kaduna Violence: Killings continue as rioters defy curfew

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 61649

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

**

N150

THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

KADUNA: SAFETY FIRST

EVACUATION —Students of Kaduna State Technical College leave to beat curfew. Soldiers evacuate residents as others remain stranded (top right). Below right: IGP Abubakar and CDS Petirin meet Gov Yakowa (right). Photos: AFP/NAN.

KADUNA VIOLENCE:

Killings continue as rioters defy curfew •Trapped residents groan under hunger, thirst

BY LUKA BINNIYAT WITH AGENCY REPORTS

•CDS, IGP visit Yakowa, pledge to restore normalcy •Pope seeks end to attack on Nigerian Christians

K

•Makinde warns against looming civil war Kaduna: Of killings, curfew, rumour and hysteria —P. 17 NAME CHANGE:

It's not over yet, say UNILAG students —P.27

ADUNA—HEAVY fighting, killings and burning of property continued, yesterday, in H a u s a / F u l a n i dominated parts of Kaduna, as the minority non-Muslims in the

I didn't abandon my responsibility — Jonathan

Pg.6

areas tried to fight back despite the 24-hour curfew imposed over the entire state. This came as Pope Benedict XVI has appealed to those Continues on Page 5

Mr & Mrs

2 —Vanguard , THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 3

4 —Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—5

POCKET CARTOON

Kaduna: Killings continue as rioters defy curfew Continues from Page 1 responsible for the violence to stop spilling innocent blood.

As the battle raged, trapped residents who were unable to leave their homes as a result of the 24-hour curfew imposed by the government have cried out saying they were running out of food, medicine and water.

Meanwhile, worried by the spate of killings and destruction, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Olusheyin Petinrin and the Acting Inspector General of Police, M D Abubakar held a closed-door meeting with Governor Patrick Yakowa on how to bring normalcy to the state.

The violence was in retaliation to mass killings of Hausa Muslims and the destruction of their property by Christian youths in Kaduna after Islamist militants bombed two churches in Zaria and one in Kaduna last Sunday, killing 17 and injuring several others.

In Bardarawa, north of Kaduna town,fighting

raged between Muslims and non-Muslims around 4pm yesterday.

There were reports of killings and burning of homes of mainly non Hausas, but it was also said that youths in some parts of the area, were retaliating.

Meanwhile, casualty continued to rise at the time of this report from findings by Vanguard.

Pope urges end to attacks on Christians in Nigeria Pope Benedict in his reaction, yesterday, called for immediate end to what he called “terrorist attacks”against Christians in Nigeria and urged all sides to avoid reprisals.

The pope at his weekly general audience said, “I am following with deep concern the news from Nigeria, where terrorist attacks are continuing especially against Christians. I appeal to those responsible for the violence to immediately stop the spilling of the blood of many innocent people.”

He urged all groups in

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

HAT is your name? Who are you? How are you called? How do you name your situations and circumstances? Whatever you call a thing is what it is and what it shall be. If you wake up in the morning and say what a bad day! You have just released supernatural waves to make the day bad, there is a song that says let the weak say I am strong, and let the poor say I am rich…. Because there is power in the tongue; from it flows the issues of life!

W

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

As long as you think that the cause of your problem is “out there”—as long as you think that anyone or anything is responsible for your suffering —the situation is desperate. It means that you are forever in the role of victim that you’re suffering in paradise –Katie Byron

A

CCORDING to Katie Byron ‘’you are your only hope, because we’re not changing until you do. Our job is to keep coming at you, as hard as we can, with everything that angers, upsets, or repulses you, until you understand. We love you that much, whether we’re aware of it or not. The whole world is about you.” In order words, everyone you meet has something to teach you about yourself.

As one becomes true to oneself, it becomes easier and easier to truly emit the frequency that is ours, the bright light that resonates from within and resounds as an outer note that does indeed, become a reunion that both expands and encompasses every aspect of your world. Invariable, we become in harmony with all of life.

Nigeria to shun “the path of vendetta”and work towards building a peaceful society where people were free to practise their religion.

Hospitals receive more corpses, injured persons At the St. Gerald Catholic Hospital, the Public Relations Officer of the Hospital, Mr Sunday John confirmed to Vanguard that five corpses were deposited, yesterday, with 14 injured persons, as a result of the fresh violence.

At the Barau Dikko General Hospital, an unspecified number of dead bodies were taken there with many other injured persons.

It was also gathered that some other private hospitals were treating many injured victims.

Another source told Vanguard, that a car conveying four traders to their business premises on Jos Road, off Bayajida Street, was burnt with all the occupants of the car, inside,Tuesday.

“Their bodies are still inside the burnt car ”, said the source who asked not to be mentioned.

In Barnawa part of the town, it was reported that some trucks and buses were brought to evacuate many women and children since the violence broke out last Sunday.

A source at Barnawa, told Vanguard in his home, that some arms and ammunition were recovered in a mosque along Unguwan Barde, on Aliyu Makama Road.

“When the youths stormed the Holy Family Catholic Church last Tuesday evening, we knew that they would not have the guts if they did not have something to fall back to. We organised ourselves and chased them with sticks and stones. Soon the loudspeaker in the mosque started calling for prayers at that odd time. The man calling for the prayers even said that they should come ready to fight. It was at this point that we informed the soldiers and they came into the mosque and arrested three persons with arms and ammunition”, he

said.

“We have been told reliably that they have brought in their fighters.

We have not slept since last Monday evening, keeping watch over them”, he added.

At far away Kawo, it was reported that youths were said to have hijacked vehicles, killing travelers.

At Hiyin Banki, many were reported killed, while Christian youths had also responded by killing and burning some Hausa Muslims and their property.

Curiously however, the areas south of Kaduna River were calm yesterday.

But a source, told Vanguard that some of the youths had sneaked out to join in the fight North of the river.

Major streets in Kaduna were deserted, shops and offices were shut while schools and business areas were closed.

40 persons killed in Damaturu Also in Damaturu, Yobe state capital where a 24-hour curfew has also been imposed, 34 civilians, four policemen and two soldiers were said to have been killed according to the state police commissioner, Mr

Patrick Egbuniwe The city was deserted Wednesday after the government imposed a 24-hour curfew that left residents trapped wherever they were when violence erupted.

After being trapped for two days, residents said they were running out of food, medicine and water.

Abdul Malik, a 41year-old father of two, said his family has stopped taking baths so they can have more water to drink.

“We should be giving the children antibiotics but we are just boiling the water, especially for the baby,” he said.

Malik said he felt fortunate, however, that he had already returned home when the first blasts went off.

Isa Ahmed Dori, 39, said he was separated from his wife and child

because he had gone to visit a friend. He has since learnt that his father-in-law died in the violence.

“I am in a dilemma,” he said on the phone. “I don’t know how my family is faring.”

An auto mechanic in the restive city said he has not been home since the fighting started.

“I have been in my workshop since Monday,” Gambo Bakanike told AFP. “We have an open well from which we can get our drinking water, but we have run out of food.”

A senior hospital official said he and his staff have also been stranded since Monday.

“There is water but we don’t have any food. Our families can’t bring us anything because of the curfew,” said the official who asked to remain anonymous.

Makinde warns against looming civil war

BY SAM EYOBOKA AGOS—PRELATE of Methodist Church Nigeria, His Eminence Sunday Ola Makinde has warned that if something serious, strategic and meaningful is not done Nigeria may just be working towards another avoidable civil war.

Reacting to the recent coordinated bombings of three churches in Kaduna and Zaria, the Prelate said “for how long are we going to remain silent? Here we are begging the issue while innocent people are dying and their loved ones are yet to get justice.

Is it a crime to be a Christian in any part of

L

Nigeria? Every time we raise alarm and call for action, they will say it has no religious coloration which saddens my heart the more whenever I hear that.

“Before last Sunday’s bombings, at least not less than 200 people have been killed in 12 separate attacks on churches or places of Christian worship in northern Nigeria this year and alQaeda-linked Islamist terror group Boko Haram has explicitly claimed responsibility for at least 10 of them. Yet, we are scratching the matter on the surface rather than intensify efforts and expose those behind these attacks,” Makinde stated.

Continuing, the Prelate said: “No fewer than 40

persons were feared killed on Sunday in Kaduna and Zaria as suicide bombers attacked three churches. And in all of these bombings and attacks on Christians and Churches, no person has been arrested or brought to book. Where are we going? Where is justice?

This is what is encouraging this culture of impunity which makes it difficult for one to ascertain if the Government has the political will needed in tackling this menace headlong.

“Considering all of these, one then begins to worry, if we ever learnt anything from the last civil war which, for me, was avoidable if the principles of justice and fairness were upheld."

6—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

FG to earn N200bn from PHCN sale — BPE

BY EMMA UJAH, ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF

BUJA — THE Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, has expressed optimism that the Federal Government would realise over N200 billion from the privatisation of the 18 successor companies created from the unbundling of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN. Director-General of the bureau, Ms. Bolanle Onagoruwa, said at a management retreat, in Abuja, that the privatisation of Olorunsogo power plant would be consummated within a month.

The BPE boss who revealed that the privatisation of PHCN successor companies which is donor-funded and therefore not subjected to the delays in the release of the transaction budget, highlighted the outstanding activities from the work plan.

The next key milestone, according to her, is the submission of the technical and financial proposals of bidders slated for July 17, 2012 for generating companies and July 31 for distribution companies.

She said evaluation of the companies would follow immediately and be pursued with all vigour until the successful buyers of the PHCN successor companies were announced on October 23, 2012.

Her words: “The evalua-

A

FEC MEETING: From left, Youth Development Minister, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir; National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi; Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomen; Head of Service of the Federation, Mallam Belo Isa Sali; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim and Vice President Namadi Sambo during the Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

I didn't abandon my responsibility —Jonathan Says security agencies were on top of situation Why Jonathan attended the confab —Abati

BY BEN AGANDE

BUJA — PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday responded to strident criticisms over his decision to travel to Brazil while crises were raging in Yobe and Kaduna states, saying he did not abandon his responsibility.

The decision by President Jonathan to travel to Brazil while churches were being bombed in Kaduna State has attracted criticisms from a cross section of Nigerians with the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria accusing him of insensitivity.

But in a statement issued from Brazil, Special Adviser to the President on Communications, Mr Reuben Abati, said before leaving for the United Nation’s Earth Summit Rio+20 in Brazil, the president met with security chiefs and he was confident that security agencies were on top of the situation before his departure, Tuesday.

A

Why Jonathan attended the confab —Abati According to Abati, the president needed to attend the conference because of its importance to Nigeria and because commitments had already been made on his attendance.

The Special Adviser noted: “The conference, Rio+20, is very important and nobody can doubt that.

The issues that will be discussed at this conference are also issues that are rel-

evant to Nigeria’s interest.

It is also an opportunity for Nigeria to promote its interest in terms of its place in global community.

“The crisis in Kaduna and Yobe occurred almost on the eve of the President’s departure for this event and commitments have been made. In any event, it is not as if government has abandoned the situation at home. Security agencies are there, they are on top of the situation.

“Before the President left, he met with security chiefs.

The business of leadership cannot just stop because there is a crisis there.

“I think what we can do is to appeal to the opposition not to always play politics with everything; that is the major challenge we face, people always want to play politics with everything.

“If the President had refused to come to Rio, the same persons will turn around and say that there is an important conference attended by world leaders and the Nigerian President stayed away from it. He is here serving the interest of Nigerians, it is not as if he has abandoned his responsibilities.”

of the world.”

Addressing State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, Maku said the absence of the president has not created any leadership vacuum as Vice President Namadi Sambo is constitutionally empowered to take over the leadership of the country once the president is not around.

And to demonstrate that the vice president is in charge while the president is away in Brazil, the Information minister pointed to the convening of a meeting of security chiefs, Tuesday.

According to Maku, those who have chosen to find fault with the president’s trip to Brazil are ‘unpatriotic’ and have refused to accept that the world is a global village.

“The President can take decision from anywhere in the world. His absence will not hamper his power to act.

The Vice President effectively takes charge of affairs once the president is out of Nigeria and he is in touch with the President on hourly basis. There is no vacuum.

The most important thing is that the president and the vice work harmoniously and are in constant touch.

Jonathan can take decision from anywhere —Maku

On removal of fuel subsidy

Speaking in the same vein, Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku said that ‘the president can take decision from any part

The Information minister also spoke on the need for government to remove subsidy on petrol as a way of checking the corruption in

the sector. According to him, as long as government continues to subsidize petroleum products, the corruption in the sector will continue.

He said the country had to await the investigations being carried out by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on those indicted by the House adhoc committee that investigated the subsidy regime before further actions.

tion will commence immediately and for Gencos, this will be concluded by August 14, 2012 while that for Discos will be concluded by August 31, 2012. NCP approval for the evaluation of the Gencos will be sought on August 28, 2012 while that of the Discos will also be on September 11, 2012.

“The deadline for the submission of post-qualification security is slated for September 18, 2012 for the Gencos and October 2, 2012 for the Discos. The opening of the financial bids for the Gencos is September 25, 2012 while that of Discos is for October 10, 2012. The final approval of the preferred bidders by NCP and its announcement for the successor companies is expected on October 9, 2012 for Gencos and October 23, 2012 for Discos.”

On the seven pending reform Bills, Onagoruwa explained that the Bills were approved by the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, in 2009 and sent to the Federal Executive Council, FEC. “The FEC sent them back to the BPE/Hon. Attorney General of the Federation/ Minister of Justice for finetuning and interfacing with line ministries. The process of fine-tuning and interfacing with line ministries has been concluded and all the bills are ready. The Legal Committee of the NCP is having a final look at them,” she said.

Reps query huge financial claims by petroleum marketers

BY OKEY NDIRIBE & EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

BUJA — THE House of Representatives Committee on the Downstream Sector of the petroleum industry, yesterday, faulted the huge financial claims by oil marketers on the Petroleum Equalisation Fund, PEF. Speaking during an investigative hearing by the committee, members of the House queried huge debts the marketers claimed they were still being owed. Chairman of the Committee, Dakuku Peterside, said after scrutinising claims documents submitted by various oil marketers, members of the committee discovered that some of their claims were incred-

A

ible.

He asked:”How can a single truck make two trips from Lagos to Kano in 24 hours? How can a single truck lift 60,000 litres of fuel at once?”

He further stated that the committee had heard about the activities of marketers who take delivery of petroleum products from Lagos that ought to be delivered to cities in the northern part of the country but end up selling them in the same Lagos but still request payment for bridging, reserved only for marketers who transport their products across long distances.

Peterside also wanted explanation for the huge difference in claims made by some marketers over the years and

the rationale for some marketers charging different rates as bridging cost within the same month.

Peterside also expressed surprise that the marketers still claimed they were being owed huge debts despite the fact that the management of PEF insisted they had paid all the outstanding debts.

He assured the marketers that the committee was not out to witch-hunt anybody but only to ensure that Nigerians were not short-changed by the marketers.

In their responses to some of these posers, representatives of the oil marketing firms admitted that some of their claims might have been made in error.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—7

Senate begins second session, vows to expose corruption Says bombings, struggle between light and darkness

BY HENRY UMORU

BUJA — THE Senate, yesterday, resumed for the second session of the 7th Senate with a vow to expose corruption in all its ramifications, just as it said it would not be cajoled into slumber or succumb to blackmail in bringing to the public those who must have looted the nation’s treasury.

The Senate also said it would be on the neck of the executive, ministries, departments and other agencies of government on effective and efficient implementation of Appropriation Act. Addressing Senators, yesterday, Senate President David Mark, who promised that the upper chamber would ensure that there was good administration, stressed that Nigerians expected much from the National Assembly and they must not be disappointed.

According to him, "we will not relent in carrying out our oversight responsibilities. We must continue to apply the same energy exerted in passing budgets to our oversight functions.

Our nation is in dire need of infrastructural renewal and urgent interventions in various critical sectors.

"Our people are in dire need of democracy dividends. And we can only make their dreams come true by the diligent implementation of the Appropriation Act. All standing committees must, therefore, work hard to realise this goal.

"This Senate will continue

A

to work to expose corruption and poor administration in all areas of our national life. This is our constitutional duty. We must not allow ourselves to be cajoled into slumber or succumb to blackmail in the discharge of our duties. We will do all we can to uphold transparency and integrity in governance.

Mark, who reiterated that the Senators during the second session review the 1999 constitution with a view to addressing those grey areas, said deformities such as insecurity, endemic corruption, poor governance, dysfunctional and comatose local government system would then be corrected.

He said: "May I also emphasise that constitution amendment remains one of our major tasks."

Bombings, struggle between light and darkness Mark who described the present bombings by members of the Boko Haram sect leading to massive deaths and wanton destruction of property as struggle between light and darkness, said: "Let me state at this point that this Senate is very mindful of the increasing security challenges facing the nation. The workers of evil have continued in the ignominious waste of lives and property through acts of terrorism and violent crimes.

"As I mentioned sometime last year, I still believe that this is a struggle between light and darkness."

Jagaba must face probe panel, Police insist

BY KINGSLEY OMONOBI

BUJA— INDICA TIONS emerged, yesterday, in Abuja that despite the disclosure by the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Economic Crimes, Jagaba Adams Jagaba, claiming ignorance of the $620,000 subsidy bribe money which Farouk Lawan alleged to have given him, Police investigators are still bent on going ahead with inviting him to Force Headquarters to face the Special Task Force for questioning.

It will be recalled that Hon. Jagaba and some members of his committee were invited by the STF last Friday, following Hon. Farouk’s written statement

A

disclosing that on receipt of the $620, 000 from Chairman, Zenon Oil, Femi Otedola, that he handed the money over to Hon. Jagaba for safe keeping, promising to return the money to the Police.

Contacted on the development, Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Frank Mba disclosed that while the Police respected the right and authority of the House of Representatives to carry out their own investigations, such should not interfere with that of the police which is the institution constitutionally charged with criminal investigation.

He said: “The Police are carrying out a painstaking and discreet investigation in this matter."

Oldest member of All Saints' Church (Anglican Communion), Montgomery Road, Yaba, Lagos, Emeritus Professor C.O. Taiwo (2nd right), flanked by the vicar, Venerable 'Feyi Ojelabi (left); the Bishop of Lagos Mainland; the Rt. Rev. Adebayo Akinde and the Bishop of Ife, the Rt. Rev. 'Ranti Odubogun during the church's 80th anniversary, Tuesday. PHOTO: SUNMI SMART-COLE.

7 yrs after, Belview crash report not ready —AIB We have only one helicopter—NEMA $5.6m needed to set up black box lab Dana crash victim's relative lament C'ttee summons NCAA, Aviation minister, all airlines

BY HENRY UMORU

A

BUJA — THE National Assembly Joint Committee on Aviation investigating the Dana plane crash was told, yesterday, that seven years after the Bellview plane crash where 117 perished, investigations were yet to be concluded.

Disclosing this when he appeared before the committee at its second day public hearing, yesterday, Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, Captain Yusuf Lawal, told the committee members that investigations into the ADC crash which claimed the life of the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Maccido, his son and other victims had also not been concluded.

The Senate and the House of Representatives Committees on Aviation are presently carrying out a four-day investigation into the Dana air crash in Lagos and cargo plane that crashed in Ghana.

Lawal who also revealed that investigations into the Bellview crash were still ongoing, stressed that the black box of the flight was never recovered from the crash site, just as he said the 2005 report on the Sosoliso air crash was released in 2006.

The AIB boss who disclosed that despite the inability of the bureau to analyse the black box, qualified staff of the bureau accompanied the box to the

United States to avoid any interference, adding that if Nigeria as a country must set up a flight recorder laboratory popularly called the black box, a total of $5.6 million would be required.

We have only one helicopter —NEMA Also at the hearing, the South-West zonal coordinator of National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Charles Adakole who disclosed that the agency had only one helicopter which is in Abuja, however, told the committee that rescue operations started four hours after the Dana accident took place.

Explaining some of the challenges faced by men of NEMA, Adakole said the agency received a call at two minutes past four and got to the site 18 minutes past four, adding that there was unruly crowd, unnecessarily large number of officials who were busy just taking pictures, no semblance of coordination, and stressed the need for Nigerians to be enlightened especially on the need for them not to go near crash sites because it could compromise search and rescue.

Conflicting time of Dana crash Also speaking at the public hearing, Managing Director of National

Aviation Managment Agency, NAMA, Nnamdi Nwafor Udo, told the lawmakers that his agency which is responsible for “activating search and rescue” mission, responded promptly when the May Day alarm was raised.

Pressed further to provide specifics on the time lines of when the NAMA responded to the distress call, Udo said to avoid speculations, the transcript of recordings between the plane and NAMA would be most appropriate, even as he questioned report by some NEMA staff that they got the alarm around 3 o’clock and 4 p.m, insisting that the NAMA raised the distress call at 14:45 Nigerian time.

Also in his explanations, NAMA Director of Air Traffic Services, Mukaila Sholola, told the committee that the pilot did not indicate any sign of problems until five nautical miles when he called May Day.

Dana crash victim's relative lament Yesterday’s public hearing was not only an avenue for agencies in the aviation industry to narrate what happened, but relatives of victims also took time to lament.

Mr Ike Ibe, widower and father to the late Nancy and Jennifer Ibe blamed the Dana crash and previous ones on negligence of government, a development he said had caused a total breakdown in governance.

Ibe who attributed corruption as the main cause of the crisis in the aviation sector and which had affected the Nigerian system and structure, said: “It is very clear over the years that the Nigerian system and structure have broken down. For every disaster and incident in Nigeria, the same templates have been adopted for investigation, recommendations, white paper etc. There is never implementation until the white paper turns brown or another disaster happens and the template is dusted up as the cycle continues."

C'ttee summons NCAA, Minister, others In his remarks, Chairman of the committee, Senator Hope Uzodimma, however, warned that airlines must appear even as he lamented that there was need to strengthen a lot of areas in the aviation industry.

The committee has summoned NCAA, Ministry of Aviation and all the airlines in the country, to appear before it today.

8 —Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—9

Criticism trails Rio+20 opening; top world leaders absent

BY UDUMA KALU HE United Nations Earth Summit opened yesterday with more than 150 world leaders and ministers amid widespread disappointment about the strategy they will adopt to put the global economy on a more sustainable path.

The mega-conference was billed as a “once-ina-generation” opportunity to rebalance the needs of the economy, society and environment, but the deal reached by advance negotiators was immediately criticised as too weak to be effective.

T

FLOOD TAKES OVER: Motorists wading through the flood at Ijora Causeway after yesterday's early morning rain.

Lagos flood: FERMA's delay affects Ijora Causeway rehabilitation Lagos govt adopts measures to deflood state

BY LEKE ADESERI, (South-West Regional Editor) & KINGSLEY ADEGBOYE

I

KEJA—BUSINESS owners and residents on Moshood Abiola Way (former Ijora Causeway), Lagos and motorists, yesterday, experienced gridlock owing to the heavy flooding caused by the ongoing rehabilitation of the road which Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA, promised would be completed last month.

Managing Director of the agency, Mr. Kabir Abdullahi, had assured on the completion date in an interview on March 11, after an inspection of the 1.3 kilometre road project.

Because of the flooding of the area many businesses had moved to other places.

Yesterday’s early rainfall and subsequent flooding of the area made nonsense of the FERMA boss’ assurance when he said the agency had fixed the other side of the road, spanning 1.5 kilometres and was already being used by motorists.

He said: “Before the end of May, the contractor has said the Ijora Causeway will be completed. The first section is ready.”

He expressed satisfaction with the standard of work done by the contractor handling the rehabilitation project and was optimistic that it should stand the test of time.

The early rains this year caught many Lagosians

unawares, especially with regard to the havoc that was wreaked through massive flooding and destruction of life and property.

It was a development that prompted the Lagos State Government to embark on emergency flooding prevention/reduction measures.

It also followed this up with routine maintenance of drainage channels and construction of new ones, as well as initiating other measures and projects to deal with the menace.

According to officials of the state Ministry of the Environment, the measures so adopted are to ensure that the recent ugly experiences are reduced or totally eliminated so that Lagos would have a flood-free rainy season.

Among measures put in place is what the Office of Drainage Services, under the ministry describes as an “all-year-round cleaning and maintenance of drainage channels” across the state.

Effect of climate change The drainage maintenance programme, according to the Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, will lead to the desilting of the major channels in all the 20 local government areas, and 37 local council development areas of the state.

Giving the highlights of the programme recently, Bello maintained that the

de-silting embarked upon by the Office of Drainage Services was paying off, stressing that “if the government had not put in place an effective drainage system, many parts of the state would have been consumed by the July 10, 2011 severe flooding that accompanied the torrential downpour.”

Preventive measures And, despite the seeming contradictory predictions by different agencies on what the weather condition would be this year, the commissioner aligned with experts’ predictions that this year’s rainfall might be heavier than the previous years, warning that it was necessary to take preventive measures.

At present, municipal waste management has drastically improved, unlike in the past when due to bad public conduct, garbage littered the environment and blocked drainage channels.

Initial work on de-silting of drainage channels had been done in places such as Adekunle Fajuyi Street, Adeyinka Adebayo Road and Kodesoh Street, in Ikeja. Same as Simpson and Sandgrouse streets in Lagos Island; Lanre Awolokun Street, Somolu; College Road, Ifako; Arowojobe Street, Oshodi; Agric/Oja Road, Ikorodu; Gemini/Coker, Surulere; Adeniji-Adele Road, Lagos Island and Ogunmokun Street in Mushin that were flood- prone have received necessary official attention to prevent flooding.

It included a limited upgrade to the UN Environment Programme, outlined the benefits of a green economy, promised to do more to protect the world’s oceans and launched a process to establish sustainable development goals.

High-profile leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama, David Cameron and Angela Merkel and Germany’s Angela Merkel were not in the meeting. But President of France, Russia, Chinese prime ministers and President Goodluck Jonathan are among leaders participating.

Alleged N47bn graft: Witness exonerates Akingbola

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH & MICHAEL OLADEPO AGOS—A defence witness in the ongoing trial of Dr. Erastus Akingbola, former managing director of defunct Intercontinental Bank, Mrs Ayoola Akande, yesterday, told an Ikeja High Court that some of the transactions carried out

by Akingbola, including the transfer of 8.5 million pounds from the bank’s nostro account, were normal banking transactions.

Akingbola is standing trial over alleged stealing of N47.1 billion alongside another bank’s director, Mr. Bayo Dada.

Akande, the first defence witness before Justice Habeeb Abiru, faulted the prosecution’s claims that there was no money

L

in the bank’s vault to support certain foreign transactions carried out by the bank under the leadership of Akingbola.

Led in evidence by Akingbola’s counsel, Mr. Deji Sasegbon, SAN, Akande, a former Group Head of International Operations of Intercontinental Bank Plc(now Access Bank), said the bank chief engaged on regular transactions.

Akande said contrary to the prosecution’s argument that there was no fund to support the foreign transactions, she said funds were provided in form of loan from account of a customer, Regal Investment Limited domiciled in Intercontinental Capital Market Limited, ICML’s account,a subsidiary of the bank.

Woman alleges threat to life over refusal to abort pregnancy

BY EVELYN USMAN AGOS—A 47-year-old woman has raised alarm over alleged threat by her lover to kill her over her refusal to abort a pregnancy, calling on the Police authorities to wade into the matter.

The woman, Mariam Usuff, told Vanguard in Lagos, yesterday, that she met her lover, a married man, whose name she simply gave as Deji, two years ago, and the relationship led to his renting a two-bedroom flat for her at Olokode Street on Alagbado Road, with the hope of becoming his second wife.

L

But trouble started after she discovered she was pregnant, a development she said her lover kicked against by instructing her

to abort the pregnancy.

She said: “I am 47 years old. I see this pregnancy as a miracle because many people at my age

are already in their menopause. I am not even bothered if he abandons me because I can take care of myself.''

Lagos arrests 3 police officers for driving on BRT lane

BY MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO KEJA—LAGOS State Government, yesterday, arrested three police officers for violating government’s order banning motorists from the dedicated Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, lane.

Vanguard gathered that the government also im-

I

pounded a Toyota Hilux van used by the officers who were accosted by men of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority, LASTMA, in the Maryland area of the state.

