State of Emergencylooms in crisis states

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...towards a better life for the people

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VOL. 25: NO. 61648

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

KADUNA:

N150

Italian commits suicide in EFCC custody •P. 11

N6.1BN SIM EXERCISE:

We stake our integrity — Juwah •Pgs.24 &25

DEAR BUNMI:

KADUNA—Below right: Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Jinjiri Abubakar displaying improvised explosive devices and other weapons recovered from suspects in Kaduna, yesterday. Photos: Olu Ajayi.

Why am I violent with my husband?

•P.49

State of Emergency looms in crisis states •Senate to hold emergency meeting with Jonathan •Police/Senate finger foreigners in bombings •Reps summon Jonathan, security chiefs

• 34 dead in Damaturu gun battle

ICPC recovers N627bn Pg.11 pension fund

BY OKEY NDIRIBE, EMMAN OVUAKPORIE, HENRY UMORU, LUKA BINNIYAT & INALEGWU SHAIBU

•P.6

Farouk Lawan or madness to the power of 128!

—P.19

BUJA— DECLA RATION of State of Emergency now looms in some states in the North, following unrestrained killing of innocent persons by Islamist militants and the new dimension of reprisal attacks which claimed hundreds of lives. The Senate, yesterday, said it would support the declaration

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Continues on Page 5

Mr & Mrs

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

Obama, Putin discuss Syrian massacre S President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Monday that the violence in Syria must stop but gave no sign of agreeing on how to do it even as Syrian security forces pounded opposition areas across the country.

Intense artillery fire was reported in Douma, a town 15 km outside the Syrian capital Damascus that for weeks has been under the partial control of rebels who have joined the 15-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. At least 79 people were killed in violence that has escalated since international observers suspended their mission, activists said.

A Russian naval source said Moscow was preparing to send marines to Syria in the event it needed to protect personnel and remove equipment from its naval facility in

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Syria’s Mediterranean port of Tartous, according to the Interfax news agency. Russia is one of the Syrian government’s staunchest backers. International efforts to halt the violence are deadlocked because Russia and China, which wield vetoes in the U.N. Security Council, have blocked tougher action against Assad.

They say the solution must come through political dialogue, an approach most of the Syrian opposition rejects.

Obama and Putin held two hours of talks - longer than originally planned - at a Group of 20 summit in Mexico af-

ter a week of Cold Warstyle recriminations between U.S. and Russian diplomats over Syria.

Putin frowned and Obama wore a sober expression during remarks to reporters after the meeting.

Obama initiated a handshake for the cameras while the two remained seated. At the end of their statements, as reporters were being ushered out, both sat glumly watching but made no move to re-engage with each other. It was the first Obama-Putin meeting since 2009.

FACE-OFF: US President Barack Obama (right) meets his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin (left) at the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico.

Gambian takes over ICC seat AMBIA’S Fatou Bensouda has been sworn as the Inter-

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G20 leaders pledge economic growth HE leaders of the world’s major economies embarked on the final day of the G20 summit determined to kickstart growth and pull the eurozone back from the

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brink of disaster.

European members gathered yesterday were under extraordinary pressure from their international counterparts to loosen their austerity pro-

grams and to allow the European Central Bank to open the lending floodgates.

Germany ’s Angela Merkel, the driving force behind the eurozone’s austere determination to privilege deficit busting over stimulus spending, has publicly stood her ground, although US officials say her position is softening. A draft version of the G20 final statement, which was to be finalized and published by the leaders on Tuesday, suggested that a form of words would be found that would commit the leaders to a pro-growth agenda.

national Criminal Court’s new chief prosecutor, saying she is ready to lead the fight against the world’s worst war criminals. “I Fatou Bensouda, solemnly undertake that I will perform my duties and exercise my powers as prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, honourably, faithfully impartially and conscientiously,” she said on Friday at a ceremony in The Hague.

The 51-year-old Bensouda, the first woman and African to head the team of prosecutors at the tribunal, had served as outgoing prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s num-

Court sacks Pakistan’s PM AKISTAN’S in creasingly assertive Supreme Court yesterday declared Prime Minister

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Egypt: Morsi maintains victory claim GYPT’s Justice and Freedom party candidate Mohammed Morsi, maintained his claims to victory as thousands of his w Muslim Brotherhood supporters continue to celebrate in the streets in Cairo and other major cities.

Although the official result is expected tomorrow, the Brotherhood’s unofficial tally had Morsi leading with about 12.7 million votes, or 52.5 per cent of the total. The Brotherhood said it was confident in its figures, and indeed their unofficial counts have been accurate in past elections.But his opponent, Ahmed Shafiq, the final prime minister under deposed president Hosni Mubarak, rejected Morsi’s claim of victory and ac-

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ber two since 2004.

Known as the public face of the ICC, MorenoOcampo stepped down Friday after nine years as chief prosecutor at the court, which started work in 2003.

Bensouda was elected by the 121 state parties which have signed up to the Rome Statute, the International Criminal Court’s founding document. She takes the helm of the world’s first permanent court to try those accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, investigating 15 cases in seven countries, all of them African.

•Morsi cused him of trying to “usurp” the presidency.

Yusuf Raza Gilani ineligible for office, plunging the country into fresh political turmoil during one of the worst crises in relations with the United States.

The move is bound to sharply raise tensions between unpopular civilian government and Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who has made a name for himself in recent years by taking on Pakistan’s most powerful figures. In April, the Supreme Court found Gilani guilty of contempt of court for refusing to reopen corruption cases against the president.

Troops quell uprising in Western Libya IBYA’S government has sent troops to put an end to six days of clashes between rival armed groups in the west of the country. The fighting, which left least 16 people killed and scores of others injured, is the latest episode of instability eight months since the

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collapse of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime after a months-long conflict.

As it seeks to impose its authority on a fractious country, Libya’s new leadership on Saturday called for an immediate ceasefire in the fighting south of the capital Tripoli.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012—3

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4—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

From left: Mr. Mideno Bayagbon, Editor; Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, Editor-in-Chief/ GM Publications, both of Vanguard; and Mr. Achu Ben Olayi, Director, Department of State Services, Lagos State Command, during a courtesy visit to Vanguard head office in Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Shola Oyelese

From left: Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema; President of the Council, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; former President, Mr. Oba Otudeko; and outgoing Interim President, Mallam Balama Manu at the NSE Council meeting in Lagos, yesterday.

DPR discovers 2m litres of adulterated fuel in Lagos

BY KUNLE KALEJAYE

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EPARTMENT of Pe troleum Resources, DPR, yesterday, discovered about two million litres of adulterated Automotive Gas Oil, AGO, also known as Diesel at the Defence Jetty in Marina, Lagos.

The DPR also arrested two men, suspected to be involved in the illegal activitiy.

Assistant Director, Products Depots and Jetties, DPR, Mr. Olarenwaju Buraimoh told newsmen that the jetty has been under strict surveillance for some time due to information reaching it that illegal activities are been carried out in the jetty.

He said: “For some time now we have been monitoring activities here. If you come here in the evening or sometime in the afternoon you will notice numerous tankers loading products. You can see two badges (BC6215) ready to discharge their products and some of the spills of the products are on the floor.”

During the inspection exercise, it was discovered that the two badges (BC6215) that contained the adulterated AGO belong to Millennium Shipping .

The Administrative Officer of Millennium shipping, Mr Promise Olayinka admitted that the badges belonged to his company but denied any knowledge about the illegal activities in the jetty. The Administrative Officer as well as the Chief Security Officer, Mr. Collins Deiye, were arrested by DPR official and handed over to the police at Zone 2, Onikan Lagos for further investigation.

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 — 5

POCKET CARTOON

State of Emergency looms in crisis states Continues from Page 1 of state of emergency in any state where bombings continued unabated.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who held a closed-door meeting on Monday with Senate President David Mark; Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher and the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Oluseyi Petinrin was said to be considering imposing a state of emergency in Kaduna following the spontaneous reprisal attacks that accompanied the three co-ordinated bomb attacks in Zaria and Kaduna churches.

The president’s move, yesterday, enjoyed the support of the Senators who resolved after a closed-door meeting that lasted several hours to back the president if such a request is brought before them. The Senators who were worried by the massive killings in the country by the Islamist militants have also agreed to meet with President Jonathan on how to combat the

security crisis even as the House of Representatives on its part passed a resolution yesterday to invite the President and his security chiefs to throw more light on the security situation in the country.

Meanwhile, Kaduna State government yesterday re-imposed a 24-hour curfew in the state when fresh violence broke out as Muslim youths were said to have gone on rampage in a counter-reprisal to attacks by Christians, killing three persons and burning churches.

Also in Damaturu, Yobe State government has imposed a 24-hour curfew as battle raged between the military and Islamist militants following the continued violence which began around 5:00pm on Monday.

On the resolution by the Senate, Vanguard gathered that the Senate will select some members among themselves to go with the leadership of the upper chamber on the emergency meeting with the President with a view to forming a synergy with the Federal

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

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IVING is a universal law. What you give is what you get, always look for opportunity to give; the more you give the more you get. The good book says Give and it shall be given unto you good measure, shaken together and pressed down shall men give unto your bosom. Giving is one of the mysteries of life, to get what you need you need to give what you have. What do you need more of? Love?

Friendship? Money? Affection? Whatever you need give what you have and watch it multiply and return to you several folds. Remember what you have in your hand is always sufficient for what you need in your life.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

Keep your thoughts positive, your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive, your words become your behaviours. Keep your behaviours positive, your behaviours become your habits. Keep your habits positive, your habits become your values. Keep your values positive, your values become your destiny —Mahatma Gandhi

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HATEVER you experience, whatever happens to you is a reflection of your need for adjustment. How we can say one thing, think something else and feel a completely different way. We are sending the universe mixed messages.

Iyanla Vanzant sums it beautifully: "If our thoughts are confused, our emotions full of doubt and our actions are contradictory to our thoughts and emotions. Just what do we really expect life to bring us? In order to get what we want, we must say what we mean. In order to say what we mean we must know what we want. When we know what we want we can think and speak positively with expectations.

government in addressing the problem against the backdrop that the violence which has claimed innocent souls has dented the image of the country while economic activities have been crippled.

Senate fingers foreigners in bombings Meanwhile, the Senate yesterday fingered foreign involvement in the escalated state of insecurity, saying that what Nigeria was going through at the moment was strange and not part of Nigeria’s history.

Addressing Journalists yesterday, Chairman Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe said: "The Senate also noted that there may be some foreign dimensions to this but the senate acknowledges that we must put our house in order and the senate is in full agreement that all hands must be on deck and that every Nigerian, no matter the level, has a duty to continue to preserve the unity and the structure of Nigeria as it is today.”

Speaking on the closed door meeting, Senator Abaribe said, "the Senate had a very frank discussion about the state of our security. You are all aware of what happened over the weekend and the fact that effort is being made to plunge this country into a religious war. But we know that such will not happen. The senate agreed that it was an effort to pitch Nigerians against one another and the Senate urges Nigerians not to fall for this odious attempt.

Speaking further, Abaribe said, "the senate is very worried about the state of the nation. If not, we would not have spent a whole day today in a closed session; the reason for the closed session is so that we can speak frankly, the reason for the closed session is that when they have camera on them, they will play to the gallery.

So, we are so worried that we have to spend three to four hours in a closed door session just to get to what is going on and it was productive and

the measures that came out with these, because they deal with security issues, we have to clear it with the appropriate authorities before it can be released to the public, but you can be rest assured that everything the senate is doing is for the interest of the country."

House invites Jonathan over insecurity in Nigeria The House of Representatives on its part yesterday passed a resolution to invite President Goodluck Jonathan and his security chiefs to throw more light on the security situation in the country.

Obviously alarmed by the spate of bombings in Kaduna where three churches were burnt and the reprisal attacks that followed, the House decided that the President should come alongside his security chiefs to brief lawmakers on measures taken so far to tackle insecurity in the country. The security chiefs include the service chiefs, the Acting Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar and the Director General of State Security Service (SSS) Ita Ekpenyong.

The resolution was sequel to a motion brought to the floor of the House under matters of urgent national importance by Hon Yakubu Barde representing Kaduna state.

An amendment to his motion to propose that the Federal Government should negotiate with the terrorist group Boko Haram was unanimously rejected by members.

Another motion by Ben Nwankwo representing Orumba North and

South, Anambra State, to invite the President to address a joint session of both chambers of the National Assembly was rejected by members.

Kaduna: Foreigners involved in bombings – Police Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police.

Alh. Mohammed Abubakar Jinjiri, yesterday, affirmed that citizens of Niger Republic, Chad and Cameroon were among those involved in Nigeria terror killings.

The Police boss who made this known in Kaduna yesterday, also displayed to the Press 15 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDS) and their accessories, saying each of the explosives was capable of massive harm to structure and humans.

But, Jinjiri refused to disclose information on the casualty figures from the reprisal killings in Kaduna, after three bombs went off in two churches in Zaria and another in Kaduna last Sunday.

At a Press Conference in Kaduna after a declaration of curfew over the state by Governor Patrick Yakowa, Jinjiri said: “We want to warn all foreigners entering Nigeria to

breach the peace and cause disharmony among us to desist from so.

“We have arrested many nationals of Niger, Chad and Cameroon origins among those engaged in mass killings (bombings) in Nigeria.

We want to warn that we have enough of this. We will no longer care about the West Africa Charter of Freedom of Movement for its citizens if we arrest anyone from now. Our hospitality must not be taken for granted”, he said.

On the IEDS, he said that the bomb maker was a well known mechanic living in Kaduna. He said, that a raid in the compound uncovered shocking arsenal of IEDS, arms and ammunition.

“When we raided the compound, he ran into the ceiling of his house.

By the time we pursued him up the ceiling, he had escaped through a hole. This was last Friday. The idea was to start the bombings on Friday. But, we were quick to stop that, if not, last Sunday bombings could have been worse.

“A total of nine suspects were arrested and on interrogations they confessed to killing some innocent persons in Kaduna metropolis and environs, as well as snatching several cars.

Yakowa imposes another 24-hr curfew

BY LUKA BINNIYAT ADUNA - Fresh violence broke out yesterday in Kaduna which forced the state government to re-impose a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

Kaduna State Police

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Commissioner, Alh. Mohammed Abubakar Jinjiri was about to brief newsmen on the details of last Sunday ’s violence, when a Mobile Policeman and an Immigration officer in mufti, were rushed into the Kaduna

State Police Headquarters covered in blood.

They had deep cuts on their heads among other injuries.

They were said to have been attacked by an armed mob from Muslim dominated areas of Kaduna Central Market, while Continues onPage 6

6—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

We stake our integrity on N6.1bn SIM reg exercise — Juwah

BY EMMANUEL ELEBEKE

BUJA—EXECU TIVE Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Engr.

Eugene Juwah, has said his integrity and that of his commission are on the SIM card registration exercise, and disclosed that NCC had so far paid about N1.7 billion to consultants handling the SIM card registration project.

Juwah stated these while fielding questions on the perceived controversy trailing the project during an interview in his office in Abuja.

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PROBE: Senate President, David Mark (second right), Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal (second left); Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu (right) and Chairman, House Committee on Aviation, Nkeiruks Onyejeocha during the public hearing on the investigation of the crash of Dana and allied airlines aircraft, in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

Yakowa imposes another 24-hr curfew Continues from Page 5 the rifle of the Policeman was taken away.

The irate youths were rioting in response to the reprisal attacks launched on Muslims by Christians in Christian in Kaduna after the bombing of two churches in Zaria and one in Kaduna killing about 17 worshipers last Sunday.

Not less than, 60 Muslims were killed in retaliation, from the number of corpses deposited at various hospitals.

As at 10am Tuesday, the tension in the north and south of River Kaduna that divides the city into Muslim populated North, and Christian South, was too palpable.

By 11am, thick smokes were seen covering parts of Tudun Wada, Unguwan Ma’azu and Panteka, all strong enclaves of Hausa/Fulani Muslims.

Soon, at Barnawa, Sabon Tasha and Television village, all strong holds of Kaduna Christians and natives, the youths also responded by setting up roadblocks and manhandling suspected nonChristains.

Military Helicopters were still hovering the sky at the time of filing this report.

Around 1pm, unconfirmed reports said an Igbo trader was hacked to death at Enugu Rd, Panteka.

The police commissioner who had left reporters after the start of the fresh violence, returned in his convoy around 12:30pm.

He left twenty minutes later after taking more arms and men. He was clutching a rifle as he jumped into his Jeep.

He was yet to return to reporters holed up in his office.

Around 1:30pm, a statement from Reuben Buhari, the Media Assistant to Governor Patrick Yakowa said a curfew has been imposed over the entire state.

Reads the Statement: “In view of certain new security challenges that came up today and based on the need for the state government to continue with its responsibility of safeguarding the lives and property of its citi-

zens, the state government is herby re-imposing the 24 hours curfew in all parts of Kaduna state.

“This curfew covers all the 23 local governments of the state. As unpalatable as this decision is, the state government is

doing it for the good of the state. Consequently, everybody is advised to go back home now, while security agencies continue with the task of ensuring total peace in the state”

Jonathan not doing enough — CAN

BY SAM EYOBOKA

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AGOS—UMBREL LA body of Christians in Nigeria yesterday reacted to the renewed spate of bombing of churches in Kaduna State and reprisal attacks by hard pressed Christian youths, stressing that all its earlier warnings to the current state of anarchy went unheeded.

In a Press statement signed by the Special Assistant, Media and Public Affairs to the president of the CAN, Mr. Kenny Ashaka, the CAN helmsman, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor said the unabating violent attacks on Christians and their churches on Sundays was an inescapable invitation to jungle justice and anarchy.

The CAN president expressed sadness over the killing of innocent Christians in different blasts in Kaduna and Zaria and those violent attacks in Damaturu in Yobe State, saying the latest bombings have vividly showed that Boko Haram has declared war on Christians and Christianity in Nigeria.

“In fact, the pattern of bombings and gun attacks suggests to us a systematic religious cleansing which reminds Christians of the genesis of Jihad,” he stated, noting that before last Sunday’s reprisal by Christian youths who have all these while exercised patience, the Christian community has warned of such danger.

Pastor Oritsejafor thereafter avered that “it would be inexcusable for President Goodluck Jonathan to keep mute when the Boko Haram issue has slipped into a presence that is always there somewhere in the subconscious,” adding “since the terrorist acts began, nothing the president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has done has been re-assuring that the end to the spate of bombings and gun attacks is in sight.

“On the contrary,” Oritsejafor maintained, “his utterances after each bombing and killings, even if unwittingly, seem to have cast a hallmark of weakness on his presidency and an escalation of the terrorist acts.”

Continuing the statement added that what

appears more worrisome is the management of the crises by the president in whose hand the security of lives and property of all Nigerians are. “Indeed, the management is cavalier in approach as officials at the highest levels send out conflicting signals about strategy.”

The statement noted that CAN has no clear slate of Federal Government’s strategy to secure the lives and property of innocent Christians in the country, especially in the North.

Oritsejafor therefore called on President

Jonathan to introduce an element of surprise by acting contrary to form because “what emerges now is the picture of a president who has been held hostage by conflicting intrigues woven around this matter of the extremist Boko Haram sect.”

According to the CAN helmsman, the Federal Government appears to be confused whether to fight it all out or to negotiate with the extremist sect, while “the Boko Haram phenomenon has driven the nation with dissension.”

Gun battle kills 34 in Damaturu ANO — GUN bat tles between security forces and suspected Islamists in Damaturu, Yobe State, have killed at least 34 people, including three police officers and a soldier, a hospital source told AFP yester-

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day.

“So far we have 34 dead bodies in the morgue,” said the senior hospital official after the fighting broke out Monday and continued yesterday in the north eastern city now under round-theclock curfew. “The figure is likely to rise.”

"We pay as they register; when operators say they register one person, we verify to ensure that it is not double registration before we pay them N120. So far, we have not finished verifying all the data given to us, but the data we have verified so far, we have paid about N1.7 billion to them which include the cost of building the back-end here."

On the N6.1 billion budgeted for the project, Juwah said though it was a huge sum of money, it was still economical compared with similar exercise in other countries.

His words: "Though it looks a lot, it is far smaller compared to other registrations we have made in Nigeria.

N6.1 billion to register 80 million subscribers is quite small.

"There is this public bias also when people hear billions. If you compare the budget of SIM card registration between Nigeria and India which is also carrying out this registration, you will notice that it is being carried out by the regulator in conjunction with a special body appointed by government.

"Registration of a subscriber in India costs about $2, which is about N340 but the one NCC is currently doing is the highest registration so far carried out in Nigeria and is about N120 for each subscriber, which is less than half of what India is spending and India is known to be a very low-cost country."

He disclosed further that the commission had not been able to meet its deadline in concluding the project, due to certain prevailing circumstances such as synchronization and verification of all data submitted by operators and all accredited companies, including the probe by members of the National Assembly.

So far, the NCC boss said the commission had suspended the project pending when the probe is concluded by the legislators to enable them concentrate on its job, but assured that the process would be hastened to ensure speedy completion as soon as the probe is concluded.

See full interview on Pages 24 & 25.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012—7

BY BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

AGOS — THE inflation rate, which measures the rate at which prices of goods and services rise, fell to 12.7 per cent in May from 12.9 per cent in April says National Bureau of Statistics, NBS. The Bureau in its inflation report for May said persistent increase in the prices of some farm produce caused the composite price index, which measures inflation, to rise to 12.7 per cent.

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Inflation fell to 12.7% in May The report said: “The Composite Consumer Price Index, CPI, which measures inflation rose to 12.7 per cent year-on-year in May 2012. The high yearon-year change could be partly attributable to persistent increase in the prices some farm produce due to the farming season, for example vegetables which are typically in short supply at this time of the year.

"Other notable increases

were in catering services as well as the cost of some miscellaneous services, such as appliances, articles and products for personal care.

However, while these items were responsible for the largest price rises, their contribution to the overall index is minimal given their relatively smaller weights in the index. On a monthly basis, the composite CPI was higher by 0.75 per cent in May 2012 when com-

pared with April 2012.

“The urban inflation rate was recorded at 14.1 per cent year-on-year while the rural inflation rate was 11.7 percent for May 2012. The urban All Items index increased by 0.8 per cent on a month-on-month basis, while the rural index increased by 0.7 percent, when compared with the preceding month.

The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12-month period

ending May 2012 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve-month period was 11.1 per cent, the same as the previous month. The corresponding 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for urban and rural indices was 10.5 and 11.6 respectively.

“In May 2012, the level of the Composite Food Index was higher than the corresponding level a year ago by 12.9 per cent. On a month on month basis, average monthly food prices rose in May 2012 by 1.2 per

cent. The rise in the food index was mainly from increase in the prices of vegetables (in particular), potatoes, yam and other tubers, and bread and cereals. Farm produce prices have been higher as stocks have been drawn down from earlier harvests and farmers are in the peak of the farming season, using up part of their stocks in the farming process.

The average annual rate of rise of the index remained at 10.4 per cent (year-on-year) for the 12month period ending May 2012.

LAGOS-IBADAN EXPRESSWAY:

Court asked to revoke concession agreement

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

AGOS — TWO human rights activists, Messrs Olawale Fapounda and Richard Akinnola, have asked a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos to revoke the concession agreement between the Federal Government and Bicourtney Highway Services over allegation of non performance and “incessant destruction of lives and property along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.”

The plaintiffs, who listed Legal Resources Consortium as the third plaintiff, are asking for an order of mandatory injunction compelling the Federal Government to immediately repair and maintain the Lagos-Ibadan expressway “sequel to their obligations, legal and statutory duties so as to stem or curb the incessant traffic gridlock and destruction of lives and property on the expressway.”

Joined as defendants in the suit are the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Minister of Works, his counterpart in the Ministry of Justice, Federal Road

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DUCK TRAFFIC: A Chinese farmer and his assistants drove about 5,000 ducks from their farm to a pond one kilometre away to look for food. The ducks often pass through the road to the pond to look for food, but not even a duck was lost over the past more than half a year, according to the farmer surnamed Hong. Photo: Imaginechina/Rex Features.

New SEC boss vows to restore investors' confidence As Dangote resumes at NSE

BY PETER EGWUATU

AGOS — ACTING Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Mr. Ibrahim Bello, yesterday, vowed to restore investors' confidence in the Nigerian capital market, just as Alhaji Aliko Dangote officially resumed as President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, following the appeal court judgment upholding his presidency.

A source confided in Vanguard that Dangote was at the NSE, yesterday, to meet officials of the Exchange and chart a way forward for the market.

Dangote takes over as the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange following the ruling of the Court of Appeal in Lagos, last Friday, upholding his three appeals against cases that led to the nullification of his election as president of the Exchange.

Meanwhile, Vanguard gathered that the new SEC boss met with the staff of the

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commission to solicit their support, just as he prepares to meet various stakeholders in the market.

Apart from assuring the staff of fairness and his desire for a team work, Bello also solicited their support, commitment, cooperation and discipline in moving the market forward.

He said outstanding staff issues would be handled with urgency and asked them to reciprocate with fresh commitment, cooperation and discipline.

He said: “Forget about the past. It is going to be a team work. Your welfare, especially outstanding staff matters, will be addressed immediately in line with laid down policy and procedure but subject to availability of resources.

“We expect commitment, cooperation, dedication and discipline. We want to leave behind a SEC that everybody will be proud of and the one that the coming generations would commend us for. We have been given opportunity, let’s

work together to leave a legacy.”

He said quick win strategy would be adopted immediately to have positive effect on the market, adding: “We will immediately engage on inspection, investigation and enforcement, investor education

and restore registration activities and meet with various stakeholders in the market to have early positive impact.”

He, therefore, enjoined the staff to suggest additional means of moving the market forward.

LUTH establishes trauma, crisis counselling services

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

AGOS — FOLLOW ING the recent Dana air crash and other disasters such as flooding and fire outbreak in the country, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, has established a crisis intervention service for victims of emotional trauma and their relatives even as it announced the commencement of a full scale Minimal Access Surgery, MAS, next month.

The crisis centre is ex-

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pected to be manned by highly skilled experts in mental healthcare in the hospital.

Disclosing this, yesterday, in Lagos, Chief Medical Director, Dr. Akin Osibogun, said the services could be accessed through a 24-hour call line.

Osibogun advised wouldbe clients to call 08190533591 or visit the Community Health wing of the hospital at the 2nd floor, Accident and Emergency Department. He further

noted that counselling starts from 11:00 a.m. to 1p.m daily.

Speaking on the hospital's plan to embark on full scale minimal access surgery, the chief medical director explained that such technique (MAS) would enable the hospital perform pinhole surgery successfully.

Giving insight into the technique, he explained that technique was usually used for fibroids operation, gynaecological and some other surgical operations through two small holes.

Maintenance Agency, FERMA, and Bicourtney Highway Services Limited.

The plaintiffs are praying the court to declare that “the failure and or refusal of the 5th Defendant (Bicourtney Ltd) in executing the contract four years after its award amounts to abandonment and ought to be struck down and revoked."

Also they urged the court to declare that “the incessant accidents and destruction of lives and property are a direct consequence of the negligence and willful refusal of the 5th Defendant in executing the concession agreement four years after its award.”

In addition, they are praying the court to declare that the government has “abandoned, shirked, abdicated their legal and statutory obligations to repair and maintain the LagosIbadan expressway, thereby occasioning traffic gridlock and destruction of lives and property.”

In their suit, the plaintiffs want the court to determine whether the Bicourtney Limited as a concessionaire to whom the Federal Government had given approval in September 2009 for the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway has failed in executing the contract four years after the contract was awarded to it.

Also, they want the court to determine whether the Federal Government, having approved the concession of the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway to the company through the Executive Council of the Federation can revoke the contract awarded to the 5th defendant (Bicourtney) for non performance.

It averred that the concession agreement, having not followed due process nor complied with the guidelines of the concession agreement, should be struck down and revoked by the court sequel to its inherent powers.

No date has been fixed for the case.

8—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY , JUNE 20, 2012

Kidnapped Delta SSG's son regains freedom SABA—THE son of Secretary to the Delta State Government, SSG, Mr. Markson Macaulay, 28, who was kidnapped by unknown gunmen on Monday at his home town, Owhelogbo in Isoko North Local Government Area of the state, yesterday, regained his freedom.

Confirming the report, the state police spokesman, Mr Charles Muka said the SSG’s son was rescued

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unhurt in far away town of Oviri in Okpe Local Government Area of the state.

He added that a female had also been arrested in connection with the abduction.

Markson, who schools in an undisclosed foreign country, had traveled to his home town, Owhelogbo, to see his grandmother and only to be kidnapped by unknown gunmen on Monday.

Obi hails Oshiomhole, commissions school, road projects in Edo From left: Mr. Sam Amuka, Publisher, Vanguard Newspapers; Sir Oliver Akubueze, President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Lagos and Diaspora; Mrs. Kate Omuwa, President, Royal Daughters of Nigeria; Mary Dc Cat-Colruyt, ASN- Ashoka Supporter Social Impact Business Coach; Josephine Nzerem, Ashoka Anglophone West-Africa, representing Senior Change Leader; Mr. Cosmas Okoli, President/ CEO, Mobility Aid and Appliances Research and Development Centre,MAARDEC and his wife cuttting the birthday cake; Senator Bode Olajumoke; Elder Stephen Ekundayo; Chief Ebere Ubani; Olori Callista Salami and Mr. Oladipupo Sheinde, representing Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Lagos Sector Commander, during the Hope and Possibilities Media Round Table briefing, lunch and 50th birthday celebration of Mr. Cosmas Okoli, at Golden Tulip, Festac, Lagos, yesterday. Pix: Bunmi Azeez and Folake Odebiyi.

From right: Mr. Cosmas Okoli, President\CEO, MAARDEC; Senator Bode Olajumoke, Chairman, Board of D i r e c t o r s , MAARDEC and Mrs. Azuka Okoli, the celebrant's wife.

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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ENIN CITY— GOVERNOR Peter Obi of Anambra State has commended his Edo State counterpart, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole over what he described as his commitment to transforming Edo State into a modern society.

Speaking at the commissioning of the reconstructed 24-classroom Eresoyen Primary School,

FIRS agress to reconcile Air Nigeria taxes BUJA—THE Federal Internal Revenue Service in Abuja, yesterday, agreed to look into the outstandingtaxesofnationalflag carrier, AirNigeria.

This came during a meeting with the Management of the

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Physically-challenged persons ask Jonathan to sign disabilities' bill As polio survivors embark on tricycle ride to Abuja

BY UDUMA KALU AGOS—PERSONS with disabilities and eminent Nigerians have urged President Goodluck Jonathan to sign the Persons with Disabilities Bill which has been sent to him since 2010 by the National Assembly.

The appeal came from eminent Nigerians including Senator Bode Olajumoke, Publisher of Vanguard Newspapers,MrSamAmukaand Sector Commander of Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Lagos Command,Mr.CharlesAkpabio, who was represented.

The request was made yesterday at a media round table christened ‘Hope and Possibility’ at Golden Tulip Hotel, organised by the Mobility Aid and Appliances Research and Development Centre, MAARDEC. Chairman of the event, Mr.

