OCT 1 BOMBING: Henry Okah foundguilty, faces life jail

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 61801

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ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

Resign now, Amaechi tells Orubebe •Pg.6 OCT 1 BOMBING:

Eagles fumble in—P.56 1-1 draw

Henry Okah found guilty, faces life jail •It's a welcome verdict — DSS •He was not allowed to defend himself — Keyamo 16 years after, Otokoto murder suspect regains freedom

BY EMMA AMAIZE, UDUMA KALU, JIMOH BABATUNDE, SAMUEL & OYADONGHA, with agency reports

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AGOS—A SOUTH African court yesterday convicted Henry Okah of 13 terrorism charges, including conspiracy to commit terrorism and bombings that killed 12

Continues on page 4

COLUMNISTS:

•P.19

•P.20

2015: Presidency woos senators Ahmed, Modu sherrif •P.3

•PG.17

Mr & Mrs

DRAW—Nigeria's defender and captain Joseph Yobo (L) vies with Burkina Faso's Moumouni Dagano during the Africa Cup of Nations 2013 Group C football match, yesterday at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa. Photo: AFP. C M Y K

2— Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

Vanguard, TUESDAY TUESDAY,, JANUARY 22, 2013—3

2015: Presidency woos Senators Ahmed and Modu Sherriff •Tukur commences talks with them, reports back to the Presidency on outcome •Ojo Maduekwe on ground to strategise for PDP

BY HENRY UMORU

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BUJA— AHEAD of 2015 Presidential election and the planned merger of opposition political parties to wrestle power from the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, the Presidency has set in motion ways of wooing two former governors of Zamfara and Borno states, Senators Ahmad Sani Yerima and Modu Sheriff respectively into the PDP. The move to have Sani Yerima and Sheriff in the PDP was aimed at diluting the influence of Governors Sule Lamido of Jigawa, Ibrahim Shema of Katsina and Muazu Aliyu Babangida of Niger States as they are rumoured to be nursing presidential ambitions.

Senator Modu Sheriff, the sources at the party said, would help in improving the declining influence of the party in the North East, as PDP controls four out of the six states in the region, including Adamawa, Bauchi; Gombe; and Taraba, leaving Borno and Yobe states for the opposition ANPP. Apart from this, it was also learnt that the move was designed to weaken the opposition and frustrate the merger plans.

President Goodluck Jonathan was said to have been worried by the dwindling influence of his party, hence the plans to strengthen it in the core north.

Senator Sani, the Senate Deputy Minority Leader and the Yerima Bakura was governor of Zamfara State on the platform of the All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, from 19992007 before coming to the

Senate in 2007 just like Senator Modu Sheriff who was governor of Borno State under the same ANPP after serving as a senator.

Yerima singlehandedly removed his former Deputy, Mahmoud Aliyu Shinkafi of the PDP as governor of the state and brought in Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari of the ANPP. Former Governor Sani was to join the PDP in 2009, but his former deputy, Mahmoud Aliyu Shinkafi, who later became the governor, dumped the ANPP and joined the PDP before his former boss. It was learnt that already, the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has held

discussions with the two opposition bigwigs at his Wuse 2, Abuja private residence in a bid to convince them to dump their parties and join his party.

“Tukur talked to them like a father and tried to convince them on the need for the former governors to dump the ANPP for the PDP as well as work for Jonathan’s presidential ambition come 2015,” the sources said.

The PDP national chairman who was given the assignment to bring the politicians into the party by the Presidency was said to have reported the outcome of his meeting to his principal.

Meanwhile, the former Minister Foreign Affairs and Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Canada,

Chief Ojo Maduekwe, has been asked by President Goodluck Jonathan to stay back in the country for now to help the party restrategise for 2015.

It was gathered that Maduekwe was expected to play the same role as deputy to Senator Sarki Tafida in 2011 at the Presidential Campaign Organisation in 2015 because of his political experience and pedigree in such matters. To begin his work as a strategist for the PDP ahead of 2015, the former Minister of Transport briefed reporters at the end of the meeting of Board of Trustees, BoT, which ended in a stalemate over the election of its chairman last week.

L-r: Rt Rev Amos Fagbemiye, Trinity Diocese of USA; Rt Rev Dr Peter Awelewa Adebiyi and Ven Dr & Mrs Dele Okunuga, Vicar/Archdeacon, Satellite Archdeaconry during the episcopal visitation of the outgoing Bishop of Diocese of Lagos West to the archdeaconry. Photo: Biodun Ogunleye

Opposition parties can defeat PDP—Utomi, Ewuga

BY GBENGA OKE

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ORMER presidential candidate of African Democratic Party, Professor Pat Utomi and Senator Solomon Ewuga representing Nasarawa North, yesterday, maintained that if opposition parties in Nigeria closed ranks and presented a viable alternative they could defeat the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) come 2015.

Utomi in a chat with Vanguard said though merger among opposition parties in Nigeria in the past seemed not to have worked, the present merger plans would sail through.

He said: “Let me state here that what we are seeing presently in terms of merger cannot be ruled out as it seems opposition parties are getting serious and prepared towards C M Y K

wresting power from the PDP. What we are seeing today in terms of merger has happened in some other African countries where opposition parties wrested power from the ruling parties, so such cannot be ruled out in Nigeria at the forthcoming polls.

“We saw such mergers work in Senegal where opposition candidate, Macky Sall, defeated the sitting President, Abdoulaye Wade in a run-off elections signalling an end to Abdoulaye Wade’s 12 years reign in government. We have seen such example in Zimbabwe as well where Morgan Tsvangirai tackled the government headed by Robert Mugabe.”

Sen. Ewuga, a member of the Congress for Progressive Change, (CPC), however, maintained that opposition

parties can defeat the ruling PDP only if they joined forces ahead of the forthcoming polls.

He said: “Let me state unequivocally that the process is on right now and I believe strongly that the feat is achievable only if

all the parties involved in the merger talks can present themselves to Nigerians as the alternative and a credible opposition at the forthcoming polls”.

NLC seeks reorganisation of nation’s security services

BY VICTOR AHIUMAYOUNG

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IGERIA Labour Congress, NLC, yesterday, said that Saturday’s attack on the convoy of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, had exposed the lie in the claim by the Federal Government that its security agencies had been able to curtail activities of violent extremists.

NLC said the attack had again questioned the efficacy of security in the country and brought to the fore the urgent need for the reorganization of Nigeria’s internal security system as violent militant activities seemed to be growing in strength by the day.

In a statement by its Acting General Secretary, Mr Chris Uyot, Congress urged the security agencies to improve their intelligence to protecting lives and property, and to ensure that subsequent attacks were detected and apprehended before they were carried out.

According to NLC, “Kano, being a major industrial city in the northern part of the country is very strategic to the Nigerian economy and polity, and should therefore not be allowed to be held hostage by violent groups. The Emir of Kano is one of the highest traditional office holders, and a leading traditional voice in the country. If he can be so brazenly attacked, ordinary citizens will continue to live in fear and consequently the atmosphere of insecurity in the state and the country in general will grow deeper.”

P2PC transforms into political party, backs merger of opposition parties Jaye Gaskia, the group said it wants political power

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE PRESSURE group, Protest To Power Collective (P2PC), which played a prominent role in the January 2012 fuel subsidy protests has transformed into a new political platform, Democratic Party For Socialist Reconstruction (DPSR). Unveiling their manifesto, yesterday, leaders of the DPSR declared their readiness to seek political power as well as bonding with other opposition parties to beat the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the 2015 polls.

In a joint statement by Yinka Suleiman, Kenneth Okoineme, Odoh Diego Okenyedo, Wole Elegbede, Gbenro Olajuyigbe, Tunde Aremu and

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because “we have reached the collective understanding that the time has come for us to move from merely venting our anger in various forms of protests, to converting that anger and energy into the liberating task of building an alternative and radical mass based political platform”.

The group which stated that its mission was to give the people of Nigeria an alternative party that truly represents their dreams and aspiration also acknowledged that there exist other groups with similar agenda. “We commend and identify with every such genuine initiative that is oriented on the social emancipation of Nigerians, radical social transformation of the national economy and polity; as well as the genuine national liberation of Nigeria.”

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4—Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

POCKET CARTOON

LECTURE—From left: Mrs Remi Oyo, DG, News Agency of Nigeria and Guest Speaker; Mr. Adekunle Oyesanya, SAN, Chairman, Organising Committee and Elder Folusho Onagoruwa, Master of Ceremony during the 14th Edition of Pastor S A Odunaiya Annual Memorial Public Lecture, organised by Young Men's Christian League of Christ Apostolic Church, Ebutte-Metta, Lagos, yesterday.

Photo: Lamidi Bamidele.

Oct 1 bombing: Henry Okah found guilty, faces life jail Continues from page 1 people in Abuja on October 1, 2010.

“I have come to the conclusion that the state proved beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of

the accused,” said Judge Nels Claassen, while handing down the verdict in the South Gauteng High Court.

The South African court, which tried Okah

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

Confidence is beautiful, no matter your size, no matter your height, be confident in who you are and you will be beautiful.

TAKE HEART

I

BY ELLA RANDLE

NNER peace is what we each create in our lit tle bubble of the world. Each bubble is linked to every other bubble. And our little bubble of peace can spread. It can spread right across the world —Mary Jacsch Sometimes all it takes is a shift in perspective and there is a major gain in positive outlook and attitude towards life and this makes all the difference in living beautifully. So when we let go of being right, we can rightly grant others their beingness and still retain our own individuality.

It’s so easy to slip into a thought-pattern of ‘us’ and ‘them’. This estrangement is the root cause of much disagreement among people. Just think of ridicule, bullying, and ostracism, meanness and enslavement, it all starts with the thought of ‘us’ and ‘them’.