It was further learnt that the officers allegedly assaulted the LASTMA officials for daring to stop

them.

The policemen were said to have pounced on the LASTMA officials, injuring one of them and leaving his uniform in shreds.

According to an eyewitness, it took the intervention of a LASTMA Monitoring Team backed up by armed policemen to arrest the police officers.

10—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

How I escaped assassins' bullets, by Alaba Lawson

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

A

B E O K U TA — IYALODE of Yorubaland, Chief Alaba Lawson, yesterday, recounted her four years self-exile ordeal during the last administration, saying that, she mysteriously survived various alleged assassination attempts on her life.

Lawson, who is President, Odua Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, ODUACCIMA, said this in Abeokuta, at the induction of Ogun State National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, and Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycles' Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria, ACOMORAN, as its members of Ogun State Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, OGUNCCIMA. She said: ‘'I must confess to you that, I have to run away for my dear life, and was in exile for four years.

Even after my exit, they tried to destroy my businesses, but Jehovah did not give them the way.''

It would be recalled that Lawson, whose guard was slaughtered some time in 2008, for allegedly refusing to show the assassins way into his boss' bedroom, escaped the assassins' bullets when the killers stormed her Quarry Road residence in Abeokuta.

2 docked for ‘manufacturing' gun

A

DO-EKITI—TWO boys, Ayodele Olugbade and Olaiya Femi, were, yesterday, arraigned before an AdoEkiti Magistrate’s Court for allegedly manufacturing a pistol.

The accused were caught on April 29 for allegedly manufacturing the pistol at Egun in IfakiEkiti.

The police prosecutor, Ewuola Ebenezer, urged the court to remand the accused persons in prison.

However, counsel to the accused, Mr Christopher Omokhafe, pleaded with the court to grant bail to them since the case was still under investigation.

The magistrate, Mr Bayode Owoeye, granted bail to the accused in the sum of N40,000 each and two sureties.

BY OLA AJAYI

I

BADAN—OSUN State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, yesterday, identified the mockery of federalism in Nigeria as the bane of the country’s developmental effort.

This was even as the governor called on relevant authorities on education for the need to restore effective and qualitative basic education to

Aregbesola canvasses true federalism, quality education save the country from breeding illiterates.

The governor made these calls while delivering a lecture, entitled, ‘'Regional Economic Integration and Nigeria’s Development Prospects,'’ at

the Sustainable Development Discourse, organised by Centre for Sustainable Development, CESDEV, University of Ibadan, Trenchard Hall.

He noted that the logic of regional integration

rested on the same sound principle that makes federalism desirable, adding that regional integration was not another prevailing fad, but a wellthoughtout developmental idea.

From left, Felix Achibiri, Chairman, Fortis Microfinance Bank Plc; Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange, and Kunle Oketikun, MD/ CEO, Fortis Microfinance Bank, during the listing by introduction of the bank in Lagos, yesterday.

Alleged N25m graft: Akala's case adjourned till July 13

BY OLA AJAYI

I

BADAN—THE valedictory court session in honour of two dead lawyers in Oyo State hindered the continuation of the corruption charges preferred against the former governor of the state, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala and two of his aides.

The governor, Senator Hosea Agboola, who served then as Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters and an Ibadanbased businessman, Mr. Femi Babalola, are facing charges over alleged N25 billion misappropriated during their administration.

Explaining why the court could not sit, a counsel to the accused persons, Mr. Mamman

Usman, SAN, told newsmen after the aborted court sitting, that the event was held as a mark of respect for the dead lawyers.

He said counsel to both parties met and suggested that the case be adjourned to July 13.

Meanwhile, scores of loyalists of the ex-governor had thronged the court as early as 8 a.m. to identify with him and this made the State High Court, Room 2 to be congested.

Akala, who strolled into the court at 8.44 a.m. was clad in white clothes and black hat and was received by his supporters with a shout that broke the normal silence on court premises. He had to remind them that they were in court.

Counsel to both parties had sat expecting the

Ondo earmarks N3bn for roads

BY DAYO JOHNSON KURE—ONDO State Government has earmarked N3 billion for the construction of township roads across the state.

Works Commissioner, Mr. Boye Adegbenro, said this in Akure during inspection of ongoing projects initiated by the present administration.

Adegbenro said another

A

N3 billion had been budgeted for the asphalt overlay of some roads across the state.

He added that about N9 billion was earmarked for road construction in the budget. He said Oba Adesida Road would be commissioned soon following its completion, and that of the 18 car parks being built, 17 had been completed.

judge to take his seat, but they were later invited into the chamber for discussion with the judge.

After the short meeting, they came out and chose a date.

Other aides of the former governor in court included former Secretary to the State Government,

Chief Layiwola Olakojo; a former commissioner, Dr. Kola Balogun; Dr. Gbola Adetunji, Mr. Jacob Adetoro, former State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Dejo Afolabi and party women leaders from wards and local government areas.

Aregbesola said: “The travesty of federalism in our country is a major bane of our development effort. Our history as a country vindicates this assertion. At independence, our federalism was anchored on tripartite regional structure – Northern, Eastern and Western regions.

“We have since been unable to reproduce the economic successes recorded under this arrangement. Yet, we can, if we really want to. It is not just the case that we can replicate that phenomenal economic success, we can surpass it.”

The governor stressed that the conversion of the previous three regions into 36 states had not been well served in terms of national development, noting that the more states the country has, the more it wastes scarce resources on overhead and administration.

On education, Aregbesola urged a review of university ownership, stating that the existing structure where each state has its own university is not healthy.

He argued that it would have been cost-effective if the South-West Zone had one Great Western University operating a collegiate system.

FRSC boss projects 50% reduction in road accidents

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

O

SOGBO—CORPS Marshal of Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Mr. Osita Chidioka, has projected reduction in accident rate in the country by 50 per cent by 2015.

Fielding questions from newsmen in Osogbo, yesterday, after he addressed men and officers of the Osun State Command of FRSC, Chidioka stated that with the support enjoyed by the commission from the Federal Government and the dedication of his staff carnage on Nigerian roads had been on the decline.

The Corps Marshal, who was represented by his deputy in charge of operation, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, warned personnel of the commission against negative tendencies that might tarnish the

reputation of the commission.

Chidioka, who was in the state as part of his onthe-spot assessment of the commission nationwide, also warned that any command that failed to meet up to expectation or en-

gaged in corrupt practices will be disbanded.

He charged them to guard against rumourmongering and frivolous petitions that could not be substantiated, adding that they should be above board.

Balogun against caretaker c'ttee for Oyo NURTW

BY OLA AJAYI

I

BADAN—A chieftain of Peoples' Democratic Party,PDP, in Oyo State, Senator Lekan Balogun, yesterday, condemned the establishment of a caretaker committee to oversee the activities of National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, in the state.

Though, he acknowledged the fact that the state had witnessed peace since the assumption of office of Governor Abiola Ajimobi, he likened the

peace to “peace of the graveyard.”

Balogun, who was speaking with newsmen at the celebration of masquerade festival in Ibadan,said it was wrong to disregard a subsisting order of the National Industrial Court.

He added that it was wrong to short-change some people by establishing the caretaker committee, noting that the administration of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, might not get away with the move.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—11

152 Akwa Ibom candidates get NDDC postgraduate scholarship since been taken off our

BY TONY NYONG

U

From right; Mr. Godwin Samuel, Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, UAC Nigeria Plc; Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Chairman and Mr Larry Ettah, GMD/CEO, at the company's 2012 Annual General Meeting in Lagos, yesterday.

Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

Edo guber: Jonathan 'll ensure free, fair destroyed the state for ten election —Asari-Dokubo years. Oshiomhole is not even

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

B

ENIN CITY— FORMER President of Ijaw Youth Council, IYC and leader of Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, has expressed optimism that President Goodluck Jonathan will not be involved in any plot to rig the forthcoming governorship election in

Edo State.

Alhaji Dokubo, who also reacted to the threat by Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State to sue him over his earlier warning against rigging in the forthcoming poll in the state

by PDP, dared the party to take him to court, saying “if it were in a decent society, will PDP in Edo State sponsor a candidate for governorship after they

supposed to campaign because of what he has achieved.

He said: “I am a supporter of Goodluck Jonathan and I know he cannot do such a thing.

However, some people change when they get into office. But it is not to the advantage of Goodluck to rig the election in Edo State for PDP because it will cause a serious problem in his base, if he allows the unity that was there before his election to be eroded due to pressure from some few cabal.

YO—THE Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, yesterday, denied media reports which claimed that Akwa Ibom State had only eight of her applicants shortlisted for the Commission’s postgraduate scholarship.

Mr. Imaobong Inyang, Commissioner representing the State on the board of the NDDC in a media parley with newsmen in Uyo, said against what the distorted publication conveyed, 99 Akwa Ibom indigenes were shortlisted for the Masters degree category and 53 for the PhD, making a total 152 candidates.

Inyang, a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, noted that although the publication which conveyed the offensive and distorted figures was done in error by a staff of the consulting firm engaged by the Commission to handle the exercise, it was not only hasty, but lacked neither the sanction of the Board, nor that of the Management of

the Commission.

He said: “Whereas it was posted on the official website of the Commission we accept responsibility, but permit me to say that the distorted information had

website. Also in the last Board meeting held two weeks ago, a resolution was taken to expand the list to accommodate more candidates and this is being done.”

Varsities tasked on programmes' amendment

W

A R R I —

AUTHORITIES of Nigerian Universities have been advised to look into some of their programmes and make relevant amendments for the benefit of the country, as well as the receivers in order not to ridicule the nation’s degrees.

President of University of Nigeria Alumni Association, UNAA, War ri Branch, Delta State, Mr Charles Soeze, gave the advice at a meeting of UNAA, at the College of Education, Warri.

Soeze, said courses that are for the sake of financial rewards and boost irrelevant ego of such students without any academic or

professional benefit was not the best because such programmes are not contributing objectively to the socio-economic development of the nation.

He noted that during Chief Olusegun O b a s a n j o ’ s administration, universities were given number of full time students to be admitted in line with available facilities.Unfortunately, some of these universities went further to commence all sort of admissions like, parttime, weekend, weekdays, work and study programme, WASP, Sunday programmes, among many other names given to such programmes.

12—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Delta, Akwa Ibom lawmakers want FG to identify Boko Haram sponsors

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA & FESTUS AHON

A

Delta State Deputy Governor, Professor Amos Utuama, SAN (left), and team leader, Presidential Advisory Committee on Prerogative of Mercy, Chief Thompson Okpoko, SAN, during the committee's visit to the deputy governor in Asaba, yesterday.

S A B A — LEGISLATORS in Akwa Ibom and Delta State Houses of Assembly, have asked President Goodluck Jonathan to identify sponsors of the Boko Haram Islamist sect and deal with them accordingly.

At a joint session of the Assemblies presided over

by Akwa Ibom Speaker, Mr Samuel Ikon and his Delta State counterpart, Mr Victor Ochei, yesterday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, the lawmakers said the call

Oshiomhole chides PDP for allegedly defacing campaign bill boards, posters

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM & GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE ENIN—EDO State Governor and Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, candidate for the July 14 governorship election in the state, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, has berated the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for allegedly damaging his campaign bill boards and posters in Benin City and other parts of the state.

Oshiomhole, who spoke at a rally organised by his party at New Benin Market in Benin, described the alleged act as cowardly, as it could only have been perpetrated at night by agents of the opposition party.

He admonished ACN supporters not to engage in the same act, as it would amount to "joining those who ruled and bastardised the state for 10 years in their unprogressive disposition."

The governor noted that the good work he had done in the last three and a half years in the state could not be erased by those he described as agents of

B

darkness and urged the people to vote ACN in the coming election, so as to continue to enjoy the dividends of democracy.

“Even if they tear my posters, can they tear the roads, schools, hospitals, water and light that we had done? You already know me, can they tear my face

from your hearts?” he queried.

He charged the people to ensure that they do not sell their voters cards as they were their weapons on July 14, and enjoined them to turn out enmasse to vote and defend their votes.

He promised to give the New Benin Market a face-

lift, befitting the environment now created with the dualisation of the Mission Road axis from the Kings Square through Upper Mission Extension to Aduwawa as well as provide a 500KVA transformer to enhance electricity supply to the area.

Kuku visits Igbinedion varsity over clash Lauds Police, school authority

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

B

ENIN CITY— SPECIAL Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs/Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Implementation Committee, Mr Kingsley Kuku, has commended authorities of the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State and the police in the state, for the amicable resolution of last Sunday's fracas, which led to the destruction of several vehicles in the university.

Kuku who paid a visit to

the university, explained that the students involved in the crisis were not exmilitants but students who were beneficiaries of the Federal Government Scholarship Scheme, which according to him was part of the implementation of the Niger Delta Master Plan.

Attributing the incident to a “mere disagreement between students,” shortly after he held a meeting with authorities of the university, Kuku lamented that the incident was over blown by a section of the media.

He said: “I want to make this clarification because my students are not happy about it, we don’t have Amnesty students in this campus or ex-

militants. I am the Special Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs and I know the situation. I came to see the authorities of the university because what we heard in the media was scaring.

“The students here are under the office of the Niger Delta Affairs not Amnesty Students. These are youths from the oil communities in the Niger Delta, who are being sponsored by the Federal Government.

The students were admitted because they qualified after assessing their documents. Let me also say that no body was killed and these students don’t like the toga they are being given as exmilitants. It's vexatious and provocative.”

On his part, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Eghosa Osaghae, who received the Federal Government’s amnesty delegation, said calm had returned to the institution, adding “what happened was a fight between students and we have been able to put things under control.”

became necessary to protect the corporate existence of the country.

They said given the nation’s past experiences, the country cannot afford another crisis and pledged their support to the President’s continued effort to stabilize the country.

They called on the Federal Government to pay adequate attention to the deplorable condition of federal roads in the region and intensify infrastructural development of the region.

Condemning the current revenue sharing formular, the lawmakers called for the

upward review of the derivation fund for the region to enable the state governments effectively address the development needs of the people.

They commended the two state governments for their efforts at transforming their respective states and pledged their support to the development of the region.

Meanwhile, Mr Ochei has described the visit of members of the Delta State House of Assembly as a platform to enhance regional cooperation among lawmakers of the South South states.

INEC recommends 2 corps members for awards

BY JOHNBOSCO

AGBAKWURU A L A B A R — Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has recommended two outgoing members of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, for state and national awards for rejecting bribe money offered to them by politicians during the governorship election in Cross River State.

The two corps members, Nkiru Okpala-Ukeje and Adeleke Ogunmokun, who served as presiding officers

C

in Akamkpa and Boki respectively during the last governorship elections in Cross River State, were beaten by suspected thugs said to have been hired by politicians for refusing to collect money to falsify results of the election.

Apart from the recommendation for awards and automatic employment by the various state governments of the two former corps members for outstanding performance, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Cross River State, Mr. Mike Igini also presented cheque of N50, 000 to each of them.

Council boss seeks increase in federal allocations to LGs

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

Y

E N A G O A — CHAIRMAN of Southern-Ijaw Local Government in Bayelsa State, Chief Tiwe Orunimighe, has called on the Federal Government to increase the federal allocation to the third tier of government to enable them embark on capital projects.

Orunimighe, who made the appeal at Oporoma, headquarters of the council, during the monthly media briefing, noted with regret that a major percentage of the current allocation to his council was gulped by recurrent expenditure.

He said the council received about N189 million from the federation account for May, 2012, adding that staff salaries alone gulped about N73 million for the month while N3 million was used to service tax.

The council, he added, contributes 30 per cent for the payment of teachers in the council, while the state

government contributes 70 per cent for teachers’ salaries out of its monthly allocation.

Passage

M

R. MICHAEL Ikewun, 64, of Jesse, Ethiope West Local Government AreaandKoko,WarriNorthLocal Government Area of Delta State is dead.

In a statement by Mr. Etatsemi Onoriode, the burial will commence tomorrow with a service of songs at his residence, opposite NDDC water-board, Jesse town.

Funeral serviceholdsatMount Zion Baptist Church, Ugbomoya Waterside on Saturday, June 23 while interment and reception follow immediately at his residence.

He is survived by two widows, 10 children and other relations.

Late Michael Ikewun

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—13

NORTHERN RE-AWAKENING FORUM: From right— Chief Audu Ogbeh, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, chieftain; Archbishop Matthew Kuka, Amina Sambo and Uba Malam, at the Northern Re-Awaking Forum on Crisis in the North, held in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTOS: Gbemiga Olamikan.

From left— Mr. Ahmed Wadada, Convener of the Northern Re-Awaking Forum; Mr. Mohammed Kumaliha, Chairman of the occasion, and Alhj. Uba Saidu at the event.

Anambra LG: Court to deliver judgment Sept 20

BY VINCENT UJUMADU WKA—AN Awka High Court presided over by Justice Hope Ozo will September 20, 2012 deliver judgment in the case filed by a human rights lawyer, Mr. Jezie Ekejiuba, challenging the use of caretaker committees to run the affairs of local governments in Anambra State.

When the case came up for hearing yesterday, the Judge struck out an application filed by Ekejiuba to tender additional information because, according to him, the written addresses of the counsels to the various parties had been adopted.

A

Abia to train rubber tappers BIA government said yesterday it will train rubber tappers that will exploit the rubber estates in the state, Chief Ike Onyenweaku, Commissioner for Agriculture, has said.

Onyenweaku told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in an interview in Umuahia that the measure was part of process initiated to boost agriculture in the state.

NAN reports that the State Government recently privatised the Abia rubber estate and appointed Imoniyame Holdings Ltd., as the core investor to revitalise the ailing estate.

A

14—Vanguard , THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Orji inaugurates road maintenance agency

BY ANAYO OKOLI

U

MUAHIA—GOVER NOR Theodore Orji of Abia State, yesterday inaugurated the Abia State Road Maintenance Agency, ABROMA, with charge to ensure that there were no more bad roads in the state.

The seven-man committee was also charged to ensure that all potholes on the state roads were repaired.

Inaugurating the agency, Orji said the agency was part of the transformation agenda of his administration in ensuring that roads constructed were kept in a good condition at all times.

Orji who lamented the poor

state of the road, noted that they required urgent attention, attributing the poor state of the roads to lack of maintenance culture that must be addressed without delay.

He urged members of the committee to ensure that all the roads constructed were maintained and reminded them that they had been chosen on merit.

According to him,“because of this people think that government has not been doing much on the roads, therefore one of the ways to correct that impression was through this agency".

Road contracts not expensive in Anambra — Contractors

BY VINCENT UJUMADU WKA—SOME con tractors and consultants working for the Anambra State government said yesterday that the cost of road contracts in the state was the cheapest in the country, but insisted that they would continue to work because government had been paying promptly for all certified jobs.

The contactors; Mr. Chami Ali, John Arachie, Obiorah Akutaekwe, Joseph Ezeilo, among others, who addressed newsmen in

A

Awka, said they were in touch with contractors in other states, nothing that it was not true that cost of road contracts in Anambra was among the highest in the country.

They said: “It is a wrong assessment for anybody to say that roads are costly in Anambra State. For every road done in this state, there is need for drainage because of the high population density of the state.

This is unlike many states where it may not be necessary to construct drainages because of low density and less traffic".

EDUCATION—From left: Mr. Lawal Wasiu, Chairman, Nigerian Automobile Technician Association, Amuwo; Mr. Dayo Ayandokun, Lubes Manager; Mr, Jonathan Sanyaolu, Head of Lubes, Oando Marketing and Mr. Seun Adeosun, Lube Marketing Manager, Oando during lubricants product education series for mechanics in Festac, Lagos. Photo Joe Akintola, Photo Editor.

Dana crash: Imo govt threatens to sue airline As Okorocha donates N50m to bereaved families

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA WERRI—IMO State Government yesterday threatened to sue Dana Airline over the death of 33 indigenes of the state in the plane crash of June 3 in Lagos.

Governor Rochas Okorocha who spoke during an inter-denominational memorial service for the victims, also announced a N50 million lifeline to bereaved families who were involved in the ill-fated crash.

Okorocha said the government and people of Imo were saddened by the incident and directed his Deputy, Mr Jude Agbaso, and the Attorney-General, Mr Soronnadi Njoku, to commence action on the matter immediately.

He announced that a memorial park would be built in the state in honour of the victims.

O

Sanitation of the aviation industry The governor said many Nigerians had lost their lives through avoidable air mishaps and called for urgent sanitisation of the aviation industry to forestall future occurrences.

“Imo got a very negative share of over 20 per cent of the human loss in the plane crash and as a governor and citizen, I am so pained.

In our despair, we can only

cast our feelings upon God. He alone can be our fortitude and fortress; in Him alone, can we take consolation,” the governor said.

He consoled the bereaved and announced a N50 million donation to the families of the victims to assist them in the burial ceremonies of their relations.

In a sermon, Bishop Innocent Erimujor reminded the congregation that death was inevitable and that what mattered most was what happened to the dead

when they had departed the world.

Erimujor urged the people to endeavour to be righteous while on earth to enjoy eternal happiness.

Four Bible passages were read by the deputy governor; the Speaker of Imo House, Mr Benjamin Uwajimogu, wife of the governor, Mrs Nkechi Okorocha, and Pastor Cosmas Ilechukwu.

Rev. Fr. Peter Moka, who represented the Archbishop of Owerri Catholic Archdiocese, the Most Rev. An-

thony Obinna, prayed for the bereaved families, while Bishop O.O. Agbai prayed for security in the nation.

Among the indigenes of Imo who died in the crash were Prof Celestine Onwuliri, husband of the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Prof Viola Onwuliri, and Dr Levi Ajuonuma, Group General Manager, Corporate Affairs, NNPC. Others were Mr Dike Chinwe, SAN, Anyene Maimuna, Anyene Onyeka, among others.

Abia House asks varsity to reinstate 11 sacked workers

BY ANAYO OKOLI MUAHIA—THE Abia State House of Assembly, has directed the Abia State University, Uturu, to respect its resolutions and reinstate 11 staff sacked by the university in 2004 for the reason that they were “adjudged surplus to need.”

The sacked staff were Dr. T.E.C. Obi, Lucas Madumere, Nwakwe Opanwa, Uche Ochulor, Ezekwesiri Nkwoure, Doglas Nwagboso, Sylvanus Nwabugbogu, Kalu Agbeze, Ekeoma Ugbaja, Kalu Chukwuemeka and Joseph Chikezie.

The House also warned

U

the university to “stop further down playing the resolution of the House and reinstate Dr. T. E.C. Obi and 10 others to their jobs.”

The action of the House followed earlier refusal of the university to implement the resolution of the previous House led by Chief Stanley Ohajuruka which in 2007 directed the university to reinstate the affected workers.

It will be recalled that the former Speaker, Ohajuruka had in a letter, dated May 14, 2007, written to the Vice Chancellor of the University, urged him to obey the resolution of the House and reinstate the affected staff.

The House in its fresh resolution also urged Gover-

nor Theodore Orji to “ignore obstructive tactics of Abia State University and rely on the advice of the then Solicitor-General/ Government Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Mrs. O.U. Abaonwu in her letter.”

The said letter from the solicitor-general, dated November 9, 2007, had advised the governor to approve the reinstatement of the 11 sacked university workers, insisting that their termination or disengagement “from the employ of the university was in gross violation of the provisions of the extant laws that govern activities and powers of the university, and to that extent null and void.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 15

16—Vanguard , THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

US downgrades Nigeria for Human Trafficking

BY HUGO ODIOGOR

CHARITY: From left— Dr. (Mrs) Regina Akpan, DCP; Dr. Remi Folorunsso, Director, Joseph Liberty Foundation, JLF; Chief (Mrs) Bola Obasanjo, representative of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Special Guest of Honour; Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, Chairman, JLF; Pastor Olusegun Bewaji, Asst. Comptroller-General of Prisons, and Pastor Niyi Akenzua, Director, JLF, at the commissioning of borehole and Music School graduation at Ikoyi Prisons in Lagos, yesterday.

FG resumes fuel subsidy payment after review IGERIA has cleared fuel import subsidy payments that were held up, while authorities verified they were for genuine deliveries as part of efforts to combat fraud, Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

Nigeria’s Finance Minister said last week she had ordered a “slow down” to fuel subsidy payments to allow checks to stop scams that have cost the nation billions of dollars.

Fuel shippers say they are facing delays at import terminals, while their subsidy payments are scrutinised, and some private firms have halted deliveries, while others are rely-

N

ing on swaps for crude oil to receive payments.

Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama, said: “Following the recommendation of the committee set up to verify and reconcile the claims, the ministry has now resumed payment of claims.

“I want marketers to know that claims have now been processed and payment to be made subsequently.”

A parliamentary probe into the subsidy scheme, released last month, found it was riddled with fraud that had cost Nigeria $6.8 billion in just three years— equal to a quarter of the national budget.

The report is now in doubt,

as Chairman of the House of Representatives committee, Mr. Farouk Lawan, is being questioned by police over allegations he took bribe from a fuel marketer to keep him off the list of fraudulent beneficiaries.

Ngama also revealed that Nigeria now has only N370 billion ($2.28 billion) left as allocation for payment of fuel subsidies this year, heightening fears it will be unable to pay or will have to borrow heavily to do it.

Nigeria spent 900 times more than the budget for subsidy last year. Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi has said provisions for the subsidy will run out well before year end.

Groups flay alleged attempts to remove Azazi S OME groups, yesterday, rose in defence of National Security Adviser, NSA, General Andrew Azazi, over the rising wave of terrorism in the country, saying he should not be blamed for it.

The groups include Alliance for a Better Democracy, ABD; United Front for the Protection of Human Rights, UFPHR; Niger Delta Union for Progress, NDUP, and Citizens for Democracy and Good Governance in Nigeria, CDGGN. Speaking at a stakeholders’ conference in Makurdi, Coordinator of ABD, John Idoko flayed attempts by some interests to push for the removal of Azazi to pave way for one of the previous NSAs, who are mostly northerners, to succeed him.

He said: “Every NSA had his own challenge in the past, but Gen. Azazi has faced the most daunt-

C M Y K

ing security challenge yet. He has refused to play politics with national security hence he came out openly to link the spate of terrorism to the aftermath of the last general elections.

“He has all the intelligence at his disposal hence he made those statements. He should be given all the support needed to unmask the perpetrators of terrorism in our land.”

Olayinka Ojo, President of UFPHR, particularly accused northern leaders of treating the Boko Haram menace with a lackadaisical attitude, saying “their tongue-incheek comments on the issue of Boko Haram are grossly inadequate and evasive.”

He recalled how the Southern leaders kicked against militancy in the Niger Delta and rallied around all Federal Government’s efforts to restore peace in the region,

urging the northern elite to reciprocate the gesture.

NDUP in its own reaction to media reports that some politicians are plotting to ensure that General Azazi fails in his assignment as NSA, said the rising wave of terrorism in the country is no fault of Azazi, but the orchestration of some northern gladiators who are bent on making the country ungovernable for President Goodluck Jonathan.

According to its coordinator, Opuowei Akpodigha “Azazi spoke the minds of many Nigerians at the South-South Economic Forum and we think he is in the best position to tell us the truth of the matter.

Also reacting to the reports, Mallam Sadiq Umar, National Coordinator, CDGGN urged President Jonathan to fish out the sponsors of the bomb attacks with a view to finding a quick solution to the country’s security crises.

HE United State has downgraded Nigeria from Tier 1 to Tier 2 status for lack of compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

At the public presentation of the 2012 annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, in Washington U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton Nigeria was downgraded because the Government of Nigeria does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. While the National Agency for Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) is doing well, it cannot be done without increased support and resources from the Nigerian government.

The report which is an annual compilation by the department of State in Washington, D.C said “Nigeria was downgraded because the Government of Nigeria does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” . It noted that while the National Agency for Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) is

T

doing well, the agency has been handicapped by lack of support and resources from the Federal government. The statement said the U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA), requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to Congress to study the status of compliance by countries. “ The goal of this Report is to stimulate action and create partnerships around the world in the fight against modern-day slavery”.

