Alhaji Agboola Alausa.

Dayo stressed the need for unity and cohesion, stressing that “it was high time the party put its house in order and forged a common front in the interest of the deprived and depraved people of the state who are yearning for the dividends of democracy.”

He urged members to accommodating, law-abiding and peaceful in the onerous task of repositioning the party for future challenges.

A chieftain of the party, Prince Buruji Kashamu, who hosted the meeting, regretted that a few individuals in the state chapter of the party were “using the good name of our leader and former President Olusegun Obasanjo to perpetrate illegalities and cause division within the party.”

I

BADAN—A gang of five suspected armed robbers, who were granted amnesty last year, has been arrested by the Oyo State Police Command in connection with several other robbery attacks.

Also, many ex-convicts or robbery suspects, who were released on bail by courts, were among other suspected criminals paraded by AIG Tambari Muhammed at the Eleyele Headquarters of the command.

While parading the suspects, the new AIG, who, until his promotion was the state Commissioner of Police, said the “robbery origin of the gang dates back to their prison days.

The five-man alliance started after they were granted amnesty and released from prison and thereafter, it has been terror for Ibadan residents.”

He gave the names of the suspects as Lukman Rafiu, Benjamin Ojo, Adebayo Adeniyi, Wasiu Adegoke and Muniru Adigun.

He said Segun Kehinde and Rafiu were charged to court for murder in 2007, but granted amnesty and released in 2011.

Also, he explained that Ojo and Adigun were charged to court for robbery but were also released in an unclear circumstance last year, while Kehinde was also charged to court for burglary and stealing and was released last year.

Fake voter-registration in Ondo — INEC zACN challenges commission to name party involved

BY DAYO JOHNSON

A

KURE—THE Inde pendent National Electoral Commission,

INEC, in Ondo State, yesterday, raised the alarm that an unnamed political party was compiling a fake voter-register ahead of the October 20 governorship election.

But, the Akeredolu Campaign Organisation has challenged the commission to name the political party involved in the illegal voter-registration.

In a statement in Akure, by its Head of Public Affairs, Mrs. Celina Beckley, INEC said the voter-registration was illegal and contravened the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

It warned the “political party involved to desist from such act as the secu-

rity operatives had been alerted to deal with anyone or group of people caught in the act.''

The commission urged members of the public “not to trade with their voter-cards, but keep them safely and be ready to present them at the polling unit so that they can vote in the forthcoming governorship election.”

In another development, the Police authorities in the state, yesterday, asked political party leadership to curb their members’ violent tendencies.

According to the command Image Maker, Mr. Adeniran Aremu, in a statement, in Akure,

warned politicians in the state against actions that could provoke violent retaliatory reactions from other parties.

Meantime, the Akeredolu Campaign Organisation, through its Director of Media, Publicity and Strategy, Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, has challenged INEC to name the party allegedly involved in the illegal voter- registration.

Ajanaku said his party, Action Congress of Nigeia, ACN, in Ondo State, had raised alarm that another party had embarked on illegal registration in the state under certain pretences, adding that it was a plot to compromise the election.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012 —11

Airhiavbere's running mate flays court action

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

B

ENIN—AS contro versy continues to trail the decision of Edo State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, not to contest the outcome of the July 14 governorship election in the state, Gen. Charles Airhiavbere's (rtd) runningmate in the election, Mr. Johnson Abolagba, has dissociated himself from the stand of some Edo North leaders who have affirmed their support for the governorship candidate's court action.

It will be recalled that VISIT: Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State (left) with Major-General Mohammed Abubakar, General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2 Division, Nigerian Army, during a courtesy call on the governor at Government House, Asaba, yesterday.

C-River spends N600m on community devt

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU

Kidnap suspects nabbed in bid to C collect N5m ransom

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

A

SABA—A RELA TION of an Asababased hotelier has been arrested for allegedly masterminding the kidnap of the hotelier.

Nemesis caught up with the suspect as he attempted to collect the N5 million paid as ransom, after contacting the wife of the hotelier, who dropped the money somewhere at Egbeda in Lagos State.

Police Public Relations Officer of the state, Mr Charles Muka, who confirmed the incident, said the hotelier was kidnapped in March and that a report was made by the wife, Mrs. Rosemary Osadebay that she was called by a certain GSM number. He said

the anti-kidnapping team played along with the callers.

He said: “The anti-kidnapping team traced the callers to Egbeda Junction in Lagos, the agreed point for the collection for the expected ransom, where one Obarakpo Afie, male, and Chinedu Onyekwelu, male, were arrested while attempting to collect the money.

“The said Onyekwelu, who is a relation of the victim, confessed to making the call and demanding the said ransom and that he introduced Onome to the deal.”

Meantime, courts in Asaba did not sit, yesterday, following the boycott of lawyers, who are protesting the kidnap of Justice Marcel Okoh, ab-

TUC alleges JTF's connivance in oil theft

BY EGUFE YAFUGBORHI

P

ORT HAR COURT— TRADE Union Congress, TUC, has again accused the Joint Task Force, JTF, in the Niger Delta of aiding and abetting oil theft and

related crimes in the region.

TUC chairman in Rivers State, Mr. Chika Onuegbu, yesterday, said oil theft in the Niger Delta would not thrive if the authorities charged with the task of policing the environ-

Omoruyi tasks Oshiomhole on transition c'ttee

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

B

ENIN—FORMER Director-General of Centre for Democratic Studies, CDS, Prof. Omo Omoruyi, yesterday, admonished Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, to set up a transition Committee that will draw up a programme for his November 12, 2012 swearing-in.

He said: “Between now and his swearing-in in

ducted on August 6, on his way to Warri.

Some litigants, who spoke to our reporter at court premises, expressed worry over the non-sitting of the courts and joined in begging the kidnappers to release the judge.

Vanguard gathered that the kidnappers had been discussing with the judge's wife.

November, the committee should plan for his second term, so that when he starts his second term, there will be no break.

The committee will look at all areas he had dealt with and look out for priority areas, where he can commence work in earnest.”

Prof.Omoruyi, told Vanguard in Benin City, that the governor’s first term in office had afforded him the opportunity to know the problems of the

state, adding: “All the committee will do now in his second term is to come up with an agenda and implementation in areas of employment, health, education, agriculture, including helping the media.

“I am talking about the media because the current state of Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, secretariat is not good at all. That place needs to be renovated so that it can have a new look.”

ment were not colluding in the act.

He said an aerial investigation revealed that the areas where oil theft thrived most were known to all, adding that the perpetrators were not faceless.

He said: “If the JTF, Operation Pulo Shield, has been operating as they claimed, how come oil thieves are doing these things openly? Remember this is a business that is very lucrative. So it is a partnership.

“My view is that it is not as if the JTF is the one doing it, but there are some officers of JTF, who are conniving with the criminals.”

To arrest the continued oil theft in the region, he challenged JTF, if it meant well, to identify and arrest those involved in the nefarious activity in order to serve as a deterrent to others.

Gen. Airhiavbere had challenged at the election tribunal, the re-election of Governor Adams Oshiomhole and he has the support of some PDP leaders in Edo South and Edo North Senatorial zones.

However, in a statement in Benin, yesterday, Abolagba, said, “ I was the deputy governorship candidate in the just concluded governorship election and wish to disclaim reports making the rounds that I was a part of an Edo North PDP leaders’ meeting held on August 12, 2012 at Afuze, which purportedly endorsed the tribunal challenge of the outcome of the election.

ALABAR—GOV ERNOR Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, has released N600 million for Community and Social Development Project, CSDP, Pastor Victor Ovat, General Manager, Community and Social Development Agency, has said.

Pastor Ovat, in Calabar, the state capital, said that the government approved and ensured the

release of the statutory government contribution to the project every year, adding that the agency had increased funding beyond the statutory annual contribution of N100 million.

He noted that as at June 2012, the agency has, since its inception in 2009, received from government, N601.862 million, which he explained, was the cumulative statutory annual contribution of N100million from the state government .

Ajiga emerges Vitafoam Nig. Plc's MD/CEO said both of them would

V

ITAFOAM Nigeria Plc, has announced the appointments of Mr. Joel Ajiga and Mr. Taiwo ,Adeniyi as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer designate and Executive Director of the company respectively.

Mr. Ajiga is to succeed Dr. Bamidele Makanjuola, who is due to retire from the office of Managing Director on September 30. Mr. Ajiga’s appointment as Managing Director of the company will take effect from October 1, while Mr. Taiwo Adeniyi’s appointment as Executive Director took effect from July 26.

In a statement, Chairman of Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Chief S. O. Bolarinde,

Mr. Joel Ajiga

be bringing on board, invaluable wealth of knowledge and experience.

Ajiga, who has served the company for over twenty-one years, joined the services of Vitafoam as a Production Manager in 1991. An expert in engineering/production coordination in the business, he rose through the ranks to become the Technical Director of the company in 2008, the position he held until his appointment as the Managing Director.

Mr. Taiwo Adeniyi, a National Productivity Order of Merit Award winner in recognition of his immense percentage contribution to the Gross Domestic Product of the country in 2010 joined Vitafoam Nigeria Plc in 2007.

Mr. Taiwo Adeniyi

12—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

Airtel empowers Nigerians in top management

A

IRTEL Nigeria has said that its top management is dominated by Nigerians to demonstrate its love for Nigeria and Nigerians.

Managing Director/ CEO, Airtel Nigeria, Rajan Swaroop, who addressed a media roundtable in Lagos, said: “The fact that Nigerians have a dominant presence in the top management of

Airtel Nigeria, is indeed ample proof that it is in Nigeria for the long haul.

“We have fewer expatriates on our executive committee than any other telecommunications services provider operating in Nigeria, and we are indeed proud to be attracting top quality Nigerian human resources to Airtel.”

Awomakpa emerges S-South CAN chairman

C BRIEFING: From right: National President, Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Mohammed Garba; National Secretary, Shuaibu Liman, and NUJ Chairman, FCT Chapter, Chucks Ehirim, during a press conference in Abuja on increased harassment of journalists in Nigeria. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

Ibori's $15m: Why Delta govt didn't demand earlier — Attorney General

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

A

S A B A — D E LT A State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Charles Ajuyah, SAN, yesterday, explained why the state government did not earlier ask for the $15 million allegedly recovered as bribe from the former governor of the state, Chief James Ibori by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Ajuyah told newsmen shortly after the Executive Council meeting at Government House, Asaba, that the state government decided to wait until the lingering litigation over the matter was concluded.

He said: “All the while, it was subject of litigation. When the case was

dismissed by the Federal High Court, Asaba, EFCC appealed. It was a continuation of the proceeding and you could not be talking of claiming property at that time.”

He said the state government had formally filed its claim in the court with intent to taking cus-

tody of the money, adding: “We have applied.

We are saying that we are entitled to that money. The principle that applied in other states on similar issues should prevail. Delta State cannot be an exception. We are saying that we are entitled to the money. We are entitled to it and we

SNG alleges extra-judicial killings in Bayelsa

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

Y

ENAGOA—SAVE Nigeria Group, SNG, in Bayelsa State has expressed concern over alleged incidents of extrajudicial killings of two persons in Yenagoa by armed policemen between last Friday and Monday.

While the Monday killing of a driver, an employee of Azikel Nigeria Limited, by a mobile policeman of Mopol 30 attached to a construction company, occurred at the Swali suburb of the capital city, another police patrol van last Friday, according to report, knocked down a father of four identified as Odoko Iwama on Otiotio Road.

Court adjourns ruling on Ugolor's even after the State Sebail application curity Service, SSS, had

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

B

ENIN—AN Edo State High Court sitting in Benin, has adjourned till tomorrow, ruling on a bail application by Executive Director of African Network For Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, Rev.David Ugolor, seeking his release from the custody of Police, who are holding him in connection with the murder of the PrinciC M Y K

are taking ownership.”

On why the government allowed a private lawyer to file application on behalf of the state, he said that at no time did he abdicate his duty, saying, “I did not give consent to any person to file any application in connection with the matter.”

pal Secretary to Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Mr Olaitan Oyerinde.

Counsel to Ugolor, Mr. Olayinwola Afolabi, who led 12 other lawyers, prayed the court to compel the Inspector General of Police and Attorney General of the Federation to urgently release Ugolor on bail pending the determination of the substantive suit.

Afolabi, who expressed worry over Ugolor's continued detention, lamented that this was

paraded some persons as Oyerinde's killers.

He argued that Ugolor's continued detention was a violation of his fundamental and constitutional rights.

Afolabi drew the judge’s attention to an affidavit of urgency deposed to by the wife of the applicant, supported with a medical report that the applicant was undergoing medical attention before his arrest and was in bad state of health in the respondents’ detention.

Though a police source described the Friday incident on Otiotio Road as an accident, which is currently being handled by the police motor traffic division, witnesses alleged that the deceased was run over by a police patrol van with the inscription “Operation Doo Akpoo” over suspicion of his alleged involvement in the theft of a chicken by a neighbour.

The group in a statement, yesterday, in Yenagoa by the its co-ordinator, Puluovie Japheth, condemned the killing of the two defenceless citizens and urged the authorities to call the security operatives to order.

“Our attention has been drawn to the incident that led to the death of Mr. Odoko on August 10, 2012 on Otiotio Road. It was an unfortunate and avoidable incident. As crusaders of good governance, we strongly suggest that the appropriate authorities should call on the new security outfit to do their job with caution."

HRISTIAN Associ ation of Nigeria, CAN, South South wing, yesterday, elected Archbishop God-do-Well Awomakpa as its new chairman.

Archbishop Awomakpa is the former Chairman of CAN in Delta State.

At the election in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Awomakpa polled the majority vote to emerge Chairman. Other elected

officers were Archbishop Israel Ige, Vice Chairman and Dr. Felix Ekiye, General Secretary. Apostle Umoh Otong, emerged Assistant Secretary; John Okubo, Treasurer, while Bishop E.Efrem, was elected Financial Secretary.

In his acceptance speech, Archbishop Awomakpa urged the Christian body to remain steadfast in prayer.

Delta 2015: Group drums support for Okowa

A

GROUP, under the aegis of Movement for Democratic Equity, has endorsed Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa for the governor of Delta State, come 2015.

Coordinator of the group, Mr. Josiah Mashomi, made this known when he led his exco on a courtesy visit to the former coordinator of Delta Youth Development Committee, Patani Local Government chapter, Comrade Asiuwhu Godspower, in Ughelli.

Mr. Mashomi stated that the group had consulted widely and resolved to support Dr.

Okowa from Anioma in line with the PDP arrangement that after Delta South, Delta North takes over for fairness, equity, peace, unity and good conscience.

He stressed that though Anioma nation parades other men and women of proven integrity, pedigree and wisdom, Okowa stands out to take the state to greater heights.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012 —13

Enugu traffic officers allege brutalisation by policeman

BY TONY EDIKE

E

MASS: Delta State Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama, SAN (right); Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi (left) and Anambra State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Joe-Martin Uzodike at the funeral mass for late Bishop Emeritus of Catholic Diocese of Issele-Uku, Most Rev. Emmanuel Otteh at Issele-Uku, yesterday.

NUGU—THREE members of the task force set up by Enugu State Ministry of Transport to monitor and arrest violators of traffic light in Enugu capital city narrowly escaped death yesterday when they were allegedly attacked and beaten by a police officer attached to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS. The task force personnel were said to be cautioning the officer for violating the traffic light rules at Onitsha road, Enugu when he suddenly attacked them with

Abia govt accuses Ihie youths of oil theft, pipeline vandalism

BY ANAYO OKOLI

U

MUAHIA—ABIA State Government has accused youths from Ihie community in Ugwunagbo Local Government Area of vandalizing oil pipelines and scooping petroleum products in

Ukwa West area.

The Government advised the traditional rulers and leaders in the community to call the youths to order as the Government would not hesitate to deal decisively with any of them caught.

Speaking through the

Commissioner for Petroleum and Solid Mineral Development, Chief Don Ubani, the government said despite several warning against pipeline vandalisation unscrupulous individuals and groups had decided to test the might of

the Government.

He warned that Government had put in place security measures to deal with the issue, saying “any person trying to experiment with the pipelines would only be subjecting himself or herself to avoidable selfdestruction.”

The commissioner said security operatives had begun man hunt for the youths who vandalised pipelines and scooped oil at Umuaka-Asa in Ukwa West Council.

Describing the vandals as “heartless criminals from Ihie” Ubani said that the traditional rulers and leaders in the community had a social and moral obligation to call their youths to order.

Ubani also warned that “the NNPC pipelines that channels petroleum products from Alesa- Eleme in Rivers state to NNPC Depot at Osisioma has become sacrosanct that anyhoodloom who feels he could toy with it would only be irresponsibly exposing himself or herself to unquantifiable danger.”

Passage

M

ADAM MERCY UlomaEmeruwa,105,of Okpulo Ukwu , Umuosu, IsialaNgwa, Abia State, is dead.

She will be buried on August 18, in late Mazi Jonah Emeruwa'scompoundinOkpolo Ukwu.

She is by children and relations including Pastor Friday Emeruwa.

LateMrs.MercyEmeruwa

a stick and later allegedly threatened them with a gun before marching them off to the SARS office.

One of the victims of the attack, Mr. Nwobodo Chukwaemelie, claimed he stopped the Police Officer, who was in mufti, with a Toyota Saloon, No CK 176 ENU, when he beat the traffic light.

Nwobodo said to his surprise, the man alighted from the vehicle with his service pistol in one hand and a stick in another and p o u n c e d on him and inflicted injuries on his hands and legs.

He narrated that the police officer, after beating him, handcuffed and

dragged him to SARS office in Enugu.

Corroborating the story, the second victim, Mr. Odoabuchi Daniel, at the same duty post said the enraged police officer extended the attack to him when he wanted to intervene and used the same stick to beat him and also inflicted injuries on him.

The third victim, Mr. Nnamani Kenneth, who said that the police officer threw caution to the wind, describing the attack as uncalled for as the officer ignored the task force personnel’s polite approach and attacked them with the sticks and his service pistol.

Ebonyi NUT seeks re-introduction of supervisory head teachers in schools

A

BAKALIKI— EBONYI chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, yesterday in Abakaliki called for the re-introduction of supervisory head teachers to curb truancy in schools.

Chairman of the chapter, Mr Joseph Nweke, told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that effective supervision of teaching and learning was needed to uplift the standard of education in the state.

The NUT official said, monitoring and supervision of learning activities in schools were more efficient when there were supervisory head teachers.

He said the system encouraged head teachers, teachers and the pupils to be alive to their responsibilities.

Nweke said the supervisors used to move round the schools, within their areas of jurisdiction, ensuring that lesson notes and diaries of teachers were up-to-date.

According to him, the supervisors would ensure that strict discipline was maintained in the sector, as they had the power to place a ‘’no pay order ’’ on any erring worker.

“These supervisors had powers to place order of don’t pay on any teacher or head teacher found wanting.

Award for Enugu North LG boss

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NUGU—CHAIRMAN of Enugu North Local Government, Mr. Emeka Ede, has been honoured with an award as the most outstanding local government chairman in Enugu State on infrastructural development by an Abujabased National Pillars magazine.

Mr. Ede who received the award in Abuja was hailed for his achievements in the areas of road construction,

rehabilitation of health centres, youth empowerment, among others, within the first six months that he became the local government chairman.

According to the organisers of the award, the recipient was selected because his developmental strides placed him above many of his contemporaries.

Receiving the award, Ede said: “When I took over, I discovered that the major needs of the people were good roads, infrastructure and good governance.

“In Enugu North we do not depend only on the allocation from the Federal Government but have revenue consultants who have ensured our target revenue are met.This has made it possible for us to have more funds which have enabled us execute people-oriented projects."

14—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST15, 2012

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— 15 Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST15, 2012—

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16—Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

Two Niger State traditional rulers crushed to death

BY WOLE MOSADOMI

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INNA—TWO traditional rulers were crushed to death on Minna-Bida-Katearegi Road in Katcha Local

Government Area of Niger State, yesterday.

The traditional rulers, Alhaji Jibrin Babankaka and Alhaji Baba Mohammed, were the Village and Ward Heads of Bisanti community in

Katcha council of the state, respectively.

They were returning from a three-day Fida’u prayer in a neighbouring community, when a pickup van, which lost control after one of its tires burst, hit them from the rear.

They were said to be on a

motor bike when the pickup van ran into them and crushed them to death.

State Police Command Spokesman, Mr. Pius Edobor, confirmed the incident, adding that the remains of the deceased had been buried according to Muslim rites.

LAUNCH: From right— Mrs. Chineye Faleye, Manager, Digital Media; Mr. Wael Ammar, Chief Commercial Officer, and Mr. Steven Evans, Chief Executive Officer, all of Etisalat Nigeria, at the official launch of Etisalat EasyAdz, in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: Bunmi Azeez.

Police defuse 963 bombs in Kano, arrest 86 suspects

BY ABDULSALAM MUHAMMAD

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ANO—KANO Police Command, yesterday, said it uncovered and defused no fewer than 963 Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs, picked randomly from various parts of Kano from January till date.

Similarly, 86 suspects, known as Yandaba, were apprehended by police authorities from several black spots across the state.

Kano, the commercial nerve centre of the North suffered one of its worst and devastating attacks on January 20, by Islamist group in which 186 lives were lost and property worth several billions of naira lost.

Briefing journalists on the activities of the Command in the last 14 days, Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, said the feat recorded against crime and criminality in the state was due to the cooperation and support of well-meaning individuals.

He said the bombs were picked up randomly at Jamblock; Rijiyar Zaki; Bayero University, Kano; Federal College of Education, Kano, all in Kano metropolis and were successfully detonated by the Anti-Bomb Disposal Unit C M Y K

of the Command.

The police boss was full of praises for Kano peo-

ple for the success posted by security agencies in their fight against insurgency in the state.

He said 13 pump action guns; two pistols; one air

riffle; nine double barrel guns; one AK-47 rifle and two AK-47 magazines were recovered from hoodlums in the last 14 days across the state.

... as Wada advises Christians against avenging Kogi church attack

BY BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO

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OKOJA—GOVERNOR Idris Wada of Kogi State has urged Christians in the state and those affected by the recent attack on Deeper Life Bible Church to resist the temptation of retaliating.

Wada, who visited the General Superintendent of Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Kumuyi, who was in the state to condole with members of his congregation, stressed that retaliation would mean that “the designs of the enemies of the

state and country had succeeded.”

Represented by his Deputy, Mr. Yomi Awoniyi, the Governor said a lot of findings had been made on who the perpetrators of the acts were, adding that the ugly situation had no sectarian or religious undertone.

He promised that all those involved would be brought to book, no matter how highly placed.

Wada assured that all religions in the state will enjoy their rights to freedom of worship as entrenched in the Nigeria Constitution without fear or molestation.

The governor noted that the recent occurrence was the manifestations of the sinful inclination of some criminals, seeking to reap where they did not sow and were driven by their greed, avarice and lust.

He promised that no stone will be left unturned until the perpetrators were brought to book.

Pastor Kumuyi, on his part expressed appreciation for steps taken by the state government, saying the attack was premeditated.

He called on government and security agencies to be alert to their duties.

DAY 25: Lailatul Qadr, a huge opportunity

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N about three days from now, we will bid the Ramadan month farewell. How have you spent the last 26 days? Has it been fruitful, spiritually exciting and physically rewarding or have you wasted the time unknowingly? Ramadan, as usual, has flown by.

Despite planning beforehand, many of us may have got caught up in a normal routine after accustoming ourselves to the change in schedule the blessed month brings. This may have affected our initial plans to increase our worship and to seek Allah’s forgiveness and mercy with greater favour.

Have you kept pace with your recitation of Quran, or have fallen behind? Have you tried to attend Tarawih prayer regularly, or did you use weak excuses to get out of it? Did you observe Tahajud or you used the night attempting a call to Gawat for hajj slot or Ramadan gift?

Did you keep your five daily prayers with outmost consciousness? Did you invite anyone over for Iftar or did you help any needy person, even a beggar, during this period of fasting?

Did you regularly seek Allah’s forgiveness and mercy with sincerity and

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AUCHI—A 25-yearold man has been arrested by State Security Service, SSS, operatives in Bauchi State for parading himself as a lawyer and staff of National Intelligence Agency, NIA. The suspect, Ibrahim Aminu, who was arrested

based on a tip-off in Bauchi, allegedly defrauded two men of the sum of N193,000 after impersonating a lawyer with Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Gombe Branch.

Bauchi State Assistant Director of SSS, Mr. Olu Justin, who paraded the suspect before newsmen, yesterday, said some of the

items found on him included 83 passports for different individuals, forged stamp of Providence Chamber, Dutse, Jigawa State and University of Maiduguri identity card.

He added that the suspect impersonated a staff of NIA and collected money from unsuspecting people on the pretense of helping

Prayer of the day

Allahumma innaka ‘afuwwun tuhibbul ‘afwa fa‘afuwannee—OAllah!You are forgiving, and you love forgiveness. So forgive me.

