Bloodbath as Tiv, Fulani clash in Benue

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 61733

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ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

UNIPORT 4: THE ALUU SUSPECTED KILLERS

N150

Budget 2013: Senate dumps FG's oil benchmark •P.6

Constitution:

I 'll abide by what Nigerians want — Jonathan •P.7

'UNIPORT 4' SUSPECTS—Suspected killers of "Uniport 4'" paraded, yesterday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers The case for State: Clockwise: David Chinansa (suspect) being interviewed by reporters; the suspects paraded; Segun Lawal (suspect) also being interviewed by journalists; Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Indabuwa with ACP in charge of Operations, Habila Joseph, during the pre-suspects parade briefing. Photos: Chijioke Nwanpka. See story on Page 11.

Statelessness •P.17

DEAR BUNMI •P. 38

Bloodbath as Tiv, Fulani clash in Benue

OGAGA IFOWODO •P.19

ROTIMI FASAN •P.19

•30 women, children slaughtered by herdsmen •JTF confirms death of 24 terrorists in Maiduguri blasts

2-yr-old baby, 5 others missing as flood sacks 10 Delta communities •P.8

FG to reap N197bn from •P 5 PHCN privatisation

BY PETER DURU &NDAHI MARAMA ENUE—NO fewer than 30 persons were feared dead in a fresh clash between Fulani herdsmen and native Tiv farmers in Yogbo, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State. This came as the Joint Task Force,

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Continues on page 5

Mr & Mrs

2 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

C M Y K

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 — 3

4 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

4 DAYS TO GO

FALAE TO TINUBU:

BY DAYO JOHNSON

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CHIEFTAIN of Afenifere and former Finance Minister Chief Olu Falae yesterday blasted the national leader of the ACN, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu describing him as a fake progressive.

Falae said the people of the South West Region should

You're a fake progressive

look beyond the image of Tinubu façade that the leader of the ACN is one of the progressives.

He spoke at the round-off of the rallies of the Labour Party in Akure, the Ondo state capital.

The rally was witnessed by several dignitaries including the Nigerian Labour

...Akeredolu chides Falae over remarks

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HE Akeredolu Campaign Organization (ACO) in a sharp reaction dismissed the insinuations raised by Falae at the rally describing his utterances at the rally as unbecoming of a statesman.

In a statement by Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, the Director of Media, Publicity and Strategy, the ACO said that Falae has no political worth and is indeed anti-Yoruba given what the organization noted as Falae’s collaboration with the Ibrahim Babangida administration.

“Today, Chief Falae has exposed himself as one of the greatest anti-Yourba elements by his statement on Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in which he claimed that the Alliance for Democracy (AD) would have given the governorship ticket of Lagos state to Late Funso Williams instead of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. How could AD have preferred Funso Williams, who was a key figure in the Late General Sanni Abacha’s transition programme being a governorship aspirant

of the United National Congress Party(UNCP), one of the five parties described by Late Chief Bola Ige as the five fingers of a leprous hand."

A man who killed Kudirat Abiola, Alfred Rewane, shot at the Late Abraham Adesanya and chased many Yoruba leaders to exile. It is a notorious fact that Asiwaju Tinubu won the primary fair and square.”

“For us at ACO, we know that Falae can not at this time in our history be the clog in the wheel of the progress of the Yoruba nation march to full integration leading to sustainable development. Ondo people are wiser they can not be hoodwinked by people who have fed fat on their collective wealth for so long. The D-day between reactionary forces and progressive, between light and darkness, between tokenism and enduring development is October 20. The great people of Ondo State will vote for progress, light, enduring development which ACN represents.”

Congress, NLC president, Abdulwaheeb Omar who led 42 unions to the rally.

Disclaiming the progressive credentials of the ACN national leader, Falae said "Bola Tinubu has never display any trait of a progressive. Tinubu has always been working against the interest of the Yoruba race by conspiring with leaders from other region to marginalise the South west region at the federal level, all what he does is to protect his selfish interest”

The Afenifere leader said Tinubu destabilised the Afenifere group and the Alliance for Democracy before teaming up with some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to form the ACN. The former Secretary to the Federal Government said he was one of the Afenifere leaders who installed Tinubu as the governor of Lagos when he prevailed on the late Funso Williams to step down because of the intervention of

the late leader of the group Chief Abraham Adesanya.

According to him” I was part of the decision making body that install Tinubu as the Lagos state governor in 1999, some leaders of the Afenifere preferred the late Funsho Williams. I can assure you that he will continue with the developmental projects across the state, those who have not benefited from the good work will feel the impact of democracy in his second coming”.

*Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko acknowledging cheers from supporters on his way to the Democracy Park, venue of the Grand Finale of the Labour Party Governorship rally, in Akure, yesterday.

Women Arise should be de-accredited — ACN

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR

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HE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday pressed forward its case for the removal of the Dr. Joe OkeiOdumakin led Women Arise from among the election monitors on account of what it alleged to be her husband's partiality.

Mrs. Okei-Odumakin one of the country’s leading civil society activists is married to Mr. Yinka Odumakin another leading light in civil society who has thrown his support for Governor Segun Mimiko.

In demanding the exclusion of Women Arise, the ACN in a statement yesterday said it was proper for the group to be excluded given the exclusion of the Coalition of Democrats for Election Reforms, CODER by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC from monitoring the election.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its National C M Y K

Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said: "What we said in our earlier statement is that INEC, in its choice of which election observers to accredit, has exhibited gross partisanship in favour of the Labour Party (LP) in Ondo for the following reasons: The Coalition of Democrats for Election Reforms (CODER) was de-accredited, apparently on the basis of alleged partisanship, and in its place Women Arise was accredited; That Women Arise cannot be put up as neutral when its President is the wife of Yinka Odumakin, who has openly endorsed Gov. Olusegun Mimiko of LP, in addition to being a political associate of Pastor Tunde Bakare who has also endorsed Gov. Mimiko. ‘’We are therefore renewing our call on INEC to immediately withdraw the accreditation of Women Arise and RMG, if the electoral body is serious about its stated intention to ensure that the

Ondo State Governorship Polls is not only free, fair and credible, but seen to be so. ‘’We concede the rights of Pastor Tunde Bakare, Mr. Yinka Odumakin and Mr. Femi Aduwo to support and endorse any candidate of their choice.

However you don’t need a Sixth Sense to realize that such a person, his or her spouse or friend cannot be appointed as an election monitor or observer,’’ ACN said.

"Nobody is interested in who

is the head of the Odumakin family or whether or not she calls the shot. The question is: ‘Will the average person believe in her impartiality given her husband’s open endorsement of Dr. Mimiko?"

....Odumakin hits Lai

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N a sharp reaction yesterday to the ACN demand for her group’s withdrawal from the polls, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin said:“In twenty four hours, Alhaji Mohammed has issued two statements against us repeating the same baseless and puerile allegations against our organization .

“In what has become a special forte of Alhaji Mohammed, one set of rules for ACN and a different one for others, the ACN spokesman’s only allegation against Women Arise is that the group cannot be independent because the hubby of the

president has expressed his personal opinion.”

“Yet Lai Mohammed and his party insist that the volume of calls himself and other leaders of his party had with Justice Salami who was giving judgments in ACN favour had no relationships.”

“It is more absurd that he in one breath wants CODER which was formed and is being funded by the ACN leader accredited and in another asks for deaccreditation of Women Arise with no evidence of link to any political party.”

“And for a man who has served more of a political serf to his

former friend in the last 14 years, it may be that the only place left for him to exercise authority bordering on dictatorship is over his wife!”

“As to the non-question of Mohammed if Women Arise was hired to participate in any protest, our response is that we cannot be bought with all the illicit funds his group is using to destroy all institutions.”

“The group participated freely in the first protest on Salami when it thought that it was an altruistic cause but declined in a second protest having gotten the full facts of the unholy alliance.”

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012—5

POCKET CARTOON

Bloodbath as Tiv, Fulani clash in Benue Continues from page 1 JTF, confirmed, yesterday, that 24 sect members were killed in Monday’s spate of explosions and shootings in Maiduguri.

Majority of those killed in the bloodbath that erupted Sunday morning in Yogbo were women and children who could not escape before the herdsmen invaded the embattled community.

The renewed crisis also left several farmlands and yields in ruins while houses and huts worth several millions of Naira were also destroyed by the rampaging Fulani herdsmen.

Vanguard gathered from fleeing residents of the community who had taken refuge in Makurdi town that the arms wielding herdsmen attacked Yogbo, a community that is less than 15 minutes drive from Makurdi town, at about 7am on Sunday when most residents had gone to church.

According to one John Usher who said he escaped with his wife and three children from the sudden attack, “ we never envisaged any attack on that day,

because we have been living in peace with one another for sometime now.

“We were surprised when the Fulanis suddenly attacked us, slaughtering over 30 women and children who were at home when many families had gone to church; we heard screams of women and children being murdered by the Fulanis who quickly disappeared after carrying out the dastardly attack”.

He added: “Given the timing of this latest attack on Tiv farmers, it has become worrisome that anytime a year is coming to an end, these ugly incidents always occur, leading to the spilling of blood and the wanton destruction of property and farm yields of Tiv farmers by the invading Fulani herdsmen. It is just unfortunate”.

Meanwhile, at press time, hundreds of indigenous Tiv farmers were seen fleeing to Makurdi town, while some were heading to Gbajimba from the troubled community while security operatives were also seen patrolling parts of the town.

When contacted, the

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

Be careful what you ask for. When we are young, we pray for good health and long life, thinking it will meet us in the condition we are in. When our prayers are answered, we live long and grow old, only to find out that old age is not an easy thing.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

I believe that anyone can be successful in life, regardless of natural talent or the environment within which we live. This is not based on measuring success by human competitiveness for wealth, possessions, influence, and fame, but adhering to God’s standards of truth, justice, humility, service, compassion, forgiveness, and love —Jimmy Carter UTHOR Matthew Stopher, gently draws ones attention to the awesome reality of the perception of light in breaking boundaries and creating new frontiers of success. He surmised metaphorically that “darkness which instils stillness, is generous and it is patient and it always wins – but in the heart of its strength lies its weakness: One lone candle is enough to hold it back. Love therefore is more than a candle because Love can ignite even the stars.”

Marianne Williamson made it opaque and clearer in her famous quote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.’ We ask ourselves, who am I not to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you notto be?”

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Benue state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Daniel Ezeala confirmed that men of the command have been deployed to the troubled spot to forestall further bloodbath in the area.

Vanguard recalls that attacks on Tiv communities by the herdsmen had, in the last few years, led to deaths of hundreds of persons especially in the border communities between Benue and Nasarawa states.

Efforts by both Benue and Nasarawa state governments and the Sultan of Sokoto to find lasting solution to the crisis have yielded little or no results in the last few months.

Recently, the governors of Benue and Nasarawa states also signed a peace accord at Yelwata, a border town between the two states to end the incessant bloodbath.

24 suspected terrorists, 2 others killed in Maiduguri multiple blasts Meanwhile, 24 suspected terrorists have been confirmed killed in last Monday's clash with members of the JTF in Gwange, Zannari and Gomari Costain areas of Maiduguri, while two others believed to be members of the JTF were killed by the terrorists.

But the Task Force in Borno State said, yesterday, that no member of JTF or civilian was killed during the encounter, insisting that about 24 suspected Boko Haram fighters were killed in different parts of Maiduguri metropolis.

A statement signed by the JTF spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa and made available to newsmen in Maiduguri, yesterday, said the Boko Haram sect members attacked JTF locations in Zannari ward and Lagos Street along Gwange general area on Monday night where rocket propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices were used by the insurgents.

According to the statement: “The terrorists used civilian homes as launching areas for the attacks at different times

of the night of Monday, October 15, 2012. All the attacks were repelled; 24 Boko Haram terrorists were killed”.

The JTF spokesman claimed that no civilian casualty was recorded but added that a soldier was wounded during the attack.

He said: “One RPG purpose machine gun, 7 AK 47 riffles, 1 FNC riffle, 24 assorted empty magazines, 950 assorted ammunition, two pistols, large quantity of assorted Improvised Explosives Device (IED) materials and several bows, arrows and cutlasses were recovered from the attackers. The

atmosphere in Maiduguri has been normalized since the early hours of Tuesday(yesterday) as people are going about their normal businesses.” Musa warned residents to

desist from allowing their homes to be used as launching pads for attacks on troops and civilians, saying such action would be dealt with appropriately.

FG to reap N197bn from PHCN privatisation •Abdulsalam Abubakar, Emeka Offor's firms win as bids end

BY CLARA NWACHUKWU & OSCARLINE ONWUEMENYI BUJA – SIX firms have won the bids to operate ten electricity distribution companies across the country, a process which may signal the end of efforts by the Federal government to privatize the successor distribution companies (DISCOs) created from the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

According to the National Council on Privatisation, which is headed by the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, the envisaged total proceeds from the sale of 60 per cent of the 10 DISCOs being offered for sale is N197.25 billion.

Companies bidding for the 10 distribution companies include Interstate Electrics Ltd, KANN Consortium Utility Ltd, Vigeo Power Consortium, Southern Electricity Distribution Company, Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Ltd., New Electricity Distribution Company Consortium, West Power and Gas, Honeywell Energy Re-

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sources International Ltd., SEPCO-Pacific Energy Consortium, OANDO Consortium, Western Consortium, Sahelian Power SPV, Aura Energy, and 4Power Consortium.

The interstate Consortium include Emeka Offor’s Chrome Energy, Power House International Ltd, and Metropolitan Electricity Authority, MEA, of Thailand.

Chairman, Powerhouse International, Mr. kester Enwereonu, said the combined balance sheet of the consortium members was in excess of $20billion.

To run the two DISCOs, the consortium noted that although the two companies are in close proximity, they have proposed two sets of management teams, one for each of the DISCOs. Results at the end of the bidding process showed that Integrated Energy Distribution and Marketing Ltd, which is being promoted by former head of state, retired General Abdulsalami Abubakar, won management of the Eko Distribution Company with about

N20.7bn above average of other bids. The company also won the bids to operate the Ikeja, Ibadan and Yola distribution companies, making it the company with the highest wins in the process.

Interstate Electrics Limited fronted by Sir Emeka Offor won the bid to operate the Abuja Distribution Company as well as the Enugu Distribution Company. The bid to operate the Benin Distribution company, however, was won by Vigeo Power Consortium which has Gbolade Osibodu as its major shareholder, while 4Power Consortium emerged sole bidder for the Port-Harcourt distribution company.

The Kano and Jos distribution companies are to be operated by Sahelian Power SPV Ltd and Aura Energy respectively.

The Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE, Mrs. Bolanle Onagoruwa, who spoke at the opening of the commercial bids submitted by prequalified prospective core investors in Abuja, expressed hope that suc Continues on page 49

6—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

BY HENRY UMORU

BUJA —STRONG indications emerged, yesterday, that the Presidency and the lawmakers may be poised for a war as the Senate has rejected the Federal Government’s pegging of $75 per barrel as benchmark for the 2013 budget and raised it to a higher rate of $78 per barrel.

The Senate also approved a crude oil production per day of 2.53mbd, 2.61 mbd and 2.65mbd for 2013, 2014, and 2015 respectively at an average exchange rate of N160 to the dollar.

Also yesterday, the Senate rejected President Goodluck Jonathan’s structures of Subsidy Reinvestment Programme at the Federal Government, state, senatorial and local government levels, just as the lawmakers based their reasons on the fact that the measure had derailed from the intentions of the intervention programme.

These resolutions followed the adoption of the report presented by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, PDP, Kaduna North of the Senate Joint Committee on Finance and National Planning, Economic Affairs, and Poverty Alleviation on the 2013-2015 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper of the Jonathan administration.

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Budget 2013: Senate dumps FG’s oil benchmark, adopts $78 per barrel Warns FG on excessive borrowing Donates N22.8m to flood victims Mark has announced a donation of N22.8million to victims of the recent flood disaster throughout the country.

Mark, who noted that it was the desire of the Senate to ensure speedy development of the country through the process of budgeting, however, stressed that members should reserve their

elaborate debates to the consideration of the 2013 budget, which would commence today.

Addressing journalists after plenary, Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, PDP, Abia South, noted that the Senate would set up

a conference committee to agree on the crude oil benchmark for the 2013 budget with the House of Representatives which had last week before the presentation of the budget to the Joint Session of the National Assembly by the President, put a benchmark price of $80 per barrel.

Mark disclosed that the 10 principal officers of the Senate would donate N300,000 each amounting to N3 million while the remaining 99 senators would donate N19.8 million.

Advises FG on excessive borrowing The Senate also advised the Federal Government to exercise what it termed extreme caution on foreign borrowing, adding that the administration should strengthen and consolidate its fiscal strategy to narrow the gap between projected and actual revenue for 2013- 2015 by curtailing crude oil theft, and diversifying the economy to increase revenue.

Presenting the report, Makarfi, who noted that the joint committee observed that the oil benchmark could be increased to provide more funds to reduce deficit, reduce domestic borrowing and increase capital spending, said the committee agreed that $75 per barrel should be adopted for the MTEF and FSP while a higher benchmark would be adopted for the 2013 budget.

The committee observed that the rate of borrowing by the Federal Government was putting the nation at the risk of returning to the days of huge debt burden.

According to the Senate, the Federal Government must make specific provision for subsidy payments for 2013 or state its intention to stop subsidizing petroleum products, adding that corporate tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) rates of three per cent and five per cent be adopted by the Federal Government for the 2013-2015 period. It also approved the transfer of the Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme (CISS) account to the Customs.

Speaking further, Makarfi who said the projected fiscal deficit for the period of 2013-2015 as contained in the MTEF document were N1.937 trillion, N900.8 billion and N738.4 billion respectively. He added: “The total level of spending implied a deficit of 2.85 per cent, 2.17 per cent, 1.60 per cent and 1.11per cent of GDP in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively as against 6.60 per cent of GDP in 2010.

“While high level of foreign borrowing could return Nigeria to where we came from, that is, high level of foreign debts, high level of domestic borrowing can push up interest rate and crowd out private sector from the credit market.”

Senate donates N22.8m to flood victims Meanwhile, Senate President David

From right: UNICEF Executive Director, Dr. GeetaRao Gupta (right);Minister of State for Health, Dr. Muhammad Pate; Secretary-General Norway, Ms. Bente Angell-Hansen; Executive Director UNFPA, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin and Board Member, Clinton Health Initiative, Ms. Chelsea Clinton during a press session after the launch of Nigeria's Saving One Million Lives Programme at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

NJC meets over Salami’s recall, appointment of CJs for 3 states

BY SONI DANIEL, REGIONAL EDITOR, NORTH

BUJA — A CRUCIAL meeting of the National Judicial Council (NJC) begins today with the members expected to look into the possibility of recalling the embattled President of the Court of Appeal

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(PCA), Justice Isa Salami, who has been on suspension since last year.

Vanguard gathered that the meeting, which is to be attended by all members, would also approve the appointments of Chief Judges Adamawa, Nasarawa and Abia states.

The meeting is also expected to take

Govt has failed Nigerians — Ahmadu Ali Bayelsa State, an abberation — Ketebu

BY HENRY UMORU

BUJA—FORMER National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, yesterday, took a swipe at the government led by his party, attributing the activities of members of Boko Haram and other challenges across the country to what he described as bad government.

Speaking at the celebration of former Vice President Alex Ekwueme at 80, Ahmadu Ali, who noted that what the nation needed at the moment was good governance, said if the government was up and doing, there would have been no cases of massacre in Mubi, Adamawa State, Aluu in Rivers State and a host of others.

He warned that the constitution was not the problem in the country, but good governance, adding: "'We must first amend ourselves, not the constitution. If there is good governance and peace, there will be no Boko Haram, there will not be massacre in Mubi and Port Harcourt.

"This idea of six zones was an artificial

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creation by late Sanni Abacha to find a way of ruling the country and those crying about marginalization are just being smart. Those who are really marginalized are the West.

The clamour for restructuring of the six zones is not relevant and amending the constitution is not the issue, but good governance.”

Even when the Publisher of Thisday newspapers, Mr Nduka Obiagbena wanted to give Ali a soft landing for describing the PDP-led government in such manner, the former PDP national chairman who repeated what he had said earlier, added that we must tell ourselves the truth.

Also in her contribution, former President, National Council for Women Societies, NCWS, Mrs. Bolere Ketebu, who described the creation of Bayelsa State as an aberration, stressed that the 1999 constitution was dotted before it was finally put into use, adding that the same constitution provides that a state must have at least 10 local governments, but Bayelsa has eight, ‘’it is an aberration.”

actions on the recommendations of the Committee on Performance Evaluation of Judicial Officers of Superior Courts of Records in the country.

The source, who spoke in confidence, said however that the fate of Justice Salami would be seriously discussed and necessary actions taken on it to save the judiciary from further denigration by political forces.

The source said although Salami’s matter was not on the agenda, it would be taken under Any Other Matter (AOB) because of its sensitive nature and importance to the NJC. The source said: “I am aware that Salami’s issue will come under the AOB. You will recall that the NJC had recommended his reinstatement while the Presidency is yet to do so on the grounds of pendency of suits.

“I know that members will definitely take action on his matter because the time has come for us to put the sad episode behind us. Another issue is that of pendency of suits.

"Though the suits filed against Salami’s reinstatement have been struck out, the one instituted by him is still pending before the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

“I am worried about the matter but I know that members will find a way to resolve it by asking him to withdraw the case for amicable resolution of the matter."

It would be recalled that Justice Abdu Kafarati of the Federal High Court in Abuja had on Monday struck out a suit by Wilfred Okoli, seeking to restrain the President from reinstating Justice Salami to his post.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012—7

How to make Nigerian constitution work, by Editors, others

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

Adefaye hails NASS, Jonathan over FoI AGOS — LEADING law

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PROTEST: Subscribers of Minauel Estate, Extension 1 Gosa, Abuja protesting at the entrance of the National Assembly complex, Abuja over the demolition of 500 houses, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

Constitution review: I 'll abide by what Nigerians want — Jonathan Says Ekwueme is architect of Nigeria’s democracy Six political zones, devolution of powers split politicians As Clark wants 36-state system abolished

BY HENRY UMORU

BUJA — AHEAD of the review of the 1999 Constitution, President Goodluck Jonathan vowed, yesterday, that he will abide by the wishes and desires of the people of Nigeria.

Speaking during the celebration of former Vice President Alex Ekwueme's 80th birthday at an international colloquium organised in his honour, Jonathan noted that the challenge before the nation was for Nigerians to agree to commit themselves to the development, growth and survival of Nigeria.

The event which had as its theme, "Nigerian Federalism: Building on the Ekwueme Legacy," took place at the Thisday Dome, Abuja.

The President who spoke through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, however, described Ekwueme as a bridgebuilder, adding that he was the architect of Nigeria’s democracy, father of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and a great star of our time.

Jonathan who also said Ekwueme was a clean personality that couldnot be stained by politicians, stressed that he came out of office poorer than he was before he became the nation’s number two citizen from 1979-1983.

The president urged Nigerians to be patriotic and support the country, adding: "I have no personal opinion on how Nigeria

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will be structured, but I will abide by what Nigerians want.

Gowon calls for national confab Chairman of the occasion and former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, who poured encomiums on Ekwueme, however, called for a national conference where the issues affecting Nigeria could be discussed rather than a sovereign conference.

Six political zones split politicians Meanwhile, the issue of six political zones and devolution of powers to the states and regions came into focus during the colloquium with politicians, leaders, elders and stakeholders holding divergent views ranging from the need to amend the constitution and expansion of the amendment committee.

Value change more important for law and order —Fashola Setting the tone for the discussions, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, who noted his disagreement that constitution amendment was sine qua non to development, stressed that value change was more important for law and order, economic, political, social development than constitution amendment.

Fashola said: "What is under consideration is whether a constitution amendment is really what

we want. What lies at the heart of the clamour is the desire for a better life, not really a better document.

Nigerians want to pay school fees, feed themselves and work. The Constitution is just an agreement on how we relate to one another.

"Its effectiveness depends on our sincerity to honour agreement. We don’t have electoral malpractices, because the constitution is bad; our roads are bad for motorists not because the constitution is bad. The crash of the stock exchange isn’t because the constitution is bad. Those things that frustrate our people cannot be put at the doorstep of the Constitution.

They lie in our diminishing values."

Also speaking, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State who described the agreement for geo- political zones as faulty, especially on the area of marginalization, said if there must be equity, all the entities must be treated equally.

Abolish 36 states —Clark Also speaking, former Federal Commissioner for Information and Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, who advised that the present 36 states must be abolished and replaced with six geo-political zones, said they would serve as federating units.

He said: "We need a national conference to discuss. Our constitution is a military instrument given to us by the military. I disagree with the Lagos State governor on the constitution amendment.

We need a document that would make Nigerians equal. The six zones suggested by Alex Ekwueme should be the federating zones of this country. No region should hold another region down.”

Also in his contribution, former Minister of Finance, Mallam Adamu Ciroma, who opposed including geo-political zones in the constitution, stressed that since the states were not working, having the zones will also not work, just as he stressed that there was the need for the devolution of powers from the federal level to the states.

Former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Solomon Lar, described the centre as too powerful, calling for the devolution of powers to the states, even as he urged Nigerians to be patriotic. He said the Federal Government had made the states look like local government councils.

On his part, former Minister of Police Affairs, General David Jemibewon, stressed the need for Nigeria to start the process from somewhere.

In his contribution, former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, who disagreed with Governor Peter Obi on the role on National Assembly on the constitution amendment, however urged the lawmakers to hands off constitution amendment as that was not what they were voted in office to do. He said the amendment of the constitution was the responsibility of Nigerians and not that of the National Assembly.

media lights in Nigeria and other stakeholders, yesterday, offered thoughtprovoking suggestions on how to improve the 1999 Constitution and make it a vehicle for the delivery of democracy dividends to the citizenry.

Speaking at a five-hour programme: “Media Dialogue with Editors on the Constitution Amendment Process,” in Lagos, the editors said the country might continue to wallow in poverty and want, polity instability and tension if meaningful adjustments were not made in the constitution.

The areas they sought amendment include constitutional guarantee for right of access to information, making media’s governance monitoring function legally enforceable, affirmative action and gender issues, youth empowerment and fiscal federalism among others.

Organised by the Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) Project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, media icons at the parley included Editor-inChief/General Manager (Publications),Vanguard Newspapers and President Nigeria Guild of Editors, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye; former Director General of the Nigerian Television Authority, Dr Tonnie Iredia; Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Mr. Mohammed Adoke (who was represented by his Special Assistant, Mrs. Stella Aborime); and UNDP Country Director, Mrs. Ade Letkoetje.

Also present were Editor, Vanguard newspapers, Mr. Mideno Bayagbon; Acting Editor, The Guardian, Mr. Martins Oloja; Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Dr Mohammed Shittu; IPAC Secretary, Mr. Emmanuel Mok; Mr. Lanre Arogundade, Mr. Festus Okoye, daily and weekend editors of major newspapers in the country as well as representatives of civil society organisations.

Speaking at the event, Adefaye urged editors to buy into the constitution amendment process because a good constitution would yield a good press, which in turn would lead to a better society.

Thanking the National Assembly and the President for the Freedom of Information law, he said the next task was making the FoI law work, noting that the surest way of doing this was putting the freedom of the press expressly in the constitution.

Adefaye deplored the worsening state of affairs in the country and sought urgent action. He lamented that 52 years after independence, many Nigerians were still squatters in their country.

In like manner, Mrs. Letkoetje assured that the UNDP was committed to assisting in making the constitution amendment process a success by partnering with all stakeholders. She urged the media to keep the issue on the front burner, help the citizenry to make robust participation so that in the end, the people would take ownership of their constitution.

Also speaking, Mrs. Aborime, who said the Justice Minister was working on a template that would make the FoI law effective, decried the frequent need to amend the constitution and hoped that the outcome of the current exercise would enrich Nigeria’s governance project.

Abati tasks media On his part, Abati urged the media and the citizenry to take active part in the constitution amendment efforts.

Recalling the controversies that greeted Jonathan’s recent suggestion of a single tenure for president and governors and allegations that the ongoing amendment was part of the president’s plan to get re-nomination, Abati said the President harboured no such plans.

He urged the media to boost the constitution amendment process, partner with the government to provide leadership and show direction for the citizenry.

8—Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

THE RAGE OF FLOOD 2-yr-old baby, 5 others missing as flood sacks 10 Delta communities W

ARRI—A two-year-old child, Oto Timbor, and five others were feared missing, yesterday, after flood submerged 10 communities, including Kalafiogbene, Elohim, Ebeberegbene, Ekogbene, Ekumugbene, Abadiama, Egrangbene communities in Bomadi and Burutu Local Government Areas of Delta State.

Others are Freeman Eregbene, 3years; Finidi Timibibo, 3 years; Egere John, 7years; Helen Musa, 8 years and Yopo Egberebo, 5 years.

Vanguard learnt that the flood caught the people unawares and rendered thousands of persons homeless.

One of the victims, the General Overseer of Christ Divine and Gospel Mission, Rev. Dr. O.T. Timbor, was said to be

sleeping in his house in the night when the flood swept in but managed to escape death.

A leader from one of the affected communities, Mallam Yusuf Eregbene, told Vanguard that over 50 fish ponds, churches, Major Fred Anesah (rtd), one time Colonel General Staff, DMI, Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps, residential apartments and inspecting his flooded houses at Esanma town Bomadi L.G.A, Delta State. His fish farm is also flooded. schools were submerged.

He added that all their beHe said: “Earlier on Sunlongings were swept away. day, the ravaging flood took His words: “We call on govover the headquarters of Christ Divine and Gospel ernment to come to our aid to Mission in Elohim City Zion, rescue the people, some of displacing over 200 worship- who are taking refuge on trees because if urgent steps are and 30 per cent of their OctoBY EMMAAMAIZE pers during their service.” not taken, many will die.” ber allowances to support efARRI—FORMER agita forts of the federal and state tors in the Niger Delta governments on the flood dishave contributed N52.7 mil- aster. lion for victims of flood disasAlready, the PAP chairperter in the region. son, who is also the Special Chairman of the Presiden- Adviser to the President on tial Amnesty Programme, PAP, Niger-Delta, has constituted an Mr Kingsley Kuku, who dis- 18-member Flood Relief Comclosed this, said the 26,358 mittee, comprising key He said one of the reasons for Government embarks on massive amnesty beneficiaries in stakeholders in the amnesty proimportation of basic food items, the increase in the price of foodPhases one and two of the gramme and volunteers. the situation will be more disturb- stuff was that there was limited programme, agreed to donate The Technical Assistant on Resupply to the communities being.” integration, Mr Larry Pepple, cause of the flood.

N2,000 each fom heads the committee.

Kuku, expected to meet with their October 2012 allowances state governors of the affected to alleviate the states soon on the management suffering of vic- of the disaster, commended the tims in Bayelsa, amnesty beneficiaries for their Cross River, selfless and humanitarian gesDelta, Edo and ture.