The U.S.government said it would continue to support the work of NAP-

TIP and Nigeria’s return to Tier 1 status through continued collaboration and joint training programs. Nigeria has been urged among other remedial measures to ensure the activities of NAPTIP are funded sufficiently, particularly for prosecuting trafficking offenders and providing adequate care for victims; increase investigations and prosecutions of labor trafficking offenses, and convictions and punishments of labor trafficking offenses; and impose adequate sentences on convicted trafficking offenders, including imprisonment when appropriate.

Mubarak survives stroke in jail

H

OSNI Mubarak, the deposed Egyptian leader, has been revived and is on an artificial respirator after he suffered stroke, sources in the interior ministry and from his family said.

A lawyer for Mubarak’s family said he was actually unconscious and on a respirator after he was rushed to Maadi Army Hospital near

Cairo from Tora prison hospital on Tuesday.

Mubarak’s wife Suzanne reportedly arrived at the hospital to be at her husband’s side. “We do understand from family sources that Hosni Mubarak is improving,” Meanwhile the result of the second round of the presidential election is expected today

World Hydrography Day: Honour for eminent Nigerians

BY EVELYN USMAN HE Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim and eleven other Nigerians will be honoured today as part of the event marking the World Hydrography Day. Prominent among the honurees are the Manag-

T

ing Director, Nigerian Port Authority, Engr Suleiman Omar, the Director General, NIMASA, Dr Ziakede Akpobolokemi, the Executive Director Nigerian Institute of Oceanography Marine Research, Dr AO Akinola, the Surveyor General of the federation, Prof Peter Nwilo and the Survey-

Assange seeks asylum in Ecuador's embassy FFICIALS in Ecua dor are claiming that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has asked them for political asylum in their country, a request they are reportedly considering.

“Ecuador is studying and analyzing the request,” Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told

O

reporters Tuesday in Quito, according to Reuters. Assange currently faces extradition charges to Sweden over alleged sex crimes. Assange has denied the allegations. He is not currently charged with any crime, but officials in Sweden say they want to question him over the allegations.

or General of Cross River State, Mr. Eyo Oku are being rewarded for their contributions to the growth and development of Hydrography in Nigeria and its impact in the internationally.

This year’s celebration with the theme “‘International Hydrographic Cooperation; Supporting Safe Navigation” coincides with the anniversary of the founding of the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) in 1921, an international organisation which Nigeria joined 36 ago.

According to the Hydrographer of the Navy and President of Nigerian Hydrographic Society, Commodore Achinge Maiha, the celebration is meant to recognize the importance of international cooperation in the field of hydrography .

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—17 HAVE been holed up in Kaduna since Saturday afternoon; my family is based here, so I travel between Abuja and Kaduna almost every week, when I am not visiting Ilorin or other destinations within and outside Nigeria. I was servicing my vehicle on Sunday morning, when news broke of the bombings in the churches in Zaria and Kaduna.

I didn’t need a soothsayer to tell me that we were in a lot of trouble.

First there was the unending flow of SMS messages from everywhere, giving hints; offering advice; passing on the latest gossip and sending gory pictures from the scenes of the bombings.

In a lot of ways, these messages are very useful and can often be the difference between staying alive and being caught up in the wrong places.

But they can also be wildly off the mark, helping to deepen fear or even adding potentially combustible material to a raging inferno! The Nigerian proclivity for rumour and unsubstantiated allegations has found a natural space in the ever-widening world of BB messaging and the internet.

Attack the attacker theory: As it was, the Kaduna State government imposed a 24-hour curfew on the city following the reprisal killings which happened in Gonin Gora (now the most notorious and most dangerous place for a travelling Muslim); Sabon Tashar and Trikania. I was checking with colleagues in the media as well as a couple of friends in government to put flesh to the skeleton of stories we have picked from the media and the grapevines.

Until the claim of responsibility for the attack from Boko Haram, there were stories emerging from Zaria, that 24 hours before the explosions, security personnel had been withdrawn from many parts of Zaria; and that sounded very curious indeed.

I

There was also the message which went viral that a certain John Odia who was suspected to be mastermind of the Zaria bombing had been apprehended by the police and the related story about a certain Dr. John Danfulani, who was asking Christians to go on the offensive, on the basis of what he allegedly called the “attack the attacker theory…an all-out war against murderers”.

That incredible provocation to “counter murder” must be placed against the message which also emanated from the ABU Teaching Hospital branch of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which reported how doctors of the hospital “trooped to the hospital in (sic) short notice when they received text messages calling them out”.

The NARD message said “irrespective of religions people came together to save lives….above all…a special gratitude should go to Malam Ibrahim Al-Zazzaky and his followers who donated blood for the victims irrespective of their religions. Wallahi they donated more than 100 pints of blood two C M Y K

Kaduna: Of killings, curfew, rumour and hysteria days ago which makes our work a bit easier”.

This was the situation against which we were in lock down for 24 hours, as usual without regular supply of electricity; with the regular drone above of security helicopters and the internet and telephone calls and messages lighting the burden of the curfew.

There was some respite on Monday and a few people were able to take advantage of the relaxation of the curfew hours to make a dash for Abuja; I was not that lucky. I have stayed an extra day and was preparing to return this afternoon (Tuesday), when the city of Kaduna entered a panic and hysteria mode!

People started running helterskelter and the story was that killings have started in different parts of the city. They mentioned Independence Way, which was farther from Sunday’s flashpoints and more central and closer to the elite settlements of the city.

Unfolded rumours Cars were turning and going in different directions; Yan Achaba were speeding with careless abandon and whoever you asked did not know much, except that the best thing to do was to run for dear life! Again, the journalist in me decided to ask questions and the Bureau Chief of BLUEPRINT newspaper, Ibrahim Musa, assured me that there was nothing more than hysteria following unfounded rumour.

Someone had sent a text message about some killings and that was followed by another which talked of reprisal killings and all hell broke lose! By the time I got to my children’s school, there was bedlam everywhere!

From normal to hysteria atmosphere: There is just no way that normal existence can be lived in the hysterical atmosphere

which has gripped Kaduna and much of Northern Nigeria. Socioeconomic life is collapsing all around us and the family structure is straining. When I read that President Goodluck Jonathan was asking God to help us out, in response to the bombings on Sunday, I knew that we are in deeper trouble than we have ever fathomed. I think the President is genuinely exasperated about the problem and he is not helped by the prevailing mindset at the highest levels of the security apparatus. Let me try and deconstruct the issues as best I can.

Last week, saw the launch of a propaganda offensive in the media against faceless, Northern elements, that are allegedly against the NSA, Owoye Azazi.

These forces are said to be trying to oust the man from his place atop the apparently, very lucrative security apparatus. I cannot comment about the rivalries within the smoke-filled recesses of security politicking; but it is important to think outside the box, in respect of the security challenge which Boko Haram poses to Nigeria.

Those who think it is a political conspiracy by Northerners have been informed by the role the political and security elite from the South-South played in nurturing and financing militancy in the Niger Delta. These elements are now in power in Nigeria, and faced with the Boko Haram problem and the political crisis associated with the PDP’s zoning policy in the lead to President Jonathan’s emergence as PDP candidate in the 2011 election, they assume that the Northern political elite is similarly manipulating Boko Haram to achieve political ends. Honestly, I don’t think so.

In truth, I think the Northern political, traditional and religious establishments are as confused

,

Zaria bombing

The blast that ignited hysteria

a n d paralysed about Boko Haram. I had v e r y illuminating discussions last weekend with people who know, and I think that in truth, there are difficulties about Boko H a r a m , w h i c h nevertheless can be simplified, if the regime in power learns to think and b e h a v e differently. I will come back to the confusion within the Northern establishment later. But why won’t the government make very radical gestures to show that it wants an end to this crisis? The security apparatus as it is presently constituted has too much money to play around with (and possibly steal!); it is, therefore, not interested in an end to the crisis, in my humble opinion. But if the government would release the women and children of members of Boko Haram; release the lowly foot soldiers of the organisation and stop the demolition of their homes and mosques (rather like what Israel does in occupied Palestine), it might be a good step forward. I also think that a spirited

seated problems within the Northern establishment at the moment. These range from the petty rivalries between groups of the elite; the incredible greed which has led to the erosion of a sense of history and consequently the loss of legitimacy for various sections of our establishment. This is within a context of seismic shifts in the demography of Northern Nigeria. It is a predominantly young population, cut adrift by the alienation and anger which follows lack of education; bad education; lack of skills and no prospects for jobs. The gloomy situation must also be set against the backdrop of a serious ecological crisis and the effect that is having on nomadic patterns of existence amongst my own Fulbe people; the deepening clashes with settled agricultural peoples; the struggle for political and economic advantages which groups of the elite manipulate in their struggle for advantage and position and political economy choices made by the Nigerian bourgeoisie, in the form of neoliberal capitalism. Resources which hitherto would have been used to solve basic problems of the people, are simply stolen by the ruling class, and in the North, given a thousand-year history of Islam, resistance to the prevailing hopelessness has been framed in the radical Islam of Boko Haram and groups like that. There is a counter-radicalism of evangelical Christianity, which has become increasingly popular, again because of the various aspects of the history of Northern Nigeria.

This is also becoming a locus of reprisal killings as we saw at the weekend, in certain neighbourhoods of Kaduna.

Collapse of the ruling class: As I am concluding this piece, the Kaduna State government has reimposed a 24 hour curfew on the state, in response to the hysteria I have tried to describe today. It means I cannot return to Abuja and I am forced to spend the next 24 hours in Kaduna and like other

The ruling class project is failing big time and in Northern Nigeria, that failure confronts all of us in the insecurity of daily existence; the destruction of inter-faith and intercommunity relationships

effort should be made to convince Dr. Datti Ahmed to re-commence a secret process of negotiation again with the Boko Haram people, at least for the sake of the mass of the Nigerian people resident in the North, who have to go through the suffering, humiliation, killing and counterkilling, that has become the way of life here! I think this is the way to go. I know there are cynical elements within the Jonathan entourage who say it is okay that Northerners are killing themselves. But surely, the President of Nigeria must not share such a cynical perspective, except, as he once said, he is prepared to sink the Nigerian boat. If this boat sinks, far too many lives will be lost at sea!

Finally, I think there are deep-

,

residents of this city, contemplate the unknown; share the stories and rumours which the internet and BB messaging allow us to and it offers the opportunity to reflect upon the serious crisis we face as a country. The ruling class project is failing big time and in Northern Nigeria, that failure confronts all of us in the insecurity of daily existence; the destruction of inter-faith and inter-community relationships. I think we are arriving at the point of no return, unless those who rule can reignin their greed and learn to become a consciously responsible nationbuilding elite. I am an incurable optimist by nature, but I feel absolutely pessimistic about the ability of the Nigerian ruling class to re-invent itself positively. And as that song said: “WAHALA DEY O”!

18 — Vanguard, THURSDAY , JUNE 21, 2012 PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan headed off to Rio, Brazil, Tuesday to attend the World Earth Summit. It is not as if, important as the summit is, it could not go on without him.

His choice of Rio over the security of his people was a poor decision.

Hundreds died last Sunday. More were injured. All the President could think of was hopping off to a summit, where he would at most have photo opportunities. Whatever benefit the summit has for Nigeria could be obtained in his absence. He should have devoted himself to resolving the crisis. Was his trip to Brazil a demonstration of indifference to the blood shed at home?

If he was already in Rio and these killings were going on, would he not have returned to manage the situation? Should we remind him of his oath of office, taken barely a year ago?

He swore to uphold the Constitution, which in Section 14 (2b) states, “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” Where is the welfare in this government’s policies? Where is the security for our people? Will the Presi-

Such Security, What Welfare? dent find them in Rio? A dangerous difference between Sunday’s killings in Kaduna State and ones that preceded them is that there were reports of reprisal attacks. Revenge attacks change the entire equation and can extend the Nigerian crisis to unanticipated frontiers. Have the people finally lost confidence in government protecting them?

Hardly a Sunday passed since the beginning of 2012 without a church being attacked. It could be in Abaji, Adamawa, Bauchi, Damaturu, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Potiskum, Taraba, Yobe. Where the killings are not in churches, gunmen repealed at robbery

operations return to take out as many people as they like. Yobe and Zamfara are examples.

Sundays start or end with horrendous stories of worshippers losing their lives from bombs as they worship. The helplessness of attacked worshippers seemed to have been a strong factor in the attacks continuing.

Governments react mostly through condolences and toothless threats to the attackers who know that they are above the law. The level of impunity worries Nigerians, governments ask for patience. Should the President not have stayed home to oversee the brewing crisis?

While killings were on in Kaduna churches, later on the streets, militants undergoing rehabilitation clashed with Igbinedion University students in Okada, there were bombings in Yobe, and bombs planted in Ahmadu Bello University’s chapel.

It is important to preserve the earth, but Nigeria’s present is so tenuous that many do not bother about the future, which they know depends a lot on the present. The President knows these more than other Nigerians.

OPINION BYMIKE UDAH N the back page of THISDAY Newspapers of Friday June 8, 2012, Nasir El-Rufai in a piece entitled “Anambra’s Budget of Misplaced Priorities” displayed what was in fact a misplaced aggression against Anambra State – her Governor, Mr. Peter Obi and her people.

Reading this article, one would immediately notice that the former Federal Capital Territory Minister actually has an axe to grind with Anambra State for reasons best known to him. His conclusions were as unrealistic and fallacious as his analysis. So also were his comparisons.

For example, he argued that contrary to the expectations of Anambra people, Obi’s administration has been characterised by “increasing crime rate, infrastructure deficits, a number of strikes over minimum wage, among other challenges”.

This claim is clearly unfounded and cannot be substantiated.

Before Obi assumed office in 2006, what obtained in Anambra State was akin to what was the case in the Hobbsean State of Nature where there was war of all against one and one against all; where life was nasty, brutish and short. During the pre-Obi era, Anambra was literally under siege as such bodies as National Association of Road Transport Workers, NARTO, Bakassi Boys, etc, held the State by the jugular with each of them carving out its own territory within the State and controlling same.

In fact, what actually drove Obi into politics as he was later to disclose, was the sordid spectacle which he beheld at Upper Iweka area in Onitsha where a man was suddenly beheaded by a bunch of Bakassi Boys. That was in 2002 or thereabouts. This was what touched the then citizen Peter Obi who was simply carrying on with his private business. According to him, he was at Onitsha to search for a location for a branch of one of the banks in which he was a Director.

Immediately he was sworn in, Obi decided to restore order and civility to a State where the crime rate was once so high that even its governor at that time, Dr. Chris Ngige, was kidnapped in broad day light. It must be stated that a little after his assumption of

O

Of El-Rufai’s misplaced aggression office, Obi was able to use the Nigeria Police, the Army and other legitimate and statutorily-charged government security agencies to restore order and civility to the once Pariah State.

Today, no one hears about, let alone sees Bakassi Boys or NARTO in Anambra State. Kidnapping which occurs once in a long while is a new security challenge which is a national issue. In ElRufai’s North, the menace of Boko Haram is even more devastating than the kidnapping cases witnessed in the South East.

Equally bewildering is the false claim made by El-Rufai about infrastructure deficit in Anambra State. Governor Obi since he took over leadership has transformed the infrastructural landscape of the State. A tip of the iceberg will suffice here: He built the first and second phases of the Civil Service Secretariat to accommodate civil servants in a more conducive atmosphere.

He built Kenneth Dike Library, a new teaching hospital – the Anambra State Teaching Hospital, Odor Bridge, several other bridges and over 500 kilometres of roads. He has attracted several companies to the State, including SABmiller, a Fortune 500 company; supported and invested in Orient Petroleum Resources Plc, among other business concerns with a view to creating employment for Anambra citizens.

It is not true that “unemployment rate in Anambra State is among the highest in the South-East” as El-Rufai would want the world to believe. The truth of the matter is that the average Anambra man or woman is naturally enterprising such that even when he or she has obtained Western Education and there is no immediate white-collar job, he or she sets up his or her own business. This explains why we have in large numbers such successful companies as Innoson Group of Companies, Juhel Group of Companies, Coscharis Group, over and above the innumerable traders and artisans found not just in Onitsha, Awka, Nnewi and Ekwulobia among other places in Igboland, but also in large numbers in

El-Rufai’s Kaduna and other Northern parts of Nigeria as well as Lagos, Lokoja, Akure, etc.

In this connection, it is important to state here that Governor Obi has often supported this Anambra spirit of entrepreneurship. He not only took President Jonathan to Innoson Motor Industry, Nnewi, but also worked on the road leading to this facility with a view to providing better accessibility to the company.

In a similar vein, the Governor has worked on the road leading to Cutix Cable, a wire manufacturing company operating in Nnewi.

It may interest El-Rufai to know that this company was among the very first set of privately-owned indigenous business concerns in Nigeriato be quoted on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. It is worth-stating that there are numerous industries owned by Anambra citizens operating in Anambra State and other States of the country and employing many citizens of Anambra State, thereby reducing the menace of unemployment among the people of the State, contrary to the impression created by the former Minister of the Federal Capital territory.

A very important point which El-Rufai clearly missed is the fact that because of Governor Obi’s sense of commitment to international best practices, his State enjoys a lot of goodwill from international donor agencies such as the European Union, EU, the Department for International Development, DFID, UNICEF and the like. These organisations co-fund a lot of projects in the State, especially such projects as those connected with the pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs. So when El-Rufai gives the impression that “a meagre N1.4 billion is budgeted for health” in Anambra State and goes ahead to regard this as “barely adequate”, he merely holds this view out of ignorance of the fact that the government need not budget a staggering amount of money to that sector because already the contributions of donor agencies have taken care of the needs of that sector. *Mr. Udah, a policy analyst, wrote from Anambra State.

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—19

, Church bombings in Northern Nigeria HEN the Islamic terrorist outfit commonly referred to as Boko Haram started their insurrection in Northern Nigeria pretty much everyone was a target.

Christians, Muslims, members of the security forces and their institutional facilities, revellers in drinking joints, people in marketplaces and so on, were targeted with suicide bombings and assassinations.

The pattern, however, changed since the Christmas day of 2011, when St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla in Niger State was bombed with 43 confirmed dead and nearly a hundred more injured. A new, more cowardly and dangerous phase was entered.

Since then, hardly has a Sunday passed without new incidence of worshippers being bombed in Abuja, Jos, Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Biu, Potiskum, Maiduguri, Damaturu and other cities of the far Northern Nigeria.

Having discovered “softer” targets the terrorists have now settled more for the destruction of Christian places of worship with

W

the unarmed, unsuspecting faithful in full session.

When the Madalla church was struck, at least the federal and state governments and even the Central Bank of Nigeria, packaged some financial cushions for the church and its bereaved parishioners. But since that episode, and with the increased frequency of this campaign to keep away the Christian faithful from their places of worship by Islamic groups that are bent on forcing people to embrace their own mode of worship, church bombings have now become accepted as “normal” weekly news items.

No one talks of compensations anymore. Leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, have lost their voices. Reverend Ayo Oritsejafor, CAN’s president, seems tired of running to Aso Villa every week to confer with President Goodluck Jonathan. The President himself is now out of new things to say in reaction. He now only says: “It is sad”. People are already speculating that very soon he will lose interest in saying anything at

Those who may be secretly overjoyed by the growing threats against Christians in their places of worship may wake up one day to find out that not even they are safe anymore

,

all!

The import of the increased assault on Nigerians in their places of worship appears to be wearing off, but let me seize this opportunity to refresh the minds of those who have become shockproof because no member of their family has been killed or maimed for life. My people say when the corpse of a stranger is being taken to the cemetery, it is like a log of wood to those who are not among the bereaved. Nigerians are losing their breadwinners, mothers, fathers and children, hopes for the future. Young people are becoming destitute due to loss of limbs.

Millions of Christians in the North are now forced to stay at home on Sundays rather than take the risk of going to church to give God His due.

N

igerian citizens are supposed to be protected by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, which

guarantees them the fundamental right to peaceful assembly, association, worship, sanctity of life and human dignity. The President, Vice President, governors and deputy governors all swore to defend the Constitution. In other words, they swore to preserve the fundamental rights of Nigerians. Every Sunday, the constitutional rights of Nigerians are brazenly taken away by enemies of the state, and all our elected officers have to say is: “It is sad”, as if we do not know it!

Suicide bombing is the most cowardly but difficult security challenge of our time. Some Christian leaders have urged their members to “defend” themselves.

Pray, how does one defend oneself against a shadowy enemy that may come today, tomorrow or never?

And how does one defend oneself against a suicide bomber? Should Christians go to church with the Bible in one hand and an AK 47 in the other? Should churches train and deploy armed militias around church premises while worship is in progress? How would you know if the man coming down the street in suit and cassock is not actually a well-disguised suicide bomber?

If you take a pot-shot at someone simply because of the robes on him, how are you sure it is not an innocent Muslim going about his peaceful, lawful business, or even a fellow Christian?

Now some Christians have started adopting the strategy of reprisal attacks on suspected Muslims as we saw after the recent Jos, Kaduna and Zaria church bombings. That is hardly the correct answer to the problem.

Even though many Muslims secretly rejoice in these new bombing raids on churches,

majority of them are peace-loving and committed to the religious, rather than the political attractions of their faith. If as a Christian you are angered by a terrorist attack on your church and you pounce on innocent Muslims, you are not better than the terrorist. Besides, reprisals have a way of complicating matters. It can give rise to a total breakdown of law and order whose end no one knows. It might turn friends into enemies overnight over sins both did not approve of at the outset.

Parishioners or those who worship in a local church or mosque can help protect themselves from terrorist attacks by erecting barricades which a bomb-laden car will find it difficult to penetrate. But it is not all places of worship that can afford the space. Whatever individual churches come up with as a means of self-defence can only have limited application. There is no credible alternative to the use of state agents of security to safeguard citizens.

The imperative of intelligence as a means of minimising the impact of terrorism has been emphasised over and again. It is the failure of the state agents of security to sniff out and snuff out terror cells that is responsible for the rising cases of church attacks. Their growing success rate emboldens them even more and encourages more misguided people to join their ranks.

Those who may be secretly overjoyed by the growing threats against Christians in their places of worship may wake up one day to find out that not even they are safe anymore. If, and when the situation slips out of control, nobody – Christian or Moslem – will be spared.

Bad roads, bad air, bad everything

C M Y K

scheduled for the early afternoon of that day. She obeyed and that was how she missed the ill-fated Dana flight. And behold, the confirmation that caused the holy delay did not hold after all! For a completely different reason, it was postponed. To God be the glory. That’s faith at work.

But faith without work is dead.

Everywhere we look, there is disaster lurking around. Our roads are so bad that they have become death traps. The rate at which the planes are crashing also makes travelling by air unsafe. And if you resort to going by water transportation, you will soon find that the pirates are waiting.

Today, we want to examine the issue of air safety in Africa. Within one week, Africa recorded three air crashes: two Nigerian and one Kenyan. One sad aspect of it all is that the actual casualty can hardly be ascertained. The Dana crash claimed the lives of at least 153 passengers but the number of the casualty on ground is anyone’s conjecture.

Perhaps in the spirit of competition or as a preamble, the day before the Dana tragedy, Nigeria ’s Allied Air cargo plane crash-landed near the airport in Accra , Ghana , after overshooting the runway and hitting a bus on the ground, killing at least 10 people.

Between 2005 and 2012, Nigeria recorded 13 plane crashes, which dispatched many innocent people to their early graves: In 2005, there was the Belleview Airline crash; in 2006, we had the Sossoliso Airline crash, light aircraft crash and the big crash of the plane carrying senior army officers; in 2008, there was the ADC Airline crash and two light aircraft crashes; in 2009, there was one light aircraft crash and a helicopter

,

NSPITE of the proliferation of churches and mosques in Nigeria , it is clear that most Nigerians are not sufficiently thankful to God. For instance, whereas every journey is a potential opportunity for accident and death, we are wont to take every safe arrival to destination for granted. It is only if our vehicle was involved in an accident or armed robbery attack and we escaped that on Sunday, with a bandaged hand tied around the neck, we would dance Hallelujah to the altar.

Opportunities abound for the expression of thanks to God. Churches make liberal provisions for testimonies but we hardly take full advantage of this provision. This opportunity is gradually creeping into parliamentary sessions under matters of urgent importance. It is by His grace that we are not consumed.

Lest we forget, this column does not intend to dig a pit and fall into it. That explains why this writer, starting from this piece, will use every opportunity to express God’s goodness in his life and our readers are encouraged to imbibe the same habit.

This testimony has been shared in many churches across the land and beyond. For the few who may have heard it earlier, no boredom is intended: My grandson, Etinosa, is a fresher at Christ the King’s College, Gwagwalada in the FCT. The parents live in Lagos . The school’s visitation day fell on Sunday, June 3, 2012. Equipped with a Dana flight return ticket, the mother travelled to the FCT to see her son. The original plan was to quickly see the boy and return by the same Dana flight. When Mama got to school, Etinosa virtually commanded her not to go back immediately. She must stay to witness his confirmation, which was

I

It is only if our vehicle was involved in an accident and we escaped that on Sunday, with a bandaged hand tied around the neck, we would dance Hallelujah to the altar

,

crash; in 2011, we had one helicopter crash; and in 2012, so far, we have recorded one helicopter crash, the Dana Air crash and the Allied Air cargo plane crash. In the face of all these incessant crashes, someone has suggested that the time has come for Nigeria to modify the part of its traffic code that relates to road crossing: Look left, look right, look up, and look left again before you cross.

A

nd so soon, we have arrived at the point where plane crashes could be employed as a veritable means of personal vendetta. We are reminded of the plane disaster that dispatched about 122 fine military officers to their untimely graves.

Tongues are wagging about the helicopter crash in Kenya that killed the Internal Security Minister, George Saitoti, his

assistant, Joshua Orwa Ojodeh, and four other government officials.

In Kenya , we see some spirited efforts to get to the root of the matter.

Parliamentarians and other highly-placed persons are insisting on the supplementary questions, to the extent that they are interested in the composition of the probe panels. But here, all we have are enquiries and more futile enquiries! If you want to kill any project in Nigeria , just set up a probe panel. None of the investigations into all the crashes in Nigeria has seen the light of day. All those who have seen the final report of the investigations into the missing N2.8 billion in 1983, hands up. No one.

Same could be said of the report of the pre-shipment inspection of imports scandal of the Second Republic . Maybe the report of the power probe of the Elumelu Committee will be placed in tomorrow’s order paper, ha-ha! Examples here are legion. As soon as the probe is making a head way, they shoot it down.

They then begin to investigate the investigator, which is akin to engineering the engineer instead of engineering his engine. The working of the Mafia system is the same everywhere. They perfect their path so well that in the end, they succeed in making you look like you are defending a thief when they are the real thieves.

They finally got Mr. Integrity! Before he was sentenced to the fuel subsidy probe, his profile was soaring too high for comfort. They probably made him an offer he couldn’t reject. He fell flat. And the probe died!

20—Vanguard , THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

LUCKY RESIDENTS! Narrowly escape death from distressed three-storey building

*The distressed building...cordoned off to safeguard lives and property

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI NOTHER major disaster was averted on Monday at Ifako-Ijaiye area of Lagos State after occupants and property were evacuated from a distressed three-storey building at No 3 Ajayi Road, Ogba Aguda which vibrated alarmingly following a heavy rainfall at the weekend. The development which spelt a danger sign of the building’s imminent collapse created panic among residents in the area.

This came two weeks after a Dana Air plane with 153 passengers crashed at IjuIshaga, killing all onboard in the same Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Area. Save for the quick and immediate response from the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, many residents would have died in the possible collapse of the building.

When Vanguard Metro, VM, visited the emergency alert site, the occupants of the building, said to have been constructed over 30 years ago, were seen hurriedly packing their belongings amidst tight security to avoid any looting.

It was gathered that the situation was occasioned by last Sunday’s heavy rainfall in the area which shook the founda-

A

C M Y K

tion of the submerged building.

One of the residents at the area, Mr. Wale, who spoke with VM, said they had earlier complained severally to the landlord through the caretaker on the need to carryout rehabilitation work on the building without any positive response.

However, the property owner was unavailable for com-

,

The sign here shows that the building is distressed and there is need to secure the lives and properties of our people

,

ment as at press time but the caretaker of the house who did not mention his name, conceded that the building was indeed in bad shape, saying it was this realisation that informed his decision to advise all the occupants to vacate the place.