(As many times as possible)

Suswam urges security consciousness

BY PETER DURU

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AKURDI—GOVERNOR Gabriel Suswam of Benue State has said Nigeria was in a state of security emergency, which requires high security consciousness and alertness on the part of all Nigerians.

The governor, in a keynote address in Makurdi at

SSS nabs lawyer, NIA agent impersonator

BY SUZAN EDEH

fear?

Did you avoid backbiting and slander at home and offices? Did you constantly check your intentions to make sure that your good deeds were for the sake of Allah alone and not to impress others, gain their favour or to show off?

Perhaps, the last three of four days could also make a difference. Whether you have an impressive record or not, you can still make the most of what is left of Ramadan this year, Insha Allah.

Remember what Allah says on ‘one night better than a thousand nights.’

Remember what Lailatul Qadr stands to offer. Explore the opportunity and increase your Ibadaah and Dua. It is a time when you can get the blessing of a thousand months; it is a time of possibilities.

Do Tahajud, and pray in the last few days of the month. Life is about people who take advantage of their opportunities to win the love of Allah. Lailatul Qadr is a huge opportunity.

them get a job and at the end disappeared into thin air.

The suspect, told newsmen that he is married with a daughter, adding that his wife was expecting his second child. He said he regretted his actions, saying he was pushed into defrauding people because of hardship.

a security awareness lecture organised for state and local government functionaries, said: “The reality with respect to security in our country nowadays is that we no longer can afford to be complacent on security matters.”

Represented by his Deputy, Chief Steven Lawani, the governor said: “In essence, we are in a period of security emergency; there should, therefore be heightened security consciousness and alertness on the part of everyone.”

He lamented the state of insecurity in the country, which he noted was taking its toll on the country’s economy and all facets of the nation’s life, advising Nigerians to brace up to the challenge by championing genuine reconciliation.

— 17 Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST15, 2012—

Special Assistants when the verdict from Nigerians comes in to say we are not impressed. Which is also the right point to ask what is really wrong, apart from the fact that the President’s side is overloaded with the wrong people? What is wrong is that the other side sees all these efforts to create a false image for the President, and they are even less impressed. The President’s case is not helped by the zeal of security agents who tend to treat scathing criticism of his performance as a threat to national security. It is not helped by high profile exposure by his wife which does little justice to his office as the embodiment of propriety, decorum and decency. It is not helped by institutional weaknesses which pitch him in bruising battles with the legislature over budget performance, over Oteh, over the P.I.B. It is not helped by dithering and delays over the prosecution of persons suspected in the subsidy scam. It is not helped by insurgents who appear to strike at will, or the failure of the largest mobilisation of the nation’s security assets in towns and streets to contain them.

“If someone wants to roast you, you do not smear yourself with oil and sit by the fireside awaiting him.”- Nigerian proverb.

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HE recent entry of Dr. Doyin Okupe into the image management team of President Goodluck Jonathan ought to have improved the manner the Presidency is perceived by Nigerians. Dr. Okupe brings an intimidating credential as a heavyweight with an intellect and a punch, and has been involved in many bruising battles in the corridors of power and on political streets. This engagement of Dr. Okupe as aide on Public Affairs, reflects a growing concern that the image of the President (and his wife) are not being positively received. You have to feel for Dr. that Drs. Abati and Okupe have many Reuben Abati, an accomplished rivals in the area of creating the right image professional who had all the credentials to for the President. These rivals come in all make a success of managing the forms, shapes and sizes. You have the President’s media and public relations. godfather Chief E. Clark who shoots from There is no spin you could put on the the hips and offers no apologies. His job Okupe-Abati pairing that will mitigate the is to remind Nigerians that President damage done to Dr. Abati’s standing as Jonathan is a good President being an experienced media person brought in harassed by northerners (and possibly a to make a poor leadership look good. The few of their friends in the West) who have sworn that he will never space taken up by Dr. govern in peace. His crime Okupe belongs to Dr. Abati, is that he is from the Southand what is left of Abati’s turf South, a member of a will now largely be a minority group who has function of his ability to The best P.R offended those who believe protect it, and the capacity for Jonathan that it is their destiny to of Dr. Okupe to operate in govern Nigeria forever. the stifling environment is a radical President Jonathan is being around President Jonathan. improvement fought with the JASLIWAJ Ordinarily, the (Boko Haram) insurgency, combination of Drs. Abati in his and the people behind it are and Okupe will intimidate any opposition, particularly performance. more or less known. All (except the type represented by His critics will Nigerians northerners who will not opposition parties these condemn Boko Haram) days. Dr. Abati’s extensive not relent in should rally around the network in the media and criticising President who is Dr. Okupe’s arsenal of tricks transforming Nigeria. and bricks will take on him, even at Nigerians should wait and ACN’s Lai Mohammed, the risk of see: if Jonathan ceases to Babangida’s Afegbua or be President (in 2015, or CPC’s Tony Momoh any others 2019, if he wants), Boko day. They will be welldefending him Haram will disappear. supported with resources There are also a few less and muscle, and only because p r o m i n e n t government’s extensive he is Ijaw but equally vociferous machinery for propaganda defenders of the President. in NTA, FRCN, NAN and from the Asari Dokubo warns the many others. They can North to put out the counter fair and unfair South South insurgency before it criticism, and sell the becomes a war, otherwise President, his the south-south will administration and his spouse so well that Nigerians will believe obliterate the north with hunger and they are the best thing that happened to superior weapons. Then you have the Ogoni Declaration of Independence and the nation.

So what is the problem? The problem is the flags and anthem of Bayelsa State,

Shhhh!

Making the President look good President Goodluck Jonathan

symbolic irritants that appear to suggest that the President is lax on his own people, but tough on communities in which the JASLIWAJ insurgency is prominent.

There are yet more rivals to the good Doctors in the utterances and actions of Pastor Oritsejafor, the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) who insist that the President, like all christians in the nation, is the victim of a grand Muslim conspiracy to Islamise or destroy the nation. There is a motley of businessmen, pseudo-intellectuals, exmilitants who have billion-Naira contracts and career political crawlers who see every criticism of the President as a vindication of their suspicion that he has enemies who are envious of the excellent work he is doing. To all these, add a governmentowned media which has raised the basest form of propaganda into an art form.

Finally, you have the PDP whose unwieldy machinery still manages to churn out a word or two to say nothing is wrong with the President or the nation.

With all their competitors selling the President, you have to feel sorry for Drs. Abati and Okupe, the Minister of Information, several Advisers and Senior

But the job of making the President look good is also being made more difficult by critics who genuinely observe serious inadequacies in governance irrespective of the tribe or religion of President Jonathan. These critics are moving away from the middle ground which was the comfort zone for those Nigerians who thought you took on the President only if you are a northern Muslim who did not want him to become President in the first place. Increasingly, the Federal House of Representatives is becoming a major source of opposition, and it is likely that more responsible Nigerians will raise their voices in demand for improved performance.

The task of managing the image of President Jonathan’s performance is going to be increasingly more challenging as critical shortfalls in competence, in managing security and curbing corruption continue to be registered by his administration. The best P.R for Jonathan is a radical improvement in his performance. His critics will not relent in criticising him, even at the risk of others defending him only because he is Ijaw from the South South. We will never be a nation where citizens sit and watch, or keep mute because security people say, shhhh!

OPINION

BY SOMTOCHI AWALA

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NLIKE what were contained in the article written by Odimegwu Onwumere titled ‘Why T.A Orji will not thank God’ which was published on Page 18 of The Sun newspaper of August 6, 2012, I strongly believe that Governor Orji, his family and the people of Abia State have every reason to be always thankful to God for His infinite mercy, protection and guidance, especially with their liberation from the clutches of political godfatherism. This is because while the political godmother and her godsons held sway, the state suffered from lack of progress or development.

Naturally, it is expected that with the present development, not everybody will be happy with Governor Orji, his family and the people of the state, especially those who lost out in the power equation with their allies. This is because their access to the State's treasury has since been blocked by Governor Orji for the good and development of the state.

This is why their language and feelings are now expressed through anger, frustration, hatred and puerile criticisms against the government and people of the state. But the beauty of it is that they are few and therefore in the minority. And in democracy, the minority will have their say and the majority will have their way. This frustration was obvious in Onwumere’s illogical and unfounded tantrums embedded in his article against Governor Orji, his government and son which was published in his paymaster’s newspaper.

It is common knkowledge that the monthly allocation from Federation Account to states across the country with the attendant deductions is now published in newspapers. That of Abia has always been within the range N3.5 billion, depending

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Between facts and Onwumere’s fallacies on Abia on the deductions, while the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of the state hovers around N200 million to N250 million monthly. With the new minimum wage of N21,000, workers salaries and allowances gulp roughly N2.5 billion monthly.

These are verifiable facts the armchair critics, including Onwumere and his paymaster, cannot dispute or disprove with contrary evidence. Inspite of this, Governor Orji has been able to execute major developmental projects such as the Amokwe Housing Estate, International Conference Centre, the Workers Secretariat, among several ongoing projects across the state.

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he issue of lean resources is common among states across the country, especially with the current deductions by the Federal Government to settle fuel subsidy payment which has prompted the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, to threaten to drag the Federal Government to court.

Even the super rich oil states, of which Abia is not among, are complaining of lean resources due to the shortfall from the Federation Allocation. But in the face of all the obvious challenges, Governor Orji has refused to borrow to run the affairs of the State; rather, he has prudently managed the resources available to him in developing the state at a fast pace.

Constitutionally, there is no limitation on the number of political aides to be appointed by a Governor or President. It all depends on the wisdom of the Governor, resources at his disposal, coupled with the qualities of the aides who will help

him in getting good results. The number of aides appointed by Governor Orji so far pales in comparison to the 2000 aides appointed by Governor Mallam Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State which he recently sacked. Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State on assumption office appointed 79 aides and when he was asked why he appointed them, his response was that they would help him to generate fund to run the state. I don’t know how far they have generated the fund. Also, Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State recently appointed 50 political aides; this is apart from the Commissioners. Nyako described the appointment as a means of creating employment for the appointees. Can Onwumere tell Nigerians how many political aides were appointed by his principal when he was Governor of Abia State?

The one billion Naira agriculture loan scheme from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for farmers in the state is a reality and is being released in phases to genuine farmers in the state just like other states across the country. Presently, nine council areas are assessing the loan. These are facts Onwumere should try to verify before making petty and unwarranted allegations to the state government out of political malice and hatred.

The state government has not diverted it; rather, it is trying to ensure that genuine farmers benefitted from it as Federal Ministry of Agriculture releases them. *Mr. Awala, a lawyer, wrote from Jabi, FCT Abuja.

18 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2012 RUE to his promise to introduce the first radio station dealing specifically on traffic problems of the state, Governor Babatunde Fashola on Tuesday, May 29, 2012, cut the tape to open the Lagos Traffic Radio station.

Located on the premises of the Lagos State Broadcasting Corporation in Ikeja, the station has been transmitting on the 96.1 FM frequency. Since it was opened, it has become an invaluable asset to motorists, ways in resolving problems arising from who wish to know the traffic situation on road accidents, tackling sundry their routes before hitting the roads. Its emergencies and even the quicker removal presenters are on hand to link up motorists of dead bodies on the roads, unlike in the with the 120 Monitors of the Lagos State past when corpses could lay on the roads Transport Management Authority for days on end.

We commend the imagination of the state (LASTMA) scattered all over the government for investing on a special radio metropolis, who have been specially ser vice to tackle one of the most trained to report the situation in their areas of jurisdiction and steps being taken to challenging problems facing the nation’s foremost economic centre, Lagos. Easy solve emergent problems.

It has also become a very handy means of movement of goods and services, as well alerting the authorities on the condition of as the safety of people living in Lagos the roads and the conduct of both state and constitute the priority of any government federal road managers for possible prompt that intends to make the city work.

Coming at the same time that a new traffic attention. This service is helping in no little

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Kudos for Lagos Traffic Radio

law was signed into law, Lagos Traffic Radio should play a leading role in the massive education of the people on the complicated provisions of this new law.

We urge the management of the station to expand the horizon of its programming to encompass other means of transportation, such as the ferries, trains and even helicopter services and flight schedules. It should also continue its already existing programmes on motoring and safe driving culture.

A city like Lagos needs as many specialised radio stations as possible to solve the many needs that exist. The instant success of the Lagos Traffic Radio shows it is supplying solutions to a great need. Most of the about 30 FM radio stations airing in the Lagos airwaves are irrelevant in that they offer the same, boring programmes: more music, less talk.

We are happy that Lagos Traffic Radio is here to make a difference, helping people to go to work and return to their homes with authentic information to help them choose.

OPINION

BY CHUKS ILOEGBUNAM

Continued from Pini's yesterday pg.

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t was an election also pronounced infinitely better than the ones that put both Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua in the presidential office. In this context, one would have thought all that remained was for the victorious candidate to exercise his mandate through four years. But the extremist flank vowed otherwise, and has since been conducting a violent dog-in-themanger campaign. In the face of this burgeoning insurgency, some politicians and allied press have been carrying on as though the dreadfully impending downpour will, if unchecked, fall on only one man’s house.

President Jonathan has had, in the last one year, a plateful of criticisms. Many of them are clearly over the top. Yes, the Presidency should have clarified with Professor Chinua Achebe before offering the famous author a national honour that he eventually rejected with a stinging commentary, especially as he had previously rebuffed a similar honour from President Obasanjo. Yes, it would have been preferred if the opinion and support of stakeholders had been courted before announcing that the University of Lagos would be renamed after Chief Moshood Abiola, especially as an avoidable uproar has attended the action. But they are wrong who cite these as acts of bad faith. They amount only to burning issues that should leave President Jonathan like gold, having been tempered by fire of learning

Jonathan and his manifest destiny (2) on the job. Bad faith lies in executing drug pushers on the force of a retroactive decree, as a former Head of State visited on Nigeria’s psyche. Bad faith is to be found in the expeditionary forces that wiped out Odi in Bayelsa State and Zaki Biam in Plateau State, as happened under the watch of another Head of State. Bad faith is situated in nullifying the presidential election won by Chief Abiola by a third Head of State. Bad faith is a charge that cannot stick with President Jonathan.

More seriously, corruption charges have been trained on government functionaries, on the Legislative arm of government, and on big business. Many of the charges are tied to the cesspit that passes for the oil industry, a veritable cesspool which public probes induced by the removal of oil subsidies have brought most forcefully to national consciousness. If public officials are decidedly proven (not merely alleged) to be compromised, the right decision is their sack and subsequent prosecution. Only enemies of the President will fail to acknowledge this and firmly put it across.

If, in carrying out their oversight functions, legislators are given to trading probity for petrodollars, the buck cannot possibly stop on the presidential desk. If, as is the case, the AigImoukhuede Presidential Verification Committee has confirmed the findings of monumental fraud by the Technical Committee on Payment of Fuel Subsidies, what will go irreversibly wrong if everyone waited

and watched, to see if government will not go the whole hog in order that the willful chewers of red pepper should have their tonsils ulcerated by the heat?

The most serious challenge facing, not just the Jonathan presidency, but the entire country, is the terrorism of Boko Haram. President Jonathan has not responded to it by deploying expeditionary forces on 'Operations Wipe Away'. His government’s response has been reasoned and measured. Those who called for the withdrawal of military and paramilitary forces from the terrorist theatres of war only cut their nose to spite their face. The vacuum of such unthinkable withdrawal would be the instantaneous occupation of the affected territories by the terrorists who have vowed that there would be no letup in their murderous campaign unless and until all Nigerians became adherents of the Islamic faith. The terrorists also insist that their indiscriminate massacres and suicide bombings will continue because someone from a wrong geopolitical zone is today at the national helm of affairs.

The import of all this is akin to the tip of a flaming lance on the nation’s heart, vibrating and gathering momentum for an anticlimactic surge. This bloody tightrope walking in gale-force winds is not and cannot be Jonathan’s alone. It is a blunderbuss trained at the continued existence of Nigeria by triggerhappiness. Unless there is complete unity of purpose, the fight against terrorism will be as

easy as paramedics performing heart surgery at the ocean’s bottom. Unfortunately, a lot of those expected to be at the cutting edge of this fight are busy playing the ostrich. I have made the point elsewhere that the blight of terrorism will not afford any quarters the luxury of ringside viewing; the theatre of war will be inside every sitting room if this deluge is not dammed while it is still ankle-deep. This terrorism has left the poor and the deprived maimed, traumatised and dead by the hundreds. But – key point – it has also demonstrated that royalty, the affluent and political highfliers are among its handiest targets.

We must stop chasing lizards while the homestead is on the verge of being engulfed by a conflagration. The fire now raging is not the sort a lad warms himself by standing astride it because it licks the testicles. It shouldn’t ever be forgotten that no one can blow faggots into flames who has water in their mouth. It is not possible to clap with one hand. Elsewhere in the world, the practice is for partisanship and primordial proclivities to be shoved aside in the face of real and present national danger.

The same can certainly be done in this country.

That is the sure way President Jonathan, who is already acquitting himself creditably in many spheres(witness the successful gubernatorial election in Edo State) will get the chance to give a hundred percent attention to his mandate. Concluded *Mr. Iloegbunam, editor of PM Review,wrote from Lagos.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012— —19

, Terrorists and other infidels on the prowl

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HE strikes by terrorists in Northern Nigeria have become a weekly affair now threatening to occur on daily basis. And when that becomes the case, that is when the mindless waste of life and property in the North becomes a daily event, then we can be sure we are on the way to Somali or some other parts of the planet blighted by war and other manmade calamities. It would be total chaos, a return to the nasty and brutish world of Hobbes in which life is short. This, no doubt, is the goal of the terrorists and we must not allow it. The spate of killings in Nigeria, especially killings that go unreported but which people witness in different parts of the country, killings that never make the usually grossly underestimated statistics put out there by relevant authorities- but the spate of these killings are high on their own without the inputs from terrorists.

Now that we have beasts in the guises of human beings in our midst, scums of the human species that have made a vocation of the killing of innocents, people that have never offended them and of whom they know nothing other

than the idea they profess beliefs and/or belong in groups different from theirs- now we have such skunks on the prowl, our collective response should be to go after them and smoke them out of their hiding places without compromise. What is going on with the mass murders of Nigerians is simply unacceptable and no sane country under the rule of law should accept this. The complicated politics of the Nigerian state with its overtones of ethnic sentiments, however, allows confirmed criminals to be treated as religious hotheads. This leaves room for the accommodation of all kinds of criminalities. Some people just wake up from wherever they see as their home and go out to kill others quietly minding their business elsewhere. And they have their supporters who want the rest of us to believe that this is happening because there are no jobs out there or because some groups have been schemed out of the gains of the Nigerian society.

The attack on worshippers at a Deeper Life Church in Okene last week, after the bombings in Sokoto and the suicide attack on an emir

It is not that Abuja cannot rise to arrest the slide into anarchy, it's just that the will to act has been lacking and the strategy of fighting the criminals is not working

,

in Yobe, are signs that the terrorists are spreading their dragnets farther afield. They are expanding the theatre of their criminal activities while government continues to act like the perpetrators of these inhuman crimes are just some disgruntled elements that could be rounded up whenever Abuja decides. But if things were as simple as this then we should not be where we are today where common terrorists continue to move from one place to another committing abominable murders while the authorities feed people with lies that it has things under control. It is not that Abuja cannot rise to arrest the slide into anarchy, it’s not that the criminals have overwhelming fire power or control of the parts of the country where they’ve been operating.

I

t’s just that the will to act has been lacking and the strategy of fighting the criminals is clearly not working. The President has had a change of security advisers and more security personnel are,

we are told, getting more counter terrorism/insurgency training but the fruits of these efforts are hardly evident. Government, one would want to believe, has information on which it bases its action and the security agencies are supposedly working but they are not doing enough to protect life and somebody somewhere should take responsibility for this. We cannot all sit back and wring our hands in helplessness while some idiots go around taking lives and destroying property at random.

President Goodluck Jonathan may be doing his best but his best has to be bettered in the circumstances. More than any other person, that task belongs to him. Part of the reason things are going this way, we must admit, is because the terrorists read his body language and don’t see him as being in control. He needs to act with more firmness and move away from his vexing attitude of throwing platitudes and worn moralities on how Nigerians should take heart because terrorism is a global problem each time they are besieged. Jonathan should be firm but not in the fashion of a coward who boldly rushes into action in a bid to mask his fear. Nigeria is not one of those volatile spots that could be said to be faced with inherent contradictions that make resort to terrorism on the scale we are witnessing today begin to make any sense. Yet the situation in parts of Nigeria today reminds one of Iraq in the immediate aftermath of the US invasion. At other times you see a picture of Afghanistan emerging from the confused atmosphere of the nearly everyday killings and suicide murders in the North. Except that the terrorists and their sponsors have seen a Nigerian leader that is not firm enough in their estima-

tion, they would not be going on the way they are right now. They are out to create a state of chaos, a place where it could be rightly said that there is neither order nor societal values in the manner they go after authority figures and institutions. They attack security personnel and their offices, people working in the service of government, including members of the youth corps are fair game; state institutions, law makers and now emirs have received full doses of the terrorists’ treatment. They bomb churches and destroy mosques with equal ferocity. Certainly these are terrorists with an anarchist agenda. By the time others begin to fight back to defend themselves, as they surely must when they arrive at the realisation or belief government cannot protect them, we would all be working on our personal perception and principles of what is right or legal- effectively in a state of chaos.

This is the direction the terrorists want to push the country and now is the time for Abuja and all those who have been speaking from both sides of the mouth in the affected part of the country to stand up and be counted. That may be the essence of the call by some to Northern leaders to condemn these terrorists in very unambiguous terms. Understandably, some of them have been silent or have refused to condemn the terrorists who are the real infidels they claim they are fighting- many, it is obvious, cannot speak in open condemnation of the terrorists because they are afraid of being made targets of attack but with the indiscriminate killings going on, let nobody think their silence can guaranty safety. The killers can only get more brazen not relent.

The Ogoni, the North and the quest for political autonomy

T

WO weeks ago, a faction of the cannot agree on anything pertaining to Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni nation-building, it is wondrously united in People led by Goodluck Diigbo proclaimed the goal of sucking the Niger Delta dry of its political autonomy. The action appears to oil and gas and blighting its land and be the outcome of internal wrangling over waters. But this mindless expropriation the implementation of the report of the mirrors the subjugation of the country as a United Nations Environmental Programme whole. The irony of a Niger Delta ethnic on the devastating impact of oil on group declaring political autonomy while Ogoniland and how to mitigate the disaster. one of the region’s own, Goodluck Jonathan, But Diigbo claims that it was prompted by is President points to the truth of our an irresponsive government set on ensuring predicament: No matter the ethnic identity that the Ogoni “will continue to suffer from of the president, the colonial edifice called historic injustices”. The Nigeria will continue to crumble declaration, controversy brick by brick until we convene a aside, is not a new sovereign national conference for development as it merely the urgent task of rebuilding. But No matter echoes the 1993 Bill of Rights since our so-called leaders will not on the basis of which the ethnic hear of anything not to do with the MOSOP mobilised the sharing of political offices and Ogonis to halt oil production identity of the petro-dollars among themselves, in its lands and confront the only one option is open to those Nigerian state with its president, the aggrieved by Nigeria: Gradual atrocities. The faction of colonial withdrawal of loyalty to the MOSOP led by Ben Naneen totalitarian centre. That is the has disavowed the edifice called meaning of Diigbo’s declaration. declaration, but not the Nigeria will As it happens, the Niger Delta is allegations of neglect and hardly the first to demand, by word devastation, saying only that continue to or deed, a renegotiation of the the Ogoni have yet to decide, crumble brick articles of association. When in collectively, “to seek the path 1953 the Northern delegation of sovereignty as a solution”. by brick until stormed out of a House of For my purposes here, the we convene a Representatives session in Lagos at procedural question matters which the Southern delegates were little. As Diigbo has sovereign intent on independence sooner explained, the declaration is rather than “as soon as national not an act of secession. “We practicable”, they were insisting are acting with legitimacy to conference on political autonomy. In the end, reclaim all of our rights, it was the small matter of customs without exception,” he says, duties and access to the sea that and that to me is the heart of the matter. dissuaded Ahmadu Bello, leader of the Those words describe the struggle of the North, from succumbing to what he Niger Delta to salvage its ecology and acknowledged in his autobiography as the economy from a viciously exploitative “very tempting” idea of secession then Nigerian state. While the ruling cabal of this sweeping the region like a gale. state founded on colonial domination Truth is that the North has always been C M Y K

fierce about political autonomy.

At the various r e g i o n a l conferences to discuss the framework of devolution of powers to a central body, the North issued the South an ultimatum: 50% of the seats in the central legislature or no further part with Nigeria. It desired the loosest federation possible, essentially indistinguishable from confederacy. The concession of greater representation would later be backed up by dubious population figures. With the British in their corner, the North played the game of political brinkmanship to perfection. The 1952 census, aimed at establishing the basis of electoral constituencies, turned demographic logic on its head by proposing, in effect, that the closer to inhospitable domains, in this case the Sahara Desert, the greater the population density.