His words: “This is very comRivers states.

The Head of mendable as it is a practical demMedia and Com- onstration of the African spirit munications, Mr. and tradition of being your brothDaniel Alabrah, er’s keeper in times of distress.”

He added that the commitsaid in a statement that staff of tee would procure the necesthe Presidential sary relief materials and liaise Amnesty Office with the various states governhave also do- ment to ensure the distribunated between 20 tion of the items.

Aviara-Isoko road submerged by flood. Photo: Emma Amaize.

Ex-mlitants donate N52.7m to victims in Niger Delta

Hunger hits riverine communities as prices of food soar

BY EMMAAMAIZE ARRI—HUNGER has hit victims of the flood disaster in the riverside communities of Delta state.

Vanguard learnt that some of the victims were still trapped in their communities, which have been rendered inaccessible because of the devastating impact of the surge.

A number of the affected persons have reportedly converted oil platforms and boats to emergency abode.

Investigation by Vanguard also showed that a basket of garri now sells for N800; beans - N1,200; and rice N1,400 in riverside communities of Burutu, Bomadi and other parts of Delta State against the former prices of N500, N800 and N700 respectively.

Meanwhile, Niger-Delta activist and National President of Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, IPDI, Comrade Austin Ozobo, has called for massive importation of food to save Nigerians, following the flood that destroyed farmlands and rendered thousands of families homeless in the country.

Ozobo said: “There is resultant shortage of food items, which has led to hike in prices of commodities and except the Federal

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Abia seeks UNFPA's assistance to help tackle flood

BY ANAYO OKOLI M UA H I A — G OV E R NOR Theodore Orji of Abia State has appealed to the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, to assist the state in the area of flood control, lamenting that flood was ravaging parts of the state.

Governor Orji, who spoke through his Chief of Staff, Mr. Cosmos Ndukwe, while

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receiving the UNFPA country representative in Nigeria, Ms. Victoria Akyeampong and her team, said the state was having serious erosion attacks.

The governor named the areas to include Ndiegoro, Aba and other parts of the state which he said needed serious intervention.

Orji also appreciated the assistance of the UNFPA to the

state in other areas and called for more assistance in the area of health to take care of the over 200 health centres built by the state government and in the area of youth development.

The UNFPA country representative in Nigeria, who with her team, are on a high level mission to Nigeria, said their visit was to look at how to

support the state government in its development by engaging the implementing partners for more impact.

Akyeampong noted that the mission would support the development of the 7th country programme of assistance to Nigeria and commended Governor Orji for his commitment to the development of the state and for the cash contributions to the UNFPA.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 —9

THE RAGE OF FLOOD Timeline of recent flood incidents in Nigeria

BY ABUTUAGADA AGOS—ON July14, 2012, flood ravaged Cross-River communities after a four-day downpour. The cause of flooding was attributed to a landslide that blocked the River Kaala, a river traversing the communities. * Floods and attendant landslide rendered homeless, villagers in Sardauna Local Council of Taraba State, following a threeday downpour. This occurred On July 30 through August 2, 2012 * Torrential rainfall on August 13, 2012 and the attendant flood led to the collapse of the Shendam Bridge in Plateau State. The rain fell throughout the weekend of that week and Monday night swelling rivers and streams to overflow Shendam and Langtang North and South which were worst hit. Mikang, Quan Pan and Wase local governments were also affected. * Serious flooding hit JimetaYola in Adamawa State after a heavy down pour on August 26, 2012. Cause of the flood was blamed on the release of water from Lagdo Dam in Cameroon. * Floods in Kano State which swept through nine local governments on August 28, 2012, claimed 15 lives. Those local governments are Bagwai, Bebeji, Gabasawa, Garun Malam, Karaye, Nassarawa and Sumaila. *Floods washed away over 220 houses, farmlands and livestock in Bauchi State as a result of heavy torrential rainfall in September. Misau, Giade, Shira and

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Jama’ are some of the local governments affected in the state. *September 1, 2012, due to heavy down pour, flooding of water channels and pathways claimed the lives of two siblings in Niger State. *On the 3rd of September 2012, yet another flood hit Taraba State in Lau, Karim-Lamido and Gasol local government area of the state. *On the 12th of September, 2012, flood sacked Bauchi and Kaduna communities. The flood is said to be caused by the overflow of River Katagum. *Over 1500 residents in Kano state fled their homes when it was submerged by flood when Tiga Dam overflowed its bank on the 15th of September 2012. *Over 20,000 residents of Kogi communities living along the bank of the Niger were on Sunday, 16th of September 2012 displaced by floods when the river overflowed its bank occasioned by the release of water from Kainj Dam, Jebba Hydro Power Plant and Shiroro dam. *On September 21, 2012, flood disaster in Niger Sate claimed 47 lives and rendered thousand homeless. 500 communities and 14 local government areas were said to be affected. *Edo state joined states affected by floods on Sunday 23rd, September 2012 when flood wreaked havoc in seven communities of Etsako-Central government area *Flood hit Delta State on Sunday 23rd, September 2012, submerging coastal villages and killing a 7-year-old girl.

DONATION: Delta State Deputy Governor, Professor Amos Utuama (middle); Commissioner for Energy, Charles Emetulu (right) and Chugaby Onwuka during the donation of relief materials by Dr. Ngozi Olejeme Outreach to the state committee on flood management.

Aeriel view of Sagbama Town submerged by flood in Bayelsa State.

World Poverty Day: Poverty worsens as flood renders 42 million Nigerians homeless

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE AGOS—AS the world marks International Day for the Eradication of Poverty today, flood which has been ravaging many states of the country since August has worsened the incidence of poverty in Nigeria, the world’s largest black nation.

Currently, the flood, which has affected five of the six geo-political zones of the country, has in the estimation of President Goodluck Jonathan rendered 25 per cent of Nigerians homeless.

With a population of 167 million, it means that about 42 million persons have been displaced from their homes with large tracks of farmlands and means of livelihood destroyed.

States affected by the flood include Anambra, Imo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Edo, Kogi, Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Bauchi, Kano, Niger, Kaduna, On Monday President Goodluck Jonathan’s Otuoke, Ogbia, Bayelsa State home was submerged along side over 80 per cent of the state.

For close to two weeks, the president has been traversing the nook and crannies of the country ravaged by the flood of fury.

Last Thursday he raised a National Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation to raise fund to augment government’s efforts at mitigating the pains of the flood and bring succour to victims.

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Lawmaker donates to victims URUTU—THE member representing Burutu Constituency I in the Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Daniel Yingi, has donated relief materials which include bags of rice, garri and cash to victims during his visit to communities ravaged by flood in

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the area.

Yingi after assessing the damage caused by the flood on Gbekebor, Obotobe, Ofonibenghan, Ogbeingbene, Agbodobiri and Egodo communities, promised to continue supporting the victims.

He assured the victims of

government’s asistance, saying that government at all level share in their pain.

The lawmaker also urged the flood victims to remain at the resettlement camps created for them by the state government until the waters recede.

Led by business magnate, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, with Chairman of Globacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr as Chief Fund Mobiliser, the committee is expected to raise N100 billion to augment the N17.6 billion the government has released.

Speaking at the Presidential Villa, Abuja while inaugurating the committee, President Jonathan regretted that no fewer than 25 per cent Nigerians had been displaced by the flood disaster.

He said since those saddled with the responsibility of compil-

ing data on the victims were still working, there was possibility that the figure might be higher.

He lamented that some states of the federation, including his home home state Bayelsa, are currently about 80 per cent submerged.

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year since 1993, when the General Assembly, by resolution 47/196, designated October 17 to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries, particularly in developing countries-a need that has become a development priority.

Senator Annie Okonkwo (left) and others during an inspection tour of flooded communities in Anambra.

Community cries out for help

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ARRI—FOLLOWING the submerging of coastal communities across the country, the people of Laboulousaigha community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State have called on the Federal and state governments to come to their rescue as property worth millions of naira have being destroyed.

When our correspondent visited the affected community, many houses were submerged and the people rendered homeless with no means of livelihood.

In a chat with Vanguard, com-

munity chairman, Comrade Audu Smart, said that the people of Laboulousaigha are suffering at the moment as economic activities have been paralysed. He called on the Federal and state governments to come to their rescue.

Speaking, Mrs Rose Tulu, former Leader of Warri South Legislative Arm and Mrs Joy Kpenu lamented that the situation has become unbearable as they call on the state emergency management committee headed by Prof.

Amos Utuama to come to their aid.

10—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

Aregbesola signs Security Trust Fund Law

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

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From left: Dr. Dipo Sule, Chief Taye Ayorinde, Baale Ekotedo, Ibadan; Chief (Mrs.) Biodun Adesiyan and Engr. Abiola Odeyemi (all members of Lions Club, Ibadan) during World Sight Day, held at the State Hospital, Ring Road, Ibadan.

Osun shuts college over students’ protest

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

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S O G B O — AUTHORITIES of Osun State College of Education, Ila Orangun yesterday shut down the school following violent demonstration by students of the institution over the death of one of their colleagues in an accident in the town on Monday night.

During the protest, the students allegedly destroyed properties

belonging to the Ila Local Government, the personal house of the Local Government Council chairman, Segun Awotunde and the palace of the Orangun of Ila. The students, according to sources, accused the council boss of not doing anything to compel contractors handling the rehabilitation of the road to finish the work on time, which they claimed was responsible for the death of their colleague.

Oyo technology varsity takes off with N250m

BY OLA AJAYI

IBADAN — THE Oyo State government has announced the take-off of its Technical University, with the seed grant of N250 million.

After the State Executive Council meeting yesterday, the constitution of a m a n a g e m e n t implementation committee for the university was also announced.

According to a

statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo, the formal take-off of the institution was approved by the state executive council.

Governor Ajimobi had promised last year that the state would establish its university by September.

The bill for the establishment of the institution was passed into law by the state House of Assembly in June.

FG owes Ekiti N6bn in refunds

BY GBENGAARIYIBI

DO EKITI — F e d e r a l Government is indebted to Ekiti State to the tune of N6 billion, being the money used for the repairs of some of the federal roads in various parts of the state.

Governor Kayode Fayemi made the disclosure in Ado-Ekiti yesterday while addressing the people to round off the second year anniversary of his administration.

Apparently satisfied

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with the success recorded so far by his administration, the governor said the state is ranked the least in terms of maternal and child mortality in Nigeria owing to good governance According to him, the state has the highest life expectancy in Nigeria today, due to his "quality leadership that is devoid of rancour and unnecessary political upheavals that dogged Ekiti in the past."

SOGBO—OSUN State governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola yesterday signed into law the Security Trust Fund and restated his call for the need for the creation of state police to properly police states in Nigeria.

Speaking at the ceremony in his office, Governor Aregbesola held that the Police Command structure is so centralised that order can only come from the Inspector General of Police.

Aregbesola averred that

the bogus appellation given to the governors as Chief Security Officers of their various states is a mere expression as no Commissioner of Police will listen to the directive or instruction of any governor.

According to him: “Those who say Nigeria is not ripe for state police are not sincere. I don’t know where they get their own reasoning from. Even school campuses have their own police to ensure that criminal activities are curbed in their institutions.

Alaafin condemns fisticuffs between Yoruba monarchs

BY OLA AJAYI

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BADAN — ALAAFIN of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi has described as desecration of Yoruba culture and tradition for Obas to engage in public brawl.

He advised monarchs and other traditional rulers in Yorubaland to stop engaging in open

combat to sustain the good image of the traditional institution in the zone.

Alaafin was reacting to a recent brawl between two monarchs, Olu of Itori, Oba Akorede Akano and Baale Lapeleke, Adisa Akinremi in Ogun State.

Oba Adeyemi recalled how similar brawl broke out three years ago

between Onigboho of Igboho, Oba John Oyetola Bolarinwa and his counterpart from Igbope during a traditional meeting at Oorelope Local Government area in Igboho, Oyo State.

Alaafin, who was speaking at 2012 Igbope Day celebration and N250m Development Fund-raising added that

I can’t dump PDP, says Akala

BY OLA AJAYI

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BADAN—FORMER Governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala has described as wicked the rumour being peddled that he wanted to dump Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for another party.

The party has been enmeshed in leadership crises with each faction claiming recognition by the national secretariat of the party.

Though, Akala enjoys loyalty of many followers being the former governor, some chieftains of the party like Elder Wole Oyelese and others kicked against him being the leader of the party in the state.

Describing those peddling the rumour as political prostitutes, the Ogbomoso-born exgovernor wondered why on earth he would dump a party that had made him what he is today.

While speaking with newsmen, Alao-Akala denied nursing any

ambition to leave the party.

He said, “I am even surprised that you are raising such an issue with me when you all know that I am a sworn member of the PDP and nothing will make to leave the party."

Wondering about the origin of the rumour he asked, “ why would I want to leave PDP?" According to him, there is no election at hand in which he is involved in directly or indirectly.

“Even at that I will never leave PDP. Those behind the rumours are, perhaps, afraid of me”, he said.

He stressed that the perceived political foes who peddled the rumour might be afraid of him that being in the same party with them could be a continued injury to their interests.

“I state unequivocally that the rumour is wicked and malicious being peddled by idle minds. I am not leaving the PDP," he said.

it was a taboo in Yorubaland for any traditional ruler to involve himself in physical combat.

He said: “It is a desecration of the Yoruba culture and tradition for Obas to engage in public brawl”.

He went down the memory lane that “in 1909, the British government praised the ingenuity of the Yorubas and their rich culture and tradition as exemplified by the cabinet system of government which was in place then; why do we have to bastardize it now”? he wondered.

On the controversy between Igboho and Igbope, Oba Adeyemi said: “Igbope is a separate and independent town, never at anytime under Igboho.

According to him, the battle had been on for about 37 years ago before Onigbope recently won the case in the court.

He advised the two communities to give peace a chance.

Man arrested for pushing wife into pit toilet

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

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B E O K U TA — OGUN Police Command said it arrested a 46-year-old Surajudeen Alaraba for allegedly throwing his wife, Rauda into a pit latrine in their residence at Alagbado area over a domestic matter resulting in her death.

Speaking yesterday at the State Command Headquarters,

Eleweran, Abeokuta, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye, narrated that the accused committed the crime at about 7.20p.m.last Sunday.

According to Okoye, the unemployed man, who killed his wife, would soon be charged to court after the completion of the interrogation.

He narrated: “The Agbado Division had a distress call that a man has pushed his wife into

a deep pit and we quickly rushed to the scene where the victim was met dead in the pit.

“The suspect was i m m e d i a t e l y apprehended and we are still interrogating him.

In another development, an octogenarian George Dada as well as his 64-year-old wife, Sidikat have been arrested for alleged illegal possession of firearms.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012—11

Kidnapped Delta commissioner freed

BY FESTUS AHON

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VISIT: From left: President Goodluck Jonathan, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State and his wife, Rachael, during Mr. President's solidarity visit to the state to address flood displaced persons at the sports complex, in Yenagoa.

GHELLI—DELTA State Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Hope Eghagha, has been released by his abductors.

Prof. Eghagha was abducted at Abavo, September 29, on his way from Warri to attend the country’s 52nd Independence anniversary thanksgiving service in Asaba, the state capital.

Vanguard gathered that he was dropped off at about 8pm on Monday night at Agbarho, Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state..

A family source who spoke with Vanguard on condition of anonymity, said no ransom was paid.

He said the commissioner, who spent 16 days in the den of the kidnappers, came back unhurt.

Confirming his release, the State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Charles Muka, said the police was still investigating the matter.

He, however, said no arrest had been made in connection with the kidnap. Muka appealed to members of the public to assist the police with useful information that could lead to the arrest of the kidnappers.

40 shops demolished in Warri

UNIPORT Four: Suspects to appear W in court today As parents petition Rivers House

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME, EGUFE YAFUGBORHI & NNAMDI OJIEGO

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ORT HAR COURT—THIRTEEN suspects arrested in connection with the killing of four students of the University of Port Harcourt will be arraigned in court today.This was made known in Port Harcourt yesterday by Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr Muhammed Ndabawa.

This came as parents of two of the four deceased students petitioned Rivers State House of Assembly, RVHA, calling for trial of the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, at the Isiokpo Police Division Headquarters, for faililg to avert the lynching of their children.

Also, literary icon, Captain Elechi Amadi (rtd), has absolved his Aluu community of complicity in the killing of the four students of the University of Port Harcourt at Omuokiri-Aluu clan, even as Rivers State chapter of Trade Union Congress, TUC, condemned the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Joseph Ajienka, for displacing Head of Philosophy Department, Dr. Andrew Efemini, for joining students’ protest against the killings.

Human rights group, Youth and Conflict Res-

olution Initiatives, YCRI, also called for the immediate sack of Rivers State Commissioner of Police for his inability to coordinate the fallout of the killings.

Police parade suspects The Police Commissioner spoke yesterday at the Police Headquarters in Port Harcourt, while parading the suspects. Three of the suspects, who were allowed to field questions from newsmen, confessed that policemen arrived Omuokiri-Aluu community before the four students were murdered.

One of the suspects, Mr David Ugbaje, said he saw two policemen when the four students were being beaten, adding that one of them pleaded that the boys should be set free.

He said the other policeman joined the mob in beating the students.

According to him, the four students were accused of robbery, adding that the mob marched the four students to a compound on Coca-Cola Street to confirm if they truly went there to see a tenant, Mr Bright, as they alleged.

Ugbaje, a cobbler, said he and other neighbours in the compound had to push the riotous mob out of the compound where Bright lived when it be-

came obvious that the mob wanted to lynch them there.

He said the man they allegedly went to see was not at home.

When asked if he did not join in beating the students, he said he only hit the students twice.

Ikechuckwu Louis Amadi and Lawal Segun in their separate comments, also said they saw policemen at the scene of the sad incident.

Lawal, a taxi driver, said he was not part of the mob that murdered the students but claimed to have pleaded with the mob to release the students.

On his part, Amadi said he saw four police men while the students were being beaten, adding that the angry mob insisted they were not going to release the boys to the policemen.

Others paraded were Alhaji Hassan Welewa, 59; Lucky Orji, 43 ; Cynthia Chinwo (F), 24; Ekpe Daniel, 30; George Nwadei, 30; Gabriel Oche 33; Ozioma Abajuo, 23; Chigozie Samuel, 22; Endurance Edet, 27 and Uwem Akpabio, 30.

Parents petition Rivers House Meanwhile, the joint petition from the parents of Tekena Elkanah and

Lloyd Michael, which was presented at yesterday ’s sitting of the House by Belema Okpokiri, member representing Okrika Constituency, noted that the Isiokpo DPO whose jurisdiction coverered Aluu where the killings were carried out should be held responsible.

The petitioners held that evidences abound on the culpability of the DPO and his Division over the killings at Aluu, citing the accounts of Lloyd’s mother, Mrs. Jane Toku Mike, and Tekena’s sister who said she watched the police encourage the cheering mob to lynch and burn his brother and three friends alive, instead of rescuing them.

Okpokiri urged the house to give the petition urgent attention as the petitioners and his entire constituency were on his neck to ensure that justice was done over the killings Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Otelemaba Dan Amachree, however, referred the matter to the Public Complaints and Petitions Committee to work on it and come up with recommendations to the general House for further debate and decision.

The four students killed by the mob include Chidiaka Biringa, Llyod Michael, Tekena Elkanah and Ugonna Ibuzor.

A R R I —AB O U T 40 makeshift shops and caravans illegally erected at Okere Junction, by Estate Roundabout, in Warri, on a parcel of land belonging to a Warri-based Estate Surveyor, Mr. Bernard Akporiaye, have been demolished.

The demolition which was carried out under the supervision of armed policemen, is sequel to a legal tussle in which Mr. Akporiaye was declared the rightful owner of the land by the Court of Appeal, sitting in Benin City, Edo State.

The Supreme Court had struck out an injunction filed by Chief Wilson Eboh on behalf of illegal tenants doing business on the land, purportedly acting on the prayers of late Daniel Okumagba, the

Olodi, Ighogbadu and Oki families wherein he claimed that Mr. Akporiaye could not collect rent on the land.

There was, however, a twist in the case when the same Chief Wilson Eboh swore to an affidavit before the Supreme Court on behalf of Olodi, Oki and Ighogbadu families that no member of the three families trespassed on the disputed land and did not have tenants on the land, even though there were strong indications that rents had been collected from shop owners doing business in the land over the years.

Mr. Akporiaye had, through his counsel, Patrick Oganwu and Associates, in a notice dated September 3, 2012, instructed illegal occupants of the land to vacate or face eviction.

Federal appointments: Group alleges marginalisation of Urhobo

BY ABUTU AGADA IGER Delta Advo cacy, NDA, has decried what it described as the political marginalisation of Urhobo nation in President Goodluck Jonathan's administration, saying the situation was against the administration’s transformation agenda.

A statement by Messrs Raymond Atsiangbe, Ejiro Nomuoja and Mrs. Grace Aghoghovbia, called on the president to urgently address the alleged under-representation of Urhobo people.

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The statement read: "It is incontestable that in the present administration, the Urhobo nation has been left out of federal appointments, even when competent Urhobo sons and daughters were presented to the president by Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan. This shows total disregard for an ethnic group that generates close to 30 per cent of the federal revenue by virtue of its richly endowed natural resources.

"We are therefore appealing to the president to urgently address the unjustifiable marginalization.

12—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

Bakassi people sue FG

BY HUGO ODIOGOR FFORTS by the National Boundary Commission, NBC, to demarcate the maritime boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon have run into a legal storm as leaders of Bakassi have taken legal action against the commission.

The suit,which was filed at an Abuja High Court, yesterday, may be the first of the series of legal actions which the aggrieved people of Bakassi want to take against individuals, governments and agencies that worked directly, or indirectly, to take away

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their land, endanger their cultural heritage and rendered them as refugees in their own country.

The people of Bakassi are challenging the NBC which is expected to start the process of demarcation of the new boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon based on the 1975 Marowa Declaration, which set the controversial Ngo/Coker line which jettisoned the April 1893 and the 1954 international boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon.

The old boundary sets the boundaries and co-or-

Appointments: Lobbyists besiege Edo Government House

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM ENIN—AS lobby ists continue to throng Edo State Government House in search of political appointments, there are indications that the state governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, is keeping would-be appointees close to his chest, ahead of the November 12 inauguration for his second term in office.

There are indications that the governor has shunned many efforts by politicians to impose stooges in his next cabinet.

Meanwhile, youths of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in the state, have appealed to the governor to dissolve his cabinet in order not to give undue advantage to political appointees who would want to come back to office.

Vanguard was reliably informed that the jostle for the positions of the Secretary to the State Government, SSG and the Chief of Staff to the Governor, appear to be the most contentious. It was learnt that party leaders from Edo Central are seriously rooting for any of the positions but their counterparts in Edo South have described that as “arrant nonsense” since the area gave the governor the highest votes.

But there are strong

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indications that only those who the governor wants in such positions will get them as they may not be based on any political affiliation.

dinates at the Rio Del Re Estuary, which was concealed in the memorandum of facts which Cameroon took to the International Court of Justice in 1994.

Leader of Save Bakassi Group, Mr. Maurice Ekong, told Vanguard that the people of Bakassi had decided to take legal action against the NBC because the commission's actions are illegal and unconstitutional.

He said: “President Goodluck Jonathan went to New York last month to tell the world that he believed in the rule of law.

We want to test that mantra of the president in the case of Bakassi because there are several issues here that require the interpretation of legal minds. First, we know that the Green Tree Agreement, GTA, which they have been using has not been domesticated by the

National Assembly, the highest law making arm of government in Nigeria. The provisions of GTA are inconsistent with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Supreme Court, the National Boundary Commission and all agencies of Federal Government should derive their powers from valid laws of the land and the constitution. We believe that the NBC is acting based on the provisions of GTA and the pronouncement of ICJ, both of which did not take into account the position of Bakassi people.”

Mr. Ekong said the decision to sue NBC is to forestall any violent reaction from angry Bakassi people and to prevent a foreclosure of the fate of Bakassi people who are still hopeful that they would reclaim their land.

Another prominent Bakassi leader told Vanguard that Bakassi people have also concluded plans to sue Nigeria for extracting oil from Bakassi illegally since 1975 and leaving the peninsula impoverished and underdeveloped.

Ogboru, DPP disown lawyer over withdrawal of suit against Uduaghan

BY ABUTU AGADA ELTA State chapter of Democratic Peoples Party, DPP, has expressed shock and betrayal at what it, yesterday, described as the unilateral withdrawal of the petition filed by its gubernatorial candidate, Chief Great Ogboru, against the re-election of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan by its lead counsel, Mr. Sebastian Hon, SAN. The party, in a statement

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made available to Vanguard yesterday, said the unilateral withdrawal was without the consent of the party or its candidate, Ogboru.

Describing the withdrawal as another act of intrigue in its pursuit of justice in Delta State, the party chairman, Chief Tony Ezeagwu, vowed to sustain the case, despite what it described as the actions of the lead counsel.

Delta NITP elects new exco IGERIA Institute of Town Planners, Delta State chapter, has elected a new Executive Council to run its affairs for the next one year.

The event took place in Asaba on September 15.

Members of the Executive Council include, S. L. Adjohwenyo FNIP JP – Chairman; J. A. Enyaosah MNITP – Vice Chairman and T. E. Torukro MNITP – S e c retary, among others.

In his acceptance

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speech, the new Chairman, TPL S. L. Adjohwenyo, thanked members of the chapter for the confidence reposed in him and for giving him the opportunity to serve. He promised to build on the achievements of the former administration and to take the chapter to greater heights. He, therefore, sued for the co-operation of all members on the march towards achieving the dreams of making the chapter great.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 —13

Igbo in Lagos urge caution over Achebe's comments on Awo

BY MICHAEL EBOH

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NEW YAM FESTIVAL: From right: Chief Ikem Agbasi; Eze Hyacinth Ohazulike, Eze Ndi Igbo of Lagos and Igwe Felix C Onyimadu, Igwe Ukpor, Nnewi South, Anambra State during the celebration of Ndigbo in Lagos annual new yam festival, at Obi Ndigbo in Lagos.

A G O S—NDIGBO Lagos has condemned the controversies generated by the comments of Professor Chinua Achebe, in his new book, describing it as unnecessary.

Ndigbo Lagos, in a statement signed by Mr. Chuma Igwe, Publicity Secretary, called on individuals to sheathe their swords and desist from heating up the polity with their comments.

He said: “Ndigbo Lagos deems the ongoing heated reactions to Elder Statesman and world renowned writer Prof Chinua Achebe’s personal chronicle of his

Reps want urgent action on erosion menace in S-East U

BY ANAYO OKOLI M UA H I A — T H E House of Representatives has classified the South East geo-political zone as an area with

serious environmental challenges that required urgent federal government’s intervention.

The House also warned that any contractor that did poor job in the area

would be blacklisted.

According to Tobby Okechukwu, leader of the House’s Team Road, which is on a tour of road projects in Abia State, the South East which finds it difficult to get government’s attention cannot

afford to have poor jobs on awarded road contracts captured in 2012 budget.

Okechukwu was shocked at the level of devastation at OvimUturu road which leads to Abia State University.

Though the road was not among the ones scheduled for inspection by the team, the team was attracted by the gully created by erosion which has completely cut the busy road into two.

Both the chairman of the team, Okechukwu and a member, Badamasi Ayuba, described the gully as unimaginable.

According to Okechukwu, “this is utter devastation. Our people are environmentally challenged.

“When we say we have challenge, it is not a joke, it is real. We have seen one of it on Ovim-ABSU road. For me it is unimaginable.

“The level of erosion, flooding here is a huge challenge. If nothing is done urgently, the whole community will be under threat.”

experience during the civil war as being very unnecessary.

“The issue of what roles all actors on both side played during the events leading to the unfortunate civil war and the prosecution of the war itself have for a long time been in the public space.

“Indeed the Punch newspaper of Monday, October 8, 2012, pub-

lished the late elder statesman Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s response to similar issue in 1983 and that should close the matter. He had spoken for himself.

“At this point in time the South East, SouthSouth and South West are in consultations working together for a better Nigeria to ensure that such a situation does not arise again."

Power: Relief for telecoms sector soon, says FG

BY ADEKUNLEADEKOYA

UBAI—THE phe nomenon of telecom base stations running on diesel generators will soon become a thing of the past as the Federal Government has said that it is doing all in its power to protect investments in the telecommunications sector particularly and nationwide generally.

Vice-President, Arc. Namadi Sambo said at the Nigeria Day (yesterday) at the on-going ITU Telecom World 2012 here

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in Dubai that “base stations running on generators will soon stop as we have put in measures to protect investments in the sector.” He reiterated that government is now generating more than 4,000 MW of electricity, and that in the Lagos area, 19 hours of power supply has been achieved, which will soon go up to 24 hours.

Presently, telcos in Nigeria spend more than N40 billion annually on diesel and generators to power base stations.

FG worried on use of dollars as 2nd currency in Nigeria

BY OMOH GABRIEL & EMMA UJAH AGOS—THE Federal Government is worried by the use of dollar as means of payment or legal tender in the local market in Nigeria.

The practice is seriously under mining the naira as most Nigerians are fast losing confidence in the local currency as a store of value.

The naira is the only legal tender in the country but in most parts of Nigeria, Lagos in particular, lands are sold in dollars, prices of some products are denominated in dollars, and school fees are quoted in dollars and ho-

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tels charge dollars for rooms and other services.

In Japan and other developed countries, payments for any local transactions are done in the local currency unit; their nationals insist you pay for goods and services in local currency.

Reacting to reporters question on the use of dollar in Nigeria local market, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said that the dollarisation of the Nigerian economy is of serious concern to the President, the CBN, the Economic management team and every body and that the CBN is coming up with policy to stop the practice.

Kogi Assembly sacks Speaker

BY BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO OKOJA—THE Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon. Abdullahi Bello and all his principal officers were sacked from office, yesterday, at an emergency session of the House attended by 17 members of the 25-member House.

The embattled speaker in a sharp riposte affirmed his position saying that he would resume office as speaker tomorrow when

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the House returns from oversight break.

In the emergency session held in the chamber of the House in Lokoja, Hon. Gowon Haruna representing Dekina Biraidu constituency moved the motion for the impeachment of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and all other principal officers.

Presenting the motion, Haruna stated that the change in leadership became imperative in the face of gross incompetence and

nonchalant to the affairs of the state by the sacked officers.

Haruna hinted that the members acting as the Progressive Integrity Group, PIG, had long wanted to make the move but were delayed first by the killing of more than 20 worshipers in the Deeper Life Bible Church in Okene and subsequently by the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to the state following the recent flood disaster.