Speaking with newsmen at the site, General Manager of

LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi OkeOsanyintolu, observed that the property, consisting of a

three storey and another adjoining two-storey building behind, has over ten blocks of flats in all with hundreds of occupants, had submerged with cracks all over it, an indication that it could suddenly come down anytime.

According to him, the agency received a distress call around 3.30 p.m. on the fateful day and immediately activated emergency response to the site to secure the lives and belongings of all the occupants of the building.

Osanyintolu, further stressed that the occupants were immediately evacuated along with their personal effects, while the whole building was also isolated from electricity to make the place safe and secure. “The sign here shows that the building is distressed and there is need to secure the lives and properties of our people,” he said.

He said that his agency is on ground with other stakeholders in the management of emergency situations, saying the first operation is to ensure safety, adding that “ the

building as you can see has been condoned off, while it will be pulled down soonest to avert any kind of disaster in the state”.

The General Manager, therefore, advised Lagos residents to collaborate with all the agencies of the state government to safeguard their lives and properties by giving them prompt information that are important for the management of emergencies in the state.

Also at the site to collaborate with LASEMA, Mr. Shola Abel Famakin, Managing Consultant, Lagos State Material Testing Laboratory, said that going through their records, the building sometime in 2008/2009 had been served with notice of integrity test.

According to him: “Physical appearance has shown that the building is going down already, looking at the foundation which is already submerged. So any vibration or storm would definitely bring the building down; hence, the people must vacate immediately”.

Lagos traders protest unfair practices

by Chinese businessmen

BY ONOZURE DANIA

T

HE Balogun Market branch of dealers of bags and leather wear association of Nigeria recently embarked on a protest march against some Chinese business men who they accused of undermining and killing their businesses.

Speaking during the protest, the national Chairman of the association, Mr Azubike Nwachukwu , said Nigerian dealers have been operating at a loss since the Chinese business men started retail selling of the leather products at a very cheap price. Nwachucku, who informed that his members have been facing this problem for the past five years, said the protest was geared towards reminding these Chinese business men that the main reason the Federal Government permitted them to operate in Nigeria was so that they will build industries and create employment for the people.

He told Vanguard Metro, VM, that his association’s pre-

vious overtures for dialogue so that the contending issues can be resolved amicably were rebuffed by the Chinese business men, adding: “The Chinese people don’t always show up each time we call for dialogue, claiming instead that they are also citizens of Nigeria, but whenever immigration officers come to the market, they would close all their offices and go into to hiding”.

He also told VM that his association was still open to dialogue even after the protest, saying the ball is presently in the court of the Chinese business men who should in their own interest come forward for dialogue which will then open up the process that will bring about their going back to their country to bring the needed machines to set up industries in Nigeria.

Also speaking during the protest, the Vice Chairman of the Bags and Leather Wear Dealers Association of Nigeria, Mr Tobechukwu Obiedo, said they want government to come to their aid. According to him: “We

embarked on this protest to draw the attention of government to what is going on. Our union is made up of more than 1,200 members. We’re telling government that if the action of these Chinese people is not checked, we and members of our families will no longer have any source of living”. He added that no sensible Nigerian government official should allow that to happen, adding: “So let the immigration and the appropriate authorities come in and do some thing”. Obiedo also told VM that Nigerian business men and women travel to China and comply with their operating laws and business practices there, adding that the least expected of Chinese business men is to do the same when they are in Nigeria. .Efforts by VM to reach the Nigerian representative of the said Chinese business men, one Mrs Nwagbo, proved abortive as she was said to have travelled to China.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 21

SMEs’ lending without infrastructure ’ll engender another banking crisis — AMCON

BY NKIRUKA NNOROM HE country will be faced with another round of banking sector crisis if the banks will continue to lend to the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) with the present state of infrastructures and power, says Mr. Mustafa Chike-Obi, Managing Director, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

Chike-Obi, who spoke to Vanguard in his Lagos office, said instead of clamouring for banks’ lending to the SMEs, the government should tackle the lingering problem of power in order to reduce costs for manufacturers.

According to him, whereas Nigerian businesses spend as much as 30 per cent of their earnings on power, their counterparts in other parts of the world spend meager two to five per cent.

He said, “Here is the issue; you have to balance the fact that you want the banks to lend against the fact that you don’t want them to do it again in a reckless fashion so that you don’t have another problem of non-performing loans five years from now. So, they have

T

to balance your desire for them to lend with your desire for them to have good risk management practice, so that we don’t have problem again. So, it is a balancing act. They should lend, but they should lend where they are comfortable.

If we want to go by the popular demand, ‘let’s lend to SMEs,’ then in five years from now, we will have another crisis. If I lend you money, I should know that in five year time, unless there is improvement in power and security issue, it won’t make sense.

If your bank should lend to these

people, five years from now, we will be talking about another problem.”

“Businesses like small manufacturing companies will not progress as far as they have to pay for their own power. Small manufacturing companies, small businesses are going to continue to have hard time in this country until there is reliable cheap power. That’s why most of these businesses are folding up,” he lamented.

Continuing, he said, “Let’s fix the infrastructures first. Let’s reduce the cost of doing business. That’s what we

should be working on. We should have a rail system. If the government can do that, you will cause those small business owners to make money and the banks will have plenty of assets. When you have done all those things- people have power, then a small tailor will survive, small restaurant will survive. Nicon Hilton will survive, small enterprises will survive; otherwise, we won’t.

Chike-Obi maintained that the claims that banks don’t give credit facilities to the SMEs was not totally true, saying that year-on-year, the private sector lending went up by 44 per cent in 2011.

Govt urged to switch to automatic solar-powered runway lights

BY EBELE ORAKPO ARELY two weeks after the Dana airplane crashed in Lagos killing everyone on board and some people on ground, reports say that another tragedy was averted at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja when a British Airways aircraft overshot the taxiway of the runway. This was attributed to the failure of the airfield lighting on the runway, which made it impossible for planes to either take off or land.

It will be recalled that earlier on, night flights to Abuja were diverted to Lagos because the generator malfunctioned.

Speaking with Vanguard on this development, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of PSC Solar Industries, Dr. Patrick Owelle, urged the authorities to follow the trend in more developed nations as they are depending more and more on renewable energy sources, especially solar, for a sensitive sector like aviation.

He noted that no airport worth its salt ought to have power outage even for one second. “This is quite avoidable with uninterrupted solar-powered independent automatic and autonomous runway lights,” he said.

He noted that Denver International Airport, San Francisco International as well as many international airports are equipped with these automatic solarpowered runway lights.

Owelle advocated the use of uninterrupted solar-powered independent automatic and autonomous runway lights in Nigeria, saying they are not only cost-effective but safer and more environment-friendly.

B

*From left: Mr. Sunny Asenyi, Human Resources Manager, J. Jumac International Co. Ltd; Mohammed Onawo, Chairman, House Committee on Industries and Bala Dawaki, member at the Premises of J Jumac International Co. Ltd during the oversight function of House Committee on Industries to assisted 301 projects by Bank of Industry, in Lagos. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele.

Ekiti seeks policy implementation on agro-allied industrialisation

BY PROVIDENCE OBUH KITI State Government has expressed her eagerness on getting a policy in place that would bring about agro-allied industrialization in the state, given that its economy is largely agrarian subsistence.

“What we have attempted to do is that we want to create an environment in which we can implement agricultural policy that will lead to industrialization, particularly agro allied type of industrialization and also stimulate the people’s demand by expanding the productive base of our economy, said Dr Kayode Fayemi, Governor of the State.

Speaking at the Academy for Entrepreneurial Studies (AES) Excellence Club’s monthly business, Fayemi who spoke on the topic, “Investment Opportunities and Challenges” said, “We are largely agrarian subsistence economy.

Roughly 70 per cent of our population

E

is in the farm but it is not in the farm that we really want them to be. One major opportunity we have as a state is turning that tradition into a modern commercial agriculture and a lot of our attention is being devoted to that industrial entrepreneurial category.”

To this end, he revealed that his government is out to make poverty history in the state and also an investment destination for those who are ready to do legitimate business.

Asked why focusing on agriculture, he said, “We are focusing on agriculture because we are an agrarian state, 70 per cent of our populations are on the farm but we want to upscale their involvement on the farm from subsistence to commercial agriculture and develop the entire value chain of agriculture.

He added, “That is why we are there, and it gives room for employment generation, it enhances food security, it also enhances safety in our environment and it will be a huge internally generator of revenue.”

158.70

+7.20

2,234.00

+45.00

20.78

+0.79

96.13

+0.08

84.22

+0.95

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 20/06/2012

22 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Capital market: Stockbrokers call for N500bn stimulus package

By MICHAEL EBOH

S

TOCKBROKERS have called on the federal government to provide a stimulus package worth about N500 billion for the Nigerian capital market if it is serious about reviving the fortunes of the market.

Speaking in an interview with a television station in

Lagos, the immediate past president of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers, CIS, Mr. Mike Itegboje, said the forbearance package considered by the government will not be enough to stimulate the market.

According to him, the stimulus package will not involve taxpayers’ money, it would only require the federal

government to guarantee the amount or raise the funds in form of bonds.

He said, “The stimulus package does not involve tax payers’ money, what is required is for the government to borrow the money with a guarantee.

They are people who are willing to put money.

Itegboje queried why the rationale behind the federal government’s delay in putting forward

a stimulus package for the capital market, especially when it provided bail out package for the aviation, entertainment and textile industries.

“If the federal government provided huge funds as bail out for other sectors considered as critical to economic development, what is wrong with it pumping money to bail out the

From left: Mr. Henry Egbiki, Regional Managing Partner for West Africa, Ernst & Young; Mr.Reid Hoffman, Chairman/Co-Founder of Linkedln Corporation (one of the contestants) and Mrs.Bunmi Akinde, Senior Partner (Advisory) Ernst & Young, at the just concluded 2012 World Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Monte Carlo, Monaco, organised by Ernst & Young.

Ecobank integrates network, eyes improved performance …grows profit by N32.3bn

BY CHINEDU IBEABUCHI COBANK Group said it has integrated all its existing subsidiaries into a single point of contact with the intent on delivering a seamless customer brand experience across the network.

This is just as the bank has reported a N32.27 billion ($207 million) profit for its 2011 financial year, representing a 57 per cent increase recorded in previous year.

Mr Kolapo Lawson, Group Chairman, Ecobank Group, while disclosing this in the bank’s annual report, said this was achieved against the volatile background in the global market. He said the bank total assets were $17.2

E

billion at the end of 2011, an increase of 64 per cent on 2010.

According to him, this was driven by 52 per cent increase in customer deposits to $12.1 billion and 40 per cent increase in customer loans to $7.4 billion. He said the bank’s performance was consistently strong across business segments and geographical clusters, adding that revenues grew by 33 per cent to $1.2 billion, continuing to outpace increases in operating expenses.

“This contributed to a 57 per cent rise in the profit for the year to $207 million, on the basis of which we are proposing s dividend payment of N0.62 (0.4 US cents) per share. As encouraging as these results are, we are not resting on our laurels.

In 2011 we focused on

consolidating our presence in key markets and integrating and optimizing network,” he said.

“All existing subsidiaries of the Ecobank Group are now running on the oracle FLEXCUBE IT platform and expected to migrate the operations of Oceanic Bank and TTB to this platform in 2012,” he said.

Commenting on the integration of its network, the bank’s Group CEO, Mr. Arnold Ekpe said they are intent on delivering a seamless customer brand experience across the network. For example, he said standardized payment solutions reduce the number of days to affect payment across the network and corporate bank customers have a single

point of contact.

“A matrix organizational structure ensures that knowledge and processes are consistent across the group. In 2011, all Ecobank affiliates moved onto a single FLEXCUBE IT platform. The newly acquired Oceanic Bank and T TB will be migrated quickly onto this new platform in 2012.”

He noted that the single most significant event of 2011 for the bank was the acquisition of Oceanic Bank of Nigeria.

Adding to this, the Group Chairman, Mr. Kolapo stated that their Nigerian’s operation has been restored to health, having completed the sale of non-performing loans to AMCON during the year.

capital market?” he asked He assured that if the stimulus package is put in place, the government will recover the funds with a profit.

He said, “I bet you the government will recover the money with a profit down the line. All it needs is to issue bonds of up to 10 years. It would take like five years to begin recouping the money.

“The risk of floating and investing in the bond is a worthy risk to revive the market, the economy, to transform the country and to bring ailing businesses back to life.

“Nigeria can afford to take that risk, in the interest of the economy and the stock market. No country ever allows the stock market to go under.

This is seen in what is happening all over the world, where European countries are providing bail out stimulus packages for a whole country, like Greece.

“The government doesn’t need taxpayers’

money; instead, it would make money for the taxpayers.”

Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had stated that the Federal Government will release a forbearance package to stockbrokers as part of measures to stimulate confidence in the Nigerian capital market and increase liquidity.

She had said, then, “We are working on the forbearance; we have now agreed on it, and that we are going to implement it. We are having discussions about how to do it.

“We must remember that we don’t want any moral hazard, we don’t want those stockbrokers who did the right thing to think that they are not appreciated or that they have been neglected.

“So we must honour them too by looking at the type of forbearance to be accorded to the stockbrokers who are having difficulty.

...Cautions regulators over negative pronouncements

BY PETER EGWUATU OLLOWING the resumption of new Acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. BolajiIbrahim Bello, stockbrokers have warned regulators and operators to desist from making negative statement that would further erode investors’ confidence.

Managing Director, Unex Capital Securities Limited, Mr. Francis Chukwujama said, that n e g a t i v e pronouncement is not good for the market at the moment and advised regulators to make utterances that would attract investors to the market.

He said that adequate policies should be initiated that would engender confidence and stability in the market.

According to him, “The recent increase in market based activities was due to the low price of equities as new investors are beginning to take advantage.

F

He noted that Bello’s knowledge and commitment in the industry would enhance the dynamics of portfolio investment and bring succour to the troubled market.

Another stockbroker who prefers not to be mentioned said, operators hoped that the appointment of new Acting Director General would increase investors’ confidence in the market.

According to him, The new Acting DirectorGeneral of SEC is as an experienced stockbroker who understands the challenges of the market and is expected to work with operators and other stakeholders to address the issues that affect market.”

He urged the Acting Director-General to use his wealth of experience to create sustainable liquidity.

Malam Garba Kurfi, the Managing Director of APT Securities and Funds Ltd., said that Bello’s appointment would rekindle most investors interest in the market.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—23

BRIEF

ADH records N768.5m PAT in 2011

By AHMED IBRAHIM

A

SSOCIATED Discount House Limited has recorded a Profit After Tax of N768.5 million in its 2011 financial year, representing a decline of 64.4 per cent, compared to N2.16 billion it recorded in the previous year.

Speaking at the 18th annual general meeting of the company, the company chairman, Mr. Aigboje AigImoukhuede said that the company recorded Gross Earnings of N7.47billion and a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of N866.78million while the Shareholders’ funds improved to N5.83billion from N5.057billion in the year ended.

He said that the result reflected a remarkable improvement on the 2010 performance of the company, adding that the improved results for the financial period under review attested to the fact that the board and management of the company would continue to steer it path of growth and profitability to build on sound corporate governance.

He maintained that despite the challenges in the global economy witnessed in 2011, the company still maintain it position in the capital and commodities markets.

He said, “The Discount House sub-sector continues to face challenges mainly from stiff competition from commercial banks. Significantly changes in the monetary policy rate (MPR) from 6.5% at the beginning of the year to 12% at the end of the year also had significant implications on funding cost as well as market risk. “CBN carried out several mop-up exercises leading to liquidity tightness to reduce pressure on foreign exchange demand. The tight liquidity regime had significant implications for our operation which include increase in funding costs; drop in FGN Bond prices and its impact on the existing bond portfolio and market volatility and uncertainty”.

He stressed that the board of directors, management and staff of ADH would leverage on the lessons learnt from the critical issues which are shaping and redefining Nigeria’s financial landscape to consolidate and remain focused on strategic transformation of the company.

“We will explore emerging opportunities within the scope of the revised discount house guidelines to deepen our business while taking calculated risks that we fully understand and can quantify in line with effective risk management structures.

C M Y K

Banking reforms designed to enhance growth of real sector — Sanusi

By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE & ELIZABETH AMIHOR

G

OVERNOR, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Lamido Sanusi said that the various reform measures in the banking sector are designed to

enhance the growth of the real sector.

In a keynote address at the at the 4th Memorial Lecture of the Clement Isong Foundation for 2012, Sanusi said that on one of the impact of the reforms is increased flow of credit to the real sector of the economy, which

has enhanced the growth of the sector.

Sanusi who was represented by the Deputy Gover nor, Corporate Services, Alhaji Suleiman Barau, said that, “Total credit to economy stood at N13, 407.4 billion at end-April 2012 and averaged N10,

From left: Mr Peter Oyaniyi, Executive Director, Sona Group; Mr Dharmarajan Eswaran, Managing Director, Euro Global Foods and Distilleries Ltd; Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, Commissioner of Commerce and Industries, Ogun State and Mr Arjan Mirchandani, Chairman, Sona Group during the commissioner’s working visit to Euro Global factory in Ota, Ogun State.

300.4 billion between December 2008 and April 2012, which is higher than the average of N2,747.02 billion recorded in the 20042007 period. “The growth in credit to the private sector reflected improved credit flow by the banking system emanating from the various reforms on the sector. Of the total credit to the core private sector, the share of the agricultural sector averaged2.1 per cent, while manufacturing and solid mineral got an average of 12.5 and 14.9 per cent, respectively between 2007 and April 2012. Similarly, the share of real estate, utilities and communications in total credit to the economy by the banking sector averaged 8.0, 0.7 and 10.7 per cent, respectively during the period.“Clearly, while the share of bank credit to nonagricultural sectors has improved over time, banking system’s credit to the agricultural sector is comparably small, indicating the risk perception and/ or lack of interest in the sector by the banks.

What is clear however is that the growth of credit to the real sector, though still relatively not very impressive, has been rising over time and it is expected to improve further as the effects of the current reforms permeate the banks.

“Similarly, the performance of the real sector in the face of the banking sector reforms.

Experts caution against amendment of AMCON Act XPERTS in the financial sector have cautioned against amendment of some sections of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Act. Recently, the Clerk, House Committee on Banking and Currency, Mr. Yilji Yakubu, had in a letter, invited the management of AMCON to appear at an investigative hearing at the National Assembly Complex this week.

The letter also requested that the corporation should produce a memorandum on any area or section of its Act that need to be amended to further “to bring in conformity with the provision of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended.”

Commenting on this development, an analyst at Profund Securities Limited, Mr. Chijioke Obiagwu, said

E

that the move might destroy the gains that had been recorded in the banking industry, facilitated by the intervention of the corporation.

Obiagwu said, “This should not be coming up at a time when there are strong indications that the banking crisis is over and when we are expecting that the gains of banking reform will have a positive effect on the stock market. We all saw the positive earnings announced by banks in first quarter 2012 and all these were as a result of AMCON’s intervention. Today, nonperforming loan (NPL) in the industry is below five per cent.

“So, it will not be proper for the House of Representatives to start talking about tampering with the AMCON Act. Today, the environment

is better and foreign investors have noticed that our banks are now well capitalised and very liquid.”

On his part, Managing Director of an Financial Advisory firm, who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the move would be affect confidence in the system.

“I keep wondering what the whole idea is about. You know AMCON was established to clean up banks’ NPLs and it has lived up to that. So what amendment(s) are they talking about? I think the Act should be left the way it is, especially now that the corporation is talking about debt recovery,” he added.

In the same vein, the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria (ICEN), Mr Peter Ikpamejo, advised the lawmakers not

take any hasty decision on the AMCON Act. He said: “I think what the House should do is to engage professionals to properly look at the AMCON Act and advise them on what should be done. The AMCON Act should not just be a political issue.”

The House had in November 2011, deliberated on the motion titled: Expenditure of Public funds by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and AMCON and had adopted a resolution mandating the committee to conduct an investigating hearing on the sources of funds, expenditures and intervention of the apex bank and the corporation in the various areas and determine whether or not they conform to the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.

24—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21 , 2012

Nigeria’s agriculture, bedevilled by low productivity — NACCIMA STORIES BY NAOMI UZOR HE Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), has expressed concern that issues of food sufficiency and security are yet to be addressed in Nigeria.

NACCIMA also stated that various strategies and initiatives of Governments at all levels to transform agriculture and agribusiness, improve productivity in output and investment in the sector have not yielded the desired results.

T

The Association said the agricultural sector is bedeviled by very low productivity, profitability and competitiveness, insufficient food for local consumption and absence of food security, using FAO standards.

The National President of NACCIMA, Mr. Ademola Ajayi, who made this statement at the official opening ceremony of the 51st annual conference, added that to effectively transform the sector and restore its lost glory as the major foreign exchange earner of the economy, we wish to suggest that Governments at all

levels should continue to work as partners with the Organised Private Sector (OPS) and Chambers of Commerce to improve production yield and boost real income revenue of farmers/government.

“We also recommend that Government should, in the short and medium term period, give priority attention to the promotion of Agribusiness such that the value chain arising there-from would invariably make it capable of generating employment for over 10 Million productive labour force in the areas of land preparation, planting, protec-

tion, preservation, processing, and packaging (6Ps).

“Furthermore, deliber-

ate policy should be adopted by Government on children nutritional standards starting with the implementation of the

programme of compulsory “free one nutritional meal per day” at the preand primary school levels in the country.”

NACCIMA ex-boss tasks FG on monetary policy reassessment HE Immediate Past National President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Dr. Simon Chukwuemeka Okolo has called on the federal government to have a thorough re-assessment of Nigeria’s monetary policy regime with a view to com-

T

ing up with a fiscal policy that will best address the nation’s current economic woes.

Dr. Okolo who made the remark while speaking with industry reporters on the state of the nation, deplored the current dysfunctional monetary policy of the government that have failed to grow the economy

and uplift the living standard of the people.

He called on the economic management team headed by the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, to re-appraise Nigeria’s monetary policy and come up with a fiscal policy that would adequately address the current economic problems bedevilling the nation.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—25

APPOINTMENT & PROMOTION

vicahiyoung@yahoo.com 08033348923

Cadbury appoints Moskofian new MD

C

ADBURY Nigeria Plc has announced the appointment of Mr. Emil Moskofian, as it’s new Managing Director.

The company said the new Managing Director is to lead the next phase of the company ’s growth and transformation agenda.

Moskofian succeeds Alan Palmer who is retiring from the business after a 38-year career.

The 47 years old Moskofian, a British citizen, is said to be a highly experienced manager with over 20 years’ experience in leading organizations.

His career has taken him through Finance, Government & Regulatory Affairs, Sales & Marketing and General Management roles across several countries for British American Tobacco, including tenures in Bangladesh, Egypt, South Africa, Hungary, Austria, Korea, Malaysia and Russia. Prior to joining Kraft Foods, Emil was Regional Managing Director, Africa and Turkey of IFFCO, a leading manufacturer and marketer of Fast Moving Consumer Goods in the Middle East and Africa.

In a statement, the company’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Kufre Ekanem, said “Alan Palmer ’s name will always be remembered for leading the assured

resurgence of our business across West Africa. In his over three-year tenure here, our historical debts were paid off, our brands gained market share to consolidate their leading positions, a revamp of our sites’ infrastructure is gathering steam and, most

importantly, our West Africa operations grew more profitable year on year.”

“We are pleased to have a broadly-experienced and widely traveled leader like Emil to take over from Alan and lead the transformation and growth phase of our

rebuilding programme, even as we raise the tempo of our integration within our parent company, Kraft Foods. Emil Moskofian will also act as Area Managing Director, Western Africa for Kraft Foods, and will serve on the leadership team for Kraft Foods Middle East & Africa Region.”

Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State; Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and HRH (Prof) S. E Aduwa Ogiegbaen, Enogie of Egbaen/Ogbeson at the commissioning of the reconstructed Eresoyen Primary School by Governor Obi in Benin City.

Mwangi named Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the year 2012 HIEF Executive Officer, CEO and Managing Director of Kenya’s Equity Bank Limited, Dr. James Mwangi, has been named the Er nst & Young World Entrepreneur of the year 2012.

He emerged winner at an award ceremony keenly contested by exceptional entrepreneurs drawn from around the world.

The prestigious award event was held in Monte Carlo’s Salle des Etoiles.

James was picked from among the 59 country finalists vying for the title across 51 countries, each of whom had already been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year in their home country.

On Dr. Mwangi’s achievement, Ernst & Young’s Regional Managing Partner for West Africa, Mr. Henry Egbiki, says: “Dr. Mwangi’s success records are very inspiring and demand telling and retelling.

His transformation of Equity Bank has impacted the lives of many people in East Africa. It is a well deserved honour. I believe his achievement is not only for East Africa but the entire African continent”.

C

C M Y K

Continuing, Egbiki notes that such stellar achievement would fire Africa entrepreneurs to greater heights in their desire to build exceptional enterprises and contribute to the economic growth of Africa.

In a similar light, Ernst & Young’s Africa CEO, Ajen Sita describes the achievement as very encouraging. He says: “Dr. Mwangi’s achievement is well deserved. His success into transforming Equity Bank into a publicly listed commercial bank and at the same time

transforming the lives and livelihoods of people socially and economically is a remarkable African growth story which has been shared with the world”.

Jim Turley, Global Chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young, on the other hand, also remarks, “Over the past 26 years, entrepreneurs have done more than any other group to stimulate innovation, job creation and prosperity during both periods of growth and in challenging economic conditions. James

epitomizes the vision and determination that set entrepreneurs apart and is very worthy of the title Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year 2012.”

Ruben Vardanian, President, Troika Dialog and Chair of the judging panel adds, “Not only has James really transformed people’s lives across Africa by offering them access to funding that they have never had before, Equity Bank continues to grow quickly through a strong financial performance.”

Ex-NUPENG scribe, Okougbo now IRA to President

I

MMEDIATE past General Secretary of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, Comrade Elijah Okougbo, has been reappointed as the Industrial Relations Adviser to the President of the Union.

Okougbo who retired from NUPENG on May 31, 2012, is also as the Chairman/CEO of Ogo Construction, Industrial and Commercial Services (OCICS) Ltd. and Chairman/ CEO; New Age Consult, Lagos.

A statement by Adamson Momoh, NUPENG’s Senior Assistant General Secretary (Research and Public. Affairs), the former scribe served the union for over 33 years befor his voluntary retirement.

The statement said, “Comrade Elijah Okougbo, erstwhile General Secretary of NUPENG voluntarily bowed out of service after 33 years of meritorious service to oil and gas workers. He joined the Union in 1979 and retired on May 31st, 2012. Comrade

Okougbo, a trade unionist and Industrial relations graduate from the Premier University of Ibadan, and a man of integrity, had eighteen merit awards and two medals during his period of service. He is now back to private life as the Chairman/CEO of Ogo Construction, Industrial and Commercial Services (OCICS) Ltd. and Chairman/CEO; New Age Consult, Lagos. He has been re-appointed as the Industrial Relations Adviser to the President of the Union.”

BRIEF NCSU inaugurates new unit IGERIA Civil Service Union, NCSU, (Federal Council) Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chapter, has inaugurated new unit of the National Atomic Energy Commission, NAEC, and swore-in its new executives.“Inaugurating NAEC unit in Abuja, Council Secretary, Comrade Nehemiah Ogeni, commended the spirit of doggedness and determination of the staffs of NAEC to have a union that would serve as link between them and the commission, dismissing impression that union is an opposition to organization’s management team.

Union is a link that take workers’ grievances and appreciation to the management, it is a wrong impression that union is an opposition to the management. It is to fight for your rights, this make staff to be more committed”. He said.“Ogeni pledged support of the Union to the new unit, while soliciting cooperation to enable the union succeed in the struggle for their rights.“The Chairman, NAEC Unit of NCSU, Comrade Justine Karniliyus, in his acceptance speech, noted that the union was not to join issue with the management, but to genuinely demand for their rights.

N

TQC celebrates 2012 SABRE awards HE Quadrant Company, TQC, in Brussels won the 2012 Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation, SABRE, Award.