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Sam Amuka, noted that the head of the centre, Mr. Cosmas Okoli, is a national figure who has proved that his life and physical disabilities are not a handicap.

AmukasaidOkoli’scurriculum vitae, activities and aspirations wereawonder,addingthatOkoli is “a great credit to this country.”

In support of MAARDEC, the Vanguard publisher said the newspaper will partner with the centre to realise its project. As part of these efforts, Okoli is to become a Vanguard columnist.

Olajumoke hails Okoli However, Chairman of the centre’s board of directors, Senator Olajumoke, while extolling Okoli as an inspiration to many, urged support for him (Okoli). Olajumoke said the campaign should not be a one man affair and that the disabilities bill, which he

sponsored,washarmonisedbythe National Assembly in 2010 and sent to the President. It has been awaitingPresidentialassentsince then. “The media should put pressure on the president to assent it,” the senator said.

President of the centre, Mr. Cosmas Okoli, told the gathering that the group wanted Nigeria to domesticate the United Nations, UN, version of the bill. “The schools, public buildings should be made accessible to us. The buildings and roads are not constructed to our advantage.

The walkways of the roads do not have ramps. So, we are forced to use the same roads with vehicles. The Senate’s bill was sponsored by Olajumoke and the House of Representatives’ by Abike Dabiri. The bill has been sent to the President for assent.

We urge him to assent to it,” he said.

As part of this campaign, Okoli

saidthree physicallychallenged, including himself,willembarkon a month long ride from Lagos to Abuja with manual tricycles covering a distance of 1, 349 kilometres. The riders will be accompaniedbythreeablebodied cyclists, FRSC officials, security agents, trumpeters, medical personnel, caterers and bicycle technicians and sanitation personnel.Eightypersonswould be on the entourage. The riders will cover about 75 kilometrs a day. At each stop, they will camp at convenient pre- arranged locations on the route with courtesy calls on state governors on the route. Starting on November4,Okolisaidtheteam will arrive Abuja on December 3 and is expected to be received by President Jonathan. The route willbefromLagosthroughOgun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Anambra, Ebonyi, Benue, Nasarawa states and Abuja.

The arrival of the team, the sports administrator said, is planned to coincide with the

with staff offices and modern furniture and the rebuilt 6-lane Akpakpava Road with street lights, walkways and underground drainage, Governor Obi told people of the community “I came here on the invitation of the governor. I can say it anywhere he is a man who cares. It is better to place your trust on a man you know. How many governors have visited your school.

You know who cares for you”

InternationalDayofPersonswith Disabilities with the theme ‘Removing Barriers to create an inclusive and accessible Society for all’.

Asking Nigerians to support thecampaignwhichwillgulpN70 million, the MAARDEC boss itemised the objectives of the ride to include promotion of the legislation to protect the rights of persons with disabilities in Nigeria, which he said make up 22millionofthepopulation.Their members suffer unimaginable social exclusion, he explained.

According to him, though few states have legislation to protect the rights of persons with disabilities, most of the states and the Federal Government do not, adding that the states that have, havenotdonemuchtoimplement the law.

The ride, he said will promote the immunisation of children against polio and other preventable childhood diseases.

It will also promote safety on Nigerian roads in partnership with FRSC.

national carrier following the invitation of the Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Kinfe Kassahye, on Monday by FIRS officials.

The airline however reacted to a purported press release issued yesterday by the FIRS saying the tax authority did not understand the issues of assets and liabilities in an acquired company.

ItsaidthatunderformCO2and CO7 Particulars of Shareholders filed at the Corporate Affairs Commission; Virgin Atlantic still owns 49 per cent of the shares of Air Nigeria, “a position a clerk in the Federal Inland Revenue Service ought to know.”

“It is so sad that the FIRS does not understand that the liabilities of a shareholder is limited to the amount of shares purchased.

“The management of Air Nigeria frowns at the use of a Federal Government agency by rival competitors to promote their business,”themanagementsaid.

The airline also said that it was at a loss as to the figure of the said outstanding taxes quoted by the FIRS. “The FIRS letter stated N1.5 billion, but the press release says N4.6 billion; which suggests that Federal Inland Revenue Service does not understand its job.

“Air Nigeria has resolved to pursuetoalogicalconclusion,the abuse of power and unnecessary demands by tax enforcement officials. A military approach in a civilianeraiscriminal,”theairline insisted.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012—9

Briefly

JSS exams

BY AMAKA ABAYOMI KEJA—Lagos State Ministry of Education and Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, LASUBEB, have reintroduced the state common entrance examinations for primary six pupils who are to be admitted into junior secondary schools.

Explaining the rationale for the decision, Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, at a joint meeting of Public Primary Schools Headteachers and Parents Forum organised by the Ministry of Education and the State Universal Basic Education Board, said automatic promotion to the next class and the placement of primary six pupils into Junior Secondary Schools in the state would be a thing of the past as the state government was determined to put an end to the incessant failure in public examinations.

New electricity tariff, a sacrifice worth making — LCCI

BY NAOMI UZOR & OLAYEMI FOFAH

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Donation

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AGOS—FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, commissioned a water project built and donated to the authorities by Joseph Liberty Foundation at Ikoyi Prison, Lagos.

The event, which had Obasanjo as special guest of honour who was represented by his wife, Mrs. Bola Obasanjo, also featured the graduation of Ikoyi Music School students. Chairman of the foundation, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, said apart from the borehole built to improve the living standard of inmates, it will also look into the cases of inmates to effect the release of those detained unjustly by employing legal and other means and provide good education for inmates including music schools.

Plane servicing

BY ALBERT AKPOR AGOS—AIR Officer Commanding, AOC, Logistic Command, Lagos, Air Vice-Marshal Hassan Nashehu, said in Lagos that most air accidents were traceable to inability of airline operators to service their engines, stressing that there shouldn’t be any compromise to constant aircraft engine maintenance.

He spoke at Sam Ethnam Air Force base, Ikeja, on the occasion of his ‘flying out parade’ from the military.

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KEJA—LAGOS Cham ber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, yesterday, said the new electricity tariff introduced

by National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC and Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji, was a sac-

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rifice worth making.

LCCI's Director-General, Mr. Muda Yusuf, in a statement,in Lagos, said, “NERC had argued that the proposed tariff review was a major plank of the power sector reform and that the purpose was to make electricity tariff cost-reflective, so as to attract investors to the

sector. It is difficult to fault this position, especially in the light of the clamour by the citizenry for a private sectordriven power sector,” adding that he believed it was a sacrifice worth making.

He, however, added that, “The payment of monthly fixed charge ranging from 500 to over

N100,000 is a cause for worry. There is no justification for this under the current tariff regime since the tariff is now cost- reflective. Imposition of fixed charge, irrespective of whether there is power supply or not, is exploitative and would encourage inefficiency and should, therefore, be reviewed.”

National Security Adviser, General Owoye Azazi, leading security chiefs after a closeddoor meeting with Vice-President Namadi Sambo at the VP's Wing, State House, Abuja, y e s t e r d a y.

Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

BY EVELYN USMAN

KEJA—THE police in Lagos, yesterday, rescued a 45-year-old man, who was allegedly at the verge of being killed in a criminal hideout in Iba, Ojo, area of Lagos, arresting seven suspected members of the gang in the process.

Although the suspects, claimed their victim, one Arinze Igboagba, was abducted, following his refusal to refund N10 million, which they claimed he collected to facilitate their visas to China, but the police said they were yet to substantiate their claim, adding that investigation would establish

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Police rescue man from abductors the truth.

During interrogation, the victims claimed they were on a revenge mission, explaining that after an endless wait for Arinze to give them their visas to China, he took them to a hotel in Festac Town, Lagos, where he assured them that his manager will refund their

KEJA—THERE was a twist in the suit challenging the election of a new executive for Ikeja branch of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, as the Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Philips, had recalled the case file.

The matter slated for trial, yesterday, could not go on, as the trial judge, Justice Opeyemi Oke, who disqualified herself from handling the suit, communicated the development to parties through the court Registrar.

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and threw it out of the window. Fortunately for him, someone picked it and contacted policemen at Ojo, who stormed the apartment and arrested the suspects.

Police sources said a cheque of N5 million and a knife were recovered from the suspects.

NURTW, taskforce clash over traffic laws

BY MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

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AGOS—BUSINESS activities on Moshood Abiola Way (formerly

NBA crisis: CJ recalls case file

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH, ONOZURE DANIA & MICHAEL OLADEPO

money but he never fulfilled his promise.

The victims, it was gathered, took Arinze to their abode in Iba area and reportedly locked him inside a room, threatening to kill him if he failed to refund their money.

After three days in their custody, Arinze reportedly scribbled a note for help

One of the chairmanship candidates in the NBA election, Mr. Yinka Farounbi, had challenged the outcome of the May 9, 2012, election of the branch.

Justice Oke is the second judge to disqualified herself since the case which started last month. The first judge, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo, had earlier disqualified herself from hearing the suit following complaints by some of the parties. It was gathered that the decision to recall the file by the new Chief Judge may not be unconnected to a complaint by a party that the trial judge was highhanded in the matter.

Ikorodu Road), Lagos, were, yesterday, paralysed for several hours, following a clash between members of National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, and security agents over enforcement of traffic laws.

NURTW members mounted road blocks at various points to protest the impoundment of vehicles alleged to have contravened traffic laws by discharging and loading passengers indiscriminately on the axis.

Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences and Lagos State Transport Management Authority, LASTMA, had two days ago, commenced a joint enforcement of the state traffic laws against commercial vehicles operating in Ikorodu axis of the state, following a 24-hour ultimatum to desist from such act.

The men of the Taskforce,

who impounded seven vehicles during an enforcement patrol of the road, faced strong resistance, few metres away from the point of the last arrest at Ikorodu Roundabout, as members of NURTW mounted road block with two vehicles to stop the towing of their vehicles away.

Supporting the new tariff, he said: “In any event, it will still be cheaper (even with the review) than individual firms or households providing electricity through generators powered by diesel, petrol generators or LPFO. We also expect that this process would lead to the ultimate exit of the public sector in the direct management of the sector and limit itself to a purely regulatory function. However, electricity consumers should not be made to pay for inefficiency or corruption costs.''

Lagos appeals ruling on doctors' suit

BY INNOCENT ANABA

AGOS—LAGOS State Government has appealed the ruling of National Industrial Court, NIC, Lagos, which held that it had the jurisdiction to hear the suit by doctors in the state, under the Medical Guild, sacked by the state government. The doctors had since been recalled.

Trial judge, Justice Benedict Kanyip, at the lower court, had dismissed the preliminary objection by the government, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit.

Not comfortable with the ruling, the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Mr. Ade Ipaye, in the appeal before the Court of Appeal, Lagos, is asking the appellate court to set aside the decision of the lower court and strike out the suit.

At the hearing in the suit, yesterday, counsel to the doctors, informed the court that they had just been served with a notice of appeal by Lagos State Government as well as an application for stay of proceedings pending the determination of the appeal.

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Group tasks Jonathan on graft

BY DOTUN IBIWOYE BUJA—AS Nigerians await the outcome of the $620,000 bribe saga, involving House of Representatives member, Alhaji Farouk Lawan and Zenon Oil Chairman, Mr. Femi Otedola, President Goodluck Jonathan has been urged to fight corruption frontally.

A coalition of 14 civil society organisations which made the call in a statement, yesterday, in Abuja, demanded the implementation of various reports on

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corruption and public inquiries into the N1 trillion fuel subsidy scandal, the Malabu Oil deal and the allegation of $3 million bribe to doctor the fuel subsidy report.

Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Mr Auwal Rafsanjani, who is part of the coalition, said the systematic system failure had its root in the manifestation of corruption at all levels which undermines development and promotes insecurity and poverty in the country.

10—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

Ondo guber poll: ACN favours Akeredolu as Agagu's in-law joins LP

BY DAYO JOHNSON

K U R E — INDICATIONS emerged, yesterday, that the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, may have picked the former Nigerian Bar Association, President, Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, as its governorship candidate for the October 20 election in Ondo State.

This came as an in-law to the immediate past governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu and former Okitipupa Local Government chairman, Mr. Segun Ayerin and hundreds of the party’s supporters have defected to the ruling Labour Party, LP. Sources within ACN said the leaders of the party met in Lagos, yesterday, and finally

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Obasanjo's PDP faction suffers setback

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

B E O K U TA — A N Ogun State High Court sitting in Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government Area has overruled the Peoples Democratic Party’s faction loyal to former President Olusegun Obasanjo over the nomination and submission of candidates' list for the July 21 council election in the state to the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission.

The court then affirmed that the state Executive Committee of PDP led by Chief Bayo Dayo is the authentic faction thereby vesting the authority to nominate and submit a list of candidates .

Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu, who restrained PDP National Headquarters from submitting any other list of candidates apart from the one submitted by the state exco under Dayo to OGSIEC, urged the National Working Committee of the party to leave the state Executive alone into run the affairs of the party in the state.

A faction in the party believed to be loyal to Obasanjo had approached the court seeking its interpretation on whether it was the state executive of the party or the national body that had the right to nominate and submit the list of candidates for the council election in the state.

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picked Akeredolu as the party's flagbearer.

Another source said the choice of Akeredolu has been communicated to other 30 aspirants jostling for the ticket.

It was learnt that the aspirants were from five shortlisted to three before the leaders finally agreed on Akeredolu.

The three shortlisted include Akeredolu, Segun Abraham and Saka Lawal while Dr. Olu Agunloye and Professor Ajayi Boroffice were dropped by the leaders.

Vanguard learnt that the

choice of Akeredolu irked two of the aspirants, who immediately after leaving the meeting, initiated plans to join other political parties to contest for the governorship positions.

This,according to sources, was after their suggestion that instead of imposition of Akeredolu, a primary should be conducted for the most popular candidate to emerge, was rejected by the leaders. The leaders, it was gathered, insisted that the seat should be zoned to the Northern part of the state.

1 feared dead as NDLEA officials storm Ado-Ekiti

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

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DO-EKITI—ADOEKITI, capital of Ekiti State, yesterday, witnessed an unusual commotion when officials of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, allegedly shot one person in a motor park during a clamp down on some suspected drug abusers.

NDLEA officials, apparently acting on a tip-off, had stormed Ajilosun Road Motor park to clamp down on suspected drug consumers.

It was gathered that no sooner than the NDLEA officials arrived the garage in a commandostyle in search of Indian hemp consumers than they were attacked by suspected hoodlums.

This development led to sporadic shootings by the officials of the agency.

In the ensuing melee, stray bullet was said to

have hit a passenger, a development that led to commotion in the area.

This led to a traffic snarl on Ado-Ekiti/Akure highway and commuters had to make a detour to escape the logjam that lasted for several hours.

Unconfirmed report said the victim gave up the ghost after he was rushed to the hospital National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Chairman in the state, Mr. Julius Jegede, said the resistance from his men was not because they were guilty of drug abuse, but the manner in which the agency ’s officials stormed the park.

Public Relations Officer of the state Police Command, Mr. Victor Babayemi, who conformed the incident said the injured was in the hospital receiving treatment, contrary to insinuation that he died.

Osun pledges to strengthen judiciary

BY GBENGA OLARI-

NOYE

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SOGBO—OSUN State Governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, yesterday, said modern court recording systems would be acquired for all categories of courts in the state.

The governor said this at the Stakeholders’ Forum on Judicial Reforms at the state High Court auditorium in Osogbo.

Aregbesola said his administration had resolved to strengthen and make the judicial

sector in the state totally independent, attractive and a reference point for integrity, and intellectualism in the country.

Aregbesola said: “Judicial reform in our view transcends the law officers and judicial officers, the sector is unique, all workers engaged in the judicial sector need constant training and retraining, henceforth, capacity building, seminar and workshops will be organized from time to time for all category of workers.''

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012—11

ICPC recovers N627bn into Pencom account

By CALEB AYANSINA

BUJA—CIVIL ser vants in the country can now look forward to earning their retirement benefits without tears, as the Independent Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, has recovered into the retirement savings account of the National Pension Commission, the sum of N627 billion.

Head of Media of ICPC, Mr. Folu Olamiti confirmed to Vanguard, yesterday, that hitherto these funds were just hanging there

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Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State (2nd left); Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State (3rd right); Mr. Francis Evbuomwan, Commssioner for Works (right) and others during the commissioning of the newly reconstructed six-lane Akpakpava Road by Gov Obi in Benin City, yesterday.

1 killed as robbers raid LG Hq in Delta

BY GODWIN OGHRE APELE—BARELY a week after a lorry crushed a pregnant woman, the people of Oghara, headquarters of Ethiope West Local Government Area, Delta State, have again been thrown into another mourning, as daredevil robbers, numbering about 20, yesterday, invaded the town and killed a vigilante member, one Mr. Kingsley Awinore, popularly called, Aboki.

The commissioner representing Sapele, Okpe and Ethiope West Zone on the Board of Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission, DESOPADEC, Dr Henry Ofah, told Vanguard in Oghara, that the victim was shot dead close to his house, while he was returning from a rescue mission in the neighborhood, were the robbers had launched an attacked and shot sporadically for over 30

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minutes.

Ofah said the victim, who had two wives and children was a prominent member of the Oghara Vigilante group and had lived a dedicated live to the service of his community; noting that the people of Oghara would

miss his anti-robbery stance.

He noted that robberies and kidnappings had been on the increase in the community in recent times despite the heavy presence of security agencies, including, the Oghara naval headquarters, the

JTF invasion: Ayakoromo community demands pay out

BY EMMAAMAIZE

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ARRI—THIRTYSIX months after Ayakoromo community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State was invaded by the Joint Task Force, JTF, on the NigerDelta, during the manhunt for ex-militant leader, late John Togo and fighters of his Niger Delta Liberation Force, NDLF, the community has demanded compensation from the Federal Government for the scores of lives that were lost and property destroyed.

A community leader and National President of Ijaw

Peoples Development Initiative International, Mr Austin Ozobo, spoke to Vanguard on their demands, said: “We have not been adequately cared for, we were rejected, neglected and abandoned to suffer, and we are still under the agony of the ugly experience.”

He said that hundreds of persons, including men, women and children were killed in the community during the raid on the village, lamenting “After two years of the incident, the government is silent over how the victims will be

Oil theft: JTF, NIMASA commence registration of vessels, boats in N-Delta

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA ENAGOA—THE Joint Task Force, JTF, in Niger Delta codenamed Operation Pulo Shield, yesterday, said the use of unregistered vessels, barges and powered boats to perpetrate illegal bunkering in the region was the most disturbing challenge militating against efforts at eradicating crude oil theft in the region.

The commander of JTF’s Operation Pulon Shield, Major General Johnson Ochoga, disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. He

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Nigerian Police Force, MOPOL unit and army detachment in the area.

A senior police officer at the OgharaPoliceStationwhodidnot want his name in print told this reporter, that the police in Ogharawasworkinghardtotrack down the robbers.

said the development had made it difficult to identify barons behind the unending oil theft with a view to prosecuting them.

He said as a way of addressing the identified challenges and part of overall efforts of the government to tackle oil theft and other acts of economic sabotage in the region, JTF in collaboration with Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, had been directed to commence a comprehensive security documentation and registration of all vessels, barges and motorized boats operating in the region.

He said: “The exercise is expected to commence on June 26. At the end of the re-registration, a data bank of all vessels, barges and powered boats, including details of their owners will be available to aid identification of syndicates behind oil theft and subsequent prosecution.”

He noted that during the reregistration exercise, operators were expected to provide details of their vessels, barges or boats such as name of vessel, particulars, including survey certificate,particularsofownership (to include verifiable address of owners) and vessesl registration particulars.

rehabilitated and reintegrated in order to make life meaningful for them. By this, I mean payment of compensation to the families of the deceased persons, those whose property were destroyed and befitting burial for the souls of the departed."

“Up till now, normalcy had not been restored to the community. We are dying of hunger, as we cannot go to fish or farm, which is our main source of income, since our fishing materials, farm equipment and farmland were affected.

without proper documentations. He said: “the money was just hanging there, they deducted it, but don’t send it to individual accounts. The intention of leaving the monies there was not known."

Acting Chairman of ICPC, Barrister Ekpo Nta, had said earlier: "The sum of N124 billion has now been remitted to the commission’s account in addition to N503 billion being released initially into retirement savings account of civil servants nationwide on the scheme. These funds were all stranded before because of the tardiness of a few officers who

were not doing the returns of the required documentation. I had to use an enforcement order before they complied. And I can tell you that they did comply substantially now.

“We discovered that even under the new contributory pension scheme, people were having their money deducted and this money was piling up somewhere because the various ministries were not given the upto-date nominal rolls, showing the steps which official were. So they did not have this imputed to calculate the monies to be lodged in their respective retirement saving accounts”.

$111,000 fraud: Suspect kills self in EFCC custody

By OSCARLINE ONWUEMENYI

BUJA - THE Eco nomic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday, announced the death of a 52year old Italian, Mr. Mauro Zanin, a suspected fraudster, who died in custody two days before he was scheduled to appear in court.

The commission said in a statement that Zanin was found motionless in it’s detention facility in Abuja at about 4.50 am, yesterday, stressing that he had apparently committed suicide using his bed sheet.

The statement signed by the acting Head of Media and Publicity, EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said that efforts by the duty officers and a team of EFCC medical personnel led by Dr. Gideon Osi of the Commission’s Medical Unit to re-

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vive him with cardiopulmonary resuscitation proved futile, adding that he was subsequently certified dead at about 5.45 am.

The statement said that although all clues point to suicide, the incident has been reported to the Nigeria Police Station, Maitama for investigation.

The deceased was arrested by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service following a complaint by one Ahamefula Chibuzor Ewuzie that he fraudulently obtained $111,000 from Gladwaters Nigeria Limited, and transferred to the Commission on May 30, 2012 for further investigation.

The Commission had filed a five count charge against him in court and got a Wednesday, June 20, 2012 as hearing date. He was served the court papers to prepare his defence yesterday.

Rivers to cancel school projects over poor performance

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

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ORT HARCOURT— SOME contractors handling school projects for the Rivers State Government are to lose their jobs for lack of performance.

State Commissioner for Education, Dame Alice Lawrence–Nemi, yesterday, in Port Harcourt, said it was disturbing that some of the affected contractors had failed to deliver on their jobs, over a year same were awarded, adding that their jobs would be re-awarded to other serious contractors.

She said the state government will not tolerate lousiness on the part of any contractor, adding that her Ministry will deliver 200 schools for commissioning before the end of September, explaining that the schools would be in 200 communities in the state.

She said: “I am cancelling some of the contracts. The affected contractors had been on jobs, which ought to have been delivered in six months for over a year. The Ministry will not encourage this kind of attitude among contractors handling its

projects.”

She blamed lack of commitment to projects on part of some contractors for the failure of some government projects in the country. She said as Commissioner, she had been in a situation where she had to come hard on contractors for them to do their job.

She said 53 students of the state origin on university scholarship in Russia would graduate this week in courses such as engineering, medicine among others, adding that another batch of 143 students in Malaysia would graduate next month.

12 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State presenting a souvenir to Chairman of Ogbum-Na-Abali community, Prince Theophilus Owhondah, during a visit by chiefs and elders of the community to the Governor at Government House, Port Harcourt, Tuesday.

Gunmen abduct wife of prominent Rivers' lawyer

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

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ORT HARCOURT— G U N M E N , yesterday, abducted the wife of Mr. Ifedayo Adedipe, SAN, close to Rumuodomaya area of Obio

Akpo Local Government Area of Rivers State According to eyewitnesses, the gunmen numbering about four, forced open Mrs Ifedayo’s car to a spot on Woshikem Street, adding that they

immediately ordered her to come down. The witnesses said the men shot sporadically into the air to wade off any resistance before disappearing with her in their saloon car.

Ifedayo is a prominent lawyer in the state.

Amaechi restates commitment to tackle unemployment

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ORT HARCOURT— Rivers State Governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, has restated his administration’s commitment to continue to create jobs to tackle unemployment in the state.

Amaechi spoke when the Chairman and members of the Ogbum-Na-Abali Community Council paid him a courtesy visit at Government House, Port Harcourt. He said: “There are different ways we are trying to improve on employment and create more jobs, one is in the area of agriculture. You should

ensure that your children are prepared to participate when we advertise for people to be engaged in farming and other agricultural activities.”

“We are rehabilitating Risonpalm. We are establishing 2,000 hectares of banana farm in Ogoni area. There is supposed to be about 3000 hectares of cocoa and other crop farms in Etche and several fish farms here and there. So your children should be ready to participate in these agricultural activities”

Passage

Activist warns against church bombings to deal decisively with

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-

YOUNG ARRI—NIGER Delta activist and Labour Party, LP, chieftan, Mr. Adanse Felix, yesterday, warned that the incessant bomb attacks on churches and Christians in Northern Nigeria, could plunge the country into a war that may disintegrate the country.

Reacting to Sunday’s bomb attacks on churches in Kaduna, Felix called on the Federal Government to develop the political will

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He told the council of chiefs that his administration would also immortalise prominent sons of the Ogbum-Na-Abali Community, who though dead would be remembered for their contributions to the development of Rivers State.

“I agree with you that your children should be immortalized, I agree with you, both late Chief Nwobidike Nwonodi and late Chief Emmanuel Aguma should be immortalised,” he said.

the situation, adding “these attacks cannot divorce this marriage instituted by the British colonial masters.

"But if it is the will of God that the country should split into four or six different nations, then so be it. I urge Nigeria’s leader to urgently convoke the much touted Sovereign National Conference to enable Nigerians freely decide on either to stay a united indivisible Nigeria state or split as being canvassed by the Boko Haram."

RS. JANET Emetejera Aramana, one time fish seller in former Okoloba Market now Boundary Market, popularly called Mama Pius , 84, is dead.

Christian wake-keep and burial arrangement will be announced later. She is survived by children and grand children among whom is Mr. Pius Aramana.

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Late Janet Aramana

Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012—13

Obi condemns Kaduna bombings

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

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WKA—GOVERNOR Peter Obi of Anambra State, has condemned last Sunday’s multiple bombing of churches in Kaduna State, describing the act as the worst form of man’s inhumanity to man and society.

Obi wondered why any person who loved peace and progress could resort to attacking the sacred part of the society.

The governor said it was

DONATION—Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Mohamed Abubakar (2nd left); Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State (2nd right); his deputy, Sir Emeka Ananaba (right) and AIG Solomon Olusegun incharge of zone 9 (left), during donation of vehicles to the Police in Umuahia.

PDP's 12-yr rule in Imo, collosal disaster—Okorocha

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA WERRI—IMO State Governor, Chief Ro-

O

chas Okorocha, has accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of stalling development of the state in

the past 12 years.

Okorocha, who levelled the accusation against the PDP when he played host

...blames falling standard of education on govt take over of schools

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

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Says APGA serving interest of Ndigbo to political stakeholders from Ehime Mbano local council area of the state, also insisted that there was no tangible thing the state could boast of in the 12 years of PDP administration.

“PDP’s 12-year rule is a colossal disaster. All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, is an Igbo political party, serving as an Igbo man’s identity”, Okorocha said.

Explaining his stance, the governor said every tribe in the country had a political party it identified with; stressing that Ndigbo should not be an exception.

While saying that he was one of the founding members of PDP, as well as paid for the party’s first office in Abuja, the governor however, said he had solid reasons for leaving the PDP. Okorocha said he had blocked avenues through which Imo funds trickled into the private pockets of godfathers, adding that he was facing opposition because of this singular act.

regrettable that while President Goodluck Jonathan was striving hard to transform the country, some people were bent on ruining it and reminded the perpetrators of the dastardly act that they were hurting the society where their children were living and called on them to have a re-think.

He condoled with the governor of Kaduna State, Dr. Patrick Yakoma, encouraging him not to relent in seeking peace.

WKA—GOVERNOR Peter Obi of Anambra State has said the government take over of schools from the missionaries after the Nigerian civil war, contributed to the fallen standard of education in the country.

The governor who spoke while inspecting some secondary schools in Onitsha, explained that it was to ensure that education returned to its pride of place that informed his adminis-

tration’s decision to return schools to their original owners.

He said the state government would soon commence rebuilding of structures in some secondary schools in the state, beginning with Ado Girls Secondary School in Onitsha.

According to the governor, his visit to the school was in response to a text message he received from the senior prefect of the school, Miss Cynthia Anayo Anim, who expressed sadness on the level of the school’s dilapidation.

Orji gives N1.5m to 15 corps members

BY ANAYO OKOLI

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MUAHIA—GOVER NOR Theodore Orji of Abia State, has given N1.5 million to 15 NYSC corps members who passed out last week for distinguishing themselves where they did their primary assignment with each receiving N100, 000.

Giving out the money, Orji said it was not easy to select the 15 outstanding members out of many, saying the corps members who were honoured deserved the honour for rendering great service to the state.

Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Prof Mkpa Agu Mkpa, the governor said, “What you people have done for the state is unquantifiable, as you have through your work lifted the state to a great height, we will not forget your good works to the state. You are free to come here anytime any day, as it is now your home. Please feel free to come back and stay, as our people will always accept you, because your good works will always speak for you.”

Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway worsens

BY ANAYO OKOLI M UAHIA —THE Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway has continued to deteriorate on a daily basis exposing motorists and other road users to grave danger.

A good portion of the road, between Okigwe and Ofeme in Umuahia North Local Government Area has failed, making it near

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impassable, especially when it rains.

The situation has forced motorists to use other roads such as Isiukwuato-Uturu road or through MbanoUmunna-Okigwe road.

Besides, hoodlums often capitalize on the bad spots to attack unsuspecting motorists and commuters.

The bad state of the road has also caused several accidents as motorists drive

against traffic to maneuver out of the failed potions.

However, to check the activities of hoodlums, soldiers and policemen are stationed in some spots on the road.

Worst affected are the Ofeme axis in Abia State and Arondizuogu axis in Imo state, as well as the Cattle Market at Lokpanta in Umunneochi, also in Abia state.

14—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

From left; Marketing Manager, La Casera Company Ltd, Mr. Abraham Benson; MD, Brand Footprint Communications, Mr Otis Ojeikhoa and Chief Operating Officer, La Casera, Mr Prahlad Gangadharan during presentation of Car prize to Miss La Casera 2012, Anthoinette Igebu in Lagos. Photo: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor.

AWARD—From left; Ms Evelyn Oputu, Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Industry, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Innoson Group and Mr. Galib Virani of Afren International during presenting of Commonwealth Business Council award to Chief Chukwuma in London.

UNN cancels post-UTME as candidates kick

BY TONY EDIKE

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NUGU—TENSION heightened at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, yesterday, as the post-UTME screening test which began Monday was cancelled midway by the a u t h o r i t i e s .

Candidates seeking admission into the Faculties of Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences had written the test late into Monday night while those for Social Sciences were to write the test yesterday.

They had already seated for the examination when a directive came from the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Bartho Okolo, that they should vacate the hall as the exercise had been suspended.

Although the university’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Gabriel Ndu, told Vanguard that “the screening test was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances”, it was gathered that the development followed reports that the question papers for the test were allegedly leaked to some of the students by an unidentified staff of the university.

The candidates who received the news with rude shock, threatened a showdown with the authorities but security operatives calmed the situation.