14—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

From left: Mrs. A Akinola, Most Rev. Nicholas D. Okoh, Archbishop, Metropolitan & Primate of all Nigeria Anglican Communion; Mr. Abiola Akinola, the financier of the church buildind project, the chief host; Bishop of Lagos West, Dr. Peter A. Awelewa Adebiyi; Venerable. Olu Ajibodu, Archdeacon, Ipaja Arch-deaconry and Rev.O. B. Dokunmu, Vicar of the church. at the dedication of the new church building & vicarage, at St. Mary's Anglican Church, Ajasa - Ipaja, Lagos. Photo: By Diran Oshe .

From left: Mrs. Mayowa Ikuforiji, Vice Chairman; Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, Chairman, Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials [COWLSO] and Mrs. Rhoda Ayinde, Chairman, Planning Committee, during the press briefing on 12th National Women Conference, organized by COWLSO, at LTV-8, Ikeja, Lagos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez

Court hears Capital Oil boss, Uba’s bail application today

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

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USTICE OKON Abang of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has fixed hearing of the bail application filed by the Managing Director of Capital Oil and Gas Ltd, Dr. Patrick

Ifeanyi Uba and four others for today at noon.

The judge’s decision yesterday was sequel to arguments canvassed by parties before him on whether or not to listen to the motion for bail filed by the businessman and his associates currently detained by the

police on the order of a magistrate court over alleged oil subsidy fraud.

Respondents including the police have urged the trial judge to allow them to file necessary papers in response to the bail application after the court refused the ex-

parte motion brought by the oil marketers on Monday.

During yesterday ’s proceedings, counsel to the applicants, Dr. Joseph Nwobike, SAN, told the trial court that hearing notice as well as the ex-parte motion refiled have been served on the respondents.

Acknowledging the receipt of the processes, counsel to the respondents, Aderemi Adekile said he was unable to meet up with the 12p.m. deadline given them to file in their responses by the court.

In a short ruling, Justice Abang faulted the respondents for not abiding by the court’s ultimatum to file in their response to the application.

According to him, the court is bound by the order made on the 15th of October, 2012 and should do nothing to render it nugatory.

Asiodu tasks FG over flood relief fund

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

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N ENVIRONMEntal expert and President of Nigeria C o n s e r v a t i o n Foundation, NCF, Chief Philip Asiodu has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to concentrate effort at ensuring proper ultilisation of flood relief funds rather than categorisation of the affected states.

He also urged the Federal Government to engage experienced experts in dealing with the problems and the victims.

Lagos set to reduce maternal, child mortality

BY CHIOMA OBINNA AND MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

UT TO stem the high maternal and child mortality ratio of 555 per 1,000 live births, Lagos State Government has evolved maternal and infant mortality reduction programme to

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Police foil robbery in 2 banks

BY IFEANYI OKOLIE

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OLICEMEN AT TACHED to Satellite Town yesterday foiled an attempted robbery on two second generation banks on Old Ojo Road, Lagos arresting one suspect with one short double barrel gun and five live cartridges.

Police sources intimated Vanguard that the police got a tip-off that the armed robbers were planning to strike at the banks at Abulado axis of the road, around C M Y K

President Jonathan, had in a nationwide broadcast, last Tuesday, announced the release of N17.6 billion, as direct financial assistance to flood affected states catigorised into four and some Federal Government agencies responsible for disaster management.

Asiodu, made the remarks at the 2012, “Walk for Nature”, theme entitled: “Sustainable Energy for Us All”, organised by the Lagos State Ministry of Environment.

11a.m. and they mobilized themselves and stormed at the bank.

A police source who craved anonymity said, two plain-clothe policemen were sent to the area on surveillance and they sighted the robbers and alerted the police division A team of anti-robbery policemen that was led by the Divisional Police officer, Sp. Oluwashola Oke, who raced to the scene, exchanged gunshots with the robbers.

The robbers, however, escaped and one of them was arrested.

nip the trend in the bud.

Speaking on the new programme billed to be launched by Governor Babatunde Fashola this week, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris said the move is in line with the state’s zero tolerance for maternal and children's deaths.

According to Idris, the Maternal and Child Mortality Reduction Programme is anchored on the implementation of a five-year work plan by an advisory committee in 2008 to address the major causes of maternal deaths.

He said the deaths include haemorrhage, toxaemia of pregnancy (eclampsia and preeclampsia), obstructed labour and complication of unsafe abortions.

He also revealed the major causes of children deaths as: malaria, diarrhoea and respiratory tract infections.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012—15

Debate on 2013 budget begins

BY OKEY NDIRIBE & EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

BUJA—HOUSE of Representatives will today commence debate on the 2013 budget estimates presented last week by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The lead debate for the budget was presented at yesterday ’s plenary by the House Leader, Mulikat AdeolaAkande.

She said her proposal was for the considera-

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COMMISSIONING: Mr. Mohammed Wudil, Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Works, addressing journalists after inspecting the Kano by-pass.

tion of “A Bill for an Act to authorise the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum of N4.924 trillion, of which N380 billion is for statutory transfers, N591 billion for debt service, N2.412 trillion for recurrent expenditure and the balance of N1.540 trillion for contribution to the Development Fund for Capital Expenditure for the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2013.”

Reps to summon Works Minister over road project

BY EMMAN OVUAKPORIE EBBI—HOUSE of Representatives Committee on Works inspecting the state of federal roads in Kebbi State, yesterday, threatened to summon the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, to appear before it if the

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palliative measures on the Jega-Yauri-Kebbi road were not executed

by January 2013.

The Reps, who invited the site engineer to explain why there was only one grader working on the 60km road, could not hide their discontent and disappointment on the work done so far on the border road to Niger Republic.

The site Engineer, Mr. Ishaba Attai, who could

not provide any satisfactory excuse for the poor state of work, was ordered to fully re-mobilise to site or get the contract terminated.

Leader of the team and Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Works, Mohammed Wudil, had told both Federal Ministry of Works officials and the contractor that the lawmakers were not satisfied with what they had

seen on ground.

He said: “We are not satisfied with what we have seen on this site and we will invite the minister to explain if by January 2013 this palliative measure is not completed.”

Musa Garba, a member of the team, also told the site engineer that the House would resist any attempt to toy with the project, being a constituency project.

Attai had said there were other graders on the road; but none was seen by the inspectors.

The contract, which was awarded in 2011 to be completed in January 2013, at N.9 billion, had already suffered a time lapse of 211.11 percent.

The contractor, according to the report of the state engineers’ representative, had been fully paid for the job.

President Jonathan presented a budget estimate of N4.929 trillion for the 2013 fiscal year, with a revenue projection of N3.891 trillion for the same period.

Already, the lawmakers have decided to endorse $80 per barrel of crude oil as the benchmark for the 2013 budget, when they passed a resolution adopting the Medium Te r m Expenditure Framework, MTEF, for 2013-2015 as earlier presented by the President.

The $80pb benchmark adopted by the House is above the $75 presented by the President in his budget proposal.

The House’s decision was in line with the recommendations of the House’s Joint Committees on Finance, Legislative Budget and Research, National Planning and Economic Development, and Aids, Loans and Debt Management, which considered the 2013-2015 MTEF and the Fiscal Strategy Paper, FSP.

16—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

THE EKWUEME 80TH BIRTHDAY COLLOQUIUM An international colloquium on Federalism: Building on the Ekwueme Legacy, was organised to mark the 80th birthday of Dr. Alex Ekwueme in Abuja, yesterday.

From right— General Yakubu Gowon(rtd), former Head of State; Dr. Alex Ekwueme, former Vice President and celebrant; Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker; Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, Deputy Speaker, both of the House of Representatives; Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, and Prof. Jerry Gana, former Minister of Information & National Orientation, at the event. PHOTOS: Gbemiga Olamikan.

From left— Oba Olateru Olagbegi, Olowo of Owo; Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party, and Alhaji Ibrahim Ishiaku.

Dr. Ekwueme (left) and Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State (2nd right).

Dr. Ekwueme (left) and Alhaji Umaru Dikko, former Minister of Transport.

Senator Chris Ngige (left) and Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former Governors of Anambra State.

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From left— Mr. Joseph Wayas, former Senate President, Dr. Ekwueme, and his wife, Beatrice.

From left— Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria; Pastor Obi Ekwueme of House on the Rock Church and Dr. Helen Ekwueme, celebrant's sister.

From left— Obong Victor Attah, former Governor of Akwa Ibom State; Mr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, former Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Mr. Dubem Onyia, former Minister of State Foreign Affairs.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012— 17 catching, single-city based structures and institutions are created to provide the façade for a new life. But the overwhelming majority of the population in the new State live as if nothing has changed. They have new leaders, but same old policies and programmes. They have a new State, but live exactly like the poor in the old State they were part of.

“A man hunting an elephant does not stop to throw stones at birds.” A Cameroonian Proverb T would have been interesting to hear what the outcome of the aborted NorthEast Summit would say about issues such as the clamour for additional State(s) in the South-East, or on the demand for “true” federalism. Alas, the powerful Governors torpedoed it by simply staying away, and hinting that the Summit could be hijacked by hostile interests. It will be safe to assume that some words would have been directed at both issues, particularly given the fact that they appear to be just about the only core demands of the South-East and the South-West. The South-South has taken a non-negotiable position around the protection and possible extension of its demand on retaining the bulk of the oil and gas resources by host communities.

The Governor of Kano State says the South-East has no monopoly of grievances over number of states; and its insistence that the creation of additional state(s) is the only acceptable evidence that the Nigerian nation intends to treat Igbo people with justice is unjustified. He says noisy politics alone is not a sufficient basis for creating new states. Going by population and land mass, he says, Kano State should have two or three more states created out of it.

There are indeed many groups waiting in the wings with their well-prepared arguments for additional States, and they do not appear well disposed to make room only for one or two States in the South-East. Even from the SouthEast, the clamour is for more than one state, and there is a huge argument over where the one or two states may be created from. There are demands from the north, ranging from one the nation is being told the Senate President must have; to one from the volatile Kaduna State, (provided the people there can sort out who will have the state capital) to any three or four from the large States in the Northwest and Northeast. There will also be a few from the many communities in the North-central zone, a region where you could create thirty more States, and simultaneously create genuine grounds for creating another thirty as a result.

So what are the prospects that the current attempt to review the constitution will yield a resolution to create one or two States from the South-East so that principles of justice, equity and partity will seem to be satisfied? At this stage, these prospects are not very promising.

A case for one or more additional State(s) from the South-East will have to survive local competition; kill the clamour from scores of competitors from other parts of the nation, or make strong cases for them as well; and be thoroughly negotiated with other regions and interests.

Chances are many States are likely to

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Collapse of quality poltical leadership

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erhaps, it is a reflection of the collapse in quality of political leadership across the length and breadth of the nation that we have a situation today when Igbo leaders insist that a new State is a non-negotiable demand. Truth is, the people in the Southbe proposed, and the cumbersome and East need to hear other near-impossible requirements for voices, including many creating new States will combine to from the area who are defeat the clamour for more States in the terrified of swimming South-East. Actually, the case for a lone against the tide. The additional State from the South-East is South-East does not possible, provided the entire Igbo need one or more States. political elite can agree that it is its In fact, no one in irreducible minimum requirement for a Nigeria today should just federal system, and it can negotiate live with States. These this against resource control with the creatures of South-South; against regional autonomy adventurous military with the South-West; and against myriad governments have issues around resource control and the become major liabilities. nature of the federal system with States should be northern governors and sundry interests. collapsed into the six geo-political zones, How many more states can be created?

South-East's which should form huge price regions. The Igbo will have parity with even think or operate as protectors of the Yoruba when they each live in s the need for an additional State pan-Igbo interests. It will mean a brand regions which predominantly reflects in the South-East vital enough to pay new Government House and possibly a their ethnic stock. Everyone of the six such a huge price by the Igbo in today’s new State secretariat, but citizens of the regions should have substantial powers and responsibilities which the federal government presently has no business The South-East does not need one or more exercising, devolved to them, as well as additional funding which now goes to States. In fact, no one in Nigeria today should the federal government. They can create live with States. These creatures of adventurous fewer sub-regions (local governments) on the basis of need, geography and military governments have become major social co-existence. They will plan, liabilities. States should be collapsed into the six mobilise and develop resources at regional levels, and enact laws and geo-political zones, which should form regulations consistent with the interests of their own people. regions.The nation should be shielded from The issue of creating new State(s) in being continuously carved up to satisfy very the South-East and other parts of Nigeria will serve a negative, diversionary narrow elite interests purpose, at a time when Nigerians need to address the fundamentals of the Nigeria? One more State in the East may new State will live like they have always federal system we operate, and the have deep symbolic significance, but done: relying on their own efforts and limitations of our democratic system. The what does it translate into in practical on their own communities to make life South-East will be the biggest loser if terms? It will mean a heavier cost of tolerable. this current round in attempts to amend governance for the citizenry, and one The clamour for additional States is a the constitution comes to nothing, more opportunity for some rich politician gimmick of the political elite to carve the because it alone has a single agenda of to become a governor. It won't give the country into smaller and smaller pieces state(s) creation. Neither the South East Igbo more land, more opportunities to so that they can have something to hold nor any part of Nigeria need new, or expand into, more security for life and on to. New States create illusions of even the old States. The nation should property, or more political clout. It may progress and development: State be shielded from being continuously give Igbo people three more Senators capitals spring up with paved roads; new carved up to satisfy very narrow elite and a few members in the House of political leaders and bureaucrats swim interests, which the clamour for State Representatives who may or may not as big fish in small ponds, and eye- creation represents.

The case for Statelessness

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OPINION

BY CHARLES ONUNAIJU EW days after the reports, that authorities of Saudi Arabia detained Nigerian female pilgrims, its embassy in Nigeria held a reception in Abuja to mark the founding of the reclusive and arch-conservative kingdom. Governor Babangida Aliyu and Rauf Aregbesola of Niger and Osun states respectively were photographed in a hearty bear-hug with the ambassador of Saudi Arabia, the host of the event. The cream of Nigerian elite were handy at the reception hosted by the embassy at the same time that Nigerian female pilgrims were been detained without prior warning or notice. If there is any early sign to the Saudis that their rash and inconsiderate action will not attract consequences from the Nigerian side, the reception hosted in Abuja by their envoy is it. That highly placed public officials of governors

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The Saudi humiliation and govt's feeble rhetoric Aregbesola and Babangida Aliyu standing could go into public warm and hearty embrace of the Saudi envoy while his government was deliberately maltreating and humiliating Nigerian female pilgrims, show the extent of insensitivity of the Nigerian elite to the plights of ordinary Nigerians. Had the Saudi envoy found his reception hall empty, he would have reported back to his government that their unprovoked humiliation of Nigerian women is likely to attract severe consequences.

Few days later, after the well-attended reception held by the Saudi envoy in Abuja, the Saudis made good their earlier threat and began to deport the Nigerian pilgrims. The Saudi envoy who would have noticed the aloofness of the Nigerian authorities may have advised his government, that the worst

they could expect from the Nigerian authorities is feeble and empty rhetoric. After meeting with Vice president, Namadi Sambo and supposedly getting ultimatum for his government to stop the hostile action of deporting the Nigerian female pilgrims within 24 hours, the Saudis actually began deporting them within the period of the ultimatum, coolly and calculatingly calling the bluff of a seemingly angry Nigerian government. The Saudi envoy promised a solution to the problem within 48 hours and the solution evidently manifested in the hasty and speedy deportation of Nigerian female pilgrims.

In a bid to foster another diplomatic hoax, the Federal government set up a committee with the Speaker of the

House of Representatives Mr. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as its leader and was to travel to Saudi Arabia to confer with its leadership. The committee was inaugurated as the Nigerian female pilgrims were been returned. The deported pilgrims were told harrowing stories of been held in overcrowded detention camp without water and food.

Even the Nigerian ambassador in Saudi Arabia and other officials of the mission were denied access to the detained female pilgrims. In spite of evident hopelessness in any visit to the kingdom, the Speaker and his team were reported to have made frantic efforts to visit the kingdom.

Continues tomorrow on pg 18 *Mr. Onunaiju, a journalist, wrote from Abuja.

18 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 THE seeming ease with which authorities of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, demolish houses should be of concern, particularly as victims do not have any recourse than their lamentations.

In a city with an understated housing crisis, individual and private efforts to get abodes are terminated at the pleasure of FCT officials, who bear no liabilities for the confusion they cause through conflicting documents.

An immediate case is the demolition of an estate at Lugbe on Abuja Airport Road. The 580-unit estate had 372 houses completed and allocated. Disputes over it with the FCT got to the Senate which asked a Senator Smart Adeyemi committee to mediate. The parties met with the committee on 27 September.

They committed to another meeting for 2 October.

Demotion of the estate took place on 29 and 30 September. What was FCT’s point? Why did it participate in the mediation? How would the Senate address this scant regard for its authority? How else do citizens get relief, where lengthy legal processes may not suffice?

Abuja Demolitions: Citizens’ Rights Illegal structures remain a big challenge in Abuja. We do not in any way condone abuse of the territory’s master plan. What we condemn is the shifting standards for legal papers for Abuja properties. How do citizens meet standardsWhich sometimes appear uncertain?

The estate owners have a December 2009 Abuja Geographic Information System recertification of the land, and an FCT Right of Occupancy certificate. The financing for the estate was from the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and most of the house owners were civil servants, who participated in the scheme through a loans and savings bank.

What informed the hurry in demolishing

the estate when the Senate committee had scheduled another meeting, only five days after the initial one? What would the FCT officials have lost if they waited for the second meeting?

FCT, in its defence, said the estate was illegal and it had in advertisements last June warned it would demolish it. FCT was quite on the Senate committee’s intervention.

Matters of this magnitude should not be treated with the explanations the FCT provides. Why would it demolish properties of citizens with whom it was involved in resolving a dispute? Its disregard of the Senate’s intervention is the height of disrespect for citizens’ right to be heard in an issue that bothered on their rights to own property.

With the resources for building the estate sourced from a bank, the owners of the demolished houses would soon suffer the double jeopardy of repaying loans for the houses FCT has denied them.

The National Assembly should ensure consideration of citizens’ welfare is paramount in decisions. The FCT case provides the chance.

OPINION

BY EJIKE ANYADUBA A story entitled "Terror in Anambra",in a national newspaper of September 23, 2012 reported of how men suspected to be members of the Anambra State Traffic Agency (ASTA) intimidate and extort money from motorists at Onitsha. The reporter painted a chaotic picture of thugs, using appurtenances of the State government, to molest and wring out huge sums of money from hapless victims.

The story, coming within weeks of the President’s commissioning of projects executed by both the Anambra State government and private sector initiative, is to say the least, worrisome. Onitsha is without doubt the commercial hub of the east. It is also a vital portal to a lot of States within the South-east and the South-south zones. The volume of trade the town generates daily is such that, if well harnessed, will be enough to augment revenue profile of the State as well as stimulate corresponding changes on economies of adjoining States.

Onitsha ranks among very few cosmopolitan cities in Nigeria with infrequent sectarian disturbances. It is also profoundly hospitable. A sizeable chunk of people of West African descent, in the course of doing business in the town, have taken up residence in it. Unfortunately, an alleged extortionist ring is now making life in the city an ordeal. Commandeering vehicles to target destinations for purpose of extorting money from their owners is quite C M Y K

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unfortunate. But more than that, it is the audacity with which the impostors defy their victims to do what they can that is more provocative. According to the reporter the group claims to derive its power from the State government. However plausible this claim, the disposition of the Obi government easily blights the fraudulent assertion.

Impostors are known to spare on nothing, including dropping names of people in government, to achieve their aim.

Not long ago, Governor Obi banned all amorphous organisations operating at conflicting purposes with the State. Among the nebulous groups banned were NdiMpiawazu, Youth organization (land scouts), members of the MASSOB and all other indefinable groups that were straining the peace of the State. The ban was in tandem with the position of the government that the State must be rid of criminal elements. Its zero tolerance for impunity saw the Governor wage an early war against National Organization of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) in particular, and all the other racketeering groups in general.

Notwithstanding the reported thuggish activities of the suspected members of the State traffic agents, Onitsha can be said to be relatively peaceful. Those familiar with the town would attest to the fact that there was a period in the town when tax collectors

the

terror

story

laid siege to the town, especially the Upper Iweka axis, and whisked away passersby to some unknown destinations. Residents were not luckier as they were molested on daily basis by all manner of people purporting as revenue agents. Unarguably, there is relative sanity since Obi assumed office as governor.

The alleged resurgence of racketeering by purported ASTA members is an unhealthy development that must be fought with no less determination. It has the capacity to evolve into a scourge if not nipped in the bud. Though the unfortunate development is not peculiar to Onitsha, but endemic in areas with high market concentration, the need to redress it is now.

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lsewhere the story is not told any differently. Lagos State, for example, has similar problem which could be worse on occasion. Residents of the State, especially traders in some of the following markets like Ladipo, Lagos Island, Balogun, Alaba International, Oyingbo, Tejuosho, Lawanson, Berger Motors etc, were known to have faced similar challenges. Motorists are no less harassed by miscreants who maximise their personal income by pretending to be working in tandem with the sanitisation effort of the State governor, Raji Fashola.

Another agency, Kick against Indiscipline

in

Anambra

Brigade (KAI), charged with instilling discipline on restless Lagos residents has not performed above par. Some bad eggs among the group lure unsuspecting victims to transgress the rule. For example, a lot of people have told of how they were encouraged to cross the expressway rather than use the overhead bridges by some unscrupulous KAI officials only to be summarily arrested. Some of the victims who could not raise enough money for their release were sometimes herded onto a waiting van and sent to prisons. The level of corruption in the country is such that values are no longer cherished. People don’t seem to care anymore how they survive. What matters, it will seem, is that the end will necessarily validate the means.

Apparently that explained the audacity with which the ASTA thugs extorted their victims. By the reporter’s account, on a good day, they make between 750,000 and N1million. A sizeable chunk of this amount is said to end in private pockets. What that means is that the boys are only acting a master’s script. Government has a work to do here. It must, if the progress already made in the sanitization effort is anything to go by, pry deep to unravel those behind the criminal act. * Mr. Anyaduba, a commentator on national issues wrote from Abatete, Anambra State .

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012—19

, T’S been three full months since Comrade Adams Oshiomole was returned to government house in Benin. In the build-up to the July 14 election, it was as if the contest for the governor’s sit could have gone in the direction of either of the two dominant parties, the ACN and the PDP, in the state. The atmosphere had been fouled by violence and the anxiety that preceded the election could be touched with bear hands.

Supporters of both parties had been heavily mobilised. The security agencies had been kept on their toes and the two leading contestants traded accusations freely, each accusing the other of planning to rig the election.

Charles Airhiavbere, a retired general and the PDP candidate, was a late comer into the contest and there was the fear by the ruling ACN and other side watchers that Abuja might give him a hand in a bid to wrest power from Oshiomole who many in and outside the state thought should carry the day. The possibility of ‘federal might’ coming into play was strong and until the results

I

were announced the winner couldn’t confidently say that he had not been done in. Indeed, a statement credited to Comrade Oshiomole shortly before the official announcement of the result accusing INEC and its chairman of bias not only sounded embarrassing in view of the final outcome of the election but was going to be seized upon by the PDP candidate as evidence that INEC was against the PDP. At the end of the day, however, Comrade Adams Oshiomole’s victory was a landslide that many foretold well before the polls opened. Even at that, the noisy accusations and counter accusations by both the PDP and the ACN had gone on for so long that the losers in the election are now loathe to accept a victory that was all but certain months before it became reality.

There is a strong sense in which the situation in Ondo State where voters go to the polls at the weekend reminds one of the Airhiavbere-Oshiomole encounter.

Unlike the Edo case, however, the Ondo showdown is not a straight fight between two but three

,

contestants. Ondo State stands out like a sore thumb not only among the Yoruba-speaking states but also in Nigeria as the only state where the Labour Party is in power.

This is a unique position that makes the state the beautiful bride of bigger parties. It is a position that can be put to both useful and utterly despicable purposes. It is now a position that has brought dark clouds to many brows in the politics of the South-West, especially leaders of the ACN who strongly believe that the state should come under their wings.

The stance of the ACN leaders sounds reasonable enough for they it was who came to the aid of Olusegun Mimiko, incumbent governor of Ondo State and until lately an ally of the ACN leaders, when his friends in the PDP where he had served in different positions chose to kick dirt in his eyes by giving away his victory to his former boss and erstwhile governor of Ondo, Olusegun Agagu.

P

olitics is business and nothing goes for nothing. Having helped him snatch victory from the

A soulless and drowning nation IGERIA is under water, literally. From the Adamawa highlands where the Benue enters Nigeria to Lokoja where it joins with the more majestic Niger for a single course to the Atlantic via the massive alluvial fan we call the Niger Delta, the country conjures images of the primeval flood at the beginning of creation. Maybe not quite so but to the thousands swept out of their homes, especially those on the coastline, the boundary between land or creeks and sea grows increasingly watery.

And they may well be reliving Noah’s flood without an ark. For the most exasperating thing about the catastrophe is the seeming conclusion by the government that it is an act of God. As if unseasonably heavy rainfall is the only explanation for the unfolding tragedy. Yet no one has stated the amount of rainfall that surpassed the natural absorption and drainage capacities of the rivers’ valleys and plains. Nor what was done according to standing, as opposed to ad hoc, plans for dealing with contingencies.

Moreover, the cry of “natural disaster” flies in the face of damning evidence of gross irresponsibility which suggests that this is mostly a man-made disaster.

The swiftness and ferocity of the flood was clear from the start and pointed to a sudden deluge. It struck in the heart of the country, submerging homes in Benue and Kogi states and shutting off a good section of the Lokoja-Abuja highway. With officials still blaming God, the panicked public searched for a credible cause. And soon it emerged that the Cameroonian authorities had released flood water from Lagdo Dam on the upper Benue in order to save it from imminent collapse. They had even issued a notice, albeit a rather short one. But the Benue flows into the Niger and the released flood water was bound to overwhelm our own Kainji Dam. What did our authorities do in anticipation of the danger cascading from Cameroon? No word about that, for

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obvious reason. Due to neglect, the dam — according to the Daily Trust report, “Nigeria: Danger Looms at Kainji Dam” of October 7, 2012 — was already on the brink of a calamitous breach under the slightest pressure.

And so it is that a government so efficient at refurbishing official accommodations and furnishings, at modernising and expanding the presidential fleet of aircraft, and that is so adept at billion naira budgetary allocations for food and “welfare packages” at Aso Rock couldn’t be bothered with repairing the nation’s largest dam or flood management. It isn’t as if we need to be reminded of the kind of damage that broken dams can do. The Eleyele Dam tragedy of a year ago gave dire warning.

How is it that a country neatly carved into three blocks by two major rivers and whose entire coastline and delta region is either below or barely above sea level does not have, or adhere religiously, to a flood control master-plan? The only thing that the government ever thinks of doing is dredging the Niger, though that is driven more by mercantile needs than flood management.

Thus, with a good portion of his state under water, all that the Governor of Benue State, Mr Gabriel Suswam, could do was ask the Federal Government to dredge the Benue in order “to boost economic activities as well as control the menace of flooding.” Yes, the menace of flooding!

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ur rulers need no encouragement to visit Europe, their favourite weekend getaway destination upon assumption of office, but we may have to urge them to make The Netherlands their preferred destination for the time being. In Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and other Dutch cities, they will learn of the vision and meticulous environmental engineering that keeps that aptly named country above water.

But Nigeria is also under water,

jaws of defeat, the ACN leaders, particularly Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the real power house of the ACN that goes by the title of National Leader in a party that has a National Chairman- Senator Tinubu wanted nothing short of Mimiko joining the ACN ostensibly to be part of an integrated South-West region.

Lofty idea but there appears to be more to that desire for an integrated West than has been stated. But for first foot-dragging and later failing to join the ACN, leaders of the ACN have resorted to calling Mimiko names and cannot wait to see him thrown out of office.

It is for this reason that the ACN are propping up Rotimi Akeredolu against Mimiko, a strong and credible candidate who could have easily won against another contestant in different circumstances. The ACN is joined in its onslaught against Mimiko by the PDP and their candidate, Olusola Oke. Both the PDP and the ACN are giving Mimiko no quarter and each party has vowed to sack the governor in their different ways. The PDP and ACN are not ordinarily the best of friends but in the final battle for Ondo government house they seem determined to bury the hatchet of their enmity in Mimiko’s midriff, to wit, cut down the Iroko and set it alight. The PDP does not appear as determined in its fight against Mimiko as the ACN who, it seems, would be content to have the PDP win than have Mimiko keep his position. For the ACN especially, the call to arms against Mimiko is a grudge war. The party exhibits the bruised tantrum of a ditched lover. But more importantly, the big egos of the ACN leaders come to the fore too strongly in their criticism. Increasingly, their

metaphorically.

While Boko H a r a m ’ s terrorism in the North and the dual scourge of armed robbery and kidnapping in the South have every one, high and low, going about their daily business with bated breath,

,

Ondo: Can they cut down the Iroko?

Nothing says the noble goal of regional integration as canvassed by ACN leaders can only be pursued in the ACN; what should count is the readiness of all to share and contribute to the growth of that vision

Decades of unrelieved

political savagery have frayed the cord that connects us to civilised humanity; the one thing that most distinguishes humans from animals has been dying an incremental death in us

,

three recent acts of blood-curdling savagery point to our symbolic drowning. The first is the brutal robbery, rape and murder in a Lagos hotel room of 25-year-old Cynthia Osukogu on July 22. The arrested suspects, all young men, had hardly spoken the last word of their confession when more bloody news came from Adamawa State. Casting, appropriately, a pall on an already sullen Independence Day. On October 1, some persons armed with guns and knives went to a hostel of the Federal Polytechnic in Mubi, called out names from a list and shot or stabbed to death more than 40 students.

It was the campus variety of our do-or-die politics and is believed to have been perpetrated by students affiliated with Boko Haram or some other Islamic

campaign against Mimiko is based not so much on his assumed non-performance ( a highly contestable and perhaps false claim relative to other ACN governors), but their own bruised ego that he refused to massage by becoming one of the ‘boys’ under the wide wings of the party leaders.

Although, other ACN governors have been corralled to campaign against Mimiko at one point or another but it would appear that these governors, with the exception of Rauf Aregbesola, would rather mind their business realising Mimiko’s sin was nothing more than his readiness to be his own man as a politician, not one who has to take orders from leaders of other parties who disguise their desire for personal estates and fiefdoms as concerns for the common good. Had Fashola or Fayemi not being in the ACN, they would have faced the same problem Mimiko faces.

Mimiko has his faults as a politician and there is a huge room for improvement in his management of the affairs of Ondo State. But what I say for him goes for other ACN governors. They, like all our politicians, can do far more than they have. By joining his counterparts in the ACN towards regional and economic development of the West they may serve as example to others in other parties. Nothing says the noble goal of regional integration as canvassed by ACN leaders can only be pursued in the ACN. What should count is the readiness of all to share and contribute to the growth of that vision. For all I know, Mimiko has not said he is against it. It is this realisation and the fact that he may yet do far better, given another chance, that might bring him the victory many predicted.

fundamentalist sect; they had lost the students union elections the previous day to their victims.