Let go of grudges: you hold a grudge? Maybe it’s time to let it go. Do you want to hold onto your grudge for another day, another week, another year, another decade, or even for the rest of your life?

Grudges eat away at the soul and poison relationships.

The good news is that you can let them go. All you need to do is to notice each time a grudge and its poisonous story arises in the mind. Then say to yourself with compassion, “I let go of that story,” and bend your mind toward something else.

under counter-terrorism laws that cover crimes committed outside the country, is due to sentence him on January 30.

Prosecutor Shaun Abrahams told AP news agency that Okah faced life in prison. South Africa worked closely with foreign law enforcement agencies “to make sure justice is done in Africa.

This [conviction] is clearly indicative that South Africa cannot be seen as a safe haven for international terrorists,” he said.

Okah was found guilty of masterminding attacks including twin-car bombings that killed 12 people in Abuja on Independence Day in 2010 and two explosions in March 2010 in the southern Nigerian city of Warri, a major hub of the oil-rich Delta region.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a group fighting for a greater share of the Delta oil wealth, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Okah denied involvement in the blasts and said the charges were politically motivated.

He also denied leading MEND, but had said he sympathised

with their goals,moved to South Africa after Nigeria issued an amnesty for MEND members in 2009, lifting charges of gun-running and treason against him.

However the South African court found Okah was the leader of the movement after uncovering documentary evidence including his wife’s handwritten notes.

The verdict elicited mixed reactions across Nigeria yesterday. While some hailed the verdict, others said Okah had been made a scapegoat.

Yet another group of people from Okah’s militancy constituency kept mute. Okah’s counsel in Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, when contacted on Okah’s conviction, declined comments.

It’s a good verdict – DSS “This conviction is a warning that there is no hiding place for terrorists,” Marilyn Ogar, spokeswoman of Nigeria’s Department of Secret Service, DSS, said by telephone. “Wherever you are, the law will catch up with you, as it has with Henry Okah.”

MEND’s attacks on oilfields and pipelines across the swampy region that is home to Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry cost Nigeria $1 billion a month in lost revenues at its peak, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Okah was not given opportunity to defend himself – Keyamo Mr Festus Keyamo, counsel to Charles Okah, a brother to Henry Okah, picked holes in the ruling.

In a statement, he said: “As counsel to Charles Okah and others who are facing the same set of charges under Nigerian laws, I have been actively involved in coordinating the trials both in South Africa and in Nigeria.

The fundamental flaw in the trial is that Henry Okah was not given adequate facilities and the opportunity to defend himself. This is because after the prosecution closed its case in South Africa, the defence attorneys and my Chambers here in Abuja, tried frantically to summon the witnesses of Henry Okah who are based here in Nigeria to testify on his behalf. These witnesses include some government officials.

“In this regard, we wrote to the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation who replied and directed that Henry ’s counsel in South Africa apply to the court there for an order to secure the legal assistance of the Attorney-General of Nigeria. This was only two weeks ago (please, find attached a copy of the letter from the Attorney-General of the Federation to my office and note that the date on the

letter was mistakenly given as 8 th January, 2012 instead of 2013.)

“Without giving Henry ’s counsel in South Africa adequate time and facilities to follow the directives, the South African court foreclosed his opportunity to call witnesses and rushed to convict him. This is a breach of his fundamental right to fair hearing and an obvious attempt by the South African authorities to please Nigeria at all cost. That is why the judgment is nothing but political.

"Whilst all Nigerians empathise with those who lost their lives and limbs in the October 1, 2010 bombing, it is wrong to convict anybody for it without due process. Henry has been convicted without due process.

I condemn this judgment and call on Nigerians and the international community to condemn the trial and judgment of Henry Okah whose only offence was his refusal to accept the so-called amnesty offered by the Yar ’AduaJonathan administration and his insistence on the Niger-Delta controlling its resources.

“With the recent condemnation of Jonathan by some militants who initially accepted the amnesty programme, I am sure they now know that Henry Okah was correct not to have accepted the poisoned chalice called amnesty.

The Nigerian government must immediately use all diplomatic efforts to ensure that Henry Okah does not die in a South African prison and for the South African government to grant him unconditional pardon.

This is without prejudice to his right to appeal against the judgment.”

Continues on page 5

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013—5

tants an amnesty in 2009.

At its peak, the instability in the Niger Delta cost Nigeria about $1bn (£630m) in lost revenue, Reuters news agency quotes the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, as saying.

Journey to Prison

VISIT—From left: SSA to Kwara State Governor, Mr. Yomi Ogunshola; Regional Head for Africa, City & Guild, London, Mr. Juan Visser; contractor handling the International Vocational Centre, Haidar Hammoud; Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed and Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Alhaji Saka Onimago during the governor's assessment visit to the centre at Ajasse Ipo, Kwara State, yesterday.

Oct 1 bombing: Henry Okah found guilty, faces life jail Continues from page 4

Verdict indicts Nigerian courts — HURIWA Reacting to the conviction, Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria [HURIWA] said “Nigeria’s court system has come under increasing exposure for incompetence, compromise and criminal collusion even as different high profile cases of terrorism, economic crimes involving the theft of several billions of public fund by serving and former public office holders in have consistently been adjourned or dismissed for lack of diligent prosecution by officials of the Nigeria Police Force, the Office of the Attorney General and the extremely snail speed judicial procedural process that has constituted a cog in the delivery of justice in Nigeria over the years.

Ex-militant leaders keep mute

Some ex-militant leaders and activists contacted on the conviction of Henry Okah by a South African court pleaded that they would not want to make comments or be mentioned on the matter.

According to one of them, “Henry Okah is one of us, only that he is an extremist to the core and did not want to subject himself to the views of others. But he played his role in the NigerDelta struggle and all of us have tremendous respect for him.

“The truth is that most of us disagreed with his modus operandi for the struggle, not that he is not a prominent leader of the struggle”, he asserted However, a NigerDelta activist from Delta state, Comrade Paul Bebenimibo, told Vanguard, “I sympathize with him on the conviction. He is a human being like me and there is no way I will not sympathize with him in a matter like this.

“All the same, it is a legal issue and I am a layman in such a matter, if he has been found guilty, there is nothing one can do about it.

“My appeal is that the court should reduce the sentence so that he can come out alive and reunite with his family and friends. I “It is unfortunate that now that the Amnesty Programme is consolidating the peace in NigerDelta, one of us is convicted , instead of being part of the newfound peace in the region”, he added.

It’s conspiracy – CLO, Nengi James

Government under the administration of Goodluck Jonathan.

“The bombing of the UN building and force headquarters in Abuja as well as several violent attacks on churches in Northern part of the country were classical examples of terrorist attacks which the Federal Government had not bothered to unravel.

Though he (Okah) was found guilty, I enjoin his counsel to appeal against the case, because as far as the matter at hand is, it is far from over."

Okah’s travails However, Civil Liberties Organisation, CLO, in Bayelsa State, home state of Henry Okah, yesterday described Okah’s conviction as a conspiracy sponsored by the Nigerian Government.

State Chairman of CLO, Chief Nengi James and the immediate past Secretary of the group, Mr Alagoa Morris, said though the charges and indictment of terrorism against Okah did not mean the case had ended, adding that the arrest, detention, trial and indictment bore the signature of the Nigerian

Okah was arrested on gun-running charges in Angola in 2007 and then transferred to Nigeria but never convicted.

He was released after two years under an amnesty for oil militants and he returned to South Africa, where he had lived since 2003.

MEND says it is fighting so that more of Nigeria’s massive oil wealth is used to benefit the Niger Delta area which produces the oil.

The violence subsided significantly after the government offered mili-

Henry Okah first appeared at the South Gauteng High Court, South Africa October 1, 2012. He was arrested for the twin car bombings which killed 12 people in Abuja on October 1, 2010.

The bombs exploded on October 1, 2010, when Nigeria celebrated her 50th independence anniversary. Eight people were killed in the explosion that rocked Abuja.

The explosions came an hour after the main militant group in the oilrich southern delta, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), threatened in an email to attack the festivities and warned people to evacuate the area.

Okah, who had denied involvement in the attacks, which were claimed by MEND, and also denied being the leader of the group which is fighting for a greater share of the Delta region’s oil wealth, was linked with the bombing.

Despite MEND denial, Okah who had come into national and international consciousness with the body said he was arrested because he refused to tell the group to retract a statement claiming responsibility for the deadly attacks in Abuja.

He told Al Jazeera that he received a phone call from a “close associate” of Goodluck Jonathan telling him to urge the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to withdraw its claim for the bombings, which killed at least 10 people and left 36 others injured on the 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence.

“On Saturday morning, just a day after the attack, a very close associate of President Jonathan called me and explained to me that there had been a bombing in Nigeria and that President Jonathan wanted me to

reach out to the group, MEND, and get them to retract the earlier statement they had issued claiming the attacks,” Okah said.

“They wanted to blame the attacks on northerners who are trying to fight against him (Jonathan) to come back as president and if this was done, I was not going to have any problems with the South African government.

“I declined to do this and a few hours later I was arrested. It was based on their belief that I was going to do that that Jonathan issued a statement saying that MEND did not carry out the attack.”

Henry was arrested in February 2008 while in Angola to purchase arms and equipment.

Overhaul Nigeria's judicial system — NBA

The Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, yesterday called for the overhauling of Nigeria’s justice system in order to ensure speedy dispensation of criminal cases in the country.

Chairman of the association, Onyekachi Ubani, made the call while reacting to the conviction of Nigerian militant leader, Henry Okah, by a South African Court, for acts of terrorism.

“This shows that there is something fundamentally wrong with our criminal justice system and it needs to be overhauled”, Ubani said.

He said had Mr. Okah been charged for the offence in Nigeria, the matter would not have got to conviction stage by now.