The angry candidates lamented that the indefinite shifting of the exam would expose them to serious c h a l l e n g e s .

According to one of them, “we were already seated for the test when they asked us to go that it would not hold again. From what we heard, they said the questions leaked. Why should such thing be allowed to happen in a university like t h i s ? ” Another candidate lamented that the development had exposed most of C M Y K

the candidates to untold hardship as they could not ascertain whether to wait or return to their homes. ”I paid for a hotel room and

I was supposed to vacate tomorrow. With this development, I don’t know what to do because I don’t have money to pay for another

day in the hotel; they have not even told us when the test will hold, so all of us are confused”, the female candidate said.

Collapsed building injures 7 in Ebonyi

BY PETER OKUTU BAKALIKI—NO few er than 21 persons yesterday escaped death by the whiskers after a two-storey building under construction c o l l a p s e d .

It was alleged that substandard materials used in

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the construction of the building which occurred at Mater Misericordae Hospital Afikpo, Ebonyi State, was responsible for the collapsed.

The collapsed building is allegedly owned by the Catholic Church.

Vanguard gathered that

Police arrest 9 suspected cultists in Enugu

BY TONY EDIKE

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NUGU—ENUGU State Police Command yesterday, said nine persons suspected to be members of secret cults had been

Jonathan tasks S-East govs on education

BY TONY EDIKE

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NUGU—PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, launched the Federal Government’s “Back-To-School” campaign with a charge on the South-East governors to address access to education within one year.

The President, who was represented by the Minister of Education, Prof Ruqyyatu Rufai Ahmed, directed that quality schools should be constructed in the zone to carter for the large population of children who would return to school under the prog r a m m e .

a p p r e h e n d e d .

The police said items recovered from the suspects included one mask, two rounds of AK47 live ammunition, one ECOWAS passport, one double barrel short gun, one cut to size double-barrel short gun, one wrap of Indian Hemp, 27 live cartridges, one Jetta car with registration no ENU 67 AA and other valuables suspected to have been stolen from their victims.

A statement by the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, said the arrest followed information received by the security operatives after the shooting and killing of one Onuoha Collins Ugochukwu of Naiko Hotel Awkunanaw, Enugu.

that no life was lost in the incident, but some workers including labourers, masons sustained various degrees of injuries and are now receiving treatment in the hospital.

Recounting his ordeal, one of the workers, Mr. Francis Eluu said, “I was in the building with the concrete I was carrying on the head when I started hearing sound then I ran for my dear life but before I could escaped, rubble fell on my back and injured me seriously. So, out 21 of us working at the site, seven sustained serious injuries while others escaped.”

Lagos socialite, Angela Onyeador dies in USA LEGANT Lagos so cialite, Ms. Angela Onyeador has died. She died in a US hospital on Sunday.

Born to the Onyeador family of Arochukwu, Abia State, she attended Shell Camp primary school, Rivers State before proceeding

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to Queens College, Lagos.

Also, she attended the University College London where she graduated with a degree in Psychology. She was a pioneer of beauty pageants in Nigeria. A public relations expert, Angela also contributed to arts development in Nigeria.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012—15

Northern leaders have case to answer on Boko Haram— Iwuanyanwu

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI BUJA—AN event or ganised in honour of the retiring Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, in Abuja, yesterday, took a different dimension, after a member of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and publisher of Champions Newspaper Ltd, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, urged the Federal Government to hold northern leaders responsible for the increasing spate of violence by the Boko Haram Islamist sect.

Iwuanyanwu, who presided over the presentation of a book entitled Tit-Bits of Advocacy, dedicated to Justice Musdapher by the Imo Law Publishers, in his speech, said: “Boko Haram problem cannot be solved by killing or shooting people. It can only be solved by the leaders in the areas where they operate.

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“The massive killings must stop. Nigerians must feel free to travel to various parts of the country without fear. Nigerians must worship their God according to their faith without fear of being killed or bombed in their places of worship.”

He warned that if the violent trend was not promptly curtailed, reprisal attacks from other ethnic or religious groups would occasion chaos and may threaten the continued existence of the country which he described as “the pride of the black race.”

He said: “MASSOB has a lot of capacity for destruction, but we, the leaders intervened and called them to order. We have been able to explain to them that their aspirations can be met without violence, bloodshed, massacre or bombing of any Nigerian citizen.

“It is on record that there has been no violence in any of the states neither at the national level because the leadership in the South-

East has been able to keep them under control.

“Boko Haram problem cannot be solved by killing or shooting people.

The leaders must call them to order. The problem of Boko Haram cannot be solved by Federal Government alone.

“It can only be solved by the leaders from the areas where they reside. The leaders must emphasise to them the benefit we gain by living together as brothers and sisters.

“I do not agree with some people who justify killing innocent people because people are unemployed or poor. All over the world, including the rich advanced countries, there are poor people, there are unemployed people.

“I sincerely appeal to Boko Haram for a ceasefire, while allowing the leaders and elders from the various states and zones where they operate to have dialogue with them. I also appeal to the Federal Govern-

ment, as a reciprocal gesture, to stop the use of the military in handling this matter because of the great risk of killing innocent citizens in the process.”

We're ready for dialogue, Borno cries out Meanwhile, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, who was represented at the event by his deputy, Alhaji Zanna Mustapha, spurned the argument around, alleging that some Christians are equally members of the Boko Haram sect.

Though he decried the growing level of insecurity in Borno State owing to the terrorist activities of the sect, he maintained that it was wrong for some persons to portray the sect as killing only Christians, saying, “we should be careful about whatever we say about this sect. They have killed over 101of our Muslim brothers and equally destroyed several mosques.

“We have seen a situation where a person answering to the name John was

caught as a result of his involvement with the Boko Haram. So it is not an issue of religion. Where is the man that was recently caught with explosives at the Radio House? Where is he today and who knows his name?

“We have been in dilemma for the past 380 days since we assumed office in Borno State due to the activities of Boko Haram, which has spread to states like Yobe, Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi among other northern states.

“Please and please, for those who know them and those who can get in touch with them, let them come forward. The people of my state are ready for dialogue.

“However, it should be seen in the light of what was happening in the Niger Delta during the days of late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

“I call on the Federal Government to support the various state governments towards finding a lasting solution to the problem.”

Meanwhile, the CJN,

who sat quietly through the debate, expressed his gratitude to the publishers of the book, saying though “books of this nature that examine the life and legacy of a person are typically written posthumously. But Allah has given me the opportunity to witness it in my lifetime.

“At this point, I crave your indulgence to digress a little and use this opportunity to offer a few words of advice to members of the legal profession. Despite societal pressures and distractions, we must remain steadfast and focused in the discharge of our duties.

Judges must remain incorruptible and lawyers must continue to pursue the course of truth as we are all ministers in the temple of justice.

“We are the trustees of the law and the hope of the common man rests upon us. We should not by our shortcomings or self-interest, shatter this hope. We must reignite passion for our profession and rededicate ourselves to the protection of the constitution and our democracy.”

I'm not in possession of $620,000 bribe money—Rep

BY OKEY NDIRIBE & EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

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BUJA—CHAIRMAN of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes, Mr. Jagaba Adams Jagaba, has denied knowledge of the $620,000 alleged bribe money said to be in his custody.

Former Chairman of the House's subsidy committee Mr. Farouk Lawan, had said he kept the money

with him.

In a letter dated June 19, addressed to Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, Jagaba said: “I wish to categorically and unequivocally state that there was never a time I was in possession of the sum of 620,000 dollars or any other exhibits (in my personal capacity or official capacity as Chairman of the House Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes) relating to the subject matter of the

above investigation.

“I hope this explanation lays to rest once and for all the claims that I or my committee is in possession of the sum 620,000 dollars purportedly given as bribe to the Ad-hoc Committee on Monitoring of Fuel Subsidy Regime.”

Jagaba’s letter, entitled Re-Investigation Activities: Request for Handing Over of Exhibits in Connection With a Case of Criminal Conspiracy and Taking Gratification to Prevent the Course of Justice, was in response to another letter from Tambuwal directing Jagaba to react to the claim.

The Speaker had forwarded a letter from the IGP, Mohammed Abubakar, to Jagaba for his reaction, and subsequent action of the Speaker, on the $620,000 exhibit and other evidence that may be of use to the investigation.

16—Vanguard , WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

Boko Haram: FG's ‘cavalier’ attitude won't work, says CAN Oritsejafor decries Kaduna reprisal attacks

BY EMEKA MAMAH HRISTIAN Association of Nigeria, CAN, has blamed the inability of the Federal Government to find lasting solution to the Boko Haram phenomenon on what it described as its “cavalier” approach to the problem.

CAN said statements credited to President Goodluck Jonathan and other top officials of his administration after each attack “even if unwit-

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tingly, seem to have cast a hallmark of weakness on his presidency and an escalation of the terrorist acts.”

CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, in a statement entitled The Kaduna/Zaria Suicide Bombings by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Kenny Ashaka, yesterday, said: “President of CAN is once more saddened by another series of blasts in Kaduna and Zaria and the latest one in Damaturu,

Yobe State, which came on the heels of the three simultaneous bomb attacks on churches in Wusasa, Sabon Gari in Zaria and Trikania in Kaduna.

“He is equally saddened by the reprisal attacks that followed. The bombings are clear indications that the Jamaatu Alhlisunnah Lidda’awatiwal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, has declared war on Christians and Christianity in Nigeria.

“In fact, the pattern of bombings and gun attacks

... as Aliyu proffers solution to security challenges

BY WOLE MOSADOMI

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INNA—GOVERNOR Babangida Aliyu of Niger State has suggested that the only way of stemming the current security challenges is to checkmate mischief makers who hide under religion to create disunity among Nigerians and isolate them from the society.

Aliyu, who spoke at the opening ceremony of a workshop on Coaching and Mentoring for Performance, jointly organised by the state government and the Industrial Training Fund, ITF, also vowed not to give room for trouble-makers whose intentions are to incite others in place of preaching love for one another and peaceful co-existence.

He said: “Even if it is a Pastor or an Imam that is going about to incite

their people, we will isolate them because we want peace and development in our country and Niger State in particular.

“We should pray together in one place and not building mosques close to another. We will no longer condone the building of worship centres until we regulate them.”

‘Boko Haram not sole culprit' Governor Aliyu argued that the problems facing Nigeria today are cumulative and should not be blamed solely on members of the Islamist group, Boko Haram, even though they claim responsibility to most of the attacks.

Niger State replicates the heterogeneity of the country which entails respect and recognition for the two major religion; Is-

lam and Christianity, Governor Aliyu remarked, adding that the state government has maintained neutrality as a way of guaranteeing peaceful coexistence among all.

As a way of checking trouble makers hiding under religion to cause mischief in the state, Governor Aliyu said, “In Niger State, we will isolate anybody or group of persons who provoke people to cause problems. We are ready to accept only those who mean well for the development of our state.”

He also warned that the state will no longer condone corruption in all sectors of the economy, especially among the state workforce, saying “those who retired as corrupt workers are neither better nor richer than those without dents.”

suggest to us a systematic religious cleansing, which reminds Christians of the genesis of a Jihad.”

Oritsejafor said the Federal Government should “not behave like a man who stepped into a pitch dark room, straining his eyes to catch a reflection of the smile on his face in a mirror.

“Switch on the light in the room or step out into the light, as switching on the light would mean the completion of the good works the National Assembly has started.”

He added: “Before last Sunday’s reprisals, we had reminded the Federal Government that what was happening to Christians in the northern part of this country is an inescapable invitation to jungle justice and anarchy.

“Since July 26, 2009 when the sect members had their first clash with security agencies in Bauchi till today, Nigerians, particularly Christians, have been subjected to a kind of surrealistic existence.

“Since these terrorist acts began, nothing the President, Dr. Jonathan has done has assured that the end to this spate of bombings and gun attacks is in sight.

“What appears more worrisome is the management of the crisis by the President in whose hands the security of lives and property of Nigerians are. Indeed, the management is cavalier in approach as officials at the highest levels send out conflicting signals about strategy.”

Calls for state of emergency in Kaduna wicked— Yakowa

BY HENRY UMORU BUJA— G O V E R NOR Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State has described as wicked and malicious call on President Goodluck Jonathan to impose a state of emergency rule in the state.

The governor said the move was an attempt to destroy the state politically, which was capable of complicating the security challenges presently facing the state.

He advised the Federal Government not to allow it to be misled, especially against the backdrop that people will conclude that there was political motive to the bombings.

In a statement by the External Media Consultant to the governor, Mr. Emmanuel Ado in Abuja yesterday, Yakowa

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Ignorance increasing sickle cell cases— Don

BY TAYE OBATERU

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OS—INTENDING couples who are carriers of the sickle cell genotype have been advised to save themselves of a lifetime of headache by not going ahead with the marriage.

According to a university don, Dr. Sylvanus Okpe, ignorance remained the greatest inhibition to the campaign against the disease as many Nigerians do not even know the difference between blood group and genotype.

He spoke, yesterday, at a sickle cell awareness program organised by a non-government organisation, Value 4 Life Initia-

tive, to mark the World Sickle Cell Day. He regretted that despite spirited campaigns, some intending couples still go ahead with marriage without going for the necessary genotype test to determine their compatibility.

He said: “It is purely ignorance that is leading to the increasing spread of sickle cell anaemia, because the solution is simple.

“If two intending couples are carriers, there is no need to subject themselves to lifelong torture because the likelihood of having one or more of their children with Sickle Cell Anaemia, SCA, is higher.

By Bartholomew Madukwe

PEOPLE SPEAK

08102479985

stressed that the issues that have led to the spate of bombings were national and not local in nature and content.

Ado said: “Governor Patrick Yakowa has governed Kaduna State with the fear of God, justice and fairness and will continue to do so, because that is the only guarantee for peace and security.

“This is because Governor Yakowa is a Christian; the first from the south.

Any state of emergency is bound to generate further crisis.”

Yakowa explained that what was needed now should be concerted efforts by all men of goodwill to help resolve the crisis confronting the country with a view to bringing about enduring peace and the needed unity.

(nwamad@yahoo.com)

What's your take on the subsidy probe scandal?

T is very dicey. But the truth is that in Nigeria we are known to be corrupt generally. The people we look up for guidance— executive, legislature and judiciary— are not helping matters. This is a dent on our democracy.—Ms. Uduma Charity, Lawyer.

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T seems corruption cannot be abolished in Nigeria. This issue mus be properly investigated and the result of the investigation made available to the public. As for the culprits, let the law catch up with them.—Mr. Ajiboye Sunday, Musicologist.

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OTH the alleged giver and receiver of bribe are guilty and ought to be punished.

The giver had something in mind. If not that the giver was probably disappointed, nobody would have heard about it.—Mr. Chijioke Okons, Showbiz Person.

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T is just a display of our political and economic decay. Those we trusted are hitting us below the belt and pouring the mud right in our faces. Both the giver of bribe and the receiver are equally guilty. —Mr. Vitus Ekenomeoma, Businessman.

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HOSE who got the subsidy money have eaten it. No matter what is said, Nigerians are yet to see any benefit of the subsidy removal. Rather, what we are hearing is bribe here and there. Who is deceiving who?—Mr. Chukwudi Okafor, Car Dealer.

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OME Nigerians have always had a way of showing that they are untouchable. Mr. President should show his commitment by publicising the names of all those who are involved in these manipulations, irrespective of their status.—Mr. Israel Bright, Musician.

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Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012— 17 “An ugly life is still preferable to a beautiful funeral” -Kathrine Hepburn WELL-DIGGER makes progress only by digging himself further into the ground, until he reaches water.

Sometimes, he goes so deep into the earth that by the time he strikes water, he is too deep. Climbing up, or being pulled up and out of the well becomes a very hazardous affair and by the time he is out it seems as if it really wasn’t worth all the trouble. It is even worse when he digs to dangerous depths, only to find that there is no water at the bottom. Watching the House of Representatives’ outing last week Friday over the fuel subsidy saga and scandal, Nigerians must feel like the well digger who dug deep into the earth, but is unsure over the quality of water he struck, or even if it is water.

To abandon the digging will amount to wasted effort. To dig deeper may yield more impure water, and jeopardise his life.

is that the report is tainted beyond redemption. Far from redressing the damage by the House through the public relations stunt of re-listing Otedola’s companies, the act merely calls into question the credibility of all other findings and recommendations in the report. The infamy of instructing the House to de-list the two companies in the first place by Farouk has exposed other members of the committee (which for some curious reason is still there, intact, even though its report has been presented and accepted) will not be obliterated by the bravado and seeming defiance of the House’s decision to re-list. Why should anyone believe that Otedola was the only one asked to give bribes, or who actually gave? Why should anyone believe that subsequent work on the report will be conducted with

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he grand dreams that the fire President Jonathan lit when he said removing subsidy on petroleum products will liberate the economy from the grip of waste and corruption which is the subsidy policy went up in flames when allegations of corrupt practices by chairman of the House Ad Hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy, Farouk Lawal began to filter. It is reasonable to assume that even President Jonathan himself had no inkling over the effect which his insistence to remove subsidy and “free” trillions of Naira being wasted around it will generate. Nigerians demanded evidence that the subsidy was wasted.

Ministers reeled out statistics and figures that contradicted each other and shocked the nation. CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi rolled out figures that suggested that the subsidy policy and regime was costing the nation far much more than it was worth. Subtle hints at the absence of transparency and waste became loud howls against unprecedented plunder of our resources around the subsidy policy.

Having cried wolf, the President could not retreat and protect the interests involved in the subsidy regime. He got half of what he wanted, which was a lower subsidy level, even though no one was sure exactly what was the actual level of subsidy we paid for. But the President and the powerful interests involved in the subsidy policy were left dangerously exposed to the intense scrutiny of organised labour, a mobilised and articulate civil society and an enraged citizenry which wanted to know much more than was healthy for an administration with intimate relationship with many of the key players in the saga. The penalty for higher pump price was that the clamour for an investigation over the embarrassing exposés and improvements in the levels of transparency in the oil and gas sector had to be addressed.

Enter the National Assembly, with its well-honed instinct for opportunity.

The House of Representatives’ initiative had much promise. Its hearings had all the ingredients of serious business: a legislator with a carefully-cultivated image for uprightness; openness, television cameras and carefully choreographed media engagements that hinted at attempts to compromise the probe. It was vintage National Assembly: strong muscle; an eye to public acclaim; trial C M Y K

by television and massive activity away from television cameras. Within a few weeks, the nation was told that findings, (arrived at after incredible pressure were resisted) show that a few companies have swindled us of trillions of Naira; that they are known; and that the President will be asked to commence prosecution. Nigerians thought they had their pound of flesh from multi billionaires who have been exposed by a few brave men and women.

But the cartel also knew the terrain well, and had an intimate knowledge of the legislature and its weaknesses.

It was not going to roll over and submit to a public relations exercise which had the potential to cause them massive inconvenience. Since the Presidency appeared powerless to protect the major players in the subsidy saga, they would adopt their own do-it-yourself strategy. They would have known, as key players in a

,

Grand dreams in flames

Progress of the well-digger

Rep.Farouk Lawal even in televised events. Many public officials or other persons who relate with committees of the legislature

As matters stand, Nigerians need to demand that President Jonathan sets up a Judicial Panel of Enquiry on Fuel Subsidy, which should investigate the entire policy, its practice, the Farouk Lawal report and the bribery saga. Many Nigerians will scoff at this idea, given the deep distrust – much of it justified – over all institutions of state. But whatever reservations we have over having a judicial investigation, it is better than having a severely compromised report moving back and forth between the executive and legislature, which may be precisely what those who subverted it want

political system where huge resources from the private sector are mobilised to fund electoral campaigns and weaken regulatory mechanisms of government, that the legislature was vulnerable and available. The committee system of the legislature creates pockets of massive influence, and weak points in a system which is difficult to penetrate from outside. A deal struck at the committee level, or a decision or recommendation is hardly questioned or overruled. Chairmen of committees are extremely powerful people, and members yield them much ground to negotiate or relate to objects of probes or targets of oversight. On the whole, the public sees very little of what is actually done by committees,

A judicial panel of enquiry on fuel subsidy

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prefer to keep sealed lips over the experience, but in private, they do not hold up the institution as the beacon of integrity. With stakes sky high, either the desperation of the subsidy cartel or the greed and assured confidence of the legislators was to threaten to compromise the outcome of the probe. They did, and we still do not know how badly.

Report tainted beyond redemption

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higher levels of integrity with everyone else in place except Farouk? Why should President Jonathan take the National Assembly serious when it demands that he forwards its report to law enforcement agencies for action?

Why should we have faith that law enforcement agencies which collaborated with Otedola to ensnare Farouk will be fair and dispassionate in investigating and possibly prosecuting cases? If ten or more importers come forward to claim that bribes were demanded, will that torpedo the entire report or would it still retain some value?

he report of Farouk Lawal’s committee is now not worth the paper it is written on. In spite of all the efforts being made to distance the report itself from Farouk, the bitter truth

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s matters stand, Nigerians need to demand that President Jonathan sets up a Judicial Panel of Enquiry on Fuel Subsidy, which should investigate the entire policy, its practice, the Farouk Lawal report and the bribery saga. Many Nigerians will scoff at this idea, given the deep distrust – much of it justified – over all institutions of state. But whatever reservations we have over having a judicial investigation, it is better than having a severely compromised report moving back and forth between the executive and legislature, which may be precisely what those who subverted it want. Whatever happens, we must not end up like the well digger who digs himself into the bowels of the earth and finds no water, and then is unable to come up. The President may not set up a judicial panel on his own volition.

The National Assembly will not abandon the Farouk Lawal report (as amended) on its own volition. So Nigerians should demand for what can be done with some credibility, because this scam must be paid for, and not with bribes.

18 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY JUNE 20, 2012 EXCHANGE by its accepted nature is a two-way traffic with possible diversions.

There is giving, there is taking. Where the Stock Exchange is involved, investors give their money in exchange for shares in organisations of their choice.

Matters are not that simple as the exchanges at the House of Representatives investigation into the crash of the capital market is showing.

The exchanges are clear departures from the concerns of Nigerians, which centre on why the capital market crashed. What went wrong?

Could the situation have been redeemed?

Would it happen again?

Exchanges between Miss Arunma Oteh, Director- General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, and Dr. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, former Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, are closer to theatre than reality. People want answers to questions about how their shares acquired less value than sheets of paper.

Thousands of investors, lured to the Exchange by the huge dividends companies paid, thought someone was watching over their investments. When the Exchange

A stuck Exchange crashed, they expected someone would accept responsibility, particularly for the sheer looting through some of the banks.

Failure of the Stock Exchange was worse than the bank failures of 1994. The shares not only crashed, some investors suffered a double loss. Banks in which they had investments died through marginal loans that gave impression of high activity at the Exchange. The manipulations of the market with those loans deceived investors.

The Exchange acquired plaudits from global market experts on its growth. SEC acquiesced as the malpractices went on, possibly, it was clueless about them, including acquisition of quoted banks without considering investors.

What worries most people is the trend at the

House hearing. What will this hearing achieve? When will the exchanges get to causes of the collapse of the capital market?

Should that not be the focus of the hearing?

For a nation that scandals no longer shock, cataloguing who stole what and who did not leads nowhere close to resurrecting the Exchange. Yet it may be reasonable to know why an Exchange would reward anyone with a time-piece worth more than N1 million which Nigeria does not manufacture.

Wastes abound in our systems. One way of punishing deliberate waste and the attendant criminality is stringent laws that are no respecters of personalities. The operational procedures of many organisations need standardisation to be proper guides against misconducts.

If the House hearing achieves these, it would have gone far in freeing the Exchange from factors holding it captive. The collapse of the banks through marginal loans is not a trifle matter. No investigation of the capital market is complete without it.

Enough of the theatre, the House should ask real questions for real answers.

OPINION

BY EDDIE ONUZURUIKE

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BIA State is a case study.’ The statement came from no lesser authority than the number one crime buster of Nigeria , Alhaji M D Abubakar- the Acting Inspector General of Nigeria Police during his recent visit to Abia as he was received at the hallowed Executive Chamber, Government House Umuahia.

According to the Chambers dictionary, a case study is ‘a study based on the analysis of one or more cases or case histories’.

The Wikipedia further elucidates that ‘in a case study, nearly every aspect of the subject’s life and history is analyzed to seek patterns, and causes for the behavior. The hope is that learning gained from studying one case could be generalised to others’.

Abia is certainly a case study having gone through the throes of a harrowing criminal experience, forcing the Governor, Dr. T. A. Orji and his spin masters to dance where Angels refused to tread.

We are all aware and living witnesses of what happened in Abia generally and Aba and its environs particularly.

It came to a point when kidnapping was chronicled on daily basis. People were heartlessly kidnapped, school children were abducted without sympathy, clergymen and their worshippers picked up like puppies and the congregation popeyed, cried to high heavens, forcing people to ask if God was aware of all these. To add insult to injury, the unimaginable ransom demanded and paid was no guarantee that the captives will walk home freely and in record time too. They did not spare anybody as frail grandmothers and fathers were viciously forced into the boots of vehicles and others tossed like coins off speeding cars.

The press did not make things easy as they made exceptional reportage of Abia cases as if they were paid to publicise kidnapping or write other gruesome and scintillating details of crimes in Abia.

Abia: How easy we forget As this went on, it became personal as all blames were heaped on the Abia government which worked relentlessly in all intents and purposes to arrest the kidnap epidemic. The number of Police personnel was reinforced and equipment doubled to stave off the midday horrors. Big cash was doled out to recruit informants all to no avail as new cases took the headlines. To worsen a bad situation, a fierce detachment of police in Aba was ambushed, and the police armoured personnel carrier set ablaze.

The Abia vigilante group which at inception foiled so many cases became overwhelmed and cajoled by the kidnappers who saw their criminal profile rising by the hour.

Chief T. A. Orji resorted to prayers, asking God to give him the wisdom to overcome the great trial and tribulations. Help actually came but not too soon. As it is said, for every hard condition there is equally a harsh solution. When the going gets tough the tough keeps going. It is not as if His Excellency was totally ignorant of the area from which the hottest salvos were fired because he constantly said it that there is a political undertone as some people in Abia were buying into the crime situation to overheat the polity, make government the scapegoat and Ochendo the fall guy. The criminals who abducted the journalists at the boarders of Akwa Ibom and Abia revealed their intent when they alleged that the Governor was their problem but many scarcely knew how.

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aving spent millions in purchasing hundreds of vehicles, communication equipment and other security gadgets for the police, legal means were equally employed as an Executive bill was sent to the Assembly which had easy passage, making kidnapping a capital offence. Rather than abating, kidnapping increased, the kidnappers dared the Governor to take his best

shot.

Governor Orji, the diplomat, while avoiding carnage, still went ahead to scheme Abia into the Federal Government amnesty to Niger-Delta militants, causing a camp to be set up at Asa High School in Ukwa West Local Government Area.

A few accepted, came out of the bush and laid down their arms.

But the hardened ones who could not forgo the high profit netting of kidnapping and allied crimes, and convinced by their patrons refused to drop arms but rather sacked some villages in Ugwuati and built their camp where they lived like mafia bosses, Columbian drug barons like Pablo Escobar and Latin-American potentates all put together. As the saying goes, ‘every day for the thief, and one day for the owner of the house'.

Ochendo having been pushed to the wall pushed his presidential button and soldiers came, and in a rare show of courage, he, living up to most of his chieftaincy titles like Ahwakwuru, Ebekuo Dike, accompanied the soldiers in an operation that dislodged Osisikankwu, the notorious kidnapper and his followers from their camps.

This story is a well-known one to Abians but as humans, we forget too soon. We have forgotten that Aba , despite the people's show of bravado, was deserted. We forget that churches went into a nondenominational aggregation and embarked on joint fasting and prayers for help from above. We forget that banks in Aba closed, and bankers wore sackcloth in protest. We have forgotten that most law-abiding citizens in Aba, out fear, negotiated deals with men of the underworld and gave payoffs in advance. Others who couldn’t stand these criminal elements, parked their cars in their neighbour’s garage and disguised as grandfathers, rode on bicycles and ferried on cranky motorcycles to their villages.

Abia is and will continue to be a case study to criminologists and crime busters and it took the IG of the police to remind us. *Mr. Onuzuruike, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Umuahia, Abia State.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012—19

, N case you’re wondering about the title of this piece, worry no further. A part of it comes from a political character in Wole Soyinka’s long playing record, Unlimited Liability Company that was released to caricature the graft, sleaze and corrupt ways of politicians of Nigeria’s so-called Second Republic, especially the ruling National Party of Nigeria, in 1983. In response to calls for probe of the rot that had entered the affairs of the country in those years of ‘austerity measures’, when the ports were jammed with cargoes of imported rice and Umaru Dikko reasoned that Nigerians were not poor as they were yet to start scavenging from waste dumps- in those days when Nigerian politicians managed to live on unearned wealth amidst crushing poverty across the country and there were calls for probe of corruption in high places, a character in the Soyinka LP, one who somehow lives in my imagination as a caricature of Umaru Dikko, the powerful Minister of Transport in the Shagari administration, responds

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with the promise that he would ‘probe and unrobe until they beg me to stop’. He was ready to give Nigerians as many probes as they demand. This is yet another season of probes in our land and, not entirely out of character, our politicians have been probing- and some, it appears, are on the cusp of being ‘unrobed’, snared in the very trap with which they hoped to arrest the few who have turned our commonwealth into private estates. In the wake of the oil ‘subsidy’ removal in January, a probe was initiated by the House of Representatives to know where lies the truth of the subsidy that government claims it pumps into the oil sector. A lot of damning revelations have been made with major oil marketers appearing to have been the sole beneficiaries of the so-called subsidy.

The report of the House Committee set up to investigate the rot in the oil sector has been hailed by Nigerians as a comprehensive indictment of the powerful forces fleecing the Nigerian people. The chair of this ad-hoc committee, Farouk Lawan,

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for some time basked in the glare lights of the celebrated performance of his committee.

This was the case until it emerged that he as well as some members of his committee might, after all, have soiled their hands in the course of their probe into the oil sector. Femi Otedola, one of the major players in the oil sector, has accused Lawan of demanding and receiving bribes running into hundreds of thousands of dollars in return for delisting his company from the roll of oil companies that have turned Nigerians into cows whose milk must be sucked dry to fatten the greed of insatiable predators.

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tedola is not about cutting Lawan and his committee any slack- if anything, he is putting his money where his mouth is by providing both audio and video evidence to back his allegation about Lawan who, it is coming up, was caught on video receiving the alleged bribe, marked money supplied by the police, right in Otedola’s house in Abuja. While Lawan has denounced the video clip as a re-run of the phantom coup video of the Abacha years, he

Farouk Lawan or madness to the power of 128!

HANCES are that you have read the executive summary of the report of the House of Representatives committee on fuel subsidy led by the now-disgraced Farouk Lawan. If at this point where Lawan’s name evokes greed rather than glory I choose to return to the laudable report, it is because I would like us to ponder, as scandal yields further scandal, the cause of the swift transformation of the honourable representative from hero to villain. What, I ask, explains this singular act of self-destruction beyond sheer greed or the catch-all word, corruption? After all, Lawan, an old hand in the House, was no stranger to the snakes-and-ladders, cloak-and-dagger, nature of the corruption game. Especially in the lower chamber of the odious National Assembly where he is reputed to have been one of the voices that booed its first female speaker, Mrs Patricia Etteh, out of office for possessing in equal measure ignorance, lack of integrity and a grasping impulse. One might even say that the swiftness of Lawan’s fall has something of Greek tragedy in it — the gods tripping him for their sport.