The SABRE Awards, which attracted more than 2,000 entries from across the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), last year, saw TQC as “Consultancy of the Year ” At this year ’s awards, which took place on May the 31st, one of the organizations awarded was The Quadrant Company and their Swiss affiliates Fleishman-Hillard .

Speaking on the Award, Mr. Bolaji Okusaga, who picked the Award in Brussels said, the SABRE Awards is to recognize, showcase and celebrate the best campaigns that demonstrate the highest levels of strategic planning, creativity and business results, produced by public relations firms among which TQC among Agencies that put in entries.

T

26 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Lagos-Kano rail track for test-run this month

BY GODWIN ORITSE HE Nigeria R a i l w a y Corporation (NRC) has concluded plans to test run the newly rail tracks stretching from Lagos to Jebba and then to Kano, by the end of this month just as commercial operations will commence before the end of the year.

Disclosing this to newsmen,NRC’s Managing Director Mr. Adeseyi Sijuade, stated that the Corporation has also perfected plans to concession the said rail tracks immediately after the NRC commercial operations. Sijuade, who spoke at the investiture and induction ceremony of the African Centre for Supply Chain held in Lagos, said that the Act setting up the NRC will be amended before the concession process commences.

He explained that the rehabilitation of the rail tracks is a project that started few years ago and was broken into sessions starting with the

T

488 kilometres Lagos Jebba which was awarded to the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC). He further explained that the second part of the project which is about 600kilometre stretching from Jebba to Kano was awarded to Costain West Africa.

“The good news today is that the line would have been fully rehabilitated by the end of this month. We are hoping to commence trial runs on the tracks after which, we intend to commence commercial operations .“So, it is something we are very much looking forward to, as a safe and efficient affordable movement of passengers and goods from Lagos to Kano”, he stated He stated that the government is actively pursuing the repeal of the existing railway Act which as at today makes the NRC the only organisation that can operate railway in Nigeria. His words “In parallel to the passage of the railway bill, we also

MMS names 3-member panel for best PRO in maritime industry

BY GODWIN ORITSE

T

HE management of Maritime Management Series (MMS Plus) Weekly, published by Kings Communication Ltd; has set up a crack three member panel of Judges to help appraise the performances of the Public Relations Officers in its on going special project entitled: Effective Organisation’s Management with Public Relations in Maritime and Transport Organisations in Nigeria: X-raying the Is and the Ought.”

The Judges are: Mrs. Nkechi Alli-Balogun, Managing Director, Necci Consults; Dr. Ken Egbas, Managing Director, Tru Contact Communications and Mr. Daniel Obi, Editor, Media Business of Business Day Newspaper.

Some of the criteria to be used are: Professionalism, Human Relations, Accessibility of Funds, Agency’s objectives and obligation to the public. According to the publisher of MMS Plus Weekly, Mr. Kingsley Anaroke, “This team is a crack team of professionals with track records of C M Y K

achievements in public relations and the media business practice in Nigeria and Africa.

The project is aimed at helping organization to serve their different publics better by tracking the performance of their public relations department and equipping the personnel with the right tools and training for maximum result and good percentage of brand mileage.”

Anaroke also noted: “we should determine how a functional and effective PR office or unit can raise the image value ratio of an institution as well as highlight the challenge faced by the PROs in the discharge of their duties and how they could be solved.”

The release issued by the company further stated that the special report due for publication in the month of July, 2012 will help PRO improve their relationship with the public for a better image management of the organization, even as it will create a learning platform for the improvement of professionalism and serves as a guide for effective discharge of duties.

have the concessioning programme taking place.

“As I speak with you, we

have concluded the business outline case for the concessioning pro-

gramme and very soon, we will be appointing transaction advisers and

sending out expression of interest to interested concessionaires”.

•From left: Mr. Obiora Madu, President, Africam Centre for Supply Chain, handing over the best logistics service provider award to the Mr. Solomon Aigboboa, Managing Director, MDS logistics Services in Lagos.

PTML Customs rakes in N16.4b in first quarter

BY GODFREY BIVBERE & ITORO UDOFIA

P

ORTS and Terminal Multi-services Limited, PTML command of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has collected a total of N16,442,452,139.00 in the first quarter of this year.

Customs Area Controller, CAC, of the Command, Comptroller Tunji Aremu, said in Lagos that the Command collected the sum of N4.9 billion, N5.6 billion and N5.8 billion in January, February and March respectively.

Aremu further noted that the above figures are N1.2 billion, N3.0 billion and N1.8 billion higher then the revenue collected by the command in the corresponding period in 2011 which shows a 31 percent, 114 percent and 45 percent increase in the revenue collected this year compared to the year before.

The Customs boss explained that “the total revenue for the first quarter of 2012 stands at N16,442,452,139.00 as against the sum of N10,469,643,767.00 realised in the same period in 2011 sharing an increase of N5,972,808,372.00 or 57 percent increase for the period.

He commended officers and men of the command for their contribution in the actualization of the revenue so far collected but stressed that there is still work to be done to ensure that they meet the monthly target of N7.5 billion.

To ensure that the target is met, the Customs boss said that 81 newly promoted officers who received lectures on all Customs procedures and also went through induction course, were posted to the Command.

The induction course was just to prepare and familiarize them with operations going on in the ports.

He urged them to reciprocate the contribution of the Controller General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko’s enhancement of their welfare by ensuring that all loopholes were revenue could leak are plugged and that the target given the command must be met.

He reminded the offic-

ers that they should stamp out all elements of doubt by consulting colleagues at all time. He said the Comptroller has

created a friendly environment where trade and partnership are encouraged.

Establish maritime bank to disburse Cabotage Fund, FG charged

BY GODFREY BIVBERE EDERAL government has been called upon to establish a maritime bank to over see the effective disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund, CVFF. Secretary General, Indigenous Ship owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN) , Capt. Olaniyi Labinjo, gave the advice in Abuja at the just concluded 12th Maritime Seminar for Judges organised by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and the National Judicial Institute. According to Labijo in his presentation on “Recent Developments in Maritime Law: Cabotage Act 2003,”

F

said the review of Cabotage Act could also provide for the composition of a committee or commission of the stakeholders and the Primary Lending Institutions (PLIs) to disburse the fund.

He said that the recovery of the fund could be brought under the supervision of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

According to the mariner, sections 42 and 43 of the Cabotage Act provide for this contribution (CVFF) by all maritime operators.

“This contribution by Nigerian maritime operators is for the growth and development of the Nigerian tonnage,

MDS gets best logistics service provider award DS, a world class lo M gistics service provider was last week at the investiture and induction ceremony of the African Centre for supply chain honoured with the best logistics service provider in Nigeria.

Speaking at the ceremony, MDS Managing Director Mr. Solomon Aigbov-

boa, a Pharmacist by training said that the honour will only make the firm improve more on its services to its client.

MDS logistics though a locally based Nigerian firm, operates at globally accepted standards.

Besides haulage and warehousing that MDS is known for, it is also involved

in distribution, inventory management, Telcom logistics, Pharma logistics and project management.

MDS currently has the largest square meters of total warehouse space in Nigeria with fully tracked and dedicated fleet of vehicles that can network thirty states of the country plus Abuja.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 27

to be changed. We are calm because we are waiting for the outcome of the bill before the Senate. If President Jonathan really wants to immortalise MKO, he should associate him with something in line with democracy," he said.

He added: “I heard President Jonathan proposing to build a presidential mansion, he could name it after the late MKO. Better still, he can rename Aso Rock as MKO Rock which could be seen as a national honour for the icon who fought and died for democracy."

S

bridge the gap between education in Nigeria and education in the United States of America. We are an ETS and Prometric-approved testing centre and provider of the highest standard of education following the American curriculum.

peaking in the same vein, Oluwatosin Ogunbiyi, a 200-level student of Linguistics said students shelved the protest because they are waiting for the outcome of the bill President Jonathan submitted before the Senate.

Ogunbiyi said: “The situation on campus is calm not because we have accepted MAULAG, but because we are waiting for the outcome of the bill presented by President Jonathan before the Senate for approval." Nonetheless, he added, “I believe the situation will still go the way of subsidy removal protest by the whole country which yielded no positive result. At the end of the day, the federal might prevailed.

"If the whole country could not change the Federal Government decision on subsidy removal, UNILAG students who are relatively few cannot withstand it.”

ASUU Chairman, UNILAG chapter, Dr Karo Ogbinaka in his own contribution maintained that the university rejects the renaming, stressing that President Goodluck Jonathan's power as visitor of the institution does not include the change of the university's name.

He said: “President Jonathan was six years old when UNILAG was established by an Act of Parliament in 1962. He cannot just rise up and change a 50year-old name that has pro-

Continues on Page 34

Continues on Page 34

*Some UNILAG students in lecture room

NAME CHANGE: It's not over yet, say UNILAG students

BY DAYO ADESULU & LAJU ARENYEKA

T

HE calm that per vades the main cam pus of the University of Lagos after resumption of aca-demic activities last Monday after a three-week suspension may be shattered as students vowed to resume protests if the bill presented to the Senate by President Goodluck Jonathan is passed into law.

Students who on Monday resumed lectures after suspension of academic activities by the University Senate vowed to continue the protest until the name, UNILAG is restored. Nevertheless, classes were opened for lectures and hostels for re-

turning students.

However, the hitherto busy campus in Akoka was relatively sparsely populated as most students on campus were predominantly freshmen completing admission formalities, and final year

students.

According to Tosin, a freshman, lectures started on Monday without any interruption from protesting students. Prince Adeyemi Majid, a 300-level Education Administration student not-

ed that the present peace prevalent on campus does not portray the true state of affairs as far as students are concerned. “We have not accepted MAULAG in place of UNILAG because it is a brand name that needed not

We need intelligence and passion to develop our country — Mrs. Ukoh

M

RS. Michelle Ukoh, an American married to a Nigerian, is an independent schools placement consultant and founder of First New Generation Centre. In this inter view with AMAKA ABAYOMI, Ukoh, a specialist in international training and administration, talks on the importance of students having

a five-year plan and the need for corporate organisations to invest in education.

First New Generation Centre is five years old. How has the journey been?

First New Generation Centre, FNG, is a unique certified testing center of learning. It is an initiative to

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Education stakeholders brainstorm on way forward — Page 31 C M Y K

Nigeria’s Vision 20-2020 must start with research and development — Experts — Page 30

KwaraPoly ravaged by fear, as cult activities increase — Page 29

28 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Jonathan and the UNILAG name change

BY AYO ONATOLA

read President Goodluck Jonathan’s speech on Democracy Day in the Vanguard Newspaper Online and I felt so disappointed. Without regret, I found its contents the least lucid of all such speeches from the nation’s first citizens since the first republic to date, and including the speeches by all military heads of state. In addition, it was full of repetitions and soliloquising.

For how long will this government continue to commit blunders as if there was no history to make reference to as a guide for whatever actions it is to take? On January 1, 2012 when Nigerians should wake up to receive cheering New Year’s message from their leader, all Jonathan could offer was the removal of ‘non-existent’ subsidy on petrol, which is a refined product of God’s endowed resource (crude oil), to the nation. Of course, Nigerians took to the streets to protest but our President is never the listening type.

I

In the early part of the second quarter, Nigeria’s President began to make moves to re-launch himself for wider acceptance by Nigerians, albeit he goofed! His next blunder was his action as if there was no adequate history to guide his administration, as he granted a state burial to the nation’s foremost rebel leader, the tate Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. For the avoidance of any doubts, the amnesty granted to the Biafran Leader, the late Chief Ojukwu was just a pardon for him to return from exile as a Nigerian citizen but never to wipe off his anti-state roles that culminated in the nation’s civil war. To him, he has bought the Igbo votes against 2015 presidential elections.

On May 29, 2012, another blunder was recorded by our President, but to him, as a carrot dangled in the sight of the Yorubas to deliver the South-West to him in 2015, through the renaming of the University of Lagos after the late Chief MKO Abiola, the presidential candidate of the

defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the acclaimed winner of the 1992 presidential election that was adjudged to be the freest and fairest in the nation’s history.

Nigerians are surprised, the Akokites are disturbed and the future of that decision is shrouded in uncertainties amidst various questions.

Moreso, the precedence for renaming any public-owned university in Nigeria has always been based on proven criteria in relation to the status and position of the personality being immortalised in the Nigerian government vis-à-vis his contributions to the emergence of the university so named after him. This was the situation with the federal universities named after Obafemi Awolowo (in Ile-Ife), Ahmadu Bello (in Zaria), Michael Okpara (in Umudike), Usman Danfodio (in Sokoto), Ado Bayero (in Kano) and Tafawa Balewa (in Bauchi), etc. Even, the state universities named after Ambrose Alli (in Ekpoma), Olabisi Onabanjo (in AgoIwoye), Adekunle Ajasin Uni-

versity (in Ondo), Ladoke Akintola University (in Ogbomoso), Umar Musa Yar’Adua University (in Katsina), Nnamdi Azikiwe University (in Awka) had clearcut justification for the actions.

Without prejudice to the foregoing, I feel Dr. Goodluck Jonathan needs to convince Nigerians that he is a scholar whose actions and leadership style should be based upon tested and reproducible template for people-centred governance. Notwithstanding, all these charades and unjustifiable policy actions of the incumbent federal administration have to be halted.

Finally, Nigerians should be weary of the quality of decisions being made by our socalled leaders in political governance. Late Sir Lord Lugard was instrumental to the amalgamation of Northern and Southern protectorates to become NIGERIA in 1914. It is hoped that our President will not rename Nigeria, BOKO HARAM, come October 1, 2012 or by October 1, 2013 or October 1, 2014, if only for him to get the support of that notorious group to have a second term in office.

NEVER SHALL ABBERATIONS TRIUMPH IN OUR LAND! Although, he should be reminded that he told Nigerians that he was not having any ambition to run for two terms in office. Time will tell! * Ayo Onatola was formerly Medical Librarian at the Lagos State University, Ikeja but now practices in the UK.

74 students sit for second stage Cowbell maths contest

BY AMAKA ABAYOMI

EVENTY-four students in the senior and junior categories have sat for the second and final stage of the 2012 Cowbell National Secondary School Mathematics Competition (NASSMAC) examination, last Saturday, in four zones pan-Nigeria.

Disclosing that the 74 successful students were from the 35,000 that sat for the first stage exams, Marketing Director, Promasidor, Mr. Kachi Onubogu, said: “The best three students in each category at the state level will receive N25,000, N20,000 and N15,000 respectively, aside other branded gift items, for their outstanding performances at the first stage examination.

A cash award of N15,000 each will be given to teachers of the first prize winners in each state for both senior and junior categories.”

He also said the final examination will produce the national winner alongside 10 others from each catego-

S

ry.

Represented by Mr. Orunsolu Ismail of the Lagos State Ministry of Education, the Commissioner of Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunoye, commended

Promasidor for decentralizing its examination centres as against bringing all of them to Lagos.

NASSMAC, which started in 1998 with the aim of helping students to demystify

mathematics, is a platform for identifying outstanding students and encouraging excellence among secondary school students in Nigeria.

Students at the second and final stage of the Cowbell National Secondary School Mathematics Competition (NASSMAC) examination.

Cultural Day: Pupils, teachers, parents sue for national unity

By IKENNA ASOMBA HE staff, parents and pupils of May Day Nursery and Primary School, Isolo, Lagos, last Friday, at the annual Cultural Day of the school, disapproved insinuations from some quarters that Nigeria may break up by 2015, and sued for peace and unity in the country.

Being the 3rd edition, they all trooped out enmasse, colourfully dressed in the attires of different ethnic groups in the country. Thus, the need for Nigerians to co-exist in peace and unity, despite all ethnic, cultural and religious differences was sued for by the pupils, who displayed the songs, rhymes, dance steps, fashion, foods and cultural artifacts of the ethnic groups. Amongst the ethnic groups represented were Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Edo, Ibibio, Egbira, Efik, Itshekiri and a host of others.

Commenting on the need for Nigerians to live in unity, pioneer parent of the school, Mrs. Juliana Fowowe (Mama May Day) affirmed that the school has put up the cultural show where the parents made up of Muslims, Christians and all the different ethnic groups will come together in May Day. “We are working hard to make Nigeria one. Nigeria will never disintegrate as long as we go on our knees to ask God and I know he answers prayers.

Fowowe, however, urged Nigerians to regularly go into intensive prayer sessions for the unity of the country, even as she advised parents to always monitor what their children do, show interest in their children’s affairs, aid them in their homeworks and most importantly, identify the kind of companies they keep. “Any child that is well loved and catered for by his/ her parents will surely grow up to be a good citizen. We have it in our families and I urge the parents to toe the same line.”

Similarly, Jide Badmus, Director, May Day School, affirmed that “as children from different tribes make up the school and have been learning together in harmony, Nigeria ought to toe the same line.

“Nigeria cannot divide by 2015, because we are all enjoying the country. The only thing I can say is that our leaders have to do more. All the problems we are passing through right now can be solved if only there is a conducive environment for people to work. There should be improved power supply, education and all other things that will enable the economy grow.”

T

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 29

Kwara Poly ravaged by fear, as cult activities increase

By IRAWOLABI PHILLIP, Kwara State Polytechnic

EAR and anxiety have continued to grip students of Kwara State Polytechnic (KwaraPoly), Ilorin, since resumption of studies for its second semester owing to what they termed imminent outbreak of clashes amongst cultist groups.

After resumption of the school from a week's compulsory break given by the state government due to students unrest, the students are yet to fully concentrate on their studies.

Quadlife was able to verify that some weeks ago, a cultist group allegedly had their handing-over ceremony and induction of new leaders right in front of the school’s Administrative block at night.

When the news got to the school authority, it directed its security officers not to allow students without school tags to enter the school.

Amidst this and other measures, students still have their heart in their mouths for fear of the unknown.

As at noon last Wednesday, another fight broke out right in front of the school’s Institute of Basic and Applied Sciencecomplex (IBAS Complex), where some alleged cultist gang chased some male students into the complex, which eventually led to a fight between both parties. Damaged chairs and some other harmful objects were used in the fight which

F

Main entrance to Kwara Polytechnic

saw many innocent students sustaining varying degrees of injuries.

The following day, Thursday, students receiving lecture were disturbed at the same complex. There were series of gunshots by unknown gunmen which saw

HAIRMAN of BiCourtney Group, Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN), alongside three other notable Nigerians, was honoured with honorary doctorate degree by the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, during its 18th convocation ceremony on Saturday.

Babalakin, according to the institution, was being honoured “in recognition of his selfless and immense contributions” to the devel-

C

he following error has been found in last week's publication: break for brake in the sentence “When driving, you don’t need to break at every bend”. It should be written as “When driving, you don’t need to brake at every bend.” Brake not break is the appropriate word in the context of the sentence.

It is important to pay serious attention to the spelling of words in English. Erroneous spellings can mar a written work and can lead to confusion. Confucius was quoted thus: "If the language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what ought to be done remains undone."

C M Y K

this heightened their apprehension because no one can give them the assurance that they are safe.

Abdulsalam Temidayo an Accountancy student spoke with Quadlife said: “I don’t think we have security men here. We just have people stopping us at the school

Babalakin, others honoured at AAU convocation

Frequently Confused Words

T

students scamper for safety.

Efforts made to ascertain the cause of the fight proved abortive.

The following day, two corpses were found in the school compound and some students reported that there were also some corpses at the school's off-campus, and

gate asking for our school ID card. We need real security offices that will protect us and make the school to be at peace. This semester is the worst one have ever experienced, we have lost more than ten students this semester, and I don’t even understand what the security is doing. We only found security at the school gate and some important staff office only non at each department to study the student movement and behavior talk less of protecting them. I will like to make use of this period to plead on behalf of fellow student to the Government and school authority to please give us real trained security men who will protect our lives. We are dying gradually with fear, we can’t study very well again and exam is coming please help us out this is all what we needed,” he lamented.

opment of education in the country.

Some of Babalakin’s accomplishments, as highlighted in his citation, included his appointment as the ProChancellor and Chairman of the Governing Board of the University of Maiduguri, chairman of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Federal Universities and chairman of the Implementation Monitoring Committee of the 2009 Agreements between the Federal Government and univer-

sity-based unions.

The institution’s orator, Prof. Asomwan Adagboyin, who read the citation, further noted: “Dr. Babalakin has embarked on all these activities without drawing any allowance or stipend from any of these institutions. He is of the strong opinion that education is at the crossroads in Nigeria, and no contribution will be too small, or big, to take it out of the woods.” The ceremony also featured the installation of Governor Ad-

ams Oshiomhole as Visitor to the institution, as well as the installation of Etsu Nupe, Alh. Yahaya Abubakar and Chief Nosakhare Isekhure as Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor respectively. Other distinguished Nigerians honoured with Doctor of Science degrees during the ceremony include, the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Prof. Yakubu Mahmoud and Prof. Eugene Okpere.

The following is an illustrative example of the negative effect of mis- Examples: If you drop the plate, it spelling: will break into pieces.

I will never forget, in my first year in a consulting firm, playing a small When he got to the T-junction, he part in proposals that were submitted to a dairy products company. had to apply the brake on the veAfter meetings, deliberations and more meetings, a written proposal hicle. was sent. A week passed. Then an envelope arrived from the company When driving, you don’t need to concerned. Inside was a single sheet of paper. It was a copy of the title brake at every bend.

CAST – CASTE page of the proposal and on it was written, in red ink the three words: Cast and caste are two distinct ‘No thank you’; this alongside a red ring drawn around on typed word. words though they sound alike.

The word ‘dairy’ had been spelt ‘diary’. For a long while after that, Cast as a verb means ‘to throw or everything was checked much more carefully. fling’, cast also refers to actors in Forsyth, Patrick (2006), How to Write Reports and Proposals: 7th Edi- a play, film or movie etc. The past tense and past participle of cast is tion London and Philadelphia: Kogan Page Limited, p 3. cast. Caste‘is a breed, a social BREAK – BRAKE especially one where memBreak and brake are homophones but not synonyms. Break as a class, bers do not allow others to join; verb means ‘fracture, split, crack; to smash or shatter; (rules) to any of the Hindu hereditary soviolate; to discontinue’. The past tense and past participle of break cial classes’. Pay attention to the spelling of the two words. are broke and broken respectively.

Brake can be used as a noun or verb. As a verb, brake means ‘to Examples ’Cast your burden upon Jesus’, says check; to slow down or make a vehicle slow down using the brake. the Scriptures.

Brake, in noun form, is ‘a device for slowing or stopping a vehi- Dr Akin Sofoluwe was a member of cle; a device for slowing or stopping the motion of a wheel by the cast of Ola Rotimi’s The Gods friction.’ A brake-light ‘is a red light on the back of a vehicle that are Not to Blame. caste system is found in the comes on when the brakes are applied.’ It is also called stop light The Hindu society. in American English. Do not confuse break with brake!

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

30—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

BRIEFS NGStudent Online Learning gets schools edition

By BOSE ADELAJA

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Mail to: ebellistic@yahoo.co.uk

Vision 20-2020 must start with research and development — EXPERTS

BY EBELE ORAKPO

E

XPERTS are agreed on the fact that education, research and innovation are the three major factors that will help place Nigeria among the world’s top 20 economies by year 2020.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Professor Ish’aq Oloyede, at a workshop in Ilorin in 2010 defined research as “the process of proffering solutions to human problems through well-defined methods; a systematic way of learning to re-learn and unlearn based on new insights deriving from knowledge.”

Delivering a lecture titled: Education, Research and National Development: Bridging the Gap between Town and Gown, at the 8th Annual UNILAG School of Postgraduate Studies Lecture, University of Lagos, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola attributed the slow pace of the nation’s development to the inadequate attention paid to education and research in the country.

“By all accounts, education, research and national development are intertwined. They are the reasons behind modern civilisation, and history shows us that they have never failed those countries that truly embraced them. Our universities especially owe us the debt of a functional template for sustainable national development and, whatever it takes, we must collect that debt as soon as possible.

“Since the dawn of civilisation, intellectuals were sponsored and courted by kings for their ability to analyse human beings and their habitat, foretell events and provide solutions to societal problems,” he said, adding that as a nation, Nigerians are yet to absorb the whole truth about these crucial factors."

W

hile speaking with Vanguard Learning in his office recently, the former Director of Research and International Co-operation, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Prof. Kayode Ogunwemimo said that in the Webometrics’ rating of universities, Nigeria did not appear in the first 100 - 200. “It was the University of Benin that came among the first 500 in research and development.

“Our universities are good but funding is an issue. Do we have research funding in the C M Y K

•Dr. Umar Bindir .....the Federal Government must establish a research fund. front burner in Nigeria? Is it going directly to those who should use it for research? Go and look at the level of research funding in the BRICS countries. We want to be among the top 20 economies by 2020, it starts with research and development. If you don’t fund research and engage in development, we are not going to be there. Nigeria has all the research institutes, very great universities, but are they well positioned to be doing the research and development efforts they ought to?”

Way forward: Speaking on the way forward, Director-General, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. Umar Buba Bindir called on the Federal Governmet to establish a research fund. “In Nigeria today, there are problems in every sector – Agriculture, Housing, Road, Water, Energy, Health, Education, etc. What the researchers need to do is to look at these problems and proffer solutions that will be beneficial to the common man.

“NOTAP believes that the Federal Government MUST establish a research fund, budgeting about N5 billion -N6 billion yearly for research purposes irrespective of where it is happening and we must do it very quickly.”

NOTHER variant of Nigeria’s first examination preparation software, NGStudent Online Learning, has been introduced with the unveiling of its Schools Edition to complement the generic version.

NGStudent Online Learning is a new direction in learning that enables students to study for secondary school terminal examinations and tertiary education admission tests.

The examinations include the Senior Secondary Certificate in Education conducted both by the West African Examinations Council and National Examinations Council, the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board. The software also helps students to prepare for foreign tertiary education qualifying tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test, Graduate Record Examinations, Graduate Management Admission Test, and Test of English as a Foreign Language.

Michael Aromolaran, the chief executive of Elnuk Consulting, developers of the software, explained to a gathering of school owners, administrators and other education sector stakeholders in Lagos last week that the NGStudent Online Learning Schools Edition (SE) comes prepacked in a thin server installed in participating schools, with students paying a fee per term to use it.

A

On his part, Governor Fashola said researchers should be presented with “a clear cut statement of the philosophy which spells out the direction in which Nigeria wants to channel her development efforts. “ Underscoring the importance of research and development to a nation’s development, Fashola said: “As a result of concerted efforts in education, research and innovation, some countries that have little or nothing by way of natural resources, have thrived very well on the knowledge and creativity of their people, both for local benefit and for sale to other countries of the world.

It is imperative for universities to take their cue from society and the business world, even in deciding on areas of research, and to develop parameters for measuring the utility of such research results and academic publications.”

He said Japan became one of the leading nations in the fields of scientific research, technology, machinery, electronics, robotics and medical research, because she deployed the world’s third largest budget for research and development valued at $130 billion, and over 677,731 researchers.

“Researchers must find a way to get into the industry and find out what they need and chan-

nel their research to suit the needs of the industries,” said Dr Henry Boyo, Head of Hardware Development Laboratory, University of Lagos.

Dr Efe Ikponmwosa of the Dept. of Civil/Environmental Engineering, University of Lagos stressed the need for industry to fund researches as government cannot do it alone.

“There is no much relationship between industry and the academia; otherwise one would expect industry to fund some researches. If the government does not put some kind of legislation which makes it mandatory for industries to challenge the academia with their problems, then we will not move forward. When they challenge with their problems, they should also try to fund the researches.” Ikponmwosa regretted that most companies will rather fund beauty pageants than invest in researches that will benefit them.

Prof. Ogunwemimo stated that in Brazil, they have the CNPQ, the National Scientific Research and Development Agency which funds almost 85 per cent of doctoral candidates produced in Brazil yearly and Brazil produces over 25,000 PhD candidates per year. “Nigeria needs to engage in that not only for local benefit or for indigenous scientists, we also need to attract scientists from other places to come and do their research here and that will be for the development of Nigeria. India and China are massively supporting research and they are giving funding even to Nigerians to come and work in their country but we don’t have that robust funding in Nigeria. So it is something that the government has to look into," he said.