That paradox has haunted every subsequent census and has been instrumental to the North’s sense of political entitlement, of its people as first among equals in Nigeria. Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule may have given the most arrogant expression to this notion by reserving governance for the Hausa-Fulani, but it is a widely shared belief of the Northern elite. It is the view that Junaid Mohammed, echoing the Northern Governors Forum and the Arewa Consultative Forum, stated recently while rejecting the proposed restructuring of Nigeria into six equal geo-political regions split evenly between North and South.

Democracy, Mohammed reminds us, is “a game of numbers” and so the North, awarded 60 percent of Nigeria by census figures, cannot be equal to the South. So good is the North at this mathematical democracy that the numbers have grown

from 50% representation to 60%! And once again, it is either this or ... “anarchy,” says Mohammed. More anarchy, presumably, than Boko Haram is currently causing the country.

This restatement of the North’s ultimatum to the rest of Nigeria began on 27 January 2000 when Ahmed Sani, as governor of Zamfara State, enacted the first Shari’a penal code in Northern Nigeria, a deed emulated by all of the core Northern states.

It was tantamount to judicial secession since it violates the constitutional prohibition of the federal or any state government from adopting a state religion. Freedom of religious belief and worship notwithstanding, the extension of Shari’a to criminal law breaches other core constitutional provisions governing evidence, due process, human rights and the dignity of the human person. And then there is the ultimate question of the grundnorm or basic law: the constitution or God? If, for the sake of argument, we say the latter, whose interpretation and whose credo of revealed wisdom would prevail?

The Ogoni declaration may be the product of factional in-fighting but it is a legitimate and commendable act of selfdetermination. Confronted by a stone deaf government that loves to play dumb and blind as well, we must all begin to withdraw group loyalty to the centre. It is already happening, anyway, what with all the ethnic platforms and militias, so why not make a declaration of it?

20—Vanguard , WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY,, AUGUST 15, 2012

When messengers of death came calling:

Tragic end of a Bauchi cop F

By SUZAN EDEH

OR residents of Zango, asurburbofBauchimetropolis,the day will not be forgotten in a hurry. It was the day Abdullahi Shehu was brutally murdered. The slain man would be remembered as the hard working Aide De Camp, ADC, to AlhajiAbdumalikMahmoudwhowas the former Deputy Governor of Bauchi State during the tenure of Alh. Ahmed Mu’azu as Governor.

Vanguard Metro, VM, gathered that on the ill-fated Friday July 27, 2012, the deceased, a father of six children and also an inspector with the Bauchi State Police Command broke the fast for the day after performing his daily Ishait prayer. It was further learnt that he was in front of his house discussing with four of his friends, apparently getting set to eat, when suddenly two menonamotorcycleapproachedthem. •The late Abdullahi Shehu Without any premonition that they were up to something dangerous, one of the men who spoke in Hausa lan- minutes. Up till now when I recall the guage asked: “Please who among you moment, I find it hard to control myself. is Inspector Abdullahi Shehu?” Being On what could be the reason he was an easy-going person, Abdullahi was killed? That is a mystery to everyone. said to have identified himself. It was Was it because he was kind to people? at this point one of the strangers Was somebody envious of him? Nobrought out a gun from his long robe body knows the reason. The day he was buried showed that he was a man and shot him several times.

In his own account of the incident, of the people. The entire street was one of the late Abdullahi’s friends who full of people. That showed how good was with him when the incident hap- he was to people. It is only Allah that pened told VM that the assailant fired knows why he was killed”.

Sa’ad Ibrahim, another friend was nine times to ensure that Abdullahi did not survive the shooting. “This is going to Abdullahi’s house to inform one incident that I will never forget for him of his promotion when he met the the rest of my life. Everyday I live to unexpected. The legal practitioner remember what happened to my said Abdullahi’s death was probably friend; I mourn for him. My friend, predestined. “After the Tarawa prayer, Inspector Abdullahi Shehu, was shot I left my house at Makama Extension, nine times and he died instantly. When not from Abdullahi’s house with the intention to come and visit the gunmen saw he was him as usual and share dead, they fled the place; personal they left him bleeding to Inspector some development with him. On death, his blood Abdullahi reachingthemosquewhich spreading everywhere on the floor,” he said Shehu was is not more than 50 metres from his house, I was just without disclosing his shot nine trying to park my car when name.

VM also gathered times and I heard sporadic gunshots which lasted a few second. fromasourceinthefamily he died I saw somebody running that it was not up to two he told me that months that the late Ininstantly; and Abdullahi had been shot. I spector Shehu married when the quickly parked my car and his second wife. She was ran to his house and found at home preparing the gunmen him on the ground in the mealforthedaywhenthe incident happened. saw he was pool of his blood. We took corpse to the hospital”.

Dan Azumi, another dead, they theSaad described friend said: “We were Abdullahji as a humble, together that day and I fled the straightforward person, left because somebody place down-to-earth and was waiting for me at committed, a man of home. Few minutes later, integrity, and religious I heard gunshots. A boy person. In fact, he devoted ran to tell me that my his entire life to friend had been shot. I philanthropy. Wherever ran to his house and met him lying on the ground. There was you saw him he was always involved blood all over; he was dead”. Azumi in projects to assist somebody. There said his friend was shot on the head, was nothing like NO in Abdullahi’s knee, stomach and chest. dictionary when it comes to being of He said: “When I saw him, I help to the needy”. couldn’t control myself for a few The Police Public Relations Officer, C M Y K

Debate of the masses

Medal-less Nigeria!!

BY EBELE ORAKPO

“K

Hassan Mohammed Auyo, confirmed that the assassin shot and killed Abdullahi instantly. Auyo, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, said: “They were two. And after committing the dastardly act, they took off in their motorcycles to an unknown destination. They did not harm or injure any other person. They only targeted the late inspector, it wasn’t a sporadic shooting”.

He said that Abdullahi’s corpse was taken to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital ATBUTH Bauchi, adding that a few meters away from the scene of the incident police recovered magazines loaded with AK 47 rounds of ammunition and eight expended ammunition which “we suspected that his assailant used to kill him”.

A

lkali Abbah, Personal Assistant to the Deputy Governor who worked closely with the deceased when he was ADC to Abdumalik Mahmood described Abdulahi’s death as shocking. Alkali said: “I was at home when the former deputy governor called to inform me that this was what happened to Abdullahi. I rushed to his house and was told he had been rushed to the hospital.

“It took me a long time to come to terms with the reality of Abdullahi’s death. I can’t understand how this can happen to him. He was a very straightforward person. He was somebody who hardly quarrelled with anybody.

I stayed with him for a very long time andIcantellyouthathewasacomplete gentleman. As Muslims we believe in predestination. We believe that Allah gives life and takes it. Death is a necessary end. I appeal to the family to accept it as the will of Allah”.

When our VM visited the deceased’s house, sympathisers, including his former boss, Alhaji Mahmood, were seen trooping in to condole his family as one of his wives was yet to recover from the shock of her husband’s death.

AI! I weep for my beloved nation.

Is it not too shameful that the giant of Africa, with a population of over 150 million people, could not win a single medal at the justconcluded Olympic Games in London?” asked Emma this Sunday morning as the bus inched its way through traffic along Airport Road.

Replied Uche tongue-incheek: “Ehn, did you ever plan to win any medal?”

“What do you mean? So we just went there to watch others win medals?” asked Ade. “As usual!” replied Mercy. “Uche you are absolutely right. He who fails to plan, plans to fail. More serious nations began planning for this year’s Olympics the day the Beijing Games ended but Nigeria waited until few weeks to the Games in London,” stated Amaka.

“Did you say few weeks?

Remember some money was released to the athletes during the Games for training,” said Nike.

Training for the Olympics “Aren’t we a bunch of jokers?Competingwithnations like China? I mean, those guys believe in catching them young. They will do whatever it takes to win,” noted Stephen.

Replied Emma: “Abeg no just go there. Theirs borders on torture. Look at what they make those tiny tots go through all in the name of training for the Olympics.

Haba! I hear some are hung upside down, legs in the air.”

“They want medals and they are paying the price,” stated Nike. “Look at Britain, after the Beijing Olympics, they went back to the drawing board. This time, they got 29goldmedals,aremarkable improvement from the 19 they got in 2008. And how did they do it? They increased the time allotted to sports in both elementary and secondary schools from one to two hours,” said Mercy. She continued: “Years ago, our primary and secondary schools had sports fields and allotted at least 30 minutes daily for sports . To-

day, we have schools with no single space for recreation. Classrooms are jampacked so that children cannot even find space to play.

A building is erected in every available space to get more pupils in and of course, more money. So what do you expect? By the time the child gets to the university where there is little space for sports, he is too old to start learning those sports. As the Igbos will say, one does not learn to be left-handed at old age. So how on earth do we hope to win medals?”

“But, there are certain inborn abilities that our people have which would have seen us through,” said Chinwe. “Like athletics which is the Black man’s forte.” Replied Dennis: “Yes oo. Some Oyinbo countries went as far as giving our people citizenship to compete for them. The British team had some Nigerians.”

“What about swimming, archery, rowing, etc? Fulani herdsmen are here killing us with bows and arrows instead of winning medals for us. The Ijaw who are reputed to practically live in water and the Okrikas who are very good in rowing, could not help us. Are the gods to be blamed?” asked Patrick.

Retorted Commy: “Which gods? That’s how we blame the Devil for every single evil under the sun. Even the ones that happen as a result of our laziness and ignorance.”

“May be we should introduce corruption. I’m sure we will excel,” joked Nike.

Said Pat: “We will not. Oyibo man go still beat us. Remember Bernard Madoff?”

“On a more serious note, the underlying problem is corruption. We never go to events with our best. Only those who have godfathers or who can pay are usually selected. So if you are in one remote village and dirt-poor, no official is ready to go all out to fish you out and help you hone your skills to represent the country. Grassroots sports development is not our priority. Other nations are grooming very young kids now for the next Games but trust me, Naija will still be depending on those athletes that featured in London to still feature in Rio,” stated Mercy.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012 — 21

F

RANCE, the U.S. and G20 president Mexico are to hold a conference call at the end of this month. They are to discuss whether an emergency international meeting is required to tackle soaring grain prices caused by the worst U.S. drought in half a century. A French agriculture ministry official said the call would decide whether to convene the first meeting of the G20’s Rapid Response Forum.

The body was created last year to promote early discussion among decision-makers about abnormal market conditions with the aim of avoiding unilateral action. “If the situation requires it, a meeting of the Rapid Response Forum could be called as soon as the start of September,” the official said. He added that the forum could hold its discussions in person or by a conference call.

Production estimate “The aim is to talk about the situation and avoid measures like export embargoes which would be damaging for everyone,” he said. Benchmark Chicago corn climbed to an all-time high on Friday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its production estimate by 17 per cent.

The conference call will discuss a report on agricultural prices requested

by France last month and compiled by the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS).

This system, created last year under France’s presidency of the G20, is designed to share information on crop prices with a view to averting a repeat of the 2007-08 food crisis.

France currently presides both the forum and the AMIS system, which is based at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in

Chairman of DESOPADEC, Mr. Oritsuwa Kpogho in a chat with visiting Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Ayo Aduba at DESOPADEC headquarters, Warri.

World powers weigh emergency meeting on food prices Rome. The U.S. will take over the reins in October. France and the United States remain attentive to any new fact that could justify a meeting of the Rapid Response Forum,” French Agricultural Minister Stephane Le Foll said in a statement on Monday.

The forum has no power to impose binding decisions on member states but it is hoped that discussion can

discourage countries from taking unilateral action. Russia banned grain exports for almost a year after a severe drought two years ago and weather problems this year have fueled market rumours it could resort to export curbs again.

However, French officials have said that Russia has given reassuring indicators in contacts through the AMIS system. The FAO last week

IFAD President pays official visit to Nigeria, visits IITA

P

RESIDENT of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Dr Kanayo Nwanze, will during his one week working visit to Nigeria next week, deliver a lecture at IITA , the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

It is his fourth visit to his home country since assuming headship of the UN agency as its fifth president on April 1, 2009. A programme of his activities, made available to NAN, by the IFAD Country office, showed that Nwanze would meet with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa on Aug. 24, after which he would be involved in a media forum. He would also hold separate meetings with the Ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development and Foreign Affairs on Aug. 23. However, the focus of their discussions was not disclosed.

The programme also showed that the president of the Rome-based UN agency would also hold separate meetings with Dr Ngozi OkonjoC M Y K

Iweala, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, and CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on Aug. 24. According to the programme, Nwanze and Okonjo-Iweala would sign the loan agreement for the new IFAD-assisted Value Chain Development Programme in Nigeria and address a news conference after the event.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by Mr Godwin Atser, the IITA Communication Officer for West and Central Africa, made available to NAN in Abuja on Monday, stated that the IFAD President would pay a working visit to the institute from Aug. 20 to Aug. 21. The statement said that he would address scientists and stakeholders in the agricultural value chain, including financial sector operators who have a bias for agricultural financing.

It said that he would also deliver a lecture on “Investing for and with the Youth: A Private-Public Partnership to Advance Participation of Youth in Agribusiness.” According to the

statement, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, who is charged with the responsibility of implementing reforms aimed at transforming the nation’s agricultural landscape, would participate in the lecture. The reforms are expected to cut the country’s food import bills, improve food security, generate wealth, and create jobs for youths. The statement quoted IITA DirectorGeneral Nteranya Sanginga as saying that Nwanze’s visit to IITA is significant for Africa’s agricultural development.

Established in 1967, IITA is a nonprofit agricultural research organisation committed to fighting hunger and poverty in tropical nations, through improvement in the productivity of crops. The institute became the first link of international agricultural research from Africa to the global network of agricultural research, also known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

said its food index jumped six per cent in July, higher than in 2008. It warned against the kind of export bans, tariffs and buying binges that worsened the price surge four years ago. Christopher Matthews, a spokesman for the FAO, on Monday said it would participate in the conference call in its capacity as secretary of AMIS. “The call will discuss what can and what can’t be done,” he said. It will be a first discussion, with a view to probably calling a meeting at a later date, though that has not yet been decided.”

164.45

-1.80

2,388.00

-70.00

20.52

-0.22

113.59

+0.64

92.58

-0.29

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING DOLLAR STERLING EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYAL KRONER

154.83 243.0367 191.2305 159.2246 1.9764 0.2713 232.8827 24.33 41.2836 25.6903

155.33 243.8215 191.8481 159.7388 1.9828 0.2813 233.6347 24.4091 41.4169 25.7732

155.83 244.6064 192.4656 160.253 1.9891 0.2913 234.3868 24.4881 41.5502 25.8562

CBN Exchange rate as at 13/08/2012

22—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

Listing nationalised banks on NSE’ll fail — Cowry Asset Boss

BY MICHAEL EBOH

A

NY attempt by the A s s e t M a n a g e m e n t Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, to list the three nationalized banks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, prior to their eventual sale will not achieve the desired objectives and is likely to fail, says Mr. Johnson Chukwu, Managing Director of Cowry Asset Management Plc.

Chukwu, in an interview on a television programme, said instead of listing the banks on the NSE, AMCON should instead, look for a core investor, who will purchase a significant stake in the banks.

He said AMCON should ensure that the core investor possess the necessary requirement needed to make the banks thrive, such as a good management, staff and the right processes.

He said, “It is not a good alternative to list the banks on the NSE as they are, prior to their sale.

There is the need to get core investors to invest in each of the banks.

“If f you don’t have a core investor that will actually bring in management into these banks, the banks will not be able to thrive in this kind of environment.

He suggested that AMCON should consider selling about 60

per cent of each of the banks to core investors, while the remaining 40 per cent can be listed and sold to retail investors on the floor of the NSE. He also advised that AMCON seek for buyers of the banks from foreign banks with the right competencies, and which are interested in investing in the country and in the banks.

He said, “AMCON need to first identify a core investor who

controls majority shareholding in each of the banks, and then the other portions maybe about 40 per cent or there about, can go to the general public.

“Any institution without core investor in this country will not succeed.

So the best option is for us to first identify the core investors who have managerial competence, who have financial muscle and who have the integrity and pedigree to run these banks.

“Preferably, AMCON should identify and get foreign financial institutions to buy into these banks and become core investors. Listing them should not be the strategic option for the banks.”The Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, had in July, said it may list the three nationalised banks — Mainstreet Bank Limited, Keystone Bank Limited and Enterprise Bank Limited — on the Nigerian Stock

Exchange, NSE, instead of selling directly to other banks.

According to Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, AMCON, Mr. Mustapha Chike-Obi, this is to determine their true value prior to their sale.

The listing, he said, will also ensure that the sale of the three banks is done in a transparent and fair m a n n e r .

He said, however, that AMCON will need to find financial advisers before finalising its decision on whether to list directly or sell to competitors.

He said, “AMCON is appointing an adviser that will evaluate and determine the value of the banks, evaluate all the options available to AMCON. We expect our eventual adviser to consider this option of listing among other o p t i o n s . ” Chike-Obi had said in April 2012 that all three rescued banks were now profitable.

Private Equity group offers $3.5bn for Focus Media Fromleft: Group Chief Sales, Omatek Ventures Plc, Mr. Manokaran Muthuveerappen; Group Managing Director of Omatek Ventures Plc, Mrs. Florence Seriki; Special Adviser to the Ministerof Communications Technology on IT, Mr. Ola Ogunleye; Minister, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, during Omobola’s visit to the Omatek in Lagos.

Nigerian economy is facing fiscal policy challenges — Abe

BY PETER EGWUATU

T

HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is achieving its core mandate but the greater challenge of the economy is the fiscal policy challenges, a member of Finance Market Dealers Association of Nigeria (FMDAN), Mr. Wale Abe has said.

He declared that the CBN has been trying in terms of trying to control inflation growth rate and the foreign exchange, noting that the fiscal policy has been the major drawback that has made the monetary policy not felt by the people.

He stressed that the fiscal dominance and growth will keep the inflation battle tough to win, saying as the apex C M Y K

bank mops up funds from the economy to control inflation, there would be an upward pressure on the cost of money as interest rates would continually soar, making it hard for the real sector to get the funding that they need.

Also, speaking at the F i n a n c e Correspondence Association of Nigeria (FICAN), Round Table meeting with Financial experts, Mr. BadeAjidahun, Oludahun projected that the nation’s currency will depreciated further to N170 to a dollar before the end this year.

He doubted the possibility of the local currency appreciating to N120 to a dollar, saying, “The excessive demand pressure at the foreign exchange market

remained unabated in 2011 even into 2012, causing the value of the Naira to slide against the US dollar.”

Bade-Ajidahun noted that the trend so far in the Nigerian foreign exchange market has been quite disappointing. This according to him was caused largely by the poor economic performance of the country, insecurity issues, and poorly implemented economic policy.

He said that current situation has driven the exchange rate in the parallel market to over N164 to a dollar. He said that for the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN to ensure stability in this market, it employed some measures both

conventional and unconventional.

Some of the measures include, Increase in the sale of foreign exchange, at the expense of foreign reserves, removal of limit of dollars sold to Bureau De Change (BDCs), target audit of the authorized dealers to prevent speculative demand for dollar, lifting of restriction on the holding period in government securities by foreign investors ,the reduction in net open limits of banks shareholders funds and devaluation in the value of the Naira.

He said although the country has one promising reforms going on in the country, but the effect may be seen much more later, probably 2013/2014.

C

HINESE displayadvertising provider Focus Media Holding Ltd (FMCN.O) said it received a bid from a consortium that includes its chief executive and private equity firm Carlyle Group that values the company at $3.49 billion.

Shortseller Muddy Waters, which has in the past alleged that Focus Media overstated its assets and overpaid for acquisitions, welcomed the offer, saying the firm was better off in private hands.

The offer of $27 per American depositary share represents a premium of 15.5 percent to Focus Media stock’s Friday close. Shares of the company rose 8 percent to $25.26 on Monday on the Nasdaq, but they were still well short of the bid price.

Shares of several Chinese companies have been hammered in the recent past after allegations of accounting scandals by shortsellers such as Muddy Waters and Citron Research.

“The markets are far better off if a few deeppocketed investors own Focus Media instead of mutual funds and other public shareholders,” Muddy Waters’s Carson Block told Reuters.

Focus Media has repeatedly denied Muddy Waters’ accusations that the company overstated its assets and overpaid for acquisitions.

The offer for Focus Media is the latest in a string of managementled buyouts of U.S.-listed Chinese companies, as executives look to take advantage of big discounts to peers on the Hong Kong and Chinese stock markets.

Fushi Copperweld Inc (FSIN.O), China TransInfo Technology Corp (CTFO.O) and Winner Medical Group Inc (WWIN.O) have accepted go-private offers from their managements.

Shares of Focus Media, which operates flat-panel display screens in commercial buildings, trade at a multiple of 8.3 times their forward .

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012—23

EDITED by Adekunle Adekoya

DIARY Select ICT events zSIGGRAPH 2012.

Holds 5 -9 Aug in Los Angeles, USA. zInternet Show Africa. Holds 11-12 September in Johannesburg, South Africa. z Submarine Networks World. Holds 11-13 September 2012 @ Marina Bay Sands - Singapore.

Preview

New inventions shaping life and living

ONE YEAR IN OFFICE: Paper writer tablet reads your handwriting THE Casio Paper Writer tablet can capture words and images written on its attached paper notepad.

The device works through a 5-megapixel camera seated in the inside of the case. After the user makes notes on the notepad, the camera takes a photograph of the works and images and saves them to digital format.

The tablet can also be used to take photos of other printed material, and the software will automatically create tags relevant to the images.

The Casio Paper Writer is also fall- and dust-resistant and has a battery life as long as ten hours.

I N S I D E C M Y K

CT MINISTER @ BRIAN COMPUTERS: From left, Mr. Tunji Balogun, CEO, Brian Computers explaining how the company's motorized conveyor belt works to the Communications Technology Minister, Mrs. Omobola Johnson while Mr. Adeyemi Sunday looks on, during the minister's visit to the firm's offices at Computer Village, Ikeja, last weekend. Photo by Emeka Aginam.

My mandate is to leverage ICT for national development — CT MINISTER, OMOBOLA JOHNSON

BY EMMA ELEBEKE

M

INISTER of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson has said that the mandate of her ministry is to leverage information and communications technology for socio-economic development of Nigeria.

The minister, speaking on a television programme, AIT Cyber Africa, monitored in Lagos, said that her ministry, though new, had done well in the

last one year as it had focused on setting up of boards, meeting stakeholders, planning, developing national IT policy and strategising on

implementation processes.

As a commitment to this objective, she said that the new draft IT policy will soon become operational as work had already been

concluded on it and is now waiting for an approval from the national executive council for implementation.

“Our mandate is to leverage ICT for national socio-

,

,

z The Mobile Show Africa 2012.

Holds 11-13 September 2012 @ Sandton Convention Centre - Johannesburg, South Africa.

The ministry is presently working out plans on how to tap into local content as a critical force in our pursuit for national development. We are looking at what the issues are and how we are going to face them and achieve that purpose.

Local content is a priority to us

Minister Johnson's New iPhone app intentions for checks heart rate by reading your face our OEMs

Indigenous software: SAHCOL got it all wrong! (2)

economic development. I think it is very difficult to complete that mandate in one year. However, what we have done in this one year, is setting up the ministry, meeting stakeholders and developing national IT policy, setting of boards, planning and strategising.

As I speak, work on the new IT policy is completed. We are going to the national executive council for approval, after that it will become a public document, after Continues on Page 26

Openmedia links Transition on ICT solutions

24 —Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

Minister Johnson's intentions for OEMs

I

doubt if Communi barracudas who need cations Technology money for 2015 elections Minister, Mrs must not be allowed near Omobola Johnson has this policy or its implereturned to Abuja in the mentation under any last few weeks since she guise. Knowing my came to Lagos to attend countrymen for who we the Broadband forum or- are, merchants might ganized by NCC. She take over and SEE to it has been going round that contracts for the supLagos since, visiting ply of personal computOEMs (Original Equip- ers (be it desktops, lapment Manufacturers), as tops, or tablets) are pictures published else- awarded for the 600,000 where on these pages, students or so in our terand other sections of Van- tiary institutions. If that is done, we would only guard show.

That is hard work, and have enriched other policy statements made countries while impoverduring her tours of dif- ishing ours, and perferent establishments haps setting ourselves back by more than two have been decades encouraging.

I am optimis- in the In particular, visiting the tic these two process.

We lost a Computer Village and policies alone good opseeing first can make us portunity last year hand, from a join BRICS as INEC ministerial perspective (Brazil, Rus- prepared for the what the situsia, India, 2011 elecation on That ground there China, and tions. election is must be South Africa s h o u l d very nlightbeen ening to her to make that have used to reand the expeacronym be- assure the rience, I am sure, will im- come BRINCS Nigerian ICT compact positivemunity of ly on future faith in its policy initiaabilities, tives coming from her but instead, we opted to and her ministry.