Yet, ironically enough, the best explanation for Lawan’s self-immolation comes from his own report on “endemic corruption” in the oil sector. Which means an explanation of the rot that has overtaken Nigeria from head to tail, like the proverbial fish — seeing that oil is Nigeria and Nigeria oil (you can save the pretence of nationhood for political speeches and the social studies textbooks).

In paragraph seven of the summary report, Lawan informs us as follows: “Curiously ... the particular AccountantGeneral that served during the period 2009

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was found to have made payments of equal instalments of N999 million for a record 128 times within 24 hours on the 12th and 13th of January 2009, totalling N127.872 billion.” Incredible, all right, but it might have been defensible action; say, for instance, the dutiful accountant sprained his wrist to fulfil a neglected contractual obligation at the last minute in order to save the government from a heavy penalty.

But Lawan found otherwise. “The confirmed payments from the CBN records,” he wrote, “ were made to beneficiaries yet to be disclosed by the OAGF (Office of the Accountant General of the Federation) or identified by the Committee. We ... discovered that only 36 marketers were participants under the PSF Scheme during this period”. And the staggering illogic of it all: “Even if there were 128 marketers, it was inconceivable that all would have imported the same quantity of products to warrant equal payments”.

Quite rightly, Lawan’s committee used the words “impunity” and “recklessness” to describe the actions of all involved in the oil subsidy lootfest. To act with impunity is to have no fear of punishment; to see oneself as free or exempt from sanction. To be reckless is to act without thought of consequences; to throw caution to the wind and have no restraint. But I should like to suggest another word that even does better in capturing the astonishing behaviour of Lawan as of the shameless plunderers he was asked to investigate. That word is MADNESS. Oil money, seen as booty, has made us mad; rendered us senseless as a nation. Anyone who ponders the unending orgy of treasury looting in Nigeria will, invariably,

has not denied receipt of the money in question. What he appears to be saying is that he is keeping the money as proof of Otedola’s attempt to compromise him. But we need to know how he got what is presently in his custody, if he claims that the video evidence is false. Well, anything can happen in this age of computers when images can and are easily manipulated for whatever purposes. But Nigerians can’t just dismiss a serious charge like this by some flimsy reference to a similar but false incidence in the past.

Let us for now leave out the role of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the unfolding scandal.

Let us not talk of the time lag between when Lawan received the money and the time he reported it to the House- which was after Obasanjo and Otedola’s revelation and Aminu Tambuwal, House Speaker, had been apprised of the evidence. Let us forget all of this and only remember that Lawan has failed twice to respond to and appears determined to keep the marked money which could be tampered with allegedly in the custody of the House. What we may all also need to remember is that, although, the House might have initiated the probe of the oil sector that has led to the present scandal, members of the House on that panel of inquiry are not themselves immune to investigation if it is shown that they have abused their position. David Cameron’s appearance last week before the Levenson Inquiry which his government set up to investigate the relationship between the media and politicians in the UK in the wake of the phone hacking scandal by Rupert Murdock’s media, demonstrates this point. If Farouk Lawan has nothing to hide, he should be ready to stand toe to

consider moneymadness as an explanation of the blind and frenzied impulse to steal every kobo of public funds in sight.

Wole Soyinka has thought as much, as even Farida Waziri, former chairperson of EFCC, even when dogged throughout by allegations of

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To probe and unrobe ...the man from Shanono

Although, the House might have initiated the probe of the oil sector, members of the House on that panel of inquiry are not themselves immune to investigation

Simply put, Nigeria has become an open lunatic asylum, the fury of the madness of its principal inmates multiplied to the power of 128

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corruption. To be mad, in the primary sense of insanity, is to be completely unrestrained by reason or judgement and so to act in a way incapable of rational explanation.

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ut the disturbing point to note about this explanatory use of madness for discussing the national problem of endemic corruption is that the mad person is never aware of his or her madness. When the madman strips naked and heads for the market, it is not he but his relatives and friends who are shamed. Because madness defines an alternate reality totally different and cocooned from the actually lived reality; the madwoman

toe with Otedola in public, not run behind the walls of the House in a manner that suggests he wants to be shielded from any inquiry.

Given the time he has been elected into the House to represent his Shanono Constituency in Kano State, Lawan is no doubt one of the most experienced representatives in Nigeria today.

Given the high level of sleaze, corruption and self-serving antics of our legislators, 13 years in that House is more than enough to make a sinner of the most pious saint. Which is not saying that Lawan is guilty of anything or that the report from his committee should be discarded. Far from it, the report should be acted upon without prejudice to the personal conduct of individual or collective members of the committee that produced it.

This new scandal follows a pattern since the Obasanjo years in which probe panels set up to investigate corruption end up bogged down in allegations of corruption among their members.

The Ndudi Elumelu probe of the N16 billion expended on the power sector is one such case.

Heralded with fanfare and publicity, with a final report that was considered bold in its indictment of powerful elements in the society, the whole inquiry ended on a note of shame for Elumelu who was found to have soiled his hands, only to be absolved by his colleagues in a socalled Ethics Committee. Aminu Tambuwal, present Speaker of the House, is seen by some as one of those used to tear the Elumelu report into shreds. Is Lawan on the look-out for similar safe landing?

Will his committee report go down with this scandal that threatens to but will not (because this is Nigeria) bring down this House of Deal Makers?

considers her behaviour normal and those seeking to cover up her nakedness or restrain her from dashing to the market as the truly insane.

Locked in this alternate reality of madness-as-normalcy, an accountant charged with the safe-keeping of the public purse signed 128 cheques, each for N999 million, within 24 hours. And the upstanding representative of the people asked to investigate the daylight and nighttime robbery of the treasury demanded $3 million from a member of the oil cartel he was to investigate. Then he went to the house of the wrong-doer to collect $620,000 as part payment, some of which he stuffed in his suitably voluminous babanriga donned for the occasion.

Simply put, Nigeria has become an open lunatic asylum, the fury of the madness of its principal inmates multiplied to the power of 128. Consequently, such happy surprises as the Lawan committee’s attempt to drain the festering swamp of our oil politics become no more than flickering moments of lunacy that raise false hopes. What we need is nothing short of social exorcism. Some would call it revolution. *Ifowodo, who begins with this essay a fortnightly column for Vanguard under the caption, For Crying Out Loud, teaches poetry and literature at Texas State University-San Marcos.

20—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

LAGBUS, BRT at 4

BY BOSE ADELAJA AGOSIANS have witnessed different public bus transportation systems but none had before now met their expectation and lasting satisfaction. Among the commercial bus types that have come and gone over the years are the Lagos City Transport Services, LCTS, the large ubiquitous Lagos yellow buses popularly called Molue, the civilian coaster buses and the mini-Molue type popularly called Faka.

But the situation took a turn for the better with the introduction of the Buses Rapid Transit, BRT, in March 24, 2008 to be operated by the National Union and Road Transport Workers, NURTW, cooperative.

However, the joy this brought was short-lived as the law of diminishing return soon set in as BRT services are no longer regarded as being very satisfactory, while the operators betray a lack of efficiency and maintenance culture.

This has left most commuters rueing the inability of government to compel operators to sustain the standard recorded at inception.

The initial success of the, BRT, paved way for the LAGBUS scheme to come on stream in order to ease public transport in the state. LAGBUS is an Asset Management Company owned by the Lagos State government.

Both the BRT and the LAGBUS were enthusiastically welcomed by most commuters in Lagos as they were regarded as a decent and very convenient departure from the existing bus systems that were anything but decent.

The buses soon became regular or common features on such routes as Mile Twelve enroute CMS via Ikorodu Road, Obalende to Ketu and Ikorodu, CMS enroute Oshodi, Mile Two enroute CMS, Oshodi to Agbado-Ijaye-Tollgate, to mention just a few.

In view of this huge experimental success,

...Lagosians bemoan poor services Debate of the masses

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Nigeria being raped by her caretakers (1)

BY EBELE ORAKPO WEEP for this nation.

“IOur lawmakers are

*A preacher on duty inside a BRT bus in defiance of an order prohibiting such the Federal Government in the course of announcing the withdrawal of subsidy from the price of fuel introduced a new transport scheme to serve as a palliative measure to cushion the effect of the subsidy withdrawal on the citizens.

The BRT and LAGBUS schemes were planned to render effective and decent services to the public from inception, a reason for which hawking, preaching or constituting public nuisance in the buses were prohibited.

But what obtains presently is that preach-

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soon heard shouting Praise the Lord! to which some passengers responded with a resounding Halleluyah!

The preacher wearing a vest which identified him as a member of the Chosen Generation Church was the centre of attention in the bus until he alighted at Ijesha busstop.

Surprisingly, the driver of the LAGBUS suddenly stopped on the middle of the road at Cele Bus-stop and jumped down from the bus to fight a road user and this lasted for about 10 minutes even as the

Some commuters complained of poor services of buses plying routes in the area; a major complaint was that once it is 7.15pm, the drivers usually refuse to operate the Oshodi to Ikorodu route ing and hawking have become the norm in many of these buses.

Vanguard Metro, VM, can confirm this to be the case after a recent ride in one of these buses plying the Oshodi/Mile Two route. During the ride in the bus with plate number KSF 53 FA and an inscription No 39, a preacher was

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preaching continued.

Also on May 25 and June 11, 2012 , a similar occurrence took place in a LAGBUS with plate number EPE19XA and inscription No 43. This time around, the preacher was a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Mission and his preaching caused an up-

roar as he condemned Islam as a religion and some of the commuters loudly condemned his preaching, almost resorting to violence. It took the timely intervention of some elders to quell the crisis.

Some commuters in Ikorodu complained of poor services of the buses plying routes in the area.

A major complaint was that once it is 7.15pm, the drivers usually refuse to operate the Oshodi to Ikorodu route.

Other complaints border on the rude behaviour of ticket sellers at the BRT terminus at Mile Twelve and their extortionist demand that commuters pay an extra N20 to purchase a N120 bus ticket.

Apart from that, the buses are deemed as not properly maintained and look dirty in most cases.

To make matters worse, the drivers park them indiscriminately, there by causing unnecessary gridlock. This they do with great impunity and disdain as if they are above the law.

Meantime, some of the BRT shelters have collapsed and remain umkept,with commuters now falling victim to robberies as there are no adequate security measures put in place there.

no longer making laws but spend precious time and tax payers’ money probing members who have broken the law,” said Mustapha “My brother, it’s unbelievable! How will this nation move forward when all those in whose care she has been placed are ravenous wolves, milking the nation dry?” asked Jide.

“Milking? That’s mild.

It’s a rape on our economy,” noted Mustapha.

“When OBJ called them house of thieves, he knew what he was saying. He had evidence and they were foolish enough to ask him to produce the evidence, and he did that through Femi Otedola,” stated Dan. “That guy should be arrested. The giver and the receiver are guilty,” stated Jide, to which Tim, who has been quiet all along said: “Yes, he should but the point that everyone is missing is the rot that has eaten into the fabric of the nation. To begin with, Lawan had no business going to Otedola’s house. He had no business stuffing the money into his clothe and his cap.”

“So where would he have stuffed it. In my cap?” asked Iyke, laughing.

Continued Tim: “It’s no joke. He had no business lobbying his colleagues and getting Otedola exonerated the same day that he collected the bribe. I wonder why this fact has not been seized upon by the Nigerian p r e s s . ” ”All of them should be arrested and prosecuted,” repeated Jide.

“Otedola could be culpable but clearly that is not the issue at hand.

If Otedola could be exonerated by Lawan and his cohorts after allegedly

paying $500,000 bribe, how can any reasonable person vouch for the integrity of the report?”

“By the head of the Integrity Group for that matter,” joked Stella.

“That is precisely the point! These people have gotten what they are looking for. They want the report discredited so that we will never know the whole truth,” noted Ini. “I think they can still work with the report. Let the names of all those who have been expunged from the list as a result of bribery, be brought back and we can go on from there. If not, we will never get anything done,” counseled Uche.

Said Iyke: “That is what is really annoying me with these Boko Haram people.

Why are they targeting innocent people and not these crooked politicians and their cohorts who, through corruption, are sending millions of souls to early graves?” ”I wish it will be drummed into the skull of our leaders that for every kobo they steal from our coffers, thousands of Nigerians are going to be affected negatively. The money they should use to fund education, provide basic infrastructure and generally make the environment conducive for the people, a few people are spiriting them away. It’s pure wickedness!” stated Dan. ”I still believe that this is a set up,” said Okey.

“As much as I want to believe that this is a setup, the point is that you can only set up a thief and corrupt individual. Our entire legislature has become a joke. As a contractor, it is virtually impossible to be awarded a contract by any government parastatal in Nigeria on merit. All contracts are hijacked by legislators who then resell them to contractors for upwards of 40% of contract cost,” he posited.

CONTACT: mykeboh@yahoo.co.uk

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 — 21

FG, private sector to partner in establishing industrial parks INISTER of Trade and Investment Dr Olusegun Aganaga said that the Federal Government is partnering with the private sector to establish industrial parks to facilitate industrial development. Aganga said this in Abuja on Monday at the opening of the two-day Third D-8 Working Group Meeting, which has as its theme “Promoting International Trade Through SME Development’’.

Members of the D-8, a group of eight developing nations founded in 1997 to foster economic cooperation, are Nigeria, Iran, Turkey Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Egypt. Aganga said that infrastructure, which he described as a major problem in the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country, must be addressed. The ministry is currently promoting private sector-led industrial clusters, parks and common facility centres in different parts of the country commensurate with their factor endowments or comparative advantage.

“This is to address the infrastructure challenge, which is one of the major factors militating against the industrial development of the country and to also take advantage of the economies of scale accruable in the

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clusters.’’ He said that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) remained the backbone of the development of the economy and the driving force of national growth. He also said that there were over 17 MSMEs in Nigeria, empowering over 31 million Nigerians, adding that the challenges confronting MSMEs were being addressed.

Aganga noted that MSMEs accounted for over 80 per cent of the total number of enterprises in the country, employing more than 75 per cent of the total workforce.

“The barriers to MSMEs growth are low level of business development support services, inefficient

implementation of SMEs policy, lack of workspace and common facility. All of these barriers are being addressed,’’ he added. Also speaking, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said MEMEs play a major role in Nigeria’s economy. Sanusi saidthat about 95 per cent of MSMEs accounting for about 75 per cent of industrial employment “contribute a mere 10 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)’’.

Represented by Alhaji Musa Ahmedu, a Deputy Director in CBN, Sanusi said that the trend must be reversed in order to make MSMEs truly the engine of economic growth.

He said the Federal Government had established special financial institutions, including the Small Scale Industry Scheme (SSICSs) and the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) to encourage MSMEs through provision of credit facilities. The CBN boss listed the Nigerian Bank for Commerce and Industry (NBIC) as one of the institutions that could provide long-term credit facilities to the organised manufacturing sector. In his speech, Mr Roberts Orya, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), said that 80 per cent of products financed by the bank were from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Caverton Group declares N268m dividend O reward its investors and further strengthen its operations, Caverton Offshore Support Group (COSG) has declared N268 million dividends for its shareholders for the 2011 financial year and has also approved a plan for further diversification of its businesslines. These decisions were taken on Thursday (14 June 2012) at the group’s third Annual General Meeting held at the Southern Sun Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos.

“Despite the tough global and national business environments, the group performed very well in 2011 relative to the preceding years,” said Mr. Aderemi Makanjuola, chairman of the group. “Prospects for the future look even more promising as we are investing for the rainy day and positioning the group to take advantage of expanding opportunities.”

The group, a wholly indigenous conglomerate and leading provider of marine, aviation and logistics support services to the Nigerian oil and gas sector, declared 8k dividend for the 2011 financial year for each of its 3,350,509,750 paid up shares, totaling N268.04 million. This marks a steady increase in return for its shareholders as the group paid five kobo as dividend in 2009 and 7.5k in 2010.

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From left: Elder Sunday Kpere-Daibo; his wife, Josephine; Mr. Alfred Okoigun, MD/CEO, ARCO Group and Chief Joseph Akpieyi, Chairman, ARCO Petrochemical Engineering Company Plc at the annual general meeting of the company.

Sanusi justifies CBN’s N100m donation to blast victims OVERNOR of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has said that the donation made by the bank to bomb blast victims was within the confines of the law. Lamido said this at an investigative hearing on the expenditure of public fund by the CBN and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) without approval by the National Assembly.

The House of Representatives mandated its Committee on Banking and Currency to investigate Lamido’s N100 million donations to bomb blast victims in Kano.

Sanusi said that the CBN had always intervened in the economic development of Nigeria. “The legal basis for CBN intervention in certain

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sectors of the economy is contained in Section 31 of the CBN Act 2007,’’ he said.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, who was represented by Rep. Samson Osagie, said the hearing was to ensure accountability and fiscal discipline among institutions.

Tambuwal added that the exercise was not to witch-hunt any individual or group of persons.

The apex bank governor had been variously criticised for donating money to Kano bomb last victims leaving other victims out of the bank’s largesse. Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, the Primate of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, also called on the National Assembly to invite Sanusi over the donation.

150.80

-1.20

2,211.00

-36.00

19.98

-0.03

95.88

-1.73

83.02

-1.01

CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING CFA KRONER EURO POUNDS RIYAL SDR FRANC DOLLAR WAUA YEN YUAN

0.2784 26.2984 195.4993 242.3875 41.3001 235.5874 162.7101 154.9 234.6543 1.9593 24.3636

0.2884 26.3833 196.1304 243.1699 41.4334 236.3479 163.2353 155.4 235.4118 1.9656 24.4427

0.2984 26.4681 196.7614 243.9523 41.5667 237.1083 163.7605 155.9 236.1692 1.9719 24.5218

CBN Exchange rate as at 19/06/2012

22 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

IFRS ’ll boost funds inflow, transparency in capital market — FRC

By MICHAEL EBOH ITH the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards by firms in Nigeria, the hindrances to the flow of funds in the capital market will be broken while manipulation and misrepresentation of financial statements will be eliminated, says Jim Obazee, Executive

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Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, Financial Reporting Council, FRC. Obazee, who was speaking in Lagos, on a paper titled, ‘IFRS implementation: Implications for the Nigerian Capital Market,’ disclosed that with the adoption of IFRS, the Nigerian capital market would witness improved

efficiency, enhanced credibility and ensure that financial statements are prepared in a consistent manner.

According to him, companies who fail to present accurate financial statement, at any point in time, will be punished by shareholders, in terms of dumping of the companies’ shares and a consequent consistent

decline in share prices.

“The timing and nature of communication must be properly timed as it might send wrong signals to local investors if the Financial Reporting Council, FRC, orders a restatement of the financial statements of the affected entity,” he said.

The FRC boss said IFRS will help boost foreign direct

investment in the capital market, foreign investors will be optimistic of a positive impact of IFRS on cash flow.

According to him, these effects could include reduced contracting costs or reduced scope for managerial rent extraction associated with greater financial reporting transparency capable of providing convergence benefits.

He disclosed that IFRS will ensure that public interest companies are listed in the capital market, as it would enhance disclosures and transparency in the market.

He said: “The principles-based nature of IFRS triggers the need for enhanced explanations that can provide readers with sufficient information to effectively understanding the company ’s financial statements.

“In addition to this,

there are numerous detailed rules pertaining to specific disclosures requirements in all the existing standards.

These are likely to increase as new standards are issued, old ones reviewed and convergence with US GAAP progresses.

“This will be particularly sharp in the year of transition from Nigerian Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, GAAP, to IFRS as the disclosures will need to discuss the various transition adjustments between the two different accounting standards particularly for the opening statement of financial position.

“Also, related party disclosures now have to be made in strict compliance with IFRS requirements. These disclosures may have legal implications which were hitherto not a consideration for the entity.

Shareholders task ASL on market structure strengthening Mr. Manz Denga, former Transcorp CEO now Principal Partner/Executive Officer, Networks for AfriBusiness ExpertEase, Johanesbourg (left) and Mr. Ruhakana Rugunda, Minister of Information & Communication Technology, Uganda at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the National Bank of Commerce, Uganda (NBCU).

Learn Africa rewards investors with 25 kobo dividend

BY CHINEDU IBEABUCHI & WILLIAM JIMOH EARN Africa Plc has rewarded its shareholders with a dividend of 25 kobo per share for the 2011 financial year.

According to a statement by the company on its 39th Annual General Meeting, AGM, in Lagos, signed by Allwell Nwankwo, Head of Marketing, it recorded a turnover of N2.923 billion, dropping, however, by 18 per cent from the previous year’s figure.

Commenting on its performance for the 2011 financial year, Chief Emeke Iwerebon, Chairman of the company, said, “Our Company nonetheless

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still achieved a moderate increase of 16 per cent in profit before tax of N382.79 million in 2011, from N328.78 million in 2010.”

He said the company’s shareholders’ funds also increased marginally from the previous year by one per cent to N3.435 billion in 2011.

This, he said, is a reflection of enhanced efficient management and better allocation of the company ’s resources.

Iwerebon also disclosed that the company’s turnover had grown by 58 per cent in the first quarter of 2012, compared to the same period in 2011.

He attributed the significant growth to the sterling contributions of the Board, management and staff of the company.

He said the company, which has a longstanding tradition of declaring dividends for shareholders, further pushed the limits of outstanding performance by consistently declaring dividends for 25 consecutive financial years, making it one of Nigeria’s most consistent organisations in producing top returns for shareholders.

According to him, for shareholders of the company, 2012 has been a spectacular year for a number of reasons, as the former majority shareholder - Pearson Education - divested from the company and gifted their 51 percent stake to Nigerian shareholders.

This, he said, means that shareholders not only had their stake doubled but also re-

ceived twice the dividend payout they would have ordinarily received for the 2011 financial year.

Continuing, Iwerebon said, “The future of Learn Africa is bright.

We know how central and important customers are to us and to our business. We are developing new ways of managing our relationships with our customers, and ultimately, meeting their peculiar needs.

“We believe that with the successful transition and re-branding, coupled with the initial achievements attained by Millennium Education Limited, we shall become the reference point in Nigeria, not only for books, but also for digital solutions.”

BY NKIRUKA NNOROM

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HAREHOLDERS of Airline Services and Logistics Plc have urged the management to as a matter of urgency fortify its marketing department in view of the expected competition from new entrants in the in-flight catering services.

They made the call while receiving the financial reports and accounts of the company for the year ended 31st December, 2011, in Lagos.

Mr. Lazarus Nnadozie Onwuka, who spoke on behalf of other shareholders, said that strengthening the market structure was particularly important to ensure that the company does lose its clientele to competitors.

“Over the past five years, we have made no significant progress in the turnover delivered.

In fact, it has been stagnant. We need to improve it by whatever means. If we are struggling now that we have monopoly of the

business, then when competitors come in, we will lose more ground. I think the marketing system should be geared up to meet the expected challenge from the incoming foreign company,” he said.

He observed that much needs to be done to improve the company’s catering services at Abuja Airport, while charging the company to effect reduction in its administrative expenses as it is eroding the profit.

Also speaking, Udo Idomgbesi, a member of I n d e p e n d e n t S h a r e h o l d e r s Association of Nigeria (ISAN), urged the company to ensure that it leverage the recent streamlining effort to grow bottom-line, while enjoining the management to improve the dividends going forward.

The company recorded turnover of N3.599 billion, one per cent reduction over N3.562 billion reported in 2010.

After tax profit dipped by nine per cent to N219.26 million from N240.57 million in 2010.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 — 23

EDITED by Adekunle Adekoya

DIARY Select ICT events West & Central Africa Com. Holds 19 20 June at Le Meridien President, Senegal.

Next Generation Core Networks Summit. Holds 19 - 20 June in Berlin, Germany.

Telecom World Congress 2012 Conference. Holds 19 – 21 June at Amsterdam Marriott Hotel,The Netherlands.

Future of Digital TV. Holds 26th - 28th June 2012, in Prague, Czech Republic.

VAS Africa. Holds 34 July, 2012 at Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

Preview New inventions shaping life and living

Smart phone Fish finder THE Deeper FishFinder sonar orb pairs with a smart phone to scan beneath the water, letting you know the best place to sink a hook.

Currently seeking funding on Indiegogo, the Deeper FishFinder is able to withstand depths up to 120 feet and has a Bluetooth range of 150 feet.

Once tied to a line and submerged, the waterproof orb uses sonar waves to gather information about temperature, depth, and the locations of the fish. The information is then sent to the phone in the form of a depth chart image, with approximate fishy areas clearly marked.

I N S I D E C M Y K

RAID: From left, Augustine Amodu, Deputy Director, Enforcement, NCC; Copyright Enforcement Officers, Michael Ekunke and Tony Ojini, at a press briefing to announce the findings of a software audit carried out at an estate firm last week in Lagos. Photo: Emeka Aginam.

We warn people that use fake software, it is a continuous process. We are taking activities to other companies.

Piracy harms the economy.

We cannot continue like this

Software piracy: Copyright Commission takes war to users Raids Lagos firm, carts away programmes in use

BY EMEKA AGINAM HILE software piracy re mains unabated despite legislation and awareness creation by regulatory authority and relevant agencies, the Nigerian Copyright Commission, (NCC) has warned that henceforth, it is going to be zero tolerance on software pirates, even as it raided the offices of a top, Lagos-based firm of estate managers and valuers (names withheld) on grounds of software piracy infringement.

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82% software piracy rate It would be recalled that as at 2011, software

As another regulator come alive in Lagos

piracy rates in Nigeria stood at 82% with attendant opportunities for small business in the region of $250 million lost.

As a result of this, local Nigerian businesses have had difficulty competing with counterfeiters that have priced their goods at below-market levels and are then forced to cut jobs. However, the Nigerian Copyright Commission has reaffirmed that it may not be business as usual for software pirates as it is committed to fight the ugly trend to the last with a fresh strategy.

The usual clamp downs have been on channel distributors but NCC was trying to take piracy fight to the end-users as

well.

NCC raids estate firm Last week, officials from NCC raided the head office premises of a top, Lagos-based firm of estate managers and valuers in Victoria Island, Lagos. The raid, which followed a tip off and undercover surveillance by the NCC, resulted in the seizure of suspected counterfeit Microsoft software. The commission in tandem with Nigerian Police had swooped into the company at about 2:30pm and carted away some suspected pirated software products. Although there was initial resist-

How do 3-D Flame worm and national glasses work? software strategy (1)

ance by officials of the company over claims that NCC had no right to carry out such raid without duly informing them, the Commission however succeeded in making their way into the company's systems.

Fake software seized After series of checks, NCC with their technical staff went into action and discovered that most of the software are fake, including Microsoft Operating Systems Windows XP and Vista, Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Office 2010. Further, the firm's officials could also not provide the client access license for its

Microsoft Windows 2003. Some of the suspected physical items taken away from the premises included a media for Microsoft Office 2010, keys for Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Vista and Microsoft Windows 7. All these items have been sent to Microsoft Ireland office for confirmation and an investigation into the matter is currently ongoing.

Speaking to IT Journalists shortly after the raid, Mr. A.A Amodu, Acting Head of Enforcement of at the Copyright Commission in Lagos said that nearly all the firm's software were pirated.

“We have checked their Continues on Page 30

EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

Our integrity is on N6.1bn SIM card registration exercise — JUWAH

Watch London Olympics live, on YouTube

24—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

Our integrity is on N6.1bn SIM card registration exercise — JUWAH, NCC boss

BY EMMA ELEBEKE

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OME stakehold ers have in recent times expressed worries over the perceived delay of the ongoing SIM card registration by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and some allegation against the commission of misappropriation of the N6.1billion earmarked for the project by Federal Government, leading to the probe of the project by the National Assembly. In this interview with the Executive Vice-Chairman of the NCC, Engr. Eugene Juwah with some journalists, he spoke on the factors responsible for the delay of the project, the amount so far spent, challenges, and plans to facilitate the speedy conclusion of the project. He also spoke on other salient issues such as the recent sanction of service providers for poor quality of service, broadband project plan, number portability among others.

Excerpts: Nigerians appear to be worried about the perceived delay in the results of the project, what is the status of SIM card registration?

The project is still ongoing. I felt there are groups of people that are not quite disposed to having their mobile subscriber numbers recorded or put in a database. It is not so everywhere in the world.

How much has this project cost so far?

We have paid about N1.7 billion to contractors, which includes the cost of building the backend here. Although the N6.1billion earmarked for the project looks a lot, as some people may think, but it is far smaller compared to other registrations we have made in Nigeria. N6.1billion to register 80 million subscribers is quite small. I can tell you that the contractors themselves are complaining about the registration because we take our time to scrutinize C M Y K

all their records and claims before effecting any payment. But I can assure Nigerians that the money is going to be managed very well.

Was there a controversy as a result of mismanagement of information?

Probably, I think that we didn’t do enough job of explaining and by the time we were explaining to the public about what has happened, it had become too late. There is this public bias also when people hear billions. If you compare the budget of SIM card registration between Nigeria and India which is also carrying out this registration, you will notice that it is being carried out by the regulator in conjunction with a special body appointed by government. Registration of a subscriber in India is about $2, which is about N340 but the one we are doing is the highest registration so far carried out in Nigeria and is about N120 for each subscriber, which is less than half of what India is spending and India is known to be a very low-cost country.

Also the process that NCC put in place to manage this money comes through due process.

Are you paying for those being handled by the operators since they are paying?

Yes, what we do is that we pay as they register; when they say they register one person and we verify that it is not double registration, we pay them N120. So far, we have not finished verifying all the data given to us. However, for the data we have verified so far, we have paid about 1.7billion naira to them which include the money of building the back-end here.

What will happen to the balance of the money you have paid?

The registration is still ongoing, you never close your book until you finish your work. We are keeping account of what we are spending. There are government laws that decide how balances are treated and we obey such

Dr. Eugene Juwah, Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC

Registration of a subscriber in India is about $2, which is about N340 but the one we are doing is the highest registration so far carried out in Nigeria and is about N120 for each subscriber, which is less than half of what India is spending and India is known to be a very low-cost country laws.

Part of what we are told is that this database will be the national data background managed for NIMC, so that they don’t re_register people again, but you talked about NIMC going to do registration, what is the true position?

NIMC is doing a total

identity registration but we are doing SIM card registration. Our own is directed towards mobile phones, but NIMC is doing a registration that everybody can use, so when NIMC finishes, INEC doesn’t have to do any registration, but part of what we have registered would be used by NIMC

to complete their database. For example we are not taking people’s addresses, eye colour and so on, but NIMC is interested in all that. What we are interested in is your mobile number, your finger print and your photograph; these are the key things we are interested in. so, the data that NIMC

will be asking for will be far more than what we will be asking for.

People alleged that NCC does not have the capacity to detect double or multiple registration, is that true?