“His brother (Charles) and some other persons were arrested and arraigned for the same offence in Nigeria but the matter is still proceeding at a very slow pace.

“We have a lot of agencies responsible for combating terrorism in Nigeria, but these agencies need to brace up to their duties.

“We should not allow terrorists to take over our country and the only way to do that is to bring the perpetrators to justice,” he said.

6—Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

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OUSTON, TEXAS — CHAIRMAN, Governors Forum, NGF and Rivers State Governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday, said the Minister of Niger Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe, had failed the region and should honourably resign.

Speaking with journalists in Houston, Texas, US, during a town hall meeting with Rivers State community, he said the reason for the creation of the Ministry of Niger Delta was to develop the region, adding: “Under Orubebe, what development have we witnessed? None. It is a strategy to distract the Niger Delta people by trying to hide all his failures. I had gone through the region and no presence of his ministry was felt anywhere in the area of meaningful or people oriented projects.

"I challenge him to a debate for every one project Orubebe can show me that he had done in the Niger Delta region. I will show him 10 of such projects in Rivers State. We did a 41-kilometre road to Opobo under water, yet the East-West Road on land he cannot complete. The Port Hacourt/ Owerri Road is their road, yet we are doing it with Rivers State funds.”

On his rumoured presidential ambition The governor also spoke on

‘I cannot contest against Mr. President.

We are from the same region. I respect him, and he is a good man’ his rumoured presidential ambition, saying: “I cannot contest against Mr. President.

We are from the same region.

I respect him, and he is a good man. I am tired of responding to this issue of presidential ambition. It is normal to have contrary views on some topics but it doesn’t transcend to hatred.

“It is the likes of Orubebe that fans the embers of hatred.

It is unfortunate that he can accuse me of corruption, nobody has accused me before.

If Orubebe wants us to go public any day, I am ready. I often tell them that the problem with me is that I am

From right: Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah; Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu; Senator Shaba Lafiagi and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nkeruka Onyejeocha during the commissioning of the remodelled General Aviation Terminal,Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

Resign now, Amaechi tells Orubebe not an old man. I am equal to the task of confronting anybody who confronts me on issues that are mundane.

“I advise him again to face his work, and make his presence felt in the region.

After all, I don’t have any mansion anywhere, but I know Orubebe’s mansion. If he wants, we will show the world

his mansions.”

Rivers State also hosted a business forum to attract foreign investors to the state.

The forum was declared open by the Mayor of Houston, Amise Parker, who was impressed by the performance of Governor Amaechi in Rivers State. The Mayor said that a group of Texas Business

community would visit Rivers State next month for a business trip.

On his part, Ambassador Geoffrey Teneilabe, the Nigerian Consul-General, said Rivers State under Governor Amaechi had witnessed unprecedented developments, adding: “It is blessed with a dynamic and

visionary leader with remarkable achievements in virtually every sector.”

It was gathered that hosting an investment forum in Houston, Texas was strategic, as it is the hub of business in the South-East United States with combined economies over $4.5 trillion in GDP.

Why Kwankwaso, other govs are opposed to LG autonomy — Reps

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, OKEY NDIRIBE & EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

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BUJA — THE House of Representatives, yesterday, berated Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State and other governors for opposing the local council autonomy, saying the governors may have intended to pilfer the councils’ funds.

The lawmakers said Kawankwaso’s opinion that governors should have control over their legislative houses and local council funds was the basis of corruption that has landed several former governors in jail.

In a statement by the Chairman of the House Committee on Media, Hon. Zakari Mohammed, the legislators also dismissed the allegation by the governor that members of the House were overreaching themselves with appropriation for constituency projects.

The statement noted that some governors, including their wives, have sometimes usurped the mandate of

elected state and local government legislators.

The statement followed last weekend’s report that Gov. Kwankwaso had denounced ongoing plans to grant autonomy to the state legislative houses and local governments, saying that they were examples of how the National Assembly had been turned into a breeding ground for rebellion.

In the statement made available to Vanguard, Mohammed said: “Our attention has been drawn to a recent media interview, where the governor of Kano, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, gave a lot of misleading conceptions about the Seventh House of Representatives stand on local government autonomy, independence of the state legislature and constituency projects among so many other issues.

LG autonomy long over due

“The issue of local government autonomy, as far as Nigerians are concerned, is long over due, arising from

our people public session as true representatives of the people, our constituents do not agree with the current status where local government funds are being pilfered by governors including Gov Kwankwaso at the expense of the people and chairmen who are seen as mere boys for the job. ”I challenge the Kano State governor to tell people of his state and Nigerians how these funds are managed in Kano since he came to office. We would certainly not accept a situation where governors turn themselves as demi gods in the name of joint account. It is only in Nigeria that an elected governor of a state would speak to the media frontally eroding democratic ideals of which he is a beneficiary.

“It is saddening to note that local government elections have not been held in some states since 1999. I wonder what sort of government states are running.

NASS never instigate states assemblies against govs

“Furthermore, at no time did the National Assembly instigate the 36 states assemblies against governors, rather the House of

Representatives never hid its resolve for true federalism where the federal, states and local governments would function as federating unit for the benefits of the Nigerian people.

"Kwankwaso should realise that the current unitary federalism that is being propagated by him and his colleagues is responsible for the high number of anti graft cases against governors on corruption. ”Why is he afraid of the legislatures being independent in the state? The recent outburst is seriously calling to question the integrity of a lot of men who masquerade themselves as state chief executives.

"A lot of state assemblies are an extension of the state executive council, where speakers and the House leadership permanently go cap in hand to the governors for their needs. If the state legislature is independent as it's being proposed, it would give our teeming electorate a voice, not the situation that keeps the governors as emperors of their various enclaves."

“Just recently, a governor’s wife who has no constitutional powers via a memo from her office, sacked an elected councillor, although this has since been reversed."

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013—7

Nigeria earns N6trn from oil in 11 months — CBN zRetains MPR at 12%

BY BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

L SUMMIT: From left: Governors Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, Peter Obi of Anambra State, Theodore Orji of Abia State; Senator David Mark, Senate President and Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State during the opening ceremony of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, first National Health Summit, in Asaba, yesterday.

Photo: Henry Unini.

Senate to probe funds to Police Colleges zTo summon College Commandant, others zBlames self over poor oversight

BY HENRY UMORU

A

BUJA—MOVED by the rot in the Police College, Ikeja, Lagos, where men of the Police are trained under dehumanizing condition, the Senate, yesterday, vowed to carry out a holistic probe into the funds allocated to the college and other institutions of training in the force.

It, however, blamed itself for not carrying out an effective and efficient oversight function to detect the deplorable and appalling situation of the college and then raise an alarm, prior to the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Answering questions from journalists in Abuja, yesterday, Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, ANPP, Yobe North, said the Senate had completed arrangement to summon the Police authorities to explain how funds appropriated to the college were utilised.

Lawan, however, said that the investigation of the committee would go beyond the Police College, Ikeja, with a view to finding a lasting solution to the rot in the entire system.

Lawan, who could not give the exact figures appropriated to the college, said: "I don’t have any figure off hand as to how much has been appropriated. But one thing is very certain and clear

from the visit of Mr. President to the police college in Lagos that some agencies of government have not been living up to expectations.

“The public accounts committee has already taken some steps to ensure that the police authorities appear before the committee to explain the utilisation of the funds appropriated particularly to the college. But we are also expanding beyond the college because this is a sign that all is not okay with the police organisation.

“I want to hope that the rot will stop with the police college. But if in the course of our investigation we discover that it is more than the college and that some organisations within the police are facing the same thing, then we have to take very serious action.

“First, we have to determine whether the funds were adequate so that if the funds were not adequate, we will like to see how prudent, economically and efficiently the scarce resources were utilized.

If, however, the funds were enough and someone failed to do his or her duty, we will surely recommend serious sanctions for whoever is responsible.”

Poor oversight by N-Assembly On poor oversight by National Assembly, Senator Lawan admitted that the National Assembly, particularly the Senate and House Committees on Police Affairs, would have detected the rot in the college had the committees did their jobs well.

He also fingered the Police Affairs and Police Service Commission of doing a poor job of not properly supervising the college.

He said: ‘’These are people that are directly involved with them. So it is a responsibility that we share. But I believe that we are supposed to take the lead in the oversight process because this is our major work.

“We are supposed to be visiting institutions and organisations that have been appropriated public funds to ensure that the funds are utilised properly.

“So, this is an eye opener not only for the police affairs committees but for other committees. And the Senate President has consistently told us to ensure that we have oversight functions and programmes that would ensure that no public fund is put in another way or used in an imprudent manner.

“So I am sure that we would step up our oversight. And the President should do more of this kind of thing because if anything, it would give the trainees the impression and confidence that their leaders are really concerned with what happens with their training at institutions.”

On whether the funds were enough On whether the funds for the Police were enough, he said: "I always believe that efficiency, economy, prudence and effective utilisation of resources are more important than quantum of resources, because when we emphasise

on having more funds neglecting the efficiency aspect of utilisation, we don’t achieve anything.

“Some organisations with good management could achieve more with little. It is not about the quantum of money but how strategically the funds are utilised and efficiency of utilisation.

"So I believe that we should be emphasizing efficiency, economy and prudence of funds in addition to appropriating more funds. We can also grow better environment for our organisations to function better. But I don’t think we should be limiting ourselves to quantum of funds.”

When asked whether the probe will be as holistic as that of Bureau for Public Enterprise, BPE, Lawan said: "We did not do BPE investigation as a Public Accounts Committee. You would recall that the BPE assignment was an ad hoc assignment.

"This police issue is a public account assignment. What we will do is narrow down appropriations over the year to the police and see how much has been utilised and to what the revelation will be.