With the blood yet to cool on the dead students of Mubi, a viral video announced to the world the extent of our new-found depravity. For allegedly stealing laptops and blackberry phones, a mob in Umuokiri-Aluu stripped bare four undergraduates of the University of Port Harcourt, pummelled them with planks, wore tyre-necklaces on them, doused them with petrol and set them ablaze. Someone very thoughtfully documented the lynching. I swore never to view the horror movie, but then at the point of writing this column, I changed my mind.

To my regret. Right from the first frame, the only words I could mutter till well after the match had been struck were: What has happened to us? What has happened to us?

What has happened to us?

Answer: Decades of unrelieved political and economic savagery have frayed the cord that connects us to civilised humanity. The result is that the one thing that most distinguishes humans from animals, the capacity for reflection and moral judgement, has been dying an incremental death in us. Whether or not we will recoil from the horror of our new lives now playing before our eyes remains to be seen. How telling that having let avarice, visionlessness and moral turpitude drive the country under water, crocodiles, hippopotami and other wild water animals have taken possession of many homes. I fear that our hearths now reflect the state of our hearts: soulless and drowning.

20 — VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

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22 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

Recapitalisation looms for capital market operators

BY PETER EGWUATU

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NDICATIONS have emerged that capital market operators will soon undergo a fresh round of recapitalisation exercise following the advice given by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to stockbrokers to meet and deliberate on how to come up with ideas of recapitalizing their entities.

Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oeh, who gave the advice said, “There is need for operators in the capital market to be well recapitalized in order to meet global competitiveness.”

While addressing members of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) during its annual conference in Lagos, the SEC boss, said, “Recapitalisation is critical if the capital market must play its developmental role. So I charged you stockbrokers to consult among yourself and come up with ways of meeting the capital requirement.”

It would be recalled that the issue of the recapitalization of capital market operators has been on the front burner for quite some time now. At the peak of the market crisis,

stockbrokers protested against the increase. The feeling then was that capital market operators were so much under pressure that pursuing the recapitalization at a time many had lost so much through margin trading would amount to closure of many stockbroking houses.

The Federal Government had in April 2007 announced

a new capital base of between N1 billion and N2 billion for the various categories of operators in the market.

While issuing houses are to increase their capital base to N2 billion from N150 million, stock broking firms were directed to shore up theirs to N1 billion from N70 million and Registrars are to increase their capital base to N500 million from

N50 million.

The following year, 2008, President Goodluck Jonathan who was then the Vice-President, at a meeting with the SEC, market operators and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), suspended the process, as a measure to stop falling share prices in the market which was partly linked to the recapitalisation exer-

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HE Securities and Ex change Commission (SEC), apex regulator of Nigerian capital market has disclosed that 42 companies are registered to operate Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) and warned investors to beware of Wonder Banks.

Deputy Director, SEC, Mr. Mr. Isyaku Tilde, who disclosed this during the “SEC Nigeria Learning Series programme” held on Monday, warned investors not to patronize Wonder Banks but to embrace CIS that is resistance to volatility in prices.

Wonder Banks are those fund managers who are not registered with the SEC, but offer juicy returns to investors that are never attained.

He remarked that investors should seek for those fund managers that are dully registered by the Commission as some 42 such funds / schemes are registered to operate in the Nigerian capital markets and that anyone could invest in any of them for wealth creation and value appreciation purposes.

According to a statement,

From left: Group Managing Director, Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Kehinde Durosinmi Etti; President, Eko Club, Chief Owolabi Lawal and Chairman of the occasion, Chief Layi Ajayi-Bembe, at a business luncheon/public lecture of the club, in Lagos.

signed by the Communication Adviser of the Commission, Mr. Obi Adindu, “This year edition of the learning series had as its theme: “Personal Finances: Securing your Financial Future”. It featured a team of facilitators who are authoritative voices in various aspects of personal financial management.”

A major highlight of the event was the presentation by Mrs. Nimi Akinkugbe, former Barclays’ Regional Director (West Africa), Wealth and Investment Management and Chief Country Officer for Nigeria. An authority on Personal Finance, Akinkugbe’s expert financial mind discerned countless routes to financial independence for the benefit of her listeners, comprising largely SEC personnel and media practitioners.

Akinkugbe brought her unique flair to bear in simplifying complex issues around personal financial management in much the same manner as she does in the columns she maintains in Punch and BusinessDay newspapers as well as in Genevieve lifestyle magazine.Director General, SEC, Arunma Oteh, according

to Adindu, who was at the event, described the event as “Two quality and informative hours that were well spent and

which offered lessons that participants were advised to keep close to their hearts”.

Skye Bank achieves 48% growth in Q3 profits

BY NKIRUKA NNOROM

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KYE Bank Plc has an nounced a 47.5 per cent increase in its profit after tax for the third quarter ended 30th September, 2012.

The bank’s financial statement filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, indicated that the profit for the period rose to N13.23 billion from N8.97 billion recorded in the same period of 2011.

Also, the profit before tax grew by 45.4 per cent to N16.55 billion, in comparison to N11.38 billion reported in 2011. The gross earning at N94.13 billion was 28.4 per cent improvement over N73.29 billion recorded in equivalent period in the preceding year.

While operating expenses saw 8.1 per cent increase to N34.24 billion within the review period, interest expenses fell by 81.1 per cent to N40.44 billion, as against

N22.33 billion in 2011. Interest income rose by 34.5 per cent from N56.79 billion in 2011 to N76.41 billion in the review period.

Other highlights of the results showed that loan advances went up to N537.45 billion from N503.19 billion; deposits increased to N790.38 billion from N651.33 billion, indicating 21.3 per cent increase, while total assets also went up by 16.1 per cent to N1.09 trillion, as against N939.08 billion recorded in corresponding period of 2011.

According to analysts from FBN Capital, the bank’s loansto-deposit ratio fell from 82 per cent in quarter two to 68 per cent at the end of third quarter, improving its liquidity position in the process.

“We believe this is down to Skye Bank’s response to the monetary policy committee’s recent moves to squeeze liquidity out of the system.

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Wed Pg 22.pmd

Neimeth appoints Iwu, 2 others as Directors

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42 coys registered to operate Collective Investment Scheme — SEC …. Cautions investors over Wonder Banks

BY PETER EGWUATU

cise.

One of the reasons Nigerian stockbrokers were badly hit at the peak of the equities market crisis was the poor capitalization. To remain in business, a good number of them had to secure margin loans. And as the market slumped, banks had to call back those facilities, leaving them illiquid.

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10/17/2012, 7:21 AM

ORMER Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Maurice Iwu and two others have been appointed to the Board of Directors of Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals.

The two others appointed alongside Prof. Maurice are; Pharm. Sir. Ike Onyechi, and Mr. Thomas Tunbosun Osobu.

The new directors, according to a statement by the company, are seasoned professionals with commendable years of experience and dynamic achievements in their various fields, adding that the Neimeth’s Board is made up of diverse professionals who are opinion leaders in their areas of specialisation.

Prof. Maurice Nkemakolam Iwu was trained at the University of Bradford, Bradford, England. He is the President of Bioresources Institute of Nigeria and was Professor of Pharmacognosy at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (1984-1993).

He is the Chairman of many companies including The International Centre for Ethnomedicine and Drug Development (InterCEDD). He has received many academic and professional honours among which are the World Health Organisation (WHO) Visiting Scholar to the Dyson Perrins Laboratory, University of Oxford (1980), Fulbright Senior Scholar Award (Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio.

He was the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission/Chief Electoral Officer of Nigeria (2005 -2010), where the introduced the electronic voter registration regime, established the Electoral the Electoral Institute and held the first successful election the transition of one democratically elected government to another in Nigeria. He is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School.

Iwu consults on technological management and the establishment of strategic alliances and multinational cooperative research and development projects for international agencies.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012—23

EDITED by Adekunle Adekoya

DIARY Select ICT events

• ELO

SYS 2012.

Holds 9-12 Oct 2012 at Trencin, Slovak Republic.

• l B R OA D B A N D TAIWAN 2012.

Holds 9-12 Oct 2012 in Taipei, Taiwan.

•

lGITEX Technology Week 2012.

Holds 14-18 Oct 2012 in Dubai, UAE.

• ITU

Telecom World 2012. Holds 14-19 Oct 2012 in Dubai, UAE.

• Mobile Number Portability Forum Holds October 30, 2012, Golden Gate, Ikoyi Lagos

Preview New inventions shaping life and living

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olar tents is a very interesting concept for those who love to camping on the mountain or plain area with sufficient sun rays.

Actually, Camping in the mountain is a sort of eco-friendly activity. But with this Solar Tents, campers are invited to become more ecofriendly because this Solar tent can provide natural energy without extra oil / wood burning to create lights at the night time. The Solar tents also equipped with LCD display and providing internet signal and monitoring how much solar energy the tents has generated along the day. You can actually communicate with this Solar tents via your sell phone and simply sending a text message will lid the camp instantly.

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Nigeria to raise investment level in ICT

Digital broadcasting:

Can Nigeria meet the 2015 ITU deadline?

BY ADEKUNLE ADEKOYA

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OHANNESBURG — LAST week, a Digital Dialogue Conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa, and at the end of the event, majority of the participants were of the opinion that the possibility of African nations meeting the 2015 deadline for migration to digital broadcasting was slim.

Apart from that, the public who access television services free on air will have to spend a little more when digitization is completed, for everyone will now have to purchase a set top box (STB — decoder to you) before TV signals can be received.

The Digital Dialogue Conference, powered by global pay TV leader, Multichoice saw tens of journalists from many African countries participating at the event which held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. The conference kicked off earnestly with a welcome address and introduction of the participants by South African technology journalist, Aki Anastasiou who also moderated the event, after which Vicki Myburgh of PriceWaterhouseCoopers opened the dialogue proper with a presentation titled Entertainment and Media Outlook 2012-2016 — The End of the Digital Beginning.

Myburgh in her presentation said that digital migration is transforming the Entertainment and Media (E&M) sector into one of collaborative partnerships in the post-recessionary environment. However, this trend also puts revenues in

•President Goodluck

The transition to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) is about the consumer and the home environment the sector under pressure, with the shift from higherpriced physical distribution to lower-priced digital distribution.

She further noted that the global economy began to recover in 2010 from its steep decline in 2009 and continued to advance in 2011, although the hoped-for pickup in momentum did not materialize consistently around the globe. “Global entertainment and media (E&M) spending rose 4.9 percent in 2011—a bit faster than the 4.5 percent increase in 2010 but still below gains in prior expansion years,” she said, adding that digital spending will drive global growth.

“Embedding and integrating digital operations at the heart of the enterprise delivers profitability, scalability and innovation,”

NCC is guided by provisions of Nigerian Communications act

she added.

After Myburghm Koenie Schutte, Managing Director at LS of SA Radio and Secretary, Southern African Digital Broadcasting Association (SADIBA) took the podium and walked participants through preparing for the migration of TV broadcast services to digital from analogue.

According to him, the transition to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) is about the consumer and the home environment. His words: “The viewer has been promised more channels, great content which is the biggest incentive to migrate,” He said adding that if what is available on DTT is neither compelling nor attractive, migration will stall.

Schutte noted that the requirement for greater spectrum efficiency has been the major drive for migration

Why you should keep facebook and your job search separate

to digital broadcasting.”

According to Schutte, many TV households today use poor antennas and rely on marginal analogue TV reception. DTT will be on frequencies not necessarily covered by current antennas and new antenna and installation may cost more than the Set Top Box (STB).

“Digital broadcast means there will be at least a 36 per cent increase of spectrum and the mobile operators have their eyes on that, not switching will make life very difficult,” he said.Mr Schutte said that not switching to digital will eventually affect the economy, hence, limiting development because of the vast revenue generating opportunities that come with digital.

The UK Digital Communications Director, Ms Beth Thoren, said that adequate funding and a good communications strategy were the ingredients needed to switch over to digital.The UK became the first country in the world to switch to digital broadcasting this year, after seven years of educating the masses and laying out the Continues on Page 30

Ericsson flags-off EUR40k annual mobile application awards

24—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

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s part of i t s commitment to support the Nigerian m a r k e t , Nokia has announced the availability of a new portable solar charger in Nigeria. The new Nokia Portable Solar Charger, DC40 is a pilot product designed and marketed by Nokia to test the viability of solar charging as an alternative mobile phone charging system.

The technical solution is a thin film panel, measuring 165mm x 237mm with a long cable and 2mm Nokia plug interface.

Weighing only 93 grams, the solar charger is highly portable. The solution is incredibly simple and efficient. With one minute of charging, consumers will get approximately two minutes of talk time.

The solar charger is most efficient when used in direct sunlight where the average charging time for full charge

BRIEF Software Cup: ISPON secures

25 resource persons accreditation for tertiary institutions, about 30 of ollowing the success them with over 1500 of the 2011 edition of participants across the the annual software country. developers’ competition Uwaje, who said and conference, the the conference is Institute of Software scheduled to begin third Practiitioners of Nigeria week in October, said (ISPON), organisers of the 2012 event promises the event has announced to be exceptional in all securing over 25 respects. According to resource persons for the him, Cross River State 2012 edition.

Government, the main Already, the resource host and partner - has persons drawn from committed to raising the USA, Europe, Ghana bar for quality of the and Nigeria have been conference and ensure a billed to deliver papers memorable, beneficial and presentations at the and sustainable Conference. experience.

Addressing IT According to him, Journalists last week in one of the key factors Lagos to behind last u n f o l d y e a r ’ s activities for The Cloud and success was the capacity the Future of the quality b u i l d i n g Software Nigeria” and range of event, the individuals I S P O N , addresses the a n d Chris Uwaje overriding organisations disclosed s p r e a d that Prof. Bill mission of the a c r o s s Megalos, a ISPON National Africa, Asia Professor at Software and the UCLA will Americas. lead the Conference/ “The pack. central Software He said the challenge director of the Competition for for 2012 is a w a r d tertiary how to w i n n i n g institutions improve on documentary; t h e “ A n milestone Inconvenient Truth”, and success of last year’s Daniel Molina will also conference and grace the event. competition. This is why we have completely reop Nigerian strategized and executives, who revamped the entire have confirmed branding, speaker, panel participation and of judges’ faculties. We sponsorhip of the event, want to assure all the according to Uwaje will participants of an include the Managing inspirational experience.

Director of MainOne This amongst other Cable Company, Ms. things is what informed Funke Opeke and CEO the selection of the of 21 st Century current Theme which is Technologies Ltd, Mr. designed to explore Wale Ajisebutu. some of the most critical He further disclosed challenges of the that the Governor of Software Profession and Cross River State, Sen. Industry – namely: Liyel Imoke would be on software in the cloud and hand to host the what Nigeria must do to Minister of survive.

Communication “The Cloud and the Technology, Mrs Future of Software Omobola Johnson, DG Nigeria” addresses the NITDA, Prof Cleopas overriding mission of the Angaye; Distinguished ISPON National Knowledge Ambassador, Software Conference/ Ernest Ndukwe and Software Competition for other special guests at tertiary institutions is to the conference. promote conscious Uwaje, who said the national awareness on conference theme will be the imperatives for “The Cloud and the developing Nigeria’s Future of Software indigenous intellectual Nigeria”, stressed that property in the software Ms. Opeke would knowledge space. It also deliver a paper on aims to harness our “ B r o a d b a n d collective IT potentials, Infrastructure – resources, capacity and Imperatives for Cloud capability as a national Computing” while priority for global Ajisebutu would be competitiveness”, Uwaje speak on “Information stated.

Technology Park – It would be recalled Imperatives for Building that last year ’s Software Engineering”. competition was won by He said the Institute Abia State Polytechnic. has already started

BY EMEKA AGINAM

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BY ADEKUNLE ADEKOYA

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UBAI, UAE — The nation’s ICT sector is set for a big boost as the Federal Government has pledged that the investment profile of the sector will be given fresh fillip so that it can be expanded for job creation.

President Goodluck Jonathan, represented by Vice-President Namadi Sambo said here in Dubai at the on-going ITU Telecom World 2012 that the US$15billion investment level on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will be expanded and opened up to create additional j o b s .

Comparing Nigeria with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Vice-President said that “Nigeria, with a population of about 167 million people, has an investment level of about US$15 billion in the ICT sector while Dubai with a population of just about four million is at an investment level of about $60 billion.”

Further, VP Sambo noted that ICT is one of the major areas of job and wealth creation and hence “it is essential that Nigeria continues to have cooperation at the international level so as to continue to expand and open the ICT sector in the country to create jobs for the teeming Nigerian populace.”

At the leaders lunch hosted by Nigeria Monday afternoon, which was attended by officials of state of UAE and other Middle East nations and industry leaders, Vice President Sambo said President Jonathan would have loved to be personally present, but had to be represented by him owing to pressure of matters of state.

Noting that further suc-

Nokia brings portable solar charger to Nigeria

•Solar Charger on a 1000mAh battery would be under four hours. However, the solar panel can also be used behind a glass window, but is less efficient in these

conditions.

According to Nokia, Kenya and Nigeria provide the perfect opportunity for testing this solution, with recent World Bank reports indicating that only 16 and 51 percent of Kenyans and N i g e r i a n s respectively had regular access to electricity between 2007 and 2011.

However, mobile phone usage is pervasive in these markets, calling for alternative methods of power.

Nigeria to raise investment level in ICT — FG NCC has perfected the Open Access Model, supported with a work plan for broadband development cess in the telecoms and IT sector will be facilitated by reliable power supply, Arc Sambo said that the development of the ICT sector is important to the Federal Government. His words: “One of the aspects of this development is the issue of adequate power generation and supply.

Before our administration came in, generation was just a little over 2,000 MW, but now we generate over 4,000 MW. In the Lagos area, we have achieved 19 hours of daily power supply. 10 new thermal power plants are under construction, which will add 5,000 MW to the national grid, while government has also invested in the Mambilla Hydroelectric power project, which is expected to add another 5,000 MW, in addition to yet another hydro power project in Zungeru which is expected to generate 700 MW. In addition to all of these, government is working with Siemens on alternative sources of energy.”

He stated that Nigeria has the opportunity to grow higher than Dubai, saying that the Federal Government was determined to create jobs for Nigerians, open the sector and create opportunities for wealth creation.

According to him, Nigeria is participating in

the conference in recognition of the great importance of ICT to the realisation of the administration’s transformation agenda of making it one of the most developed economies of the world by 2020.

Secretary-General of the International telecommunications Union, Dr Hamadoun Toure in his remarks noted that “for Nigeria to have remained the fastest growing telecoms market for five years in a row means there are things people in that sector in Nigeria are doing right.

N

ow, the giant of Af rica has risen, and there is no stopping it. I am from Mali, and I should know, Nigeria is the economic powerhouse of the west African subregion.” This drew applause from the audience of Nigerians present at the event.

The ITU scribe noted further that many countries desire broadband but Nigeria not only desires broadband but has put together a plan for broadband development and thus should be encouraged through investment.

Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, speaking at the occasion reiterated the importance of the ICT sector to the

Nigerian economy and its contribution to GDP growth, and commended both President Jonathan and Vice-President Sambo.

“Nigeria is the only country here represented at such high levels. Our Vice-President will be here for three days, further underscoring the importance of ICT development to this government.

Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr Eugene Juwah also at the launch gave a presentation with the theme: Broadband Nigeria — A connected nation.

He reeled out facts about Nigeria’s spectacular growth in teledensity, which was 1.92 with a little over 400,000 lines at the turn of last century to about 75 per cent with 105 million lines at present. He however noted that while considerable progress has been made in voice telephony, development in the area of broadband has been poor.

He then disclosed that NCC has perfected the Open Access Model, supported with a work plan for broadband development which investors can make use of.

He also commended the Open Access Model to other developing nations so as to avoid challenges faced by developed nations.

The Nigerian event was attended by industry leaders, government officials, and two state governors, Dr Muázu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and Governor Theodore Orji of Abia state.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 — 25

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26 —Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

BY EMEKA AGINAM

EACTING to the frequency band allocation allegation against the Nigerian telecoms regulatory authority, the Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC), Director, Public Affairs of the Commission , Mr. Tony Ojobo said the commission was guided by the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act, noting that the frequency allocated to Openskys followed due process.

Ojobo while clarifying issues regarding issuance of licenses and spectrum by the Commission to IT Journalists noted that it was not only in compliance with the Nigerian Communications Act, but also in full implementation of a Presidential directive of 5th July, 2007.

Pursuant to sections 123 (2) and 33(3), he said that the Commission at different times has applied various licensing mechanisms including first come first served, auction, beauty contest /comparative, administrative / fixed price, among others.

The allegations on frequency allocation to Smile Communications Nigeria Limited, Ojobo noted were also false.

Smiles Communication Limited, according to him holds three major licenses from the NCC including Unified Access Service License , PNL National license, and Spectrum License.

“The claim that it is only through open competitive non-discriminatory bidding that the Commission assigns frequency is false” he further explained.

He said that the insinuation that the frequency issued to the Police has been sold to Openskys was false, adding that the frequencies allocated to Openskys were commercial frequencies designated for such services in all parts of the world.

“The frequency to which the Police was relocated was designed for security related services. The decision of the Commission on these matters followed all the due processes till date. “This directive was fully deliberated upon by the Board of the Commission during its 62nd, 63rd and 64th Sittings and other subsequent meetings.

“The Presidential directive to the Commission was for allocation of a portion in the 450 MHz to NIGCOMSAT, an agency of government. The Board however gave considerations regarding issuance of such license to a government agency, and thereafter gave NIGCOMSAT a pre-condition to seek private partnership to qualify for such allocation.

“Upon confirmation of partnership with Openskys by NIGCOMSAT, NCC management began the process of the assignment from 2008.

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Frequency Licensing:

NCC is guided by provisions of Nigerian Communications act — Ojobo

•Mr. Tony Ojobo

“On October 2, 2009, the Commission made a provisional offer of frequency to Openskys. As at this period, the Nigerian Police was still occupying some of the frequencies in the 450MHz Band. The then Ministry of Communications had on October 5, 2005, conveyed to the

Police the decision of the National Frequency Management Board, for it to be relocated by the Commission” he explained.

According to Ojobo, te use of 450 MHz for commercial telecommunications was approved by the National Frequency Management Council

A

mit De is the CEO and cofounder of Careerleaf, a platform that helps job s e e k e r s showcase their skills and talents, search for jobs, and track and organize communications all from one place.

(NFMC) on Nov 5, 2004.

"After this approval, occupants in this band like the police, NITEL, Shell, Chevron, and some others, he further explained were relocated to specific portions of the band suited for their types of service and usage.

"When the Inspector General of Police approved the relocation following further meetings with NIGCOMSAT on behalf of OpenSkys, Ojobo disclosed that NIGCOMSAT also submitted the cost of the relocation.

“The Commission then made an initial offer of frequency to OpenSkys on February 4, 2009, with a condition of acceptance within 30 days. OpenSkys accepted the offer on February 23, 2009. “ On October 2, 2009, upon review of the status of the offer, the commission issued a provisional offer of the frequency to Openskys on the condition of payment of N247,544,989.40 for replacement of digital radio equipment of the Nigerian police that may result from the relocation. Openskys was also to pay the sum of N892,455,010.60 to the Commission representing the balance of the spectrum fees for the offer. Frequency fees are paid into the federation account.

“The total spectrum fees for the 5MHz spectrum for a tenure of 5 Years is N1,140,000,000 ( One billion, one hundred and forty million naira only).

reasons to not hire them.

This is interesting considering Facebook is s o m e t i m e s rumored to be launching a job search platform.

Although most Facebook users tend to use the site for their personal social lives, the addition of a job search platform may blur the lines between the personal and the professional, making job seekers unsure of how to balance the two distinctions.

What’s Facebook For: Facebook wasn’t originally designed for your professional life like, say, LinkedIn or other local job search communities.

Why you should keep facebook and your job search separate

Can Facebook help or hurt your job search?

Most employers are looking you up online and most job seekers are aware of this.

According to a CareerBuilder survey, 37% of employers are looking up candidates’ Facebook profiles, and while they may not intend to look at

your profiles for reasons not to hire you, they could find them.

Most look to see if the candidate is a good fit for the company, whether or not they conduct themselves professionally, and how well rounded they truly are.

However, 12% say they look up candidates’ Facebook profiles in order to find

“The commission also placed a condition for issuance of letter of frequency assignment to Openskys, stating the exact frequency channels, and conditions of use would be upon presentation of proof of payment of the amounts above.

“In 2010, the Commission demanded an update from Openskys about the frequency for which they demanded more time to finalize with the police” he said.

He said that the company made an initial payment for the frequency to the NCC, adding that in 2011, upon completion of the frequency fees, the Commission offered OpenSkys a letter of frequency of assignment detailing the channels in line with the Provisional Offer of October 2, 2009, with a condition that roll out would commence only on fulfillment of the following

by Openskys: *The relocation of the Nigerian Police on these assigned channels by Openskys Services Ltd, and submission of certificate of completion issued by the Police. *Securing an operational license which as a minimum should be a Digital Mobile License, (DML) plus Private Network Links, PNL, categories.

“Openskys informed the Commission of an agreement with the police for the relocation, for which the police sought the confirmation of the Commission and received in the affirmative” he said.

He informed that there were more allocations awarded administratively (without an auction process) than those awarded by way of auctions.

According to him, some of the frequency allocations done without auction process include: Multilinks, Intercellular, Prestel, Megatech, Odu'a Telecom, Rainbownet, among others.

“The assignment to Smile Communications was done in 2009 for 10 years. Due to the technology trends, the band was re-planned in 2011 and provision made to accommodate the incumbents.

“These decisions are democratic and forward-looking decisions aimed at keeping the sector at the cutting-edge technology.

“The claims in respect of the above are calculated to mislead the public. It also bears repeating that these transactions followed due process and also predated the current leadership of the Commission and to imply that they are fresh transaction are most malicious and revealing of the real motives behind these fabrications and bogus allegations” Ojobo stated.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 — 27

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28— Vanguard,WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

CAF confirms Elephants

I

VORY Coast booked their place in January’s African Cup of Nations finals after they were awarded a 2-0 win over Senegal for last Saturday’s qualifier in Dakar which was abandoned in the 74th minute due to rioting fans.

Missiles, stones, bottles and firecrackers were thrown on to the pitch by disgruntled home fans, who were frustrated with their team’s poor show that left them trailing 2-0 when the match was halted.

Both teams had to be escorted out of the grounds by security forces, who fired tear gas inside the packed stadium to stop the rioting.

“CAF decided to officially confirm the result of the match as 2-0 in favour of Ivory Coast in accordance with the ... the regulations of the competition and to consider Senegal the loser of the said match and eliminated from the competition without prejudice to any other sanctions that may be imposed by CAF Disciplinary Board,” the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said in a statement on its website.

CAF rules state that: “If the referee is forced to stop the match before the end of the regular time because of invasion of the field or aggression against the visiting team, the host team shall be considered loser and shall be eliminated from the competition.”

The African Cup of Nations will be held from January 19 to February 10 in South Africa.

2013 NATIONS CUP:

We can handle big t Eagles' players dec C

ONFIDENCE, is soaring in the camp of the Super Eagles following their famous qualification for the 2013 Nations Cup at the expense of Liberia’s Lone Star, who were trampled by the Eagles in Calabar with a 6-1 thrashing. And as the seeding for the tournament was released by CAF ahead of the October 24 draw, Nigerian players are unperturbed by the prospect of facing West African rivals Ghana and Cote’d Ivoire.

Players like Efe Ambrose, Ahmed Musa and Elderson Echejile have expressed optimism on the Eagles doing well against the big name teams in the preliminary rounds.

“We have the quality to beat any team. At Angola 2010, we also faced defending champions Egypt in the first round and still made it to the semi-finals. So, there is no big deal about meeting Ghana or Cote d’Ivoire as early as the first round in South Africa, said defender Echejile.

Ambrose who opened the flood gates of goals in Calabar stated that other teams should be worried about Nigeria.

“We can’t be afraid of facing

•Drogba

Eto’o blames Lions’ ouster on poor preparations C

AMEROON striker Samuel Eto’o reveals that poor preparation is the main reason for his side’s elimination from next year ’s African Cup of Nations.

“Mentally, we had a difficult week before the game,” Eto’o told the post-match press conference.

The 31-year-old Eto’o, who only returned to Cameroon before the qualifier, couldn’t lead his side to qualify as they lost 0-2 to Cape Verde in the away game in Praia, despite a 2-1 win in Yaounde. “We knew we had to score twice without conceding in order to go for penalties, but we conceded a goal,” he added.

“We don’t have to work under pressure because when we work under pressure, it is complicated,” The former Barcelona and Inter Milan attacker confirmed also that Cameroon needs to start preparing now for World Cup qualification if they expect to make it.

•Eto’o

Cote d’Ivoire or Ghana or any other team. They are both strong sides but we are a very good team as well who fear no team,” Ambrose said.

“The question should be who would like to be in the

same group with Nigeria?”

CSKA Moscow winger Ahmed Musa said Nigeria have the class and drive to do well in South Africa and so cannot afford to be intimidated by any team.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 — 29

Swiss coach faces FIFA charge

teams, clare “Why should I be afraid of playing against country who have players like me? We have a quality team, so any team in our group know they are in for serious trouble,” the Russiabased forward declared.

S

WITZERLAND coach Ottmar Hitzfeld is facing disciplinary action from FIFA after making an insulting gesture to the referee after his side’s World Cup qualifier against Norway.

The former Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich coach was captured by television cameras sticking his middle finger - known in German as the “Stinkefinger ” - at referee David Fernandez at the end of last Friday’s 1-1 draw.

The usually unflappable Hitzfeld only raised his finger for a split

second and the referee did not appear to see the incident, but it has become a big talking-point in Switzerland.

FIFA said in a statement that disciplinary proceedings had been opened by the deputy chairman of the disciplinary committee, Venezuela’s Rafael Esquivel, as chairman Marcel Mathier is Swiss.

Hitzfeld has 10 days to present his version of the incident.

City can cope without Toure, Silver, says coach M

ANCHESTER City first team coach David Platt has insisted that Yaya Toure and David Silva are not indispensable to the Premier League champions.

“We have to look at things,” Platt told the Manchester Evening News. “We want to get to a point where nobody is indispensable.

City may not be offering the Ivorian midfielder, who was signed from Barcelona two summers ago a new contract next summer.

And Platt, who is Roberto Mancini’s right-hand man at the Etihad Stadium, wants the club to reach a stage where it isn’t reliant on certain players to win matches and pick up points.

“What we know with Yaya, he can give us so much balance, so much control of the game – a lot goes through him,” Platt explained.

He added, “With David, when you think you are coming up against a tight

defense, he can open things up with his ability.