The US has the National Science Foundation, USAID Foundation, CDC, all these are huge research funding and they derive the benefit from them. There are also some funding that are available that are not known to the public.

NB takes Beyond the School initiative to Baptist Senior High School, Lagos TUDENTS of Baptist Senior High School, Obanikoro, last week undertook an enduring course as Nigerian Breweries Plc took Beyond the School, its career guidance programme, to the school.

In the first leg of presentations to students in Lagos State in 2012 on June 13, SS1 and SS2 students of the school were excited with the informative career talk delivered by the project champion, Mrs. Clementine Vervelde Murekatete.

She advised students to discover their abilities, talents and areas of interest, and be ready to take advantage of their chosen career opportunities in future.

S

I canIchange the world can change the world MOFETOLUWA Lawal. I attend Hallmark School in Ikeja, Lagos. I am in Primary Four and the winner of the 2012 edition of theWinifred Awosika Scrabble Tournament for Schools (WASTFS). I want to be a pop star because I like music and I am good in singing.

My role model is Selina Gomez, an American teenage singer and actress.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—31

SUCCESS RECIPE WITH

UDEME ARCHIBONG

By DAYO ADESULU

F

ORMER Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Adebisi Sosan has said that the problems in our education sector are no longer new, adding that we should aim at proffering solutions to the lingering problems. ”I get bored whenever I read articles in our national newspapers containing problems in our education sector as we already know the problems, but bringing up solution becomes difficult,” she said.

She stated this at Ikeja, where over 500 schools in Nigeria and 50 exhibitors gathered for ‘Total School Support Seminar Exhibition (TOSSE), a yearly programme organised by Edum a r k .

Sosan said that she is, however, pleased with what Edumark is doing as its initiative is tailored towards proffering solution to one of our education problems, urging other stakeholders who have good ideas

•Mr Nick Anyanwu, RAPIDO that can revamp the sector to come up with them.

Moreover, having identified some of the reasons for decadence in the sector, one of the solutions to education problems as stated by Mr Nick Anyanwu, Assistant General Manager, Rapido Ventures Limited, is the use of language lab to teach students in nursery, primary and secondary schools. According to him, the

ARC Light partners Lego education to make learning interesting

By DAYO ADESULU HE world around us is evolving faster than ever before; today’s teachers face tough challenges to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed for the future.

Problem solving, critical thinking and other 21st Century skills are critical for students to be prepared for the future. It is in this regard that LEGO Education Aids teachers and students has provided hands-on tools that allows students to engage and learn.

Managing Director of Arc Lights Limited, Mr. Tayo Obasanya, who has been partnering with LEGO Education said that, "if you make the education system engaging enough, you can make it very interesting for students and they will learn in a unique way."

Obasanya who was exhibiting the LEGO Education Robotics at the just-concluded 5th Education Ministers Conference of the African Union (COMEDAFU) noted that LEGO Education does hands-on activities right.

He further described LEGO Education as really an extension of the classroom, helping people to be successful and has a unique approach when it comes to pupil/student

T

C M Y K

learning in the classroom as it gives students the opportunity to solve problems they have not encountered before and to come up with the solution. Its products are also effectively used to promote Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics. Science and technology is a key contributing factor to a nation’s competitive advantage.

digital device will help students to learn and pronounce very well various languages like English, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Spanish, German etc.

He added that because the device is digital, it can help teachers deal with each student without interference from other students.

Besides, Anyanwu reiterated that Rapido multimedia projector can also help a teacher teach using his lap top to reach the whole students in a classroom as it helps students not to cluster in a class but with the aid of the projector, students can see the presentation on the screen. For the interactive board, he said it comes with a software which can be used to teach Biology, Physics, Mathematics and Further Mathematics making the students understand the subject better.

Meanwhile, the Principal Consultant, Edumark, Mrs Yinka Ogunde in her welcome address said that ‘Total School Support Seminar Exhibition (TOSSE) is a platform designed for the Nigerian education sector, saying that the fair is complete with everything you need to run your organisation efficiently and effortlessly.

She, however pointed out three basic things any person who goes to an exhibition needs to know in order to get the best. Ogunde charged stakeholders to meet as many people as possible, especially the exhibitors.

Private tutors, enemy within

By AISHA MOHAMMED TIFFIN NKNOWN to many parents, lesson teachers as they are popularly called, can be the first turning point in a child’s life. Children stand greater chances of being molested by their private tutors most especially the female child. It is most advisable for parents to get private teachers for their children between the ages of three and ten because at puberty, it can be very dangerous for girls.

This brings us to the story of a 13-year-old girl who had a lesson teacher. While preparing for her common entrance examination, her mother who was a business woman got her a tutor to teach her the basic syllabus for the exams. His

U

name was Sam and she called him Uncle Sam. She had a brother who was in a boarding house, and whenever she comes back from school, she used to be home alone, as mother used to be in the shop and comes back late at night.

When it was time for the tutor to teach her about puberty, he told her that if a girl is at that stage in life, she will grow hair in her private part and armpit and told her to open it for him to see and that was how everything started. The day he finally had her, he told her not to tell her mother and gave her some drugs to subside the pain and that was how she lost her moral and social values. At a time, she stopped calling him Uncle Sam but by his first name.

HERE lived a man by name Scotty who worked as a miner. He had a special gift; he was a great baritone singer, any time he was invited to sing, the building could not hold the crowd. But he was his own worst enemy; he was lazy and loved the association of drinking men and useless women. He was often drunk and never developed his gift. Eventually, he never amounted to anything. He had a great gift but he never had a great character to sustain it. He discovered his singing ability but he never discovered and developed great habits that could make him great. He could have been known the world over for his musical gift but he wrecked the chances.

He was a genius in the making but he died like mere men.

Millions are living in the “jail” of their own making, becoming slaves to their passion, impulses, moods and negative pattern of thinking that has become habitual instead of becoming the master over their destiny.

We are the custodian of our fate. The life in which we live is the life in which we have created. And in the realm of human existence, there are no creatures of circumstance but rather creatures of habits which we have carefully crafted by our thoughts. There is no such thing as being a victim of fate but rather we are the victim of our habitual thoughts that manifest in our actions which produce our destiny.

Habits are thoughts; a way of life that is ingrained within that we think and act a certain way automatically without a conscious choice. Habits are learned repetition of thoughts and actions which become mental conditioning programmed in the subconscious mind. Every habit begins with a thought, grows into thought patterns, is strengthened by deeds and shapes the conditions of life.

T

W

e are all products of habits formed during our childhood and our youth; both the positive and negative habits. The arena of life is filled with men and women of diverse ages and culture with a craving to be significant and successful: to create their own niche in the world. Though these people long for a better life and experience, they destroy their success possibilities by developing negative habits that handicaps their ability to succeed. Then this group of people end up in the failure domain of life, they blame fate, luck, chance and everything outside

themselves for their conditions. They fail to know that when they pick up a habit, they also pick up the consequences of that habit which manifests itself in the conditions of life. We can safely say that we are the maker of our circumstances and destines because we are the maker of our habits. Our habits are the thread in which our character is woven and our character is the cable that connects us with our destiny.

A change in negative habits begins by making committed decision. And until you take absolute responsibility for your habits, you will be unable to control the direction of your life. This will make you to live in reaction and will create adverse circumstances in your life.

Bad habits could be broken by disrupting the pattern from which it flows. Obviously, habits have its root in our thought life. Therefore, you must free yourself from the old

,

Education stakeholders brainstorm on way forward

Conquering the enemy within

Until you take absolute responsibility for your habits, you will be unable to control the direction of your life.

,

pattern of thinking and replace it with a new way of thinking. Replace habits of fear and doubt with thoughts of faith; jealous and hateful thoughts with thoughts of love and goodness; immoral thoughts with thoughts of purity; selfish thoughts with thoughts of generosity and helpfulness; alcoholic habits with sobering thoughts; habit of short temper with thoughts of self-control; deceitful habits with thoughts of honesty and loyalty. Substitute any negative habits with positive habits because habits are not directly eliminated but could be learned and unlearned.

The Law of Habit says, “Any thought or action that you repeat over and over will eventually become a new habit.” Therefore, repeat the positive habits until you master the pattern; when you nourish good habits you starve the corresponding negative and eventually it dies.

32—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21 , 2012

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21 , 2012 — 33

34 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21,

2012

Allegation of non-payment of allowance untrue — FedPoly RECTOR R

ECTOR of Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, Mrs. Taiwo Akande has dismissed the allegation by the members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of the institution on the non-payment of their field allowances in the last five years as untrue.

Members of the union, who staged a protest last Wednesday on the issue of

the non-payment of their allowances in the last five years, accused the Rector of spending their allowances on overseas trips. Denying the allegations in Ado Ekiti on Monday, Akande said: “The Union demanded for their 60 months field trip allowance but I reminded them of an existing circular issued by the Federal Ministry of Education

seven years ago that the field trip allowance was not approved under the new consolidated salary scheme of 2007 and any Rector that pays such amount of money will face the music.

“How can we pay such money when the issue has been laid to rest seven years ago by the Federal Government?”

Akande further stated that

after much pressure by the Union, a committee was set up by the Governing Council which agreed to pay 35 months' arrears field allowance which the Minister of Education, Professor Rukayyatu Rufa’i, approved to be paid to beneficiaries within 25 months through the institution’s internally generated revenue (IGR).

Continuing, Akande said: “I have served the institution for 32 years and I am making efforts in training and empowerment of teaching and nonteaching staff within the two and half years of my administration.”

She appealed to the union leaders to prevail on their members to return to work as the management of the institution is still open for dialogue.

We need intelligence and passion to develop our country — Ukoh Continues from page 27 Our core competence is to prepare students for admission and tutorials of all USA examinations such as TOEFL, SAT, GRE, GMAT, CGFNS, etc. We specialise in admission processing placement into major universities in America.

FNG has a proven track record in helping students in Nigeria obtain the highest test scores, scholarship and admissions into some of the top universities such as Harvard, Princeton, M.I.T, among others. We have successfully placed over 500 students in American schools and some of them have been fortunate enough to secure scholarships from these institutions.

F

NG has been in business for five years now and we make our students understand the importance of having a five-year plan and also the need for them to come back after their studies and develop our country. We have a lot of discussion on nation building, family and the economic and social situation of the country and this helps to keep them focused.

We also organise tutorials for candidate that want to sit for IGCSE exams, because many Ivy League schools in the US have no problems accepting students who have excelled in this exams because they better understand the concepts and courses of study.

The five-year plan is about the career assessment of the students, so we normally have one-on-one discussions with them to make them understand the importance of setting targets for the next five years as it would keep them focused and not just going to America for the fun of it.

What is responsible for the increase in the quest for foreign education, especially C M Y K

•Mrs. Ukoh as thousands of Nigerians go to the US, Europe and even Ghana and Benin Republic to study?

The truth is that we haven’t invested enough into overall nation-building and there are a lot more students than can be absorbed into the school system, making most of them wanting to leave the country.

It is my hope that this trend changes soon because we need to go back to the way things were in the 1980s when Nigeria had quality primary, secondary and higher institutions. We need to revive that system to save our education sector because as parents, it is our responsibility to extend

that legacy to our children so as to reduce the number of Nigerians seeking foreign education.

More corporate organisations are into sponsorship of entertainment reality shows to the detriment of education.

What can be done to change this trend?

I have children between ages 17 and 20 and their generation is very different from mine and this is worsened with the advent of internet. Most Nigerian youths fail to realise that a good number of American entertainers that they aspire to be like are educated and have investments.

My children and I developed an education reality show that would operate just like the Nigerian Idols whereby the contestants would be put through some academic challenges and there would be eliminations and all that till we have the last man standing.

The truth is that we are still doing presentations to organisations to get them interested enough to sponsor the programme but it has been very difficult because they prefer to sponsor entertainment realities. They fail to realise that there are a lot of brilliant Nigerians who need this kind of platform that I want to offer to showcase their intelligence

because an educated country is a wealthy one, but there is little or nothing we can do till we get sponsors.

The bottom line is that we need to be very careful about what we expose our children to because they need to understand the importance of family and studying to be successful in life. Nigeria is a beautiful country that God has blessed with bountiful human and natural resources, and we need to celebrate our greatest resource – our children.

What can be done to improve our education curriculum and system?

I’ve always been interested in history and there is the need to add it in the curriculum at all levels because we need to go back to the process of mentoring and making it a community affair. There is the need to include all stakeholders in the process of reviving the education sector; there is the need to have mentors in place, include support programmes, have other facilities attached to the schools to make them an oasis to people in those communities that have the need to go to schools.

These are the type of schools we need in the 21st Century Nigeria and we can achieve this as one people and one nation.

Name change: It's not over yet, say UNILAG students Continues from page 27

duced an Attorney-General of the Federation.”

Ogbinaka added that the Ibadan zone of ASUU which comprises University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, Lagos State University and others, met and agreed that the name, UNILAG, must remain unchanged. “We

are waiting for the outcome of the case in court as ASUU and the school alumni have sued the Federal Government on this issue.

It will be recalled that the renaming of the institution sparked off a peaceful protest from students and lecturers on the first day and later degenerated into vio-

lence that led to a clash between students and the Nigeria Police Force.

Subsequently, to arrest the situation, UNILAG Senate suspended academic activities for two weeks and compelled students to return home. Moreover, at the expiration of the two weeks, a week was added.

BRIEFS Firm inspires students on new media opportunities N line with its commitment to empower the youths and help build sustainable communities, Coca-Cola Nigeria in collaboration with its bottling partners, Nigerian Bottling Company Limited and The Nation newspaper recently organised the 9th edition of the bi-annual CampusLife Writers Workshop on the theme The New Media: Responsibilities, Opportunities and Challenges.

The workshop had in attendance over 54 students from 40 universities and tertiary institutions across Nigeria. Facilitators included a distinguished attorney and President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, Mrs. Boma Ozobia; Online Editor of The Nation Newspaper, Lekan Otunfodurin, and Mr. Ehis Omoike, Packaging, Sales & Marketing Equipment Manager for CocaCola Nigeria and West Africa Franchises.

Speaking at the workshop, Lekan Otufodurin exposed the students to the many dimensions of the “new media” and how they can leverage it to expand the quality and impact of their writings and become successful new media entrepreneurs. “Once you know how to use the tools, the new media anchored on the internet is a gold mine offering you the opportunity to improve yourself and help build a better society,” he told the students.

I

Loral students advised on career choices HE students of Loral International Secondary School, Igbesa, Ogun State have been advised to be careful when choosing their life careers.

The Founder and Managing Director of the School, Chief Ral Nwosu gave this advice during this year’s Loral School ‘Humanities’ Week’ celebration.

According to him, it has become imperative for students to be well-guided when making career choices as any mistake in choosing a career could hinder intellectual and material growth of the person in future.

Nwosu, who was represented by the Director, Schools Affairs, Mr Crawford Ndukwe said activities such as this was introduced into the school’s curriculum as one of the measures by the school to ensure that students make correct and informed career choices. He stated that the programme allows students to showcase their talents and educate them on what every career requires.

T

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—35

C M Y K

36—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

NYSC holds passing out parade in UNICAL

By STANLEY UCHEGBU & OGAR EMMANUEL, UNICAL

EMBERS of the National Youth Service Corps(Batch B Division) that served in Cross River State, trooped out in large numbers at the Open Pavilion of the University of Calabar to parade themselves as corps members for the last time.

Present at the ceremony were the Deputy Governor of Cross River, Barr. Effiom Cobham, Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Mr. Patrick Ugbe, Special Adviser, Budget Monitoring and

M

C M Y K

Evaluation, Dr Peter Oti, the state Coordinator, NYSC, Engr.

Nkereke Ibangha, as well as members of the State NYSC Governing Board.

In his welcome address, the state coordinator heartily welcomed all the guests and corps members to the passing out ceremony. According to him, a total number of 1,922 corps members served the state diligently and efficiently for almost a year.

Forty-seven (47) corps members were sanctioned for various offences while one corps member died in active service as a result

of ill health.

According to hi: “The NYSC as an organisation, prides itself as an organisation that values discipline and if this batch of corps members have imbibed these virtues, coupled with the skills they might have acquired during the service year, then starting a business of their own, no matter how small, will be easier.”

He said that the NYSC is also “committed to complementing the efforts of government at all levels in a collective drive to create a generation of young educated Nigerians who can key into the var-

ious initiatives of this administration aimed at empowering them to become employers of labour and not just job seekers. He added that Nigeria with the highest youth population in the world, cannot afford to suffer with its abundant human and material resources.”

The Governor of Cross River State, Sen. Liyel Imoke who was represented by his Deputy, Barr.

Effiom Cobham advised the corps members to be patriotic and willing to carry the wealth of experience gathered so far to serve the country in a higher

platform. He also affirmed that government has put in place various avenues for soft loans that can be accessed by enterprising graduates.

The highlight of the ceremony was the award for meritorious service to three corps members, 13 members who distinguished themselves were honoured with the state governor’s merit award, while 13 others bagged the state Governing Board Chairman’s award, and another 100 corps members were given the state coordinator’s commendation.

Speaking after receiving the award as the best corps member in the state, Dr. Stanley Egeonu who served at Comprehensive Secondary School Odukpani, said he succeeded in giving free antenatal services to pregnant women, free surgery and de-worming of children and other health care services.

Vanguard, THURSDAY,JUNE 21, 2012 — 37 Edited by MCPHILIPS NWACHUKWU 08026350360 E-mail: chimeena@yahoo.com

Professor Julie Sanders, Chair in English Literature and Drama as well as Head of the School of English in the Faculty of Arts at Nottingham University in her published review, described our production as ‘a show that reworked, rethought and intervened in Shakespeare’s play in all kinds of exciting and memorable ways’.

Crowd winning performance

•A scene from the play

Yoruba Winter’s Tale at William Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

BY WOLE OGUNTOKUN

A

THIRTEEN-man cast and I just returned from performing the London showing of Shakespeare’s play, ‘The Winter’s Tale’, on a stage built in honour of the bard himself. Shakespeare’s Globe is a replica of the one William Shakespeare practised on as an actor and playwright, and it played host between late April and early June to 37 international touring companies from around the world including the Nigerian-based “Renegade Theatre”of which I am artistic director.

The play was staged twice at the globe, meeting near-frenzied responses from a crowd made up of Africans and Europeans and though it was in the Yoruba language (none of the 37 plays was in English) the audiences at both presentations showed their appreciation. The cast had to take a bow four times after the presentation on the final day, sent back on stage each time by the Globe’s resident stage managers, Becky and Adele, who stood backstage studying the audience’s moods through television monitors.

At the end of it all, the director of the festival, Tom Bird, came backstage to hug cast members, later describing the play as “an unforgettable coup” and a “mindblowing show”. The Artistic Di-

rector of Shakespeare’s Globe since 2006, Dominic Dromgoole, came backstage also, pumping hands enthusiastically with cast members. He told me a few times ‘You must be exceedingly proud of yourself’. I was.

At the reception organised for the cast by the Globe which went on till the early hours of the morning, Dominic described us to a jammed venue as having put fire in the belly of the play,

,

a play notorious for being one of Shakespeare’s most difficult and which has always been known to have a sad and wistful air about it, I decided to make the two Kings (Leontes and Polixenes), the Yoruba gods, ‘Sango’ and ‘Ogun’, and Hermione, wife of Leontes, ‘Oya’, the Yoruba goddess of the whirlwind.

I took a non-linear approach to the play, starting it in the middle instead and in the process re-

The production is a show that reworked, rethought and intervened in Shakespeare’s play in all kinds of exciting and memorable ways

and blood in its veins, making it unlike any production of The Winter’s Tale he had ever had the opportunity to see. Some audience members who had bought tickets for every play in the Cultural Olympiad (they were called Globe Olympians) told us of how highly placed they considered our production amongst all the shows they had seen. One said she had not seen an encore like ours in watching plays for twenty years at the Globe.

Sometime between May and June last year, I had commissioned the Oyo State-based Chief Tade Ipadeola to translate Shakespeare’s play into Yoruba but then came the problem of what to do with the translation. From

,

moving one of the most improbable stage directions ever written by Shakespeare, ‘Exit, pursued by a bear’. For one, there are no bears in Yoruba land and we settled to have armed bandits attack Antigonus (Agbomabiwon) the King’s messenger instead.

Unlike Shakespeare’s end and our commissioned translation that had Hermione come back to life and everyone as happy as they could be, I directed she should first come to life and then become a statue once more, seeing that in many of our stories, there are always ‘just deserts’. In this case, it would be Leontes (Sango) learning the true consequences of his unpardonable behaviour.

She described cast member Sunkanmi Adebayo who played Camillo (Adeagbo) as having put up a ‘crowd-winning performance’, Motunrayo Orobiyi as singing ‘glorious framing songs’, and wrote that the interpretation of ‘Autolycus’ (Ikoko), “in a gender-bending, audience-challenging performance by Anike Alli-Hakeem was a brilliant interpretation” According to her, ‘the Globe danced, sang and answered back quite willingly on Friday night leaving the audience with an experience that stayed as they headed for a bus back along Thameside...leaving the audience with energy and with a different kind of choreography in their bodies.’ In the UK’s Guardian Newspaper of Wednesday, May 30, Imogen Tilden’s review wrote that ‘despite a startling twist, the Nigerian production of Shakespeare’s late romance translates it into something rich and strange, while keeping its magical essence at its heart’. According to her, ‘Leontes (Olawale Adebayo) is a powerful presence and hugely impressive as a King

while Hermione (Kehinde Bankole) shines with inner and outer beauty; so winning are her smiles, so generous her attentions to Polixenes, that you can almost sympathise with Leontes’ jealous fantasies’. She considered Hermione coming back to life and then turning back to a statue as ‘the most dazzling theatrical coup of the play’ Mark Hudson, multiple-award winning writer and journalist, described the play on www.theartsdesk.com as being about ‘cultural discovery for nonYoruba speakers, paralleled by trying to keep up with the action’ and went on to say ‘it was a dynamic interpretation that blurred the boundaries of drama, music and dance.’ From all over the world, there have been messages of congratulations. In Lagos on Sunday, May 20, just before we departed for London, we had put up the show to work out its kinks in collaboration with the British Council and the Muson Centre and had been pleased at how proud the audience was of us and what we would be showing to the world.

On the closing night in London, the cast and I were congratulated by everyone we met at the reception and we all were giddy with the exhilaration of having put up a greatly appreciated show. Undergraduate and Postgraduate Nigerian students of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) told us of how proud they were, and up and down the venue, theatre lovers celebrated us and we revelled in it.

Lyrical reverberations from the Diaspora

BY EDO ODUME

A

N anthology of poetry, Reverberations Abroad, a 107 page book with a lovely gloss paper-back recently published by Authorhouse, United States of America, is a collection of poems which echoes the voices of some Africans who live and work outside the continent.

Annotated by Dr. Chimdi Maduagwu, senior lecturer in the Department of English, University of Lagos, whose earlier works include Amnesty to Garbage, collection of poetry, the recent effort is an attempt to document through the vehicle of poetry, Diaspora experiences from blacks in the America.

Maduagwu said of the publication: “The experience of putting together this anthology was challenging, but all the same it was, however, very interesting getting responses from these Africans who live and work abroad. The fact that he sought to use this book as an experiment that will open up a more elaborate venture into the sensibilities of African

Anthology of Poetry Reverberations Abroad, By Chimdi Maduagwu, Authorhouse, United States of America,PP. 107

intellectuals, outside Africa.”

In addition to documenting the “sundry temperament in the poetic art” of these relatively unknown African poets, the editor also attempts to investigate how Africans have responded to the continued Western influence and their intellectual and economic dominance of the world Continues on page 38

38—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Once upon story time with National Troupe Rebranding Nigeria as an artiste’s assignment

BY MCPHILIPS NWACHUKWU

I

N every sense, it was another interesting ses sion of talent hunt as school pupils drawn from about 50 schools, last week gathered at the Cinema Hall 2 of the National Theatre for the 2012, National Troupe of Nigeria for the troupe’s third edition of story telling competition.

As a tradition, story telling is part of the African life. In traditional African society, stories are told to children not only as an essential way of entertainment, but more importantly as a didactic tool through which mores, values and virtues of society are inculcated in the children.

However, with the advent of technology and the new form of social media like television, facebook, video games and video drama, this critical platform of traditional social and cultural enrichment has been re-invented to a very surprisingly strange form.

Uniquely, the African story telling tradition is rich with all the intellectual and literary aesthetic standards. It encompasses drama, mime, costume, poetry and of course, tale narratives. It represents one huge gamut of a sizzling literary pot pourri.

Based on the realization of the potentials and richness of the African tale tradition, the Management of the National Troupe of Nigeria, NTN, introduced the dramatized school story telling competition under the auspices of Children’s Creative Station.

Overseen by the Troupe’s di-

N

The story telling children in action rector of drama, Ms Josephine Igberaese, the programme according to the Artistic Director of the Troupe, Martin Adaji, is a unique part of Nigerian culture and tradition that is sadly fading away. He expressed sadness that African children instead of being exposed to the rich and educationally benefiting forms of African tales, they are rather being spoon fed on daily basis with foreign values encapsulated through the western media platforms.

Through the programme, the school pupils are exposed to the richness of the tradition and also introduced to the wealth of experiences and benefits inherent in the vocation of theatre.

They are also introduced to elements of scripting, stage, projection and costuming. The schools, according to the programmer’s compere, Shuaibu Hussein, are given free hand to

choose a story of their own, interpret, dramatise and choreograph it for the competition.

And what comes out at the end of the day was richly vast dramatization of the country’s heterogeneous but unifying cultures. Through the bales, the pupils are able to project the intensely captivating story, customs and values of different strata of Nigerian society.

At the end of the competition, Kings College Lagos emerged the over all winner of the competition among the secondary school pupils, while Marywood Girls College clinched second position. Our Lady of Apostle, third and Golden Bells fourth position. In the primary category. Tender Star School, Omole took fourth position, Handmaid International Catholic school, third position and Liham schools, Yaba, second position.

Lyrical reverberations from the Diaspora Continues from page 37

in general and in Africa in particular.

In his Editor’s note he writes: “I have deliberately decided to shift towards the writers who have not made obvious impact in the public literary arena but who have great creative talents. It is also my considered opinion that the West has continuous influence on Africans, and at each period of human development, the West has renewed her intellectual and economic dominance of the world. The question is how is Africa responding to this?...”

T

here are a total of nine poets whose works are explored in this anthology, Reverberations Abroad, which the author says talks about all immigrants from the different regions of Africa and America except for two of them Nigerian-born, Cyril Obi and Chinwe Azubike, who he says live and work in Europe.

Some other contributors include the Kenyan-born research analyst, Rhoda Gathoga, who

now resides and works in Philadelphia, USA; Jane Musoke-Nteyafas, the daughter of Ugandan diplomat parents living and working in Toronto, Canada, who the author describes as a prolific writer and a performer; Alfred Kisubi, a comember of the Executive Working Committee of the U.S - Africa Literary Foundation, - all from East Africa.

Others are FannyTamagnon, Republic of Benin-born and Canada-based young African female poet whom the author says write with emotional intensity; Jekwu Ikeme, Nigerian-born Environmental chemist /Economist and Public affairs commentator turned poet whose writings the author describes as tight and compact, which he also says explodes like a dynamite in the minds of readers; Dipo Kalejaiye, a Nigerian-born Professor of English, Poet, Playwright and Theatre Director who has won several awards in the United States of America for his

publications.

Maduagwu says that although none of these writers have yet become towering in the chosen vocation of poetry, but that all of them have had poems and other forms of writings published in one form of media or other. He acknowledges and praises their diverse and versatile interests when he says, “their poems are rich in personal and collective experiences and artistic devices.

While some are urbane, some still exhume the rural qualities of African life and yet others achieve a blend of both the urban and the rural”.

IGERIA can be a beautiful haven if we don’t allow her oil wells to soil her soul. She needs the creativity and the magical touch of the mystery of Arts. The nation is good but it needs to allow the Arts and entertainment to make her beautiful. We need to rebrand her but we need the clean artistic touch on her education, morals, environment and culture to make her beautiful.