“But I don’t think we will begin to investigate the police from 1999 till date. We will focus on the budget. You would recall that BPE was a total investigation and everything was involved. But with the police, I don’t think that is where we are going.”

AGOS — THE Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday, said that Nigeria received N6.24 trillion ($40 billion) as oil revenue from January to November last year.

Meanwhile, the apex bank retained its tight money supply policy, as it left the Monetary Policy Rate, MPR, at 12 per cent.

In a communiqué issued at the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, of the CBN, yesterday, the apex bank said: “In the first 11 months of 2012, oil receipts totalled US$40.087 billion.”

This, it said, enhanced the stability of the exchange rate and built up of the external reserves.

It said: “Overall, the relative stability recorded in the foreign exchange market could be attributed to the combined effects of improved supply of foreign exchange by oil companies and enhanced capital inflows from portfolio investors during the period under review.

“The Committee expressed satisfaction with the sustained accretion to external reserves which stood at US$43.849 billion as at December 31, 2012, representing an increase of US$1.682 billion or about 3.98 per cent from the level of US$42.167 billion at end-October 2012.

"Relative to the end-December 2011 level of US$32.915 billion, the external reserves at the end of December 2012, had risen by US$10.934 billion or 33.21 per cent. The increase in the level of foreign reserves was driven mainly by proceeds from crude oil and gas exports and crude oil related taxes as well as reduced funding of the WDAS on account of the huge inflow of foreign portfolio investments, which was about 77.0 per cent of total inflows through the CBN.

Retains MPR at 12% The CBN, however, defied calls for a change in its monetary policy, by leaving its Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 12 per cent.

Defending its decision to retain MPR at 12 per cent, the CBN said: “Given the stability achieved in the last 12 months with average year-on-year headline inflation rate at 12.24 per cent, in 2012, the MPR of 12 per cent was considered to be just about right.

"The Committee considered the calls for a reduction in the MPR because of the benign inflation outlook, other things being equal."

8—Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

How Nigeria can be great, by Ahamba, Babayo

Bonds: FG, AMCON, Crusader to repay N3.142trn to investors in 2013

BY MICHAEL EBOH

BY SONI DANIEL, REGIONAL EDITOR, NORTH

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BUJA—TWO promi nent Nigerians, Dr. Musa Babayo and Chief Mike Ahamba, SAN, have suggested ways of making Nigeria a great country given its enormous human and material resources.

Babayo, a one-time Acting National Secretary of the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and Ahamba, former chieftain of both the All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, and Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, spoke at the inauguration of Steve Onu as the 20th National President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners in Abuja.

Ahamba, who was the guest speaker, warned Nigerian professionals not to allow monetary benefits to determine their professional decisions, as according to him, doing so would bring more suffering and hardship to the majority while giving undue prominence to the rich and powerful in the society.

He noted that, “sustainable development of Nigeria can only be attained if the professionals, both military and civil under the three-tiers of government and in the private sector realise that there is no other group whose operation depends solely on high training and dependability.

“Nigeria is the largest black nation on earth and has been blessed with both human and material resources in abundance. One believes that it is Nigeria that has been destined by God to make the statement of intellectual development equally or partially with other races of the world".

However, Babayo noted that the country was "still transiting’’ and therefore needed the support and cooperation of Nigerian experts to make the required advancement in various sectors of the economy.

The former Secretary of the PDP, said the country required professionals to solve its challenges, adding that.“President Goodluck Jonathan has noble intensions for Nigeria but these will always remain mere gestures if Nigerian experts do not support him to move them into reality for the benefit of all.’’

T

HE Federal Government, As set Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON and Crusader Nigeria Plc, will redeem bonds valued at N3.142 trillion to investors this year.

A breakdown of the bonds, according to data obtained from Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, and Debt Management Office, DMO, revealed that the Federal Government will redeem N140 billion to investors, while corporate bonds issued by AMCON and Crusader valued at N3 trillion will be redeemed after maturity at the end of the year.

AMCON’s N3 trillion bond, issued on April 6, 2011, in three tranches will mature December 31, 2013, while Crusader’s bond, issued on September 30, 2008, will mature September 30, 2013.

A breakdown of the Federal Government bonds to mature this year shows that nine of the bonds, with maturity periods of between three and 10-year will be redeemed after maturity in 2013.

According to the data, one of the bonds has a maturity period of three years, two bonds have fiveyear maturity periods, five bonds have seven-year maturities, while one bond has a 10-year maturity period.

The 9.45 percent Federal Government, January 2013 bond, worth N10 billion, issued on January 25, 2008 will mature January 25, 2013; the N20 billion 5.5 percent Federal Government February 2013 bond, issued February 2010 will mature February 19, 2013 while the 15 percent Federal Government May 2013 bond, issued May 2006 and valued at N10 billion will be redeemed May 26, 2013.

The Federal Government will redeem in June 30, 2013, the 16 percent Federal Government June 2013 bond worth N20 billion; the 3.75 percent Nigerian Treasury Bills Rate Federal Government September 2013 worth N40 billion will mature September 30, 2013, while the 12.74 percent Federal Government October 2013 bond valued at N10 billion will mature October 27, 2013.

Also, the 10.98 percent Federal Government November 2013, the 10.50 percent Federal Government November 2013 and the 11.99 percent Federal Government December 2013 bonds valued at N10 billion each, will mature November 24, November 28 and December 22, 2013 respectively.

Federal Government, according to DMO, had issued a total of N2.4 trillion bonds since 2003 till date, while the total outstanding bond was N1.917 trillion.

The DMO, last year, appointed

Stanbic IBTC as stockbroker for Federal Government bonds, while NSE, named Capital Bancorp; Cordros Capital; ESS/Dunn Loren Merrifield; FSDH Securities; Greenwich Securities and GTB Securities as market makers

for bonds listed on NSE. This was in line with the planned introduction of retail bonds trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, Director

General, DMO, said retail investors, interested in the Federal Government bond could now do that through the secondary market, with the appointment of Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers to manage the bonds.

From left: Oba Rilwan Akiolu, Oba of Lagos; Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Deputy Governor and Mr. Ademorin Kuye, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, during the inauguration of the newly constituted Council of Obas and Chiefs at Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Bunmi Azeez.

....As CBN retains interest rate at 12%

BY EMMANUEL ELEBEKE

A

BUJA—THE Monetary Pol icy Committee, MPC, of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, rose from its 87th meeting yesterday, in Abuja, saying that the bank would retain its Monetary Policy Rate at 12 per cent.

MPR is the rate at which the CBN lends to banks, which is a key factor in determining the interest rate at which Deposit Money Banks lend to their customers.

Briefing newsmen at the end of the meeting, governor of the Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, stated that the committee took the decision to retain rates as it stood with MPR at 12 per cent with a corridor of +/- 200 basis points and reiterated the commitment of the MPC to act appropriately in case government spending contributed to inflation.

On why CBN has continued to retain the MPR at 12 per cent, Sanusi said the economy “cannot have low interest rate in high inflation rate regime,” adding that “CBN ‘s ability to bring down rates is a function of its ability to maintain stability.”

Sanusi said “people should also not underestimate the impact of instability on the Small and Medium Enterprises. High interest rates are not the only reason

SMEs cannot access cheap credit." The CBN governor said he could not “tell when rates would come down, but would also like to see rates come down, just as the Federal Government wants rates to come down.”

According to the CBN governor, the committee also agreed to maintain the Cash Reserve Ration, CRR, at 12 per cent and liquidity ratio at 13 per cent as the committee admitted that broad money supply (M2) grew by 13.

72 percent in December 2012 over the level at the end of December 2011, noting that aggregated domestic credit grew by 1.

98 percent in December, which is substantially below the benchmark of 52.17 percent for the year and expressed satisfaction with the external reserve which stood at $43.849billion as at December 31, 2012, representing an increase of $1.682billion or about 3.98 percent from the level of $42.167billion at October 2012.

According to him, the MPC observed that on the average, inflationary pressure was elevated in 2012, unlike the year-on-year headline inflation rate in 2012 which stood at 12.24 percent, while the average core and food inflation year-on-year stood at 13.87 and 11.32 percent.

It noted that the food and non-

alcoholic beverages, housing, water, electricity and transport were major drivers of headline inflation in December 2012 in addition to the pick up in food inflation in the later part of 2012.

The committee, he said, further observed that the performance of the global economy remained largely subdued and was characterized by uncertainty and contraction in the Euro zone and Japan, as well as lower than expected growth in the large emerging and developing economies.

In its unanimous resolutions, the committee arrived at an increase in the MPR in response to the higher oil price benchmark for fiscal 2013, reduction in MPR, in view of the declining GDP growth trajectory and headline inflation, retaining the current monetary policy stance in view of conflicting price signal.

The CBN governor also noted that the nation's foreign reserve rose to $44 billion as at January 2013, as the average interbank call and OBB rate for the period January 2013 were 11.09 percent and 11.03 percent respectively and average lending rate increased slightly to 16.54 percent in December 2012 from 16.48 and 16.51 percent in October and November 2012 respectively.

Vanguard , TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013—9

Afenifere berates Sanusi over call for ban of ethnoreligious organisations

Obanikoro: My campaign posters are fake, cheap, miscalculated

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AGOS — FORMER Nigeria's high Commissioner to Ghana, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, yesterday, described as cheap and miscalculated, some fake campaign posters that flooded certain parts of Lagos State, weekend, purportedly presenting him as running for the governorship of the state in 2015.

Obanikoro, who is out of the country at the moment, said whatever the motive behind the move was, had failed ab initio, because the strategy was oldfashioned, the timing illadvised and the intention stymied as it were.

He said the fake posters were intended to either to “present him as desperate or a politician of uncompromising tendencies,” noting that both intentions had failed because they could neither push him out in the ring nor stifle him.