“We address every game as it comes, with one eye on what the players have done and what the players are going to have to do in the next game. A lot is made of people missing games but we don’t just pick a team for one particular game.”

K

WESI Appiah has welcomed the selection problems presented him after Ghana qualified for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

The Black Stars last Saturday sealed at next year’s competition with a 1-0 win over Malawi to round up a 3-0 aggregate victory.

With a host of players jostling for places in his 23-man squad, Appiah admits that the preparations for 2013 South Africa will be keener. “I have been thinking about the kind of players that can play in such competitions,” Appiah said after wrapping up qualification for the finals.

“Since I took over I have invited so many players and so I am thinking around how I can pick the best to play for Ghana.

“I won’t say I have not been satisfied with those I have invited. I think when they all came they proved that given the chance they can play.”

The next few weeks appear the most crucial as Appiah has been left with some thinking to do with a number of more experienced players and emerging youngsters pushing to make the trip to South Africa.

Barcelona reject Beijing for Super Cup clash

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ARCELONA are not prepared to play the Spanish Super Cup in Beijing next year despite a preliminary agreement between the RFEF and a Chinese promoter.

The federation announced in June it had sealed a preliminary accord with Chinese promoter United Vansen International Sport for the two-legged, season-opening tie, which pits the La Liga champions against the Copa del Rey holders, to be played in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium.

They did not publish financial details but Spanish media reported that the deal, which has a seven-year duration, would net the RFEF around 40 million euros.

“We are not talking about the way the money is shared out, but everything seems to suggest that if we go to China we will lose money, but that’s not the reason,” Barca spokesman Toni Freixa told a news conference.

LIST OF 16 QUALIFIERS The number of their previous appearances at the finals are in bracket South Africa (7) Ghana (18) Mali (7) Zambia (15) Nigeria (16) Tunisia (15) Cote d’Ivoire (19) Morocco (14) Ethiopia (9) Cape Verde Islands (0) Angola (6) Niger (1) Togo (6) Congo DR (15) Burkina Faso (8) Algeria (14)

Black Stars coach at ease with selection headache

•Toure

30—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER 17, 2012

BY EMMANUEL ELEBEKE

T

he launching of the revised national policy on science, technology and innovation last week received a boost, with a call by IT stakeholders on government to marshal out an action plan with implementable and measurable benchmarks.

The action they said was crucial to the sector as it would serve as a template for the successful achievement of the goals and strategies contained in the document, in line with the agenda of federal government to actualize the Vision 20 2020 goals.

According to the stakeholders , the document when implemented would fast-track the Nigeria’s slow journey to 2020 as one of the top economies in the world, in the area of sustainable development, job creation, improved gross domestic product, GDP and good governance.

Highlighting the document, Prof. Anya O. Anya said that the occasion offered Nigeria a rare opportunity for a comprehensive retrospective reflection on the successes and failures in the nation’s engagement with S&T in its effort to utilise the instrument of S&T to drive the socioeconomic development and culture of Nigeria.

“The success or failure of the new policy will ultimately be judged because the transformation of the Nigerian economy will be based on science, technology and innovation.

This underscores the need to transform the Nigerian people, organizations and institutions into S and T thinking entities.

“We need to design an action plan with implementable and measurable benchmarks as a template for the successful achievement of the goals and strategies which have been so painstakingly been brought together in the document.

That will be the real measure of our alignment, implementation of the ST&I programme, with Nigeria Vision 20 2020,” he said.

From left: Dr Jimson Olufuye, Chairman, Africa ICT Alliance - AfICTA, Dr Mohammed Shedeed, MD Egyptian IT Electronic & Software ALliance, Mr Seyoum Berede, President Ethiopia ICT Association at the first AfIGF, held in Cairo Egypt

Revised national policy on ST&I: Stakeholders call for action plans local innovators, engineers and creative experts.

“The recognition of merit and excellence, and the institutionalisation of a reward system that enforces these

BY EMEKA AGINAM

T

HE Minister of Communi cation Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson has said that the performance contract agreements signed recently with the Permanent Secretary and Heads of Departments, Agencies and Parastatals under the ministry would bring about promoting accountability, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness in public delivery.

A performance contract is basically a freely negotiated

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scientific, technology and engineering activities are managed and the structure of the decision making tree,” he noted.

In his keynote address, the

Performance contract agreement will promote transparency —Johnson performance agreement between government, acting as the owner of an Agency, and the management of the Agency.

The Minister at the signing ceremony in Abuja said that performance contracting in the Public Service has potential for benefiting both the citizenry and the government.

According to her, there was linkage of performance and results with stakeholder expectations, improvement of public satisfaction with government services and building and sustaining of trust in Government.

While calling for collaboration and synergies between the ministry and its agencies

and among the agencies, to transform the nation’s ICT ecosystem for the benefit of Nigerians in line with President Jonathan’s transformational agenda, she said that the Contract Agreement would bring about promoting accountability, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness in public delivery.

Green agenda adoption is key— Expert

P

rofessor Anya further stated that the demand for creativity and innovation in an ST&I systems enforces the need for an environment, that optimises the creative tension that exists in a creative and innovative ST&I system, adding that for such system to exist, a political control must be institutionalised at the highest level, which would insulate the system from vagaries and rivalries of a normal bureaucratic system.

According to him, for the Nigerian ST&I environment to be competitive, merit and excellence must be given a pride of place to encourage

values is key to the successful management of a creative and productive ST&I system.

There is no shortcut to success. A key indicator is how the national fund for

minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Ita Okon Ewa described the occasion as timely and described the new policy on ST&I as a critical step that would translate into a quantum leap for the socioeconomic prosperity and emancipation of Nigeria.

“The policy we are launching today is innovative in several ways as it captures all critical sectors of the economy with wide stakeholder’s participation. It was designed to be inclusive in implementation, capturing all activities of both public and private-sector stakeholders that are relevant,” he added, saying that the trust the policy is on building synergy through seamless collaboration of all stakeholders in education and research both in public and private sectors.

“The document as a product of tireless and relentless effort of dedicated crème of professionals in the science and technology community is a catalyst that cans fast-track the transformation agenda of federal government. By this singular gesture, government has placed science, technology and innovation on the front burner of development and as a catalyst for the actualization of the national Vision 20 2020 and the transformation agenda,” he said.

BY DOTUN IBIWOYE

I

T is estimated that 84 major data centre suffered failures in the past 36 months worldwide. The reasons for

Continues from page 23

these failures according to experts included design, specifications, processes and procedures put in place.

According to renown expert, Matt Flowerday, data centres

consume vast amounts of energy because they are the engine rooms that run today’s Global Digital Economy.

However, it is noteworthy that energy utilization in them is

Can Nigeria meet the 2015 ITU deadline?

communication messages.

Ms Thoren admitted that UK was lucky because it had 200 million US dollars at its disposal which was funded by broadcasters.”We were able to switch over because apart from the funding which is essential, we ensured that we were honest to the people

about extra costs to them, we corrected and responded to all articles that were written about the campaign and we were firm about the date that would be switching over,” she said.

Other speakers included Jean-Louis Acafrao of DSTv Online. Terrestrial digital broadcasting carries many

advantages over the analogue system — Expanded services, higher quality video and audio, greater variety and faster rates of data transmission, consistency of data flows over long distances, and more spectrum efficiency means more channels.

grossly inefficient which leads to astronomical rise in temperature and eventually grounds the Data Centre.

In a sensitization training organized by KITS technologies and delivered

by Capitoline LLP of United Kingdom in Lagos , Flowerday also noted that 27% of this failure is due largely to power.

Also, he said the training would ensure existing Data Centre’s are run and operated successfully based on best practice and standards in operational management that would include processes, policies and procedures.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 — 31

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32 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY,

OCTOBER 17, 2012

Media chiefs differ on calls to control social media •Those who run social media aren’t journalists — Adefaye, Ekpu •There should be checks — Amun

BY UDUMA KALU, CHARLES KUMOLU & BASHIR ADEFAKA

T

HE ongoing calls to check the Nigerian social media has divided the country’s media chiefs. While some of them say the call is justified, others frown at such calls. Nigeria has about 45.04 million Internet users, making it among the top 20 countries that use the net.

According to the usage statistics on the top nations on the Internet by Internet World Stat, Nigeria occupies the 11th position, just immediately after France, which has Internet population of 50.29 million. Nigeria also comes ahead of Mexico with Internet population of 42 million.

This rating means that two per cent of global Internet population of 2.29 billion people are Nigerians. On a population estimate of 170.12 million people, Nigeria’s Internet penetration ratio was put at 26.5 per cent. This means that 26.5 persons out of every 100 Nigerians use the Internet. China took the first spot with the highest number of Internet users, with an Internet population of 513 million.

In recognition of this power, President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration of intent to contest

NGE president, Gbenga Adefaye

Senate president, David Mark

social media for engagement.

With this trend, many have argued that Nigeria’s sociopolitical and economic existence in the years ahead, would be largely defined by the new media. Hence, there is a consensus for government at all levels to embrace the social media in order to achieve the goal of good governance. The growth of the social media in Nigeria may largely be attributed to the Wikileaks, the online news medium which exposed much of US secret cables

,

,

The growth of the social media in Nigeria may largely be attributed to the Wikileaks, the online news medium which exposed much of US secret cables to the world

the presidency was done on Facebook and the general elections were all shaped by the social media. The Nigerian elections of April 2011, the January fuel subsidy protest, high profile crimes like the Cynthia Osokogu murder, 2012 budget social discourses all used the

to the world. In Nigeria, perhaps, one of the greatest things Jonathan has done for the media is his signing into law the Freedom of Information Bill (FoIB) last year. But before then, official information had been difficult to access. So, journalists had to seek various

NMMA announces nominees OARD of Trustees of the Nigeria Media Merit Award(NMMA) has announced the the nominees fior its 2012 media award.

In letters to the nominees signed by Eniola O. Ashaolu, the General Administrator , the board said the selection is “undeniably is a mark of exceptional accomplishment in your career as a journalist.”

It went on to say that the Grand Presentation of Award Ceremony in Calabar will be a

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unique platform for the reunion of media icons past and present with other distinguished professionals and stakeholders from various sectors of the Nigerian economy.

The event is scheduled to hold at the *Tinapa Business & Leisure Resort, Adiabo Calabar, Cross River State, later this year. It is a three–day exciting package of business, network and fiesta starting on Friday and ending on Sunday.

means of getting information since any information outside the official quarters would be taken with a pinch of salt. It was in order to get at least a certain level of degree of reliable information that the Nigerian social media became a reliable source of information for the people.

Before the signing, many online social and news media have cropped up, including Sahara Reporters, huhuhu online, Ilomba, Premium Times, Anayo, Naija.com, USAfricaonline, USAfricadailogue, Allafricaonline, etc. Many Nigerian mainstream newspaper are also online. Outside these online media outfits, Nigerians are also very active on facebook, twitter, youtube, blackberry, among others so much that any information can be posted and shared almost as it is brewing with hail or hell as the case may be.

Apart from the Miss Cynthia Osokaogu death caused by his social media friends, the Senate President David Mark and President Goodluck Jonathan have had issues with the social media users. There are also cases of scam, child theft, also in the social media. For example, on the Independence day, Jonathan goofed when it was reported that he lied in his speech on tackling corruption.

His aides were accused of inserting false information in the 52nd Independence anniversary speech.

In his broadcast, Jonathan told Nigerians that the global corruption watch, Transparency International, rated Nigeria

second after United States in anti-corruption efforts. TI, however, denied issuing such claim when contacted, saying, “Transparency International does not have a recent rating or report that places Nigeria as the second most improved country in the fight against corruption.” An angry Jonathan had reportedly ordered a probe on the misinformation and it was traced to an online publication in the BusinessDay of September 12, 2012 edition.

President Jonathan had also lamented at a recent function in Abuja that, “There are a lot of mischief makers going around to misinform Nigerians, especially through social networks like the Twitter, Blackberry, Facebook and others – to communicate very wrong things to Nigerians.”

His media adviser Reuben Abati, showing his frustration in the social media usage, wrote on The Jonathan they don’t know last August thus: “The cynics, the pestle-wielding critics, the unrelenting, self-appointed activists, the idle and idling, twittering, collective children of anger, the distracted crowd of Facebook addicts, the BBM-pinging soap opera gossips of Nigeria, who seem to be in competition among themselves to pull down.”

Also, Senate President David Mark while declaring open a two-day retreat for Senate press corps in Umuahia, Abia State, reportedly called for a check on the menace of the social media in the country, saying that people now use them to demean their leaders. Mark said the need to check the social media became necessary, as they do not have the avenue for retraction of whatever they had done. Weeks later, Mark denied he called for censorship of social media in Nigeria, blaming “mischief-makers” for taking his comments out of context.

However, calls for checks on

social media have been received with misgivings by some media chiefs. While President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye and former publisher of Newswatch Magazine, Mr. Ray Ekpu, frown at such calls, others like Group Managing Director, Great Publishing Company Limited, Fanny Amun, want it checked.

Adefaye said: “My view is that social media should remain social media. People who run social media are not journalists. They do not claim so.

So what they do is to push the free spirit and people should judge the content by the quality of things that are pushed to the public by the public media.

So the social media should remain as social media."

Bringing down the website In his reaction, Ekpu had said, “You cannot control it. It’s for Nigerian youths who patronize it that that should be more careful. In some countries, they bring down the website and so on but I would not advocate that. It’s social media and it is everybody’s media where everybody is a journalist. It has its own advantages and there’s a lot of disadvantages like you can see from this Cynthia’s death. But it is a worldwide thing and there is no way that you can control it as such.”

But Amun said it is only a matter of time, social media crime will be checked. “Social media crime happens everywhere and Nigeria, therefore, is not an exception. Except that anything that comes into Nigeria, people use it the Nigerian way. But I believe that before it was allowed into the country, the government did not just wake up one day and found it happening. They planned it.

So, now that the reality of the other side of the social media has come to the open.”

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 — 33

34 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

World Bank committed to long-term agric sustainability — Kim THE President of the World Bank Group, Professor Jim Yong Kim, had a media chat with journalists at the 2012 IMF/World Bank Group annual meetings in Tokyo last week. He spoke on global lessons from Japan's transition from a developing to developed economy. Excerpts:

By OMOH GABRIEL & EMMA UJAH in Tokyo

W

HAT has been the relationship between the World Bank and Japan First, let me thank the Government and people of Japan; the planning and work done and the hospitality extended to us has been just wonderful.

I think it is especially meaningful, because this year marks the 60th anniversary of the strong relationship that the Bank and Japan have enjoyed over the years. Japan started out as our client in the 1950s and 1960s, borrowing a total of $863 million for 31 projects, including signature projects such as the “Bullet Train,” the Kuroyon Dam, and the Tomei Expressway. Japan, now, is our second-largest shareholder and the third-largest donor to the International Development Association, the Bank’s fund for the poorest.

Remmarkable show of generosity It is truly a success story and a remarkable show of generosity, but it doesn’t end there. Japan has shared its knowledge and experience with the rest of the world as it evolved from a developing country to a developed country. I was just at one such platform, the Sendai Dialogue, yesterday (Wednesday); the Government of Japan has asked us to use the convening power of the World Bank to help them share the lessons learned on disaster risk management from the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Many nations take tragedy and improve. Great nations like Japan take tragedy and share lessons learned with others. We know the world is interconnected.

Knowledge gained in one part C M Y K

World Bank Group President, Professor Jim Yong Kim

of the world can apply to another. Things that are happening in one part of the world, such as in Europe, can have huge impacts in other parts of the world. We are in challenging times. Food prices remain high and volatile. Growth in high-income countries is weak. And developing countries, which have been the engine of growth, will not be immune to the increased uncertainty in the global economy. The economic announcements emanating in recent weeks have been sobering. Everyone is vulnerable during times of uncertainty,

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Bank Group, the answer has been very strong: Yes, we can bend the arc of history. That is why we came to work at the bank.

We want to fight poverty, and we want to make a difference in history. It has been my life’s work, and I have worked in situations of great poverty. This organization has always embraced that work.

What is the future hope for Japan in terms of the collaboration and the cooperation with the World Bank?

First, one of the things we know is that Japan has probably the

Africa doesn’t necessarily need our money, but we have agreed to build what we call a Delivery Knowledge Hub in South Africa

especially the poor who have few if any safety nets and resources and live from day to day. Our job at the World Bank Group now is to make sure the growth over the last five years that we have seen in developing countries in Africa and Latin America and Asia is not destroyed by further worsening in the situation. As part of starting a dialogue around barriers and solutions to ending poverty, the World Bank has launched a global online conversation, a “What Will It Take to End Poverty” campaign in the lead-up to these meetings, with crowd-sourcing ideas and comments through social media and video. It is a great way to drive a conversation around real, practical results, because ultimately, this is about results. I am asking our teams: What can we do to fundamentally change the arc of history to end absolute poverty more quickly than is currently predicted? It is our job to have a catalytic effect on poverty. The good news is that around the institution, the World

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best early warning system and the best prevention system of any country in the world, and still there was enormous damage.

A country that I know very well, that I have worked in for years – Haiti - when they faced their own earthquake, most of the buildings collapsed, including the Presidential Palace.

Buildings in flood plains So the Japanese Government is working with the World Bank to try to find ways of improving prevention, and not to build buildings in flood plains. There are all kinds of things that we cannot do that the Japanese understand, or do better than any country in the world and the explicit commitment is that we will work with the Japanese Government to help the poorest countries do better at prevention and then also do better at response once disaster happens.

Another area of cooperation is on health care. The Japanese are

rightfully very proud of their health care system which provides universal access to very high-quality care. So, there will be meetings today(Thursday) to discuss ways in which the Japanese experience in health care can be used to help countries all over the world build these kinds of comprehensive, universal access-type programs.

Ideal relationship So, it is an ideal relationship in the sense that Japan continues to be a very generous donor, but what we are very excited about is the fact that specific areas where they have special expertise, we are going to help them spread those lessons to the rest of the world.

What is relationship between the World Bank and emerging economies? As you know, the BRICS countries are now making the currency swap agreement within them, and also, there is a very basic idea of a BRICS Bank. So, clearly, they are making financing work within them by using their own currency, not by using the advanced economies’ currency.

But the role of development and crisis response has been played

by IMF and World Bank since World War II, so what is your idea for the future of those kinds of global relationships?

And as far as the BRICS are concerned, you know, we are still deeply engaged with the BRICS countries. You know, many of the BRICS countries really don’t need our money anymore, but what we find is that they consistently want to work with us because of our knowledge, because of the depth of experience we have in making projects work.

The most recent example is that I just visited South Africa, and again, South Africa doesn’t necessarily need our money, but

we have agreed to build what we call a Delivery Knowledge Hub in South Africa.

In other words, their biggest challenge right now - they feel that they have very good political processes; they feel that they have great policy, but they want to get better at actually implementing and delivering results to their people.

So, what we are going to do is that we are going to bring the breadth of our experience. The World Bank has what I could call “master practitioners” of development. People with wonderful academic backgrounds who have, for 10, 15, 20, 30 years, been working to actually deliver results on the ground, and they have experience in different countries. So we think their breadth of experience will always be of value to the BRICs countries. So, my sense is that we will always remain deeply engaged with the BRICS countries, and you can get some sense of the nature of my commitment to the BRICS countries by looking at some recent appointments.

Distinguished scholar We recently appointed JinYong Cai from China to be the head of our International Finance Company, our International Finance Corporation, IFC, our private sector wing; and we just recently appointed the distinguished scholar, Mr. Kaushik Basu, from India, who just finished his work as the Chief Financial Advisor to the Prime Minister of India. He is now our Chief Economist. So, the presence of the BRICS in the Bank is profound and my full expectation is that our relationship with them will only deepen over time.

What is the scenario of food Continues on page 35

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 — 35

World Bank committed to long-term agric sustainability — Kim Continues from page 34 prices, and how is Latin America exposed to the situation?

We are, of course, very concerned with food prices, and from our perspective, the response to the increase in food prices has to be multifaceted. So what we are doing immediately is making resources available to countries to support them to provide an emergency capability of helping to purchase food. You know, the biggest issue for us is that increasing food prices often push the poorest families to having to make terrible choices either feed my children or send the girls to school - and you have

programmes does the World Bank have for supporting postconflict countries that are emerging from conflicts in SubSaharan Africa, especially countries like Somalia, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo?

As you may know, the subject of one of our recent World Development Reports was on fragile and conflict-affected states. I have a very special interest in and experience with fragile and conflict-affected states. I mentioned it earlier. I have worked in Haiti, so I have shared with the developing world deep frustration over our relative inability to lift fragile and

World Bank Group President, Professor Jim Yong Kim

to choose between one and the other. So, through the provision of budget support-type loans and grants, and also through our emergency facility, we provide direct access to resources to purchase food, but that is really not the whole picture. What we think is even more important is to ensure that there is a long-term plan for agricultural sustainability.

Agricultural sustainability There was an agreement coming out of the latest of the G20 Meeting, the Annual Meetings from last spring and also the G20 discussions, and we have now formed something called the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program.

And so, while we will always stand ready to help with shortterm needs for food security, we are also very engaged in trying to help each of our member countries build in long-term sustainability in their agriculture systems.

What strategy and C M Y K

conflict-affected states out of fragility. So I am going to make this a special part of my Presidency. We are going to move forward with much urgency, a great sense of urgency, in trying to find ways of lifting countries out of the state of fragility. It is significant that the very first country I visited as President of the World Bank was Cote d’Ivoire, and Cote d’Ivoire provides some very important lessons. First, this is a country that is about 40 percent of the West African economy and it is also a country that had an educational system - artists, scholars - that was the envy of its neighbours. And then, 20 years of conflict have really set the country back.

Now, there is a President, President Ouattara, who used to be the Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, a very smart man who is deeply committed to his people. And when I visited Cote d’Ivoire, I saw right in front of me the nature of our task.

There was a training program that I went to see, and there, excombatants in the war were

learning how to be electricians and one young man stood up and said to me: “You know, this is great for me. I am learning how to become an active member of the society, to have a job, and it is great. But you know, my friends, my sisters, my brothers don’t have this opportunity, and if they don’t have the opportunity, when conflict happens again, they will pick up their arms again.”

So, for us, the task is urgent in the sense that we have to find ways of boosting economic growth and in this particular case in Cote d’Ivoire, it was the cooperation of the government and our groups - both the World Bank itself, IBRD/ IDA, and the International Finance Corporation, our private sector group to provide the kind of training and create an environment in which small and medium enterprises can grow, in which smallholder farmers can get access to global markets.

The task of building the economy so that ex-combatants can have jobs and see a different future for themselves was critical, and we have to move quickly. So, we are aggressively searching for ways for us to be ever more effective at working in fragile and conflictaffected states.

In light of change in Middle East, what new policies does the World Bank have in mind, especially for the Arab Spring countries and regarding Syria?

Well, the changes that have happened in the Arab Spring countries, I think also, teach us critical lessons about development, and these are lessons that I have learned personally in the field over many years, but let me tell you what I think the most important ones are.

Building instability First, I think there is really no more question that if you have economic growth that is not inclusive, especially of young people, you are building instability into your system.

We at the World Bank for years have talked about inclusive growth, and that has never been made clearer. So, I think that in many of the Arab Spring countries, there is a fundamental rethinking that is happening. For any country to grow in a way that is inclusive, in a way that is

shared, you have to think about, for example, inputs. Are the educational systems set up so that young people can join the work force and get good jobs?

This is what everybody wants, after all. Are the health care systems set up?

Another major question in the Arab Spring is the participation of women. You know, we seem to learn over and over and over again that putting women at the center of development is critical.

We learned a lesson from the Grameen Bank decades ago, that providing loans to women made the programs work.

Fundamental values We learned the lesson again in Mexico and Brazil through the conditional cash transfer programs, and I think fundamental values like making sure that the inputs to spur further economic growth are in place, to ensure that economic growth is inclusive of young people, especially young women, that women in general are at the center of the development process - these are all critical issues. And you know, in countries like Yemen, of course, a very fragile country - I recently met with the President. There are so many things that we have to do to provide basic inputs, and infrastructure development. So, let me just say that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to the Arab Spring countries, but we are

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with the government to really catalogue the arrears that have accumulated over the years, and our hope is that we can move forward very soon as a united global community to support the reforms and to help the people of Myanmar with things like health, education, infrastructure, and also to help Myanmar boost its private sector so that more businesses can grow in that environment. For the sake of the people of Myanmar, I would simply encourage the Government to keep going in pushing forward important reforms.

Several emerging markets, particularly in the ASEAN region, are very prone to disasters, and effects of climate change. So, moving forward, how do you see the World Bank in terms of its cooperation, actions, evolving in this region, and particularly in the Philippines; how do you see the actions of the World Bank’s work, operations, particularly in the Philippines?

Yes. Let me address a couple of questions more generally.

You mentioned that the Philippines especially are vulnerable to disasters and also to the effects of climate change; so let me start with climate change. You know, I am trained in science, and since becoming President of the World Bank, I have looked deeply into the data on climate change and I have to say that I was surprised that even in the last six months to a year, the data on climate change has become ever more frightening.

Things that we thought would happen only with higher degree change in the average temperature are happening

Another major question in the Arab Spring is the participation of women. You know, we seem to learn over and over and over again that putting women at the center of development is critical

very much engaged with almost all of them - not yet in Syria - but we think that there are important lessons to be learned and that our engagement there is critical.

Do you see any possibility to give more assistance to Myanmar from this annual meeting - and I mean debt forgiveness and bridging loans, proposals by the Japanese Government?

Yes. I have met with officials from Myanmar around the UN General Assembly meetings, and I have to say that, like so many others, I am very encouraged by the reforms that have been taking place in Myanmar. There are still things to do. I mean, there is still more progress that needs to be made, but I am very encouraged by what I see in Myanmar.

We have a team in Myanmar right now, and we are working

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now. And as a scientist, I feel that it is my moral responsibility to be very clear in communicating the dangers of climate change.

So, for the first time in history, the climate scientists declared that the drought that happened this past summer that contributed to rising food prices was the result of man-made climate change.

Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists now agree that man-made climate change is real. Now, as a person trained in science, that is an almost frightening amount of unanimity.

There are very few things in medicine, as a physician, that we agree 97 percent on, and so, I think the question we have to ask ourselves is not simply is climate change real or not. I think we have to begin looking hard at what the world is going to look like for our children.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012—37

GELEGELE: Gov Oshiomhole should visit us—Obei This is the concluding part of this report. The second part was published yesterday.

By VICTOR OMOREGIE

S

ECONDLY, I would like to see a decent hospital or a full fledged operating and well equipped health centre. What we have now that is called a clinic within the community cannot even match what the average Red Cross unit can offer in terms of services.

Every health issue in the community is an emergency. All cases are referred to Benin. Lastly I would plead with the federal government to prevail on the oil company prospecting in Gelegele to relocate its gasflaring station. The effect of the gas-flaring is telling on the health of members of the community, not to talk of the damage it does to the roofs of most of the buildings and farm crops.

What role do you want for your women, as I see that they are no visible markets, which is usually the meeting place for most rural women?

I would like to see government at any level empowering our women with loans. We all know that women anywhere are the building blocks of any economy.

Building blocks of the economy Our elders say ‘if you provide for a woman, your community will grow’. So government should come to the aid of our women.’

Have you not made your case known to the Edo State

government through your representative in the Local Government council?

Like you said, we have a representative at the Local Council and I believe he knows what to do with respect to presenting our problems to the right quarters. However I had expected that Comrade-Governor Adams Oshiomhole should have visited us to see things first hand.

The stories and impact of the Oshiomole government on the lives of the people is no longer news.

We want to enjoy part of the largesse called dividends of democracy being dished by Governor Oshiomhole. During the last election, we were solidly behind him and voted accordingly. I think it is time for him to visit Gelegele. We are expecting him.

How would you describe the state of your educational institutions?

Fair. All we want is for more staff to be deployed to our schools. As a community, we are contributing to the provision of infrastructure in the schools. We

also need a well-stocked library.

A library is the “soul" of any educational institution. You cannot ignite the interest of a human being and then leave him/her like that. There must be a place where the thirst for information and knowledge is quenched, and that place is the library.

There is an oil company in your community. What has been its contribution?

No contribution whatsoever. If not that we are a peace-loving people, we could have attacked

the installation and disrupted its operations. I challenge Dubri Oil Company to point to anything tangible that it has done for the community since the inception of its operations in Gelegele.

Can you imagine that the company has no safety officer, incase of an emergency. All it knows is to siphon away the crude oil without giving back anything to its host community.

Did the federal government not make it mandatory that oil companies should render some form of corporate responsibilities

towards their host communities?

Whenever there is any form of agitation by the community, for even mundane issues like employment, the company invites the JTF, Navy and other government security agencies, to intimidate and harass members of the community.

However we have said that we shall not be provoked to become violent. That would be the excuse that they are looking for to destroy the community totally.

Gelegele is part of Nigeria – Chief Kokoroko Vanguard spoke to one of the elders of Gelegele, Chief Kokoroko , whois an enigma and claims to be many things aside from being a chief and a Nigeria Police personnel. First he would not want his photograph in print, as he said he was still a civil servant. However he said he could still speak on issues concerning Gelegele.

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ONGRATULATIONS. Your community would soon have a brand new seaport

'General' Obei...expecting Oshiomhole C M Y K

The road to Gelegele port

in the nearest future.

Well, thank you for the compliments, but I have my doubts whether the proposed seaport would see the light of the day. The elders of the community have been holding series of meetings on how to put across our views to government with respect to the delay in the construction of the seaport.

We all know that a new seaport will change the face of Gelegele and boost its economy. There would be employment for our youths. I ask, what we have done to the government to warrant this total neglect. (Then sounding satirical) “All the lizards, rats and frogs at Gelegele” want the seaport completed.

Aside from the seaport, what do you desire for your community?

Gelegele urgently needs a market. Our women need to get

busy. Life for our women should not be all about making babies.

They have to keep busy by involving themselves in some form of commerce.

Provision of good roads Next would be the provision of good roads. Roads open up a community and enhance development. Most importantly would be provision of drinkable pipe borne water. Can you imagine what it is like not to have drinkable water in a community.

If you do not have access to drinkable water, then how do you cope with cooking, bathing and of washing clothes?

For drinking water, we buy pure water at N20 per sachet, which is brought in from Benin by the local provision store merchant. For other uses of water, members of the community go into the bush to look for clean streams.

This is not just going in search of any stream. You have to search very well for a clean and suitable one. All this is because most of the streams within the area have become polluted by crude oil that

seeps into the water basin under the earth.

What has the oil company prospecting oil in Gelegele done to assist the community in providing clean drinkable water or any other welfare projects.

Aside from the epileptic supply of electricity to some parts of the community, there is nothing to show as the company ’s contribution to the development of the area. If the company wants to rate itself because of the electricity it provides, it is worthy of note to state here that nearly every house in the community has one form of generator or the other.