Some issues on which squander billions to emshe made pronounce- power people whose inments stand out. One is terest in Nigeria does the disclosure that the not go beyond the colour Federal Government has of the US dollar.

Similarly, the import plans to power ownerduty waivers. If care is ship of personal computnot taken, the mandarins ers by students in institutions of tertiary in- in government and their struction. This initiative compradores in the private sector might hijack is to be lauded.

Another issue on which this initiative, and as it she pronounced was that happened before in othimport duty waivers er sectors of the econowould be actualized, or my, import computers reinstated for OEMs here that would have become obsolete by the with proven pedigrees.

Just these two, if scru- time they are cleared.

Personally, I wish the pulously implemented minister well on these are capable of firing this two initiatives, and I economy into the kind of orbit where you find pray she succeeds, like countries like Singapore, her Indian counterpart, Taiwan, or South Korea. Kapil Sibal, who comI am optimistic these two missioned the Aakash policies alone can make tablet PC project in an us join BRICS (Brazil, effort to link 25,000 colRussia, India, China, leges and 400 universiand South Africa to make ties in an e-learning efthat acronym become fort.

Since we do not have BRINCS. The N there to reinvent the wheel, let would be Nigeria! the initiatives take cogBut, caveat emptor!

The minister must be nisance of all efforts in doubly sure that the fa- this regard. Again, I bled Nigerian factor does wish the minister, and not come to play here; Nigeria, success in this the political sharks and effort.

,

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New iPhone app checks heart rate by reading your face

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HE app offers a sim ple, no-touch solution for checking your pulse.

Aerobic fitness is one of the best ways to get — and stay — in shape. It

requires getting your heart rate up, but it's also important to keep track of your pulse so that it stays within a helpful range and you don't end up over-doing it. A new

app from a pair of MIT graduates can help you do it using only your iPhone or iPod touch.

Rather than rely on a cumbersome sensor band, the Cardiio app

(download for iPhone) uses the iPhone's frontfacing iSight camera to scan your face and determine your pulse. This works because as your heart rate increases, more blood is pumped to your face, and as it is the amount of ambient light your face reflects decreases. The Cardiio app is able to detect these variations in reflectiveness and use them to determine your pulse within three beats per minutes, according to its creators, husband and wife PhD team Ming-Zer and Yukkee Poh. The app sells for $4.99 and user reviews on the iTunes Store are largely very positive so far, with comments praising its accuracy and ease-ofuse. Now, if only they could come up with an app that could scan our faces and display our cholesterol levels, we'd be all set.

This article woriginally appeared on Tecca, at http://www.tecca.com/ news/2012/08/10/cardiioheart-rate-app-iphone.

FG to revive duty waivers for proven OEMs

BY EMEKA AGINAM

S

TRONG indications have emerged that the market for Original Equipment Manufacturers, (OEMs) will be attractive again as the Federal Government has disclosed that it would resuscitate Import Duty Waivers for OEMs with established assembly status in IT devices .

Communication Technology Minister, Omobola Johnson who visited the Computer Village last week in Lagos told officials of Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria, (CAPDAN) that any dealer who can prove established assembly status in IT devices will get import duty waiver on CKD systems.

Local PC assemblers Presently, the four local PCs assemblers in the country — Beta Computers, Brian Computers, Zinox and Omatek — are the IT firms that have established assemble status in IT devices having been approved by the government to supply hardware devices in public and private establishments.

Work with CAPDAN to push local devices The Minister also disclosed that the Federal Government would work with CAPDAN on how best to push more local brands in not less 500 shops retails shops in the Nigerian Silicon Valley, the Computer

zTo partner CAPDAN on local device penetration Village Ikeja. Johnson also told CAPDAN officials that there was need to push Nigerian brands into the local market said to be the toast of international community as a result of its large market.

The Minister who was excited on what she saw in the market having visited big players like Brian Computer, IT World, Slot, Micro Stations among others said that, “We will work with your association to push local brands in the market. We need to create local demands. This is an important market for the country but noted on the need to sanitize the market to attract more international players already scrambling for space in the market said to be congested.

Relocation of Computer Village Speaking on the relocation of Computer Village to

a new site to accommodate more dealers, the Minister noted that it is a state government issue. “We need to talk to the Lagos State Government on how best to make the market more exciting and enjoyable both for the buyers and sellers.

It is a national government issue and I know that the Lagos State Government is working closely with the market” she explained.

Value change Acknowledging the fact that the market is congested, the noted that there was need for value change in a way of sanitizing the market and pushing local brands in the market. According to the Minister, “My biggest disappointment here is there are not enough Nigerian devices in this retail shops.

The market is congested but I do know that the Lagos State Government is putting more attention in computer

village. We need to work on how best to push more local brands in this market “Before you enter the shops here, the experience is not usually good but when you enter the shops eventually, the experience is really looks nice. We have to change this. There is need to create good retail experience especially for the visitors” she said.

Even with the relocation saga that has been dragging for many years, it would be recalled that Ikeja computer village makes Ikeja itself stand out from other towns in Lagos,the socalled largest IT market in West Africa. Like other well known markets in Lagos it is very busy and rowdy. But it differs greatly from other markets in that it is home to the major dealers of Mobile Phones and computers as well as their accessories.

SCREENING: From left, Dr. Ali Francisca, Consultant Pediatrician, Kubwa General Hospital, Abuja, Dr. J.O. Awobusuyi, Consultant Nephrologist, LASUTH, Dr. Ahmed Danfulani, CMD, Kubwa General Hospital, Abuja and Mr Austin Iyashere, Senior Manager, Governmental Relations, MTN Nigeria, during the MTNF community Health Screening Exercise, held in Abuja recently.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012 — 25

TD, D-LINK, align to fight insecurity

BY EMMA ELEBEKE

Openmedia links Transition on ICT solutions

BY ADEKUNLE ADEKOYA

A

N ICT firm, Open media Communications has exposed cuttingedge technology products from a US-based organization, Transition Networks to a select audience of chief information officers and procurement managers at a one-day seminar which held in Lagos last week.

Openmedia is a service management and technology consulting firm with core competence in analyzing, advising, and providing solutions to business, operational, and ICT challenges of public and private sector organizations in order to enable them achieve set goals and objectives.

At the seminar, Zak Admani, Regional Sales Manager (UK, Ireland & Africa) for Transition Networks walked his audience through a presentation featuring key products and services from Transition.

According to him, his firm offers applications and products for industrial environments such as oil and gas, energy, utilities, transportation, and security solutions.

From his presentation, Transition targets governments for solutions to challenges in the military arena, in city (urban) management, as well as broad options for state governments.

SEMINAR: From left, Ottun Nurudeen, Executive Director, Training & Operations, Backup Networks Limited, Zak Admani, Regional Sales Manager, UK, Ireland and Africa, Transition Networks, Joy Okorodudu, Business Development Manager, Openmedia Communications and John Holt Ologbo, MD/CEO, ITECO, at the Transition Networks Product Awareness Seminar organized by Openmedia Communications in Lagos. Photo by Adekunle Adekoya.

Speaking further on burgeoning security needs and solutions from Transition, Admani said: “The world is becoming a terrible place — terrorism, bombings, killings, and people are afraid. You can actually make a lot of money out of peoples’ fears.”

For governments, the key need these days seem to be in the area of information protection. Transition offers fibre optics cabling, which Transition, in a flier, says ensures superior data security.

“This is because copper cabling is easy to tap into without being detected by a network management application. Any attempt to tap into fibre cabling

however would involve a link loss accompanied by traps that are sent by the network management system.”

Solutions in this area include fibre to the desk, PoE (Power-over-Ethernet) switches and media converters. These switches come with built-in fiber interfaces to manage powered devices – including IP video cameras, Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phones and wireless access points (WAPs).

For transportation systems, ethernet is now being used “across a wide spectrum of transportation applications. Whether in trains, buses, ships or traffic control systems each application requires fast,

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HILE social net work is becoming the toast of many Nigerian professionals, search engine, Google last week announced that Google+, its social network launched in 2011 now has no fewer than 250 million users globally.

This feat therefore makes Google+ the fastest growing social network in terms of rate of growth within its first year.

The search engine also said that there are now over 1 million brand pages that now give brands and companies in Nigeria and other parts of the world an opportunity to build social relationships and share anything with their followers; half of whom log-in every day and spend about an hour on the network.

Reacting to this development, Taiwo KolaOgunlade, Communications and PR Manager of Google West Africa said that the rate of growth of Google+ was being driven by the social platform's ability to connect people C M Y K

Google lists 250m global users based on how real life relationships are built.

“Google+ integrates social services such as Google Profiles, and utilizes features Circles, Hangouts and Sparks to give users the human touch while within a online social world. One of the features that make Google+ even more ideal for Nigeria is the Google+ SMS announced in March this year” he said.

According to him, Google+ SMS, makes it possible for everyone to use Google+ on all types of mobile devices - either with data or not. Users can share and keep up with people no matter

where they are, and on any phone via SMS. “We have been hearing all sorts of exciting stories about how Nigerian professional are using Google+ to positively impact the lives of other Nigerians. Examples such as Emeka Njoku Thaddaeus; a Teaching Assistant at University of Ibadan Distance Learning Center who uses Google+ to foster e-learning at his university, Dr Sid of Mavin Record Label who interacts actively with his fans via ongoing posts around his upcoming projects, and Pastor Nike Adeyemi of the Daystar Christian Center who

efficient and robust operations in order to meet the performance expectations of that particular network.

Communications uptime is of the utmost importance to ensure that safety and security of passengers and equipment are maintained.”

The above, and more, from Transition Networks is what Openmedia will be providing its clients through advisory and consultancy services over a wide range of management, telecommunications, and information technology requirements.

Immediate past Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Dr Ernest Ndukwe is Chairman of the Openmedia Group. used the platform to connect and engage via the Hangouts feature show that Google+ has indeed has found root in Nigeria” Juliet Ehimuan, Country Manager of Google Nigeria, explained.

She further said that Google+ presents immense opportunities for businesses and individuals looking to broadcast their products and expertise, With Google+, Nigerians can now easily connect, and share their ideas with friends, potential clients and sponsors via pictures, text or video chat.

Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's mission in Africa is to make the internet an integral part of every day life in Africa, by increasing it's relevance and usefulness, and developing products that are meaningful for the countries in the region. — Emeka Aginam

A

IMED at highlight ing the appropriateness of the D Link security products and empowering partners to deliver value-added solutions and products to the SMB and SOHO user space, Technology Distributions Limited has sealed a partnership deal with end-to-end networking solutions provider, D Link for Business Wireless, Enterprise Switching, IP Surveillance, Network Storage, Network Security and Structured Cabling Solutions in Lagos.

The programme is in three parts – training, promotions and trade incentives. The products and marketing training according to the consortium are heavily slanted to reveal how these prod-

ucts can be used to solve the security challenges of 21st Century Nigeria.

Territory Manager for West Africa at D-Link, Mr. Samuel Ediale, the SME and Enterprise Solution Partner Program will run well into Q4 of 2012.

“We believe this partnership will help provide a platform for timely delivery of technology to the end-user, create value for our partners and afford us an opportunity to reward loyalty to the brand” Ediale said.

Mr. Ediale said that both companies were prepared to partner with governments or stake holders to deploy the security equipment required to achieve optimal surveillance in all Nigerian cities.

Airtel Nigeria invests $1.2bn in network

BY PRINCE OSUAGWU, PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU & KOINSOLA ADELEYE

A

IRTEL Nigeria has announced a growth of 31 percent with 20 million subscribers, having spent about $1.2 billion, approximately (N192 billion) to grow the business in the last two years.

Airtel Nigeria CEO and Managing Director Mr. Rajan Swaroop disclosed these at a media event last week at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja.

Swaroop said the growth in subscriber numbers at Airtel was one of several indicators of growing customer acceptance and love of the brand that seeks as its vision to be the most loved brand in all its markets.

Swaroop disclosed that Airtel has launched nearly 3,000 3.75G sites with presence in 150 towns and

cities across Nigeria. The Airtel 3G network is now the largest such network in all of Africa, he further disclosed, as the company connects rural communities with broadband services. Airtel also offers the best Internet experience in Nigeria, the CEO added. ”Airtel is investing in building additional 2,000 kilometres to its existing 5,000 kilometre fibre transmission network to ensure even deeper market penetration and capacity to handle its rapid subscriber growth. We can double our existing customer base without congestion on the network,” Swaroop added.

He said this was possible because of investments on the network including a data centre launched last April as well as further investments to ensure additional capacity at base stations.

NATCOMS to host telecom subscribers summit

BY PEINCE OSUAGWU

T

HE National Associ ation of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) has said that it has concluded plans to host the maiden edition of the National Telecommunications Subscribers Summit in Lagos.

President of the Association, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo who announced this, said that the summit with the Theme: Nigerian Telecom Revolution: Consumerism as the last mile challenge, will be held at the Muson Centre, Onikan Lagos on Friday, September 28.

According to him, the objective of the Summit is

to create an independent forum where Subscribers will have firsthand knowledge about the service delivery processes of telecoms operators.

He said that the event is a one-stop shop for telecoms operators where common causes of network failure and other challenges in the industry will be examined and possible solutions proffered.

He added that the summit will get subscribers input on addressing industry challenges, and get them to consent to the line of actions that will be presented to the National Assembly.

26 — VANGUARD,

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

My mandate is to leverage ICT for national development Continues from Page 23

Superflux takes over Courier Plus From left, Mr. Tokunbo Talabi, CEO, Superflux International Ltd., Mr. Ebenezer Olufowose, Executive Director, Financial Market, Access Bank,and Chief Olurotimi Williams, Principal Partner, Rotimi Williams & Co., at the official handing over of Courier Plus Services Limited to Superflux, the preferred bidder, in Lagos recently.

H

Slight on local software industry

Mr Adejare not only slights the software industry which was given credence by the Obasanjo Administration when the then President directed all MDA’s to use Indigenous software but also berates himself as an IT professional for being incapable of meeting the technical and intellectual needs of an industry which prides itself on imported software.

Nigeria may not have dedicated tertiary institutions as concerns software development, but that does not mean that the higher institutions/ indigenous companies are not meeting the software needs of discerning Nigerians. How much of investment has the AviC M Y K

Indigenous software: SAHCOL got it all wrong! (2)

,

E probably has not realised that the domain knowledge is most critical to the development of application software solutions and that Nigerian developed software is perhaps the most fundamental component for the future and survivability of the Nigerian nation.

His argument that the Software industry in Nigeria might be young, thus unable to handle enterprise software and solutions of ‘Aviation Proportions’ is flawed on the background of the cognate experience of Nigerian Software Developers which spans more that 30 years of the 50 years origin of modern software development culture. Mr Adejare has not taken into account of the fact that Nigerian software developers have worked and continue to support the sustainability of foreign software. Indeed, these Nigerians still head those foreign software organisations operating in Nigeria.

NOTAP is hereby called upon to sanitize the Software Money Transfer window and capital flight from Nigeria

ation sector and bank committed into promoting software development in Nigeria?

Mr Adejare needs to sit with developers and let them showcase their milestones and challenges instead of insulting the intellectual capability of Nigerian software practitioners by falsely asserting that indigenous application software are not robust enough to meet the rigours of enterprise demands. Indeed that false statement becomes transparently misleading when weighed against the following false statements: 1. Nigerians are not capable of developing and managing Banking business! 2. Nigerian Pilots are not capable of flying an A380 Airbus!

3. Nigerian Lawyers and Judges are not capable of handling international judicial litigation! 4.

Nigerian Scientists are not capable of making new discoveries! 5. Nigerian writers are not capable of writing internationally acclaimed books!

6. Nigerians are not capable of being the President of their nation!!!

ISPON demands and unreserved apology from

Mr Adejare for insulting Nigerian Software Developers. To SAHCOL, the employers of Mr Adejare, “ensure that your staff is registered to practice the ICT Profession in Nigeria, with the Computer Professionals (Registration) Council of Nigeria (CPN Act 49 of 1993 Refers), else, he is undertaking and illegal employment.

Bias for foreign software

That the software industry in Nigeria is not being patronised is due to the sub-conscionable bias towards foreign goods which majority of colonised countries still carry. They should liberate themselves from this mental slavery and wake up to the reality of Nigerian Entrepreneurial spirit. Furthermore, the foreign exchange transfer factor of Foreign Software and services is why people like Mr Adejare have become their spokesman. The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) is hereby called upon to sanitize the Software Money Transfer window and

capital flight from Nigeria. The digital space and laboratory for the practice of Software in our nation is the client’s domain and that remains our current and future laboratory - and no one has the right to deny indigenous software developers the fundamental and intellectual rights (IPRs) to compete and practice their profession within that digital/cyberspace. It is a great illusion to belief that things will remain the way they presently are in the global software space!

There is need to inform Mr. Adejare that our education system is currently producing Information Technology Practitioners in very large numbers and need employment. And that the Nigerian code warriors have arrived and ready to take charge. Finally, Nigerian Aviation should open the digital space and create a level playing field for Indigenous Software developers – both at home and in the Diaspora. Their blatant advocacy for Foreign Software translates to a monopoly. They should proof their support for indigenous software by challenging them with project calls. The hide and seek game in defence of foreign software to corruptly earn foreign exchange is over! With the Local Content Act 2010, Game is up. z CONCLUDED. Chris Uwaje is President of ISPON.

which implementation commences,” she said.

According to the minster, the ministry is presently working out plans on how to tap into ICT potentials critical as an important national agenda by exploring possible ways through which local content could be developed to boost the existing ICT infrastructure in the country.

Plans: “The ministry is presently working out plans on how to tap into local content as a critical force in our pursuit for national development. We are looking at what the issues are and how we are going to face them and achieve that purpose. Local content is a priority to us. Though, evolution of telecom has brought speedy growth in the economy, but effort must be focused on infrastructure to replicate similar feat in terms of growth in the IT sector.

“For us, we need to involve the issue of IT development on the national agenda. We have also involved the issue of broadband development in our national agenda. We are working on how to improve on quality of service and encourage operators in the sector to improve on existing infrastructure.

Existing infrastructure “The last one year has been eventful; looking for young people who have potentials in terms of software, programmes and solution development, which we are now working on areas we can help them grow their businesses. I have actually met with them as value added services providers and told them about national agenda we are talking about.

Show value: “They have to come up with what they have and apply their services to the infrastructure in place, so that we can achieve better quality services from the service providers. We are also working on how to protect them from unhealthy competition and from the big network operators, and Nigerian big enterpreneaurs taking undue advantage of them. These are the type of things are doing to ensure that their creativity and hard work is richly rewarded going forward,” said the minister.

On the comatose Code Division Multiple Data, CDMA telephony services, Johnson attributed their problem to dominance by the GSM companies, which she said was a reverse in To be continued

the USA. “When you look at the market, you look at dominance and size. In the US, the CDMA is the dominant technology but in Nigeria, the GSM is. It is true that the CDMAs are gasping in Nigerian market, but what we are doing is to encourage them to come together.

With that, there is room for much more space for them to compete with the GSM operators, primarily on data, not on voice. They can't compete with GSM companies anymore on voice. For me, consolidation is the way forward to go for them to succeed because I see a future for them. To achieve this, they must have finance capacity, focus and planning,” she added.

Financial capacity Internet: On internet services, while advocating for more wireless technology in the country, the CT minster said that the problem lies with speed, which also applies in other parts of the world, stressing that more investment on fibre services by ICT companies would spur the desired growth, pointing out that the administration had in the last one year been saddled with removal all bottlenecks around the implementation of broadband policy and agenda of the government to ensure that the objective materializes.

Mobile money: Also speaking on Mobile money policy, the minister said there was no overlapping of responsibility between the Central bank of the Nigeria and the telecommunication service providers, given that the CBN was mandated by the harmonization committee to license the 14 companies authorized to operate mobile money, while the telecom operators will carry the traffic.

The reason according to him, is to reduce much money in circulation and to ensure that the over 90 million telecom subscribers are banked, majority of whom are unbanked.

On this issue of convergence for agencies in the ministry, she said there is so much overlap among the various agencies which the ministry is presently working on to reinforce them.

The minister however announced plans by the ministry to launch IT incubation centres, which she said would be established in various parts of the country and be used to hunt for hidden talents.

Vanguard , WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY,, AUGUST 15, 2012 — 27

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30 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

GIABA raises alarm over use of FTZ for money laundering

BY MICHAEL EBOH & LAZARUS IBEABUCHI

I

NTER-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering In West Africa, GIABA, yesterday, expressed concern on the need to check the abuse of Free Trade Zones, FTZ, in Nigeria and other parts of West Africa, by unscrupulous individuals who cash in on its vulnerability to launder proceeds of their ill-gotten wealth.

Speaking at a workshop on

money laundering through F TZs in Lagos, Dr. Abdullahi Shehu, Director General of GIABA, represented by Dr Buno Nduka, GIABA’s Director of Programs and Projects, GIABA, lamented that FTZs standards, oversight and regulations have over the years, failed to prevent the use of the zones for money laundering.

According to him, illicit actors have been able to take advantage the

vulnerability of FTZs to launder the proceeds of crime.

“It is therefore of urgent need for FTZs to be kept abreast of their responsibilities in implementing AML/CFT regimes within their operational zones to prevent the misuse of FTZs as a conduit for money laundering, financing of terrorism and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” he said.

From left: Executive Director, British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF), Mr. Gbenga Ibikunle, Honourable Commissioner of Agriculture, Natural Resources & Rural Development, Oyo State, Mr. Abimbola Kolade , Operations Director, British American Tobacco Nigeria, Mr. Hugo Norman during the commissioner’s courtesy visit to BAT Office, Ibadan, Oyo State.

To this end, Shehu said GIABA is committed to sensitising stakeholders in FTZs on their roles, with regard to effective implementation of the Financial Action Task Force, FATF, recommendations and the required international best practices on safeguarding operations within FTZs with emphasis on compliance.

Hence, he said the workshop is designed to promote networking among operators in the West African sub-region, that will help facilitate information sharing and dissemination on AntiMoney Laundering/ Combating the Financing of Terrorism, AML/CFT, issues.

“The workshop will also provide participants with the knowledge and tools required to file mandatory and suspicious reports to relevant authorities; and will afford participants the opportunity to share and listen to practical and live experiences of required FATF recommendations internal control processes and handson procedures, programs and policies of AML/CFT compliance,” he explained.

Shehu explained that Free Trade Zones are central to the integrated global economy including stimulating economic growth, adding that the relevance of FTZs continues to grow as globalization defines economic progress.

Forex to BDCs not against cashless policy — ABCON

A

SSOCIATION of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria, ABCON) said that the cash sale of dollars to BDCs by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) does not undermine the cashless policy President of the Association, Dr. Emmanuel Balogun in a statement that cash sale of dollars to BDCs was designed to fulfil a specific objective which is critical to the stability of the exchange rate.

He said the objective was to ensure steady supply of foreign exchange to meet demand by retail end-users of foreign e x c h a n g e .

“You will recall that in February 2006, the CBN in an attempt to close the gap of about N20 between the official and parallel market exchange rate, decided to admit BDCs into the official market through the cash sale of dollars scheme. “The objective was to make dollars available at official exchange rate to meet retail demand for officially approved purposes, which

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include personal travel allowance (PTA) and business travel allowance (BTA). Hence the dollars sold to BDCs by the CBN are for officially approved and recognised transactions outside of the country. He said though the dollars are exchange for naira from end-users, the naira received is promptly banked by BDCs. Also payment for the dollars purchased by BDCs from the CBN is done through their bank accounts, via t r a n s f e r s .

“This shows that the use of cash is limited in the scheme and hence it does not undermine the cashless policy, which has the aim of discouraging the use of cash for payment of goods and services in the e c o n o m y .

“It is also pertinent to state that the scheme was instrumental to the convergence of exchange

rates in the country for the first time in 2006, and for the narrow margin between the official and parallel market rate presently in the foreign exchange market.

“Consequently, the scheme has served the purpose for its introduction and the Association is working with the CBN to address all observed procedural challenges, especially in Lagos so as to improve on the s c h e m e .

“Also, the Association dissociates itself from criticism of the cashless policy by some BDCs operating outside membership ABCON. “ABCON is the only umbrella body of BDC’s recognised by the Central Bank of Nigeria ( C B N ) .

The views expressed by BDC group does not represents the views of ABCON and that of its members, who are BDCs licensed by the CBN.”ABCON believes in

the objectives of the cashless policy and is committed to supporting the realization of these objectives by mobilising its members to support the policy.

“We believe that whatever challenges the cashless policy poses to BDCs, it is not peculiar to our business and is nothing more than the challenges that comes with change, innovation or any policy designed to enhance economic activities and make the society a better place. ”In various meetings with the CBN, ABCON has expressed its support for the policy as well as make recommendations to enhance its implementation in the BDC sub-sector.