According to him, “Honestly, this has not come to me as a surprise because I understand the terrain in which I operate. But I would have thought that even if those who relish in destructive politics still admire the trade, they could have at least, gone a notch up in their game.

BY DAPO AKINREFON

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Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos (4th left), Chief Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi, Chairman, DAAR Communications (3rd left) and others, during DAAR Communications Plc management's visit to GovernorFashola, on DAAR Communications' Education Services Programme, in Lagos House Alausa, Ikeja. Photo: Bunmi Azeez

Protesters paralyse activities at Lagos Governor's Office

By OLASUNKANMI AKONI AND MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

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AGOS— ACTIVITES at Lagos Island Local Government and the Governor ’s office, Alausa, Ikeja, were paralysed, yesterday, as hundreds of Lagos Island Fashion Dealers Association members, protested over the continued closure of Breadfruit Street by Governor Babatunde Fashola.

This came as members of the State House of Assembly, urged the State Master Bakers and Caterers Association to come up with ways including sending a bill to House to check quackery in industry.

Chairman, House Committee on Health Services, Suuru Avoseh, gave the advice during a meeting between the Committee and association of Master Baker and Caterers, yesterday, at the assembly complex, Alausa, Ikeja.

The aggrieved traders who

trooped to the streets as early as 9:00 a.m., marched through various streets on the ever busy Central Business District, CBD,, chanting antigovernment slogans to express their displeasure over the continued closure of the street largely occupied by foot wears traders.

It would be recalled that fire gutted Euroasia Plaza, a fivestorey building housing the traders and a branch of a commercial bank, on October 27, 2012, prompting the governor to order its immediate closure.

Some of the streets occupied by the traders affected by the closure include Martins Street, Broad Street, Balogun Street and others.

On Broad Street, the traders mounted road blocks and disrupted free flow of traffic.

3 feared dead as Police, hoodlums clash in Lagos

By EVELYN USMAN

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AGOS —No fewer than three persons were, yesterday, feared dead, while others were injured, following a violent clash between social miscreants and Policemen at Ikotun area of Lagos.

But a Police source told Vanguard that only one person died.

Vanguard gathered that trouble started at about 11a.m. after a team of Policemen from Area ‘M’ Command, Idimu, stormed an Indian hemp joint around Agbole area of Ikotun to effect arrest of some suspected hoodlums.

But their attempt met a stiff resistance from the suspects, and this led to a heated

argument between both parties.

In the ensuing altercation, one of the Policemen allegedly fired a shot which killed one of the suspects on the spot.

However, at about 4p.m, youths numbering over 100, said to be armed with dangerous weapons, stormed Ikotun Division to protest the death of one of their own.

Hoodlums reportedly hijacked the situation, as they attempted to burn down the station.

Eye witnesses said in the process, policemen fired some shots into the air to disperse the crowd.

Unconfirmed sources, however, said three persons were hit by stray bullets, while others sustained varying

degrees of injuries as they scampered for safety.

Traders were said to have hurriedly locked up for the day, as commercial buses were deprived from plying the route by the protesters who reportedly took over the road.

The traders displayed placards with inscriptions such as: “We want our stalls reopened, Three months after Euroasia inferno, we are tired of sitting at home, Is there government in Nigeria, Our children are suffering, Please, Fashola, come to our aid and others.”

The traders said “all we want is for Governor Babatunde Fashola to order that our stalls be re-opened for us to commence business activities.

The inferno wasn’t as bad as the Jankara fire-crackers explosion. And their market has been re-opened.”

Chairman of the association, Mr. Arinze Ugonabo, said “Since the incident, the government has relocated pupils of St. Paul Primary School on the street. But we have not been allowed to make use of our shops.

One would have expected the state government to compensate the traders, but what we received from the government was closure.

The traders later trooped to the Governor ’s Office, Alausa, and barricaded the premises.

They barricaded the entrance to the Governor ’s Office and other roads, obstructing the free flow of traffic for several hours.

AGOS — A PANY O R U B A o r g a n i s a t i o n , Afenifere Renewal Group ARG, has berated Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi over his recent call for the banning of religous and ethnic organisations.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kunle Famoriyo, the group advised the CBN governor to focus his attention on effective management of the country’s irreverent and depreciating naira rather than dabbling into politics.

While calling on the CBN governor to explain what informed his decision to make such calls, the group said "the control and administration of the monetary and financial sector and policies of the Federal Government rest with the CBN under his watch.

"It is in the light of this that ARG asked the CBN Governor, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to focus his attention on the effective management of the country’s irreverent and depreciating naira, inflation rate that currently stands at 12.3 per cent, and a lending rate at 12 per cent MPR (in comparison to Kenya, seven per cent; Burkina Faso, 4.2 per cent and South Africa five per cent.

Continuing, the statement included: "Rwanda, seven per cent; Egypt 9.5 per cent; Central African Republic, Chad, and Equatorial Guinea at 5.8 per cent, among others.

....SARS kills 3 suspected robbers

By IFEANYI OKOLIE

L

AGOS —THREE members of a notorious robbery gang who allegedly took part in the killing of five policemen and two civilians in separate robbery operations in Ajah and Oyingbo areas of the Lagos State earlier in the month have been shot dead.

Vanguard gathered that the

operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, in Ikeja, who were on the trail of the bandits since the January 12, 2012, robbery incidents occurred, engaged members of the gang in a shoot-out at NYSC Camp in Iyanapaja, Lagos.

Police sources intimidated Vanguard that SARS operatives received an

intelligence report on Sunday evening that members of the gang had stormed the NYSC Camp, which serve as their hideout, in a blue coloured, Honda Civic (registration number withheld )and were strategising to carry out a robbery attack in a yet-to- beascertained area of the state.

10—Vanguard , TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

Mimiko's inauguration committee constituted

BY DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE —A 20-man inauguration committee has been constituted to organise the second term inauguration activities of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State.

They include the State’s Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Akin Adaramola, as chairman; his Ministry of Information counterpart, Kayode A k i n m a d e , Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Deji Falae, Dayo Fadahunsi, Lady Yemi Mahmud, Tunde Fajimbola, Mrs Bolanle Olufunmiloye, Mrs Funmi Ogundipe, Mrs Tolani Isiyaku,among others.

The committee promised to set a standard for the nation with the inauguration ball.

Ekiti NSCDC threatens action against illegal recruitment

BY GBENGAARIYIBI

A

DO EKITI —THE Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Ekiti State Command, has raised alarm over illegal recruitment on its behalf in the state, threatening to deal with any individual or groups involved in the crime.

It was gathered that the illegal recruitment was being done through cyber cafe.

A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the organisation, Mr. Tolulope Afolabi, said, ‘’It has come to the notice of NSCDC, Ekiti State Command, Ado-Ekiti that some obstinate elements in the state are still going around recruiting in the name of Civil Defence.

The Command hereby states clearly that there is no recruitment exercise going on anywhere in the country in the name of NSCDC. "The website created to recruit employees into the Corps is fake, illegal, and fraudulent," he said.

Amosun locked out of office, drives self to office .Orders Commissioners living in Lagos back to Abeokuta

By DAUD OLATUNJI

A

BEOKUTA —SECURITY operatives Sunday locked out Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State,

denying him access to his office, this came even as the governor drove himself to the office yesterday as his Aide de Camp, ADC, orderly and driver were nowhere to be

found.

Vanguard gathered that when the trio learnt that the governor had left for office, they tried to catch up with him.

UCH resident doctors on 3-day warning strike

BY OLA AJAYI

IBADAN— MEMBERS of the Association of Resident Doctors, ARD, of the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, yesterday began a

three-day warning strike, to protest alleged attack of one their members by members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in the state, weekend.

Members of the union were said to have become violent

on Saturday while waiting to receive the remains of the deputy Chairman, NURTW in the state, Alhaji Kamorudeen Beyioku, who was reportedly killed by yet to be identified gunmen.

Oba Lamidi Addeyemi, Alaafin of Oyo (right), and Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, during the latter's sympathy visit over Alaafin's burnt palace, yesterday.

Soldiers remove abandoned vehicles, trucks on Shagamu-Ore Expressroad

BY DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE —MEN of the 32 Artillery Brigade of the Nigeria Army, in Ondo State have started evacuating abandoned vehicles and trucks on the ever busy Shagamu-Ore expressway.

The directive to the soldiers to rid the busy expressway is said to be connected to the insecurity that has become synonymous with the

highway.

A statement issued on behalf of the Brigade Commander

by Colonel Muhammed Suleiman Zubair, on the exercise tagged “Operation Enforcement of Trailers Off Benin-Ore-Shagamu Highway”, said the exercise had commenced.

The statement explained that the highway fell within the Brigade’s Area of

Responsibility AOR and noted that “the operation is aimed at checkmating the indiscriminate parking of trailers, fuel tankers and other heavy trucks along the highway.”

It decried reckless parking of heavy duty and other trucks on the road, saying it “has become worrisome and constituting a source of threat to other road users.

This came as the governor ordered all his commissioners resident in Lagos State to relocate to Abeokuta with immediate effect.

Amosun who broke the news of his lock-out at a one-day strategic management workshop for Permanent Secretaries in Ogun State Civil Service, said he was denied access to his office by security operatives on guard at the entrance to the office.

The governor explained that he was coming from Lagos and later decided to go to his office and do a few things ahead of Monday’s work, but could not get access into his Oke-Mosan office complex.

He said: “On Sunday security operatives dropped the ball. I was coming from Lagos around 6p.m. and I stopped at the office, but I was locked out because they were not expecting me to come at that time. What I wanted to do I couldn’t do, I have to turn back.

"I have keys to the main office but not to the frontage.

Again, all the people working with me dropped the ball, I was to come to the office by 7a.m., so that I could quickly do some things before all my schedules.

"But when I was ready, I got out and nobody was found.