That is not true, otherwise, how is double or multiple registrations detected? These are some of the fallacies that appear in the newspapers. Normally, what you do is register, but you can never stop double registration, we are not Americans, we are Nigerians. So, there would be double registration, but it would be minimal because we have been advertising that if you have registered once either with the operator or with NCC, you don’t need to register again. It happens sometimes maybe because some operators made it a lottery that when you register, you win a car and people will register again if they didn’t win in order to try their luck. Double registration will be there but it was taken care of in the design of the SIM card registration, in that we will put software that will check all the fingerprints registered and eliminate a doubly registered fingerprint and that is why we are doing cleaning, harmonization and verification.

We understand that the National Assembly is currently probing the project, what could have informed that action?

We are a government agency and once they summon us, we will come.

The probe is going on now, so everybody will see what will come out of it. We are not afraid of anything because we have not done anything wrong. At times people that have issues with NCC will go and publish whatever they like, but I can tell that there is nothing wrong with SIM Card registration. Nobody here has gained one penny out of it. The process and the money are well managed.

It is a difficult process; people think it will take Continues on Page 25

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 — 25

EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

‘We're fully accountable on this exercise’

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few weeks for the operators to upload what they have registered to us.

They were supposed to have sent what they have registered to us since September last year, but I can tell you that the last data they sent to us came at the end of February. So, if we don’t have all the data, we cannot start the harmonization. If we were to buy machines like INEC did, we would have spent several billions but we gave them (consultants) opportunity to go and hire their machines from anywhere and that is why it is economical.

There are networks that have been very good but when they started promotions, we warned them and they are among the people sanctioned now When and how soon should we be expecting result?

We should have been talking about that by now, but of course, probe came and it has to be delayed and we are not doing anything now. The probe is to look at the process and how money was well spent. I came from private sector and I have a name to protect so we are careful because of the controversy surrounding this SIM card registration exercise. If you talk to our registration contractors, they want to take me to court because I want to C M Y K

verify the data they are giving me and it is when I am satisfied with that I will pay them.

For how long has this process been suspended and when do you think they will resume?

I don’t think there is anything wrong with the registration and very soon, we will ask for permission from the House.

If we can start before they conclude the probe so that we can finish everything on time. There is no centralized database in Nigeria as I am talking to you now and if we finish it, it will be the first centralized database in Nigeria. If it is that easy, why has it not been done before? So, it is a job we are taking very seriously and who says we don’t have capacity? We have good capacity to supervise them.

There is this impression that NCC has not been able to stamp its authority on the providers and that is why you have network failure...

NCC is not a service provider but a regulator that make laws. When the service providers came newly, nobody cared about laws because Nigeria was hungry for telecommunications service but as the market started growing because Nigeria was the fastest growing in the world for five years, it comes with consequences. There was a huge demand and the operators didn’t plan well, so the infrastructure they had was smaller than the demand. There was a regulation for quality before I came, the quality that they must meet was low and they were meeting it and so by the law they have, they were correct, so you can’t do them anything. Buy when we came, we had to raise the bar and make a new law and the process of doing this takes time. I can tell you that it is only this January that we were able to make a law and get it approved. So, before, we didn’t have an instrument to force them or to fine them; it was only through persuasion and threat be-

zDr. Eugene Juwah

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Continues from Page 24

If we were to buy machines like INEC did, we would have spent several billions but we gave them opportunity to go and hire their machines from anywhere and that is why it is economical

fore now which would have been difficult to carry out.

The service providers seem not ready to pay theN1.7billion fine you asked them to pay. Will they pay the fine?

They will pay. A regulator does not issue an order and forget about it.

We would always take an action if they don’t follow our directives. But I can tell you that they will pay, maybe by next week.

I am aware that you met on Wednesday and they made presentations on network improvement. Are you satisfied with the network improvement plan?

The mistake a lot people made is that NCC is there to close down the operators and bring someone else, which is really not our function. Our function is to make laws for them and see that they obey them and also see that consumers also get value for their money. So, we are between the operator and the consumers to see that each of them is satisfied. Now, we sanctioned them and dialogued on the reasons for the sanction and about

their concerns and I think that we have concluded our dialogue now. So, we are looking forward to their paying by next week.

There lotteries and promotions going on, how would you differential the two?

You know that there is a lottery commission. Like NCC, they are the ones to decide what is lottery or not and what they decide is final. The only place where NCC comes in is where it is deteriorating the quality of service of a particular network. Once we see that the promotion is generating quality of service issues, we would advise the service provider to stop and if it doesn’t stop, then we have this regulation of quality of service. There are networks that have been very good but when they started promotions, we warned them and they are among the people sanctioned now. They won’t like that because over time they have been meeting our minimum standards, but when they started promotion, they didn’t meet it and we warned and sanctioned them.

Now, the style NCC has adopted is that, let the networks decide if they want to do promotion or not, but if we measure and you are not meeting the quality of service, you are liable to pay a fine.

What is the status of your broadband plans?

The issue of enabling environment for broadband is also a major issue. It is an issue like the start of mobile telecommunication. It is an issue which if it is done well will be as big as this mobile telephony. So, it is not something you conceive today and you start; there are many approvals that you go through and NCC is bent on doing this.

Some of the approvals that we need for it is in the ministry, some of them will go the Federal Executive Council and it is only when we get these approvals that we will be able to start, but I can tell you we are pushing these approvals. We just didn’t start; first of all, we had to advertise, select consultants, select people that will help us do it, travel to jurisdictions where it has been done before because this thing has not

been done here before and you don’t just wake up and know how to do it. We are about starting now.

You said you are going to focus on telephony and the issue of licenses, how far have you gone?

You must also understand that fixed telephony depends on broadband. Nobody does the old fixed telephony with copper wire again like NITEL. You cannot have fixed telephony without having broadband. So, first, we have to tackle the issue of broadband, get the infrastructure, and get the fibres there and then you license. If our approvals come true, we are going to create an infrastructure sub_sector of the telecommunication. We ginger a market to stand and not as an operator because we can never be an operator. For example, when mobile telephony started, it was by private sector but government gave them some tax relief which is an incentive.

These are the sort of programmes we are looking at which we will get permissions and approvals from government to create the market.

There were two other broadband initiatives, how far about them?

It is also under those programms that we are pursuing our broadband, but it has been restructured to what we call ‘open access model’ which I have talked a lot about. By end of July, there is going to be an international public forum about broadband where we are going to explain to you and the world what we are going to do and listen to you also because we cannot do it without listening to what stakeholder want us to do.

Is the proposed flagging off of number portability by the fourth quarter of this year still realizable?

Yes, it is going well; a stakeholder forum has just met to talk about business rules on like ‘how do someone who wants to change his number starts?’ These rules have to be discussed and put in a document. There was a stakeholders meeting last week on it. These are telecommunication service processes which nobody has done before in Nigeria and which most of the times we get consultants even from abroad to help us. So, it has to be done painstakingly so that it works. As I am talking now, the database service provider has imported all its equipment and I don’t see any delay again but you can never tell.

26 —Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 OW that HDTv is here, and the global elecronics giants are marketing 3D television sets, it's time we get into the mode, and get to know how 3D glasses, used for viewing, work.

3D Stereoscopic glasses are nothing new. In fact you had them when you were a kid and probably didn't even know it. In order to see things in 3D each eye must see a slightly different picture.

This is done in the real world by your eyes being spaced apart so each eye has its own slightly different view. The brain then puts the two pictures together to form one 3D image that has depth to it.

A stereoscopic motion or still picture in which the right component of a composite image usually red in color is superposed on the left component in a contrasting color to produce a three-dimensional effect when viewed through correspondingly colored filters in the form of spectacles. The mode of 3D presentation you are most familiar with are the paper glasses with red and blue lenses. The technology behind 3D, or stereoscopic, movies is actually pretty simple. They simply recreate the way humans see normally.

Since your eyes are about two inches apart, they see the same picture

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As another regulator comes alive in Lagos

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OR the telecom munications sec tor, it is raining, and the rain is in torrents. In the last few months, the sector has become anybody’s whipping boy, such that whosoever has the wherewithal to make his or her voice heard turns in direction of the sector.

The way we are going, the telecoms sector in Nigeria may soon become the most regulated in the world as various authorities, distinct and unrelated to the one government tasked to regulate the industry are zeroing in for a slice of the action in the sector.

One such was the recently created agency in Lagos State called the Urban Furniture Regulatory Unit (UFRU).

This body was established as a parastatal of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and is tasked to regulate the activities of telecoms operators and internet service providers (ISPs) as it concerns erection of masts and towers.

UFRU will be managed

by Mr Joe Igbokwe, who already heads LASIMRA (Lagos State Infrastructure Management and Regulatory Authority).

Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development in Lagos State, Olutoyin Ayinde who announced the birth of UFRU in Lagos recently, said “UFRU does not regulate telecommunications activities in the state and as such cannot grant licences or allocate frequencies, but backed by law to regulate masts and towers installations in the state and ensure compliance with Lagos State Laws and Regulations on Physical Planning and Urban Development.”

That is not all. To refresh memories, Ayinde added that “owners, users and operators of masts and towers, including parabolic antennae like VSAT and other types of antennae and

similar structure, should register with UFRU for the purpose of sanitising the environment, and UFRU will develop, maintain and update a database of all existing telecommunications masts and base stations and similar infrastructure erected throughout the state.”

That is quite wide, and if I am correct, takes in all of us with pay-TV dishes and antennas hanging from our homes and offices, including the pay-TV operators themselves.

Personally, I see this initiative from Lagos State Government as another effort to boost internally generated revenue, which is a g o o d thing, but looked at from another perspective, is a burden on alr e a d y over-burdened Lagosians and Nigerians. Put simply, it is another form of taxation.

When you add this latest one to subsidy removal, hiked electricity tariffs for non-existent electricity, bad, unmotorable roads in many parts of Lagos, interminable traffic jams, insecurity, decaying environment and other negative things we live with daily, we can all see how much our governments love us.

Back to telecoms. Very soon, other state governments will emulate Lagos and create similar agencies, and the local governments will follow, in the spirit of federalism.

Very soon there will be 36 regulators in the states, 774 in the local governments, all trying to do what NCC is tasked to do. When all of them begin work, not counting NESREA that had been shutting down base stations, I assure you, none of us will be able to make a call.

By our own hands, we would have strangled to death the only sector that is keeping hope alive in this country.

Very soon there will be 36 regulators in the states, 774 in the local governments, all trying to do what NCC is tasked to do

C M Y K

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How do 3-D glasses work?

from slightly different angles. Your brain then correlates these two images in order to gauge distance. This is called binocular vision, and binoculars mimic this process by presenting each eye with a slightly different image.

The binocular vision system relies on the fact that our two eyes are spaced about 2 inches (5 centimeters) apart. Therefore, each eye sees the world from a slightly different perspective, and the binocular vision system in your brain uses the difference to calculate distance.

Your brain has the ability to correlate the images it sees in its two eyes even though they are slightly different.

A 3D film viewed without glasses is a very strange sight and may appear to be out of focus, fuzzy or out of register.

The same scene is projected simultaneously from two different angles in two different colors, red and cyan (or blue or green).

Here's where those cool glasses come in -- the colored filters separate the two different images so each image only enters one eye. Your brain puts

the two pictures back together and now you're dodging a flying meteor!

3D glasses make the movie or television show you're watching look like a 3-D scene that's happening right in front of you. With objects flying off the screen and careening in your direction, and creepy characters reaching out to grab you, wearing 3-D glasses makes you feel like you're a part of the action - not just someone sitting there watching a movie. Considering they have such high entertainment value, you'll be surprised at how amazingly simple 3-D glasses are.

Etisalat seals deal with Total for expansion

BY EMMA ELEBEKE

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E A D I N G telco,Etisalat Nigeria last week signed a partnership agreement with Nigerian downstream operator, Total Plc on retail service experience.

The partnership is aimed at establishing retail sales/service experience centres within Total stations where Etisalat will run service operations, in addition to telecoms sites.

The two organizations through the partnership are also aiming to provide world class products and services to their customers, just as the idea will lead to joint initiatives that will increase the market reach, ensure enhanced customer service and provide Etisalat subscribers with easy access to Etisalat’s array of innovative products and services.

Speaking at the occasion, the Chairman, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Hakeem Belo-Osagie, said the signing of that MoU represents yet another milestone for Etisalat in its ongoing quest to offer high quality products and services to the existing and potential subscribers within the country. He also said that the partnership signifies a concrete step in fostering a closer working relationship be-

tween our two organizations.

“Etisalat is recognized as being the most innovative and fastest growing GSM operator in the Nigerian market and we have been consistent in our over three years of operation in the country.

We are proud to be working in strategic partnership with Total in executing this agreement which is in line with our ambition to extend our innovative products services to

all frontiers of the country and ensure unparalleled customer experience”.

Also speaking on the deal, Managing Director, Total Nigeria, François Bossagol said, “In ensuring customer satisfaction, we have a commitment towards constant innovation and creativity in our retail outlets which is demonstrated in the strategic partnership with Etisalat for desired mutual brand affinity. Total Nigeria Plc

is the leader in the petroleum marketing industry in Nigeria with a range of top quality products and diversified activities in shops, foods and services in our Retail Stations. Total Nigeria Plc has the core of its marketing strategy, an abiding commitment to excellence in customer service delivery”.

The Total/Etisalat partnership will kick off in phases with kiosks in select Total stations nationwide.

EMPOWERMENT: From left, Tim Akano, CEO New Horizons Systems Limited, Guest Speaker; Mrs A. Petinrin, wife of Chief of Defence Staff and DEPOWA President and Mrs. Dupe Ibrahim, wife of Chief of Naval Staff at the Defence and Paramilitary Officers Wives (DEPOWA) empowerment pogramme for 250 wives of senior military and paramilitary officer, in Abuja.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 — 27

MTN expands portfolio with mobile advertising

BY EMMA ELEBEKE

N a bid to leverage on its high subscriber base in the country, MTN Nigeria last week unveiled its novel service on mobile advertising.

The new service tagged “MTN mobile Ad” is targeting the over 50 million registered MTN subscribers in Nigeria, with their mobile devices.

According to MTN Enterprise Solutions Officer, Mr. Babatunde OSho, the Mobile advertising is a cost effective means for her to directly target advertising at the mobile phones of prospects and customers who would want products and services in a more measurable manner than many other channels currently provided.

The novel service is also offering customers a mobile advertising platform and a subscriber base of almost 50 million already profiled men, women, and children to who MTN brand is targeting advertising in a cost-effective and measurable manner.

Under this plan, Osho said the service with its cost-effective price, would compete favourably with TV, radio, print and bill boards.

BY EMEKA AGINAM

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HE International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recently announced that it will live stream the London 2012 Olympic Games in 64 territories on the IOC’s channel on YouTube, the world's most popular online video community.

During the Olympics Games this summer, sports fans in these 64 territories across Asia and Africa will be able to enjoy live coverage of the events as well as highlight clips on this digital platform free-ofcharge. Viewers from these territories will be able to watch the streams on the IOC’s YouTube channel, accessible online or Internet enabled devices like smart devices/mobile phones and other YouTube-enabled devices.

The Managing Director, IOC Television and Marketing, Timo Lumme, while speaking on this development said that, “We are delighted to be able to offer live online coverage of London 2012 to sports fans free of charge across these 64 markets. We first provided clips on our channel on YouTube during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games across the region, and since then have continued to

Huawei plans global network operations centres in Nigeria

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MTN MOBILE ADS: From left, Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer, Mr. Babatunde OSho; Customer Relations Executive, Mr. Akin Braithwaite; General Manager, Enterprise Sales, Mrs. Onyinye Ikenna-Emeka and General Manager, Enterprise Marketing, Mr. Oladipo Nylander, all of MTN Nigeria at the launch of MTN Mobile Ads in Lagos.

With this package, he said that an advertiser can design the kind of report he can get before the campaign starts, frequency, how interactive customers are through the medium know the number of people that responded and the kind of people they are.

For media agencies, the MTN mobile Ad, will offer a broader range of channels to offer their clinets to reach target

market, deliver richer, more integrated marketing communications media plan developed for clients and additional revenue stream.

While for brand managers, it will offer a direct channel through which they can reach their profiled target audience, smart means of optimizing their advertising budget, a complimentary form of advertising that makes their

marketing plan more comprehensive and channel for tracking and measuring returns on investment.

The service boast of variety of channels which include: iSMS, SMS flash message, Rich media, location based and USSD flash message mobile adverts. Others are IVR advertising and caller tunes which are jingles played to callers to organizations who subscribe to the service.

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Watch London Olympics on YouTube provide footage of past Olympic Games across the world on our YouTube channel. Now we will also be able to offer live coverage during London 2012, complementing the excellent coverage provided by our broadcast partners across the world across all media platforms.“ Also speaking, Claude Ruibal, YouTube Head of Sport Content Partnerships, said, “From baseball to cricket to martial arts, YouTube has become a global hub for live sports. There is no sporting event, however, more exciting or iconic than the Summer Olympics, and we are thrilled to work with the IOC to bring live coverage of these truly international Games to even more people around the world.

“The IOC is making the most of our platform by offering fans 11 different

livestreams on their channel, which can be viewed on desktops, mobile phones, and Internet-connected devices.

We hope sports fans enjoy finding the exact event they want to see as well as checking daily highlights whenever they want to see them.”

Meanwhile, the livestreaming on the IOC’s YouTube channel will provide exclusive digital access to the London 2012 Olympic Games in territories where digital broadcast rights have not already been acquired by the IOC’s broadcast partners:Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Bhutan, Cambodia, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam.

And in 44 Sub-Saharan African territories on a non-exclusive basis, including:Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central Africa Republic , Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of, Congo, Republic of, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Eriteria, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, GuineaBissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia , Madagascar , Malawi , Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria , Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal, Seychelles , Sierra Leone , Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The IOC’s live streaming on its YouTube channel will consist of 11 different simultaneous high-definition broadcasts, all with English language commentary.

ITH total revenue of $32.4 billion for its 2011 operation year, Huawei, one of the leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, has disclosed that it plans to set up 3 Global Network Operation Centers (GNOC) in the country.

One of the GNOCs will be set up in in Lagos. The project which will be of great value in the training of telecom experts, according to Huawei is expected to come on stream by July this year.

But at a media parley while reviewing the company’s global and Nigeria’s business performance in 2011, Mr. Pan Fan, MD/CEO, Huawei Ni-

geria, said the company’s performance for the year under review was impressive.

“Established in Shenzhen, China, Huawei has grown to become a global ICT solutions provider running its business in over 140 countries worldwide. It becomes the second largest ICT solutions provider with USD 32.4 Billion revenue in 2011, an 11.7% growth over the previous year.”

“In 2011, Huawei increased its investment in the enterprise and consumer business segments, and achieved all-around growth on the back of strong business momentum generated by the company’s successful transformation into a complete end-to-end ICT solutions provider. “

IXPN, ICT Forum targets low bandwidth cost

BY EMMA ELEBEKE HE Nigerian ICT Forum of Partnership Institutions Ltd/Gte says it is collaborating with the Internet eXchange Point of Nigeria, IXPN to ensure inter-network connections between Higher Education Institutions in Nigeria and reducing their present cost of internet bandwidth.

This collaboration is seeking to establish the Research and Education Network (REN) clusters in the country.

The managing director of the IXPN, Mr. Muhammed Rudman, who revealed this said that REN would serve as a vehicle for the interconnection of all the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) via ICT in order to promote content development and sharing

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amongst the member institutions.

The Convener of Nigeria ICT Forum, Dr. Aminu Ibrahim said that the collaboration is in line with the Forum’s mission which focuses on developing internal capacity for HEIs and cultivating a favourable policy environment that aids development..

According to him, the Nigerian ICT Forum, plans to utilize, sustain and advance ICT networks, services and shared resources that are owned by the HEIs themselves.

Also speaking, Rudman, said the MOU vested IXPN with the responsibility of providing a national core infrastructure that facilitates internet operations in Nigeria, as well as localizing traffic and reducing local routing cost.

ISPON now listed in global media circuit

BY EMEKA AGINAM

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HE International media circuit has listed the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), winner of the BID Arch of Europe Award in Frankfurt.

It would be recalled that Frankfurt hosted the International Arch of Europe for Quality and Technology Award to reward highly-qualified professionals currently involved in big projects, whose decisions affect millions of people around the world and whose work meets the criteria of the ISO 9000 and the QC100 TQM model. All of them were present at the 2012 BID Quality Award.

Christopher Uwaje, President of the Institute of Software Practitioners

of Nigeria (ISPON), accepted the BID Arch of Europe Award at the International Quality convention in Frankfurt.

Chris Uwaje proudly stood before the international community present at the 2012 International Quality convention in Frankfurt, sharing the achievements of ISPON as well as future plans and goals. Instead of yielding to negative situations or the pressures of the current global economy, ISPON spends every day excelling in quality and creating a competitive edge; a clear indication of their affirmative role as a leader. For this reason, ISPON was named a winner of the 2012 BID Arch of Europe Award in Frankfurt.

28—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

NITDA receives draft national software policy Software piracy: Copyright Commission takes war to users Continues from Page 23 activities and noticed that most of them are not licensed. We have sent the digital numbers of the systems to Dublin for checks. We have seized some of them as evidence. End users are warned. We want to warn again that NCC will not tolerate this kind of piracy. A lot of people do it because pirated software is cheap. This enforcement action helps in getting consumers understand the risk they are exposed to when they engage in the illegality of purchasing counterfeit software or mis-licensing software as a whole. It also helps protect genuine businesses whose true purpose is to add value to the customer.”

Fake software harms our economy “We warn people that use fake software. It is a continuous process. We are taking activities to other companies. Piracy harms the economy. We cannot continue like this.

We are bent on fighting software pirates. We will not relent in our action.

Piracy harms economy of Nigeria and other economies. End users are warned. Companies who engage in piracy are also warned,” he said.

As a press time, every attempt to speak to officials of the estate firm for reactions failed as non of their staffs were willing to talk to the newsmen.

Counterfeit software is a canker-worm Speaking further, Amodu, Deputy Director of Enforcement at NCC added: “Counterfeit software is a cankerworm that is eating through the fabric of societies all over the world. Their prevalence has a lot to do with the sophisticated and organized syndicate of pirates but also can be traced to the demand for them. Consumers of pirated software must also realize that they will be punished for contravening the law and putting people’s livelihoods as well as the economy of the country as a whole at risk.

“To win this fight against copyright infringements, it must be a joint effort of regulators as well as consumers.”

Reacting to the new

development, the AntiPiracy Manager for Microsoft Anglophone West Africa Mrs Ugochi Agoreyo while frowning at the ugly trend warned that, “End users should be careful when purchasing software on the promises made as the promises made saying that there is no difference between the genuine and counterfeit are not true.

Buying cheap can be costly “Consumers looking for a bargain should know that the price you could pay in data loss or identity theft by using counterfeit software that is vulnerable to computer

AKE-Up, Wa k e - U p , Wa k e - U p !

The Book of Isaiah and Revelation have said enough on apathy and docility, and there may be nothing more to say? But how long will Nigeria harbour and ignorantly elude the dreaded software catastrophe that has stated and continues to haunt all nations of the world? At last, one of the most complex threats to the emerging information society (IS) ever discovered, is here! Will Africa (Nigeria) sooner or later become the ultimate victim and loser?

Meanwhile, recent revelations from the G8 conference reveals that the world is marching towards a global food scarcity by 2050. At that time, the population of Africa will be equivalent to that of China, but with 60% of world’s arable land. That means that the global food security plan will depend on the arable land in Africa to survive.

Ordinarily, the above can be computed as a golden opportunity for Africa as the food basket of the world, but that may not the case after all. Fact is, outsiders are busy mapping strategies on how to tap into Africa’s solar energy, fisheries, agricultural resource and eventually, e-forcefully control those resources via data and information eespionage channels.

The world we live in today is best described as a “software first world”. The intensity of funding global software knowledge research points to the fact that the greatest battle

viruses, malware and hackers far outweighs the gains you have made from the difference in pricing. Many times, it’s just not worth the losses.”

Software piracy in organizations is often difficult to trace as the end users already have the software loaded on their systems, however, there is technology that makes this possible and regulatory and enforcement authorities now rely on that to broaden their reach to the demand market. Counterfeit software also includes fake hologram CDs and fake Certificate of Authenticity labels that look like the real thing and which are sold as complete software packages.

BY EMMA ELEBEKE DRAFT of the Na tional Software Policy for Nigeria has been submitted to the National Information Development Agency OF Nigeria (NITDA).

The National Software Policy Committee, headed by Professor Oluwole Akinyokun which submitted the report on June 14, 2012 was inaugurated on December 10, 2010.

The committee is made up of eminent Nigerians representing various stakeholder organizations from both Public and Private sectors and the Civil Society Group who worked rigorously to produce the final copy.

Speaking at the presentation, NITDA Director General, Professor, Cleopas Angaye said the inauguration of the committee was based on the recognition of the fact that Information and Communication Technology has been globally accepted as

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the major tool for sustainable socio economic development in the current global economy and software development is the engine of this powerful tool.

According to him it is apparent that the software industry no doubt is of utmost importance to future competitiveness for economies across the globe. He said Nigeria has witnessed tremendous growth in the ICT sector in the last one decade as Internet penetration has increased at an unprecedented rate of less than 200,000 regular users around 1999 to the current rate of over Forty Million users.

This he said has positioned Nigeria as the leader in Internet penetration statistics on the continent as the growth and the deployment of ICT in almost all sectors of the economy have led to considerable investment in software both in

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Flame worm and national software strategy (1) ground of mankind this century resides in national software know-how, capability and capacities.

And the Flame has already begun to burn and this Flame type adventure will sooner or later devour unprepared and unpro-

cause the words appear in its code, is unique in its size and the ways it can siphon victims’ personal data. It can monitor computer users by taking screenshots of their email or Instant Messenger conversations. It can

How prepared is Nigeria within the context of National Software capacities and capabilities? tected nations such as ours. It will be recollected that Stuxnet worm was also a complex computer worm that damaged Iran’s nuclear centrifuges in 2009 and 2010 by causing them to spin out of control.

According to various reliable reports, for at least the past two years, a large, complex piece of malicious software has infected hundreds of computers across the Middle East, stealing victims’ data and spying on their online activities, security researchers have discovered.

The malware, dubbed “Flame” or “Flamer” be-

record their audio conversations from an internal microphone or through Skype. And it can use Bluetooth technology to steal data on devices located near the infected computer, Alexander Gostev, a researcher at the Russian computer security firm, Kaspersky Lab, has confirmed.

The National Software Question The Information Society challenges of the 21st century have just begun.

These challenges continue to multiply and increase per nano-second

with greater complexities.

Therein lies the National Software question for Nigeria.

How prepared is Nigeria within the context of National Software capacities and capabilities? And by extension, is our current ICT development model secured and sustainable with a gross deficit of software code warriors? Who will fight the cyber war for Nigeria and Africa in the very near future? Can we allow and indeed afford to be taken hostage once again — after the unconditional surrender and uncompensated slave trade exploitation? One thing is very clear; 21st Century ICT will take hostages of software-porous nations. The recent encounter between Microsoft and European Union with respect to Antitrust and Windows palaver is just a tip of the ice berg. Collectively, the world hasn’t seen ‘nothing’ yet with regards to cyber wars.

Gostev said that the Flame malware was designed to “systematically collect information on the operations of certain nation states in the Middle East.” Thus far, the most frequent victims of the

the Public and Private sectors.

Angaye noted that the development in the ICT sector has laid credence to the fact that there is an urgent need to develop appropriate policy to guide “Software Nigeria” in order to meet our local software requirements, diversify our economy from a mono economy mainly based on oil and explore the knowledge economy that can provide alternative source of revenue for the country.

While recognising the various efforts and attempts at developing the software sub sector of information and communication technology in Nigeria, Angaye said these efforts include the National Software Development Initiative, National Software Development Taskforce and the national IT policy, the presentation of the National Software Policy is therefore a continuation of the previous efforts. malware have been located in Iran, but there have also been victims in Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. He added that Flame’s creators appear to be looking for any kind of intelligence — emails, documents, messages and discussions inside sensitive locations.

The creators remain unknown, but the malware appears to be part of a government-led espionage campaign, experts say.” Flame can easily be described as one of the most complex threats ever discovered,” Gostev said.

“It’s big and incredibly sophisticated. It pretty much redefines the notion of cyberwar and cyber-espionage.”

There is a fundamental and urgent need to establish an e-Knowledge Commission and Software Technology Committee for the National Assembly for many reasons directly related to the core existence, survivability, national security and global competitiveness of Nigeria.

Above all, the fundamental need to empower Nigerians, the colossal workload and government deliverables obligations to citizens in the Information Technology Domain — which critically interfaces with all human activities — makes it a strategic imperative to establish a Knowledge Commission and Software Committee at the Senate and House of Representative levels.

TO BE CONTINUED. Chris Uwaje is CEO of Connect Technologies and President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON).

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012—29

BRIEF

Airtel repackages 2Good offer

Solar powered telecom network set to debut in Nigeria STORIES BY PRINCE OSUAGWU IGERIA would soon experience a solar powered telecommunications network tagged WorldGSM through a company under the Shyam Group, VNL. Shyan Group is a West African and Middle East based Operator.

According to VNL, WorldGSM will be the first solar powered broadband network in Nigeria and has been designed to serve rural populations in developing economies. It will also help to bring mobile infrastructure to billions of people yearning for it in the rural and remote areas.

The network draws no power from the electricity grid. The hardware, software, towers and network architecture have been designed from the ground up, to extend existing GSM networks into areas that were difficult to serve.

Chairman of Shyam Geoup, Mr. Rajiv Mehrotra, described WorldGSM as a completely solar powered broadband network solution for rural and remote locations with aclear cut agenda to cater for rural consumers who don’t live in cities and have ARPUof 3 dollars or less. He said that the fact that the rural dweller needed services that would cope with their low ARPU and also be profitable, necessitated the innovation of this solution which does not run on diesel.

“The general purpose network of GSM is entirely unsuited to the unique challenges of serving rural and remote communities. As operators continue to expand their networks into these areas, these challenges can escalate to a point where any further expansion is no longer viable. As a result, vast portions of the developing world are denied telecommunication access. Power was clearly not an issue when GSM was conceived. A conventional base station site alone requires about 3,000 to 5,000 watts to run and this is outside of any Base Station Con-

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troller (BSC) or Mobile Switching Center (MSC),” Mehrotra said.

He observed that in remote areas in Nigeria, there is either no electricity grid or it’s only available for a few hours each day. Diesel generators are used to fill the gap times, resulting in several billion litres of diesel fuel being burned every single year and that diesel prices are just one part of the story.

He added that “poor fuel quality, cost and time to transport it to remote locations, storage costs, pilferage and theft made this power source unsustainable for rural GSM deployments. The generators themselves are typically overworked and poorly maintained, resulting in replacement every two or three years and also result into more waste and more greenhouse gas emissions”.

Another veteran in the Nigerian telecommunication industry, Tushar Maheshwari who also

A VNL Solar network site doubles as the Chief Commercial Officer – West Africa and Middle East, Shyam Group, not-

ed that VNL was committed to improving the rural connectivity in Nigeria and will work with

all stakeholders to ensure that the rural communications get the desired thrust.