Only the Arts and culture can feed Entertainment and possess the information with the ‘say’ to rebrand, restructure the Entertainment Industry and can revamp, to right out the wrongs, correct the mistakes and misunderstanding and socially redirect the nation off the woods of decadence in reminding us to live and let live so we can allow time to admire and reconcile with the Creator and nature.

The Arts Ministry needs to restructure and ask for improvement in its budget allocation to be able to meet the needs of today’s Arts sophistication, commission the sculptors to make indelible marks on the streets and walls of our time and to carve history for our tomorrow, support the painters to capture the splendor of our time and help our architect to identify our country. Our ambassadors all over the world should invite and encourage Art performers, dancers, actors, story tellers, singers, poets to educate, entertain and inform the world about Nigeria.

The Artistes can sell a new Nigeria to the world; work with a government that appreciates the Arts. Lagos deserves its leadership in performing Arts and requires the Federal Government support to build Nnamdi Azikwe Street into a Boulevard of Entertainment centres, the likes of New York’s Broadway. All the island of Ibeshe, Ibasa, Snake Island, Imoren, Kuramo and Badagry Beach Stretch, Tarkwa Bay and many more can be entertainment venues of course with improved

,

We need to preserve our culture by keeping our creativity and style within our cultural norms

Book launch/exhibition

T

waterways. Fishery will grow as an industry around the Lagos seaport which will also enhance the night beauty and night life of Lagos.

The hall mark of a people remains their ‘culture' and tradition. The Cultural Policy of Nigeria introduced culture as the totality of the way of life evolved by a people in their attempts to meet the challenge of living in their environment which gives order and meaning to their social, political, economic, aesthetic, religion norms and modes of organization thus distinguishing a people from their neighbors.

Now, where is national effort to distinguish Nigeria from American, Japan or Australia? We need to preserve our culture by keeping our creativity and style within our cultural norms.

Artistes, therefore, need the materials to support their creativity, development and sophistication to meet the demands of the world’s Art

HE public presentation and launching of Sunmi SmartCole’s new book titled Sunmi’s Lens - A Medium Between Man And Nature is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 23, 2012 at the Harbour Points events centre, Wilmot Point Road, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The event which is expected to kick off by 2.00 pm prompt will also feature a photographic exhibition of the works of the quintessential photographer spanning over 36 years.

,

market. The national budget allocation should therefore, consider the artistes’ plight in their effort to meet their contemporaries the world over.

The Theatre is an integral aspect of the nation. For the multifarious services it renders or contributes, if could be called the “National Building Service Commission”. It is not an uprising of an illegal constituted body of cranks and social ‘dropouts’, but normal people with the peculiar calling with mental and spiritual endowment and ‘called’ to take up the artistic service as their assignment to the nation.

The “Lord Creator ” thereby appoints the “Man creative and procreative”.

The Nigerian Artiste needs encouragement so as to be able to meet the steam and vibration in his creativity to make for fresh standards that would obliterate the country’s ills and introduce the socio-cultural norms acceptable and recommendable for our new social climate. Violent and aggressive efforts have been made by Artistes to retain the National theatre as the main channel of showcasing the works of Art and for interacting with the masses but all to no avail.

To be continued

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—39

dayobenson@yahoo.com I N S I D E

Courts refusal to grant adjournment not denial of fair hearing (2)

Counsel Corner

— Pg 40

The Supreme Court doctrine in the interpretation and construction of statutes (3)

— Pg 41

— Pg 42

Why Nigerians traffickers are still in foreign jails — NDLEA

By BARTHOLOMEW MADUKWE Mr. Femi Oloruntoba is the Director of Prosecution and Legal services of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). His several legal battles in the agency since 1995 as the Assistant Chief Legal Officer, no doubt, contributed to his upliftment to the position of Acting Director in 2001.

Oloruntoba, who has 29 years experience in the Legal Profession later became the Substantive Director of legal services of the agency.

In this interview, he spoke on why some Nigerian Drug traffickers are still languishing in foreign jails, the agency’s efforts in tackling the menace and foreign collaborations from other countries. Excerpts.

Travelling distance So the chances are that those persons who are in prisons in Brazil, they have traveled to Brazil to purchase cocaine, to be brought to Nigeria or any West Africa countries and in the process they were arrested at the Airport on their way coming. That is why it is possible.

Don’t forget that from Lagos, just travel across the Atlantic before you know it you are already in Sao Paulo and that is Brazil. So when you look at the travelling distance also and now most people go through South Africa Airline, from there they travel to Brazil all in a bid to transit cocaine into Africa and eventually to Europe and America.

One Fausat Abosede 72, said she was arrested by NDLEA at the airport when hard drugs were discovered in a bag given to her for delivery to a certain Pastor, while returning from abroad where she has gone for treatment. In such a case, what does NDLEA do to track down the baron?

First and foremost, I have heard that kind of story more than a hundred times on this table. It is a cock and bull story! If you are at the Airport travelling and you see a person you don’t know or you don’t know very well, a person you

Mr. Femi Oloruntoba.... We are trying to cooperate with Brazil to ensure that any person who is going to Brazil will take an NDLEA clearance. cannot pin down when it becomes necessary, now giving you a bag to give somebody in Nigeria, does common sense not tell you that you will refuse such an offer? I don’t believe her story.

And then talking about what NDLEA is doing to arrest people like the mentioned Pastor, the beginning and end of all this thing is in Brazil. So our jurisdiction does not extend to offences that are committed in Brazil. We cannot go to Brazil to arrest the person who

,

457 Nigerians in Brazilian jails for drug trafficking offences, what is your reaction to that?

My reaction to it is that it has every chance to be true, though the statistics is not available to me as I speak to you.

This is why it is possible; Brazil and the surrounding countries are drug source countries for cocaine. That is where cocaine is grown and produced.

Through MoU to bring those 457 Nigerians in various Brazil jails to come to Nigeria and continue their jail terms

,

gave Abosede the bag..

What is the agency doing in order to enlighten people on the dangers and other effects of drug trafficking?

The NDLEA is made up of three major departments: Investigation, we call it Directorate of Operations and General Investigation. Another one is the supply reduction, and then we have what is called the demand reduction, Directorate of Drug Demand Reduction.

The third one is the is the prosecution.

Now let us go back to your question, there is a whole directorate in charge of enlightenment and education. And that

directorate also has units in all the thirtysix states of the federation and with the inclusion of Abuja it becomes thirtyseven states.

In each of the states that make up Nigeria, there is enlightenment programme at one point or the other going on about the ill effects of drugs.

Two, we try to go to schools and set up what we call “Drug Abuse Club” or “Drug Free Club”. At that level, the students also are advocates for NDLEA, speaking to themselves why they should become drug free.

Of recent also, the issue of drug is being developed to a curricular level whereby it will be taught to both the primary and the secondary school. This is so that at the earliest opportunity the children will be aware of the ineffect of drugs, so they don’t need even get near it at all. It is better never to get near it than to be removed from it.

So NDLEA has a very robust programme but most often we are armstrong by fund in carrying out all the lofty programme that we have set to carry out. Don’t forget that it is a very capital intensive programme where we go out to organize talks, debates, seminar, symposia, talk show, advertisement to the papers, advertisement on the media both print and electronic. It is very cost demanding. So if you are not seeing enough we are doing it in accordance to the fund that is available to us.

Once we have more funds, we will be able to expand. This is why we are actually looking for sponsors, people who can help us to bring fund for the

purpose of enlightening the public on the ineffect of drug trafficking.

The United States Congressional staff members, Gregory Simpkins and Algne Sajery, led by the United States ConsulGeneral, Mr. Joseph Stafford, on a visit to NDLEA’s Director General had said the US was collaborating with Nigeria in dislodging drug cartels operating in the African continent and the areas of cooperation being considered include training, legal framework, exchange of intelligence and logistics. Can you shed more light on that?

They have been partnering with NDLEA in all those areas. But if you look at all of these, they don’t translate to fund. An example is that on training, I went to the United States at their own expense. They did not give the money to us but they expended money on me. On logistics, the scanners at the airport was provided by the United States. I remember that at a time they bought Continues on page 40

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

40—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Law Report

Courts refusal to grant adjournment not denial of fair hearing (2) Continues from last week N appellate court will not interfere with the exercise of discretion by a lower/trial cotirt simply because if faced with a similar application, it would have exercised the discretion differently. However, it may do so in special circumstances such as where the discretion was exercised on wrong or inadequate weight was given to relevant considerations or where the court acted under misapprehension of fact or that the exercise was tainted with some irregularities and in all other cases, where it is in the interest of Justice to so interfere.

In the instant case, the plaintiff’s application for adjournment did not overreach the defendant, the trial court wrongly exercised its discretion to refuse the application and its decision was set aside on appeal. [Mobil Oil (Nig.) Ltd v.

A

AUGUSTINE I. ODIGWE V JUDICIAL SERVICE COMMISSION, DELTA STATE COURTOF APPEAL (BENIN DIVISION) AMIRU SANUSI JCA (Presided and Read the Lead Judgment) GEORGE OLADEINDE SHOREMI JCA OYEBISI FOLAYEMI OMOLEYE JCA Federal Board of Inland Revenue (1977) 3 SC 97; v.

A.N.N. Ltd (1992) 6 NWLR (Pt. 247) 319; v. Yola Local Government (2003) 1 NWLR (Pt. 802) 487; (1964) 1 All NLR 102; John v. Blakk (1998) 6 NWLR (Pt. 555) 524 referred to] [P. 1937, paras. A-F].

Duty of court to afford equal opportunities to parties to present their case, conditions that presupposes existence of and determinant of breach of fair hearing, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,

1999, section 36 (1) consideredBy the provisions of section 36 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 199, courts of tribunals are enjoined to give equal opportunity to parties to present their case in court, In determining whether such opportunity of being heard was given, the following conditions must be inherent in the conduct of the case: (a) Both parties must be heard on all material issues before the court determines or pronounces on them;

(b) The court must give equal treatment opportunity and consideration to both parties; (c) The proceedings/trial shall be held in public and all concerned shall have access to and be informed of the place of public hearing; (d) That having regards to all circumstances in every material decision in the case, justice must not be done but be manifestly seen to have been done for instance, parties should be given chance to cross-examine witnesses called by the adverse party or to call witnesses of their choice and make submissions to court before the case is determined.

In order to determined whether the principle of fair hearing has been breached, the crucial point to consider is not whether any injustice was done to any of the parties due to want of hearing but whether the

party or parties was afforded opportunity to be heard. In the instar.it case, the refusal of the trial court to grant an adjoa.rnment was an exercise of its discretion and did not am ount to breach of fair hearing.

[Awuse v. Odili (2005) All FWLR (Pt. 253) 720, (2005) 16 NWLR (Pt. 952) 416;Durode v.

Slate (2000) 15 NWLR (Pt. 691) 467;J.C.C. Inter Ltd v. N.GI. Ltd (2002) 4 WRN 91; v. CBN (1989) 1 NWLR (Pt. 98) 419;Adigun v. AttorneyGeneral, Oyo State (1987) 1 NWLR (Pt. 53) 678; Deduwa v.

Okorodudu (1976) 9-10 SC 329;Udo-Akagha v. Paico Ltd (1993) 4 NWLR (Pt. 288) 434;Saleh v. Monguno (2002) FWLR (Pt. 87) 671, (2003) 1 NWLR (Pt. 801) 221 referred to] [P. 1939, paras. B - G] Per SANUSI JCA [Pp. 1939 1940, paras. G - D].

To be continued

Why Nigerians traffickers are still in foreign jails — NDLEA Continues from page 39 vehicles for operations usage at the airport area. Talking about intelligence, of course we have been sharing intelligence and intelligence has been reciprocal. What they mean by intelligence is that if they have information that maybe somebody has taken drugs to America and they have been able to pin him or her down and the person has mentioned somebody here in Nigeria.

Then they will revert back to us and see how we can arrest that person who is either the baron or an accomplice.

Getting collaboration And such is vice versa and we reciprocate. We have been getting collaboration in all these areas from the United States.

Against the backdrop of 457 Nigerians lavishing in various prisons in Brazil, what is NDLEA doing to curb the increase of such menace?

One of the things NDLEA is doing is that, there is an arrangement whereby the agency usually go into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or an agreement with drug source countries whereby anybody who wants to travel to such countries will come to NDLEA for vetting before a visa is issued to such a person. For a long time such an arrangement did not exist between Nigeria and Brazil. I think it is even of recent that we are working more closely. So on occasions, persons who want to go to Brazil are referred to NDLEA for vetting but that was a very recent development.

If you find out the details of those who are in Brazilian jails now, it is likely that they have been there for long and not that they travelled recently. Or if they travelled recently, they did not travel through Nigeria.

Don’t forget that there are so many Nigerians in the West Africa sub region. They are in Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Gambia and other countries. And if such Nigerians travel through those places, of course they will still be regarded as Nigerians, which does not stop their nationality. And you know with the free movement of persons within the Ecowas, if you see somebody who is passing through Seme/Idi Iroko going to Benue Republic, you may be surprise that he or she is going there to fly to another country.

The bottom line or the summary is that gradually we are trying to cooperate with

Mr. Femi Oloruntoba.... during the period of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, we entered into an agreement with Thailand

Brazil to ensure that any person who is going to Brazil will take an NDLEA clearance and once we clear the person that one will also make us to know those who actually do not have anything to do in Brazil but who are going there for the purpose of drug trafficking.

This type of cooperation has

worked between NDLEA and many other countries, like Thailand and Pakistan.

What is the possibility of having those 457 Nigerians in various Brazil jails be brought to Nigeria in order for them to continue their jail term in Nigeria, instead of Brazil?

For now, to the best of my knowledge, there is no Brazilian that is in Nigeria jail for drug related offences. So if you talk of 457 Nigerians in Brazil jails and no Brazilian in Nigeria jails for drug trafficking.

It is not impossible because there is what is called transfer of convicts agreement, which two countries can enter into. For example, for about four or five years ago, we have that arrangement with Thailand.

There were over 600 Nigerians in Thailand jails for drug related offences. But during the period of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, we

entered into an agreement with Thailand, whereby we were systematically bringing them to come and complete their jail term in Nigeria. And I remember that over 500 Nigerians were brought in such circumstance.

That means that it is possible, through MoU to bring those 457 Nigerians in various Brazil jails to come to Nigeria and continue their jail terms. We have to reach that understanding and agreement first with the Brazilian government.

What will be your advice to drug traffickers?

They should quit the business. It is a business that does not pay, it is a business that is not good and it is a business that will ultimately destroy them. The reason is that when they don’t go to jail, anyhow, even the riches they have acquired they will loose.

C M Y K

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—41

Vanguard Law In Pix NAILS holds course for Legal Officers

What if woman is a rapist?

Nigerian Institute of Advance Legal Studies, NIALS, recently organised a three-day course for Government Legal Advisers and Law Officers at the University of Lagos, campus of the Institute in Lagos. Photos by INNOCENT ANABA

I read your publication, May 31, 2012 Law and Human Right’s column on rape. What about women that forcefully have sex with minors and men, is this not rape?

Lawrence, J.Jnr. Bomadi, Delta State.

O

F course there are instances when few women gang up to rape a man for reasons best known to them. I say few women because it may be inconceivable for a woman to rape a man except in some exceptional circumstances. e.g. it is possible for female adult to rape a minor or physically incapacitated male.

However, the law does not contemplate that a woman has capacity to commit rape. That is why the law uses phrases like canal knowledge and penetration of female vagina etc. Indeed, one of the essential ingredients to prove rape is slightest penetration of the female organ. This is an act which only a man can perform. Hence Section 357 of the Criminal Code Laws of the Federation defines rape thus “any person who has unlawful canal knowledge of a woman or girl without her consent or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or any means of threat or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of harm or by means of false or fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act, or, in the case of married woman impersonating her husband is guilty of an offence which is called rape.’’

These provisions are similar to Sections 258 and Section 259 of Lagos State Criminal Code which provide that: S. 258 “(1) Any man who has unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman or girl, without her consent, is guilty of the offence of rape and liable to imprisonment for life.

(2) A woman or girl does not consent to sexual intercourse if she submits to the act by reason of force, impersonation, threat or intimidation of any kind, fear of harm or false or fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act.

(3) Sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who are married is not unlawful.

(4) Sexual intercourse is complete on the slightest penetration of the vagina.

S. 259- Any person who penetrates sexually the anus, vagina, mouth or any other opening in the body of another person with a part of his body or anything else, without the consent of the person is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for life.

Perhaps law makers at states and federal levels need to have a fresh look at the Criminal Codes especially on this issue.

MTN and minimum wage

L-R: Prof Epiphany Azinge, SAN, Director General, NIALS and Prof Paul Idornigie.

L-R: NIALS Librarian, Mrs Ufuoma Lamikara and Chief Charles Uwensuyi-Edosomwan, SAN, former Attorney General, Edo State.

L-R: Mr James Bathnna, NIALS’s Secretaty and Prof.

Bolaji Owasanoye, Institute's Director of Study.

L-R: Mr Anegbe Asemokhi and Prof Lanre Fagbohun.

L-R: Mr Aminu Bello and Mr Lawrence Paul.

L-R: Mr Dare Funsho, Mrs Bettry Ugwueze and Mr Agbonifo Osamende.

L-R: Mr Soala Warmate and Mr Sodeiye Jamabo.

L-R: Mrs Chiamaka Onyimba and Mrs Nnena UcheEboh.

L-R" Chidi Okafor and Orhieogbene Oddiri.

L-R: Mr Okay Agu and Mrs Sena Jerry-Imahiage.

NBA reader asked a question on why MTN paid N20,000 minimum wage last year and cut it down to N12,000 this year. My phone had memory failure and I was unable to retrieve the SMS after the phone was repaired.

I urge that reader to re-send the SMS so that I can respond to it appropriately.

You can send your questions to dayobenson@yahoo.com or 08056180119 (text only) C M Y K

42 —VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

The Supreme Court doctrine in the interpretation and construction of statutes (3) Continues from last week

BY PROF LAWRENCE ATSEGBUA HE petitioner was the candidate put up by the Unity Party of Nigeria, while the respondent was the candidate put up by the National Party of Nigeria. There were three other candidates for the election of three other political parties.

The result of the election showed that the first respondent scored the highest number of votes, after all the votes cast throughout the election had been added up, while the ;petitioner scored the next highest. The first respondent scored at least 25% of the total votes cast in each of twelve of the nineteen States and 19.94% of the votes cast in the whole of the nineteenth State, i.e. Kano State.

The petitioner scored at least 25% of the total votes cast in six of the nineteen States. It was on the basis of the aforesaid score by the first respondent that the third respondent who was the returning officer for the Presidential election, declared the first respondent duly elected at the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The petitioner was dissatisfied with this declaration and filed a petition at the Electoral Tribunal.

T

Complaint of the petitioner The main complaint of the petitioner was that “The 1st respondent was at the time of the election, as he has not satisfied section 34A subsection (1) (c) (ii) of the electoral Decree, 1977”.

The Tribunal’s main task was the interpretation of the provision of section 34A (1) (c) (ii) of the Electoral Decree, 1977 which provides: 34A (1) A candidate for an election to the office of President shall be deemed to have been duly elected to such office where (c) There being more than two candidates – (ii) He has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-third of all the States in the Federation.

The petitioner argued that the words, “not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the States of the Federation used in section 34A (c) (ii) meant that two-third of 19 States was 13 and not 12 2/3 States as contended by counsel to the first respondent.

The Tribunal held that “two-thirds of the States of the Federation” in section 34A (1) (c) (ii) meant “twelve two-thirds State”. On an appeal to the Supreme Court it was held (Eso, JSC dissenting).

(1) If the number thirteen which is the number nearest to two-third of a State had been intended, the Federal Military Government would have said so in clear terms. As between thirteen States and twelve two-third States, considering all the circumstances, appears to be the intention of the Federal Military Government in the context of sub paragraph (ii) of sub-section (1) (c) of section 34A of the Electoral Decree, 1977.

(2) It is fallacious to talk of fractionalization of the physical land area of a State when the operative words of section 34A (1) (c) (ii) relate

undoubtedly to the votes cast by the voters in the State at the election. It is also fallacious to talk of scaling down the votes cast for the 1st respondent in Kano State by one third. That argument overlooks the clear and unambiguous words of section 34A (1) (c) (ii) which provides first for ascertaining the total number of votes cast for the 1st respondent by the voters of Kano State before comparing this figure obtained thereby with two thirds of all the votes cast in Kano in order to determine whether the votes received by him are not less than one-quarters of two-thirds of the votes cast in Kano State (3) The 3rd respondent’s interpretation of what constitute twothird of nineteen States, i.e. 12 2/3 is not in error. The duty of the court is to interpret the words that the legislature

•CJN, Dahiru Musdapher has used; those words may be ambiguous, but, even if they are, the power and duty of the court to travel

outside them on a voyage of discovery are strictly limited. Fatayi-Williams, CJN in delivering the judgment of the court said. Considering the words used in the subsection again, we are satisfied that they are plain enough and unambiguous. Hence to apply them as provided by the legislature will not in our view, create any absurdity.

The same Fatayi-Williams said that this case must not serve as precedent to like cases. This statement is costly.

Although an obiter dictum, it gives the impression that the case was a political one. Awolowo v. Shagari was again cited with approval in Oviawe v. Integrated Rubber Products, where Mohammed, JSC reading the lead judgment said”.

To be continued

Amazon domination of Lagos Judiciary throws up sibblings control

BY HUGO ODIOGOR WENTY years after her father’s tenure as a chief judge of Lagos State, Mrs. Ayotunde Philips mounted the pinnacle of judiciary of the state referred to as the Centre of Excellence as the 14th Chief Judge in one of the most remarkable manner.

Philips, 63 took over as the 14th CJ following the retirement of Justice Inumidun Akande and will be the second woman to mount the stage in a relay that will see three women sitting in that office in the nearest future. But that is not the story. The new Chief Judge will administer the judiciary with her blood sister Justice Olufumilayo Olajumoke Atilade , who is her deputy and the Head Judge and next in line to the throne. and became the Acting Chief Judge of Lagos State on June 10, 2012, The story is that the siblings “rivalry” may have ended or may have began on another level as the two will now rely on each other for support, encouragement, advice, etc.

T

Obey my command But the new C.J was not mincing words when she thrilled the crowd of eminent persons at Bero Hall, the venue of the event, by reminding her younger sister “That from now to the next two years, I am your boss, I will not be entertaining arguments from you any more, I will give orders and you will obey them. The hall erupted into hilarious laughter at the joyful turn of events that two sisters of the same parents are the first and second in command in Lagos State judiciary.

Ayotunde was born in London while her father was studying law in the United Kingdom. She spent the first ten years of her life in London before she returned with her parents to Nigeria. She completed her primary school and proceeded to Queens College, Lagos, where she obtained her School Certificate and higher School Certificate.

From Bilingua secretary to the legal

profession Her initial preference was to be a bilingual secretary, a preference which she secretly confided to her mother, sensing the danger that lie ahead, her mother counseled her to perish the thought because it will enrage her father who has plans for her to study law. This set the stage for her going to the University of Lagos to study law.

This was to mark her odyssey into the legal profession. On her graduation in 1973, Ayotunde proceeded to Enugu in the then East Central State for her mandatory one year National Youth Service programme after which she worked briefly with a private law firm and joined Lagos State Property Development Corporation (LSDPC) and worked with the corporation for 10 years.

She transferred her service to Lagos State Judiciary and the rest is history.

Married to the Philips family, Ayotunde is blessed with children and has a rare opportunity to work with somebody who understands her perfectly and will share her vision and passion to end bickering among judges and members of the bar especially those who use the media to criticise judicial decisions.

ICT Buff Mrs. Ayotunde Adeleye Philips did not waste time in outlining her vision to computerise the Lagos State judiciary by making it ICT compliant. Her love for information technology was clearly demonstrated as she read her speech from her iPAD. She told the distinguished audience that the reforms in the judiciary will continue at a faster pace as she has limited time to serve.

She pledged to give primus attention to the welfare of staff in the Lagos State Judiciary, accelerate the pace of work to ensure speedy and efficient delivery of service in Lagos State Judiciary and decongestion of the prisons through the use of non custodian sentences for certain offences.

It was an occasion for the old girls of Queens College to show solidarity with one of their own as they sang the college song. The event attracted the eminent personalities in Lagos and federal judiciary service.

•Mrs. Ayotunde Philips Fashola’s gaffe The event was not without an executive gaffe from Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola who refered to judges as your “worship,” when he meant your “Lordship,” but he quickly corrected himself by telling them that if you remember thatI have left the practice for over 14 years, then you will pardon the slip, but he was swift to add, make no mistake about it, my law is sharp.

2012 NBA ElectionEgbe Amofin meets on Saturday THE Egbe Amofin, the south-west body of legal practitioners is expected to meet this Saturday in Ibadan, Oyo State capital to take decisions on the forthcoming national election of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA. The meeting scheduled to take place at the NBA Ibadan branch Bar Centre will also deliberate on other issues affecting the association.

In a statement by the secretary of the association, Mr. Ranti Ajeleti, the meeting will be held under the chairmanship of Chief Bamidele Aiku(SAN).

Other prominent lawyers expected at the meeting are the former President of NBA, Chief Wole Olanipekun(SAN), governorship aspirant for Ondo state governorship election and one of Olanipekun’s successors, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu(SAN) and former First VicePresident of NBA, Mrs. Funke Adekoya(SAN) among others.

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—43

Eat shrimps and watch your health risks shrink I

LOVE seafood - especially shrimps!

Though small, shrimps are anything but small in their nutrient density. An excellent source of selenium, the shrimp is low in fat and a dense source of lowcalorie protein.

Just 112g of shrimps supplies 23.7 grams of protein which is about 47.4 percent of the daily value for protein and less than a gram of fat! For a mere 28kcals, the shrimp is sure loaded with protein.

Many people are confused about the fat and cholesterol content of shrimp while some people have simply avoided eating shrimps precisely because of its high

eatrightconsult@yahoo.com 08091276796

with Funke Oshifuye do not have to avoid eating shrimps.

Shrimp are also a good source of cardioprotective omega-3 fatty acids, noted for their anti-inflammatory effects and ability to prevent the formation of blood clots.

Studies have shown that individuals whose diets provide greater amounts of

omega-3 fats have lower blood pressure than those who consume less. Omega-3 fats have also been found to greatly reduce risk of colorectal cancer.

High in selenium, you cannot overemphasize the importance of the shrimp Just a 100g of shrimps provides about 64.2 47.4 percent of the daily value for this trace mineral.

Selenium has been shown to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells and induce DNA repair and synthesis in damaged cells. This trace mineral has also been shown to induce the self-destruct sequence the body uses to eliminate worn out or abnormal cells. Also, selenium is incorporated at the active site of many proteins, including glutathione

peroxidase, which is particularly important for cancer protection.

It is worthy to note that shrimp contain purines which are naturally-occurring substances found in plants, animals, and humans. When purines break down, they form uric acid and in effect excess accumulation of purines in the body can lead to excess accumulation of uric acid.

Individuals with gout or kidney stones which are formed from uric acid may want to limit or avoid intake of shrimps.

Take time to boil your shrimps well as boiling may lower the chances of allergic response. The shrimp is also a very good source of vitamin B12, iron, phosphorus, niacin, zinc, copper and magnesium.

ACPN tasks FG on drug distribution guidelines RKED by the chaotic drug distribution in Nigeria, community pharmacists in the country have tasked the Federal Government to speedily implement the nation’s drug distribution guidelines towards repositioning confidence in the pharmaceutical sector.

Speaking in Lagos on the 2012 Annual conference tagged “Health Sector Goals in Nigeria: The Role of the Community Pharmacist”, which opened in Port Harcourt yesterday, National Chairman of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN, Mrs. Ejiro Oyovwin-Foyibo, lamented the nation’s drug distribution system saying that medicine in Nigeria has become an article of trade.

She said drug distribution in Nigeria is so bad that drugs are sold in buses, shops, malls, road side, open market, etc without unguarded control by health authorities.