“We appeal to the media to always contact the Association on matters relating to BDCs and the subsector and also confirm any view expressed by anybody or group on behalf of BDCs in the country.

B-R-I-E-F First recipient emerges in TEF’s bankers’ award

BY NKIRUKA NOROM

T

HE Tony Elumelu Foundation, TEF’s professional award to best student in the ‘Practice of Banking’ subject in the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, professional examinations has produced the first winner.

This year ’s prize went to Mrs. Bolawa Funlola Adenuga, a banker who had the highest score in her first and only sitting of the examination.

Announcing the winner at an event to mark the conclusion of the organisation’s second year of African Markets Internship Programme (AMIP), in Lagos, Elumelu explained that the prize was a demonstration of his support for his profession, especially in encouraging and equipping upcoming bankers to be the drivers of Nigeria’s economy.

“The prize also complements efforts by the CIBN to professionalise banking. Subsequent to receiving the prizes, each student will be invited to join a lifelong network of beneficiaries of The Tony Elumelu Foundation as they successfully enter the workforce and progress to becoming prominent leaders and entrepreneurs,” Elumelu stated.

Reacting, Uju Ogubunka, the Registrar/Chief Executive of CIBN said, “It is great to have this prize endowed in perpetuity, and we are extremely grateful to The Tony Elumelu Foundation for honouring and rewarding hardworking professionals in this manner.”

Speaking on the choice of the topic for the AMIP programme which is ‘Building a Great African Agribusiness,’ Elumelu said that the lecture speaks to the very essence of what African business leadership is today: finding immense success in situations that others find daunting.

He added that: “Today ’s business leaders see promise in the face of the challenges that exist in our environment, and programmes like AMIP allow young leaders to see the promise of Africa come to fruition and even flourish, and to realise that they can play an integral part.”

Speaking further, the Chief Executive Office of the Foundation, Dr. Wiebe Boer, said,“We are really proud of this year ’s crop of students.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012—31

Niger Ins to deploy electronic platforms to regional, branch offices Stories by ROSEMARY ONUOHA

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IGER Insurance plc says it is deploying electronic platforms and facilities to all its regional and branches offices accross the nation.

The company’s Managing Director, Justus Uranta, who disclosed this during a chat with journalists in Lagos, stated that the provisions of the electronic platforms are to accelerate quick and reliable service delivery to its customers.

Uranta said that the company’s operations are guided by necessary business ethics, even as it is engaging in continuous research and development to improve on service delivery.

"In view of the fact that the or-

ganisation already ranks among the top three in the nation’s insurance industry, strategies are also being put in place to ensure that the company become the market leader within a short period of time."

“As a company that is always playing by the rules, Niger Insurance has never been found wanting in the area of claims payment in keeping faith with its promise to pay all genuine claims promptly,” he stated.

He assured that the management will continue to train its staff so that they will keep rendering excellent services to customers.

According to Uranta, Niger Insurance is still in tune with its human capital development by way of sending key staff to

both local and international training fora.

Speaking on the members of the company’s staff who graduated from the West African Insurance Institute (WAII) in Banjul, The Gambia recently, the Niger Insurance boss assured that the organisation will continue to send its employees to the institute in order to keep enriching their knowledge.

Uranta, while confirming that more than 50 employees have been trained at WAII in the last few years, added that the company’s management has resolved to ensure that some of its employees continue to attend the institute on an annual basis.

While referring to eight employees of Niger Insurance who

graduated from the institute in July, he pointed out that the company prioritises human capital development because it appreciates the fact that its human capital is its most valuable assets.

Human capital, he noted requires constant training and retaining to be at their best and be able to make meaningful contribution to the growth of the underwriting firm.

In order to remain a profitable organisation delivering exceptional value to its stakeholders, he said the company is constantly looking at its products, operations and meeting the needs of its customers.

Besides, the Niger Insurance boss informed that the company’s training school at Anthony Village, Lagos has been given a face-lift in readiness for more enhanced in-house training for its employees.

BRIEFS Lloyd’s syndicates warned on changing FSL regimes

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HE Lloyd’s Market Asso ciation (LMA) has warned syndicates writing Australian property business they face losses if they don’t correctly calculate their obligations for fire services levies (FSL) in Victoria and NSW. Lloyd’s underwriters have been hit by the same issues affecting Australian insurers, with uncertainty over how the Victorian Government will replace the FSL with a property-based levy on July 1 next year. Now the LMA has issued an explanatory note in response to requests for information.

In it, LMA Senior Executive for Underwriting Keith Jones tells syndicate members significant sums are involved.

“For example, the last Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) advisory levy rate for commercial business in the Victoria Country Fire Authority area was 85 per cent of the risk premium,” he said. “So underwriters need to pay attention to getting this figure right, as well as the risk premium itself, or they could find that overall they are writing business at a loss.”

The LMA says there are concerns policyholders will try to “short term” policies to June 30, 2013, by cancelling policies at that date and replacing them on July 1 when no FSL applies.

Ratings agencies remain cautious on AIG

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L-R: Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, Vono Products Plc, Mr. Lekan Sanni, Chairman, Mr. Bashiru Lasisi, and Managing Director, Mrs. Titilola Bakare, at the 51st Annual General Meeting of Vono Products Plc, held at the Airport Hotel Lagos.

Staco vows to uphold human capital development S

TACO Insurance plc has promised to continue developing its human capital by sending employees of the company to the West African Insurance Institute (WAII) in Banjul, The Gambia in order to keep enriching their knowledge.

Speaking during a chat with journalists in Lagos recently, the company’s Managing Director, Sakiru Oyefeso, informed that the management of Staco has resolved that employees are trained at the WAII on an annual basis.

While referring to seven employees of Staco who graduate from the institute in July, he pointed out that Staco prioritises human capital development because the insurance firm appreciates the fact that its human capital is its most valu-

able assets.

This human capital, he noted requires constant training and retraining if they are to be at their best and be able to make meaningful contribution to the growth of the underwriting firm.

In order to remain a profitable organisation delivering exceptional value to its stakeholders, he said the company is constantly looking at its products, operations and meeting the needs of its customers.

“We must satisfy our customers and that can only be possible when you have satisfied employees, and what is going well for Staco is the kind of employees we have. This strategy is geared towards satisfying this triangular table of shareholders, customers and employees. The target is to meet all the inter-

ests, but customers first.”

Although WAII was established initially as an insurance institution to train middle level manpower for the insurance industry in the four Anglophone countries of West Africa namely; Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia, the 30 year old institute will metamorphose into a full-fledged university by 2015.

Manpower training The history of WAII is closely linked with the West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA), the sub-regional association of insurance companies in Anglophone West Africa. The Association, which was formed in 1973, is commit-

ted to the development of insurance in all ramifications.

The deliberation and efforts of WAICA led to contacts with United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) which is also interested in training manpower for the Third World. It was agreed that the West African Insurance Institute should be established with the support of UNCTAD. This ultimately led to the signing of an Agreement in Monrovia on 2nd August, 1978 between UNCTAD and the Governments of five Anglophone West African Countries of Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone. WAICA, as a representative of West Africa insurance industry, was made a founding member of the institute.

IG has retained a stable credit outlook from Moody’s Investors Services on a stronger than expected second quarter and a $US3 billion ($2.84 billion) share purchase from the US Treasury.

Moody’s reaffirmed AIG’s senior unsecured debt at the same Baa1 level the insurance giant was given in January last year, when Moody’s cut its rating by one notch from A3.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has also kept a watching brief on AIG, rating the insurer at A- stable in its June 2012 outlook.

S&P’s rating on AIG is unchanged since the height of the credit crisis in late 2008, when the insurer was forced to seek a US taxpayer-funded bailout to remain afloat.

AIG’s most recent steps towards recovery include a $US2.3 billion ($2.2 billion) net profit for the three months to June 30, up 27 per cent on the previous corresponding quarter, and a reduction of the US Treasury’s stake in the company from 61 per cent to 55 per cent as part of a $US5 billion ($.73 billion) share sale.

32—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF TRADE UNIONISM IN NIGERIA

Nigerians protesting fuel price hike in January

Iva Valley massacre accelerated independence

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Historians may conclude that the slaying of the coal miners by police at Enugu first proved the subjective reality of a Nigerian nation. No previous event ever evoked a manifestation of national consciousness comparable to the indignation generated by this tragedy

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This is the third edition of the serial on OWEI LAKEMFA's latest work: "One hundred years of trade unionism in Nigeria". The first part was published yesterday.

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HE Renaissance of La bour’s Struggles The man elected President of the new NLC in 1978 was a charismatic follower of Wahab Goodluck; Comrade Hassan Adebayo Sunmonu. Same period coincided with the last phase of the military’s self-imposed transition programme which was to end on October 1, 1979 with the handover of power to civilians.

In explaining the NLC’s role and policy in the unfolding political process, Sunmonu in his May 22, 1979 presidential address to the National Executive Council, NEC, of the Congress said that "it is the wish of the Congress to see as many of its members as possible in different parliaments (state and federal assemblies) after all, they will defend the interests of workers in whatever capacity they are”.

Unionists who got elected in that Second Republic included Yinusa Kaltungo who later chaired the House Labour Committee; Senator Joseph Ansa who became chairman of the Senate Labour Committee and Senator Raji Ayoola Adeleke of the old ULC who was the former executive secretary of the Nigeria Nurses Association,

and assistant secretary-general of the NLC. One of Comrade Adeleke’s sons, Isiaka Adeleke, eleven years later was to be elected the governor of Osun State, and later into the Senate.

The NEC of Congress in that Second Republic, also set up a committee to study the manifestoes of the five registered political parties and drew up a Charter of Demands. This Charter was subsequently used by the NLC in its dealings with state and federal authorities.

Minimum wage and pensions The NLC’s main battle in this era was over the issue of a minimum wage and pension with basic car allowances. For this, a general strike was called from May 11,1981 which paralysed the country.

There were concerted efforts by various governments in the country and some Labour leaders to stifle the strike.

But so effective was it that President Shehu Shagari had to personally meet the Sunmonu leadership before it was called off. Negotiations on all the NLC demands began immediately the strike was

called off.

The government team led by Vice-President Alex Ekwueme, included Senate President, Joseph Wayas; Speaker, Ume Ezeoke; Senate Majority Leader, Olusola Saraki and his House of Representatives counterpart, Yinusa Kaltungo. Both sides agreed that the necessary minimum wage and pension legislation will be sped through both chambers of the National Assembly within thirty days.

That 1985 strike showed the power of unified Labour and gave confidence to workers that they could always exert pressure on the political class. The government’s conclusion on the other hand was that the trade union movement’s powers must be watered down, if not destroyed. While various subterranean moves were made to check Labour’s growing power, the most open were carried out at the National Assembly.

In the House of Representatives, former Labour leader Yinusa Kaltungo was the arrow head. In the Senate, the two draft bills to clip Labour’s wings were moved

by Senators Ibrahim Dimis and Mahmud Waziri. The motions were to: i. Break up the NLC into smaller units by empowering dissident unionists especially the Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions, CDTU, led by immediate past NLC Vice President, Mr.

David Ojeli, to form rival Labour centres. ii. Stop the automatic check-off deductions from workers’ salaries to trade unions as specified under Decree 22 of 1978. This, they hoped would cripple the NLC finally, and iii. Make it compulsory for workers to ballot in the presence of representatives of their employers, the press and government before a strike can be called.

Labour responded by exerting more pressure on government, winning public understanding and support and isolating the aggressively anti-NLC members in the National Assembly. The Assembly was forced to push the draft bills to some committee where they were killed.

Sunmonu leadership The Sunmonu leadership called to question the colonial division of workers into junior and senior categories. It brought in two senior staff unions, the Shop and Distributive Senior Staff Association and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, into the NLC as affiliates.

In expanding Labour’s base, Sunmonu’s leadership entered into cooperation agreements with the National Association of Nigeria Student, NANS, then led

by Mr. Chris Mammah. It also espoused the theory of collective leadership under which decisions were democratically taken, and once taken; such decisions were binding on all affiliates.

The NLC on June 4, 1986 called for national rallies to protest the

Continues on page 33

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012—33

Iva Valley massacre accelerated independence killing of four students at the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, but the Babangida regime suppressed it by force. The following year, when Labour protested against the decision of the military to increase fuel price, Labour leaders including NLC president, Ali Chiroma were detained enmasse.

In 1988, mass protests broke out in Jos following another increase in the cost of petroleum products.

They quickly spread across tertiary institutions in the country.

When the military moved in to suppress the protests, a coalition of 14 unions (Babangida had banned the NLC) called a successful general strike. The regime agreed to a negotiated settlement under Professor Ukandi Damachi while top regime officials like Chief Olu Falae, its Secretary to Government led the government side. The Labour Movement over the years identified with, and in some cases, led democratic struggles. It remains a champion of peoples rights.

Iva Valley Massacre: Event that accelerated Independence It was on November 18,1949 when armed British colonial policemen opened fire on defenceless coal miners in the Iva Valley mine in Enugu. In those moments of collective colonial insanity, the colonialists within minutes murdered 21 Nigerian workers and injured 51. The workers crime was that they dared to go on a strike which the colonial authorities interpreted as a political strike designed to pressurise them to quit the country and let Nigeria join other nations free from colonial misrule and exploitation.

Colonialism, a one armed bandit Contrary to the popular myth that Nigeria attained its independence on a platter of gold, events like those in Iva Valley showed that our forebears fought for independence with many losing their livelihood, liberty and lives. No exploiter concedes power by persuasion or repenting of his sins; pressure and power must be applied because as Franz Fanon explained, colonialism is a onearmed bandit. The coal miners who fell that day in Iva Valley had watered the tree of liberty with their blood.

Labour leader and nationalist, Nduka Eze, said of the chain reaction that followed this massacre: “The radicals and the moderates, the revolutionaries and the stooges, the bourgeoisie and the workers, sank their differences, remembered the word Nigeria and rose in revolt against evil and inhumanity.”

The political scientist, Richard L Sklar, wrote on the significance of the mine workers sacrifice “Historians may conclude that the C M Y K

slaying of the coal miners by police at Enugu first proved the subjective reality of a Nigerian nation. No previous event ever evoked a manifestation of national consciousness comparable to the indignation generated by this tragedy”.

closing the mine and thus effecting a lock out.

Senior Superintendent of Police, F.S. Philip, came to the mine to assist in the removal. He had two other officers and 75 armed policemen. At a point, there was a struggle between three of the

The Nigerian Labour Movement produced lots of outstanding leaders with common characteristics of uncommon courage, unparalled commitment to the working people, fierce patriotism and strong moral authority. In

Fuel price protest...Labour was at the forefront

The coal mine managers were British racists who had a sense of superiority over Nigerians. There were cases of physical abuse. In one case, a Briton, T. Yates on September 2, 1945 slapped a worker, Okwudili Ojiyi, who had the courage to bring up an assault case and Mr Yates was prosecuted and fined. On November 1, 1949 matters between the workers and management reached a head when the latter rejected demands for the payment of rostering, the upgrading of the mine hewers to artisans and the payment of housing and travelling allowances. The workers then began a go-slow strike action.

Management's reaction The management’s reaction was to sack over 50 of them. Fearing that the strike was part of the growing nationalist agitations for selfrule, the management also decided to move out explosives from the mines on November 18, 1949.

Those of the Obwetti mines were easily removed, but that of Iva Valley was not because the workers refused to assist the management to do so.

The Fitzgerald Commission which the colonialists were forced to set up to investigate the massacre, found that the reason why the miners objected to the removal of the explosives was because they feared that once the explosives were removed, nothing stood in the way of the management from

policemen and the workers, and Philip without any hesitation ordered his men to shoot, resulting in the tragedy. There were mass protests in places like Port Harcourt, Aba and Onitsha, and 18 prominent Nigerians in collaboration with the labour unions set up the National Emergency Committee, NEC, to coordinate a national response to this crime against humanity. It was chaired by Dr Akinola Maja with Mbonu Ojike as secretary.

The colonial government issued a statement that the workers were armed, had tried to disarm the policemen and had attempted to seize the explosives. The Commission found all these to be lies. The Commission which partly blamed the union and said Superintendent Philip committed an error of judgement, found that “Not one policeman was injured, not one missile was thrown at them (and that) if the crowd was bent on using force against the police nothing could have saved these policemen from grave injury, whereas in fact they were not injured at all”.

Such are the bloody legacy of British colonial rule and repression and the peoples struggle for emancipation. The courage, patriotism and selflessness of the martyred Iva Valley miners inspired many and led to renewed agitation to rid Nigeria of colonial rule.

Giants of the Labour Movement

marking the centenary of trade unionism, we celebrate a handful of them.

Michael Imoudu: Labour Leader Number One: The world witnessed an awakening. After over five years of a nightmarish war, a new dawn broke on this Tuesday morning, May 8, 1945.

The Second World War which began mainly over disagreements amongst Europeans over spoils of colonial conquests and territorial control, ended that day in Europe with the official surrender of the German forces. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill who became British Prime Minister eight months into that war, was ecstatic. That day he told the British people “God bless you all.

This is our victory. It is the victory of the cause of freedom in every land.”

Implacable enemy For the colonies under British dictatorship, the sun of freedom which rose in the European sky following the war, was also visible in theirs. In Nigeria, the immediate fall-out of this was that freedom bells tolled for an implacable enemy of colonialism; Michael Athokhamien Ominu Imoudu.

He had been detained by “freedom loving” Britain for twentynine months. The British feared him even in detention. When he was initially arrested, the colonial masters thought the best place for him was a prison, so he was taken

farmers in the Etstako and Ora areas into a federation of peasant co-operatives.

Continues tomorrow

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Continues from page 32

to the Benin Prisons only for the trade unionist to organize the prisoners and lead them in a strike against poor feeding and the authorities' failure to provide the prisoners with iron beds and mattresses. The colonialists quickly took him out of prison and sent him on “internal exile” in Auchi.

Despite being under a 24-hour watch, he tried to organize the

When Imoudu was initially arrested, the colonial masters thought the best place for him was a prison, so he was taken to the Benin Prisons only for the trade unionist to organize the prisoners and lead them in a strike against poor feeding and the authorities' failure to provide the prisoners with iron beds and mattresses

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34 — Vanguard , WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY,, AUGUST 15, 2012

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Vanguard , WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY,, AUGUST 15, 2012 — 35

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36— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

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ELEBRATING the best of African journalism during the 2012 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the Year Awards ceremony could only have been overshadowed by the extraordinary stories told by African journalists about African people of ordinary means.

Though the grand finale of the continent’s most prestigious award in journalism has come and gone, memories of the proficiency of African journalists in story telling, linger. The glitz, glamour and grandeur of the night of the 17th edition of Africa’s most prestigious journalism awards will not be forgotten in a hurry.

It was a night to remember. Not just because it was a night to feel proud as an African, but more because it was the best night to be a journalist. On the rostrum at a gala ceremony hosted by CNN and MultiChoice at Auditorium Hall, Government Complex Convention Centre, Lusaka, Zambia, was a group of the best African journalists selected from an impressive crop of incisive and decisive journalists across Africa.

Uncommon story telling abilities

William Asiko, President, Coca-Cola Foundation, presenting the Economics and Business Award to Joy Summers of Carte Blanche, South Africa at the 2012 CNN Multichoice award

2012 CNN MULTICHOICE AWARD:

Pride of a prize worthy of the price

It was a night to celebrate the uncommon story telling abilities of the 34 finalists from 12 countries, whose tales about people of common means had touched the very core of existence of mankind. In vying for the CNN MultiChoice Africa most respected award, which is Journalist of the Year Award - to reinforce the role of journalists Africa’s ultimate symbol of in developing the continent, in journalistic excellence, addition to recognising, journalists told unforgettable, rewarding and encouraging heart-wrenching, true-to-life growing journalistic talents.

The independent panel of experiences of ordinary Africans in extraordinary judges that had earlier situations. Their scrutinized 1,799 gripping and emotive entries sent in from 48 tales of extreme countries across the challenges and firstcontinent, had its work hand, life-altering cut out. “Picking encounters in the It was a winners in the 16 battle of survival, night to categories in evoked a mixed bag of contention was no reactions, bringing remember. picnic,” Ferial hurtful tears to many Not just Haffajee, chairperson eyes, comforting joy to of the judging panel many hearts and because it confessed: “As judges, broad smiles to many was a night our work is getting faces. tougher and tougher On offer was a rich to feel proud each year and this is a menu of scrumptious as an good thing. Not only and spectacular lifeare there more entries engaging stories African, but than ever before from about the travails of more more countries, but the humanity. Each story quality is getting because it was unique, yet had rigorous as technology something in common was the best brings down the cost of with every other story. night to be a production.”

They all dealt with Haffajee extolled the people, their lives, journalist growth of investigative travails, failures and journalism in Africa, successes. They were noting how the people-oriented. entrants “delighted Through these stories, the with eyes and ears keenly tuned journalists successfully helped to the unusual, the original and attain the objective of Africa’s the awesome.” There were stories

expressing the challenges of life as compared to the certainty of death - more so within the African perspective. Other stories were steeped in the unique African flavour with breathtaking renditions of the paradox of being “alive” while not “living a life”.

Impressive and very good entries Dozens of impressive and very good entries in the individual categories made the books, but only the best of the best won. Ten journalists, who turned in among the best entries and participated in the finalists’ programme in Lusaka, each received a cash prize, a Nokia 800 Lumia and a Certificate of Commendation.

Among them were Tunde Akingbade of The Guardian on Sunday; Peter Nkanga, Idris Akinbajo, Elor Nkereuwem, and Musikilu Mojeed, of The Next on Sunday.

But the most fascinating entry, by a long shot, was a documentary entitled “African Tribe in India”. Brainchild of the duo of Tom Mboya and Evanson Nyaga, of Citizen TV, Kenya, it told a story of an African tribe “lost” in Karnataka, southern India. In the story which began on the streets of Nairobi, Kenya and continued in an obscure

community in India, Mboya and Evanson took viewers through an odyssey of how a group of Africans are holding on to their roots in a strange land.

It was one piece of work that stole the hearts of the judging panel - twice. First, it won the Television Features Award, presented by IPP Media, Tanzania, and then, in grand style, went on to clinch the coveted top prize of the 2012 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Award - bringing the total number of times Kenyans have won the top prize to a record seven.

“Journalism is a profession that allows you to go in, and then bring out what the world needs to know. It is humbling that the Father Lord has brought us this,” commented an excited Mboya.

On his own, Evanson simply confessed he was truly humbled.

Joel Kibazo, one of the judges, described the winning story as the most unique.

He said: “This story introduced the viewer to something new, an African tribe in India few know about. The journalist took the viewer with him to India, and the village to speak to the tribe members. It is an all round detailed story that was well told.”

The overall winners got a substantial cash prize, a three-

week CNN Journalism Fellowship, and visit to the CNN Centre in Atlanta, along with the common prizes awarded to all category winners. Next to the star prize, the highpoint of the night was the award of the Free Press Africa Award to the Nigerian Media. The Award that recognises journalistic courage and integrity in enhancing the cause of media freedom, was post-humously awarded to two fallen journalists - Enenche Akogwu, a news reporter with Channels TV and Zakariya Isa, a cameraman for the Nigerian Television Authority.

Brave report on issues and stories “We commend all journalists who continue to bravely report on issues and stories around the world. These courageous men and women actively work to ensure that the stories that need to be told are heard; the images that no one wants to see are shown and the sounds of people in need are listened to,” remarked Haffajee, chairperson of the 2012 Judging Panel and Editor-in-Chief, City Press, South Africa.

The award was made to the body of Nigerian journalists and editors in recognition of their bravery in continuing to report though they face the ire of Boko Haram and other terror groups operating across West Africa and in the Sahel. “They have faced threats, intimidation in death. We make the award in the name of Enenche Akogwu and Zakariya Isa, who lost their lives covering attacks and trying to get to the bottom of a story that has become Continues on page 37

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012 — 37

Pride of a prize worthy of the price

Prerequisites for Canada conjugal partner visa

Continues from page 36

a blot on a growing region and continent,” she stated. Nineteen other African journalists who died while on active duty between May 2011 and May 2012 were remembered.

Receiving the award on behalf of the Nigerian media, president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, declared that the Nigerian Press is too sophisticated to be intimidated.

“No Terror can subsume our Press,” he declared, describing as a mistake efforts made by insurgents in the country to determine the content of the media through threats.