ADC was nowhere, orderly was nowhere to be found, the driver was not there. I collected the key and that was how I got to the office.”

The Governor also announced that he had ordered all his Commissioners resident in Lagos to relocate to the state to resume early for work.

He added: "All the Commissioners know the rule, they now come early, and I am sure we are doing well, but we have to improve on what we are doing.

Meantime, Amosun who likened the expectation from the civil service to a football match advised that every individual should hold the ball and not drop it, explaining that the civil service was the engine room of any government.

Suspended elected LG officials' case against Gbenga Daniel struck out

By DAUD OLATUNJI

A

B E O K U TA — A N Abeokuta High Court, yesterday, dismissed a suit against former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel over the suspension of elected officials of Ijebu-East Local Government Council for filing the suit outside three months period required by law It will be recalled that the suspended chairman, Mr.

Tunde Oladunjoye, alongside others, had approached the court to challenge former governor Daniel’s action While striking out the suit, Justice Tajudeen Oguntuga, said both the executive and legislative arm of the council erred for filing the suit on February 23,2010, some days after the stipulated three months had lapsed.

The judge who described

the suspension as illegal and unconstitutional, however, ignored all the five prayers pleaded for by the claimants.

According to the judge, the governor had power to suspend any erring local government chairman or his vice for a period of not more than three months within which an enquiry must be carried out.

But, he faulted the action of the state government under

the administration of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, stating that the suspended elected officials ought to have been recalled after the expiration of the three months.

“It is only the state House of Assembly that has the constitutional duty to empower the state governor to dissolve the council and not otherwise as did by the state government,” he said.

Vanguard, TUESDAY TUESDAY,, JANUARY 22, 2013—11

Igbo traders in Edo protest, demand Perm Sec’s removal

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

B

ENIN—BARELY one week after he was sworn in by Governor Adams Oshiomhole as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, thousands of Igbo traders at Mission Road, Benin City, Edo State, yesterday, protested to the state Government House, calling for the removal of Maj. Lawrence Loye, over what they described as his unwarranted closure of their shops in the area.

The placard-carrying protesters, who lamented that they woke up to see their shops locked up for reasons unknown to them, described Loye as a dictator and appealed to Governor Oshiomhole to save shop owners from the hands of Maj. Loye.

They contended that operating businesses in the state had been hell due to situations where their shops were either locked or they were asked to pay exorbitant taxes.

Reacting, Maj. Loye described the call for his sack as nonsense, explaining that the shops were locked up because the owners refused to

N-Delta youths pass confidence vote on Kuku

BY FESTUS AHON

U

GHELLI—SPECIAL Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta Matters and Chairman of the Amnesty Programme of the Federal Government, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, has been commended by Niger Delta Youth Movement, NDYM, for his contribution to the restoration of peace in the region.

National Executive Council of NDYM, which, yesterday, passed a vote of confidence on Kuku, said after meticulously reviewing Kuku’s contributions to the efforts of the Federal Government to restore peace in the Niger Delta, it noted that he had proved himself as a committed, hardworking and devoted public servant.

A statement by its National President, Mr. Godspower Odenema, said: “NDYM remarks with excitement the fact that the prevailing peace in the nine states of the Niger Delta and the improvement in the production of crude oil are attributable to Kuku’s hard work.”

obey the sanitation laws of the state, which he said, resulted in the blockage of drains constructed by the state government on Mission Road.

He said: “These people are destroying government property and unless they clear the

drains and ensure daily cleaning of the business area, we will not open the market.

“Today (yesterday) is supposed to be sanitation day and I was at the market as early as 7:30am to ensure that those sweeping the road and garden-

ers were around.

“When we started monitoring to ensure that the sanitation law was complied with, we discovered that the store owners or the landlords had blocked the drainages which were only constructed six months ago.”

Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Lady Valerie Ebe (middle), and Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Godwin Afangideh (left), during the flag off ceremony for distribution of food items to flood victims in the state, at the Grain Processing Warehouse, on Ikot Abasi Road, Abak, yesterday.

Report govs to political parties, ex-minister tells Jonathan

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

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ORT HARCOURT— PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has been advised to report governors to their political parties to call them to order, if he found excesses in their actions under the banner of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF. Chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and former Minister of Sports, Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas, who gave the advice in

an interview with Vanguard in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said NGF has no constitutional backing and as such, should not be seen to embarrass the system in any way.

He said: “Governors Forum has no constitutional right and authority. The onus is on the President to lead Nigeria. The President should report them to their political parties if there are noticeable excesses in their operations. If the governors are trying to embarrass the system, the President should be able to discuss with the political par-

ties to call them to order.”

On the Petroleum Industry Bill, the former minister cautioned against actions that could divide the country.

He said members of the National Assembly should take a critical look at the Bill after which it should be passed into law.

“We should avoid any situation that would bring a divide between the oil producing areas and the non-oil producing because it will be very unfortunate for the country if there was to be a problem.”

Dickson urged to probe violence against women, children in Bayelsa women.

NACVC’s Coordinator, PrinBY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

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ENAGOA—NATION AL Anti-Corruption Volunteer Corps, NACVC, has expressed concern over what it described as the rising cases of rape, child abuse and violence against women in Bayelsa State.

In a Save Our Soul, SOS, to the state governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, the group called on the government to

prevail on the state police command to initiate a high powered investigation into the alleged gang rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl, Miss Imomoemi Esegi, by some youths.

It said a detailed report was being compiled on behalf of United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF, by its affiliate group, Operation Rescue, on the high incidence of child rape, child abuse, child trafficking and labour and violence against

cess Elizabeth Egbe, in the SOS, argued that the data compiled showed that over a hundred cases of violence against children and women had been carried out in most parts of the state without any of the culprits being prosecuted or jailed by the police due to the greed of parents for financial settlement and fear of disclosure.

In the data made available to newsmen, Egbe explained that 70 cases of abuses were recorded in 2012.

Lori-Ogbebor resolves land dispute in Delta community

BY EMMA ARUBI

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ARRI—THE al leged illegal sale of Ugbuwangue community market land by one of the leaders of the community that resulted in a crisis, has been resolved

by Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor with the swearing-in of a 12-man interim management committee.

The committee has Mr. Popo Ben Omamogho as Chairman; Mercy French, Secretary and Kingsley Keke as treasurer. It also has Daisy Mene, Olaye Izuagie, Alex Skinn and Kele Mene as members among others.

Swearing-in the 12man management committee at Ugbuwangue, Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State, weekend, Chief Lori-Ogbebor, who is the Chairman of the community’s ruling council, appointed by His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse II, the Olu of Warri, charged them with the administration of the market, pending when all cases/disputes over the ownership of the land were settled.

Delta 2015: Apah flays comments on Ochei

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socio-political organisation in Delta State, Delta Focus Group, DFG, has condemned media reports credited to Concerned Delta Central for Okowa, CDCO, that it was a sin for Mr. Victor Ochei, Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, to contest the 2015 governorship election in the state.

Mr. Sunday Apah, Secretary of DFG, in a statement, said it would never be a sin, if Ochei decides to contest the 2015 governorship race, adding that it was only natural for any good politician to reciprocate a good deed by another politician.

He said: “What we urged Senator Ifeanyi Okowa to do was to reciprocate the good work Ochei did for him during his senatorial election in 2011.”

12—Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

Izon-Ebe urged to support passage of PIB

BY EMMA AMAIZE

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ARRI—THE new leadership of Izon-Ebe Oil Producing Communities Forum in Niger Delta, has been asked to ensure that the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, was passed into law by the National Assembly and assented to by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Outgoing president of the group, Chief Favour Izoukumor, gave the charge at a handover ceremony in Warri to the new executive, led by Mr. Moses Edoughan.

He said: “I feel proud and honoured to have led this excellent forum.

To me, it is a dream come true to see another successor with new ideas and fresh energy taking over the mantle of leadership of Izon-Ebe, and I urge them to continue the race by taking the forum to another level and dimension."

CSR Initiative: Bristow Group kits 400 pupils in A-Ibom

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ELICOPTER Service providers, Bristow Helicopters Nigeria Ltd, in line with its corporate social responsibility, initiative christened, “Bristow Uplift” has brought succour to more than 400 pupils drawn from four community schools in Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State with the provision of school kits which include school bags, uniforms, shoes, sportswear and sweaters.

Describing the initiative as the “Bristow Way of lending a hand”, the Managing Director, Bristow Helicopters Nigeria Ltd, Captain Akin Oni, said: “Improving education is one of the biggest challenges facing Nigeria, and we want to provide support for pre-primary school children because that is the critical time to make sure these kids have what they need to succeed.”

FG to boost power supply with 400MM scf gas

BY KUNLE KALEJAY E

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HE Federal Govern ment is set to boost power supply in the country with 400 Million Metric Standard Cubit Feet per day of gas following the unveiling of Oredo Integrated Gas Handing Facility, IGHF, at Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC operated field in Edo State.

The facility, which currently supplies 65 million Metric Standard Cubic Feet per Day, MMscfd, has ramped up NPDC’s total gas production to a record 400MMscfd which is expected to increase to 600MMscfd by year end, is envisaged to boost the Federal Government’s power supply drive.

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in a statement, yesterday, said the project was in line with the ongoing reform process in the industry designed to ensure the monetization of the nation’s gas endowment through gas to power and other gas related uses.

She noted that the Oredo gas project, which is 100 per-

cent local content in design and construction, was in furtherance of Federal Government’s desire to grow and support effective indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry.

She said: “It is this commitment to support indigenous oil and gas production growth that led to the assignment of a number of assets to NPDC. Govern-

ment’s commitment is further reflected in the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, 2012, currently before the National Assembly, where special consideration had been given to indigenous players in the industry. ” Providing technical details of the project, Group Managing Director of Nigerian Na-

NMA SUMMIT: Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State (middle) welcoming Prof.