We are in dire need of a wellequiped health center. This would take care of our women and the children. Our pregnant women go through hell to give birth. Ante-natal sessions are done in Benin City. If not for our local birth attendants, the child mortality rate within the community would have been very high.

Any final words?

Gelegele is part of Nigeria and her indigenes deserve to be protected and catered for like every other citizen of Nigeria.

36—Vanguard, WEDNEESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 Programme (UNEP) and the Lake Chad Commission, Wikipedia reported that at least half of the lake’s decrease is due to shifting climatic patterns while other causes are entirely man-made.

In contrast, the Sahara Desert, the world’s largest desert, has according to research by the Nigeria-based international NGO, Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE) been advancing southwards at the rate of about five square kilometres per annum “resulting in the submergence of vegetative lands by sand dune.”

It added that with this, drought will set in and the desert will grow further. Forty per cent of African countries, FADE reports, are under the threat of desertification and drought.

Already in Nigeria, the advancing desert and its resultant drought have changed, for the worse, the lives of millions of people especially in the North East and North West.

T

Anambra State...flooded

It is the floods, even next time

By OWEI LAKEMFA

A

S we meet here in New York, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are meeting in Japan at their annual meeting. The focus of their meeting this year, under the so called Sendai Dialogue, is Discussion Forum On Natural Disaster. The World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim said at the Dialogue that the economic losses caused by natural causes have tripled over the last three decades annually to $3.5 trillion. The proffered solution by the Bank is not to check the root causes which includes climate change, but that business should “mainstream disaster risk management in all aspects of development”.

In fact for most of the private sector, the sharply increased natural disasters open new business and profit prospects.

Floods: Climate change for some is a theoretical issue. In Nigeria, it is a nightmare we live. I come from a town called Patani in Southern Nigeria. Two weeks ago, I got a message that the floods which had taken over many parts of the country had partially submerged my ancestral home. Then on Saturday October 6, 2011, I got another message; the people of Patani had woken up inside floods with fishes swimming past. The roads had become C M Y K

rivers which required boats, not vehicles. In any case the cars in the town were under water. Part of the luck was that being a town on the banks of the Forcados River, the people were good swimmers, and so few casualties were recorded.

But many flooded communities in Nigeria were not so lucky; the floods swept some people away on their beds! In Adamawa State, a riverine community woke up to find twenty five corpses on their river bank; the victims were not even from the neighbouring villages. That means they had been swept over long distances, possibly from the neighbouring Republic of Cameroon.

Babies strapped on mothers' backs In some parts of the country, the floods swept on shore, babies still strapped on their mothers' backs which might be an indication that the mothers were trying to flee with their babies before being swept away. In Jos, central Nigeria, a man lost his entire household including his wife; he probably survived because he was not at home when the floods came visiting.

The floods had in some areas including urban centres, swept crocodiles and reptiles like snakes into the streets. Without any prep-

aration or training whatsoever, millions of people had suddenly become amphibious like the hippopotamus that reportedly strayed into some streets, obviously believing that it was in the deep river.

Apart from the serious health hazards the floods have caused, many buildings which have been submerged in flood waters for weeks, may have become unsafe for human habitation, and may actually collapse. With farms under water or swept away, and so many farmers becoming internally displaced, there is no doubt that Nigeria is going to face severe food shortages and high food prices. Already, the cost of beans which is the main source of protein for most Nigerian families has risen by 300 per cent in the last three months. So cases of malnutrition are likely to rise.

The very bad case of soil erosion in Eastern Nigeria is bound to worsen with more families losing their homes, farms and means of livelihood to the floods.

Lagos the commercial capital has had very serious flood problems this year with people washed away as they slept in their homes especially around the Kuramo waters. With the floods, some businesses are badly damaged and will close resulting in job losses. Thousands of persons have already lost their lives, and with the forecast of more rains and floods, it is likely that more lives will be lost.

Government relief agencies at state and federal levels are already overstretched and may have given up, as new flood victims like those in Patani I men-

tioned earlier, were completely left on their own with no relief forthcoming. Government spokespersons have also advised people in vulnerable areas to relocate; but this is like advising a hunchback to straighten up. With the advancing seas in the Niger Delta, the rising Atlantic Ocean and the rampaging floods, on the long run, some communities and towns may be wiped out.

,

Lakemfa contributed this piece to the International Roundtable on Energy Emergency and Energy Transition organised by the Cornell Global Labour Institute, Cornell University, and the Rosa Luxemberg Foundation, New York. October 10 – 12, 2012

he irony of empty fuel (gas) stations in an oil rich country: Oil was discovered in commercial quantities in Oloibiri, Nigeria in 1956. Today, despite growing oil wealth, Oloibiri is completely abandoned; like an orange, sucked and thrown away.

But it is not Olibiri alone that is abandoned, the Nigerian people are also largely abandoned, with mass unemployment and absence of unemployment benefits, lack of basic needs and no right to education, healthcare, shelter or food.

The so called subsidy on diesel (AGO) has been removed and the product, used to run factories was put in the hands of a few marketers who have no known fixed price for it. Most of the poor, especially in the urban areas, use kerosene for cooking, with the commodity disappearing from the filing stations and the price skyrocketing, many Nigerians who live below the poverty line have resorted to the use of fire-

With the advancing seas in the Niger Delta, the rising Atlantic Ocean and the rampaging floods, on the long run, some communities and towns may be wiped out

Dying Lake Chad and the advancing Sahara Desert: Lake Chad, the sixth largest lake in the world provided water and sustenance to 30 million Nigerians, Cameroonians, Nigerien and Chadians. In fact, the Republic of Chad is reported to have got its name from the lake. But with climate change and other human factors, it appears the days of the lake are numbered; within the last four decades, it has shrunk by over 90 per cent!

Flooding of wetlands The Wikipedia search website reports that the size of the lake greatly varies seasonally with the flooding of the wetlands, and that in 1983, Lake Chad covered 10,000 to 25,000Km2, but that by 2000, its extent had fallen to less than 1,500 Km2. Quoting the United Nations Environmental

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wood thereby further depleting the fast disappearing forest.

On January 1, 2012, the government decided to increase the cost of a litre of petrol (PMS) by over 200 per cent; a General Strike, mass rallies and street protests organised by labour unions and civil society organizations and led by the Nigeria Labour Congress forced a price reduction to a third of the original increase.

Today, petrol stations in a number of urban centres have no fuel or are witnessing long queues.

The basic problems are the massive fraud in the sector and the failure or rather refusal of the government to make the four refineries in the country functional. So Nigeria is a large oil producing nation which exports its products in crude form and imports finished petroleum products at high prices which are imposed on the citizenry.

To be concluded

38—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

My mum’s giving herself a reputation Dear Bunmi, My dad left the family three years ago and my parents are now divorced. For those three years, my mum steered clear of relationships. But recently, she’s linked up with her friends and has suddenly started enjoying going to parties and outings with men.

To date, I’ve counted five different men in the last eight months and none of them lasted more than a few weeks.

I’m really worried about her and would want her to slow down.

Julie, by e-mail.

Dear Julie, If your dad had left two months ago, I’d be worried too— your mum would be having sex just to ease the pain of him leaving and in the end would probably feel bad about herself and even more upset.

But she has taken time to

recover from her heartache— and now she’s finding out what she does and doesn’t want. Let her realise that you’re there if she needs to talk, but don’t interfere in her new love life.

Gently get the message across to her that the highest rise in sexually-transmitted diseases is among over-40s, who think they’re not at risk.

You need to tactfully check she’s using condoms.

Blackmailed by my brother-in-law Dear Bunmi, My husband and I have been going through a bad patch recently and I’ve been getting comfort in the arms of his brother. I saw him as a great friend, and nothing else.

To my surprise, he tried to get fresh with me a few days ago. He said he was dying

to go to bed with me and if I didn’t, he would tell my husband we’d been sleeping together anyway.

This has come as a shock to me and I’m in a no-win situation here. I’m terrified my husband could believe this lie if he was told. How do I prove my innocence?

Ireti, by e-mail.

I don’t love him that much!

Dear Bunmi, My 25th birthday is round the corner and I’m thinking of having a fairly big one. My current boyfriend is getting worked up about it and hinted he had something really special planned for the day.

That gets me panicking because I’ve been unhappy with the relationship and plan to dump him. As things are now, I can’t do that if he’s making a big romantic gesture for my birthday, can I? Uche, by e-mail.

Dear Uche, Don’t assume that just because you feel less for your man, the relationship is doomed, particularly if you’ve just met. Things can change and love can grow. If you’re not sure, commit to say a month, and then take a break.

Most relationships have times when each partner’s emotions shift. A few days, weeks or even months of unbalanced feelings doesn’t necessarily mean the end— especially if you’ve been together a while.

After your big event and you’re still not certain you can’t be committed to him, then the fairest thing— even if it’s painful for both of you— is to end the relationship.

If you’re the partner who feels more, it will be hard— but it’s still worth calling a C M Y K

halt— because you deserve someone who cares for you.

Given the chance of a new relationship, you will find that person.

Dear Ireti, Your brother-in-law is a real creep! All he cares about is what’s in his trousers.

Honesty is the best policy here and I’m sure your husband will take your side as he’s very likely to know what his brother is capable of doing.

But could your brother-inlaw be bluffing? Would he risk losing the respect of his brother just to get even with you? Don’t find out the answers that might hurt you even further. Go for his jugular before he goes for yours— all is fair in love and war!

“When we talk about penis sizes, my friends brag that they’re six to eight inches and still growing. One even claims he’s 10 inches!”

He can no longer stay erect Dear Bunmi, We’ve been married for quite a while and have two children.

Lately, however, my husband’s been having problems maintaining an erection.

Last month, on my birthday, we had a lovely romantic evening— until we got to the bedroom.

My husband was really angry and embarrassed when he again lost his erection, but refused to talk about it.

How can I help him get his libido back?

Dakore, by e-mail.

Dear Dakore, The answer here isn’t to try to get your husband aroused. It’ll just put more pressure on him.

He is bound to fail again and the situation would go from bad to worse. It would be more advisable to ask why his loss of erection is happening, because it could be something physical.

So get him along to see the doctor for a full check-up and then he can receive treatment.

For better understanding of this problem, you can log on to erectionadvice.co.uk.

I love my body but my man doesn’t Dear Bunmi, I’ve been with my boyfriend for a couple of years and we’ve talked about getting married.

But there’s a problem we seem unable to resolve. I love and respect the body I have, but my boyfriend has complained several times that I need to lose at least half a stone.

He says he can feel my stomach when we cuddle. I’m not overweight and quite fit, though my stomach does need a bit of toning. He likes it when I’m ill and couldn’t eat as that brings down my weight.

I’ve told him my friends always complimented my looks and he says they’re just being nice. He makes me feel unattractive, yet he said I’m making too big deal of it. In fairness, previous boyfriends have made similar comments.

Do I attract the wrong type? I always vowed I’d finish with anyone who said nasty things like this to me. So how can I make my boyfriend see that he’s upsetting me?

Jemilat, by e-mail.

Dear Jemilat, Your boyfriend has committed the unforgivable sin of being honest with a woman about her figure. Instead of thinking of him— and every man who has ever dared to speak the shocking truth about your weight— as an enemy, encourage your boyfriend to help you tackle the problem.

It could be that you choose friends who encourage you to believe that you didn’t need to lose weight and that only nasty men, who want to put you down, would suggest otherwise. You’re miffed that he refuses to be a part of this conspiracy.

Decide once and for all what weight and shape you’ll like to be and can happily achieve. Then devise a routine of exercise and diet— this may demand that you eat different foods and join a gym.

Make keeping fit and trim your common cause. He’s after all agreed to get married, so he must care for you.

“Gently get the message across to her that the highest rise in sexually-transmitted diseases is among over-40s, who think they’re not at risk.

You need to tactfully check she’s using condoms”

Could I still grow bigger?

Dear Bunmi, I’ve finally plucked up the courage to ask you a question I find most embarrassing, hoping you’ll be able to re-assure me. I am an 18-year-old accounts clerk hoping to get admitted to the university soon.

I believe I have a smaller penis than the rest of my friends.

I’m only four to five inches when I’m erect. But when we talk about penis sizes, my friends brag that they’re six to eight inches and still growing. One even claims he’s 10 inches!

Do you think I’ll develop more? I don’t want to get to the university where there’ll be a possibility of mingling with other students only to be laughed at.

Uchenna by e-mail.

Dear Uchenna, At 18, you may develop

more— and you may not. But even if you don’t get bigger, there’s no need to worry. At four to five inches when erect, you’re well able to give and receive a good time from a partner.

And as for your friends’ claim to be six or more inches long and your wondering how come they’re so big, they might be having you on!

They’re all probably as insecure as you are and cover this up by exaggerating. They want you to believe they’re bigger than you, but for all you know, they’re the same size as you.

Your friends are welcome to their fantasy. You, on the other hand, are mature enough to face the truth— so well done.

Relax, be confident, and don’t believe everything your male friends tell you!

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, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

Saving the lives of women and children

By GOODLUCK JONATHAN & JENS STOLTENBERG

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N 2010, the UN SecretaryGeneral’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health highlighted the suffering of women and children around the world caused by lack of access to life saving commodities. Life in the developing world is filled with stories like that of the woman who, just after child birth, dies from excessive bleeding because the health centre is stocked-out of the medicine to save her life; the child with a simple case of •President Goodluck Jonathan pneumonia who cannot be treated because the needed antibiotic is not US$0.50 per treatment. registered for use; and the 45-year old The Commission has identified 13 overwoman who finds out she is pregnant for looked life saving commodities that, if more the seventh time, after almost dying the widely accessed and used, could save the last time she gave birth because she does lives of more than 6 million women and not have access to modern methods of fam- children. These are; Maternal health comily planning. modities such as Oxytocin and MisoprosThe overarching health system and fi- tol (to prevent and treat post-partum haemnancial impediments for governments and orrhage) and Magnesium sulphate (to preend-users to access life-saving commodi- vent and treat eclampsia and severe preties is made worse by the lack of aware- eclampsia); Newborn health commodities ness of how, why and when to use them, such as injectable antibiotics (to treat newpreventing women and children from ac- born sepsis). cessing and using appropriate commodiAntenatal corticosteroids (to prevent resties. Other system barriers to these com- piratory distress in preterm babies), Chlomodities include the severely under-re- rhexidine (for newborn cord care) and resourced regulatory agencies in low-in- suscitation devices (to treat newborn ascome countries, which lead to delayed reg- phyxia); Child health commodities amoxistration of commodities, lack of oversight icillin (to treat pneumonia) and Oral reof product quality and general inefficien- hydration salts and Zinc (to treat diarcies; market failures, where return on in- rhoea); and Reproductive health commodvestment is too low to encourage manu- ities such as Female condoms, Contracepfacturers to enter the market or produce tive implants and Emergency contracepsufficient quantities; and user supply and tion. To deliver on the promise of saving the lives of millions of and children, The challenge has been taken up by women the Commission recommends actions the UN Commission on Life-Saving which focus on the Commodities for Women and Chilneed for improved global and local mardren, with a focus on the world’s 49 kets for life-saving poorest countries commodities, innovative financing, demand challenges such as limited de- quality strengthening and regulatory efmand for the product by end-users, local ficiency, improved national delivery of delivery problems and incorrect prescrip- commodities and better integration of prition and use. vate sector and consumer needs. The scalThe UN Secretary-General’s Global Strat- ing up of access to and use of these 13 egy called on the global community to commodities is not only a moral obligawork together to save 16 million lives by tion, but one of the most effective ways of 2015 through increasing access to essen- getting more health for the money investtial medicines, medical devices and health ed. supplies that effectively address leading It would make a significant contribution avoidable causes of death during preg- to put maternal and child health in a tranancy, childbirth and childhood. This jectory to end these preventable and tragic challenge has been taken up by the UN deaths. The Commission estimates that Commission on Life-Saving Commodities the scale up will cost less than USD 2.5 for Women and Children, with a focus on billion over five years and save over six the world’s 49 poorest countries. million lives. These estimated costs per The Commission recognises that if the lives saved are low and represent excelneeds for modern contraceptive methods lent global development investments. The were fully met in these countries, an esti- Commission has also developed a detailed mated 53 million unintended pregnancies plan for implementation with cross-cutting would be avoided, about 90,000 women’s and commodity-specific actions and clearlives would be saved and an estimated ly stated national, regional and global ac590,000 newborn deaths would be avert- tivities and associated costs. Recognizing ed. In addition, many of the over 800,000 that many commodity-related obstacles deaths of children each year from diar- are linked to financial barriers and rooted rhoea could be prevented with oral rehy- in broader health system challenges – dration solution and zinc that cost less than such as poor governance, inadequate

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— 39

million people in developing countries receiving these drugs at the end of 2010. Initiatives such as aggregating orders, and improving the forecasting, financing and manufacturing capacity of insecticide-treated nets in sub-Saharan Africa increased their supply from 5.6 million in 2004 to 145 million in 2010, leading to substantial reductions in deaths due to malaria.

When auto-disable syringes for immunization were introduced in 1992 to prevent infections from reuse in developing countries, the cost was over six times that of normal syringes. The price difference is now near equal and use near universal due to sustained increased demand following initial GAVI Alliance support for their use. These previous achievements give us the confidence to call on •Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway local communities, National auhuman resources, ineffective local supply thorities and the global community to once chains and insufficient information sys- again rally around an initiative that will tems – the Commission calls for further save millions of lives in the poorest counlinks between the identified solutions and tries of the world, this time by improving priority actions and other global and na- the availability, affordability and accessitional initiatives for strengthening health bility of these 13 proven life-saving commodities. systems •Dr. Jonathan, President, Federal ReThe Commission believes that it is possible to overcome seemingly entrenched public of Nigeria and Rt. Honourable Jens barriers when partners work together. The Stoltenberg, Prime Minister, Norway are success in substantially reducing the price co-chairs of the UN Commission on Lifeof antiretroviral drugs for HIV is testimo- Saving Commodities for Women and Chilny to the effect of partnerships, with 6.6 dren.

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40—Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

HAJJ: Mrs Rositta Olumide-Osoba, Geomarketing Manager, and Mr. Aminu Sani, Brand Specialist, High Value, both of MTN Nigeria, with Hajj pilgrims sponsored by MTN before their departure, yesterday. PHOTO: Diran Oshe.

Akwaaba travel exhibition kicks-off

BY KENNETH EHIGIATOR

HIS year’s Akwaaba African Travel Market will start off at Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos on Monday, October22 and run till 24th.

The travel exhibition, 8th in the series, fashioned after the World Travel Market in London, is expected to bring together travel professionals from countries across the world, airlines, hotels, tourism boards, national parks, destination marketers and tour operators.

The opening ceremony will have the First Lady of Cross River State as the chairman, while Mr. Peter Igho of the Lottery Commission of Nigeria will declare the event open, alongside Social Secretary of FCT Mrs. Blessing Onu. The three-day exhibition will feature Aviation Day, with the theme Aviation and Tourism in Africa: The

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True Story, with papers on The Passenger Bill of Rights, The Airports and the Passenger and The Weather and Tourism.

With the exhibition, the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents, NANTA, is partnering with Akwaaba African Travel Market, AfTM, to grow the only Tourism and Travel Fair in West Africa.

Representative of organisers of the travel market, Mrs. Rita Ikechi Uko, said having NANTA as a partner was a huge plus for the event, adding “we have partnerships with global associations and having a credible national group like NANTA, which is the biggest travel association in West Africa, completes the circle for us and we are excited to tap on their goodwill and expertise.”

Gambia is also expected to showcase its rich cultural heritage, including its cuisines, at the exhibition.

Madam Okhuelegbe for burial ADAM Angelina Okhuelegbe of Ididigba of Usugbenu, Irrua, Edo State, 92, is dead. She is survived by many children.

In a statement by Sir Hillary Okhuelegbe, Christian wake keep

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Harvest HIS year’s harvest of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Coker Village Orile-Iganmu, will start today with a three-day retreat and a vigil Mass on Friday. Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Nwachukwu will minister on The Joy of the Lord is My Strength.

The harvest of joy will hold Sunday, October 28, with the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Augustine Garba, and other priests officiating.

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holds today at House 37 Gowon Estate, Egbeda, from 5pm to 6:30pm.

A requiem thanksgiving Mass at St Joseph Catholic Church, 412 Road, Gowon Estate, Egbeda, holds on Friday.

Funeral mass holds at St Joseph Catholic Church, Eror, Uromi, Edo State, Thursday, October 25 at 11am, followed immediately by interment at Ididigba Usugbenu.

Late Madam Okhuelegbe.

WINNER: From left— Yinka Erhiawe, Acting Head, Treasury Department, Rosabon Financial Services; Mr. Lekan Jinadu, representing Mr. John Jolly, winner of N250,000; and Mr. Chukwuma Ochonogor, Managing Director, Rosabon Financial Services, at the second Rosabon Win Big monthly investment note draws in Lagos.

Over 1,000 ACN members, former Rep join PDP in Ebonyi

BY PETER OKUTU

BAKALIKI— N O fewer than 1,000 members of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, including a former House of Representatives member, Darlington Okereke, have returned to the fold of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state.

Okereke had in the 2011 general elections decamped to Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, where he contested for Ebonyi South Senatorial seat, but lost to Senator Sonni Ogbu-Orji of PDP. At a political rally in Ugwulangwu at Ohaozara Local Government Area of the state, Okereke announced that his decision to rejoin PDP was borne out of his desire to reunite with the ruling party and leadership of the state, instead of being in the opposition.

He told newsmen: “I believe in the ideology of PDP. I want to go back and that is why I have come back. I see myself outside there as a strange person in that place because this is where I belong. This is where I have toiled and where I had worked and therefore I rightly belong here; that is why I have

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come back.

“All my followers are com-

ing back. They are in their thousands; they are not

only from Ugwulangwu.

You know, I ran for Senate.”

Bayelsa partners foreign firms on cassava plants

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

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ENAGOA—BAYELSA State government policy on food production received a boost, yesterday, as it signed a pact with Denmark and Hungary to establish a Cassava Processing Plant worth millions of dollars in strategic areas of the state.

The move, according to Governor Seriake Dickson, is to avert the looming famine that may arise as a result of the flood that rav-

aged the state.

Signing the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with DPP Denmark and Oster Trade Engineering and Manufacturing Company of Hungary on the establishment of a cassava processing plant in the state, the governor said it would go a long way in assisting the state to overcome the impending food crisis.

Government, he said, was placing much emphasis on agriculture to make the state self-sufficient in food pro-

duction, adding that the partnership with the companies will in the next couple of months deliver a large cassava processing plant to provide the people with a wide range of staple food supplies, such as garri, starch and other by-products of cassava.

He said: “The signing is coming at a time government needs to provide food security for its teeming populace in view of the flood, which has destroyed farmlands and other means of livelihood of the people.”

NUPENG rues slow pace of probe into students' killings

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG IGERIA Union of Pe troleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, yesterday, called on the Federal Government and the relevant security agencies to speed investigations into the massacre of students of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa

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State, and the lynching of four undergraduates of the University of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT, in Omuikiri-Aluu in Rivers State.

NUPENG, in a statement by its Acting General Secretary, Mr. Isaac Aberare, said: “The union states that the killings are too many, and that a high-powered crack

team of detectives be mandated to commence a thorough investigation, with a view to bringing the culprits to book.

“The union laments the poor state of insecurity in the country, with the senseless killings of innocent citizens, as if life does not have a meaning any longer.”

CNPP backs Fashola on traffic laws ONFERENCE of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, Lagos State chapter, has thrown its weight behind Governor Babatunde Fashola on the state’s traffic laws, saying the laws “will bring sanity and orderliness to a responsible community.”

In a statement by Mr. Akinola Obadia, the chap-

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ter’s Chairman, CNPP said it was inexcusable for okada riders, danfo drivers and car owners to drive against traffic and against one-way routes, jump traffic light or answer calls while driving.

It said: “The new Lagos State traffic laws should be commended. They will make us catch up with the

rest of the civilised world and stop the chaotic driving culture in our system.

“CNPP will like to state categorically that these laws, like the amended tax laws, will bring sanity and orderliness to a responsible community.

“Most states in the country are now prosecuting and emulating the Lagos State

tax drive and are now comfortably bringing fortunes of dividends of democracy to their people.

“Unwarranted criticism of government’s progressive policies is not the only way to take over governance.

We of the CNPP will at the proper time, roll out our manifesto as alternative government in waiting.”

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 — 41

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42—Vanguard, Wednesday, OCTOBER 17, 2012

My friend, Kwankwanso doesn’t understand constitution making — Ekweremadu H

OW far have you gone in the process of constitution review?

At the last count, I think we have received about 240 memoranda outside the ones dealing with specific state demands which are about 56. We have as much as possible acknowledged these submissions. In July, you will recall that we had retreat in Delta where we looked at all these memoranda and tried to summarize them because most of them are dealing with similar issues.

We tried to identify issues which these memos are concentrating on and those were the things we considered as the thematic areas. So, we brought them out during the national public hearing which ended on Friday so that Nigerians will begin as much as possible to make contributions towards these so that not just only those who sent memos that are entitled to speak on these things. We believe that every Nigerian will have an opportunity to say his or her own mind in respect of these thematic areas or the areas so far submitted.

So, we have thrown it to the public and I am happy that for the two days, we had very useful discussions and various people of Nigeria. We intend further to take it to the zones so that people who are unable to attend the national public hearing will have the opportunity to bear their minds in respect of these specific areas.

Constitution Review Beyond that we intend to engage our constituents at the level of constituency. We intend to take our colleagues to their various districts so that they will hold their meetings with their respective constituents. Every Senator will be involved in this.

The members of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review will beyond that organise stakeholders meetings in their respective states to articulate their states’ positions or maybe get their input.

We are hopeful that every other Nigerian will be engaged through the electronic media, through the communication system SMS most likely so that every Nigerian will get a

SENATOR Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, SCCR between 2007 and 2011 led the National Assembly’s remarkable effort in amending the 1999 Constitution.

The amendments smoothened the way towards the relatively successful round of general elections in 2011. Following the last amendments, the National Assembly is again on the verge of another set of amendments. In this interview, Senator Ekweremadu gives details of the work of the committee and addresses issues of concern among the general public. Excerpts:

Electoral matters

*Sen Ekweremadu: I don’t think the Bakassi issue is concluded

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BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR & ABUTU AGADA

Management Body, and we have been able to secure that. You know that the President appoints but you also know that the President cannot remove them himself, it would require the resolution of the Senate.

So, that is a sufficient check.

Besides, the constitution earlier provided that the rules and programmes of the Electoral Commission should be approved by the President but we have removed that from the constitution. So, they don’t need to and they will not revert to the President on the day-to-day running of their affairs. That is what the constitution says presently.

Now, they are also sufficiently independent in terms of their funds, they are on the First Line charge. I think that we have secured sufficient independence for the electoral body and this has been amplified in the manner the 2011 election was conducted.

I do not think that there is much to look at in terms of further reforms in the electoral process except for us, maybe, to look at the Electoral Act and see if there are some areas we need to strengthen.

I am surprised that Kwankwaso does not know that things have changed. This is a civilian regime where nobody will stay in one place and then decide the states to be created

message on the issues in form of questionnaire and it is going to be a two-way traffic, we would have paid for that SMS so that you are not losing any money by answering those questions. So, we want to get every Nigerian, both those within and outside Nigeria to be involved as we are setting up a website where Nigerians will also have the opportunity of bearing their minds on most of these issues.

So, on the whole, we believe in the principle of inclusivity in ensuring that every Nigerian will have the opportunity of being part of this process. So, by that means, every Nigerian will be part of the process.

Do you have timelines for the process?

We set timelines in January this

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year and we have been following this religiously. By July 2013, we are hopeful that this set of amendments would have been passed or defeated.

Bakassi controversy Bakassi is engraved in the Nigerian constitution. Would your amendment remove it from the constitution now that it has been handed over to Cameroon?

The Bakassi thing, is if you like what you say in journalism, is a developing story. So, I don’t think it is concluded. We have had just one aspect of it which is the ICJ judgment which we were unable to review because of time frame and of course as the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation said

we did not have new issues to canvass.

But there are still other options available to Nigeria including but not limited to the issue of plebiscite or referendum if you like, for those people to determine where they would want to stay. And of course, you are also aware of the human rights violations that are happening in the peninsula right now which Nigeria is entitled to petition and get Cameroon to answer for those human rights violations. So, these are some of the things that are still outstanding. It is also likely that one day that peninsula will still become part of Nigeria.

So to excise it at this time will be hasty and I am aware that the money due to that local government is sent to Cross River joint account every month.

There are still concerns over INEC as the president still has the right to appoint the Resident Electoral Commissioners?

I think the most important thing for us is to ensure the independence of the Election

You will recall, we provided for the period in which electoral matters should be dispensed with but somehow we did not consider that sometimes a matter can be sent back to the tribunal for retrial.

What is your position on the allegation raised by Governor Kwankwanso that you and the committee have a hidden agenda as concerning the creation of new states?

From the memoranda we have got so far and from the contributions of Nigerians at the public hearing so far, I think there is the desire of Nigerians to have states created. And we are representing the people and we are to give meaning to the expression of Nigerians. To that extent, we are going to vigorously pursue the issue of state creation. If it succeeds fine, if it does not succeed, we would have done our job.

My friend, Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, has accused me twice in that direction. My first attitude was simply to ignore him and focus on what I am doing because I believe he was mistaken in the accusation.

Secondly, I believe two wrongs do not make a right. We are public servants we cannot be joining words on the pages of newspapers. And as I said, he is my friend. As the late Chief Awolowo said, if we are related, we would always meet. I am going to meet with him some time and we will be able to talk it over one to one.

But on a serious note, we have to understand how things work.

Continues on page 43

Vanguard, Wednesday, OCTOBER 17, 2012—43

•From left: Gen T.Y Danjuma (rtd), Adamu Ciroma and Ango Abdullahi

THE GRUDGE WAR IN THE NORTHEAST:

the agenda of the forum.

Governors and elders

Governors' absence

AN attempt by some renowned political elders in the Northeast to find a homegrown solution to the sectarian and security crises in the region is swallowed up in intrigues as all six governors in the region gang-up against the troubleshooting elders. Why?

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HEN a group of elders in the north-east geopolitical zone of the country under the auspices of the NorthEast Forum of Concerned Leaders decided last June to address the spate of insecurity and other problems troubling the region, they were not oblivious of the fact that the task ahead of them was enormous. As concerned elders, they observed that problems associated with insecurity, politics, unemployment, poverty, education and health were fast destroying the rich potentials of the region and that if nothing was done to solve the situation, the north would become a shadow of itself.