One of the most touching entries was the story of Nana Ntobela - the “Elephant Woman” The Tourism Award which went

by Megan Small and Clive to Ahaoma Kanu of the National Mtshai, of 3rd Degree, e.tv, Daily Newspaper, Nigeria, with South Africa. A classic, the entry, his entry, “Badagry: A Walk entitled “Nana’s Medical Through the Slave Route” also Journey to Recovery” clinched captured the fascination of the the MSD Health & Medical judging panel. “A lovely Award category. storyteller who brings an awful The journalists chronicled the part of world history to light and medical journey of Nana, a is able to convey the experience middle-aged woman as she to his audience,” was how battled a paralysing limb CNN’s Errol Barnett summed up the entry. “Ahaoma deformity that left her Kanu tells a familiar bed-ridden. They did story on the horrific not just report the story, slave trade museum at but were part of it, Badagry but with his raising money for writing he is able to Nana’s surgery and bring the reader with following up even him and experience after treatment. this terrible place with A judge, Antonia him,” he concluded.

L a n g , The Coca-Cola Communications The men Company sponsored Director, Eastern the Economics and Europe, Middle East and women Business Award & Africa, in a citation, who enter category won by Joy declared that the story Summers, Carte won because it was not these Blanche, South Africa just another health awards with her entry, story. “It is a classical have entitled: “Central case of journalists Rand Gold”. It was going beyond the call become part cited as “having of duty. It is of a detailed research and responsible the reporter showied journalism and the community tenacity in assembling tenacity of the of the details.” William journalists is amazing.

Asiko, President, Perhaps, without excellence, them, Nana Ntobela, representing C o c a - C o l a Foundation, said the elephant woman, would have been dead the very best African journalism had indeed come of by now.” in age. imrod Taabu journalism “When there is Mwagamoyo and excellence in and Charles Kinyua journalism everybody maintaining wins, not just Coca Kariuki of NTV Kenya won the Television the highest Cola. The citizens win News Bulletin Award standards because the with their “Pokot Water journalists are able to Challenges”. “What ofjournalistic hold government made this story a integrity accountable and winner was how the government wins pictures, audio and because the storytelling were all journalists are able to woven together, to bring the dirty uncover corrupt deals.

Barpello water hole to the rooms Everybody wins when there is of television audiences, and to good journalism. For us, it is not highlight the ingenuity that is just CSR, it is good business and being found to avoid drinking the we win when the journalism is contaminated water,” said Elhadj good and achieve excellence,” As Sy, Regional Director For Asiko stated.

Eastern and Southern Africa, Taking the prestigious award to UNICEF. Zambia in a year the country won

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By VERA SAMUEL ANYAGAFU

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the African Cup of Nations, had its benefits. The finals were broadcast live to 47 countries on the continent as well as to the United States of America and the United Kingdom. To add fervour and flavour to the evening were Isha Sesay - anchor for CNN International, Atlanta - and Franklin Tembo Jnr, a presenter at Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation. Nico Meyer, CEO, MultiChoice Africa, described the growing stature and prestige of the awards as “an exciting development, especially with the role of the media in redefining the status quo.

Growing quality of entries "Each year we are amazed at the growing number of entries we receive for the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Award and we continue to marvel at the growing quality of entries - a great indication of the talent and skills pool in the continent."

Parisa Khosravi, Senior Vice President, International Newsgathering, CNN, Worldwide was excited, and amazed at the passion, dedication and enthusiasm displayed by those nominated, who all share the same goal, which is to tell the African story and be the best they can be.

"The men and women who enter these awards have become part of a community of excellence, representing the very best in journalism and maintaining the highest standards ofjournalistic integrity.

Their resourcefulness and bravery in pursuing the story has my deepest admiration," he remarked.

On his own, Collins Khumalo, CEO MultiChoice South Africa saluted the finalists and the winners. "These journalists give a voice to Africa and help to make that voice heard around the world. We encourage journalists from around the African continent to continue to tell the stories of Africa - who knows, your story might be celebrated at the 2013 awards."

ONJUGAL partner visa/ Spousal visa, a family reunification process, and one of the vital components of Canada’s immigration agenda, is made available to an applicant, who is married to a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and intends to get reunified with the spouse, following separation that may have resulted from war, persecution, or other legal barriers.

Under this provision, the applicant can successfully apply to sponsor his conjugal partner as well as dependent children for permanent residence in Canada upon approval. Processing of the reunification becomes very easy if the said applicant has been maintaining an on going marriage relationship with the Canadian partner, and once the visa is granted the partner in question will automatically be given permanent residence and also the right to join the sponsoring partner in Canada.

Basic requirements: In applying for conjugal partner visa, the applicant is mandated to present at least a one year ongoing, genuine and uninterrupted relationship between him and the Canadian citizen or permanent resident, declaring that cohabitation was not possible due to reasons that were beyond their control. The sponsor is expected to also sign an undertaking that he shall be responsible in catering for all the needs of the partner for a duration that will last three years, and the dependant children, for at least a period of

ten years, beginning from the moment they arrive Canada.

The law also requires that the partner must, prior to arrival, undergo health and character checks in order to ascertain that he or she is without any trace of insanity or dampening health crisis. Those who had previously sponsored relatives are required to provide additional stipulated documents as proof to show that they are eligible to sponsor a spouse. It is also the rule that a spouse must be legally married to his/her partner in a legally valid marriage institution that is being recognized by both Canadian law and the law of the Country where marriage was conducted.

Entitlements: Once sponsored under the family class, the conjugal partner is granted permanent residency, and is accorded an indefinite right to live, work and study in Canada. The partner is also entitled to Canadian unique government-funded health care, subsidized education, and language training program, as well as the assistance of securing a paid job with an entitlement to pension plan, including the option to participate in retirement plans, such as Canadian Registered Retirement Saving Plan (RRSP). Another added advantage is that the sponsored shall have the privilege of being part of those who are classified to receive old age security. Above the many freedoms that are granted to a conjugal partner who has been granted permanent residency is the ability to apply for Canadian citizenship, without hassles.

Canada institutes national consultations on Immigration give its decision after considerBy PRISCA SAM-DURU

C

ITIZENSHIP Immigration Canada (CIC) has launched a cross country consultations on immigration to deal with issues which bother basically on the appropriate level of immigration to Canada.

The development will also tackle matters bothering on most convenient immigration for Canada among economic, family and refugee and humanitarian classes.

The consultation is expected also to focus on the reformation of Canadian immigration system to become faster and more flexible, taking into account operational ability to process applications in a timely manner, as well as the capacity of Canadian communities to welcome newcomers.

Commenting on the development, a Parliamentary Secretaries of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), Rick Dykstra, said: “Discussion will also be on deciding the total number of people to be granted Canadian permanent residency. CIC must

ing the balance of the Canadian government’s immigration objectives, as well as broader government commitments, input from provinces and territories; current and future economic conditions”.

•As pressure mounts for reduction of foreign student fees

F

OLLOWING reports por traying the high charges levied on foreign students in Canada, a group of university chiefs has been mandated by the government to suggest ways to attract more foreign students and researchers to the country.

The report suggests that Canada educational policy makers should, as a matter of urgency, consider the practice of differential tuition fees in a highly competitive global international market.

It was noted that “Foreign students brought Canada more than $8 billion up from $6.5 billion earlier, and at present Canada has over 218,000 full-time international students”.

E-mail: consularadvisory@vanguardngr.com

38— VANGUARD,

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

I don’t want dad to live with us

Could I be the dad?

Dear Bunmi, Some three years ago, I moved into the boys’ quarters of a house as a tenant. My landlord is in his early 60s and a friend of my dad. He lost his wife about 10 years ago and married another one shortly after. Unfortunately, the new wife was still childless when I moved in. She has a thriving shop in the heart of La-

gos and often gave me a lift to work.

About a year after I moved in, she started sending food to me, claiming they were ‘leftovers’ she didn’t want to throw away.

Whenever the husband was away and she had to attend a party, she took me along for ‘security.’

I found myself falling in love with

I’m not divorced yet Dear Bunmi, I was almost 19 when I got married in our village. It was a very unhappy marriage and when my two-year old girl died, I just walked away and went to live with an uncle. He was impressed by my progress in school, and thanks to his generosity, I finished university and currently work with him.

I have now met a man who is a far cry from the brute I was married to. He didn’t know I was married before. Technically, I’m still married as I never got divorced. My new man now wants to get married. How do I tell him

about my failed marriage?

Maria, by e-mail.

Dear Maria, You have to be honest with him about your failed marriage, but put things in perspective.

Explain it was brief and unhappy, that it was a mistake and you were very young then. Let him understand what commitment means to you now and how you intend to get a divorce in order to make your current relationship work.

If he’s confident about the future, he’ll realise the past doesn’t matter.

I pretended I enjoyed oral sex Dear Bunmi, My man has always liked oral sex. I cared for him enough to try it once and he eventually came in my mouth. At the time, I pretended to enjoy it but the truth is the whole thing made me feel disgusted. I didn’t want to say anything at the time because he said it was so arousing and I was afraid of hurting his feelings.

As things are now, I’m terrified he’ll want to keep on doing it, thinking I like it. How do you suggest I tell him to back off oral sex?

Esther, by e-mail.

Dear Esther, If you’re really put off by this kind of sex, you mustn’t do it no matter how much it arouses your partner. Tell him you didn’t enjoy it and that you’d rather not do it again.

Do you think you didn’t like what happened because you were not expecting it? In this case, ask for an agreement that he won’t orgasm in your mouth unless you both agree to it first.

Then practice so you become more at ease, taking it as far as you want each time before letting him ejaculate. If you still don’t like it, tell him.

her because she was quite sophisticated. When I jokingly told her I was beginning to have naughty thoughts about her, she encouraged me and we started making love. It was the most mind-blowing experience of my life.

She got pregnant early last year and that was when the rumours started flying that the husband was impotent, that she must have got pregnant with another man’s baby. Even with her pregnancy, we continued to have sex until she had her baby girl. The girl doesn’t look anything like me. But what if she is mine?

I know I can’t claim her, but I would like to be part of her life.

By the way, the sex is still great with her and she still gives me food which my friends allege she spiced with juju.

Kenneth, by e-mail.

Dear Kenneth, You might think you’re on to a good thing sleeping with an older woman, who is married to your landlord— a friend of your father’s! You must be awarded a ‘most daring’ medal but believe me, you’re playing with ‘fire’ and one of these days, you’ll get burnt.

Be rest assured that if the whole neighbourhood suspects your landlord is impotent, then some ‘well-meaning’ people must have given him a hint on what is going on between you and his wife.

Impotent or not, he might be relieved that someone else might give his wife the baby she desired and get her off his back.

But most important of all, as you’ve discovered yourself, there is no lunch that is really free.

The earlier you found an alternative accommodation, the better for all of you. Your mistress might discourage you at first, but you’d quickly be replaced if she’s as sex-starved as you said she is.

Could my in-laws be taking sides?

Dear Bunmi, My husband’s parents used to see a lot of our four children and they all adored their grandparents. In the recent past, it looked as if they’d become too busy with their daughter’s new baby and the two children from my husband’s first marriage. As a result, they seem to have lost interest in our children.

I’m terribly upset because my kids now get second rate treatment and they don’t get to stay over at their grandparent’s as

before. This I believe is unfair and my husband has refused to tackle his parents. Do you think I should?

Nkechi, by e-mail.

Dear Nkechi, It is very unusual for grandparents to simply switch off a cordial relationship with their grandchildren, and prioritise one set completely over another for no reason. My bet is that something else is going on here.

I’d advice you visit your in-

laws without the kids in tow, and have a quiet word with them. Explain how much their grandchildren miss them and ask what’s gone wrong. But you should be prepared to hear things you don’t like such as their objecting to something you’ve done; or your children have done. Just do your best to build bridges.

Remember, if there has been a rift, they’d be probably just as eager as you are to start rebuilding the relationship with their grandchildren.

Dear Bunmi, I am the eldest of four children and the only girl. When we were growing up, I was aware our father was never kind to me. He often said he was disappointed his first offspring wasn’t a son and lavished love and attention on my three siblings who were boys. Our mother, on the other hand, saw how he treated me and lavished attention on me, which enraged him even more.

When our mother passed away, he married a mother of two who has now deserted him because of the mild stroke he had. It’s obvious that he’s now frightened of living alone in his old age.

I’m happily married to a very caring man and have children of my own. The problem now is that our father wants to come and live with my family. I don’t want him to live with us and to tell you the truth, I don’t want him round my stable home. What should I do?

Kike, by e-mail.

Dear Kike, Children learn about love from their parents as they grow up. If they’re lucky— and most of them are— children loved genuinely and unconditionally, give a lot of love back.

Unfortunately, your dad clearly didn’t love you in that way— which was a grave error on his part. We all make mistakes but this was a particularly bad one which has affected you greatly.

Since it’s very difficult as an adult to give back more love to your parents than you received from them as a child, you should stop feeling guilty for not being responsible for your father’s welfare now he’s old and ill. Do what you can for him— but don’t drastically disrupt your own life in the process.

Maybe your brothers, who were the favoured ones, could now give back to him some of the love he’d lavished on them.

Your mistress might discourage you at first, but you’d quickly be replaced if she’s as sex-starved as you said she is My ex-husband’s wife is hostile to my daughter Dear Bunmi, When I broke up with my ex three years ago, I left with our daughter who is now five. She used to have a good relationship with her father until he got married early last year and his new wife became hostile towards my little girl. As a result, she became reluctant to visit and said that the woman had hit her. When I tried to talk to her, I got nothing but insults.

I told my ex that unless he could guarantee that our daughter would not encounter his hostile wife whenever she visited, he wouldn’t be allowed to see her except I was with her.

That was some few months ago and my daughter hasn’t seen his dad since then. She is happier and seems more confident and I believe I have done the right thing. Do you?

Apinke, by e-mail.

Dear Apinke, You’re right to be concerned

when your girl felt intimidated by his father’s wife. As unacceptable as that was, your action is equally rash. A child needs to feel the love of both parents.

Your girl may seem happier now but she needs to develop a strong relationship with her father too. A mother needs to encourage her children’s bond with both parents, as well as with the rest of the family.

It’s obvious you value a man who cares for his child. So encourage your ex to do just that.

Keeping him apart from his child is unkind. Apologise to him for threatening the separation you have now imposed.

Let him feel he’s needed in his daughter’s life and ask him to find his own way to protect your daughter from the hostility of his wife. With time, your ex will value time spent with his daughter more than in the company of a disgruntled wife.

Share your problems and release your burden.

Write now to Dear Bunmi, Vanguard Newspapers, P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos. or bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

Vanguard Vanguard,, YOUR LUCK TODAY

LEISURE

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

TAURUS: THE Moon fluctuates as it moves out of your star . That is why you will need to guard against confusion likely to be caused by others.

GEMINI: THE Moon position INFLUECES YOU TO BE COME AGGRESSIVE which is capable of bringing unnecessary argument and avoidable confusion. To before warned is to be fore armed.

CANCER: EARLY morning blues will affect many people today (yourself inclusive) but luckily for you, things will go according to your plans. And you will need to be more careful with money.

LEO: THE Moon fluctuates early in the morning. And if care is not taken you would promise more than you can actually deliver to the resentment of others. Yet, you’ll win.

VIRGO: BEHIND-the-scene-activities are sources of avoidable trouble especially before mid-morning period when influence of the moon’s fluctuation will last. Avoid inordinate ambition.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012 — 39

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Richard Eromosele

E

VERYMAN or woman is thirsty for one thing in the life - we all want to be appreciated. The desire to be appreciated is innate in every human being.

The thirsty man No matter what you give a man, if you don’t appreciate him, he is like the thirsty man given a bottle of mineral instead of glass or

TERROR MUDA

water, he can’t be satisfied. Appeciate a man for the little thing he has done for you and he will go out of his way to do greater

in “Never say goodbye”

things for you.

Whether a small man, whether a big man, whether a little child, a big girl, big woman, etc, we are all thirsty for appeciation.

Think about it!

By Lanre Kehinde

LIBRA: IT’S important you don’t allow your thought for and/or about the future derail your plans for the present so that success will not elude you. Romantic attractions along your career/business lines may become stronger sooner than you think.

SCORPIO: EARLY morning blues will affect many people around you meaning that not everybody-morning period especially along your career/business lines.

SAGITTARIUS: MAKE sure you perfectly understand what you are doing within your working arena before midmorning period or else costly mistakes would be made. Be tolerant.

CAPRICORN: TOMORROW is your day. Therefore you are advised to leave some important decisions and/or action till tomorrow when the heaven will smile at you. Your love life is favoured.

AQUARIUS: TOMORROW will prove more challenging. Thus, if there are things you should do now, you better don’t contemplate procrastination as you are likely to be stretched full lenght tomorrow. Watch with you tell others early in the morning.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Princess Shii’

By Andy Akman

PISCES: AS the moon fluctuates early in the morning some people may promise more than they can actually deliver. And if you take them for granted, you would be disappointed.

ARIES: CERTAINLY some people will get on your nerves yet you must not over-react at least because of the immediate future. Truly thus is the wrong time to gamble with love.

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING Send yyour our dat th ttoo the As tr ological datee and place of bir birth Astr trological Counselling, PP.M.B .M.B 1100 00 7, Apapa, Lagos 007,

What are my chances?

Dear Joshua,

VIRGINIA

dadadekola@yahoo.com

KINDLY analyse my star and tell me about myself especially my luck.

I want to know about my love life, social life and how to become successful in life. I have seen people who are close to me became big success without much struggle from them. Would my own be like them too?

Dayo-Ibadan.

Dear Day, You are different to those you said came by success: in your own case you will need to work hard and earn success.

It is important you watch and take practical precaution about inability to hold on to your gains for long.

Some times unexpected assistance use to come your way at 11th hour.

Your being friendly with the influential personalities especially WOMEN will help your finance greatly speculative (and) venture is not the best for you.

Your magnetic personality makes it difficult for members of your opposite sex to the betterment of your love life.

Luckily for you, you know how not to allow your rugged/rigid personality to harm your love life; you are a sweet lover, although can be argumentative some times. Love happiness indicated for you.

If you can analyse both your environment and social situation, you will have more to gain from social activities more than it’s attendant pressure.

You will need to drop unnecessary rebellious approach when dealing with your social life; although what looks like radical approach can earn you a few number of friends who may not be in position to assist you.

Many people love your gentle approach and will be willing to assist you especially the more influential personalities. Once again women can be helpful here

Commen3

by Lawrence Akapa

40—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

Ministers, NASS, UNDP review Niger importance of developDelta masterplan ing the region, assuring

BY TONY NYONG

U

MEMORIAL SERVICE: Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Bassey Dan Abia and wife Christine (2nd left) with other family members at the memorial service of Late Mrs. Euphemia Ekpo in Calabar.

PRESENTATION: Chairman of Bariga Local Council Development Area, Mr. Hakeem Sulaimon (right), presenting an 18-seater Toyota bus to leaders of Bariga Muslim Council during a joint Somolu/Bariga Ramadan prayer session at the Council Secretariat in Lagos.

YO—AS Minis ters, National Assembly members, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) officials and other agencies converged in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, the imperative of Niger Delta development to douse prevailing tension in the region has taken the front burner.

Convened at the instance of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, the meeting deliberated on the way forward for the development of the region with a comprehensive review of the regional masterplan.

Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godsday Orubebe, explained that the forum became necessary to effectively harmonise all issues inherent in the masterplan to enhance proper implementation.

He said the Ministry, created in 2008, has the mandate to formulate and implement policies, programmes as well as coordinate the development action plan for the Niger Delta.

He said the masterplan would bring together all the development

partners, donor agencies and stakeholders operating in the Niger Delta, to formulate common development framework funded through common basket of resources for the development of the region.

Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, who was represented by the Secretary of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Ntufam Fidelis Ugbo, underscored the

that the Commission would cooperate with the Niger Delta Ministry to realise the objective of regional development.

He stressed the need for proper turn around of the region in terms of infrastructural development and enhanced living standards of the people, adding that improving security situation in the area and development of infrastructure would attract investors to the region.

Youths express frustration over situation in Nigeria

BY LAJA THOMAS

N

IGERIAN youths have expressed frustration over the state of the nation.

The youths, under the aegis of Frustrated Nigerian Youths, at an event to mark the 2012 International Youth Day in Lagos, expressed sadness over the way the country was being run, saying that their future was being toyed with.

In a statement by the convener, Mr. Ayokunle Oloye and National Coordinator, Mr. Paul Mbagwu, the youths said the future of the nation was bleak.

They said: “The youths, the hope and future of this nation, are living a frustrated life, which is evident in our day to day activities.

“We have the resources but our wasteful leaders and government have continued to plunder our future and are playing politics to our detriment.

We cannot allow these to continue.

“Our educational system is crumbling, churning out graduates who do not fit in the task of nation building. More than 50 million of us remain jobless because many industries have closed shop due to harsh business environment."

Works Minister assures on completion Cleric flays killings by gunmen of ongoing road projects P

BY BETTY INEGBENEBOR

M

INISTER of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, has promised to complete ongoing road projects across the country, noting that 31 per cent of the 2012 budget funds released in the first and second quarters was judiciously spent.

Briefing newsmen on matters arising from the 2012 budget proposals in Abuja, Mr. Onolememen said work was on-going on the dualisation of Onitsha-Owerri expressway in Anambra State; refurbishment of Auchi-Okene highway wash-out in Edo State; reinstatement of Gombe-Potiskum road wash-out in Gombe State; dualisation of Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja highway; construction of Eleme junction flyover in Rivers State and rehabilitation/construction of Ijebu-IgboAjegunle-Araromi-Ife-Sekona Road in Osun/Osun States.

Others, he said, were; dualisation of Kano-Maiduguri highway; construction of Kano western byepass; rehabilitation of Benin-Ore-Shagamu highway; rehabilitation of Apapa-Oshodi highway; rehabilitation of Onitsha-Enugu highway; rehabilitation of Onitsha-head bridge up to Upper Iweka junction; repairs/replacement of expansion joints of the Third Mainland Bridge; dualisation

of Ibadan-Ilorin (Section Two: Oyo-Ogbomosho) highway, among others.

The Minister noted that out of N143.592 trillion budgeted for 2012, only N47.46 billion had been released so far, while N44.07billion was spent on road projects.

He added that 156 projects were at their various stages of completion while 28 highway projects were at the level of procurement for design and

construction and four others were previously awarded during the 2012 budgetary year.

He said: “Viable highway projects for public private participation, PPP, initiative includes; the construction of 2 kilometres Second Niger Bridge at Asaba/Onitsha and 2.8 kilometres Access Road to Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, both for which the Federal Executive Council had already approved the appointment of transactions advisers.”

Insecurity: Delta begins registration of commercial motorcycle operators

BY FESTUS AHON

U

GHELLI—AS a way of preventing the use of motor cycles for criminal activities in the state, Delta State Government has commenced the registration of commercial motor cycle operators (Okada).

The registration, being undertaken by Delta State Commercial Motor-

cycle and Tricycle Union of Nigeria, DSCMTUN, has also commenced the issuance of identity cards to genuine Okada riders to pave way for their easy identification by security operatives and members of the public to reduce crime committed with the use of motorcycles.

Fielding questions from newsmen shortly after a

meeting of Ughelli North Local Government Area branch of the union, its Chairman, Mr. Augustine Ayonuwe, said the union was an amalgamation of all commercial motorcyclist unions in the state, emphasising that it was the only recognised body mandated to deal with activities concerning commercial motorcycles and tricycle operators in the state.

RESIDENT of The Apostolic Church, Nigeria, Dr. Gabriel Olutola, has condemned the incessant killings of innocent people in the country by the Moslem group, Boko Haram, saying it is against the injunction of God. Pastor Olutola, who spoke at the opening of the 36th international convention of the church at its national headquarters in Lagos, said that

no religion preached violence and that people should allow the spirit of God to direct them.

While stressing that the development of the country was being hindered by individual disregard to the perfect will of God, he said there was the need for all and sundry to be good seeds of development that will salvage the perennial crisis befalling the nation.

Ika natives to meet in Delta

T

HE annual gather ing of sons and daughters of Ika ethnic nationality across the world, will hold on August 18, at Agbor, headquarters of Ika South Local Government Area of Delta State.

The gathering under the umbrella of Ogwa Ika and Ika Ka Mma, organised by Onu Ika Nigeria, will be chaired by former Managing Director of defunct Highland Bank of Nigeria Plc, Chief A. Nwadike

Chairman of the Planning Committee, Dr. Kester Nwadiani in a statement, said the plenary session of Ogwa Ika 2012 will start at 9a.m., while the presentation of the 13th Ika Ka Mma Annual lecture will begin at 1p.m.

An Associate Professor of Geology from the Delta State University, Abraka, Edwin Adaikpoh, will deliver a lecture with the theme: Environmental Degradation: The Need to Pep Up Standards for the Ika People.

— 41 Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST15, 2012—

C M Y K

42—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

L-r: Mrs. Sephora Imomoh, project manager, British Council; Mr. Melvin Awolowo, consultant, XLR8 and Ms. Oyinkansola Momoh, project coordinator, Style House files, all panellists at the auditioning for the MTN Lagos fashion and design week 2012 in Abuja, yesterday.