Symantec fingers explosive ICT devt in Nigeria’s growing cyber threat W ORLD renowned cyber Security company, Symantec, has fingered Nigeria’s explosive ICT growth as one of the reasons the country keeps soaring in cyber threats.

Symantec through its Territory Manager, Indian Ocean Islands , West, East and Central Africa , Mr Sheldon Hand, while interacting with Journalists in

Lagos last week, said that the price the country would have to pay in the kind of growth experienced in ICT in the last decade would also be a commensurate threat growth.

He said that the worst hit would be the small and medium businesses which, up to 50 percent worldwide, do not have recovery plans. This is

even when reports have shown that 71 per cent of SMBs that suffered a cyber attack never recovered. Hand however, said that enterprises and consumers needed to be wary about four key trends in the security landscape which it discovered in its Global Internet security threat reports volume 17.

The report released recently identified four key

Symantec Channel Manager, Nigeria & Ghana, Adeyemi Adeleke; Finance Director, JSP Communications Consultancy, Joseph Adeboyejo and Symantec Territory Manager, IWECA (Indian Islands, West, East and Central Africa), Sheldon Hand during the company’s media roundtable in Lagos.

trends in cyber threat, including malware attacks, targeted attacks, mobile threats and data breaches.

It could be recalled that the same report indicated that Nigeria stepped up six positions to rank 59th in global internet threat, a case Hand said was partly due to major developments in the ICT landscape including growth in internet subscription and penetration, adoption and use of modern gadgets and applications like smart phones, PCs and tablets as well as Nigeria’s in roads in submarine broadband cables.

Hand even predicted that the threats targeted at mobile devices would be on the increase in 2012, particularly as the sale of smartphones and mobile money transfers continued to gain ground. Meanwhile, in the same way was mobile malware said to be poised for tangible threat to enterprises and consumers if they failed to take measures at safeguarding their systems and devices.

Now, look at how Hand summed it all up: “While profits remain lucrative in

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IRTEL Nigeria, last week, re-launched its flagship 2Good plan with extra benefits that allows customers choose from amongst three time bands during which they can connect family, friends and business associates at net rate of 10k/sec.

Tagged 2Good Time, the three special time bands are: Traffic Time - 5am to 7am; Lunch Time - 1pm to 4pm and Party Time - 10pm to 12.00am. During these time bands, customer will enjoy special on net call rate of 10k/sec.

Subscribers to the 2Good time service will also enjoy midnight on net call rate of 10k/sec as well as 20 free SMS on their first N100 recharge of the month.

Speaking on the value offering, the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, Airtel Nigeria Deepak Srivastava said that the company will continue to offer innovative, flexible and affordable value offerings that will meet the growing demands and needs of all its customers.

the Personal Computer space, mobile offers new opportunities to cybercriminals that potentially are more profitable. Mobile growth also creates an urgent concern to organisations around the possibility of breaches.

Given the intertwining of work and personal information on mobile devices the loss of confidential information presents a real risk to businesses.

Unlike a desktop computer, or even a laptop, mobile devices are easily lost.”

He advocated best practice guidelines, including developing and enforcing IT policies, protection of information, authentication of identities, efficient management of systems and adequate protection of key infrastructures.

But Hand was also on hand to unveil some of Symantec’s products meant to help businesses out of the cyber threat quagmire. They include the Backup Exec 2012, which is a cloud-based disaster recovery solution with simplified user interface and NetBackup 7.5 that simplifies management and recovery of storage level snapshot from a single console.

30—Vanguard,WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

BRIEF AfDB boosts infrastructure with $18m HE Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a USD 18 million private equity investment in infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa.

The recipient of the investment is the InfraCo SubSaharan Infrastructure Fund (ISSIF), aiming at target capitalization of USD 200 million of equity with a first closing of USD 100 million expected third quarter 2012 to participate in greenfield and brownfield infrastructure projects. The ISSIF will catalyze additional funds for infrastructure projects, which will create employment and bring essential skills and technical knowledge to subSaharan Africa.

Infrastructure requirements in the sub-Saharan market are estimated at USD 94 billion annually over the next decade. This considerable deficit severely impedes Africa’s economic development. The power and transport sectors are especially lacking in investment.

Population growth and increasing urbanization has left many countries with a power shortage. The lack of regional transport infrastructure has resulted in vastly greater import/export and transport costs in Africa than in other countries. African governments, traditionally the main investors in basic infrastructure, would greatly benefit from private sector investments to fill the gap.

Hence, the ISSIF represents a key alternative for privateled financing for the infrastructure sector in Africa.

The ISSIF is sponsored by InfraCo Limited, a donorfinanced fund launched by the Private Infrastructure Development Group and EleQtra LP, a group of companies specializing in the development, financing and ownership of greenfield infrastructure projects. The ISSIF will provide scarce equity capital for infrastructure projects, create jobs and enhance the transfer of knowledge in Africa. These infrastructure investments are crucial to release constraints on long term sustainable growth and private sector development Mrs Tas Neside Anvaripour, AfDB’s manager of the infrastructure finance division said: “Buttress by a strong pipeline due to Infraco’s role as a project developer, ISSIF is expected to have immediate access to quality projects and help them to get to bankability stage”.

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BY AHMED IBRAHIM ERMANENT Secretary/ Auditor General for Local Government, Lagos State, Mr. Mubashiru Hassan has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to exempt local governments from the cashless policy charges.

He made this call while speaking at a 2-day sensitization workshop on the “Workings of Electronic/ Cashless policy ” for Local Governments and Local Government Education Authorities in Lagos.

Hassan also argued that the penal charge being imposed on the state for withdrawal above the stipulated limit should be removed until when the policy is implemented nationwide.

In his response on the demand for exemption of local governments revenue agencies, the Director, Banking and Payment System

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CBN should exempt LGs from cashless policy charges Department, CBN, Mr. Dipo Fatokun official said that the apex would soon issue a statement to clarify this.

Meanwhile, Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Taxation and Revenue, Mr. Abimbola Shodipo, said that CBN should assign more role for local governments in creating awareness about the og-going cashless policy.

Speaking at the sensitization workshop, Shodipo said that local governments due to the closeness to the people at grassroots level are very critical to creating awareness about the cashless policy. He said for example, they can sensitise the people about the benefits of the

policy and other reasons to embrace it. He said for this reason the CBN should devise ways to increasingly engage local governments in the implementation of the scheme In his welcome address, Hassan said the sensitization is aimed at exposing the functional local government on the issue of CBN cashless policy. He said it will give the participants the opportunity of having knowledge about the policy which will guide them on avoiding the risks during transactions.

He said, “With the introduction of a new policy especially the electronic payment system which is

FROM LEFT: Mr Manz Denga, Principal Partner/Executive Officer, Networks for AfriBusiness ExpertEase, Johanesbourg, Amama Mbabazi, Prime Minister of Uganda, and Mrs Justine Bagyenda, Executive Director Central Bank Uganda at the National Bank of Commerce Uganda (NBCU) strategy meeting on NBCU held June 1, 2012 in Green Hills Hotel and Conference Centre, Kabele, Uganda.

BY EMMA UJAH, Abuja Bureau Chief

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REMIUM Pension Ltd’s consolidated portfolio rose to N165. 112 billion in 2011, indicating an increase of 34.16 per cent over its 2010 portfolio which stood at N124.1 billion.

The Chairman of the company, Mr. Aliyu Dikko, who disclosed this at its 2011 Annual General Meeting in Abuja, on Wednesday, also revealed that Premium Pension has risen to become one of the leaders among the Pension Fund Administrators in the country, having achieved the N1 billion capitalization target.

Only six PFAs have achieved the target. Premium Growth

system-based, the target audience is not likely to be acquainted with adequate knowledge and the details of the workings of the system because it is new and more so in a semi IT literate society such as ours. The cost of errors can be very material if the operators do not have the relevant knowledge and wherewithal especially in an environment of sharp practices and internet scam.

“This collaborative workshop has been specially packaged to equip our people in Lagos State with first-hand information and knowledge about the operations of epayment and minimize errors to the barest minimum and this informed our choice of partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria who is the initiator of this policy so that our people can learn from the source. The Day One of this workshop covers all the policy makers at the Local Government level while Day Two is for the operators that are directly involved in the electronic payment system.

“This enlightenment workshop is also our own little way to help the Federal Government to echo the new monetary policy, that is Epayment to the grassroots. It is noteworthy to state that the package which the Lagos State Office of the Auditor-General for Local Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) opens to us is free of charge to all categories of participants”.

He said that the coming together of the two bodies is unique as both have put at stake, their good names and brand established over the two decades ago in the interest of the Lagosians and urged the participants in the workshop to learn from it. He enjoined the support of Lagosians and all Nigerians to support the policy.

Premium Pension’s portfolio hits N165bn Fund, according to the chairman also recorded an impressive increase, moving from N60.68 billion in 2010 to N92.70 billion in 2010, while investment income from active Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) grew from N3.99 billion in 2010 to N 7.09 billion in the review year.

Similarly, Retiree RSA Fund recorded an increase in income of 89.91 per cent from the figure of N1. 15 billion the previous year to N2.18 billion in 2011, while the company’s gross income rose from N1.54 billion in 2010 to N2. 17 billion in the year under review.

“The above impressive performance is a reflection of the various strategies the

company had adopted and the commitment of the board, management and staff for ensuring that new businesses were won and existing customers retained through the delivery of superior customer service”, Mr. Dikko said.

He stated that in spite of the enactment of the law which excised the military and the State Security Services from the Contributory Pension Scheme, thereby depriving the industry of a huge market, the prospect of growth and sustainability of the industry remained very bright in view of the existence of a very wide untapped market.

According to him, “the informal sector which

represents the major employer of labour is yet to be incorporated into the scheme.

In addition, out of the 36 states of the federation, only 16 have so far joined the scheme, while compliance with the Pensions Reform Act by the private sector is still partial”.

The Chairman said that PPL and other industry players must undertake an aggressive public enlightenment campaign to sell the scheme among various segments of the Nigerian public, while urging the National Pension Commission, PenCom, to expedite action on the framework for accommodating the informal sector employees.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 — 31

C M Y K

32 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

Loew eyes Ozil explosion against Greece

G

ermany coach Joachim Loew yesterday refused to be drawn into the political discussion surrounding his team’s Euro 2012 quarter-final against Greece, saying for him it was a “normal” football match.

The game, billed by the media of both countries as the clash of the eurozone, pits the eurozone’s problem child against its rich northern paymaster. “(German Chancellor) Angela Merkel and us, we have a good relationship and an agreement that she does not advise me on the lineups and I do not advise her on political statements,” Loew told reporters.

“It is just a normal quarterfinal game against Greece and nothing else,” Loew said.

Merkel is a deeply unpopular figure in Greece for the tough austerity principles she has imposed on the country mired in debt. Greek players on Monday also steered clear from talking about politics in relation to the game against Germany.

Loew, however, did not hesitate to comment on Greece playmaker Giorgos Karagounis’ absence due to suspension. Karagounis scored the only goal against Russia.

“I think he is the one who has been having the big ideas in the Greek game for years. He is the connection between the defence and the players in attack and for Greece his absence is painful.”

Germany advanced after topping Group B with their best-ever European Championship group stage performance of three straight wins while Greece stunned Russia 1-0 on their final Group A match to qualify behind the Czech Republic.

“Greece will not be an easy opponent.

They are uncomfortable,” said central defender Holger Badstuber.

“They will defend well but will C M Y K

•Loew •Ozil

also, no doubt, have their offensive impulses.

“We need to be focused and not take this game lightly just because they are a small team.”

Loew ’s squad trained on Tuesday without Mesut Ozil, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lars Bender, all nursing minor knocks after the 2-1 win over Denmark on Sunday.

“This is purely a precautionary measure. They are all fit,” the 52-year-old coach said.

Beckenbauer blasts Germany

F

ranz Beckenbauer has called for change ahead of Germany’s quarter-final clash with Greece despite his country qualifying from Group B with maximum points.

Germany beat Denmark 2-1 on Sunday to claim top spot in the group, yet the former defender had harsh words for Joachim Low’s men

“Our team was not effective enough in the second half, they passed and passed and nothing worked. At least they should have taken a shot for once,” he told Bild. ”Everyone plays to each other instead of shooting. They have to do better against Greece.

To win the Euros they must step up their game.”

Cech: Anything can happen against Portugal

P

•Cech

etr Cech has refused to write off Czech Republic’s chances of beating Portugal in their Euro 2012 quarter-final clash on Thursday.

“We have not lost yet, of course you can beat anyone on a good day,” he told Fifa.com.

“We definitely have a chance to advance. It is sport and anything can happen. ”They are among the world’s top 10 teams. They are a team filled with personalities and outstanding players, and they play very well. ”Against Netherlands on Sunday, they were excellent up front. They also have enough experienced players.

The team has matured and it is really strong.”

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice against Oranje, and Cech admitted that his team will need to pay special attention to the Real Madrid s t a r . ”He has a powerful shot, he can shoot with his left or right foot,” he added. “He can score from any place and his heading is also great.”

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 — 33

Italy struggled against Ireland —De Rossi C D

roatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic has admitted that his missed chance in the 1-0 Group C loss to Spain could haunt him for a while after his side’s Euro 2012 exit The Sevilla player came close to breaking the deadlock on the hour mark with a flying header from close range, but his attempt was kept out by Iker Casillas as the Croatians eventually crashed out of the tournament after Jesus Navas

aniele De Rossi has admitted that Italy struggled to cope with Republic of Ireland’s physical approach during Monday’s Euro 2012 match.

The Azzurri recorded a 2-0 win, thanks to goals from Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli, to book their ticket for the knock-out stages, but the Roma player conceded that it was by no means a convincing p e r f o r m a n c e . ”We struggled in this game, perhaps more than in the previous two. We couldn’t find any space as they closed it down well,” De Rossi told r e p o r t e r s . ”The Irish are a good team, very physical. They definitely made it a very difficult game, so they deserve credit for that. ”They play a good long-ball game and all you need is one mistake, one good moment for them. It’s not easy when all of their side are so physical.”

S

laven Bilic was left crestfallen as Croatia bowed out of Euro 2012, but was quick praise his players for their commendable efforts. ”The European Championship is the cruellest of sports events,” Bilic told Goal.com. ”I am just so sad that we are out of the competition. We came

Dutch players back coach

T

here to compete with the big teams, and we were in a good way to do that. ”Yeah, we are out.

That’s it, but I don’t think that is what we deserved.

I think if you look at our performances and our attitude, we deserved to go through, and I also feel very proud of my players. ”I feel completely empty. I am not even thinking about how I feel, given that this was my last game in charge of my country. ”We came that close to winning

today with that chance we had [Rakitic’s second-half header]. ”When you play against the world champions you don’t create ten chances, maybe you just have three moments, and you have to make sure that you score your goals then. ”We didn’t do it. And we also didn’t have that little bit of luck you need as well, and now we are out.”

Bilic refused to draw comparisons with the way in which Russia suffered elimination from Group A, stating that his side had a far tougher group.

he Netherlands’ worst performance at a major tournament has undermined the standing of coach Bert van Marwijk but his Euro 2012 players are backing him despite calls from fans and the media for a fresh start.

The World Cup finalists went home after losing all three of their Group B matches - a performance so far only matched by unfancied Ireland - to Denmark, Germany and Portugal.

Their humiliated squad, who arrived in Amsterdam on Monday afternoon, are now free to follow the national discussion about what should happen to the team and Van Marwijk.

Playmaker Wesley Sneijder, set to become the captain with 35-year-old Mark van Bommel expected to retire from the national team, was the first to stand up for his beleaguered coach.

Cassano: Italy don’t fear anybody

A

ntonio Cassano has voiced his delight with Italy’s qualification for the quarter-finals of Euro 2012, and added that the Azzurri are not afraid of any opponent.

The 2006 World Cup winners recorded a hard-fought 2-0 triumph over Republic of Ireland in their final Group C game to book their ticket for the last eight, and the AC Milan attacker was happy that his side had to work for the win. ”We don’t fear anyone. The C M Y K

netted the winning goal late in the game.

“I did not manage to take the chance that came my way. I think I will probably have sleepless nights thinking about that,” Rakitic stated to the official Uefa website. ”It was obvious that we gave everything on the pitch, we gave it our best shot. I can honestly say that my soul was left on that pitch, and I think I need a few people to carry me off the pitch because I was literally dead. ”I just want to say one big, big thank you to our supporters.

They were cheering for us, they were here with us all of this time – we are really very, very proud that people like that are behind us.”

•Rossi

Euro is the cruellest sporting event —Bilic •Bilic

Rakitic rues Croatia's exit

important thing was to qualify, and now the knockout stages start and we are ready to face anybody,” Cassano was quoted as saying on the official Uefa w e b s i t e . ”The tough victories are the best ones. The most important thing was to get through the group stage. ”I couldn’t wait for the final whistle in the other match [Croatia 0-1 Spain], but I was very happy when the game finally ended.

Italy’s mentality excites Prandelli

•Marwijk “We can’t blame the coach for this, he did a great job for us in the last four years,” said Sneijder.

“But there are some issues in the squad that have to be solved first, like the player who is leaking to the press about our tactical plans before matches.”

The 60-year-old Van Marwijk, honoured by Queen Beatrix after the Dutch reached the 2010 World Cup final, still has four years left on a contract that was extended last year. ”The most important thing was that tonight we understood that we have to put a lot of determination into our game.

We can achieve anything with this heart. ”In the quarter-finals we will have to show the same attitude.

More important than the situations that we will come across will be showing the same commitment and spirit of s a c r i f i c e . ”We will always try to play good football, but we will try to be more clinical in attack.”

I •Cassano

taly coach Cesare Prandelli has praised his side’s mentality following a 2-0 victory against Ireland in their final Euro 2012 group match.

“We wanted this victory so badly and I think we deserved to win and progress,” he told Rai Sport after the game.

•Prandelli

34 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

Dana crash: Adetimehin urges insurers to unite

BY ROSEMARY ONUOHA

P

resident of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, CIIN, Mr. Wole Adetimehin has called on insurance operators to rally round each other to quickly pay out the compensation to victims of the Dana air crash.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos last week, Adetimehin said that insurers should ensure that all hopes are not lost to the victims of the crash disaster.

Adetimehin said “I want to say that all hopes should not be lost, and this will be another opportunity for all the underwriters to rally round each other in insuring that the image and reputation of the local market is protected.”

Adetimehin assured that the lead insurer involved is fully responsible for 100 per cent of the risk whether premiums have been paid or not, so whether they transfer it or not, they are liable to pay compensation as such, the Nigerian public should be rest assured that they will get paid.

“I want to allay the fears of the Nigerian public because the issue raised is highly technical. 70 per cent of the premium has been sorted out remaining the 30 per cent payable to local underwriters.

The lead insurer is wholly responsible for 100 per cent of the risks and as such they are liable to pay,” he said.

The CIIN president also bared his mind on the alleged non-regularisation of the Group Life Assurance for Federal Government employees, some of whom lost their lives in the air crash by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, OHOSF, saying there was no cause for alarm.

According to him, there is always room for accommodation in insurance contracts of such type and magnitude where bureaucracies may delay payment of premium to members of the consortium of underwriters. He maintained that in view of the nature of the cover, the OHOSF might have asked the insurers to still hold cover pending the regularisation of the business.

Adetimehin also said that government have two alternatives for payment of compensation to the bereaved families including drawing from reserved funds or arranging with the insurers to

accommodate the death claims in view of existing business relations.

As a last resort, the CIIN president urged the life insurers on the insurance programme to ensure that the government is not embarrassed as a result of this identified gap by ensuring that claims are paid to the affected families.

“It is not in the interest of the insurers not to come to the aid of government this time. Also government must have a

reserve to settle families of the affected workers. All hopes are not lost yet,” he stressed.

Stakeholders feared that families who lost their loved ones in the ill-fated Dana aircraft on June 3, 2012 may have to wait longer than necessary to get full compensation in line with the promise made by the representative of Lloyds of London, underwriter of the aviation risk.

It was alleged that the airline may not have met its premium

obligation to the local underwriters on the airline’s insurance account before the accident.

Under the contract of insurance, the customer is expected to pay the required premium (money) to the insurance company so that the insurer can pay compensation to the policyholder whenever there is a mishap. The source confirmed that the group of local underwriters on the account took on 30 per cent of the risk while foreign operators at Lloyds took 70 per cent of the premium payable for the cover remitted to the foreign insurers, the local insurers were yet to get their share of the premium.

The source also stated that apart from Dana Airlines, many other airlines operating in the country were also guilty of nonpayment of required premium to insurers, believing that they would not be any accident before the year runs out.

From Left: Mr. Biodun Shobanjo, Chairman Troyka Group with a friend and Mr. Bolaji Okusaga, Managing Director, The Quadrant Company (TQC) in Brussels, Belgium, where TQC received an award as the African Consultancy of the year 2012.

CIIN reschedules educational conference …Commiserates with families of victims of air disaster

By RITA OBODOECHINA

T

he governing Council of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, CIIN, has a p p r o v e d t h e rescheduling of the 2012 International Education Conference and Annual General Meeting to July 46 in Abuja.

Disclosing this to pressmen at the CIIN Secretariat in Lagos last week, M r.

Wa l e Adetimehin, President of the Institute said that the rescheduling is in response to remote logistic factors

which were reinforced by other compelling national issues.

Irrespective of the rescheduling, Adetimehin said that the conference maintains the basic details, especially the theme, ‘New Tunes for lean times’ the sub themes and the speaker, Dr. Christopher Kolade will lead other speakers in addressing the conference delegates.

While commiserating with families of the victims of ill fated Dana air crash, Adetimehin prayed that God will give them the

fortitude to bear the losses.

He added that the industry r e g u l a t o r, National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, will play its expected role by making sure that the industry pays the claims to the victims.

He added that, the Dana Air crash is another incident which has created a critical test of the effectiveness of insurance i n d u s t r y, a n d t h a t t h e industry is better equipped to rise to the occasion, by using this opportunity as a platform to reinforce the confidence of the Nigerian public.

BRIEF

NAICOM suspends Prime Investment Insurance brokers’ licence

T

he National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, has announced the suspension of Prime Investment Insurance Brokers Limited from doing business as insurance brokers with effect from June 14, 2012.

In a statement to Vanguard, NAICOM said that the suspension of the Akurebased insurance brokers’ license would remain until further notice.

The statement said “The suspension became necessary following the manner in which the firm handled the Ondo State Government property insurance account. After a careful study of all issues relating to the account, the Commission was “satisfied that your company acted unprofessionally without regard to ethical standard expected.”

Some of the infractions of the broker include receiving commission in excess of the maximum prescribed by law and leading a consortium of brokers, consisting of unregistered brokers and facilitating the deduction of some amount of money categorised as Christmas gift from the premium due to the underwriters.

APRA tells insurers to get ready for LAGIC change HE Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released final versions of capital standards for insurers and told them they should be working on implementing the system.

APRA Executive Member Ian Laughlin says the life and general insurance capital review (LAGIC), begun in 2010, is moving to its implementation phase.

During two years of consultation, APRA has received more than 120 submissions and more than 100 insurers have participated in studies.

Over coming months, APRA will progressively release the final versions of prudential standards to come into force on January 1 next year.

“Insurers should now be focused on implementing the revised capital framework,” Laughlin said.

T

C M Y K

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 — 35

C M Y K

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C M Y K

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44 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

Vanguard,

LIBRA; Partial Solar Eclipse in Virgo today ; It is important you don’t exhibit aggression unnecessarily. Here is a day when secret love is capable of bringing serious pressure. Try to be very diplomatic.

SCORPIO; Partial Solar Eclipse in Virgo today ; Your concentration level is not perfect and if you take bad advice from friends you would be misled. The more practical you are the better for you.

SAGITTARIUS; Partial Solar Eclipse in Virgo today ; Unnecessary aggressive approach on your part along your career/business lines will back-fire more than you imagine. Graceful expression is what you will need.

CAPRICORN; Partial Solar Eclipse in Virgo today ; Happenings within your working arena can bring minor provocation but it is just a passing trend. Travelling for love will bring more challenges than expected.

— 45

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 VIRGO; Partial Solar Eclipse in Virgo today ; Unless you are more careful matters-of-the-heart may cause avoidable trouble the way your career/business can suffer temporarily.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

LEISURE

YOUR LUCK TODAY

By Richard Eromosele

do not know the level of your education today, but one thing I know is that, education is a continuum, it has no end. Even if you are a professor, you still need to learn every-

So, you have finished your education

I

day.

There is no end to learning. Therefore, it is wrong to say, I have finished my

TERROR MUDA

education. Which education? Granted you’ve rounded up your degree programme, but

in “Never say goodbye”

what about the University of Life?

Education is life time process. Learning begets more learning. The more you know, the more you want to know.

Believe, your education has just begun.

By Kola Fayemi

AQUARIUS; Partial Solar Eclipse in Virgo today ; Male members of this Star sign will need to watch their libido while female must not ignore their sex-life. Beware of joint ventures with those you don’t know.

PISCES; Partial Solar Eclipse in Virgo today ; It is not compulsory you take to aggressive re-action to those within your base of operation who are not as perfect as you. Protect your spouse.

ARIES; Partial Solar Eclipse in Virgo today ; Watch what you eat and drink today. This is the wrong time to engage in unnecessary heated argument.. Romance at work may bring disappointment.

TAURUS; Partial Solar Eclipse in Virgo today ; Trying to influence matters-of-the-heart with money will not give you the desired result. Any way it is a day you will need to be more careful with money.

GEMINI; Partial Solar Eclipse in Virgo today ; It is important you are more careful while trying to pass judgement on people within your base of operation because you too may be wrong.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Princess Shii’

By Andy Akman

CANCER; Partial Solar Eclipse in Virgo today ; Taking a pleasure drive or movement may bring more than anticipated responsibility. Keep away from whatever can not be placed above board today.

LEO; Partial Solar Eclipse in Virgo today ; /9 If you allow friends to force their ideas on you financially or on matters-of-the-heart, you would be the loser. Express yourself gracefully.

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING Send your date and place of birth to the Astrological Counselling, P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos

What should I know?

Dear Joshua

VIRGINIA

dadadekola@yahoo.com

Kindly tell me where the Moon was placed when I was born and other things I should know about my star.

Lucky Kano.

Dear Lucky, What space can take will be given here-under. Your natal Moon was in Aries.

ANALYSIS OF YOUR HOROSCOPE DATA Preponderance of cardinal quality in your chart is an indication of GREAT LEADERSHIP QUALITY together with innate ability to attain prominence on one hand, on the other hand, exaltation of intellectual related Mercury in Aquarius at positive angle to both lucky Jupiter and Uranus (the planet of genius) in Libra pointed to a person with higher pitch of intelligence.

Action loving Mars as the final dispositor of your horoscope ( that’s most influential planet at home when you were born) will most times induce you to strongly desire importance with likeness for quick results; actually long promise without concrete action will bore you easily. Equally 60 percentage of push-full influence in your chart means that the best for you is to go after your needs and wants.

Combination of all the placement and aspects formed within the planets when you were born are pointers to you as a person with balanced personality with little bias for good spiritual life. And you believe in disciplinarian life style.

Placement of your natal Sun and Moon in compassionate Pisces and self conscious Aries respectively are indications of your being mainly a Piscean and partly an Arian, however as Aries is also your Stellium sign, both basic characteristics of Pisces and Aries are highly pronounced in your inner-self.

C M Y K

Commen3

by Lawrence Akapa

46—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

Tackling the perennial challenges of minimum wage saga T

HE International Labour Organization, ILO, defines “Minimum wage as a wage which provides a floor to the wage structure in order to protect workers at the bottom of the wage distribution.” The ILO further points out that minimum wages are a nearly universal policy instrument that applies in more than 90 percent of International Labour Organization member states, including Nigeria. As the ILO further noted, minimum wage must take a legal perspective that must have the backing of force by law and be enforceable under threat of penal or other sanctions. It is this aspect of the minimum wage saga that generates the heated battles between labour organizations and governments.

Besides that, minimum wage process articulated by the ILO and related bodies, other organizations such as the Ethical Trade Initiative, ETI, have become embroiled in the minimum wage debate. ETI defines a concept it called living wage as “a wage that allows a worker to provide for him or herself and family; to buy essential medicines, send children to school and to save for the future.” We can also categorize another form of wage: poverty wage, which the ETI has associated with the following signs: •Workers skipping meals so they can feed their children •Indebtedness - borrowing from neighbours and/or loan sharks •Cutting out ‘non essential’ expenditure e.g. medicine, clothing •Taking on extra work, e.g. homework or another factory job.

From the foregoing, it is evident

VICTOR OCHEI that a country might have a minimum wage backed by law while in terms of real value it may be worth nothing. The value might have terribly depreciated especially in an economy marked by frequent uncontrolled inflation as in the Nigerian situation, where many cry that “their take home C M Y K

pay cannot take them home.” The import of this is that the existing minimum wage was no longer realistic, hence the cry for living wage. Gertener captures it thus: A living wage is more than money, it is something about the force of a moral proposition; first, that work should be rewarded; second, that no one who works full time should have to live in poverty.

Flowing from this, a living wage is seen as a decent wage. It affords the earner and her family the most basic cost of living without need for government support or programmes. With a living wage an individual can take pride in her work and enjoy the decency of a life beyond poverty, beyond an endless cycle of working and sleeping, beyond the ditch of poverty wages. It is thus instructive that a living wage is not just a wage, since minimum wage attempts to cover only the very basic necessities and do not even account for savings or emergencies, living wage goes beyond this, it is only one small step towards a truly just wage.

The living wage obviously differs from the Minimum Wage in that the latter is set by law and

,

By VICTOR OCHEI

NLC president, Abdulwahed Omar...addressing workers following strike over minimum wage

Trade Union Congress, TUC, have had a long running battle with the government on the subject.

One way through which attempt has been made to realise this is the legislation of a national minimum wage. It is important to know that Nigeria pay structure and income policy predates the nation. For instance between 1934 and 2008 over 31 commissions and committees were set up to undertake either a holistic or

A living wage is more than money, it is something about the force of a moral proposition; first, that work should be rewarded; second, that no one who works full time should have to live in poverty

can fail to meet the requirements of a living wage or is so low that borrowing of application for topup benefits is necessary. It differ somewhat from basic needs in that the basic need models usually measures a minimum level of consumption without regard for the source of income.

Wage review in Nigeria: One of the duties the government owes its citizens is to ensure the welfare of her citizens. Nigeria is no exception as captured in section 14(b) of the 1999 constitution which states that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”

Trade unions in Nigeria (like their counterparts in other parts of the world) are the major bodies that represent the Nigerian workers in such matters as the agitation for wage increases and other benefits. These organs, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the

,

partial review of salaries and wages in the public service. This was in apparent realisation that the workers could no longer survive on what they earn, since those who work also have to support their families who form part of the huge army of the unemployed. But this did not go without intense agitation by the workers. The NLC captures it thus: Between 1945, when workers staged the 45 days strike for a cost of living allowance (COLA) and 2007, when the demand won by workers for a 25 per cent general wage rise through the Ernest Shonekan Wage Consolidated Committee was arbitrarily cut down to 15 per cent by Obasanjo, workers have struggled over 15 times to have wages improved a natural minimum wage legislated upon. In the 2000 Wage Review Agreement 25 per cent wage increase with effect from May 1, 2001 and 15 per cent wage increase with effect from May 1, 2002 was proposed. This was not implemented, this led to an industrial dispute and a 121/2 percent salary increase as against

the 35 per cent negotiated was signed in 2003. A situation painted thus: Only an increase of between it and 12 percent was implemented by the federal government.