At that meeting, it was resolved that the forum should transform itself into a permanent body to promote the unity and development of the sub-region, hence the decision to transform as the North-East Forum for Unity and Development,(NEFUND). It was also resolved to establish organs and committees to achieve the objectives of peace, unity and development of the region. The organs of the forum were to include the committee of patrons, the board of trustees and central working committee. The central working committee which has representatives from the six states actually met on several occasions and selected people into the several organs of the forum.

Last Saturday, the forum

reconvened again for another meeting in Bauchi where some committees were to be inaugurated, but it turned into an anti-climax.

The sequence of events that unfolded during the meeting suggested a different ball game altogether and the aim of the meeting was apparently defeated. Present at the meeting were three former ministers, General Theophilus Danjuma, Adamu and Aliyu Moddibo.

Other personalities in attendance included serving and former lawmakers, youth and women leaders. One noticeable observation, however, was the absence of the six governors from

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BY SUZAN EDEH

According to Danjuma, the absence of the Governors at the meeting was a disappointment to members of the North-East Unity and Development Forum

The unanswered question in the minds of the audience as to the albescence of the six Governors was answered when General Danjuma who was expected to inaugurate the seven action committees mounted the stage to say that he would not do so. ccording to Danjuma, the absence of the Governors at the meeting was a disappointment to members of the North-East Unity and Development Forum because the insecurity issue is a major concern to everybody in the country, but regretted that by their conduct, the governors had shown that they were not so much as concerned.

Lamenting the attitude of the governors to the meeting, he said: “Three days ago, I was informed by one of the governors that all six of them had resolved not to attend and mandated one

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the six states of the north-east geo-political zone of the country.

As Chief Security Officers of their respective states, it was expected that they would show concern on

of them to advise me not to attend because they believed there was a hidden agenda behind the meeting. Although, I am in no position to pass judgment on the allegation made by the governors, they have succeeded in creating doubts in my mind with regard to the motive behind this meeting”.

Danjuma, who noted that security was the number one challenge facing the North-East, suggested that the meeting should be postponed pending when the inaugurated security committee is able to appeal to the governors to attend. He disassociated himself from a statement made by the chairman of the central working committee, Alhaji Mohammed Bello Kirfi, who said, in his speech, that the North-East should secede from Nigeria. “I dare say that if need be by pulling out of Nigeria, we must take our destiny in our hands,” Kirfi had said.

Speaking in the same vein, the former Minister of Police Affairs, Dr.Ibrahim Yakubu Lame explained that the absence of the six Governors at the meeting was uncalled for. According to Lame, “ before we embarked on this noble cause of this meeting, we approached the Governors to request their presence at the meeting and they agreed that they were going to come, but sadly enough, we are surprised when they later called General Danjuma and warned him against attend this meeting. We are embarrassed by this hypocritical attitude by the Governors .This action taken by the Governors has solidly proved to the people that they are the ones fighting against the progress of their respective states.”

With this development, it is not far-fetched saying that the northeast region has a divided house.

The state Governors on one side are alleging that the elders cannot solve the problems of the north given that their mission is not transparent while the elders allege apathy on the part of the governors who ordinarily should be at the forefront in securing the peace of the region.

My friend, Kwankwanso doesn’t understand constitution making — Ekweremadu Continues from page 42

This is a civilian regime, this is democracy. Creation of states is one that requires every hand to be on deck; it requires the votes of Senators, members of the House of Representatives and we also have to take it to the states.

So, any person who believes that he would sit in one place and decide on any issue, including state creation, does not seem to understand how these things work in the first place.

I think my friend Kwankwaso seems not to understand clearly how states are being created for him to send signal that any person could sit in one place and ensure that states are created.

That is the way military created their own states. I am surprised that Kwankwaso does not know that things have changed. This is a civilian regime where nobody will stay in one place and then decide the states to be created.

Everybody, every state will be involved in the creation of states no matter where the states will be created, including Kano State.

Kano State will also be involved.

So, it is unfair to accuse any person, including myself, of having a position on the matter already because mine is to guide the process. The determination of what will happen ultimately is left to the parliamentarians at the national and state levels, not a

single person will take that decision.

I believe he was completely mistaken in that direction. There is no mindset on any issue. And I have made it clear severally that we do not have any position on anything, our position will be dependent on what Nigerians think about any issue. I have nothing to lose or gain from any of these things, except in my position as a public servant who has been given an assignment and I have to do that assignment as diligently as possible. So, that is just my commitment on that.

Beyond that, I do not think that I have any personal interest to pursue a particular agenda.

*Ekweremadu I consider it as an unfair comment, I expect him he should have withdrawn that comment by now. But I am sure some day, we will meet and talk things over.

44— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY OCTOBER

17, 2012

CHINENYEH OZOR

How I was almost kille herdsmen — Motorcyc described as an unforgettable incident, Eze stated, “I did not know they had a sinister motive up their sleeves when they flagged me.

It was when they asked me to stop that I knew something could be wrong. They forced me to a path from where they attacked me and made away with all the cash I had made for the day including my motor-

not. I raised my hand to signify that there was somebody on the road but yet, help was far from me. At that point, I thought I was going to die. You can imagine, I fled Kano State because of Boko Haram people, only to meet their type here. That was the only thing I remember” By then, Eze had passed out. Even though Crime Alert gathered

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UT for providence, 23-year-old Ogbonna Eze , a commercial motorcyclist from Opi Community in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu state, would have been lying six feet below the earth.

Eze, who is currently undergoing treatment in an undisclosed private hospital around Bishop Shanahan area of Nsukka, over an attack from some Fulani herdsmen, fled Kano State following the bomb attacks by the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

On that fateful day, October 1, 2012, he had conveyed two Fulani herdsmen from Opi Junction along Enugu Makurdi Expressway , heading for their camp at Idodo Agu Ekwegbe, Igbo Etiti local government area on a special drop.

But midway into the journey, he got the shock of his life following an order from the men for him to stop, on reaching a market close to the camp. But before he could fathom the reason for the order, Eze who spoke to Crime Alert from his hospital bed, said they landed a machete on his head, which made him fall off from his motor bike. As if that was not enough, his assailants brought out daggers with which they attacked him, chopping off his left ear in the process. At the end, he was abandoned in the pool of his own blood, while they absconded with his motor bike.

Recounting what he

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Independence Day Tragedy

Midway into the journey, they forced me to enter a pathway where they attacked me, made away with everything on me including the motorcycle

cycle. After I was sure they were gone, I managed to roll from the path to the expressway so as to get help, a task I did with the whole of my strength. By then, I was bleeding profusely. I cannot tell how I got to the expressway. But it was dark then. I tried to call for help but could

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that motorists and commercial motorcyclists plied the route at that time, none could stop like the Biblical good Samaritan to help the dying man.

Meanwhile back home, a search party as gathered went round the community looking for Eze. His cousin, George

End of road for a notorious highway robbery suspect!

•I have no regret —Suspect

BY DONALD ARJI UCK, recently ran out of a suspected lone robbery gang who specialized in attacking motorists who are trapped in traffic around Iyana-Oba area of Lagos, following his arrest by members of a vigilante group last weekend.

The suspect Segun Kadri, confessed during interrogation to be responsible for some of the potholes dug along the route, an act he said

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he indulged in with the aim of attacking his victims who are compelled to slow down on arriving the spot.

24-year-old Segun Kadri, as gathered stormed Iyana-Oba last Saturday at about 9pm. But unlike every other day, traffic was flowing. Frustrated, he reportedly stood at the busstop , apparently thinking of his next move when he sighted a lady later identified as Nkechi.

Pointing a locally made gun at his victim who was waiting to board a bus to

her destination, Segun ordered her to surrender her bag, an order she obediently adhered to, only to raise an alarm later.

Narrating his modus oparandi, he said, “ Yes .

I am culpable and I have no regret”. Pausing, he continued, “ I dig pot holes along the expressway in order for motorists to slow down on reaching the spot.

Immediately I sight any, I would come out of hiding and point my gun at him. At times, I snatch vehicles from the owners

and sell them . At other times I dismantle them and sell the parts to ready buyers.

Sometimes,I pretend as if I am effecting repairs on a vehicle.

What I do is to position the vehicle in a way that motorists must take the bad spot , only to strike at any given opportunity” Asked if he had killed any of his victims in the process, he shook his head and replied, “ No I have not killed anybody. What I usually do is to point my gun at them if they tried to prove stubborn . This is just to instill fear in them”.

•The suspect, Segun

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 17, 2012—45

ed by Fulani list

Ugwueze , told Crime Alert that after a futile search, the case was reported at the Nsukka Urban Police Division.

On how Eze was eventually found, Gorge explained, “ As we went looking all round for him, a motorcyclist informed us that the body of someone laid close to Nkwo Ekwegbe market. But noone could go near that place for fear of being attacked by the Fulani herdsmen. We were made to understand that they are usually armed with dangerous weapons such as guns, machetes and bows and arrows”. However at the end, a group of young men from the community reportedly stormed the location where Eze was found motionless. He was thereafter , rushed to the hospital where he was said to be in a coma.

Investigation by Crime Alert revealed that the attack on Eze was not the first of its kind. It was gathered that barely one month ago, two students from Nimbo community in Uzo

Uwani Local Government Area were killed by some Fulani herdsmen.

Since the incident which currently grips the community with trepidation, Crime Alert learnt that no arrest had been made nor any move made to recover Eze’s motorcycle. The community also blamed policemen’s nonchalant attitude to the continued attack by Fulani herdsmen.

Contacted, the Divisional Police Officer for Nsukka Police division Mr. James Nwokolo, a Chief Superintendent of Police told Crime Alert that the Police was not an advertising agency, adding that it was not in his position to say wether any person had been arrested in connection with the Indipendence day incident. “ The incident is not for press consumption”, he stated, declining to respond to further questions.

Crime: Royal father wields big stick ...vows to fish out criminals amongst kinsmen in Lagos

BY IFEANYI OKOLIE A CHAIN of events gave rise to his popularity and prominence as the traditional leader of Igbos in Lagos State. First, was his relentless efforts to galvanize his kinsmen and propel them towards the part of rectitude by rendering financial support to many of them who were mainly traders with a view to boosting their business. Secondly, he wholeheartedly embraced all reported cases of deprivation or maltreatment against his people by committing every available resource and contactl in seeking for justice.

In most cases, he emerged triumphant to the admiration and pride of the people.

Then, he became a victim of •Igwe Ohazuluike inter and intra-ethnic politics. Luckily, he has been cracked our original plans wading through the storm, of fighting the Igbo like a cat with nine lives. course. Whenever he Igwe Hycinth Ohazuluike, a gambles and makes quick holder of the prestigious na- money, he will use it to tional award of Officer of the disorganize the red cap Order of the Niger, OON, chiefs.

He is so dubious and needs no further introduction than the Ezendigbo in criminally-minded to the Lagos state. The ebullient extent that recently, his and ever cheerful royal fa- name was boldly publither spoke on various issues cized in a widely read concerning the throne and and circulated newspaper the challenges he has been as being at large after his partners in crime were facing. arrested by the Economic and Financial Crime Meeting up with Commission,EFCC, and responsibilities jailed.

This is, in spite of the Well, my mentor, Late fact that he is still paradIkemba Nnewi, Odumegwu Ojukwu told me that Eze- ing himself as a titled chief Ndigbo seat is not for mak- and gallivanting all over ing money. He counselled Lagos. He has even exthat if I start charging them tended his criminal activmoney to either help or fa- ities to our neighboring vor them, it might change the countries like Ghana aim of the position which is where he shuttles now fighting for the good course and then to illegally crown of Ndigbo in the state. That, unsuspecting Igbo chiefs when they notice your self- after extorting huge sums less services, they will recip- of money from them. He rocate handsomely. That is and his cohorts even pubexactly what I am witness- licly made wild and frivoing today after many years lous allegations against me in newspapers just of being their leader. because I am hell bent in Constraints; The greatest calling them to order.

That is why I quickly set problem I am having now is that dubious men have up a committee of chiefs joined our traditional insti- with impeccable character tution. I am talking about to investigate their activi419 people. There is this ties. As soon as I receive man I crowned in Ikeja, he their report, I will then joined the institution and wield the big stick and

stop their nefarious activities. The stand of EzeNdigbo generally on such issues is well known. Anybody found wanting as a titled man either in deed or in need will be given a red card.

Admirers: My people are solidly behind me because they are very much aware of my good works.

For instance, after those criminals made statements against me, the leadership of Igbo apex group, Ohaneze, at both state and local levels attacked them.

They even directed them to recant their unguarded statements or face expulsion. I started my way to popularity by visiting markets in the early 90’s and giving soft loans to the young. The little I have, I share with them. It is my past record that is making people believe and trust me.

Advice:My advice to Igbos in Lagos is to ignore such dubious people that masquerade as titled chiefs. Their cup is full and law enforcement agents will soon clamp down on them. I have also reported their criminal activities to the Ohaneze apex body and I know they will soon take positive action.

46—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

MIDWEEK SERMON

with SAMEYOBOKA sameyoboka@yahoo.com

Where is the peace, prize?

By SAM EYOBOKA

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FFICE jokes sometimes can strike very deadly chords. Only yesterday, a colleague read of an award given to a state governor by a media outfit and he was disappointed that he simply remarked thus: “The rot in this country certainty has no number two.” He was perplex-ed not knowing the accomplish-ment of the governor who was yet to spend two years in office. Some of us were inspired into what used to be known as a very noble profession by several practitioners who were bent on reshaping the nation through their blood without percuniary inducements. To this generat-ion and the one before them, writing was it, and nothing else mattered.

Breaking the news On Saturday, October 6, The Punch broke the news that Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Most Rev. John Onaiyekan and the Sultan of Sokoto, Muham-madu Sa'ad Abubakar III have been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize and just before Nigerians could digest the front page report, a columnist with The Sun, Uche Ezechukwu, had followed that with a campaign titled “Nobel Peace Prize for Nigeria?”

One should have ignored it but I remembered my colleague’s statement: “The rot in this country certainly has no number two.”

First, nobody lobbies for Nobel prizes. Secondly, in his haste to score cheap points for whatever reason, the writer ended up confusing and con-tradicting himself.

His love for the Sultan is not doubt but his attempt to justify his vote for the Catholic cleric and rubbish his successor lacked logic.

He advanced a very lame reason why the twosome should bag this year’s Nobel Peace Prize; because he didn’t say specifically what Archbishop John Onaiyekan did in during his tenure to merit the prize. All he required to change his mind would have been an interaction with Northern

Christians. Many of them believed and still do that CAN was rodderless and voiceless during his regime which was why they opted for a more radical man to speak for them. Northern Christians have a litany of verifiable evidences to buttress their argument.

For one, Onaiyekan defeated then Anglican Primate Peter Akinola to become the presid-ent of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, on June 19, 2007 and co-chairman of the Nigeria Interreligious Council, NIREC. Two years after his election, on July 26, 2009, founder of Boko Haram, Mallam Mohammed Yusuf captured Pastor George Orji, a father of three and an expectant wife and killed him in very gruesome circumstances. Veronica Orji, the widow and an undergraduate of the Uni-versity of Maduguri was left in the lurch and at the mercy of her husband's assailants until succour came via the benevo-lence of the then PFN presid-ent, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

By the admission of Northern Christians no Christian leader had before then visited them in all the years of their predica-ment except one man who on numerous occasions single-handedly brought relief mater-ials after each attack on their churches and homes in addition to speaking boldly against some of the injustices perpetrated against Christians in the North.

They therefore led different delegations to Warri to convince him to run for the CAN presid-ency.

Ezechukwu tried to undermine the leadership of the CAN president when he stated “because his views of religious relationships with Muslims had a different trajectory with Onaiyekan’s attitude and beliefs, many believe that efforts initially at religious harmony suffered a jolt, if not a reverse.”

Muslims are uncomfortable with his boldness. They hate his guts.

They wonder where a man who has no church in the North be opposing the continued denial of Certificate of Occup-ancy to church organizations in the North while Muslims enjoy unlimited liberty in the South. He is moved with pas-

sion each time a Christian killed; irresp-ective of his/her tribe. Apart from resettling Pastor Orji’s widow, he had given scholar-ships to several victims of relig-ious intolerance in the North.

Hallmark of Christian faith That is the hallmark of the Christian faith. James 1:27 says: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world”. Is not natural that the leadership of Islam would prefer one who is more amenable?

Even the argument that the Sultan hosted Catholic bishops during Bishop Hassan Kukah’s inauguration does not suffice, as it would be countered by the argument that thousands of Muslims clerics are harboured in the South without let.

Ezechukwu also got it wrong when he failed to acknowledge that Boko Haram actually started in 2009, during the regime of Onaiyekan which did very little to reflect the mood in the North. Tacticus, a Roman historian once said: "The tran-quility of a nation is not pres-erved without arms."

The best of price for peace, some say, is equal rights and justice.

Incidentally, a great Islamic evangelist and reformer during the 18th Century, Othman Dan Fodio was credited with these great words: “Conscience is an open wound only truth will heal it.”

Columnists who are seeking true peace should be asking questions as to why Police authorities find it difficult to prosecute alleged terrorists. Two prime suspects alleged to have sponsored the killing of 19 Deeper Life Church members in Okene on August 6 have been released.

If Ezechukwu is convinced that the happenings in the North have no religious coloration, I challenge him to take a vacation to the North East or encourage his relations who are already there to continue to stay! Then and only then will his campaign be meaningful.

Cleric condemns rising violence in the country

By ETOP EKANEM

ENIOR Pastor of Soul Harvesters Mission, Pastor Israel Ojokere, has condemned the rising trend of violence in the country, arguing that dialogue rather bombs will be solution to Nigeria's problems.

Speaking during a service to mark the church's maiden women convention, the cleric said the nation was passing through a phase, adding: “I believe very soon we will overcome. The church has been praying and I believe very soon everything will become history.

“Killings and bombings are not the solution. If you can't give life,

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why take it? I would rather suggest dialogue which is always a better option to settle issues," he noted.

“I think the president is doing well. Nigeria is a very complex nation. Whoever is going to emerge after him will encounter the same problems. What we have to do is to pray for our leaders.

Division is not an option. The awesome God we serve will definitely see us through,” he added.

The guest speaker, Pastor (Mrs) Kate Nwokoye of The Royal Seed Ministries, who spoke on the theme of the convention; “The Great and Awesome God,” advised women to throw away bitterness and unforgiving spirit,

adding: “The Great and Awesome God is the one that delivers us from challenges, mishaps. We must learn, as women, to throw away bitterness.”

She advised the women to make their problems as easily as nothing “because there is nothing in life that has no solution. The thing that is weighing women down is when they expect so much from the men or when they expect so much from themselves.”

On her part, the pastor's wife, Ijeoma Ojokere, said the aim of the programme was to glorify the name of God, stating that it is a process through which God has been blessing members through women.

BRIEFLY...

WATS awards Olukoya with John Wesley Award ENERAL Overseer of Mountain and Fire and Miracles, MFM, Dr. Daniel Olukoya has bagged the highly prized John Wesley award, ‘Distinguished Service Award.’ The award was given by the West Africa Theological Seminary, WATS, reports CHIOMA OBINNA. The award was given in rec-ognition of the tireless and un-relenting passion of the MFM General Overseer for helping people out of the bondage of the enemy. Dr. Olukoya is the fourth recipient of the WATS Distinguished Service Award According to the provost of the school, Dr. William Udolog, the impact of Olukoya's leader-ship has been felt all over the country and beyond.

Speaking during the convocation of 165 graduands of the school/award ceremony, Udol-og commended Olukoya for the training of the church’s pastors, noting that lack of sound theological training for clerics has remained a major challenge facing the Nigerian Church.

His words: “There seems to be

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much confusion in our land today concerning the meaning of Christianity and this is symptomatic of the crisis in leadership. I am convinced that the solution to this leadership problem is for the Church leaders to support institutions such as WATS that are committ-ed to promoting the aggressive training and development of leaders.”

Receiving the award, Dr. Olukoya who was represented by the provost of Mountain Top University, Dr. S. Ajo, thanked the school for counting him worthy for the award.

“I cannot but feel very highly honoured to be considered worthy to be a recipient of an award named after a great ser-vant of God, John Wesley with whom I share many things.

"The spiritual concern of John Wesley could be felt in the spiritual thrust of the MFM as “a full gospel ministry that is devoted to the revival of apost-olic signs, Holy Ghost fire-works, miracles and the un-limited demonstration of the power of God to deliver to the uttermost,” he added.

Happy Family Chapel dedicates Lagos branch

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T was jubilation time for members and well wishers of Holy Spirit Mission Church as the church recently dedicated its Lagos headquarters with funfare, reports IYABO AINA. The dedication of the new church secretariat after over 30 years of the church existence in Benin, according to the bishop, Bishop Charles Ighele, will contribute immensely in propagating the Word of God and enhance the growth of the church.

Appreciating God for enablement to complete the secretariat, Bishop Ighele commended the efforts of the building committee and the church members for their financial and spiritual support.

Wife of the bishop, Mrs. Caro Ighele narrated how the church have weathered the storm to emerge victorious, noting it started with the immediate family using the sitting room as a place of worship.

“We constructed an Indian bamboo in an open place where we worshipped every Sunday but as time goes on we were able to build our first church in Benin and today we are happy that we are dedicating a new headquarters here in Lagos. It is really the hand of God that saw us through till today and we return all the glory to Him,” she said.

The ceremony which took place at Shasha Road was attended by Captain Soji Ajala, Development Manager, Caverton Helicopters, Captain Samson Marioghae, Director, Caverton Helicopters, Mrs. Abigail Oniko, retired Minister of Education, Pastor Chuks Oko among others.

Lagos commissioner takes road traffic law enlightment to C&S

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AGOS State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, is expected to lead other dignitaries to the annual retreat/ convention of the Cherubim and Seraphim Mov-ement Church, Surulere Distr-ict, (AYO NI O) scheduled for Friday at the church auditorium on Oshodi-Apapa Expressway.

According to the publicity officer, council of prophets, programme planning committee, Mother in Isreal, Prophetess Adeyinka Gbemibade Ayodele, the convention, an annual event, is an opportunity for the church to train and retrain its prophets and Daniel Band members on how to effectively perform their roles and work relentlessly for the growth of Christendom.

The General Leader/Chairm-an, Special Apostle Prophet is Dr. Gabriel Fakeye.

Gbemibade said that the commissioner is expected to educate the elders and leaders of the church as well as memb-ers on the new Lagos Road Traffic Law 2012.

Other lecturers expected at the retreat include; Mother in Israel Prophetess Funmi Bakare (JP) from Surulere District and Most Senior Apostle Prophet Ajigbotoso of Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, Ilasa District while the serm-onist/revivalist is the Most Senior Apostle Solomon Bamid-ele from Victory District.

Interested members of the public are also expected to attend the counseling section and night vigil.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012— 47

Obesity promotes tumor growth regardless of diet— Scientists

By Storis By CHIOMA OBINNA

CIENTISTS have again discovered a new explanation as to why obese patients with cancer often have a poorer prognosis compared with those who are lean.

The explanation was reported in a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research known as Cancer Research.

The new study clearly established that there is a link between obesity and cancer incidence.

According to an Associate Professor at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Mikhail Kolonin, for several cancers, obesity is associated with a poorer prognosis.

In the study, Kolonin and his colleagues evaluated how obesity promotes cancer progression. Kolonin and his colleagues explained that their earlier studies led them to hy-

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pothesize that fat tissue called white adipose tissue, which is the fat tissue that expands in individuals who are obese, was itself directly involved and that it was not just diet and lifestyle that are important.

Their initial results confirmed this hypothesis: In obese and lean mice that ate the same diet, tumors grew much faster in obese mice than they did in lean mice. The researchers also observed that there were far more white adipose tissue cells called adipose stromal cells in obese mice than in lean mice and thus turned their focus on the role of these cells.

Detailed analyses indicated cancer induced mobilisation of adipose stromal cells into the circulation. Once in the tumors, some of these cells developed into fat cells, while others were incorporated into tumor-associated blood vessels.

Tumor-associated blood vessels support tumor growth by bringing in oxygen and nutri-

ents vital for cancer cell survival and proliferation.

Kolonin noted that the ability of adipose stromal cells to contribute to the formation of tumor-associated blood vessels is likely one of the main reasons that the excess of these cells in tumors was associated with increased malignant cell proliferation and tumor growth.

The latest data provided the first in vivo evidence of recruitment of cells from endogenous fat tissue to tumors.

However, the fact that these cells are present in tumors is still an emerging concept.

According to the scientists, "We have shown that not only are they present, but they are also functional and affect tumor growth."

The scientists were also of the view that identifying the signals that cause these cells to be recruited to tumors and finding ways to block them might provide a new avenue of cancer treatment.”

S the world mark this year ’s World Sight Day, Scientists have discovered that apart from being a well-known risk factor for a wide-range of diseases, cigarette smoking may also increase the risk of age-related cataract, the leading cause of blindness and vision loss in the world.

Published in the Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, the new findings according to a team of researchers from China are result of a meta-analysis.

According to the author of the report, Juan Ye of the Institute of Ophthalmology, Zhejiang University in China, “Although cataracts can be removed surgically to restore sight, many people remain blind from cataracts due to inadequate surgical services and high surgery expenses.”

Ye, said identifying modifiable risk factors for cataracts may help establish preventive measures and reduce the financial as well as clinical burden caused by the disease.

The team performed the analysis using 12 cohorts and eight case-control studies from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, to compare the prevalence of age-related cataract in individuals who ever smoked cigarettes to those who have never smoked.

Further subgroup analyses were performed based on the subjects’ status as a past or

current smoker and the three subtypes of age-related cataracts. The results showed that every individual that ever smoked cigarettes was associated with an increased risk of age-related cataract, with a higher risk of incidence in current smokers.

In the subgroup analysis,

Lifebuoy vows to reduce child mortality through handwashing NDOUBTEDLY, hand washing with soap or ash and water is a simple and effective way of reducing diarrhoel incidences. In Nigeria today, hand washing with soap has also become necessary in view of the on-going floods in a number of states contaminating water supplies.

However, with 194 Nigerian children dying of diarrhoea annually, Unilever Nigeria Plc’s Lifebouy soap weekend sensitised no fewer than 37,809 children under age five on the simple act of hand washing.

Lifebuoy is an anti-bacteria soap that protects against germs. The programme was part of activities to mark the fifth Annual Global Handwashing Day (GHD) with the theme: Help a Child Reach Age five”. To this end, Lifebuoy has announced the start of a new initiative to defeat diarrhoea in Nigeria. Lifebuoy aims to reduce the number of preventable diarrhoeal deaths in the country through hygiene interventions

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Smoking may lead to cataracts in aging population —Experts

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• Apart from promoting tumour growth, being obese puts you at a higher risk for health problems such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes amongst others.

former and current smokers showed a positive association with two of the subtypes: nuclear cataract, when the clouding is in the central nucleus of the eye, and subscapular cataract, when the clouding is in the rear of the lens capsule. The analysis found no association between smoking and cortical cataract, in which the cloudiness affects the cortex of the lens.

While the overall analysis suggests that smoking cigarettes may increase the risk of age-related cataracts, the researchers point out that further effort should be made to clarify the underlying mechanisms.

Sebeccly launches help lines for breast cancer information O mark the 2012 Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Sebeccly Cancer Care and Support Centre, (SCCSC) has launched three breast help lines to reach 1,000 Nigerian women.

According to Sebeccly’s Senior Programme Officer, Oluwatosin Oyekanmi, the breast help lines would provide up-to-date breast health information to people who require information.

The lines according the Sebeccly’s Senior Programme Officer, Oluwatosin Oyekanmi are 081-0205-6467, 081-03258756 and 081-7579-8815. These help lines are meant to provide information on breast cancer

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•Senator Gbenga Ashafa accompanied by the Eko Club International President, Alhaji Zainudeen Popoola (in white top)with other doctors during the Eko free health Mission at Ikorodu Town Hall Ikorodu, Lagos

like hand washing with soap.

Speaking, David Okeme, Brand Building Director, Unilever Nigeria Plc, said barely three years to the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, 2015, Unilever has vowed to, reduce mortality of children under five by two-thirds.

He however called on governments, schools and communities in Nigeria to focus on hand washing with soap as an intervention that can help save million more lives. “Over the past two years, Lifebuoy has successfully changed the hand washing behaviour of 48 million people – edging towards its goal to reach one billion people by 2015.”

National President, Medical Women’s Association, Dr. Christina Campbell,commended Lifebouy for bringing together about 37,809 children to wash hands in the same place at the same time in order to create awareness and teach them how to properly wash their hands.

awareness and to teach callers on how to do breast selfexamination. The help lines are open from 9 a.m. – till 9 p.m or an email to sebecclycancercare@ymail.com The exercise will last from October 1st to 31st, 2012.

48— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

UNIPORT FOUR:

Different versions of why they were killed One of the burnt houses in Omuokri Aluu

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME, PORT HARCOURT

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Some of the vehicles destroyed by the angry students

Also students under the aegis of National Association of Nigeria Students, NANS, who stormed the school last Tuesday mobilised students of the University of Port Harcourt to protest the brutal massacre of the four. They disrupted traffic for several hours on the ever-busy East West road that connects the West of the Niger with the East of the Niger.

Students pelt VC with Sachet water: Appeal to the students to leave the East West road fell on deaf ears. At a point, they reportedly gave a condition that they would only move out of the road if the Vice Chancellor, Prof.

Joseph Ajienka, came to address them. The VC quickly obliged them. Mid-way into his address which centred on why the students should shun any act of

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HE people of OmuokiriAluu community in ObiaAkpo Local Government Area of Rivers state did not envisage the outcry that has continued to trail the brutal murder of four students of the University of Port Harcourt last week Friday in the community.

Those killed were Ugona Kelechi Obuzor, year two Geology; Biringa Chiadika Lordson, year two Theatre Arts; Mike Lloyd Toku, year two Civil Engineering, and Tekena Erikena.

The school authorities said the late Tekena registered for a certificate programme with the university days before his brutal murder. According to the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ajienka, the late Tekena had done a Basics programme with the university. The foursome were stripped naked, marched round most parts of the community and later clubbed to death before a cheering crowd of the community. Their remains were set ablaze and dumped in a pit in the area.

Already 18 persons, including the traditional ruler of the area, Alhaji Hassan Walewa, have been arrested in connection with the heinous crime. The Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr. Muhammed Ndabawa, who spoke on the arrest when a team of the National Human Rights Commission led by the Executive Secretary, Prof. Bem Agwe, visited him in his office at the Police headquarters in Port Harcourt, said 11 of those arrested had been arraigned at a High court in Port Harcourt.

He said the police had to act to meet the 24-hour deadline for prosecution of suspects in Police custody. The Commissioner of Police who was represented by his deputy, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Thomas Etomi, said two out of the 13 that were first arrested were kept back to aid the Police in its investigation.

university later closed down the school indefinitely.