Miss Obi Henrietta Blessing, NYSC, Batch 2011B member, serving with National Library of Nigeria, Abuja. donating books and instructional materials to JSS Sabon-Gari School library, Gwagwalada, and the Vice Principal, Luku Samuel Momoh receiving the books at the school premises. She made the donation under her pet project, Campaign for Eradication of Illiteracy and Ignorance, CEII.

Jos Crisis: Right group seeks ICC’s intervention

By NNAMDI OJIEGO

A

HUMAN rights organisation, Youth and Conflict Resolution Initiatives, YCRI, has called on the International Criminal Court, ICC, to investigate and prosecute those involved in the recent mass killings of children, women and defenceless men in Jos, Plateau State.

The group described the killings which occurred simultaneously in several communities as an ongoing pogrom, genocide and ethnic cleansing, which the United Nations in its various articles has sworn to prevent through international co-operation wherever and whenever such cruel acts occur.

YCRI in a statement signed by the head of International Relations, Mr. Efemena Agadama, explained that every local, state, national and international laws on conflict, wars, refugees, innocent and every other treaty governing humans as rational beings have been violated by the murderous elements in Jos. The statement noted that the killings which have become a regular occurrence since 2001 have claimed no less than 3,000 lives, and regretted that the federal government has been playing politics with the lives of Nigerians, even as it expressed disappointment over the government inability to arrest and bring to book, the sponsors of the killings.

C M Y K

YCRI said: “Everyone keeps asking, will the ICC not act if the Federal

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012 — 43

MY OL YMPIC DIAR Y OLYMPIC DIARY Of good memories, Nigeria and Glo London, August 15, 2012:

I

I

LEAVE London tonight with great memories of the 2012 London Olympics.

I saw a well organised Games. I saw a fantastic opening ceremony and a music “jam” that was the closing ceremony. I saw Britain, a country of nations so determined to enrich further their already rich sports culture and to reap from the business side of it. And before the end of the games, the results were already showing off. The transformation of East London, the profits made from the games and most importantly the transformation of the athletes are the hallmark of the 2012 games. The lives of the winners, especially the gold medallists will never be the same again. They will make money from many meets that they will now be invited to participate. They will enjoy the benefits of endorsements, shooting of some commercials and they will be paid for even attending some shows. Your life is never the same when you win an Olympic gold medal. That I can say for

on the courts. pity. saw a lot in the London Games. I saw Nigerian athletes complain about poor preparation, I saw some officials blame the sports ministry for our failure and I have heard many conclude that we don’t just get it and must begin the reformation of the sports structures from the states to the federal level. I saw the sports ministry rely more on PR than work to save face. The money they spent here on friends and officials they sponsored to the games could have won us medals if well managed. I’m not joking. Some of these people had no business here and many ended up watching events on television and shopping. I saw Erasmus Kwaw of Ghana argue that they did better than Nigeria. “Nigeria came here with over 50 athletes and Ghana came with nine athletes. We did not win anything and Nigeria with over 50 athletes did not win anything. On this basis, we will be rated higher than Nigeria.” he argued. Not even the fact that Nigeria qualified for the finals of some track and field events here impressed Kwaw, a sports journalist and media attache to their Olympic committee.

I leave London with good memories of the games

Switzerland. It was as if they rehearsed it. Just in the first minute of the game Shearer had dived to head a ball and his head almost hit the post. Shear grit, you would say. He ended Euro ’96 the highest goal scorer and moved to New Castle for £15m, then a record fee. The fans had a hand in his success.

Here, I saw fans double the way they cheered at Euro ’96. They made the games exciting. Mo Farah admitted that at a time he almost gave up during the 10,000 meters race but the way the fans cheered so fired him that he was ready to die on those fast tracks of the London Olympics. All the winners here have made similar remarks about the fans.

I saw Usain Bolt do his thing his way and I saw other winners too. I have picked interest in rowing but I don’t know if Nigeria will. The energy they dissipate, the consistency in the rowing is so rhythmic that you find it very entertaining.

, •Bolt great nations especially the ones with rich sports history. I can’t say that of Nigeria. I don’t know what an Olympic gold is worth in Nigeria. It’s probably nothing other than the celebration on the podium and a few kudos from some people. Chioma Ajunwa would have been in penury today if not for the Police.

I saw great performances from athletes and I saw winners too in the fans. Yes, the fans here can cheer you to death if that is what may earn you a medal.

They are simply amazing. This is my fifth Olympics Games and I have never seen fans stand behind their athletes the way British fans did here. The closest to what I saw here was at the 2000 Sydney Games where Iarn Thorpe and Cathy Freeman where cheered even when they were at sleep. And Australia has some roots in Britain, so one understands the link. English fans cheer. They make the stadia electric. That’s why the standard of the game may not be higher than it is in Spain, Italy or Germany but the Premier League remains more exciting. The fans and style of media coverage make it so. At Euro ’96, I saw fans almost cheer Alan Shearer to death. There had been a media campaign against their manager, Terry Vennables just before the championship. Shearer averaged a goal a match for Blackburn Rovers. But he was not scoring for the national team and people feared England might flop at the games. But Vennables stuck with Shearer and the more the media called for Shearer’s exclusion, the more Vennables made him the primary player in his team. In fact, at a time the England team was Shearer and others. And in the opening match everybody stood behind the team cheering in a way that fired the team so much that they played as if they were possessed. Shearer would never forget when the team filed out at Wembley and the over 80,000 fans stood to sing THERE’S ONLY ONE SHEARER, ONLY ONE SHEARER. THERE’S ONLY ONE SHEARER as England filed out for the opening match against

I saw Nigerian athletes complain about poor preparation, I saw some officials blame the sports ministry for our failure and I have heard many conclude that we don’t just get it and must begin the reformation of the sports structures from the states to the federal level.

I

,

equally saw Nigeria disappoint in a way they have never done since the Seoul ’88 Games. what a shame. The world has moved on but Nigeria remains stagnant, hoping for magic. Magic doesn’t happen in sports; winners are programmed for their victories. Their years of training, nutrition, feeding, breaks are all programmed. Technical Director of AFN, Navy Captain Omatseye Nesiama added his own that “everything including the water athletes drink is programmed.” But Nigeria does not ensure their athletes feed well and when they get to games like the Olympics, Commonwealth Games etc, they attack the over 30 course meals and pray that God helps them

•Farah and wonderful friends. Ade Animasaun, a columnist with Vanguard Newspapers made the games more interesting to me with her brilliant analysis and recap of the events I missed. I couldn’t be everywhere. The son Giovani and daughter Salma excited. Wonderful family. And Wura Oke, a Ugandan resident here. What a pleasant person you are. I have enjoyed the games, the poor show of Nigeria not withstanding.

I thank my sponsors, Globacom who are also winners not only in their telecommunication business but also in sports. They are sponsors of the national teams.

They once sponsored Marathon and our league. Poor management of the league made them suspend their sponsorship. Their chairman, Chief Mike Adenuga joined hands with Chief Orji Uzor Kalu to help Eny-

SPECTACULAR: Fireworks in the Olympic Stadium during the closing ceremony

imba win the Champions League in 2003 and 2004, the first time a Nigerian club did so. They successfully defended the title the following year with Chief Adenuga solidly behind them. His Conoil sponsored Enyimba and Chief Adenuga visited the players and motivated them even in match venues. For the years Globacom has existed they have had a name with sports. With better management of Nigerian sports, Globacom could do more. I end my coverage here with a big thank you to them.

Cheers.

C M Y K

44—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

EDO PDP:

The centre can no longer hold FAILURE has few friends and it is not surprising that chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State are up in arms against one another.

elements to relocate to another hotel where they held a successful meeting.

In a communiqué at the end of the meeting, signed by one of the conveners, Barr. Kamin Bello Asunogie, the group said that following a critical review of the trajectory of the party under the present leadership that it was calling on the national leadership to dissolve the State Executive of the party.

Meeting of the dissenters

*Airhiavbere: On his own in tribunal

*Oshiohole: Will not doff hat for any godfather

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

F

OLLOWING the sound defeat suffered in the hands of the Action Congress of Nigeria’s, ACN’s Adams Oshiomhole, allegations of ethnic conspiracy, mismanagement of campaign funds and jealousy are being raised against officers and leading chieftains of the party.

Shortly after the election, there were claims and counter claims that some of its members worked against the party during the election.

There were sound reasons to

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HE settlement perched on the Northwest of the Federal Capital Territory was an attraction to me mainly because of the melodious intonation of the name of the town. It was especially captivating hearing those bus drivers in Abuja hailing passengers and shouting Mpape, Mpape, Mpape.

Mpape houses thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands of persons, and has existed since the first days of the establishment of the federal capital.

However, my first and only visit to the settlement in the nineties turned into a letdown. The settlement to my disappointment was a spread of ramshackle houses linked with very bad roads and with derelict infrastructure.

It is as such not surprising that the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed has identified the area as an eye sore that needs to be cleaned up.

Senator Mohammed has given C M Y K

believe this given that the party primaries that produced Gen. Charles Ahiavbere as governorship candidate of the party was followed with allegations of interference.

Unsurprisingly, one of the major gubernatorial aspirants, a former State Representative on the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Matthew Iduoriyekenwen was one of those accused.

Others alleged to have either worked against the party or to

have been indifferent were the former Deputy Governor of the state, Chief Lucky Imasuen, Chief Richard Lamai and Jarret Tenebe, among others party chieftains.

Chief Dan Orbih the chairman of the state chapter of the party, also became an object for vengeance by a number of party stakeholders who felt dissatisfied with the outcome of the election with varied allegations including highhandedness raised against his leadership.

Iduoriyekenwen was allegedly

POLITICAL METABOLISM with

EMMANUEL AZIKEN

So who cares? the inhabitants whose houses have been marked in the settlement to vacate by the end of this month after which he would order the caterpillars to move in.

A resident of Mpape running a business in Wuse Market on hearing the news that his house has been marked according to one newspaper report slumped and died.

The residents in desperation have conscripted famed peoples lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN to fight their cause in the court of law.

An interim injunction obtained

by Falana against the immediate demolition of the settlement seems to have served no succor as the authorities in the FCT seem determined to ensure that the demolitions go ahead as scheduled.

The forcefulness with which the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory have brought to bear in their quest to sanitise the Mpape Area of the Abuja is remarkably worrisome. It is a reflection of the disconnect between the people and their elected officials.

the pivot around whom the dissenters within the party flocked around.

The leadership of the party immediately became suspicious and started monitoring the activities of this group and the tension heightened when the group called a stakeholders’ meeting at a particular hotel in Benin City.

In order to stop the meeting, a national leader of the party called the proprietor of the hotel not to allow the meeting forcing the conveners made up of younger In a democracy elected and appointed officials should ordinarily seek to please the public and cringe at the expression of public disapproval.

But certainly not so here. Elected and appointed officials in these climes simply believe that they owe little or nothing to the electorate and as such conduct themselves in a manner as lords of the manor.

Were they considerate of public opinion, the Minister of Aviation and her team of officials would not have gone round the world seeking to attract investors into an industry that is simply comatose. Despite the public outcry over the cost and course of her aviation road show, the Minister just damned the opposition and proceeded on a trip whose end result would in all probability be a mirage.

The obstinacy that ordinarily should only be expected in autocracies has simply become a comfortable trait of our

It then called for the establishment of an interim committee to manage the affairs of the committee.

Immediately following the meeting of the dissenters, the State Executive of the party met and passed a vote of confidence on Orbih, urging all party members to remain united.

Shortly after the meeting by this group, the party set up a disciplinary committee to try Tenebe, Iduoriyekenwen and some other chieftains on the allegation of anti party activities.

The letter of invitation to the chieftains personally signed by Orbih, accused the members of calling for the dissolution of the party leadership. “To actualize your anti party activities you held a meeting at Durba Hotel, where you reiterated your call for the dissolution of the state Working Committee, capable of creating faction within the party”.

The letter requested the concerned members to appear before the committee on the 7th day of August, 2012 at 12pm.

None of those summoned, however, attended the disciplinary hearing as they claimed not to recognize the Orbih leadership.

Continues from page 45 democratic experience.

Remarkably, the outcry is not limited to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP led national government. States governed by the opposition are not left out.

The bewildering cat and mouse game between the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA led administration in Imo State and the incumbent elected chairmen of the local government councils is a case in point.

Indeed, when it comes to the willful dismissal of public opinion, the opposition led state administrations are all on the same page with the PDP state administrations.

That is why many of them have refused to conduct local government elections and where they did, the process was twisted to favour the ruling party in the state.

Given Senator Mohammed’s past inclinations especially in the senate where he canvassed justice in the enthronement of

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012—45

The centre can no longer hold

*Anenih: No more war with Oshiomhole Continues from page 44 The decision to summon these party leaders has created another type of tension in the party as it is feared that the decision would further polarize the party since the concerned leaders enjoy large following within the party.

While this group was battling Orbih, another battle over the desirability or otherwise of proceeding with the petition against the election result of the governorship election stirred.

The party filed its petition penultimate Thursday alleging massive rigging and alleged that Oshiomhole lacked the basic educational qualifications to run for the election.

Trouble, however, cropped up

last Saturday during the 79th birthday celebration of Chief Anenih at Abuja. It was learnt that many of the party leaders did not speak to one another, particularly rival associates of Airhiavbere and Orbih.

Airhiavbere’s group it was learnt were distressed that the top hierarchy of the party instructed Orbih not to proceed with his earlier pledge to go to the tribunal and Orbih to their horror seemed bent to obey the counsel.

Vanguard learnt that both President Goodluck Jonathan and Chief Anenih believe that the party should go back to the drawing board and forget contesting a result which

majority of Nigerians and international observers believed was freely and fairly given to Oshiomhole.

Cracks in Edo PDP Following the bad blood at the Abuja birthday party for Anenih, Orbih called for a stakeholders’ meeting at his Benin-City residence to again deliberate on the tribunal option.

At that meeting, Airhiavbere’s group insisted that they would proceed with the tribunal but Orbih and his group objected noting that it would be wise to opt out despite the fact that they noticed some anomalies during the election.

The meeting it was learnt was gripped with tension as Airhiavbere’s men complained about an alleged N4 billion donation reportedly brought by the presidency for the election and funds provided by the SouthSouth PDP governors which they claimed were not accounted for.

Proceeding with court option Orbih and his group were, however, defiant in sticking to the instruction of the national party not to appeal the court case.

However, elected PDP National Assembly members and a few others, nevertheless, differed and urged Ahriavbere to proceed with the court option.

It was not surprising that after the meeting some alleged that Orbih was playing an agenda as they claimed that he was

What the people of Ogun don't need

BY LUQMON ADEWUNMI

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ET me state at the very onset that the good people of Ogun State would rather have their government focus on development than be burdened by the current tide of bad blood between the present government under Senator Ibikunle Amosun and that of former governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. The state deserves better.

At a time when other parts of the world strive to better the lots of their people, the least our government in Ogun State should do and be seen to be doing is invest very scarce resources in endless vendetta, which, at the end of the day, will draw the hand of the clock backward rather than engender development.

In the last two weeks, the national media has been awash with paid advertorials, the first wave of which were sponsored by the Ogun State Government, where details of the report of a Land Probe Panel, set up by the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration were published.

The said advertorial, totaling 10 pages gave blow by blow details

of purported ills committed by Daniel while he was in charge of the state between 2003 and 2011. In response, Daniel also went to the media pointing out in detail why he is not guilty of all the purported findings of the Land Panel.

For those who have been witnesses to the acrimonious politicking in Ogun State in the past six years, it is clear what and who the target of the government action was. But that is not as important as the cost of this acrimony to the suffering masses of Ogun State, who would rather have access to good, decent and functional infrastructure, employment, good education, security of life and property and access to quality health care than be fed with tons of government gazettes and paid advertorials all directed to show and prove how a previous administration did not deliver on democracy dividends to use the well-worn cliché.

This, I must state, is not making excuses for any failures that may have been recorded by the Gbenga Daniel administration in the state. The fact is that it is the responsibility of the state to bring to justice, all

those who must have one way or the other, committed one offence or the other. But we must also be mindful, when doing this, to avoid creating the impression that what is being sought is not justice for the people but political witch hunt.

My point is that history will judge those in leadership, not on how much they are able to find out what others did not do right but rather on the quantum of their contributions to changing the lives of their people. hen a state government duplicates this job and hurriedly passes judgment, people then begin to suspect the real intent. I have taken time to read both the advertorials published by the Ogun State Government and the response of Daniel and think that if it was true that a number of the conclusions of this Land Panel are issues being dealt with in the ongoing trial of the former governor by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), that Daniel is right in claiming that the government released the report and caused same to be published so as to preempt the case already being

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dancing to the tune played by of the legal options. However, Oshiomhole, who like him is of PDP has fully consulted the the Etsako stock. Interestingly, leadership of the party both Oshiomhole and Orbih were one within and outside the state. time very close family friends and During these consultations, Orbih’s expression of personal legal opinions were sought and loss was evident when it is the conclusion of the party Oshiomhole lost his wife, Clara that while we appreciate the more than a year ago. effects the results declared by Another scheme mouthed was INEC will have on our teaming the ANPP conspiracy theory. members, we are also mindful of Orbih along with some of the the consequences which may run major forces in the new PDP such into with protracted litigation.” as Senator Roland Owie, Pharm.

PDP disassociates self But in a swift reaction, M a t h e w the Director of Publicity Urhoghide were of the party, Ihimekpen, all former disassociated members of the Airhiavbere from the ANPP. PDP’s decision, Orbih’s later asserting that insistence on not “Airhiavbere is still in going to court was court and we will fight also well received Airhiavbere to finish. The PDP is a among some other party and Airhiavbere is party leaders is still in an individual, after including former when Amaechi went to Minister of court and we court he did not go with Defence, Gen. will fight to his party. So as I am Godwin Abbe. talking to you now, In declaring the finish. The Airhiavbere is in court, decision of PDP is a we have served the the party not to go state government and to court, Orbih in party and INEC. So that is the a statement said Airhiavbere truth”. that even though The decision of the that there were is an party not to contest the sufficient reasons election result was to contest the individual favourably received by outcome of the Oshiomhole who in a election, wiser statement immediately counsel had prevailed on the party to drop the following Orbih’s disclosure on case. “PDP is aware of the Monday said: “I wish to extend divergent views and expressions my hand of fellowship to all men by the public. PDP is also aware of goodwill to join hands with Government to move the state to the next level, because, despite all the successes recorded in the last three and half years, Edo state is still work-in-progress.”

High respects

*Gov. Amosun handled by the EFCC. As I write this, the people of Ogun State are already making comparisons between the two administrations.

Senator Amosun ha spent over a year in office already and on the streets of the state, people are beginning to worry over the slow pace of development.

They are looking over at Lagos and thinking that if Babatunde Fashola had taken such a long time to settle-in, he never would have been able to record the kind of achievements that have singled him out as case study for a responsive and responsible government in Nigeria and beyond. *Luqmon Adewunmi, a social commentator, lives inAkute, Ogun State.

“I look forward to more collaboration between my government, other political parties and interests in the state.

I want to restate my full respect for the PDP leader, Chief Tony Anenih, whom I hold and will continue to hold in high respects.

I also wish to assure the PDP Candidate, Maj.-Gen Charles Airhiavbere (rtd) whom I regard as a friend, that now that we have put the elections behind us, my doors are open so that together, we may lift our state to the high level where it should be. I however wish to state that other issues raised by the PDP will be commented on another occasion.”

Remarkably, the following day, Oshiomhole caused to be published in major newspapers full page advertisements congratulating his one time nemesis, Chief Anthony Anenih on his 79th birthday.

Why the governor waited until the party withdrew itself from the petition before placing the congratulatory adverts was, however, never explained.

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46—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

tive o m r u o is y e n o M —suspects

The robbery and kidnap suspects

Anambra Police record big haul - arrest kidnap kingpins

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

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HE Anambra State police command last week, recorded one of its greatest harvests of suspected kidnappers and armed robbers in recent time, following the arrest of 13 persons in one day. At the headquarters of the State Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, located at Awkuzu in Oyi local government area of the state, the suspects, realizing that the game was up, looked sober and one after the other, began to make open confessions, saying they were driven into crime because of the love of money.

Those arrested were: Chinedu Eze from Ideato in Imo State, Omaliko Ugochukwu from Abatete in Idemili North local government area of Anambra State and Okwuchukwu Odo from Alor in Idemili South local government area, who amidst sobs, claimed they were just new into the business of kidnapping.

Business of kidnapping Others apprehended included; Ifeanyi Okoye, Ikechukwu Chiajunwa and Uchechukwu Akujinwa all from Obosi in Idemili North local government area, as well as Chijioke Udo from Oraukwu and Onyeka Ajato from Awka. The rest were Ikechukwu Nwali from Ezza in Ebonyi State, Ikenna Ezike from Otolo Nnewi, Uchenna Chukwuemeka from Umueze Anam and Obed Ikenna also from Ebonyi State.

The kidnap suspects said they were responsible for the abduction of an 83-year-old man from Oraukwu, a deal that fetched them N1million. They were also the group that was sending text mesC M Y K

sages to Chief Rommie Ezeonwuka, proprietor of Rojenny Games Village, Oba in which they were threatening him with kidnap and the robbery of another prominent man in the state, Chief Jimmy Okonkwo, on his way back from a meeting at Rojenny Games Village.

Okwuchukwu Odo also admitted that his four-man gang kid-

napped the Head of Service of Orumba South local government area for which they received N2 million from relations of the chairman after days of negotiations.

Regretting their action, the suspects vowed never to get involved in criminal activities if granted pardon.

Omaliko from Awka said that he joined the gang because of

money when he finished his secondary school education at Okpaku Secondary School, Abagana in Njikoka local government area of the state. In fact, those who know him said they had always suspected the young man as he was often seen spending money recklessly when he had no tangible business.

The 37-year-old Onyema Odo,

who specialized in selling pistols and cut-to-size barrel guns to the kidnappers, said it was his name sake, Odo that lured him into the business.

He said: “I get the guns from Benin Republic and sell to the kidnapers at the cost of N50,000 each and it was Odoh who deceived me into doing it.”

According to him, the business of supplying guns to criminals was much more lucrative than buying and selling spare parts in Benin Republic, adding that it was for that reason that he did not hesitate to come down to become a member of the gang fully.

Among the guns he was supplying to members of the gang included AK47, double barrel guns and locally made pistols, as well as ammunitions.

Anambra State police command said the haul was just the beginning of the fight against crime in the state, especially armed robbery and kidnapping. The Police spokesman in the state, Raphael Uzoigwe said the command was still combing the state and beyond to get other suspects still on the run, including those he gave their names as Chigoziri Onunkwo and Ebuka.

As part of the strategy for the renewed battle against crime in the state, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bala Nasarawa, last week addressed a meeting of all police officers in the state and charged them to be alive to the new spirit of fighting crime. According to him, the police have a serious job to do and everybody must do it with the zeal it deserved.

My husband is not a thief • says wife of banker accused of stealing $.2m

BY RUTH CHUKWUEMEKA

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IFE of a 35-year-old senior bank staff, Petra Akinti Onyegbule, who was arrested for allegedly stealing US$200,000 from his company has described as untrue, report that her husband stole the money from the plane. Rather, she has called on the concerned offices to investigate the matter with a view to vindicating her husband.

Her husband, Nnaemeka Onyeg bule, was a staff of Area 3, Garki, Abuja branch of Intercontinental Bank Plc. But following the acquisition process of the bank by Access Bank, he was reportedly drafted to the Bullion Van services Unit six months ago, and has reportedly been shuttling from Abuja to Lagos, moving cash .

Things however, fell apart for the banker and his company following the discovery that out of the ten million US dollars he was to move from Abuja to Lagos on July 17, 2012, two hundred dollars was missing.

Explaining, Mrs Onyegbule said: “On Tuesday July 17, 2012, my husband said one Joseph and Michael counted $1,000,000 from the vault of

Access Bank branch at Plot 1244 Samuel Ladoke Akintola Boulevard, Garki II, Abuja. He said he packed the money into three bags of $400,000, $400,000 and $200, 000, proceeded to the local wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja with one David.

At the airport, David had sole custody of the bag for about 10 minutes while my husband went to get his boarding pass for Arik Air flight W3 802 Abuja to Lagos. The ticket for the flight was bought on Monday, July 16, 2012. My husband sat on seat 4F and put his bag containing the $1,000,000 in the overhead locker behind him. In the course of the flight, he noticed that a man on seat 6B left his seat and was at the compartment where his (Ford’s) bag was for over five minutes.

Head of internal audit When the aircraft touched down in Lagos, he decided to check the contents of his bag and discovered that $200,000 was missing though the bag was neither torn nor had the padlock broken. He alerted the Cabin Super-

visor on the development but was told there was nothing the airline could do since he did not declare what he had in his possession before boarding. He called his boss at the Access Bank, Apapa branch to book an appointment but went first to Access Bank Alausa branch to deposit the remaining $800, 000. After narrating the incident to his boss, both of them went over to Access Bank Head Office at 999c, Danmole Street, Victoria Island, Lagos where my husband was interrogated by the Head of Internal Audit. He was handed over to the Bar Beach Police Station, Victoria Island same July 17 and was detained there till past 11 am on Friday, July 20 when he was transferred to the State CID, Panti.”