Although the Shonekan Committee was set up against this background and recommended a 25 percent increase in salaries, Obasanjo unilaterally implemented a 15 percent increase in 2007.

Government also failed to abide by the time frames set up for subsequent negotiations with workers. The import of this position of NLC is that wage reviews were largely unstructured; as sometimes, negotiated wages were allegedly changed over night by government through circulars, at other times it was claimed government unilaterally effected wage increase. This state of affairs the workers insist led to the frequent strike actions aimed at getting government to agree to negotiate a new minimum wage and a general upward review of wages.

T

he NLC in 2009 succinctly gave several reasons why the review of wages had become highly imperative; we shall list some of them here.

•The consequence of the abdication of the agreed approach to the implementation of the phased wage increase has been that wages and salaries are today sharply depressed and incapable of meeting the basics needs of most workers.

•In the last one year, inflation has intensified with the cost of living index in the urban sector increasing by over 14 percent. The disproportionate increase (20.9 percent) in the cost of food means that erosion in the real wages and salaries of workers is alarmingly severe.

•The process of monetizing and consolidating in kind benefits which were hitherto not taxed has resulted in an escalation of the tax paid by workers. This has fur-

ther depressed the real take home pay of workers.

•All over the world, salary increase in the public sector underlined by the principle of equity and the need to bridge social inequality in the face of widening economic and social gaps amongst citizen of a country.

In 2008, the NLC thus presented a new minimum wage demand to the Federal government which was fixed at N52,000. The tripartite negotiations constituted by representatives of Labour Union (NLC and TNC), the Federal Government and the National Employers Consultative Assembly (NECA) began negotiations in 2009. Twenty state governments submitted memoranda which contained suggestions of the various amounts they could pay. The suggestions are as follow: Abia (N46,700); Anambra (N25,00); Imo (N40,000), Kwara (N30,000), Jigawa (N20,800), FCTC N25,000), Kebbi (N30,000); etc. Plateau and Ebonyi States made the lowest recommendation of N10,000. Although the average of the sum total suggested amounted to N24,000, the NLC after considering the economic situation, prevailing revenue allocation formula and the ability of private and public employers, consented to an even lower figure of N18,000.

Prevailing revenue allocation formula It is interesting to note from above that the state governors were all willing to pay above the N18,000 new national minimum wage was accepted by NLC. However, after it was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan in late March 2011, implementation of the new wage became a problem. This again led to a face off as the NLC government issued a two week ultimatum which took effect from June Continues on page 47

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012—47

Why power must shift to South East after Jonathan

•President Goodluck Jonathan

imum wage due to inflation) is also the main plank advanced by opponents of increase in minimum wage. Their reason is that whenever there is a wage increase, inflation eventually erodes the purchasing power of the worker who had just had a wage increase.

This position apparently made meaning to the then acting chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji •Chairman, Governors Forum and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi Karou Baraje when he said: Nigerian workers should rather agitate for massive infrastructural development in the country instead of the ty of this should be put into con- N18,000 minimum wage. He sideration. Towing the same line said agitation for new minimum of argument on the negative con- wage was unnecessary if there sequences of perennial wage were well equipped hospitals, increase, Shafiu Ibrahim Abdul- drinkable water and good road lahi noted: From an economic among other facilities in a way point of view, continuous wage that will be accessible in all the increase is not justifiable. In fact parts of the country. I think in the it is ruinous to the economy. last seven years, we are witnessThere are two main consequenc- ing the third agitation for further es of continuous wage increase, minimum wage. general and persistent rise in the •Enforcement of the Act: As price of goods and services, and we noted in the conception of reductions in the number of jobs minimum wage above, ILO inavailable. Frequent increase in sists that legislative backing of wage has the tendency to become the minimum wage act is very an inflationary shock that is as- important. Without the ability to sociated with sudden increase in enforce the process, the whole the general price of goods and exercise that culminated in the services. At one hand, the de- new national minimum wage act mand for wage increase force would be in vain. The enforceproducers to increase the price ment of the minimum wage act of goods and services in order to should include effective enforcecover the cost of wage increase, ment mechanism, appropriate what economists call wage cost penalty for offenders and compush inflation. On the other pensation to workers whose hand, the mere expectation of rights have been violated. The increase in wage makes traders’ major limitation to the enforcemouth to salivate on the coming ment of the minimum wage act prospect of increase purchasing is the fact that government or-

Tackling challenges of minimum wage saga 30, 2011.

Issues and challenges to Minimum Wage Process Successful implantation of the minimum wage in Nigeria (like in most other parts of the world) will continue to be challenged by a number of factors. It is necessary to identify these challenges so that solutions will be proffered to them. The most important of such factors is perhaps insufficient revenue, incessant call for wage review by civil servants and their inability to justify such demands. Other challenges include limited sources, corresponding wage and commodity increases in the private sector, etc.

•Insufficient revenue: Most of the state governors proposed an even higher minimum wage prior to NLC benchmark of N18,000. It was shortly after President Goodluck Jonathan signed the bill into law that the impracticality of the implementation of the policy came to light. The current revenue sharing formula is such that the Federal Government gets 42.6 percent of total revenue, while the 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and the 774 local governments share the remaining 47.4 percent.

The position of the state governors is that there should be a review of this formula to help them meet the challenges of paying the current minimum wage.

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t was on this premise that Governors Babatunde Fashola of Lagos, Sule Lamido of Adamawa, Danjuma Goje of Gombe, Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State (at the Council of State meeting last year), called on President Jonathan to insert a clause in the Minimum Wage Act to make allowance for the different states to negotiate what they could afford to pay. Governor Goje opined that “some states are richer than others and while some can pay, others may not be able to pay and taking into consideration that we are a federation, we can negotiate....”

•Incessant and differential call for wage review: Understandably, every worker would want to take home the best available remuneration, but the practicaliC M Y K

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Continues from page 46

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There is, therefore, the need for government and other employers of labour to be sensitive to the welfare of their workers

power on the part of workers.

•Non-performance: One of the greatest challenges militating against the entire minimum wage process is arguably nonperformance on the part of civil servants. Interestingly, they are the major recipients of the process. This non-performance comes in various categories of acts of indiscipline, corruption, and other activities that undermine productivity. The consequence is that public companies that are supposed to run efficiently and generate resources for the government and people of Nigeria perform at minimal levels, or are at worse grounded. A good example is the government owned telecommunications company that has not been able to live up to its billing and compete with other privately owned mobile communications companies.

•Inflation: It is instructive to note that the main argument advanced by the organised Labour to demand for rise in pay (i.e. the worthlessness of the former min-

ganisations and other powerful non-state entities are usually the employers of labour. It, therefore, becomes obvious that the imposition of sanctions and other legal processes may not be timely and fruitful in the resolution of such conflicts. There is, therefore, the need for government and other employers of labour to be sensitive to the welfare of their workers.

•Other backlashes: In a bid to meet with the minimum wage requirements, some states are likely to cut on certain services or even take some unpopular policy decisions. The backlashes that can result from the minimum wage saga are likely to even undermine any benefit that may be accruable from the entire process. For example, the Abia State Government recently gave orders that resulted in the sacking of non-indigenes in the state.

• Ochei presented this paper at the 2012 University of IbadanAlumni Association annual distingushed public service lecture in Asaba

By CHARLES OKEREKE

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FAIR and equitable Nige ria governed by truth and justice calls for presidential power shift to South East Region after the completion of Goodluck Jonathan’s term either in 2015 or 2019 as the case may be. Ndigbo are not slaves or third class citizens to be rendered impotent in the political equation by those who claim to have won an unjust war that should not have been fought in the first place. All the regions have taken turns in producing presidents that occupied the centre for prolonged periods.

Northern regions (North East - 5 years +; North West -15 years and North Central -18 years) have ruled Nigeria for 38 years; and Southern regions (South West -11 years+; South South two years and South East - six months) for 13 years. Under the six geo-political zones, four zones have had power for more than five years each, South East the least with six months. Nnamdi Azikiwe was a president, but he was not head of government - he did not form a federal cabinet. Azikiwe was only a ceremonial president. Tafawa Balewa was prime minister and head of government; he formed the federal cabinet.

and ethnic groups within Nigeria on the need for an Igbo presidency after Jonathan. We, as Igbo nation, have severally, in the past, stood behind and seen to the successes of peoples from other tribes and ethnicities in Nigeria for the post of the presidency - a post no Igbo has occupied since we lost in a “no victor no vanquished” war.

•That to achieve this, every other matter and reason for disparity and disagreements amongst us should and must be relegated to the background and all efforts, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, resources and time be channeled towards communicating with, educating, and reaching agreements with our people in their different positions and beliefs in Nigeria.

•That, this time, as a nation united unto eternity, we must speak with a voice to the rest of Nigerians of the need, justice and inevitability of accepting and having an Igbo presidency. Subjugation is not our inheritance and the spirit of slavery in times of great freedom is strange to us.

•That every politics we play henceforth, no matter the party, be rooted in the conviction and steps towards producing an Igbo

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y 2015 after Jonathan com pletes one term of office, each geo-political zone with the exception of South East would have ruled Nigeria for at least five years. Equity and fairness call for the South East to take its turn after President Jonathan.

After South East presidency, Nigeria can then decide whether or not to discard zoning and rotational presidency.

Nigerian president of South East extraction is a matter of “truth and justice” and not of concession. Nigeria needs a president of Igbo extraction to help stabilize the country from its falter and in addition foster development. An Igbo president will see the entire nation as his homeland, since Igbos are in every nook and corner of the country.

Such a president would evenly distribute developmental projects in the country. This means that if water runs in Umuahia, it must also run in Lagos and Kano.

I humbly, as our father, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, did several times before he passed unto Glory, make these passionate pleas: •That Igbo should, and as a matter of survival and living, must come, once again and forever, together in the spirit of Ahiara declaration, assert our basic rights in Nigeria.

•That the Igbo take it upon us, from this very blessed and memorable day, to champion for Igbo presidency in Nigeria come 2015 or 2019 as the case may be with Jonathan’s full term.

•That our leaders - in their different capacities - do whatever it takes, in the spirit of true federalism, to prevail upon our friends and neighbours from other tribes

Chief Ojukwu presidency after Jonathan.

•That, in all wisdom, looking at the prevailing party in Nigeria today, and its zoning methods which have always robbed us of our rights to the presidency since the war ended, it has now become pertinent and expedient to consider coming together and joining talents and resources in a party which agrees to true federalism and which supports, unconditionally, an Igbo presidency.

•That, unlike decades gone, we should make it clearly understood by all and sundry in Nigeria that the rejection of an Igbo presidency would amount to Nigeria’s unfeeling of the Igbo pains and marginalization for over half a century. And making it clear that, should Nigeria and the elite who have and always would want an incapacitated Igbo in Nigeria, remain adamant on denying us our God-given rights in Nigeria, the only alternative left to us may be to lead our people out of a nation where we have remained rejected, robbed, marginalized and killeddespite our unrivaled competence and contributions towards a better Nigeria.

•Okereke,Publisher, Nigeria Masterweb writes from Lagos

48 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

Govt must invest in infrastructure —Oshiomhole

NBA President expresses concern over graft in N-Assembly

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

OVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, has given reasons for the construction of roads and other infrastructure in the state, saying that government must invest in such infrastructure to have citizens that are skilled and employable.

According to Oshiomhole, “you have roads so that those who want to invest their business do not use their capital to construct or repair roads; you extend electricity so that they can be connected to power.”

He said: “The responsibility of government is to create an enabling environment for the private sector to set up their businesses.

Government does not have a good history of running businesses and in any case, which one comes first; if you locate a business in a place you can’t access. You will not make sense, if you are to build a factory at Okpekpe for example; how do you carry the raw materials to Okpekpe?"

RESIDENT of the Ni gerian Bar Association, Mr. Joseph Daudu, SAN, has said allegations of bribery against lawmakers was a source of worry to Nigerians, including lawyers.

Daudu who spoke against the backdrop of recent allegation of “bribery for clearance” levelled against members of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on oil subsidy, attributed what is happening at the National

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DONATION—Miss Oritsegbami Blessing, one of the primary school children of Ugborodo, Delta State receiving books donated by Austine Akpaja of Whassan Nigeria Ltd to their school as part of the company's CSR.

Assembly to poor leadership in the country.

Also, Chairman, Section on Business Law, SBL, Mr. Gbenga Oyebode in his address said Nigerian lawyers need to adapt themselves to the changing pattern of legal practice both in Nigeria and beyond.

The NBA president, spoke at the opening of the sixth annual conference of the Section on Business Law, SBL in Lagos, bemoaned the frequency of bribery allegations against lawmakers and described it as a sign of “chickens coming home to roost.”

Akpabio tasks PDP on national isues

BY TONY NYONG YO—AKWA Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, has tasked the National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on a retreat in the state, to BURIAL—From left: Mrs Rachael Edosaa, Mr Afulo Aigberaodion, Mr.Emma set agenda on national isAigberaodion and wife Tina, Mr. Charles Aigberaodion and wife Agatha , s u e s .

Mrs Stella Osunbor and Engr Odigie Osunbor during burial thanksgiving Akpabio who spoke when for Late Mrs Alice Aigberaodion. the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur paid him a visit, said:

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Police arrest 7 fake pastors in Kogi

“It was PDP that introduced the Global Satellite Mobile communication, GSM, into Nigeria and it became the fastest growing telecommunications in Africa. But you will not hear this at the national level. You allow people to drive a process for you. You allow people to set agenda and then you come up in the defensive. You should be the one to set the agenda for national disc o u r s e " .

Rotary boss harps on safety

While conducting an alleged sham deliverance programme of Nigerians

BY BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO OKOJA—KOGI State Police Command has paraded seven persons for allegedly posing as bishop, pastors and prophets during a revival programme in Lokoja, capital of Kogi State.

Those paraded include Bishop Bamidele Abraham of Eagle Kingdom Church, Lokoja and Pastors Chucks Ingalis Kelvin, Chinedu Okosisi, Samson Prince, Osita Chuckwu, Samuel Ike and Nnenanaya Anthony Ikechukwu.

They were said to have come from Port Harcourt, Rivers State into Lokoja.

State Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Kastina who paraded the suspects said they were arrested while conducting ‘deliverance’ for people at a revival programme organised by one of them in Lokoja.

According to Muhammed, Bishop Bamidele who is the pastor-in-charge of Eagle Kingdom Church, Lokoja was said to have contacted Pastor Chuks from Port Har-court to help raise

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money for his book launch.

Sources said Chucks, who was an expert in such ventures came with members of his team, some of who acted like mermaid; deaf and dumb persons while others claimed to have been afflicted with other sicknesses during the revival to sway the sympathy

of those in attendance.

However, a member of the congregation who felt uncomfortable with the way the pastors were conducting the deliverance, reported them to the police which moved in swiftly and arrested the suspects.

One of the suspects, Pastor Chuks, however de-

fended his action saying, “This is not robbery, its pure professionalism. Every profession has its own way of surviving. The police have their own way, the lawyers have their own way; even you journalists have your own way; what I did is pure business and survival ins t i n c t . ’ ’

...parade security guard, 8 other suspected robbers KEJA—LAGOS State Police Command yesterday paraded a nine-man syndicate of suspected armed robbers, including a security guard and his two brothers. The gang allegedly stole exotic vehicles from the employer of the security guard and sold the vehicles for N10 million.

The vehicles, which have been recovered by the police were a Fortune SRS Jeep and four 2011 Toyota Camry cars, stolen from an Indian company in Lagos.

The state command’s spokesperson, DSP Ngozi

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Briade disclosed that the vehicles were recovered from Ikot-Ekpene, AkwaIbom State, by detectives attached to the Lagos State Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, led by SP Abba Kyari.

According to her, the incident, which occurred on May 19, was reported at the Area ‘J’ Command, Lekki, by the management of the company before it was transferred to SARS. Briade said the security guard, who allegedly masterminded the operation, connived with his brothers,

who later co-opted others that stole the vehicles and disposed of them to a receiver in Akwa-Ibom State.

The police spokesperson, however, disclosed that the vehicles were recovered in batches following the confessional statements of the suspects, adding that the suspects were in police custody, except one who was currently receiving treatment in a hospital.

She said the suspects would be charged to court for robbery as soon as investigation was conc l u d e d .

HE District Governor, Rotary International District 9110, Kennedy Ejakpomewhe, has warned that a nation which cannot provide adequately for her citizens cannot guarantee the safety of the rich or the privileged.

Ejakpomewhe who spoke during the presentation of Pride magazine, published

by Rotary Club of Ikoyi Metro, Lagos as part of activities marking its 10th anniversary, reiterated the

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need for those in authority to adhere to tenets of the Rotary International, “especially in the areas of a peaceful, successful and successive leadership.”

He appealed to those concerned to partner with viable Non-Governmental Organisations, NGOs, such as Rotary International, in the area of providing effective service delivery to compliment government’s efforts to make life meaningful for all.

GCUOBA donates ICT centre to alma mater

BY FESTUS AHON GHELLI—GOV ERNMENT College, Ughell Old Boys’ Association, GCUOBA, Lagos branch, has donated ICT centre to its alma mater.

Speaking during the commissioning, President of the branch, Mr Alfred Okoigun, said the school was rising from despair and despondency to crest of hope,

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adding that GCUOBA would continue to be a dependable catalyst in the movement to the top.

Expressing appreciation to facilitators of the Felix Esi foundation for approving their request, he thanked the Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan and the State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education for their support.

According to him, “it is

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 —49

I want to show him my prowess!

Why am I getting smaller?

Dear Bunmi, I need to ask you an embarrassing question. As men get older, does the penis shrink?

Mine is now only four inches when erect. I’ve never been that well-endowed but I seem to have lost two inches somewhere. I’m 38 and my penis has become a joke. I separated from my wife two years ago but have no confidence of going near women with it this size.

I’ve read about pills, lotions and creams that are supposed to increase penis size. Do these work? I’ve even considered surgery when next I

travel, but I don’t think I could go through with it. Yet I don’t want to be stuck with a penis that’s too small.

Dominic, by e-mail.

Dear Dominic, Nothing can increase the size of a man’s erect penis.

Yours seems smaller now only because you have more fat on your belly and groin. Surgery would allow your penis to protrude a little more. However, this would be in a way that is entirely unnatural and disfiguring.

Instead, you should boost your confidence by establish-

ing better relationships with women. When you develop deep emotional as well as sexual intimacy with a woman, you’ll realise that the size of your penis is irrelevant to the happiness both of you can share.

Your concern is a reflection of the inevitable changes in your body as it ages. It also symbolises anxiety about feeling unloved by members of the opposite sex. Men and women who feel inadequate hide from the intimacy of friendship and this compounds their loneliness. You need to break free of this complex.

I don’t know who his father is Dear Bunmi, I have a two-year old son but don’t know who his father is.

I had a casual relationship with a man 11 days after my period had begun, although we didn’t have full sex. Then I had sex with my boyfriend 16 days after the start of my period. I have a regular 28day circle.

Everyone thinks the second

man is the father. But I think my son looks more like the first man. This is driving me crazy. I need to know for sure who the father is. Is it possible to work this out from the dates?

Jiba, by e-mail.

Dear Jiba, A woman with a regular menstrual circle of 28 days

Like riding a bike, you’re not supposed to forget a good sex life no matter how long you have abstained

will typically be fertile for around three days, 14 days after her bleeding begins. Yet this date is not cut and dried.

Ovulation can occur early or late, and sperm may be longlived. As pregnancy can occur without penetration, though rare, either of these men could, in theory, be the father of your child. For your son’s sake— as well as for yours and the true father— you need to know which man is the father.

DNA tests mean that doubts about paternity can be dispelled. You need to persuade these men to take part in tests that compare their genes with your son’s. A cheaper alternative is the blood test. But what if the men are reluctant to go through with a test? You need to tread really carefully here to get the results you need.

He treats me like a prostitute Dear Bunmi, In my student days abroad in the late 80s, life was tough and I did a lot of things to keep going as funds coming from home were virtually non-existent. I slept with a lot of men for money and was able to finish my studies.

I got married and had two children but the marriage didn’t last.

Then I came back home.

I have a good job (because I’m well qualified), my own flat and a loving partner.

Recently, my partner, who is married, visited my flat with one of his good friends and you can imagine my shock and embarrassment when he turned out to be one of my C M Y K

‘regular customers’ in my student days abroad. He didn’t let on that he knew me and I was grateful to him for that.

However, a few weeks after the visit, he came calling on his own and it was plain what he wanted. I told him I was involved with my partner and he said he wasn’t looking for a permanent relationship and that he would keep his mouth shut if I played ball! Of course, it was blackmail and I’m ashamed to say that I let him have sex with me. He left some money and went away.

I feel dirty and used and I dread his coming back. I would hate for my partner to find out about my sordid past.

What can I do to get rid of this shameless man?

Nonye, by e-mail.

Dear Nonye, Your past should be well behind you and you have to call the bluff of this shameless man from your past. It is a pity that you gave in to his blackmailing tactics. When and if he comes calling again, let him know you’re not having any of his crude overtures, and that if you had to, you could come clean with your partner.

It would be nice if you had a tape recorder to record what would transpire between the two of you in case he denied anything.

Dear Bunmi, I am a single mother in my 30s. When I broke up with the father of my child, I went off men. Now, over five years later, I’ve met a smashing man and we just started making love. He is a bit on the reserved side and I’m eager to show him what a good sex life could be.

I’ve taken the lead a couple of times and now I think I want to try the ‘ woman on top’ position. I guess I am a bit rusty after all these years.

Can you explain what this entails?

Zeinab, by e-mail.

Dear Zeinab, What exactly do you want me to explain? Like riding a bike, you’re not supposed to forget a good sex life no matter how long you have abstained. If your man is as nice as you say he is, and you fancy him as you obviously do, then there’s no need for a refresher course. Just don’t over expect.

Since your man is reserved, I would advise you take things easy. Don’t make sex an issue as the first few times might not be as terrific as you might expect.

With time, it gets rapidly better, especially after your man has got rid of his inhibitions.

I want to give him a son Dear Bunmi, I got married some 10 years ago to a very wonderful and caring man. We are both professionals and we agreed to have only three children so we could lead a comfortable life.

I’ve just had my third child and it is a girl— the previous ones are also girls. My husband said he’s quite happy with our three girls though his friends tease him endlessly of being the only man in the house.

I am a bit worried that we don’t have a son and I am quite willing to have a fourth child in case it will be a boy.

But my husband is sticking to his guns, asking what I would do if the fourth one turns out to be another girl— have a fifth one?

Do you think he would change his mind with time? My friends are a bit cynical about his attitude, saying he might try for a son with another woman.

Basirat, by e-mail.

Dear Basirat, You have to trust your husband on this one. You agreed to having three children and now that they are here, you have to thank your God for the healthy children you have.

Concentrate on nurturing your happy home instead of wishing for a son that might not come. Look around you and see how today’s woman is almost as enterprising as her male counterpart.

Male or female, what counts is healthy children.

Why am I violent with my husband?

Dear Bunmi, My husband and I have been together for three years.

When I was four months pregnant, I started to call him names and hit him really hard. I thought this would stop when I gave birth to our daughter. Instead it got worse. Any little thing gets me off and the spitting, kicking and name-calling continues.

Could it be because he only did the traditional wedding without committing himself to a registry do in spite of his promise? I might over-do things to the point of his leaving. But I love him so much.

Ize, by e-mail.

Dear Ize, You are right to find your current behaviour bewildering. The hormonal changes

that maternity brings don’t end with the baby’s birth. Display of anger and violence are extremely damaging to your happiness as well as that of your husband and child.

You need to see a doctor to help you find balance again. Anger has been seen as an attempt to seem scary in order to ward of a perceived threat. Do you think your husband presents any threat to you? Do you see him or your child as an impediment to your happiness?

Talk through your fears with your man. Anger is controllable. If you know the last leg of your marriage is still on course this may calm your nerves. And next time you feel a rush of anger, simply ask for time out to get out of the house long enough for your anger to subside.

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

50—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

Orhiomwhon Federal Constituency in Edo state.

Earlier in his speech, Tambuwal had cited Order 5 (18)(2) of the Standing Rules of the House to indicate where he derived his powers to summon the emergency session.

He had intimated members that the object of the session was to deliberate on grave allegations of bribery brought against Lawan by Mr. Femi Otedola, an oil marketer, in connection with the work of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Monitoring of Fuel Subsidy Regime empanelled by the House for that purpose.

Matters of national importance

*Otedola: Frowns at Reps' decision

HONOURABLE LOOTING OR WHAT?

Anxiety grips Lawan’s colleagues WITH the focus of the nation on the ways and manners of lawmakers there is apprehension that the last may not have been heard in the $3 million alleged cash for clearance bribery scam.

BY OKEY NDIRIBE

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HE $3million bribery scandal rocking the House of Representatives took another dimension last Monday - the first day of the second legislative year- when a group of protesters who claimed to be the conscience of the nation stormed the premises of the National Assembly to protest against corruption in the Legislature.

Joe Mesele, spokesman for the protesters, which comprised of youths under the umbrella of Nigeria Youths for Good Governance (NYGG) said their mission to the National Assembly was to protest against corruption in the legislative arm of government.

Speaking to newsmen at the premises of the National Assembly, Mesele lambasted legislators for repeatedly getting involved in acts of corruption.

The protesters carried placards with different inscriptions. Some of them read: “We don’t want corruption any more”; “We say no to corruption in the National

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Assembly ”; “No more honourable looting”; “Nigerian Youths say no to legislative corruption”; “Let’s sanitise the parliament, the last hope of the masses”.

According to Mesele: “We feel that as responsible and patriotic Nigerians we should come here today to formally make a presentation in the form of a protest to the National Assembly so that the members would know we are watching them keenly and we are not happy about what they are doing”.

Many allegations against Farouk He reminded members of the House that “It was our protest that gave room for the setting up of the Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy by the House of Representatives.

The work of that Committee was applauded by the people.

But now that many allegations have been levelled against Farouk Lawan the Chairman of that Committee, those allegations have to be thoroughly investigated.”

Meanwhile, there are indications that Police investigations into the bribe scandal may have been expanded.

Earlier on, there were media reports that Lawan had named the Chairman of the Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes Committee Hon Adams Jagaba as the principal officer of the House he reported the bribe offer that was allegedly made to him by oil magnate Femi Otedola. Otedola had alleged that he gave Lawan $620,000 as the first installment of the $3 million demanded by the legislator.

Otedola has meanwhile expressed disgust over the decision of the Green Chamber to relist his companyZenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd- among companies indicted for obtaining foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria for the purpose of importing petroleum products but failed to do so.

Although the House at its plenary session last Friday removed Lawan as Chairman of the controversial Ad-hoc Committee and the Education

Committee, some watchers of the unfolding scenario believe that the House did not go far enough to mete appropriate sanctions against Lawan.

Those who hold this view suspect that the House’s decision to refer the bribe scandal to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges for further investigation is an attempt to bury the case.

This they insist points to the fact that Lawan is enjoying some kind of protection from some powerful forces in the House Apart from this, there are also media reports that Otedola who

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*Lawan: Hunter becomes the hunted

According to him: “In accordance with our Legislative Agenda we must continue to be, not only sensitive to the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians but also to be proactive on all matters of urgent National importance.”

He continued: “When we elected to pursue the entrenchment of probity, accountability and transparency in the conduct of government business as a cardinal Legislative Agenda we advised ourselves never to expect that it will be an easy task. Accordingly I have had cause to occasionally sound a note of warning and reminder that our constitutional task is inescapably hazardous requiring total commitment, diligence, transparency; determination and sacrifice.

“The Constitution has given the parliament three broad

Those who hold this view suspect that the House’s decision to refer the bribe scandal to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges for further investigation is an attempt to bury the case

is obviously not impressed with the slow pace of investigations by security agencies is considering the option of approaching a court to request for permission to present the video and audio evidence he amassed against Lawan to the public.

Last Friday’s session of the House was packed full with members. It was Hon. Mohammed Bawa who moved a motion for the removal of Lawan as Chairman of the two committees of the House. The House had also passed a vote of confidence on its leadership.

The motion for a vote of confidence was moved by Hon. Samson Osagie, representing

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duties which include Law Making, Representation and Oversight. It is interesting to note that of these three, it is that last function, which gives legislature the powers to conduct oversight, that has tended to cause conflict between the legislature and the Executive and remains the most controversial.

Yet, it would have been impossible to conduct the other two functions successfully if the Constitution had not given the parliament oversight powers: the single most potent weapon that makers of the Constitution put in place to check abuse by those who execute its law.”

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012—51

JANG’S FIRST YEAR:

Mixed tune on the Plateau THE first year of Governor Jonah Jang’s second tenure receives mixed reviews from stakeholders.

BY TAYE OBATERU

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UST like yesterday, Governor Jonah Jang took the oath of office for a second fouryear term on May 29, last year and by next Tuesday (another May 29) it will be one year already gone and three more to go in this final tenure. A lot of water has passed under the bridge, to borrow a cliche, and coping with the unending security challenges in the state could be said to have been a major pre-occupation of the governor in the last one year. What with the Boko Haram insurgency that has seen two churches bombed and the renewed attacks on villages by suspected Fulani herdsmen and other security issues that have elevated the state to the unenviable status of one of the flash points in the country.

Following his re-election, Jang who won accolades during his first tenure for transforming the state capital - dual-izing roads, constructing the first fly over in the city and giving a semblance of sanity to governance promised to consolidate on his achievements during the second tenure.

On constituting his cabinet, he arranged for a retreat for top government officials at the Obudu Resort in Cross Rivers State where the 10-point Agenda which he pursued during his first term was fine-tuned into what was tagged a Three Pillar Policy geared towards accelerated and sustainable development.

While some argue that the

BY UMAR YUSUF

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N Adamawa state, three major political developments were recorded in the state in the year between May 2011 and this year.

Remarkably, there was no gubernatorial election in the state in April 2011 when most other states conducted their elections upon the fact that Governor Murtala Nyako of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP won a rerun election in 2008.

First was the reconciliation between former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Governor Murtala Nyako. Atiku, who still directs the political wind of the state became wholly estranged from Governor Nyako following the latter’s refusal to support Atiku’s presidential ambition in the 2011 general elections. The political rivalry between reached a very sour stage forcing the intervention of prominent political, religious, traditional C M Y K

administration did well in the first year of the second tenure through various programmes, there are those who believe not much has been achieved. Special Adviser to Governor Jang on Special Duties, Mr. Yakubu Jang rolled out the achievements of the administration in the past one year: “The present administration has achieved a lot within one year in terms of development efforts.

In the education sector where a state of emergency was declared by this present Governor, immense positive results are being recorded. I want to tell you that several landmark projects on the development of education are at the verge of completion.