What led to their death: Different accounts of what could have caused their death have made the rounds since the brutal killing. The Police Commissioner, Mr. Ndabawa, while briefing the National Human Rights Commission at the Police headquarters, said the Police would do everything humanly possible to get to the root of the incident.

He said preliminary investigation showed that the boys were apprehended in the early hours of Thursday and kept till the time they were killed.

He said those who arrested them should have handed them over to the Police. Adding, he said no weapon was found on

One of the houses torched reportedly belonged to the traditional ruler of the community, Chief Walewa who had been arraigned in court in connection with the murder

violence some of them started hurling sachet water at him.

When it became obvious that the students were about getting out of control, the VC was reportedly whisked away to safety.

After the VC had disappeared from the scene, the students reportedly continued their demonstration. They later marched to Omuokiri-Aluu community to set some houses there ablaze.

One of the houses torched reportedly belonged to the traditional ruler of the community, Chief Walewa who had been arraigned in court in connection with the murder of the deceased four.

Several cars were also burnt in the community by the riotous students. Authorities of the

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them, stressing that the traditional ruler of the community was reportedly aware of the arrest of the students.

The police boss acknowledged that the community where the boys were arrested had been notorious for crime and cultrelated issues. He also said that though the boys were arrested in the early hours but it was not enough justification for the manner they were killed.

He said the Police would look at all ends of the incidents, also x-ray its role in the whole saga.

According to him, the High Command of the Police would also want to establish if there was dereliction of duty on the part of its men in the area. “We have a police post in Aluu. If our men showed dereliction of duty, the

IG will take it up,” he said.

The Police and security operatives have a major task to thoroughly investigate what informed the mob action. Some have said the boys were innocent but found themselves in Omuokiri Aluu at the wrong time.

So they probably paid the price for the offense allegedly committed by others.

There are those who think that the killing would not be unconnected with cult-related issues. According to some students of the University of Port Harcourt, the boys were allegedly on ‘assignment’ to compel a member of their group to pay his dues.

The student sources said when the deceased students and their friend allegedly got to the one they went to meet he said he had no money. They then reportedly made attempt to go with his laptop and blackberry, an act that forced him to raise alarm, branding them thieves. In seconds, youths rounded them up.But some other students dismissed this as untrue. They said if the four had been cultists their group should have rushed to rescue them since the incident happened in the university community. “ There was enough time for rescue. Again those holding them had no weapon. A few of their men if they were cultists would come, shot into the air to rescue them. They were not cultists,” a security expert added.

A third view was that one of the students paid for accommodation which he never got at the time he was promised. After he had made alternative arrangement he tried getting his money back from the person he paid to. But all his efforts were fruitless.

He then enlisted three of his friends and one other person to accompany him to the community to demand for the money. They allegedly got to the debtor's house in the early hours of the day. And an argument reportedly ensued when the debtor said he had no

money.

The creditor, according to the sources, then insisted he was going to go with the debtor’s laptop and phone and would release them after he had paid his money. This allegedly did not go down well with the debtor whom the sources said immediately raised alarm branding the guys who came for the money as thieves. And in seconds they were rounded up.

The fifth person they reportedly brought to assist them recover the money allegedly had a gun unknown to them. He reportedly shot into the air to ward of arrest and escape leaving the four others behind.

Different versions What appears clear in all the angles that have been touted is that the foursomes were not robbers. And as usual with such situations, different versions would continue to make the rounds on why they were killed.

It is left for security operatives to unravel the true story.

As it stands, speculations would continue to fly until the police come out with its findings on the true account of what led to their death. Meantime, the National Human rights Commission, has called on the Police and other security operatives to unearth the truth on the issue and further ensure that those behind the callous murder were made to face the law.

Executive Secretary of the Commission, Prof Bem Angwe, said his Commission would monitor the court process to see that justice was done at the end of the day.

Describing the killing as barbaric, he said no reason could justify extra-judicial murder. He assured that his body would work with the Police and other allied agencies to see that all those that should be brought to book were made to answer for their roles in the heinous act.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012—49

FG to reap N197bn from PHCN privatisation Continues from page 5 cessful bidders would take over the distribution companies and re-establish them as the solid foundation of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.

She noted that commercial proposals of bidders for five generating companies were successfully opened three weeks ago, adding that the process of concluding those transactions is now proceeding steadily.

According to Onagoruwa, the broad objectives of the electricity sector reform include to attract and encourage private sector participation; attract capital to fund the sector; and ensure a level-playing ground for all investors.

She noted that: “We all know that the electricity sector is very capital-intensive, necessitating the entry of private capital and capable management to ensure efficient deployment of the

greater physical and financial resources that will come into the sector.

“Investment in the generation sector will bring about greater generation capacity and energy available component of the reform and is one of the pre-conditions for the start-up of a competitive electricity market in Nigeria.”

The BPE DG noted that in the privatisation of the power sector that re-commenced in earnest in 2010, the NCP/BPE has adopted a three-pronged strategy that focuses on the three sectors of generation, transmission and distribution.

“Our strategy has been borne out of an enlightened view of the challenges that have bedeviled the electricity industry, especially in the last two decades when the gap between investment and demand became really wide.

“In generation, we have focused on asset sales of

the thermal generating companies and concessions of the hydro plants.

These will ensure that new owners will focus immediately on recapitalizing their companies and recovering the licensed generating capacities that have long been lost to the national grid".

FG retains 100% transmission She noted, however, that in transmission, “we have retained 100% ownership of the Transmission Company of Nigeria but with a management contract in place that brings in Manitoba Hydro International as a management contractor who will be supervised by a capable Board of Directors from both the public and private sectors.

“Finally, in the distribution sector, we have

focused on adopting a method that maximises rapid infrastructure improvement. In essence, we have focused less on proceeds from asset sales, though we will receive substantial proceeds. Instead, we have emphasised the need for preferred bidders to display the ability to immediately bring in investments that will remove the very high loss profiles of all the eleven (11) distribution companies.

“In other words, preferred bidders will be selected on the basis of efficiency improvements, that is, the reduction of Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) losses that they can achieve over a five-year period.”

She added that in designing the model for the selection of the preferred bidder, BPE has taken into consideration the fact that the current Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collec-

tion (ATC&C) losses sustained by the various distribution companies are estimated at between 35 and 40 per cent of the power wheeled to them.

This level of losses is unsustainable, and if not halted will continue to make the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry absolutely unviable for full and unsubsidized private sector participation.

“Furthermore, this privatisation strategy is built around the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO 2) issued by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which essentially sets out the commercial and economic indices that provide the financial model for the entire sector. MYTO 2 stipulates the annual investment requirement, allowable operational expenditure, approved rate of return on equity and other allowable expenses for each distribution com-

pany. In addition, the valuation of the distribution companies’ regulated asset base, as determined by NERC, is the basis for the equity payments to be paid by the preferred bidder for each company."

According to Onagoruwa, “It is important to state that the reform of the power sector presents enormous investment opportunities. I wish to reaffirm the Federal Government’s commitment to ensure the comprehensive and successful completion of the electricity sector reform and privatisation process.”

On his own part, the Chairman of the Technical Committee of the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, Mr. Atedo Peterside, noted that all the prequalified bidders were given access to the virtual data room from September 1, 2011 to the proposal submission date of July 31, 2012.

OCTOBER 17, 2012

Prezzo, Goldie take their love to US F

ORMER Big Brother Stargame housemates, Goldie and Prezzo, who once were like sworn enemies, following the rumours sparked off by their reality show relationship are currently holidaying away in the United States.

The Kenyan rapper, being a ONE campaign Ambassador, was invited to the US in September, to attend the grand opening of the $1 billion Barclays Centre, where he performed alongside Jay-Z. Goldie was said to have traveled to the States to join Prezzo, after spending over a week with him in his hometown in Kenya.

The duo began their love affair on the night of Saturday, May 12, 2012 and stayed glued to each other till their evictions, despite many controversies.

Recently, Prezzo visited Goddie in the country, before she returned the visit few weeks later.

•Prezzo and Goddie

P-square thrills Zimbabwe fans P

•P-square in Harare

ETER and Paul Okoye of P-Square alongside their manager, Jude and a 13piece band stormed the capital city of Harare, Zimbabwe last weekend for their historic concert.

While in Harare, the duo spent their time granting interviews at local radio and TV stations.

“We are delighted to be in Zimbabwe. We want to give our fans here something to talk about for a long time’, Bass guitarist Doyin, part of Psquare’s band echoed.

Tagged ‘Raise the Vibes’, the concert was sponsored by Delta Beverages through their Lion Lager brand.

E-D gathered that the concert which held at the Glamis Arena had thousands of Zimbabwean fans in attendance. Other performers included, Prudence Katomeni- Mbofana, dancehall star Winky D, Nox, Amara and Alexio Kawara.

Sean Penn, ex-wife, Madonna reunite at concert N

EARLY 25 years after they split, Sean Penn and Madonna reunited last Thursday night with about 20,000 other people between them.

The “Milk” actor attended the ‘Material Girl’s concert at LA’s Staples Center, which also attracted celeb fans like Nicole Richie, as well as Jessica Alba and Emma Roberts.

Although photos of the ponytailed 52-year-old standing outside the arena by himself smoking, there were reports that he was seated front and center next to Rita Wilson, the wife of Tom Hanks.

Last Thursday’s concert was not the first time the two superstars have

gotten together since their December 1987 split after two years of marriage. Their divorce was finalized in 1989.

Meanwhile, last February, the two were spotted on the dance floor at her postOscars party. In 2007, Penn spoke highly of his ex, despite the fact that she cited his abusive nature and issues with alcohol in her divorce papers.

“She was a phenomenon, but nothing could have told anybody what would happen next,” he said. “I describe that marriage as loud. That’s how I remember it. I don’t recall having a single conversation in four years of marriage. I’ve talked to her a few times since, and there’s a whole person there. I just didn’t know it. I was just living in my own head.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

50—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY,

Wednesday Live Plus berths at Niteshift

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FRICA’s foremost night club and events centre, Niteshift Coliseum is poised to rekindle mid-week night life in Lagos, with a new groovy package called ,“Wednesday Live Plus.”

The debut of the anticipated night of undiluted fun and potpourri of entertainment extravaganza holds right inside The Arena of the highly revered hangout, on Wednesday, November 7, 2012.

Speaking on the package, Kevin Olumese, the prime mover and initiator of the forthcoming weekly event, said, the aim is to resuscitate the once bubbly and hugely attended mid week all night activities at the foremost club located in the highbrow Opebi, Ikeja, Lagos.

“Wednesday Live Plus, as the name suggests has been designed to be a complete night of fun and more. We will be returning with the repackaged and reconstituted Coliseum Shifters Band, who will be entertaining for several hours with live music. There will also be comedy from both known and emerging talents as well as music performances from some big acts and new kids on the block together with heavy disco. This is a complete new entertainment package from the new management team at Niteshift Coliseum, which I’m spearheading.”

Comedians like: D’Lectura, DDon, Ajebo, Rugged Pastor and several others will headline the event alongside other surprise packages for revelers.

•Madonna and Sean Penn in 1986

Vanguard,

LEISURE

YOUR LUCK TODAY

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

LIBRA; Full-Moon across Aries/Libra axis may bring you personality clashes base on envy from the other party. Slow down and give peace a chance at least for now.

SCORPIO; Full-Moon in Aries points to possible misunderstanding (probably) within your working arena.

This is the wrong time to fan the embers of discord.

SAGITTARIUS; Although the full-Moon is generating tension, your wish is to have your good time. It’s wrong to under-rate the havoc jealousy can wreck.

CAPRICORN; Full-Moon across Aries/Libra axis will bring pressure from many fronts, the more noticeable ones are career/business and domestic related types.

AQUARIUS; Full-Moon in Aries warns you to watch what you sign and verbally agreed to do. If you fail to respect the law, it’ll back-fire very soon.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 — 51

By Richard Eromosele

GUESS for some times now, you have been thinking of doing that new thing. And anytime you think about it, you console yourself by saying, it is not worth it, you don’t need it now, it will

I

A new thing never work, it has never worked. Haba!

Are you God? How do you know it will not work when you have not tried it? Is there any harm in trying?

TERROR MUDA

My friends go ahead and do that new thing you have never done before today! Learn a new thing, read that new book; learn that new skill, improve your-

in “Never say goodbye”

self. Do not remain in one place or position for too long. Always add value to who and what you are. Where are you now? Are you still where you were last year?

Do a thing today and experience new excitement.

By Lanre Kehinde

PISCES; Today’s full-Moon in Aries does not encourage carelessness with money as such can actually lead to avoidable but serious troubles. Avoid jealous approach.

ARIES; Full-Moon in your Star sign will encourage you to under-rate many to their resentment the way you too’ll be negatively affected. Don’t ignore your spouse.

TAURUS; Full-Moon in Aries warns you to do away with whatever can not be placed above board. Take your health seriously today more than before.

GEMINI; Today’s full-Moon in Aries can tempt you to expose your love life unnecessarily. Separate your private/personal affairs and open friendship.

CANCER; Full-Moon will certainly affect your mood and make you aggressive but, encouragement of tension along your career line and/or within your business circle can not help your cause now. Protection of your image is important however.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Princess Shii’

By Andy Akman

LEO; Full-Moon may bring you what you’re likely to see as an insult but in reality it is not one. You only need to be on the right side of the law so that you’ll have the last laugh to the detriment of your opponents. Discourage of jealousy within you.

VIRGO; Full-Moon across Aries/Libra axis may generate tension around you but, the best way for you not to be the loser is to make sure your finances are well protected. Then green eyed monster called jealousy may make things a little bit difficult.

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING Send your date and place of birth to the Astrological Counselling, P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos

VIRGINIA

dadadekola@yahoo.com

Basic characteristics of Pisces Pisces is 12th of the twelve Zodiac signs ruled by mysterious Neptune. It quality is mutable while it element is water. Mutable aspect of Pisces indicates that people born under it are changeable, by this I mean they change their minds often times. Being a water sign, naives of this Star have very strong intuition and can flow into anybody heart and/or mind.

Neptune as the ruler of Pisces brings compassion and ARTISTIC talent into Pisces born people’s creativity quotient. Neptune rules psychic related. thing and many of things that cannot be placed above board; Neptune makes most natives of this star sign secretive, hard to understand and dreaming.

Two opposing fishes as joint symbol of Pisces oftentimes responsible for occasional confusion suffer by all natives of Pisces one time or the other. It is truly important for them to learn how to control both their emotion and mind.

Because it is easy for Pisces people to become pessimistic unnecessarily The reasons are while one of the fishes may head for optimism and day dreaming, the other’s inclination may be of fear, despondency and timidity. Thus, confusion can creep in and that will be to the detriment of their confidence.

Cultivation of practical nature and adoption of realistic method in all you do will be of great importance. It is equally important for Pisces born people like. you to take psychic related things more seriously because they can make use of psychic and/or spiritual related things.

Commen3

by Lawrence Akapa

52 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

Clinton accepts blame for Benghazi attack S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she assumes responsibility for last month’s deadly attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, which has become an issue in the hardfought US presidential campaign.

“I take responsibility” for what happened on September 11, Clinton said on Monday in an interview with CNN during a visit to Peru, adding that President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden would not be responsible for specific security instructions for US diplomatic facilities.

R e p u b l i c a n presidential candidate Mitt Romney has seized on the attack and said the death of Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans killed at the consulate revealed weakness in Obama’s foreign policy.

“I’m in charge of the State Department’s 60,000-plus people all over the world,” Clinton

what we know, subject to change.”

Congress has increased pressure on the State Department to

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•Hillary Clinton said.

“The president and the vice president wouldn’t be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. They ’re the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision.”

Republicans in particular have focused on the Obama administration’s shifting explanations for the attack, which Clinton said in two separate television interviews on Monday were the result of “the fog of war”.

“Remember, this was an attack that went on for hours,” Clinton told Fox News. “There had to be a lot of sorting out...

Everyone said, here’s

premeditated. Obama and other officials have since said the incident was a terrorist attack.

S President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney had their second high-stakes debate early this morning at a crucial juncture in the presidential campaign.

The debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, offered both candidates their best chance for a breakout moment with time running out in what promises to be one of the closest presidential contests in recent US history. The pressure was on Obama who vowed to put up more of a fight in an effort to overcome his lackluster, momentumstalling performance in the candidates’ first debate on October 3.

Obama still hangs on to small leads in many of the nine key swing states

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A

C M Y K

The administration initially attributed the violence to protests over an anti-Islam film and said it was not

Debate: Obama tackles Romney on specifics

Scientists discover planet with four suns N international team of astronomers have announced the discovery of a planet whose skies are illuminated by four suns - the first known of its type.

The planet, located about 5,000 light years from Earth, has been dubbed PH1 in honor of Planet Hunters, a programme led by Yale University in the United States which enlists volunteers to look for signs of new planets.

PH1 is orbiting two suns, and in turn is orbited by a second distant pair of stars.

Only six planets are known to orbit two stars, researchers say, and none of those are orbited by other distant stars.

“Circumbinary planets are the extremes of planet formation,” said Yale’s Meg Schwamb, lead author of a paper presented Monday at the annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society in Nevada.

“The discovery of these systems is forcing us to go back to the drawing board to

release information about the attack. Obama and Clinton have both vowed a full investigation.

•Obama and Romney campaigning for support before the debate. that are likely to determine which man occupies the White House on Inauguration Day on January 20. The so-called battleground states those that do not reliably vote either Republican or Democratic - take on outsized importance in the US system where the president is chosen not by the nationwide popular vote but in state-by-state contests.

The candidates took questions on domestic and foreign policy from an audience of about 80 of the coveted uncommitted voters whom both

campaigns are so furiously courting. The town hall-style format made it tricky for Obama to strike the right balance in coming on strong against Romney without turning off the audience - and tens of millions of television viewers - by going too negative.

With early voting already under way in dozens of states, including such battlegrounds as Ohio and Iowa, the candidates will have little time to recover from any missteps in the debate.

Through Monday, either

absentee or in-person early voting had begun in 43 of the 50 states.

In the first debate, Obama seemed caught unawares and unprepared to respond to Romney’s sudden shift to more moderate positions from the hardline policies he had advocated during the fight for the Republican nomination.

The candidates will engage in a final debate next Monday in Boca Raton, Florida, where the emphasis will be on US foreign policy.

UN envoy calls for truce in Syria HE UN-Arab League envoy has called for a ceasefire in Syria during the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, as the revolt against the Syrian government enters its 20th month with a death toll of more than 33,000.

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•PH1 is orbiting two suns, and in turn is orbited by a second distant pair of stars. understand how such planets can assemble and evolve in these dynamically challenging environments.”

US citizen scientists and Planet Hunters participants Kian Jek and Robert Gagliano were the first to identify PH1.

Karadzic denies war crime charges Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic has told the United Nations’ Yugoslav war crimes court that no one thought there would be a genocide in Bosnia, which claimed 100,000 lives.

Appearing on the first day of his defence at the H a g u e yesterday, Karadzic is hoping to convince judges of his innocence

in the bloody 1992-95 Bosnian conflict.”Neither I, nor anyone else that I know, thought that there would be a genocide against those who were not Serbs,” he told the courtroom as the wives and relatives of victims of the massacre looked on from the public gallery.

“I am mild and tolerant man,” the one-time poet and psychiatrist told judges at the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), adding that he “had a great capacity of understanding others”.

Karadzic reportedly plans a four-hour statement to open his defence, followed by the testimony of Russian colonel Andrei Demurenko, the UN chief of staff in Sarajevo from January to December 1995.

Lakhdar Brahim made his call on Monday as he shuttled between Syria’s neighbours, which have been divided by the conflict.

He was in Iraq after holding talks in Iran, closest ally of Bashar alAssad, Syria’s president.

While in Baghdad, Brahimi said that the conflict in Syria represented a threat to world peace but denied he was seeking peacekeepers for the country.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, meanwhile, called for quick progress in resolving the crisis and reiterated calls for a political solution, during talks with the veteran Algerian diplomat.

After also meeting President Jalal Talabani and Foreign Minister

Hoshyar Zebari, Brahimi told reporters that he discussed the Syrian conflict “and the danger it represents to its people, its neighbours and to world peace.”

Cuba ends exit visa policy UBANS who wish to travel abroad will no longer require an exit permit as from January 14, 2013, according to the foreign ministry.

The changes, announced on yesterday, also include an extension to the period citizens are allowed to remain abroad from 11 to 24 months.

The ministry said in a statement that the new law would take effect within 90 days.

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 — 53

54 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012

C M Y K

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 — 55

Life ban for 13 Zimbabwe players HE Zimbabwe Foot ball Association (Zifa) is set to ban 13 players for life for their part in the country’s match-fixing scandal.

The names of the players have not yet been revealed by the Zifa board.

An independent committee set up by Zifa to investigate allegations of match-fixing has recommended the action in an official report of its findings.

It also recommends 10year bans for seven other players, 37 five-year bans and 25 two-year bans.

Football’s world governing body, Fifa, has indicated that it will uphold any bans issued by Zifa and turn them into global bans.

“Today will go down as a sad, depressing day in the annals of history of the game in Zimbabwe,” said Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, a former Supreme Court judge who was chairman of the the independent committee.''

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BY JOHN EGBOKHAN HE gale of defeat sweeping through Nigerian tennis claimed additional casualties yesterday as Fatima Abinu, Samuel Omoile and John lost their respective first round singles matches at the Governor ’s Cup Futures I holding at the Lagos

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new season will hold on Saturday, November 17, 2012 at the Park View Hotel, Wuse Zone 1, Abuja.

Delegates for the Congress are expected to arrive on Friday, November 16, 2012 while the departure date would be on Sunday, November 18, 2012.

According to the re-

Kanu hails Golden Eaglets WANKWO Kanu, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Ambassador and former Super Eagles’ captain, has applauded the ball artistry of the Golden Eaglets following their 3-0 victory over their Guinean counterparts at

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lease, the kick off date for the 2012/2013 Nigeria Premier League season has been proposed for Saturday, December 1, 2012 with only the star match expected to be played that day. Other fixtures are expected to be decided on Sunday, December 2, 2012.

The kick off date is, however, subject to ratification by the Congress.

what is happening in Europe, South America and even back home in Africa. Who expected to see Venezuela play in the final of the 2011 South American Cup with countries like Argentina, Brazil, Peru falling by the way side? Look at Spain winning the Euro Cup back to back and the World Cup in between when the likes of Germany, Italy are there?”

He cited Zambia’s triumph over Cote d’Ivoire in last year’s Afcon final and said, “Liberia should not be seen as a cheap opponent. They have never been easy opponents to Nigeria. People should go back to history and look at our record against Liberia.”

HE Athletics Feder ation of Nigeria (AFN) will hold a Coaches’ Forum/Clinic for all active and practicing coaches in Nigeria from Thursday 18th - Saturday 20th October 2012 at the National Institute for Sports (NIS) Auditorium, Surulere in Lagos according to the federation’s Technical Director, Navy Captain Omatseye Nesiama.

The theme of the forum/ clinic is ‘RE-EQUIPING NIGERIAN COACHES

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•Ike Uke

Eagles not yet a finished job Continues from B/P building process was still far from completed.

In a chat with Sports Vanguard in Calabar, Okpala said “the entire team is still being worked on. That we were able to beat Liberia 6-1 did not mean the team has actualised. We will continue to try more players as we prepare for the tournament in South Africa. We will look at all the departments of the team” He, however, frowned at suggestions that the feat over the Lone Star of Liberia could not be a true measure of the depth the team had attained under Keshi.

“There are no longer minnows in world football. You can imagine

Lawn Tennis Club in Onikan.

Abinu lost to top seed, Nina Bratchikova of Russia in quick sets of 1-6, 1-6 while Samuel Omoile, a rising tennis player, fell 2-6, 1-6 to Ka rim-Mohammed Maamoun of Egypt, Kento Takechi of Japan brushed aside John Otu in quick sets of 6-1,6-1.

AFN holds coaching clinic in Lagos FOR ENHANCED ELITE

Nigerian League Continues from B/P

Gov’s Cup: More Nigerians bow out

the weekend.

“No Nigerian team is playing the way you do and I’m so impressed with your fine display,” Kanu who led Nigeria to a historic Soccer Gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics told the players in the locker

room of the U.J Esuene Sports Stadium on Sunday “ You are by far the better team when compared with Guinea and I know everybody that watched the game would agree with me that you a very good team.”

Anichebe shuns Keshi’s Eagles VERTON striker Vic tor Anichebe has insisted he is fully focused on maintaining his good start to the Premier League season and is not eying a return to the Nigeria squad.

The 24-year-old, who has scored three goals in seven appearances this term, has not featured for the Super Eagles since a September 2011 friendly defeat to Argentina.

But, despite enjoying some fine early-season form following an injuryhit 2011-12 campaign, the forward has claimed he is not yet thinking about earning further call-ups.

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“The thing with Nigeria is I am a fan and I follow the games and the team have done really well to qualify,” Anichebe told reporters.

“They have a great bunch of players there but I’m concentrating on here because this is the first time I’ve stayed fit for a while.

“I am thinking about Everton: they have stuck by me and helped me get back fit so I’m thinking more about cementing [my place in] the side.

“The national team aspect hasn’t come into my head. I just want them to do well.”

Senegal disqualified Continues from B/P was called off after 74 minutes, with Ivory Coast 2-0 up on the night and 6-2 ahead on aggregate.

Caf has officially confirmed the result as a 20 win for Ivory Coast, sending them through to next year’s tournament.

Senegal manager Ferdinand Coly said on Sunday that “Senegal will accept the sanctions”. He also apologised to Ivory Coast.

Trouble flared after striker Didier Drogba scored his side’s second goal from the penalty spot.

Visiting supporters were forced to leap down on to the pitch to escape as violence erupted, with home fans throwing missiles, stones, bottles and firecrackers.

Ivorian players took refuge in the centre circle while the security forces used tear gas to disperse the rioting fans.

PERFOR-MANCE’.A Nigeria-born UK Athletics Coach Michael Afilaka (the coach of UK teenage sprinter and World Junior 100m champion, Adam Gemili) would lead the pack of other Resource Persons that include IAAF Instructors Coach Rotimi Obajimi and Dr Elias Gora.

The programme is a first major step taken to implement the ‘AFN PROJECT RIO 2016’ Programme designed to make our athletes achieve podium performances in Rio.

Rufai scare!

Continues from B/P after he slumped in his Adeniran Ogunsanya office in Lagos.

“He is out of coma and he can now eat and he recognises everyone around. He is fine,” the brother of the ex-international Bruce confirmed.

Rufai is now making efforts to communicate, the brother added.

“It was wrenching and scary when he slumped and suddenly went into a coma,” Bruce told BBC Sport.

“It all happened very fast, we just saw a physically and mentally fit man crumble to the ground.”

Bruce said his brother has made progress since he was first taken to hospital.

He said: “After several hours he’s come around, is recognising faces and realised he’s in hospital, so he’s definitely better than he was on Tuesday morning.

“Doctors failed to diagnose anything and we have a strong feeling it stems from a family bereavement.

“He appears to have suffered a terrible stress from the shock of losing

our mum but we don’t know how long he’ll be in hospital.”

His mother Christiana Rufai died last week at the age of 78.

Rufai was Nigeria’s first-choice goalkeeper when they won the 1994 African Cup of Nations in Tunisia and also when they qualified for a firstever World Cup. Regarded as one of the finest goalkeepers to come out of Africa, nicknamed ‘Dodo Manyana’, he played professionally in Benin, Belgium, Holland, Spain and Portugal.

Since he quit active football, he has worked with the country’s Olympic side and has been running his football academy in the city of Lagos.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), wished him a “speedy recovery”, adding they had been informed he had been in hospital by a family friend.

Spokesman Ademola Olajire said: “Everybody at football house would like to send our best wishes to our legend Peter Rufai following news that he is recovering in hospital.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, OCT0BER 17, 2012

Nations Cup: Senegal disqualified ENEGAL have been disqualified from the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations after a riot forced the abandonment of Saturday’s home tie with Ivory Coast.

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•Papiss Cisse

Rufai scare!

•Slumps, back to life ORMER Nigeria goalkeeper Peter Rufai was admitted to hospital after being taken ill on Monday night.

The 49-year-old, who represented Nigeria at the 1994 and 1998 Fifa World Cup, sent chills down the spines of many soccer fans when they learnt of his predicament. Many made calls to inquire of his situation while journalists scampered to find out the state of the former number one goalie.

His brother, Bruce, said he had slumped and his breathing had been “very laboured” before he went to hospital.

The former Eagles captain opened his eyes for the first time on Tuesday

Eagles not yet a finished job — Okpala

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PUZZLE

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Nigerian League kicks off Dec. 1 HE management of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) board has announced the programme of activities for the 2012/2013 league season.

In a release signed by the Head, Information Technology Unit, Abubakar Abdullaziz, the Annual Congress that would herald the

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BY JACOB AJOM S Nigerians contin ue to celebrate Super Eagles’ qualification for the South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, one of the assistant coaches to Stephen Keshi, Sylvanus Okpala has said that the re-to

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•Mikel

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•Rufai

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It is not yet clear whether the Confederation of African Football will take further action against Senegal.

The match in Dakar

YESTERDAY'S

Life ban for 13 Zimbabwe players — P.55

ANSWERS ACROSS 1 Hurry (5) 5 Staid (6) 8 Representative (5) 10 Pattern (6) 11 Related (4) 14 Withdraw (6) 15Overseer (7) 18 Obtain (3) 19 Fuel (3) 21 Departed (4) 23 Satan (5) 24 Fruit (4) 27 Barrier (3) 29 Cat-call (3) 31 Permit (7) 32 Jail (6) 34 Eat (4) 35 Anele (6) 38 Brace (5) 39 Modern (6) 40 Irritable (5)

DOWN 2 Hatchet (3) 3 Followed (6) 4 Ovum (3) 5 Asterisk (4) 6 Nonsense (6) 7 Consequence (6) 9 Involved (7) 12 Barrel (3) 13 Observe (4) 16 Leer (4) 17 Nautical (5) 20 Alike (7) 22 Ado (4) 24 Condiment (6) 25 Among (4) 26 Dwell (6) 28 Signify (6) 30 Succeeded (3) 33 Shelter (4) 36 Fruit (3) 37 Entrap (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Report 5, Skid 8, Begun 9, Fad 10, Edit 11, Boss 12, Beast 13, Regour 16, Leer 18, Drag 20, Bed 22, Awe 23, Yet 24, Seer 25, Lent 28, Thrill 30, Twist 32, Axis 33, Tine 34, Tin 35, Relics 36, Bred 37, Charge.

How to Play Sudoku

THE VIGILANTE

DOWN: 1, Reform 2, Pedigree 3, Rueful 4, Deterrent 5, Subsidy 6, Knot 7, Dusk 8, Bid 14, Realistic 15, Fat 17, Ewe 19, Registration 20, Bee 21, Drowsed 26, Thresh 27, Glance 29, Garb 30, Tire Tic.

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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