I

cholesterol content. Like I said earlier, shrimps are very low in total fat, yet it has high cholesterol content, about 200 milligrams in 12 large boiled shrimps. But interestingly, the good news is that while shrimps can raise LDL levels (bad cholesterol), it also raises the HDL levels (good cholesterol) by a higher amount! In addition it also lowers the levels of triglycerides in the blood. So you simply

While this trend not only expose Nigerians to counterfeit medicines, Foyibo tasked Nigerians to purchase drugs from registered pharmacies with the emblem of the “RX” sign as is the case in most developed nations.

“The country’s pharmaceutical industry is today battling with the ills of counterfeit medicines which had done incalculable damage to the health of Nigerians and the nation’s economy.

“The yet to be implemented drug distribution guidelines stipulate that drugs in the country are sold at mega drug distribution companies and State drug distribution companies for easy tracking and to get rid of fake drugs in the system. This is why the National Drug Distribution Guidelines by the Federal Government if implemented will augur well for the practice of pharmacy profession and ensure safety to the gen-

eral public who consume such drugs.

“In South Africa, drugs get into two companies for drug distribution through licenced channels to the public. This practice discourages sale of essential drugs in addressing hypertension, diabetes, etc.”

Continuing, Foyibo who pointed out that the importance of vaccination cannot be over emphasised announced that pharmacists are taking active role in immunisation by way of advocating and stocking vaccines in community pharmacies known as “Neighbourhood Vaccine Access Point.”

“ACPN collaborated with GlaxoSmithKline to initiate a scheme whereby participating pharmacies across the country are provided with infrastructures for vaccine cold storage for ease of purchase by hospitals and clinics. oyibo concluded.

COMMON SEXUAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR NOVELTY BASED SOLUTIONS (ADVERTORIAL)

D

EAR sir, sex is easy and straight forward. I am surprised so many couples are always writing you about their problems? I like your column though – Charles Dear Charles, if sex was that simple, people wouldn’t have all these problems. Sex always seems easy at first until you get into a relationship. Nobody tells us about the problems we might encounter and the solutions that will work. Some churches offer general marriage counselling before weddings but not detailed sexual matters people want and need to hear. So couples end up suffering. Knowledge solves a lot of problems and adults need sexual knowledge - Uche Sir please I just got married and I don’t have a lot of sexual experience. How can I know when my woman is satisfied and how can I prevent her from cheating on me? Mahmud Dear Mahmud, the easiest way to ensure that your wife is satisfied is by learning how to be a good lover yourself. If you are good at love making, chances are that your wife will be generally happy with the sex she gets. You can learn about sexual performance from educational films such as Turn On’s: How to Please Your Partner and More of What Women Want. These films teach you the step by step procedures of sexual play and how to satisfy a woman. There are also times when you may not be available for love making. At times like this, your wife can use a vibrator (if she has one) to satisfy herself instead of cheating on you. A simple and cheap vibrator like Dr Joel Kaplan’s Vibrator can make a big difference in her life.

When it comes to cheating, there is really no way of ensuring that your wife will never cheat on you. People cheat for different reasons. There are people who have everything and still cheat out of boredom or just because they need something different. Human beings are like that. So just do everything you can to satisfy your partner and hope for the best. Be a very good husband to your wife. When you do this, at least

your partner will have no excuse to cheat- Uche Good day sir and thank you once again. I have been using Mega Me Penis Enlargement Cream for almost seven months now and I am satisfied with the size I have grown. Can I stop using the cream now or should I continue? Chimezie Chimezie after six months of daily use, you can slow down and start using Mega Me Enlarger once or twice a week to maintain the size that you have achieved and enhance your erections– Uche It is my husband’s birthday next week and I want to give him a very good time. In the past he has accused me of not being exciting in bed. I need ideas on what he might like and things I can do to impress him – Angela Dear Angela, sexual knowledge comes from learning and the only places you can learn from are books and films. So I recommend the movies 101 Sex Positions and Expanding Sexual Boundaries. Everything you need can be found in these movies and there is so much to learn – Uche Please what is best for weak erection? Erection Cream or Capsule? Oghaghare Capsules are stronger and give better results. Try Cockstar or Enzyte supplement. They also give stamina and multiple rounds or performance – Uche What sort of romantic things can I do with my wife when we are not having sex? She says I am not romantic and all I want is sex – Alex Write her a love letter and read it out to her. Give her a massage. Help her with some of the house work.

Women love that - Uche That’s it for today. The names of the people featured here have been changed for their privacy. Adults in need of these treatments/novelties can call 08027901621 or 08051924159 or any other number here to order.For enquiries, send your emails to custserv@zeevirtualmedia.com - Uche Edochie, MD, Zee Virtual Media.

C M Y K

44—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21 , 2012

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—45

C M Y K

46—Vanguard, TUESDAY,

JUNE 21, 2012

Ignore Nasir El Rufai

I

C M Y K

down and why did he have to describe Jonathan’s administration as “incompetent”? Of course, all these go to show where the politician is coming from as well as where he is heading.

Nasir El Rufai is obviously out to rubbish the good records being set presently by highperforming leaders like Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra State - a

uncomplimentary terms so that people will begin to think negatively of the exact target of his criticisms. El Rufai’s ingenious approach is as understandable and

,

Dear Sir, really can’t understand why Nasir El Rufai’s patently partisan article should attract such spirited rejoinders as we’ve seen so far even from authoritative quarters. Why is there so much hysteria over this futile political move by El Rufai? Does it then mean that not many of us could decode his actual motive, which has a lot to do with his personal determination to effectively position himself for the race to Aso Rock in 2015?

Honestly, every discerning reader of the crafty politician’s write-up that was published last Friday (June 8, 2012) on the back-cover page of ThisDay Newspaper cannot fail to deduce his game plan.

El Rufai was simply out to start tarnishing the public image of all those he currently perceives as his strongest challengers to the post of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ahead of the 2015 general election in Nigeria. Otherwise, why was he appreciably too eager in his commentary to give the incumbent governor of Anambra State such a thumbs-

I think it is better for him to realize that for anyone to make a significant inroad into the heartland of Igboland, that person must pursue his or her inordinate political ambition in a more responsible, sincere, and gracious manner than what we have seen of him in this disastrous gambit

,

good candidate for the next President of Nigeria. El Rufai’s strategy is to cleverly couch his so-called analysis of this year’s budget of some states of the federation in

predictable as it is wicked, gratuitous, and self-serving.

But he certainly can’t pull the wool over our eyes. His tactics has failed him woefully.

So, there is no need for any

serious-minded individuals or group to lose any sleep over such a calculated attempt to deceive the reading public. El Rufai’s desperation to lead Nigeria by all means – fair or foul - is now manifesting itself

gracelessly. I think it is better for him to realize that for anyone to make a significant inroad into the heartland of Igboland, that person must pursue his or her inordinate political ambition in a more responsible, sincere, and gracious manner than what we have seen of him in this disastrous gambit. A word is enough for the wise.

Jimbuoy Okoye Akalanze Nimo, Anambra State

Farewell Prof Obot Dear Sir, ROFESSOR Emmanuel Obot was a senior colleague of mine in two establishments; the Cross River National Park and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation NCF. I regarded him as an elder brother throughout the period we worked together.

It is therefore with inexplicable shock and heavy heart that I learned of his involvement in the ill-fated Dana Airways Abuja – Lagos flight on Sunday, June 3, 2012.

The global conservation

P

community will miss him, so also will the Nigerian environment to which he made innumerable and invaluable contributions. He loved nature and worked for nature, but has died most unnaturally.

May The Almighty God grant you all, especially his wife and lovely children the strength of heart to bear this inestimable Paddy Ezeala West Africa Regional Office Oxfam America, Dakar, Senegal

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012—47

C M Y K

48 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

13 injured in FGGC students' clash

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

P

ORT HARCOURT— About 13 students of the Federal Government Girls College, FGGC, Abuloma, Port Harcourt have been reportedly hospitalized following alleged clash between some of them in SS3 and SS2.

The principal of the school could not be reached for comments on the development but sources within the FGGC confirmed that disagreement between the

two classes of students started on Sunday and only snowballed into violence yesterday, resulting in the reported injuring of 13 students.

Details of the development were scanty at press time, but Vanguard gathered that the development has led to suspension of ongoing examination in the school Meantime, some parents and guardians were seen rushing to pick their wards or children at the school yesterday evening.

Edo: Airhiavbere assures of completion of on-going projects, if...

NDIC donates computer building to Delta Poly

BY FESTUS AHON

VISIT—From left; Lucky Ayomanor; Niger Delta Peoples Network, NDPN, National Secretary, Mr. Omonukwe Gordons; PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur; National Chairman, NDPN, Dr. Charles Okiti; and PDP chairmanship aspirant, Sapele LGA, Delta State, during the NDPN's visit to the PDP national working committee in Abuja.

As ACN, CPC members defect to PDP

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE ENIN—EDO State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Major Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (rtd) has assured that he will complete on-going projects across the state within his first year in office if voted come July 14, 2012.

Besides, the Chairman of Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Etsako Central Local Government Area of Edo State, Mr. Sunday Kpatako and several ACN members have defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of

B

the election.

Spokesman for defectors, Mr. Princewill Otiegbe, lamented that his former party , ACN did not follow due process while carrying out its activities, promising that they would work to ensure PDP won a resounding victory in the area in the forthcoming governorship election.

Meanwhile, Gen. Airhiavbere who was in company of the PDP State Chairman, Chief Dan Orbih and other party leaders spoke at rallies in Anegbette, Ekperi, Fugar and Ogbona and assured the people that his desire was to ensure the state was developed to unbelievable standards.

GRADUATION—From left: Chief Wole Olanipekun, Mrs Nike Akande, Mrs Leila Fowler, Proprietress & Administrator, Justice Kayode Eso and Mrs Olufunke Fowler-Amba during the 2012 graduation of Vivian Fowler Memorial College For Girls in Ikeja, Lagos. Photo: Biodun Ogunleye.

Kwara: Lai Mohammed, Belgore guber ambition tears ACN apart

Mrs Etim, staff of Maritime Academy passes on RS Veronica Etim, a former staff of Maritime Academy of Nigeria, MAN, Oron, AKwa-Ibom State is dead, according to.Women in Logistics and Transport, WILAT. She passed on after a brief illness.

Details of her burial are yet

M

to be announced by the family, but the Public Relations Officer of WILAT-Nigeria, Mrs. Rosemary Duamlong, in a statement, said “Veronica was an active member of WILAT, who did all she could to move the association forward. She will be greatly missed by all.''

Remembrance for Pa Aliu

A

remembrance church service will be held in honour of Late Pa Williams Olaniyan Aliu who died five years ago at the age of 83. Children, grandchildren and well wishers of the deceased will converge at Living Spring Evangelical Church, 4 Oluode Street, Baruwa, Ipaja on Sunday, June 24, 2012 to pray. He is survived by Olugbenga Aliu, Editor of Community News and other children

home and abroad.

Late Pa Aliu

GHELLI—THE Ni geria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, has donated a computer block worth N20 million to the Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara.

Speaking during the commissioning, one of its Directors, Chief Davidson Oghenekevwode said the project was part of the corporate social responsibility of the organisation, adding that it was among many of such projects being sponsored by the NDIC in various institutions of learning in the country.

According to him, the project was to enhance educational activities and move the country forward on the path of social and economic development, lamenting that; “it is common knowledge that most of the institutions of learning in Nigeria lack infrastructural facilities resulting in poor standards of education.

“Against this background, it has become necessary for corporate organisations and other well meaning individuals to come to the aid of our educational institu-

U

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI LORIN—ACTION Con gress of Nigeria, ACN, in Kwara State is now enmeshed in crisis over the 2015 gubernatorial ambitions of Muhammed Dele Belgore, SAN, and Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Vanguard investigations have rev e a l e d .

It was learnt that Belgore who was the governorship candidate of the party in the last election was repositioning himself to re-contest in 2015, unknown to him that the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Lai Mohammed was also interested in taking a shot again having contested under the platform of Alliance for Democracy, AD, in 2003.

Further investigation showed that while Mohammed, who facilitated the gubernatorial candidacy of Belgore among the contending forces in the last election was capitaliz-

I

ing on his grip and influence in the party, to clinch the ticket.

Belgore himself was reportedly banking on improving on his performance to win in the 2015 election.

It was further gathered that the scheme to make Mohammed the next gu-

bernatorial candidate of ACN commenced immediately after Belgore lost out in the 2011 elections and the subsequent legal battle he instituted against the incumbent governor of the state, Alhaji AbdulFatah Ahmed, even as Mohammed’s supporters

were said to have backed off from Belgore’s camp.

Vanguard also gathered that ahead of 2015, Mohammed has revived its political structure through a group known as Lai Mohammed Political Organization, LAMPO, to realise his ambition.

CLO condemns Kaduna bombings, urges FG to arrest situation

BY PROVIDENCE OBUH HE Civil Liberties Or ganisation, CLO, has condoled Nigerians who lost their loved ones during the Kaduna and Zaria bombings on churches last Sunday, asking the Federal Government and other stakeholders to do something urgent by stopping the crises.

In a statement by the Executive Director of CLO, Ibuchukwu Ezike, the organisation said it ‘’received

T

with sadness, the news of the bombings during which several citizens worshipping God on Sunday in their respective churches were murdered in cold blood, with several other persons being injured and property worth billions of Naira destroyed. ‘’This ugly incident is one of the many unprovoked attacks on churches and Christians in Northern Nigeria. CLO is not unaware of the huge human rights implications of these at-

tacks. Earlier, the media, police stations, UN House among others were the targets but the continued unrelentless attacks on churches call for concerns.

CLO condemns these unprovoked attacks on church and innocent Nigerians and calls on the Federal Government, political as well as religious leaders from Northern Nigeria to take urgent steps to arrest the ugly situation before it degenerates into a religious war.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 49

50—Vanguard , THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 51

52 —Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 53

54 —Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 55

56—Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Arik, IRS suspend flight operations to Kaduna lines, Mr. yemi Dada, in an in- lowed to do so.

BY LAWANI MIKAIRU & DANIEL ETEGHE

RIK and IRS airlines have suspended flight operations to Kaduna Airport due to the curfew imposed on the state.

It will be recalled that the state government had, Sunday, imposed a 24-hour curfew on Kaduna State because of multiple attacks on churches in Kaduna and Zaria by the Boko Haram Islamist sect.

Managing Director of IRS Air-

A

terview with journalists, said the suspension was necessary due to the curfew imposed by the sate government.

He explained that the airline had suspended operations to the airport since Sunday when the curfew was announced, but assured that immediately the curfew was relaxed, the airline would commence flight to the state.

Mr. Dada said IRS had since begun the refund process to passengers, while those who wanted to reschedule their flights were al-

Tsav wants organised labour to champion fight against corruption

BY PETER DURU

M

A K U R D I — FORMER Lagos State Police Commissioner, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav has called on labour to champion the fight against corruption, while urging the Federal Government to prosecute those indicted by the House of Representative’s ad-hoc committee on subsidy regime if it was serious about fighting corruption.

Tsav also said the bribery scandal rocking the House of Representatives over the committee’s report was a wake-up call on the Federal Government to

draw up a concise action plan in its renewed onslaught against corruption to effectively checkmate the menace.

Tsav said: “They should first and foremost go though the report and see if the report exonerated Zenon Oil of culpability in the subsidy scandal. And if the Federal Government is convinced that what is contained in the report is the absolute truth, they should act on it without delay.

“Organised labour in Nigeria should lead a renewed onslaught against corrupt practices in this country.

Also, at the General Aviation Terminal,GAT, Lagos, where Arik Air operates its domestic flights, the airline staff were not selling tickets to Kaduna. A source close to the airline explained that the airline would start flights to the state when there are clear indications that the curfew has been relaxed.

The airline was also seen refunding money to passengers who had booked flights to Kaduna, while some deferred their flights till normalcy returns to the state.

L-r: Mr. Rotimi Oyekunle, Board Member and Supervisory Head, Young Entrepreneurs' Network; Mrs Modupe Oyekunle, Director General, Masterpiece Resource Development Centre, MRDC; Mr Abiola Popoola, Chairman Board of Directors, MRDC; and Mr Noruwa Edokpolo, MRDC, at the news briefing on 2012 Young Enterpreneurs Network Confernce organised by the Masterpiece Resource Development Centre in Lagos. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi

••as Gaidam urges Damaturu residents to ignore ‘inciting' SMS are set ablaze in Damaturu; Yobe said: “We wish to state categoriBY EMEKA MAMAH

OVERNOR Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State has urged residents of Damaturu, the state capital, to disregard the short message services (SMS) text being circulated by those he described as mischievous elements. The governor said they wanted to cause disaffection between the Christian and Muslim communities in the state.

The message Gaidam was referring to read: “Christians are being attacked, while Churches

G

is boiling, following the incident between security agents and Boko Haram in the state capital, Monday.

“Thank you for your concern about these attacks and bombings in Damaturu. The burnt Churches in Damaturu are as follows: Church of Christ in Nigeria, COCIN; Regional Church Council, RCC, Headquarters at Pwari; COCIN Bakin Kogi, and Tracon Church.”

Gaidam, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Public Affairs and Information, Abdullahi Bego,

cally that the entire content of the text being circulated is false, misleading, mischievous and unfounded.”

He said there were no churches in Damaturu that were attacked, as claimed in the text message.

The governor said the unfortunate incident of last Monday ‘’affected all residents regardless of religious inclination,’’ adding that as everyone knows, members of the security forces were able to repel the attackers and restore law and order in the metropolis.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 57

58 —Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 59

60 —

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Doping: AFN makes big catch

BY ONOCHIE ANIBEZE, Calabar HE second day of the Olympic trials at the U J Esuene stadium did not end without a drama.

Shortly after the men’s 100m final that Obinna Metu won in 11.11 secs a man was arrested by the Police inside one of the offices at the stadium for allegedly injecting athletes with performance enhancing drugs. He had a team of five men. The men were also arrested and taken to a police station where investigation will commence. The bags they had were said to contain drugs and they were tracked to the office they were usi n g . ”We have to keep the sport clean and I’m happy these arrests were made,” Athletics Federation Chairman Chief Solomon Ogba said. The scene where the arrests were made was rowd y .

The federation had on Monday morning, as early as 5.30 am taken blood and urine samples of the athletes for testing. ”We must keep our house clean,” Ogba said about the surprise action on athletes. The arrested people were not caught in the act but sources tipped the federation on what they were doing and what they saw them with confirmed they had made a good catch

WINNERS......Blessing Okagbare (centre) poses with her gold medal alongside Gloria Asomu (left) and Lawreta Ozor during the 100m medals presentation at the ongoing All Nigeria Athletics Championships in Calabar.

Blatter demands use of goal-line technology denied a goal by crossed the line, but Pepsi holds 5-aside IFA president Sepp Blatter has called goal-line technology a “necessity” after England’s lucky escape during the 1-0 win over co-hosts Ukraine at Euro 2012.

The most powerful man in football has demanded change following the controversial incident in which Ukraine were

F

bumbling officials who failed to see Marko Devic’s 62-minute strike cross England’s goalline.

The Ukraine striker thought he had fired an equaliser in the final Group D game in Donetsk, despite John Terry ’s last-ditch clearance.

TV replays confirmed that the ball had indeed

despite the presence of an extra match offical standing directly beside the net, no goal was given and the referee waved play on.

Writing on Twitter to give his first reaction to the decision, Blatter said: After last night’s match #GLT [goal-line technology] is no longer an alternative but a necessity.”

"Why we floated Uzoma Tennis tourney in Abuja" organizers, Green & primarily aimed at EARTH of talents in tennis and the need to provide a veritable platform for local players to showcase their skills were the reasons behind the maiden edition of the Rose Uzoma Tennis Championship, serving off in Abuja next month.

According to the

D

Metu that the four months he spent training in Atlanta, USA were not a joke. He clinched the hotly contested race with 10.11 seconds his best ever performance over the event. There was no controversy of a photo finish this time around and Metu thumped his chest and vowed to join the club of sub 10 seconds runners.

“My target now is to go faster and do a sub ten. I have worked so hard and I’m happy that my efforts are paying off,” said Metu.

Egwero had no regrets. He had taken the lead from the start, but succumbed when

ONG-TIME skipper Amanda Dlamini and veteran striker Portia Modise top the list of 18 players in the delegation of the Senior Women’s Team of South Africa to Nigeria for Saturday’s prestigeous international friendly against the Super Falcons.

The Banyana Banyana, heading to this year’s Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in London next month, intend to use Saturday ’s session to perfect strategies for a hopeful appearance at the Olympic Games. The contingent will fly into Nigeria on Thursday aboard a Kenya Airways flight.

Dlamini has been captain of the Banyana Banyana, one of Africa’s leading women’s teams, for several years, while Modise is one of the most recognizable figures in African women football, with 71 goals in 91 international appearances for her country.

Nigeria has her own amazons aplenty, though fourtime African WomanFootballer of the Year, Perpetua Nkwocha, defensive stalwarts Faith Ikidi and Helen Ukaonu and midfield ace Rita Chikwelu will be missing,after the quartet left to join their European clubs following last weekend’s demolition of Zimbabwe, that earned the Cup holders a spotat this year’s African Women Championship in Equatorial Guinea.

L

T

Continues from BP

Dlamini, Modise lead Banyana against Falcons

the heat from Metu became unbearable.

Egwero finished at 10.19 his fastest time this season, while Stanley Azie was third with 10.32.

The Championships come to a close today with athletics officials beaming their focus on the Africa Championships next week in Port Novo, Benin Republic.

“We are very happy with what we have seen. With two athletes doing a low 10 Seconds, we hope for a good performance from them at the African Championships,” said Jide Josiah Athletics Federation of Nigeria vice president.

Scented Foundation, the tournament named after the Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service which will take place at the Tennis Centre of the Abuja National Stadium is

helping to chart a new course for the country’s tennis. ‘’We have noticed that since the glory days of Nduka Odizor, Godwin Kienka and Dr Sadiq Abdullahi."

Drogba Continues from BP lowing Chelsea’s Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich, has signed a 2½-year deal worth around £200,000 a week with the Chinese Super League side.

He said: “I have considered all the offers I have received in the past few weeks, but feel that Shanghai Shenhua FC is the right move for me at this time.

“I am looking forward to a new challenge, to experiencing a new culture, and am excited about the new developments in the Chinese Super League.

“When Chelsea went to China last year, we had

a great time and I met some amazing fans.

“I hope to help promote Chinese football around the world and further improve the links between China and Africa.’”

Drogba will link up with former Blues team-mate Nicolas Anelka, who joined the club in January, and Argentinian manager Sergio Batista.

Batista said: “Drogba is a very good soccer player, his outstanding skills and amazing experience will give us motivation to improve our games.

“It is my honour to invite him to join in our team. At last I have to say that the club owner Zhu Jun did his utmost to bring Drogba to Shenhua.”

football tourney

S part of activities to launch its new advert campaign theme tagged Kicked In The Mix, Pepsi, a leading soft drink company will be organizing a 5-aside football tournament at the sports centre of the University of Lagos on Tuesday, June 26, 2012.

The tourney, which is aimed at creating excitement and fun for the university community, according to Mr. Norden Thurston of Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc, will involve registered teams from among the ranks of Unilag students. According to him, students in the same department or hall of residence can form a team to participate in the competition and win fantastic prizes.

The competition according to Thurston has no age or gender barrier as students of the institution have equal opportunity to contest in as much as they can form the mandatory 8-member team and register to participate in the competition.

The one-day football competition will also feature some exciting side attractions like music and dance.

Spectators will also have the opportunity to go home with lots of Pepsi branded gift items.

A

Police dare Cowrie Rugby Club HE Police Rugby Football Club currently sit ting in second position on the on-going “Friends of Rugby” Lagos Rugby Union League table will on Saturday try to upturn the table against defending champions Cowrie Rugby Football Club at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

Police Rugby Football Club who have won all of their three matches played so far in the 2012 Lagos Rugby Union League with 15 points and trailing Cowrie Rugby Football Club who have also won all its matches so far with 17 points will be daring the champions who are just two points adrift of each other on the table. The match will certainly be a crunchy encounter.

The second match of the day will feature Lagos Rugby Football Club trading tackles with new comers and giant-killers Ilorin Rugby Football Club at 2pm. Lagos Rugby Football Club will want to return to winning ways after suffering two straight defeats in a raw!

The last match of the day will be between bottom teams Young Lions Rugby Football Club and the AJ City boys – Gosar Rugby Football Club at 4pm. Both teams will be trying each other for size to secure their first win of the season or a possible draw!

T

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 61

62 —Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012 — 63

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012

Blatter demands use of goal-line technology •Reacts to Ukraine ‘ghost goal’

Metu is Nigeria’s fastest man — Page 63

FLASHPOINT ... John Terry clears Marko Devic’s shot but not before it had crossed the goal-line

BULLET METU•••Obinna Metu (left) outpaces Egwero Ogho-Oghene to win the 100m men’s final in a time of 10.11sec at the 66th CRS Ail Nigeria Athletics Championship in Calabar yesterday. Photo by Sylva Eleanya.

BINNA Metu ruthlessly finished off his rivals to

O

Euro Q/final fixtures Today: Czech Republic v Portugal 7:45pm Tomorrow: Germany v Greece 7:45pm June 23: Spain v France 7:45pm June 24: England v Italy 7:45pm

TODAY'S

BY BEN EFE reclaim the national 100m title he surrendered to Ogho-Oghene

Egwero for two seasons.

Metu proved too strong for the field yesterday and he showed Continues on Page 60

Drogba confirms China switch •To earn £200,000 a week IDIER Drogba has confirmed his long-expected move to Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua.

The 34-year-old, who left Stamford Bridge folCContinues on Page 60

D

DOPING: AFN makes big catch — P.60

PUZZLES

YESTERDAY'S

CHINESE TAKE-AWAY — Drogba

QUICK CROSSWORD

ANSWERS ACROSS 3 Eerie (5) 9 Insurgent (6) 10 Relaxing (6) 11 Domesticated (5) 12 Blood-vessel (4) 15 Fomerly (4) 17 Pardoned (7) 20 Elderly (3) 21 Performing (5) 23 Instance (4) 25 Tube (4) 26 Go in (5) 28 Pig-pen (3) 30 Ordained (7) 33 Pour (4) 35 Challenge (4) 36 Mortal (5) 38 Aviators (6) 39 Stagger (6) 40 Renovate (5)

DOWN 1 Desire (5) 2 Subject (5) 3 Damp (3) 4 Deleted (6) 5 Smell (4) 6 Father (3) 7 Instrument (5) 8 Leered (5) 13 Perform (7) 14 Tend (5) 16 Jumble (7) 18 Snoozed (5) 19 Plus (3) 22 Defend (5) 24 Finish (3) 27 Tell (6) 28 Vapour (5) 29 Long (5) 31 Ground (5) 32 Disparage (5) 34 Sand-hill (4) 36 Girl’s (3) 37 Present (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Dreary 5, Simmer 9, Oiled 10, Spouse 11, Elated 12, Elude 14, Onus 17, Dry 18, Rode 20, Taste 22, Elder 23, Offered 24, Debut 26, Level 29, Edit 30, Ace 32, Rare 33, Rhyme 35, Tissue 36, Breach 37, Laden 38, Dodged 39, Reveal.

How to Play Sudoku

THE VIGILANTE

DOWN: 1, Despot 2, Exodus 3, Rose 4, Yield 5, Seedy 6, Idle 7, Method 8, Rudder 13, Urgency 15, Named 16, Stout 18, Rider 19, Deter 21, Eft 22, Eel 24, Dented 25, Biased 27, Vacate 28, Lethal 30, Ahead 31, Ember 33, Rule 34, Eme.

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.

Printed and Published by VANGUARD MEDIA LIMITED, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa. Phone: Newsroom: 018773962. Deputy Editor: 01-8944295. Advert Dept: 01-7924470; Hotline: 01-8737028; Abuja: 09-2341102, 09-2342704. E-mail: editor@vanguardngr.com, news@vanguardngr.com, letters@vanguardngr.com. Advert:advertproduction@yahoo.com Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: MIDENO BAYAGBON. Phone: 01-7742861, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.