Onyebuchi Chukwu, Minister of Health, Senator Chris Ngige, Chairman, Senate Committee on Health (right) on arrival to Asaba, Delta State capital, ahead of the Nigeria Medical Association 1st National Health Summit in Asaba, yesterday. Photo: Henry Unini.

Oshiomhole blames Oyerinde's death on doctor's nonchalance

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

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SABA—GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomole of Edo State, yesterday, in Asaba, Delta State, lamented what he described as the decay in the medical sector, particularly as some personnel allow patients to die due to strikes or absence from duty, noting that his former Private Secretary, Mr. Olaitan Oyerinde, might have survived if he was attended to promptly, when he was rushed to hospital after he was shot.

Speaking at the opening of the 1st Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Nation-

al Health summit in Asaba, Governor Oshiomole said it was unethical for any doctor after subscribing to the Hippocratic oath, allow patients to die because of strike or outright neglect.

Oshiomole said: “I was shocked when, after my Private Secretary was shot and was rushed to Central Hospital in Benin, Edo State, the doctor on duty did not open his door for 30 minutes. When the door was eventually opened, he came out with a nurse. We were wondering whether they had converted the office to a bedroom.

“We are not going to speculate what could have happened but just to say that these are seri-

ous ethical issues and NMA should be ruthless in dealing with any of its member found wanting for any reason. After Oyerinde breathed for 30 minutes, he was gone."

Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuichi Chukwu in his key note address, said he had directed that “on no account should cases which could be handled by some of our private health facilities be referred from government teaching hospitals to private hospitals overseas."

President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, declared the occasion open which was attended by the governors of Abia, Anambra and a host of dignitaries, including the host governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.

Bayelsa accuses failed politicians of sponsoring kidnappings “The government of Mr. Se-

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AYELSA State Govern ment, yesterday, accused those it described as failed politicians of sponsoring kidnapping of innocent citizens in the state.

Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, in a statement, yesterday, said: “From the facts at our disposal, it is clear that some failed politicians, especially the arrow heads of

tional Petroleum Corporation, Engr. Andrew Yakubu, said the IGHF which symbolized NNPC’s response to the Federal Government's gas to power initiative was the first major gas development project aimed at realising NPDC’s strategic growth plan of being an integrated oil and gas company.

those who lost out in the power equation in the state, are working hard behind the scene with some forces outside the state to sponsor kidnapping of innocent citizens in the state.

“Their aim is not only to scare away investors and stall development, but also to make the state ungovernable and give the impression that the government of the day is incapable of securing the lives and property of citizens.

riake Dickson has not only given top priority to security, it has also shown enough political will to protect lives and property in the state. Indeed, it is clear to all that this government had been able to turn around Bayelsa State from a haven of cultism, violence and criminality to a state that is clearly adjudged as one of the most peaceful states in the country."

Returnees from Libya beg Oshiomhole for agric loans

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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ENIN—THE over 500 Libyan returnees in Edo State have appealed to Governor Adams Oshiomhole to provide them grants and loans, having been trained in different agricultural fields, to enable them commence work in the sector.

The returnees noted that if the grant, which was earlier promised to them by the state government was not redeemed early enough, they might forget the agricultural skills already acquired during the training.

President of Initiative for Youth Awareness on Migration, Immigration Development and Re-integration, IYAMIBR, Mr. Solomon Okonduwa, who commended Governor Oshiomhole for training the returnees in agricultural skills, said the members would help boost food production in the state, if they were empowered with grants and loans to set up their farms.

He said: “The Ugbogui community in Ovia South-West has offered us 16,666 hectares of land. We want to start the cultivation of the land as we wait for the farming season."

Vanguard , TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 —13

Sex worker jailed 6 years for manslaughter L

BY ONOZURE DANIA

AGOS—A 27-year-old com mercial sex worker, Nkechi Okafor, who was accused of murdering a client, Abiodun Sarumi, has been sentenced to six years imprisonment.

Okafor was yesterday, sentenced

by Justice Lateefa Okunnu of an Ikeja High Court to six years imprisonment, starting from the time she was remanded in prison custody.

The prosecution had earlier charged Miss Okafor for murder, but later amended the charge to manslaughter.

Okunnu said from evidence before her, Miss Okafor acted on im-

pulse by stabbing Sarumi but without the intention to kill.

She noted that her defence for the act was not enough to exonerate her of the crime.

After the judge pronounced the judgment, Miss Okafor, pleaded with the court, amid sobs, to have mercy on her, saying she didn’t have anybody to help her and that she was sorry for what happened.

Her defence counsel, Mrs. A. Onabolu, who also pleaded on her behalf, said the defendant was a young woman in her prime, a first offender and that she was sorry for what happened.

It will be recalled that the accused was first arraigned on March 16, 2012, on a one-count charge of murder.

The prosecuting counsel, Olabisi Ogungbesan, had told the court that the accused on March 2, 2010, at about 23:30 hours, at Nice Time Hotel, Old Ipaja Road, Lagos, killed her client, one Mr. Abiodun Sarumi, by stabbing him with a bottle on his shoulder, close to the armpit.

Ogungbesan said investigation carried out in the matter by Inspector Ada Erondu from state Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Lagos, confirmed that when she visited the scene

of the crime at Nice Time Hotel, she saw broken glasses of the window of the hotel.

She said the sex worker admitted that she stabbed Sarumi but that she didn’t know that he was going to die.

She added that on the said date of the crime, Sarumi came out with blood all over him and was shouting for help.

Ogungbesan said an angry mob, which saw Sarumi in blood, wanted to kill Nkechi, who ran back to the room and locked herself in.

In her evidence-in-chief, Okafor claimed that she killed the victim in self-defence.

Health, Agric ministries to partner on Save a Million Lives project

BY VICTORIA OJEME

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BUJA—THE Federal Ministry of Health has conclude plans to partner with the Federtal Ministry of Agriculture to take advantage of its GSM phone for famers project to channel health information to pregnant women, under its Save a Million Lives Project.

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources plans to acquire 60 million mobile phones for rural farmers as part of its project to improve distribution of farm imputs and farmers access to vital information.

Speaking at a meeting with the United Nations Foundation, led by the Executive Director of Health Alliance, Patricia Mechael, Minister of State for Health, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, said the collaboration would ensure that pregnant women and children got health information when and where they needed it.

Obi assures on renovation of schools

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

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WKA—TWO thou sand secondary school students from both the public and private schools in Anambra State yesterday inundated Governor Peter Obi with problems in their schools, even as the governor pledged to continue the ongoing massive renovation of schools by the state government.

The town hall meeting, the fifth by Obi’s administration, provided the pupils the opportunity to ask the governor any question, including criticizing him publicly on any issue without being gagged.

As the questions came, the governor and other government functionaries, including officials of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, and the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, observed that despite the huge investments in the schools so far, there were still more to be done.

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C M Y

14 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

Ebonyi House passes 2013 budget

BY PETER OKUTU

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BAKALIKI— EBONYI State House of Assembly, yesterday, passed the 2013 budget estimate of N104.37 billion into law The figure, which was not altered by the State House of Assembly, was presented to it by Governor, Chief Martin Elechi on December 21, 2012.

Giving an in-depth analysis of the budget, the Chairman, Finance and Appropriation Committee of the House, Mr Oliver Nwachukwu, stated that the budget estimate was designed for the overall development of the state, adding that every sector in the state was not left out.

He said: “Its capital expenditure exceeded that of the recurrent expenditure by over 52 per cent, and this is good for the state.”

NAFDAC warns Onitsha drug market traders

BY VINCENT UJU-

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MADU

WKA—THE Na tional Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, warned yesterday in the commercial city of Onitsha that it would not hesitate to close down the Bridge Head drug marke, if the traders there failed to maintain the standard required by the agency.

NAFDAC coordinator in Onitsha, Mr. Dauda Gimba, who gave the warning after presenting awards for NAFDAC Consumer Safety Club Schools’ competition held in Onitsha, recalled the closure of the market five years ago, adding that there was no guarantee that the situation would not repeat itself if the traders continued to misbehave.

Ezu River: 18 bodies evacuated as autopsy begins today medicals, the state Commis- ing out the autopsy. ing that the police would be sioner for Health and patholNasarawa stated further that providing additional informaWKA—EIGHTEEN de ogists from the two states investigations were still con- tion on the matter at the right composed bodies evacuatwould be involved in carry- tinuing on the matter, assur- time. ed from Ezu River on the border town of Amansea, between Enugu and Anambra states, will today be subjected to autopsy to be jointly carried out

by Anambra and Enugu State governments and their police commands.

Anambra State police commissioner, Mr. Bala Nassarawa, gave the figure yesterday while addressing Divisional Police Officers, DPOs, and other senior police officers in the state.

Nassarawa confirmed that all the dead bodies were males, adding that three bodies had been selected for the autopsy because the other 15 had become too bad.

He said: “We have also discovered that there were no gun injuries or matchet cuts on their bodies as being speculated and the dead bodies were not up to MEETING: Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State addressing students from various schools 30 or 50 as rumored.” in the state, during a Town Hall Meeting with them at the Women Development Centre, According to him, the ComAwka, yesterday. missioner of Police in charge of

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BY VINCENT UJUMADU

NSCDC arrests 4 suspected vandals in Ebonyi

BY PETER OKUTU

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BAKALIKI—EBONYI State Command of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, said yesterday it arrested four persons suspected to be involved in vandalisation of transformers meant for Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, in the state.

Parading the suspects at the Command’s Headquarters, Abakaliki, the Corps Public Relations Officer, Assistant Su-

perintendent of Corp, ASC Emmanuel Nwali, explained that the suspected vandals were rounded up at Orizor in Ezza North Local Government area where they were allegedly seen tampering with the transformer opposite the residence of Senator Igwe Nwagu.