The Special Adviser also cited the hitherto abandoned Zaria Road International Stadium which has now reached 70 per cent completion, and the purchase of mini taxis and tricycles to ease transportation and also to provide employment for youths in the state.

However, there are those who feel the last year was not as rosy as painted. In particular, the decision of the administration to dissolve three local government councils yet to complete their tenure despite a court order, her insistence on building a new Government House at billions of naira which critics feel is not a priority at this time and the decision to redeploy local government staff to their councils of origin are cited by some people.

Spokesman of the Labour Party in the state, Mr Sylvanus Namang is among those who feel

ADAMAWA:

*Governor Jang that the administration has not lived up to the expectations of the people in the past one year.

“The second term of Governor Jang is a disaster. It is a clear failure, because the basic responsibility of every government is to secure human life. Look at how precious lives have been lost. All over the world the art of government is serious business for serious minded people,” Namang said.

“Look at the civil service; seven months salary have not being paid. Plateau State used to be tops in educational ranking especially in the North, but since Governor Jang assumed leadership the rating has dropped. We should know that the future of every nation depends on education. Similarly,

the health sector has collapsed; where is the Specialist Hospital in Barkin-Ladi?

What about the abandoned cottage hospitals that former Governor Dariye built? I want to tell you that most of the doctors in Plateau State Hospital has move to JUTH.” Reminded of the achievements of the administration in the construction of roads, Namang said “Government is not measured by construction of roads alone. There should be a mass housing scheme for workers like other state governments are doing. It is also sad to hear that the state government is deploying all local government workers to their various LGCs. It is a disaster because some councils will not

New political bearings

*Governor Nyako leaders and opinion moulders from the state coordinated by the Lamido Adamawa.

Not long after the reconciliation, the Supreme Court sacked the five PDP governors including Nyako over tenure elongation.

Former Vice President Atiku threw his political might behind Nyako’s re-election bid and equally directed all his supporters to vote and support Nyako in the February 24, 2012

gubernatorial election. The support paid off and Nyako won the election convincingly beating his opponents in the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Congress for Progressive Change, CPC among others.

The ACN candidate in the election, Engineer Markus Gundiri is, however, unrelenting and has dragged Governor Nyako to the governorship and legislative elections Tribunal sitting in Yola.

The case is presently on-going to determine the allegations contained in the petition over Governor Nyako, PDP, INEC and others.

Another major political event in the state was the emergence of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as the National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP .

Before the PDP National

have enough the manpower or maybe they want to reduce it to money sharing ventures”.

Namang’s position was shared by the state Chairman of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, Alhaji Yusuf Kanam who argued that the second tenure had so far not been inspiring.

Chairman, Management Committee of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area Mr. Emmanuel Loman did not subscribe to insinuations that the past year had been uneventful.

He instead showered Jang with praises for building on his past achievements. Said he: ”Governor Jang has actually consolidated on his administration’s achievements.

He has opened up the state with development. Though an old man, Da Jonah Jang has a passion of a young man, He has put up many things of standard for the citizens of the state.”

Despite the different views on the first year of Governor Jang’s second tenure, there are those who believe that the policy thrust and projects enunciated in the 2012 Appropriation Act if implemented, would elicit different tunes from critics by this time next year.

They contend that the governor will do well to translate his declaration while presenting the bill tagged “Budget of Continuity and Inclusive Growth II” to the state House of Assembly on December 20, last year, into reality.

Convention in Abuja in March, a lot of political intrigues were witnessed in the state as regards the candidacy of Tukur. There was the alleged conspiracy between the Atiku and Nyako camps to scuttle the chances of Tukur owing to one reason or other. But, neither the two strongmen nor the their allies came out openly to give reasons as to their reported rejection of Tukur.

Political analysts, however, pointed fingers to Atiku’s presidential ambition in the 2015 general elections as the reason for the opposition.

Remarkably, following the emergence of Tukur as the national chairman of the party, all three men may have put aside whatever differences they had.

Recently, all the three gathered at the country home of Bamanga Tukur in Jada Local Government of Adamawa state to attend grand civic reception for the PDP boss.

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HOUGH the Fed eral Government had in 2012, dismissed fears about possible rise in the prices of goods and services during the fuel subsidy crisis, six months down the road, the prices of items have remained on the upward increase. There is hardly any aspect of the daily lives of Nigerians that has not witnessed a steady increase, thereby leading to high cost of living.

A market survey conducted by VanguardFeatures, VF, around major markets in Lagos also confirmed this. Supporting this finding was the recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, which regretted that food prices pushed inflation to 12.1 percent in March. It stated that the inflation figure was an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the 11.9 percent recorded in the early period of the year.

Disclosing how NBS arrived at the matter, Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer, NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale said, that about 10,534 informants across the federation provided data for the computation , noting that the items currently comprised 740 goods and services regularly priced It said: “The Composite Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, rose to 12.1 per cent year-on-year in March 2012. This figure is 0.2 percentage points lower than 11.9 per cent recorded in the previous month.

“The monthly composite CPI was higher by 1.6 percent when compared with February 2012.

The increase in the headline index, composed of the core and food indices, partially was due to the planting season, which increased the price of food products in the market, and an increase in prices in the economy.

However, this was moderated by lack of liquidity in the economy due to the delay in the monthly sharing of revenue by the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee.” The report also put the percentage change in the

Hard times beckon, as cost of living remains high Unlike some societies where prices stablise after increament, the reverse is the case in the Nigeria, as prices of goods and services keep growing astronomically since the January 1, 2012 removal of subsidies on petroleum products. The extent of the price hike varies from product to product and even state to state. But the painful truth is that people buy food items and pick most of their bills with pains. Though the country’s populace are used to crumbled economy from ages, low income earners, have been at the receiving end of the rising prices. CHARLES KUMOLU & ONUZURE DANIA report. relatively scarce due to the drawdown from the end of year harvest,” it added.

Lagos market survey: Indeed

People who think that fuel price is the only reason for the rise in prices of goods, are deceiving themselves because the price has always been up

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average composite CPI for the 12-month period ending, March 2012, over the average of the CPI for the previous period at 10.9 per cent. This, it said, was slightly down from the 11.0 percent recorded in the preceding month.

On food inflation, the report said the food consumer index experienced an increase of 2.3 percent from 9.7 percent to 11.8 per cent. “The rise in the food inflation was mainly due to the increasing cost of food products, especially yams and other tubers, as food products have become C M Y K

COST OF LIVING

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a VF visit to Agboju Market in Lagos revealed that a bag of gold cap rice now sells for N10, 200 as against N7, 900, for which it was sold for in January 1, 2012, while a bag of white cap sells for N5, 900 as against N5, 000.

Another product that has suffered the same fate is Bread: a loaf which was formerly sold for N150 is now between N200 and N250.

A bag of pure water now sells for between N130 and N150 against its former price of N80. This development seems to have left a lot of people with low propensity

to spend, while sellers continued to count their loss.

Further inquiries on the prices of perishable goods at the poplar Mile 12 market, also showed that such items appear to be the worst hit, as they are unusually scarce and expensive. Accordingly, against its previous price, a basket of tomatoes and pepper now sells for N15,000, while a bag of beans now goes for N27,000. The case of tomatoes, appears so severe, given that four balls are now sold for N200 in the retail market, just as pumpkin leaves, which used to sell for N50 per bunch, is now sold at N100.

In addition, from Hausa hawkers of dried fish, which is usually transported from Niger State and Yauri in Kebbi State, came the revelation that over eight pieces of the fish that sold for less than N1000, now goes for N1,500. Same could also be said of yam which is mainly planted in the northern States of Niger, Benue, Kebbi among others. Before January this year,

a big tumber of yam sold for N300 and N350, but now goes for N400. Also, cooking gas which is the preference of low income earners, has been on the high side, as it is now sold at N3, 400 instead of N3000. Same goes for the cost of kerosene which has moved from N150 last year but now sells for N200 to N250 per litre on the street.

Fluctuating prices of petroleum products: A dealer on the product, Mr. Chizoba Nwalibe, who spoke to VF at Vine Gas in Festac Town, attributed the development to the fluctuating prices of petroleum products in the international market. He said: “You know we are in the subsidy era, since that move was made by the Federal Government, price of Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, has gone up. People have been complaining but we don't have an option because we don't have the power to crash the prices, let's just hope for price stability in the international market."

Also speaking on the marginal increase on food items, a trade in Boundary Market, Ajegunle, Mrs. Yetunde Adewunmi, traced the history of the present price hike to the fuel subsidy removal.

She said: “You know when the government wanted to remove subsidy, people feared it would affect prices of goods. That is what is happening today. Everything went up since that January and they have barely come down since then. Even the ones that came down, only reduced marginally. You can see that I deal on food items and most of them are from the North.

Growing insecurity "Since that flooding that happened in the North in 2010, we have never had it easy in terms of getting the products and even buying them because when they come, they come in small quantities at higher prices. Do you know that tomatoes is the most expensive thing now?"

Her position was corroborated by a Hausa trader, Umaru Danhaske, who fingered the growing insecurity in the north as a major reason behind the scarcity of products from the northern region. Umaru said: "There is no peace in the North, so farmers are afraid. You know that our perople are mainly farmers. Apart from few states, there is no where that is spared of crisis in the North, so how can farmers farm and have the security of transporting their farm produce to the markets."

Citing an example with the recent killing of traders in Maiduguri Market by gunmen, he said: "Last two months, some cattle rearers were killed at the Continued on page 53

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 — 53

Cost of living

Government does not stop inflation In addition, he said: "The roads are not really good. Vehicles get damaged because of bad roads. Therefore, the cost of transportation has to go up because the owner of the vehicle has to charge for the extra cost he incurres in fixing his car.“Wetin you carry” is also a well known phenomenon. These are cost to the country because it is the money that illegally go into the pockets of some people. That in itself adds to the price. So, looking at the anatomy of the Nigerian pricing system, you will discover that there are people who take advantage of it. People who think that fuel price is the only reason for the rise in prices of goods, are deceiving themselves because the price has always been up.

"All the things happening are inflation and cost of production based. For instance, where oranges are sold, you will discover that over 25 percent of them go bad before they get to the consumer. Even the way they are transported does not help issues, because they are usually piled together.

The owner will have to add the cost to his pricing system. So, these are the reasons why the prices of food keep going up. And the poor farmer has remained poor because he does not get anything. He does not even understand what inflation means."

DANA: An account of emergency officer

BY YUSHAU A. SHUAIB

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IGERIA has recently contin ued to experience natural and man-induced disasters such as militia attacks, fire-outbreaks, flood, rainstorm, road accidents, among others. Most of these have occurred on weekends lately.

The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, is responsible for coordinating activities of response agencies should disaster occur, especially when it overwhelms the capacity of affected State or Local Government Authorities. Since NEMA is not a firstresponder, emergency management, therefore, requires interventions from major stakeholders such as the security agents, safety and volunteer organisations.

Like on every weekend, as a Public Relations person in NEMA, this writer was on alert when on Sunday, June 3, 2012, a message was received at noon on suicide bombing in Bauchi. After ensuring that rescue workers had been mobilised to the scene, news alert was issued to editors. Few hours later while responding to subsequent press enquiries, an editor from a foreign media sent a text message: “Shuaib can you confirm an aircrash in Lagos now?” I have no reason to pretend that sometimes the media actually alert security and emergency organisations on disaster occurrences.

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fter confirming from the NEMA Mission Control Centre (MCC) that there was a crash involving Dana airline at Agege Area of Lagos State and that rescue officers had moved to the scene, text messages were issued to media on the search and rescue efforts. That evening the Director General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani-Sidi, led specially trained search and rescue officers from Abuja in an hour-flight to Lagos. Since my job is to provide adequate and timely information, I kept in touch with members of Media and Information Committee on Emergency Management (MICEM) for updates, which were relayed immediately to the media through phone calls, text messages and emails. The regular updates were to guard against misconception, misrepresentation and to douse the tension among panicky citizens on the incident.

At 6.45a.m the following day, I was on my way to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, to board a

flight to Lagos leaving behind a family that understands that working in NEMA is all about responding to disaster irrespective of time and place. But on that day my family was apprehensive and prayed for my safety while flying on the same route used by the crashed airline. They appreciate the demanding nature of disaster management but at that moment, they felt resigning was better than experiencing the fate that befell victims of Dana air crash.

On a normal day, the road to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja is usually busy with traffic, but on that Monday after the air crash it was almost desolate. The few of us who were at the counter to buy tickets were not unmindful of the expressions on the faces of on-lookers

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Continues from page 52 cattle market in Maiduguri. How can other cattle dealers be encouraged to come out with their cattle."

Skyrocketing house rent: Besides food items, the prices of house rent, have also been on the rise, though it had been on the high side before the latest rate of inflation. Our investigations indicate that prices for a room apartment and three bedroom flat have remained high in the cities. It was even gathered that the rural areas are not spared, as rents have also gone high. While, some people have cited the fuel price increment as the major reason behind the issue, others have argued to the contrary.

Speaking on the matter, a former President of institute of Chartered Accountants(ICAN) Mr. Emmanuel Ijewere said: ‘’It has to do with simple economics. Inflation is a natural phenomenon. There will always be inflation in an economy. The question is that government does not stop inflation, but they reduce it to an acceptable level. Even in the best of economies in the world there would be inflation, just that they keep it at a minimal level. Without inflation, economics will not be as efficient as it is, therefore there is bound to be increases. It is not akin to Nigeria, it is all over the world. Ours is because of the various problems we have in this country. We have a situation where infrastructure and the cost of production is abnormal.

Virtually every manufacturing company in Nigeria needs generator. And that is no obtainable in some countries. If the exchange rate goes up, the price of generator goes up, the price of generator parts also goes up. If the price of diesel goes up in the world market, you pay higher because diesel is not under control. All these become part of the cost of production."

praises to Almighty.

A brief meeting was held in the office of the Head of Communication, NCAA, in liaison with other spokespersons of agencies in the aviation sector. Information centres were designated at the airport and at the scene to gather information and respond to general enquiries by relatives of victims and media.

The sights and scenes from the crash were only meant for the lion-hearted. A female volunteer who studied disaster management in a foreign university fainted twice while lifting a burnt corpse whose limps where falling apart.

Some of the corpses looked intact even without bruises as they were motionless on their seatbelts. From their costumes, documents and other identifications recovered from the scene, it was easy to deduce the personage of the victims; religious people, pagans, government officials, business executives, fun-seekers, the young and the old. This made one realise that anyone could have been a victim no matter the background, belief or smartness.

In the spirit of Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, some private organisations were on ground immediately after the plane crash, volunteering free quality services throughout the period of rescue operation. Julius Berger Construction Company provided sophisticated equipment to lift parts of the aircraft and systematically expanded some structures for the search and rescue efforts. The Airtel, a telephone operator volunteered and broadcast useful

There are many lessons to be learnt from the plane crash. While the emergency workers were prompt in their response, mobs turned the scene to cinema as some of them were either taking pictures or stealing

who could see us as unserious adventurers travelling by air less than 24 hours after an aircraft on the same route had crashed with its passengers.

Though there were several airline operators at the counter, like a Day-ofJudgement, only one particular airline was patronised. Many factors were considered for the long queue behind the preferred airline; safety record, strict obedience to flight schedules and courteous services.

As we boarded the plane, I realised during our conversations that most of us had urgent appointments while others were under directives from their organisations to be in Lagos that morning. But most of the passengers seemed to be truly religious; they were either clinging on to a Bible or reciting Quran. When the air hostess gave safety instruction, everyone was very attentive like worshippers listening to a sermon from a preacher on the pulpit. Any slight turbulence was greeted with terrifying scare, momentary grief and relief. The passengers completely ignored air hostesses who moved around to serve the usual snacks and drinks. In fact, the successful landing at Lagos airport received applauses and

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messages on the situation and also promoted toll-free emergency call number: 0800-CALL NEMA. That day the call centre received thousands of calls every hour.

There are many lessons to be learnt from the plane crash. While the emergency workers were prompt in their response, mobs turned the scene to cinema as some of them were either taking pictures or stealing. The unwholesome mob-action prevented the rescuers from having immediate access to the site until reinforcement came from well-armed security agencies in controlling the crowd.

As a PR person, I was overwhelmed by the positive coverage of the incident by the media. The media have not only been very responsive with timely and objective updates, they were never induced for the exceptional coverage of the event. As government organisations, we will continue to provide sincere and accurate information on our efforts rather than using naked propaganda of defending the indefensible. For now every weekend we are on full alert.

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MIDWEEK SERMON

with SAMEYOBOKA sameyoboka@yahoo.com

Why Nigeria will survive —Inyang The Senior Pastor of Sure Word Assembly, Okota, Lagos, Pastor Denis Inyang spoke with SAM EYOBOKA on how to move the nation forward and uniqueness of the church. Excerpts:

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OU left a flourishing advertising job for the ministry. How has the ex perience been?

I did not leave advertising; I took it along with me. I now advertise Christ as Lord and Saviour. I write copies for our programmes and publicity campaigns and produce handbills, posters and billboards. So I am still practising advertising. I think that my experience in that industry was part of God’s agenda to equip me for ministry. With God, no experience is lost. God has a very holistic approach to ministry. Whoever you are and whatever you do, God sees your talent, skill, exposure, experience and other things around you as empowerment for ministry.

Everything in life is preparing you for ministry; ministry is the ultimate.

High cost of doing business Is it a healthy development that churches are taking over company premises?

It is very pathetic that many companies are not able to stay afloat because of the high cost of doing business in our country.

Some have simply closed their factories and warehouses and relocated to neighbouring countries.

Our hope is that this trend will be reversed soon. Everyone seems to agree that if the country can have improved power supply, this will boost the manufacturing sector. And you can imagine the spiral effect.

Having said that, I do not see anything wrong with a church renting a warehouse or any other facility that is not in use. It makes more economic sense for it to be rented by the church than for it to lie waste. A church that can afford to rent a warehouse would employ tens of staff thus helping to solve a national problem. I think public perception of the Church must change. The Church is doing so much for the society that it should not be seen as a parasite. It provides counselling services to the people, helps the public to live productive lives and contributes to the reduction of crime in our communities.

Many have given up on Nigeria. Do you think the nation can move forward?

I don’t only think Nigeria C M Y K

can move forward, I know that Nigeria will certainly get better. I know that when you look at what is going on in the country right now, the high level of unemployment, the decay in our educational system, corruption in high places and the deepening state of insecurity, there is the temptation to think that we are doomed.

But we are not.*Pastor Denis Inyang There is hope for this counI also expect us to benefit try and let me tell you why. from the current reforms in Firstly, the fact that we admit the power sector. Thirdly, we that things are not going have a crop of leaders in the well and we need a change polity that give me some is positive. The man who is hope. Let me mention just doomed is the one who lives three of them: Godswill in self delusion, delusion of Akpabio, Raji Fashola and grandeur they call it. SecRotimi Amaechi. These men ondly, I think that the present and others like them will be government holds out some at the vanguard of a new Nipromise. I don't believe that geria. Finally, Nigeria will the Jonathan government move forward because the has failed. The man has only Church is praying. Everyserved for one year. Let us where you go, you will find assess him after three years people praying for our counwith one remaining, not the try. I can assure you that other way round. So far, I God is not deaf. He has like the emphasis on agriheard us and will bless our culture and hope it sucnation. ceeds.

‘Let's pray for ministerial unity' EW days after a na tionwide prayer summit by the Christian community to avert the incessant killing of innocent Christians in parts of the North during Sunday worship, a non-governmental organisation established in 2004 to encourage and foster unity among Christian leaders, has concluded plans to hold its annual world prayer day for unity of the ministers of the gospel.

Known as The Jesus Dream, the thjird edition of the world prayer day is scheduled for Saturday, June 30, and is designed as a moment when Christians world wide will put aside their differences and personal prayer requests and stand up for the Lord. The first edition was held on June 30, 2010 while the second edition took place in 2011 with very prominent and highly respected world leaders of the faith, like Dr. David Yonggi Cho of South

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Korea participating.

According to the initiator of the project, Emmanuel Oje Ehimika, the world renowned apostle of faith in the US has also written and prayed for all those that would participate in the forthcoming programme.

Ehimika simply called Preacherman said in a statement: “Quite heart-warming is the happening that as the date for the event is approaching, we keep receiving news from countries around the world about their eagerness and pre-parations towards the event,” the Nigerian-born world acclaimed bridge-builder explained.

Ehimika, simply called Preacherman, stated that the “Christian Church today is bedevilled with disunity, bitterness, envy, bickering, fraud and such other ills that have regrettably hindered the needed manifestation of the power of God in its fullness.”

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Chelsea bid for Moses rejected IGAN have reject ed a bid from Chelsea for Victor Moses.

The Blues have offered around £4million for the forward but saw it declined last night. Wigan chairman Dave Whelan reckons Moses, who is entering the final year of his contract, would be better served learning his game at the DW Stadium rather than becoming a reserve at a bigger club.

Whelan said: “Chelsea would need to get realistic before we would even listen to them. They made a bid at 6pm last night and we turned it down flat.

“Roberto Martinez has brought this player on and he needs at least another year with Roberto to become a top player.

“We have offered him a new contract but it seems the agent, more than the player, wants to move him on, at least that is the impression we are getting.

‘It cannot be for the player ’s good. Victor Moses needs another year or two before moving to a club like Chelsea.

“He needs games and he won’t be first choice at Chelsea, I wouldn’t have

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thought.”

Whelan insists there is no pressure to sell with Moses’ age meaning he would still command a free next summer.

He added: “We don’t need to sell him with 12 months to go on his contract because he is under 24 so wouldn’t be going on a free transfer.

“Ideally we would like him to sign a new contract, or a club like Chelsea would have to be realistic. At the moment, they are taking the Mickey with the bid they’ve made.”

Calabar re-enacts carnival show in Olympic trials Continues from B/P River All Stars kicked off the day with a beautiful song - Destination Point. It was a combination of a high pitched melody and some jibes that really touched many. Their stage performance which rhymed with their song was entertaining. All stars are products of the Carnival which takes place every December. A s t h e y stepped aside, a group of traditional dancers, with rich cultural costumes, stormed the field.

The sound of the instruments, the dance steps of the dancers and how their waists complemented their legs made people warm. They performed Nyok, Monikim and Ekeledi dances and made people happy.

Five carnival bands entertained before children ranging from 3 years to five took the stage and did theirs. ”Cross River is silently carving out a country of their own,” highly C M Y K

impressed Ken Anugwuze, a member of AFN and chairman of NUGA said. ”You are building and developing the future of children here,” Solomon Ogba, AFN President told Governor Liyel Imoke. Cross River has a special programme for school sports and they are also not leaving them out in the entertainment industry. ”This is nothing compared to what happens in the Calabar Carnival.

You will need to be here to appreciate it,” Commissioner of sports in Cross River State, Patrick Ugbe said, “wait and see what will happen in 2014. We are starting now and we will not hire foreigners.”

They will host the National Sports Festial that year. Rivers state took the festival to unprecedented level last year and Cross River plans to out-do them with local content. Rivers hired Chinese workers for their spectacular show.

HE Senior Women’s Team of South Africa, Banyana Banyana, will arrive in Lagos on Thursday for Saturday’s prestigeous international friendly match against the Super Falcons of Nigeria at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

The first of the two-leg friendly took place in Rustenburg on Sunday, June 3 with the two teams stalemating at 11. The Super Falcons’ goal was scored by veteran Stella Mbachu.

At the weekend, the Falcons pounded Mighty Warriors of Zimbabwe 4-0 to qualify for this year’s African Women Championship finals, on a 6-0 aggregate.

Banyana also completed a home-and-away battering of Zambia,

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•Victor Moses

NFF: Eagles, Women’s teams to get good support T HE Nigeria Football Federation has pledged total support for the Senior Men’s National Team, Super Eagles and all the Women N a t i o n a l Teams that have qualified for major championships this year.

Speaking on Tuesday, NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari praised the women teams, name-

Banyana arrives for Falcons on Thursday

ly Super Falcons, Falconets and the Flamingos for making Nigeria proud by qualifying for all available women tournaments in the globe this year.

“We have only plaudits for the women’s teams.

Last year, the Super Falcons did not qualify for the All-Africa Games and the 2012 Olympics and we all felt bad, but they have been able to lift themselves up with the support of the Federation and have done Nigeria proud by qualifying in style for the 2012 African Women Championship.

“The Falconets have also qualified for this year ’s FIFA U-20 Wom-

en’s World Cup in Japan and the Flamingos are among the finalists for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Azerbaijan. We are very proud of them.

“The Super Eagles have also been doing well. Presently, Nigeria is top of her group in the qualifying series for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil and we are through to the final round of qualification series for 2013 African Cup of Nations.

“Surely, there’s still a lot of work to be done each way and the important thing is for the players to continue to do their bit, be focused and take pride in wearing the nation’s colours.

winning 2-1 after hitting their opponents 4-1 away in Lusaka. Both teams are at the top of the African women football tree. However, the Falcons have never lost to the Banyana in any match, competitive or international.

NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, Chairman of Technical SubCommittee, Barrister Chris Green, Chairman of Nigeria Women’s League, Chief (Mrs) Dilichukwu Onyedinma and NFF General Secretary, Barrister Musa Amadu are among dignitaries who will be at Saturday’s match.

The Banyana Banyana will return to South Africa aboard South African Airways flight immediately after the match on Saturday.

Yobo bemoans Eagles’ disunity cept to come, that is comOSEPH Yobo has identified a lack of unity and discipline as the reasons why the Super Eagles have declined in recent years.

“There’s been no unity, no discipline. That’s what has been the problem with the Super Eagles,” the Nigeria captain said.

But he defended the players’ commitment to the cause. “Once you get that invitation to the national team and you ac-

J

mitment. Players go through a lot to come and play for the national team and to say players are not committed is not fair.”

Yobo, who has chalked up 87 caps in a 10-year international playing career, says his inability to win a trophy with the national team remains a big disappointment.

“I’ve been there for 10 years and no trophy to show for it. That’s disappointing for me.”

Tiger toppled on sports Delta sweeps stakes as Okagbare sets record richest list It took Floyd Mayweather less than an hour to earn his place as the world’s best-rewarded sportsman.

Over the course of two fights, and two victories, Mayweather collected $85m to end Tiger Woods’ 11-year domination of sport’s annual global rich list, compiled

by Forbes.

It is a remarkable accumulation for a man known as ‘Money’ – who is currently serving a 90-day sentence in Las Vegas for domestic violence against a former partner. Mayweather ’s prison term, following a guilty plea in December, was even put on hold to allow him to take part in the second fight, against

Miguel Cotto. Those 12 rounds in Vegas earned him $45m – the delay was approved because the fight was estimated to be worth up to $15m for the city.

Mayweather earned nothing from endorsements, compared to Woods’s $55m and the $45m collected by Roger Federer. Mayweather ’s immense income comes in large part because he promotes his own fights through his company. That sees him retain all TV money and ticket sales income.

Another boxer, Manny Pacquiao, who also gathered a relatively meagre sum of $6m from endorsement, overtook Woods as well.

Continues from B/P letes and fans waited for the photo-finish machine. Media men swooped on both athletes. The waiting game lasted for some time.

Gloria Asumu, born in the USA and who had to change nationality only last year was leading the race and many thought she had it. Ten metres to the finish, Blessing caught with her and with a stunning deeping action the camera picked her as the 100m winner for women with a time of 11.12 ”I’m happy I won but I wanted to return a faster time. The rains on the tracks affected us a little bit.

She has run 11.01 this year and was targeting sub 11 seconds.

Glroria Asumnu returned 11.3 seconds and said that what delighted her was making the Olympic team. She ran as Delta athlete and Lawretta Ozoh made it an all Delta affair, returning 11.19 to place third. ”This was a great race because all the top three returned Olympic A standard times,” Dr. Ken Anugwuze said with excitement. Damola Osayomi running for NSCDC placed fourth with 11.38 seconds. ”This is competitive, it’s the way it should be,” Gabriel Okon said about the final.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012

— Page 63

Delta sweeps stakes as Okagbare sets record

BY ONOCHIE ANIBEZE LESSING Okag bore had the poorest reaction time at the blocks but when the race

B

ended the Delta athlete was celebrating a record.

She has become the first Nigerian to win the All Nigeria Open four consecutive times.

But it was the closest

race she has run in Nigeria. There were no celebrations after the race. Nobody was sure of the winner. The ath Continues on page 63

Calabar re-enacts carnival show in Olympic trials I

TOO DEEP: Blessings Okagbare deeps ahead of Gloria Asumu to clinch the women 100m finals yesterday in Calabar. Photo: Sylva Eleanya.

F what happened at the U J Esuene Stadium yesterday was a tip of the iceberg of the Calabar Carnival then those who say that it is the biggest cultural festival in Africa have a point.

The occasion was the opening ceremony of the 66th All Nigeria Athletics Championships

which Cross River is hosting. The ceremony did not go beyond one hour but it was so compact and stupendously entertaining that people got emotional about the performers. Truly, Cross River is the destination point in tourism and entertainment. Their hospitality is unique and

Banyana arrives for Falcons on Thursday — P.63 TODAY'S

PUZZLES

YESTERDAY'S

their performance both on stage and in services, whatever they are, thrill you.

A group called Cross

Continues on page 63

Q/final Fixtures Thursday June 21 Czech Republic v Portugal 7:45pm Friday June 22 Germany v Greece 7:45pm

QUICK CROSSWORD

ANSWERS ACROSS 1 Boring (6) 5 Seethe (6) 9 Lubricated (5) 10 Partner (6) 11 Exhilarated (6) 12 Evade (5) 14 Responsibility 17 Parched (3) 18 Travelled (4) 20 Flavour (5) 22 Sea-duck (5) 23 Tendered (7) 24 Outcoming (5) 26 Flat (5) 29 Revise (4) 30 Expert (3) 32 Unusual (4) 33 Verse (5) 35 Handkerchief (6) 36 Gap (6) 37 Loaded (5) 38 Avoided (6) 39 Disclose (6)

DOWN 1 Dictator (6) 2 Departure (6) 3 Ascended (4) 4 Cede (5) 5 Shabby (5) 6 Inactive (4) 7 System (6) 8 Tiller 13 Exigency (7) 15 Called (5) 16 Fat (5) 18 Jockey (5) 19 Dissuade (5) 21 Newt (3) 22 Fish (3) 24 Notched (6) 25 Prejudiced (6) 27 Empty (6) 28 Deadly (6) 30 Forward (5) 31 Cinder (5) 33 Reign (4) 34 Sea-eagle (4)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 4, Fancy 7, Addled 9, Get 10, Tic Alley 13, Omit 15, Cobra 17, Serene 19, Site Scene 22, Tan 24, Deleted 27, Den 28, Arena Gift 33, Adored 35, Wafer 37, Wilt 38, Strip Raw 41, New 42, Latent 43, Index.

How to Play Sudoku

THE VIGILANTE

12, 20, 31, 39,

DOWN: 1, Famous 2, Advise 3, Met 4, Fear 5, Atlas 6, Creation 8, Dice 11, Contender 14, Tend 16, Beat 18, Reed 21, Christen 23, Near 25, Leaf 26, Drew 29, Edited 30, Astute 32, Twine 34, Oral 36, Apex 40, Wad.

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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