Brother dies of heart ache over arrest: Mrs. Onyegbule added: “That same Friday, July 20, I went with my sister-in-law to the head office of Access Bank to demand why the Bank did not notify his next of kin about his arrest and detention. One of their officers outrightly said my husband was a thief and that he thought we came to beg.

It took the intervention of the head of Internal Audit of the Bank to hear what I had to say and he also said to me that my Continues on page 47

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012—47

My husband is not a thief Continues on page 46 husband should have told me he “signed” for the job of moving huge sums of money in hard currency around.

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n Sunday, July 22, I `went to Panti with my brother-in-law and sister-inlaw to give my husband food. As usual, we hung around till evening. At about 4:15 pm, we left Panti for Ojuelegba and on our way, my brother-in-law, a known hypertensive developed some complications. He complained of headache and died there of a possible heart attack.

Then, on Tuesday July 24, my husband was taken to Abuja and detained at the Asokoro Police Station overnight. The next day, he was brought to the house by two policemen with a search warrant and after searching, they seized our International Passports including that of our three-year-old daughter. He was returned to Asokoro Police Station for the night and brought back to Lagos on Thursday, July 26. On Friday, July 27 I went back to Panti to find out what was going on and why he was being held there for this long. Nobody gave answers to my inquiries or what the position is with

the Bank.”

However, when Crime Alert visited SCID, Panti, Lagos, it was discovered that the case had been charged before an Ebute Metta Magistrate court.

SERIAL KILLINGS: Another cyclist hacked to death in Enugu community

BY CHINENYEH OZOR

•Suspect Ifeanyi

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ARELY few weeks after a commercial motorcyclist popularly called Okada was killed in Enugu-Ezike, Igbo-eze North Local Government Area, Enugu State; another commercial motorcyclist has been hacked to death in a similar circumstance in the same local government area while his motorcycle was snatched from him. The motorcyclist, Chiedozie Urama, who hailed from Umuopu, EnuguEzike was tricked by his assailant to convey him to Aji, EnuguEzike only to be killed and his motorcycle snatched.

The killing of Chiedozie at Umuagama, a border community with Aji, raised apprehension among the people of Igbo Eze North Local Government Area that a notorious serial killer identified as Ifeanyi Urama who earlier killed a motorcyclist with Monday hammer, could still be around. The body of Chiedozie was found in the pool of his own blood by Umuagama Vigilante

Public transporter docked for stealing N2m in Lagos ONOZURE DANIA

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39-year-old man, Isaac Okoro, a public transporter has been docked before an Ikeja Magistrate court on a twocount charge of stealing N2million.

The police prosecutor, Rachael Williams, alleged that Okoro and others now at large, had conspired to wit; steal the sum of N 2million belonging to one Mr. Obi Hyginus.

The victim had on June 22, 2012, at about 11:30am at 25, Anifowoshe Street, Ikeja, Lagos conspired with others to commit felony and steal the sum of N2million. Inspector Williams, told the court that Isaac on the said date, conspired with others to commit the offence, which is contrary to section 409 of the criminal laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011. According to her, the offence committed by Isaac is punishable under section 409 and 285(5)(b) of the criminal laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.

When the charges were read, the defendant whose residential address is No. 11, Segun Matami Street, Igando, Lagos State pleaded not guilty to the two count-charge and Magistrate Olagbegi Adelabu granted him

bail for N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.

The Magistrate stated that the

sureties must be gainfully employed and must possess at least, two years Lagos State tax clear-

ance. She subsequently adjourned the matter to September 17, 2012 for further hearing.

NURT W boss bags one yyear ear jail tterm erm ffor or assault NURTW

BY ONOZURE DANIA

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HAIRMAN of Bariga branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Comrade Ayoola Ogunsakin, has been sentenced to one year jail term with hard labour for assault by an Ikeja Magistrate court.

The Police prosecutor, Inspector Rachael Williams, had accused Ogunsakin of assaulting a member of Self Employed Commercial Drivers Association of Nigeria, SECDAN, by inflicting injury on his body. He was charged along side Oladipupo Fakoya on a one-count charge of assault, occasioning harm.

Williams told the court that the defendants had committed the offence on May 20, 2004 at about 11:15am along Odo Oba Street, Bariga in Lagos. He said that Ogunsakin had earlier threatened to attack members of Self

Employed Commercial Drivers Association of Nigeria (SECDAN). The prosecutor also alleged that the SECDAN members were attacked by the members of the NURTW on the said date. She further alleged that it was Ogunsakin who ordered his boys to beat the SECDAN members up and kill at least three of them.

The Investigating Police Officer in charge of the case, Corporal Antonia Okoli, stated that both parties have been disturbing the peace of Bariga and that the DPO had tried to settle the matter several times without success. While giving evidence before the court, the IPO added that on the date of the incident after the DPO had told them to go and maintain peace, they still went back to cause trouble in the area.

In a short judgment, Magistrate Olagbegi Adelabu found Ogunsakin guilty of assaulting one Mr Obasin Ehi Yusuf, who is a

member of Self Employed Commercial Drivers Association of Nigeria. The magistrate however granted him an alternative option of N50, 000, or go to jail. She also banned the operation of the NURTW for two years in Bariga for peace to reign.

The second defendant, Oladipupo Fakoya was found not guilty to the charge and therefore discharged and a c q u i t t e d .

In the case of the 1st defendant, Ogunsakin, she said, the defendant contradicted himself severally to the point that his evidence became totally unreliable before the court. She said the defendants’ statement with the police is distinctively different from the evidence before the court and, therefore, found Ogunsakin guilty as charged and sentenced him accordingly to one year in prison with hard labour.

operatives who reported the matter to the police at Ogrute headquarters of the police division When Crime Alert traced the relations of the deceased to the Ogrute District Hospital, the body of Urama was still lying in an ambulance as the medical doctor in charge was being awaited to perform an autopsy on the deceased. His immediate elder brother, Ikechukwu Urama, said that the news about his brother came first as an accident, adding: “But when we reached the police station, we found out that he was killed by an armed robber who snatched his motorcycle.”

Urama stated that his deceased brother was a crayfish dealer but during period of business slump, he helped himself by using his motorcycle for commercial purposes. “Our mother foresaw the death of Chiedozie in her dream a day before his death. This kind of crime is rampant in our area and police has not been able to fish out the perpetrators,” distraught Ikechukwu regretted. He said that they have no faith in what police can do in the circumstance and as such, were relying on God for help. “We have taken the matter to God and we hope he will expose those who killed my brother.”

Serial killers The Chairman of Igbo Eze North LGA, Mr. Bonaventure Onuh, condemned the killing of Chiedozie Urama and urged the police to do everything possible to fish out the serial killers operating in the area. Onuh who spoke to Crime Alert on phone, said the local government was concerned about atrocities of the serial killers who specialize in motorcycle snatching and killing of their victims, adding: “We are not resting on our oars in this regard. We are strengthening the Neighborhood Watches to make them more efficient and responsive to be able to deal with the situation.”

The Divisional Police Officer incharge of Enugu Ezike Police division was said to be away in Abuja when our reporter called at the station. However, a senior police officer who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed the incident regretting the unwillingness of the people to come forward with useful information that could lead to the arrest of the bandits that have invaded the area since December 2011.

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48— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2012

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY,, AUGUST 15, 2012 — 49

Nigeria, South Korea explore FDI opportunities

BY HUGO ODIOGOR, EMMANUEL ELEBEKE & DOTUN IBIWOYE

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I G E R I A ’ s Ambassador to South Korea, Ambassador Desmond Akawor, yesterday highlighted possible areas of investment and strengthening of relations between the two countries.

He made this assertion at a symposium organized by the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in commemoration of the 67th anniversary of the Republic of South Korea in collaboration with Random Dynamic Resources Limited yesterday in Lagos.

The theme of the symposium was “New Flow of Foreign Direct Investment”was aimed fostering solid bilateral relationship between the two countries. Akawor noted that if natural gas and power pricing is got right, South Korea is will to invest in Nigerian market.

He also said that there with the huge deposit of uranium in Nigeria which is a veritable source of nuclear, the country is also eager to tap into the resource, to boost Nigerian economy. The huge potentials of coal in Enugu and Kogi states were pointed out as a potent attraction to Korean investors who have also

R-L: DG, NIIA, Prof. Bola Akinterinwa, Nigerian Ambassador to south Korea, Amb. Desmond Akawor, Prince Julius Adelusi and South Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Amb. Choi Jong-Hyun at the event in Lagos indicted interest to invest in Nigeria but regretted that the poor railway system in the country remains a major challenge to them. With 2.6 million refinery capacity per day, the country is also ready to come into Nigeria’s petrochemical industry to turn the fortunes of the ailing Nigerian refineries around Akawor also stated that the 70,000 mega watts power generated by the Koreans could be a potential need that Nigeria needs to tap into their expertise to boost the lower power generation in the country.

He however recommended that all the issue of insecurity in the

Libyan fighters move to Syria including some foreign

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ETERAN fighters of last year’s civil war in Libya have come to the front-line in Syria, helping to train and organize rebels under conditions far more dire than those in the battle against Muammar Gaddafi, a Libyan-Irish fighter has told Reuters.

Hussam Najjar hails from Dublin, has a Libyan father and Irish mother and goes by the name of Sam. A trained sniper, he was part of the rebel unit that stormed Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli a year ago, led by Mahdi alHarati, a powerful militia chief from Libya’s western mountains.

Harati now leads a unit in Syria, made up mainly of Syrians but also

fighters, including 20 senior members of his own Libyan rebel unit. He asked Najjar to join him from Dublin a few months ago, Najjar said. The Libyans aiding the Syrian rebels include specialists in communications, logistics, humanitarian issues and heavy weapons, he said. They operate training bases, teaching fitness and battlefield tactics.

Najjar said he was surprised to find how poorly armed and disorganized the Syrian rebels were, describing Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority as far more repressed and downtrodden under Assad than Libyans were under Gaddafi.

country, financial guarantee, the laws of avoidance of double taxation, infrastructural deficit, holding of regular joint commission, policies on direct procurement procedure must be adequately addressed for

these to be achieved.

On his part, Amb. Choi Jong -Hyun said that there were so many factors that contributed towards the transformation of Korean economy in the past decades. Some of them include: human capacity

development, good leadership, discipline and adjustment on her economic strategy, which was dependent on activities of the global economy.

Jong-Hyun expressed commitment towards building a solid bilateral and trade relation with Nigeria, and urged Nigerian government to give a purposeful leadership and ensure that all pending bilateral disputes with Korea are speedily resolved. To fasttrack the inflow of FDI from Korea, the ambassador therefore recommended that Nigeria must ensure that the issue of the prevailing insecurity in the country, infrastructure deficit, resolution of KNOC issue, law of double taxation, pursuance of favorable labour policies should be adequately addressed.

In his remarks, the former Minister of Health, Prince Julius Adelusi, said that Nigeria have so many

things in common with South Korea from independence but by the virtue of purposeful leadership and non tolerance for corruption, South Korea had within a short time surpassed Nigeria and emerged a super power in the world.

Adelusi said with great human and natural resources potentials Nigeria possesses, it stands a chance of becoming a global player if the country’s leadership could focus on creating the environment and towing the line of South Korea in the fight against corruption by sanctioning corrupt leaders and building a national consciousness among Nigerians. In his welcome address, the Director General of NIIA, Prof. Bola Akinterinwa said “If countries like South Korea could turn stone into bread, pass through tough challenges as Nigeria is currently experiencing today, we can learn a lot from them.

Nigeria, Mauritius sign anti-double taxation pact

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IGERIA and Mauritius have signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), the Mauritian Finance and Economic Development Ministry announced on Monday.

According to the ministry, the part was signed by Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Eweala, and the Mauritian Finance and Economic Development Minister, Xavier-Luc Duval.

According to OkonjoEweala, the level of trade within Africa was low mainly due to trade barriers.

She expressed the hope that the DTAA would help bring down those barriers and improve integration

L-R: Mr Strive Masiyiwa, Board Member, Rockefeller Foundation; Judith Robin, President, Rockeffeler Foundation and Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, Minister of Agriculture during a visit by the Rockeffeler Foundation to the Honourable Minister in Abuja, on Tuesday.

between Nigeria and Mauritius.

Speaking after signing the agreement, Duval highlighted the increasing role of Mauritius as a gateway for investment in Africa,

saying Mauritius was willing to strengthen economic relations with Nigeria.

“Nigeria which is the second fastest growing economy in Africa with an average growth of 7% over

the last decade offers important opportunities for Mauritian businessmen,” he said. forms of income arising from cross-border economic activities.

Syrian defections weakens Assad’s rule, says ex-PM

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RESIDENT Bashar al-Assad controls less than a third of Syria and his power is crumbling, his former prime minister said on Tuesday, in his first public appearance since he defected to the opposition this month.

Riyad Hijab told a news conference in Jordan that the morale of Syrian authorities was low after grappling for 17 months

to crush a popular uprising and an armed insurgency against Assad.

“The regime is collapsing, spiritually and financially, as it escalates militarily,” he said. “It no longer controls more than 30 percent of Syrian territory.”

Hijab, a Sunni Muslim, was not in Assad’s inner circle. But as the most senior civilian official to

defect, his flight after two months in the job looked embarrassing for the president. Hijab did not explain his estimate of the territory still controlled by Assad, whose military outnumbers and outguns the rebels fighting to overthrow him.

The army is battling to regain control of Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city, after retaking parts of Damascus that were

seized by insurgents last month.Curbs on media access make it hard to know how much of Syria is in rebel hands, but most towns and cities along the country’s backbone, a highway running from Aleppo in the north to Deraa in the south, have been swept up in the violence. Assad has also lost swathes of land on Syria’s northern and eastern border.

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50— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2012

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52— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15, 2012

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54 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

Maigari charges Eagles on emphatic win Glo tasks Eagles to make Nigeria proud N N FF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari says an emphatic win by the Super Eagles over the Mena of Niger in Wednesday ’s international friendly in Niamey will help the confidence of the home boys going into the preparations for the 2013 African Cup of Nations qualifying match against Liberia in September.

Speaking in Saudi Arabia where he is attending the Umrah (lesser hajj), Maigari stated on Tuesday that the Eagles must go all out against their northern neighbours.

“It is a friendly match, but the factors underlining the match means that our boys have to go all out.

This is a match to see what the home boys can do as a unit, and it is what they are able to do that will determine how many of them will be invited for the big one against Liberia.

“It will not be easy, because apart from the fact that there are no longer minnows in international football, Niger have a strong team that cannot be under-rated.

•HARDWORK ••• Super Eagles in training.

Olympics: CPC wants Abdulahi, Ekeji retary of the party, Engr. years. sacked Rotimi Fasakin in state“Undoubtedly, this poor

BY INALEGWU SHAIBU, Abuja

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ONGRESS for Pro gressive Change, CPC has called for the sack of sports minister, Bolaji Abdulahi and National Sports Commission director-general Patrick Ekeji over the dismal performance of the Nigerian contingent at the just concluded London 2012 Olympics.

National Publicity Sec-

ment condemned the woeful performance of Nigeria at the Olympics in which no single medal was won at the London Games.

The statement reads, “CPC joins concerned Nigerians at the import of the dismal performance of the Nigerian team at the recently concluded 2012 London Olympics where the country failed to register on the medals’ table, the worst in twenty four

Blame NSC ffor or TTeam eam Nigeria’s w oes woes Continues from B/P Commission (NSC) should be blamed for the country’s poor showing at the just-concluded London 2012 Olympics.

Ajunwa’s comments were part of barrage of criticisms which continued to trail Nigeria’s disgraceful outing at the Games, where it failed to win a medal.

The London woes were reminiscent of the country’s failure to win medals in Moscow, Russia in 1980 and in Seoul, South Korea at the 1988 Olympics.

Ajunwa, in a telephone interview, said that it was impossible for Nigeria to achieve much in sports generally since the NSC had relegated school sports to the backdoor.

“I was discovered during a local government inter-house school sports competition.

Now, I don’t think there is anywhere local government games are still being held in Nigeria.

“I wonder how talents will be discovered and launched on the international scene if you don’t graduate them from C M Y K

the local, state and national levels,” Ajunwa said.The Lagos-based Chief Superintendent of Police expressed regret that the country was still depending on its past achievements at the Olympics, rather than

working to break new grounds.

“I was ashamed that Team Nigeria could not feature an athlete in the 100 metres final for men, while Jamaica and the U. S presented two each.

Drogba now the Devil Beast Continues from B/P ning penalty in the nail-biting shootout success over Bayern Munich in May. He made the tough decision to end his eightyear stay in London by accepting a lucrative switch to China with bigspending Shanghai Shenhua.

And the fans have al-

ready christened him Devil Beast after being won over by the Ivory Coast international’s powerful displays.

Only time will tell if Chelsea regret letting him leave Stamford Bridge, but the target man clearly has no intention of giving anything but his all for his new club.

Ronaldo, Iniesta, Messi shortlisted for UEFA Best Player award Continues from B/P top five.

The remaining three players will now go into a deciding vote in Monaco during the Champions League group stage draw on August 30.

The individual award, created in partnership with European Sports

Media (ESM), recognises the best player, irrespective of his nationality, playing for a club within the territory of a Uefa member association during the previous season.

Messi won the inaugural edition of the accolade in 2011.

ATIONAL telecom munication operator, Globacom has advised the Nigerian national team, Super Eagles to re-invent its legendary might by coming out victorious in their international friendly match against Mena of Niger in Niamey on Wednesday.

In a press statement issued in Lagos Tuesday, the company urged the team to work towards defeating Mena on their home soil in Niamey, adding that the team needs to start building its way back to reckoning in African Football.

“It is important to go for victory in this encounter

to help the team gain confidence ahead of the crucial African Cup of Nations qualifier against Liberia scheduled for Monrovia in September,” Glo added.

The company stated that the Super Eagles require constant friendly matches to put the team in top shape and enable the technical crew to assess the array of talented Nigerian players towards forming a formidable national team.

Globacom, is the major partner of the Nigeria Football Federation and the official sponsor of Nigeria’s national teams.

showing is an anti-climax to the peak reached in our Olympics participation with the Atlanta ’96 haul of six medals, including two gold medals!

Guinean, Ivorian athletes join defection train

Bolaji Abdulahi, Sports Minister.

THLETES from Guinea and Ivory Coast have joined several other Africans who have gone missing following the London Olympics, officials said on Tuesday Three Guineans and three Ivorians disappeared, adding to a total list of 11 Congolese

A

and Cameroonians suspected to be trying to make new lives in Europe.“Three members of the delegation have not returned to the Olympic village,” Adama Doumbia, technical adviser at the Ministry of Sports and Leisure in Ivory Coast, said.

We went to sleep after Atlanta ’96 Continues from B/P competed in the 2000 Games in Sydney and some athletes remained till 2004. So, we went to sleep after Atlanta ’96 and the result is what we are getting now. After we won in Atlanta did they ask the medal winners how they won? What we went through should have been a lesson, some kind of guide to the authorities. But they did not build on that. They probably saw us as a burden and avoided us. There are things that matter in sports. You may train an athlete for months and you think that the athlete is good enough to win a medal but on the day it matters the athlete gets into an overwhelming stadium with 80,000 spectators shouting and the athlete freezes. So, experience counts but we don’t give a hoot about experience. Somebody who runs 100 meters, for example, should be able to learn a few things from the person that ran it and won an Olympic medal.

I’m talking about role models.

Where is their place in

Nigeria? There are people who should be role models to our athletes but the authorities would not use them. Same goes with coaching. Dennis Mitchell ran in my time and most of the coaches now ran in my time. It is their generation. Which generation can we refer to in Nigeria? In my time we used our credit card to help ourselves. People celebrated the medals that we won but they did not know what we put in to win. Olympic medals don’t come like that. You work for them. Everybody is talking about the National Sports Commission. It is not only about them. What about the states? What are they doing? We were the products of the school system, the grass roots system.

What has happened to those programmes that produced us? In 1986 Mary Onyali had already moved to the United States but as local athletes Tina Iheagwam and myself beat her for the World Junior Championships.

We started from secondary schools. Now, who in any secondary school

can make a national impact in sports? Governors don’t do anything now. Talents are wasting because sports has age limit. A great talent may fade away if the talent in him or her is not developed at the appropriate time. That’s what is happening to us. And we put all our eggs in one basket by pumping all the money into football. That has to be looked into. I can tell you that our athletes are determined to do well but they don’t get the help they need to excel.

If we used our credit card to help ourselves, do you expect that to continue? things are no longer the same, so we need to move with time but we are not doing so. People are so greedy now and they don’t help athletes. Here, in England, Britain invested in sports and they are reaping it now. So, after everything the question goes back to the President of Nigeria.

What does he want to do with sports? That is the question I want to ask you as an answer to your question.” BRILLIANT.

— 55 Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST15, 2012—

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VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

Drogba now the Devil Beast

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•Drogba

HELSEA let the Drog out for the last time in the Champions League final but Didier Drogba is going strong in China — and he’s already got a new nick-

name.

Drogba, 34, brought the curtain down on his glittering career with the Blues by scoring the win

•Ronaldo

••Messi

Continues on Page 54

We went to sleep after Atlanta ’96 — Falilat Ogunkoya F

ALILAT Ogunkoya has seen it all in Nigerian sports, her young age notwithstanding.

She is a product of grassroots development that has since ceased to happen in Nigeria. She won bronze in the Atlanta Olympic Games where her 49.1 seconds in the 400m is still the African record. At the same Atlanta ’96, Olympics Mary

Onyali won bronze in the 200m and Chioma Ajunwa won gold in the Long Jump before the soccer team also won gold, making it Nigeria’s finest moment at the Olympics.

What went wrong with Nigeria? Falilat answered this way here in London: “We went to sleep after Atlanta ’96. It was largely the Atlanta team that Continues on Page 54

Ronaldo, Iniesta, Messi shortlisted for UEFA Best Player award

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Blame NSC ffor or TTeam eam Nigeria’s woes — Ajunwa

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HIOMA Ajunwa, Nigeria’s Atlanta ’96 Olympics gold medalist, said on Tuesday that the National Sports

•Ekeji, DG NSC TODAY'S

NOT ENOUGH: Jamaica's ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce (L) crosses the finish line next to Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare to win the women's 100m final at the London 2012 Olympic Games . PHOTO/ AFP

Continues on Page 54

EAL Madrid for ward Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona duo Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta have been shortlisted for the Uefa Best Player in Europe award.

The trio gained the most points in a vote among 53 sports journalists representing each of

the European football governing body’s member associations.

Juventus playmaker Andrea Pirlo came in fourth in the election, while Barcelona’s Xavi, who finished second in last year’s edition of the award, completed the

Continues on Page 54

•CPC wants Abdulahi, Ekeji sacked — P.54, Onochie's Diary — P. 43 •More stories on pages 28 & 29

PUZZLES YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 1 Unjust (6) 5Anew (6) 9 Coppice (5) 10 Survey (6) 11 Hurry (6) 12 Dissuade (5) 14 Fruit (4) 17 Managed (5) 18 Jetty (4) 20 Weird (5) 22 Inanity (5) 23 Gulp (7) 24 Glue (5) 26 Rod (5) 29 Friend (40) 30 Encountered (3) 32 Roster (4) 33 Radio-location (5) 35 Hawker (6) 36 Result (6) 37 Angry (5) 38 Stable (6) 39 Revised.

DOWN 1 Immediately (6) 2 Prefer (6) 3 Frozen (4) 4 Oarsman (5) 5 Wan (5) 6 Dread (4) 7 Necessitate (6) 8 Famished (6) 13 Agreed (7) 15 Lawful (5) 16 Foggy (5) 18 Might (5) 19 Choose (5) 21 Sheep (3) 22 Dandy (3) 24 Grasslands (6) 25 Mire (6) 27 Sturdy (6) 28 Greeted (6) 30 Wed (5) 31 Flavour (5) 33 Attack (4) 34 Rush (4)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 4, Crude 7, Reeled 9, Woe 10, Tea 12, Abide 13, Sour 15, Amble 17, Subdue 19, Lack 20, Sheer 22, Saw 24, Demerit 27, Dim 28, Naked 31, Firm 33, Meagre 35, Event 37, Tear 38, Aisle 39, Top 41, Eel 42, Modern 43, Lever.

How to Play Sudoku

THE VIGILANTE

DOWN: 1, Crisis 2, Refuse 3, Wet 4, Coal 5, Rebel 6, Dedicate 8, Dead 11, Amusement 14 Rued 16, Bear 18, Bred 21, Homicide 23, Wing 25, Mime 26, Tart 29, Keeper 30, During 32, Melee 34, Atom 36, Veer 40, Pot.

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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