According to him, one of those arrested claimed to be a staff of PHCN as items recovered from the suspected vandals were safety belt, pli-

ers, fuses and cables.

He said: “The men you are seeing here are suspected vandals arrested on 29th of December, 2012 when our Armed Squad were on patrol at Orizor opposite Senator Igwe Nwagu’s compound where a transformer is located.

“There have been series of complains that the transformer was often vandalized by unknown persons. One of our men that were deployed within that jurisdiction got the information and

Imo youths protest spate of insecurity

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

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WERRI—SCORES of youths in Imo State yesterday marched through the major streets of Owerri before ending up in Government House, Owerri, to protest the increasing level of insecurity in the state.

The placard carrying youths, who were spotting black attires, sang songs condemning the increasing cases of kidnapping and senseless killing of innocent citizens.

One of the youths, who identified himself as Godfrey Emeka, said they were particularly irked by the recent abduction and brutal murder of the Deputy Governor’s Director of Protocol, Mr. Laz Anyanwu.

“Imo is no longer safe for anybody, especially the youths. We are worried about the level of kid-

napping and senseless murder of innocent persons,” Emeka said.

Urging the state government to rise up to the challenge, the youths also warned that they might migrate to safer areas in the country, if nothing was done to change the ugly situation.

Anyim, Jega, Adeola, Otti bag UNN honourary degrees

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BY TONY EDIKE

NUGU—SECRETARY to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, and four distinguished personalities have been selected to receive honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Nigeria, UNN, at its 42nd convocation on Saturday, January 25.

The other four award recipients are Prof. Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC;

Mr. Fola Adeola, Chairman and Founder of Guaranty Trust Bank and Dr. Alex Otti, Group Managing Director/Chief Executive of Diamond Bank.

UNN Vice Chancellor, Prof Bartholomew Okolo, who disclosed this at the pre-Convocation press briefing in Enugu, yesterday, said the university decided to honour the awardees for their “remarkable contributions to the development of our country.”

alerted our armed squad team.

“So, while they were on patrol, they discovered some men who were tampering with the transformer. One of those arrested who is an electrician claimed to be a NEPA staff when he is not.”

Ecological degradation in S-East worries FG

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

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WERRI—THE Min ister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, has said the Federal Government was obviously worried by the ecological degradation facing the South East geopolitical zone of the country.

He also described as shocking and most unacceptable the fact that a contract awarded back on December 12, 2004, for a hostel in Federal University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO, had remained unrealised till date.

Maku, who stated these while fielding questions from journalists after paying a courtesy call on Governor Rochas Okorocha at Government House, Owerri, however, said the present administration was already intervening in the matter.

“The Good Governance team is happy at the level of construction works currently going on in the federal institutions in Imo State,” Maku said.

Vanguard , TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013—15

Cash courier suspect denies guilty plea, accuses EFCC of frame up

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

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BUJA—A mild drama played out before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday as alleged cash courier, Abdulrasheed Ibrahim, forced the trial court to defer his sentencing.

Ibrahim, who had on January 17, pleaded guilty to a one-count charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, suddenly made a U-turn insisting that he was being framedup by the anti-graft agency.

The accused, via an application he entered through his team of lawyers, maintained that he was compelled to plead guilty to the charge, even as he accused the prosecuting agency of misrepresenting facts pertaining to the circumstances that occasioned his arrest.

Contending that he did not properly understand the charge on the day he admitted guilt, Ibrahim urged the trial Justice Adamu Bello to set-aside his previous plea and proceed with hearing the substantive case brought against him by the EFCC. Besides, he told the court that contrary to allegation that he concealed the money eventual-

ly found on him, he had evidence to prove that he accurately declared all the money he intended to travel with on the day he was caught.

He maintained that the customs officers that cleared him should be held culpable for whatever mixup that subsequently culminated in the charge against him.

Though the trial court ab-initio slated yesterday to sentence him, Justice Bello, however, sequel to the new twist on the matter, de-

ferred the case till tomorrow, even as he granted the accused person bail in the sum of N1million after he produced a surety in like sum.

It will be recalled that the EFCC had on November 7, 2012, apprehended the accused person on allegation that he attempted to smuggle $188, 858 out of Nigeria through a Dubai/United Arab Emirates-bound Ethiopian Airline.

EFCC maintained that though

he declared $45, 000 as the total amount of cash on him, a search conducted on him revealed that he actually concealed monies totalling $188, 858.

Before the accused person pleaded guilty to the offence, the prosecuting counsel, Chioma Okongwu, had adduced a certified true copy of export currency, tendering a list along with the sum of US 188,858.00, which the trial high court admitted into evidence.

From left: Director General, National Orientation Agency, NOA, Mr. Mike Omeri; Chairman of occasion, Prof. Ralph Akinfeleye and Project Director, Democratic Governance for Development, DGD, Dr. Moutarda Deme, during the DGD/Nigeria Community Radio coalition briefing and strategy meeting in Abuja, yesterday.

FG sets up 800 community radio stations

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU

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BUJA—ABOUT 800 Com munity Radio Stations will soon commence transmissions in various parts of the country to ensure that information on programmes and policies of the Federal Government get to the rural communities.

Director General of National Orientation Agency, NOA, Mr. Mike Omeri, who disclosed this yesterday during briefing and strategy meeting organised by the Democratic Governance for Development Project, in collaboration with the Nigeria Community Radio Coalition, said the community radio stations would start transmission before the second quarter of this year.

Omeri said setting up community radio stations was the result of agitations by people in rural communities in different parts of the country.

He said the stations would use the language of the people of the area, adding that they would create over 12,000 jobs when they begin transmission.

He also said that establishing the community radio stations became necessary to promote a vibrant culture and for the agen-

cy to discharge its mandate adequately, adding that it would break media monopoly in information dissemination.

According to him, the stations will serve geographic or territorial communities with various inter-

ests and restore the citizens’ integrity, promotes transparency, accountability and cost effectiveness, stressing that unless the citizens understood policies and programmes of government, such policies stood the risk of failure.

The NOA DG said President Goodluck Jonathan was committed to the issuance of licenses for community radio stations and that he was optimistic the license would be granted within the second quarter of the year.

Alleged forgery: Court okays APGA factional chairman, Masalla for trial zOrders him to be in court for arraignment on March 18

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

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BUJA—JUSTICE Peter Keke meke of an Abuja High Court, yesterday, ruled that the factional national chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Sadeeq Masalla, has a case to answer over his alleged involvement in forgery of signatures belonging to some members of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party Consequently, the trial court declined to quash the eleven-count criminal charge preferred against him by the Nigerian Police Force, saying it was convinced that a pri-

ma-facie case was successfully established against him.

In his ruling, Justice Kekemeke said: “This court has jurisdiction to try the case and there is nexus between the accused and the offenses for which he is being charged.

“The claim that there is no nexus is false and holds no water as the prosecution met all the conditions for the grant of the leave to prefer charges against the accused applicant.”

Therefore, the court ordered the embattled factional leader of the party to ensure that he was present for arraignment on March 18 when the case was subsequently

adjourned.

The court had on November 14, 2012, after hearing an application moved by police prosecutor, Francis Irabor, okayed Masalla for trial.

Police further tendered a copy of the proof of evidence it intended to prove Masalla’s complicity in the alleged crime, as well as, a copy of list of witnesses, list of exhibits, and statement of the accused person himself.

However, Masalla filed a motion wherein he not only challenged the jurisdiction of the court to try him, but further queried the legal propriety of the leave granted the Police.

Constitution review: Reps to release result of public sessions Jan 31

BY OKEY NDIRIBE

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BUJA—THE House of Representatives will on January 31, 2013, present the final results of the public sessions it conducted on the review of the 1999 constitution last November.

The public sessions took place across the nation’s 360 federal constituencies.

This was disclosed in a statement yesterday by the Deputy Speaker of the House and Chairman , Adhoc Committee on Constitution Review, Emeka Ihed i o h a .

Ihedioha stated that the collated results will be presented at a public ceremony to be held at the House during which the voting pattern on all the issues listed in the template for voting will be unveiled as decided by Nigerians at each federal constituency.

Aggrieved health workers boycott summit

BY VICTORIA OJEME

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BUJA—AGGRIEVED health workers, under the aegis of Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU, have boycotted the national summit convened in Asaba, Delta State, by Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, to resolve the crisis bedevilling the health sector.

The one week summit, schedule to commence from January 20 -27, was to be attended by health professionals, including members of JOHESU. JOHESU, comprising National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, NANNM, Medical & Health Workers Union of Nigeria, M&HWUN,, Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes & Associated Institutions SSAUTHRIAI, Nigeria Union of Pharmacists, Medical Technologist and Professions Allied to Medicine (NUPMTPAM), Non – Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions(NASU), yesterday said it was pulling out of the summit.

16—Vanguard , TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

Kwara laments inadequate funds for provision of amenities

Yuguda tasks monarchs on peaceful co-existence

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LORIN—KWARA State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Prince Tunji Moronfoye yesterday said that N2.2 billion out of the N2.8billion monthly allocation from the Federation Account is used for payment of salaries of public officers and other civil servants, leaving the state with only N600 million for the provision of social amenities.

He however, expressed hope that the recent decision by the state government to increase its drive for Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, would pay off so that the administration would no longer depend on the monthly allocation to make the desired impact on the people.

...signs MoU with Guilds of London

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI

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LORIN——KWARA State government and City and Guilds of London have signed a Memorandum of Undersatnding, MoU, on training of professionals in various vocations at the International Vocational Centre, Ajase-Ipo, Irepodun Local Government Area, of the state.

About 200 pioneer students will be trained by the C and G in the first phase of the exercise.

From left: Damilola Adegbite, Nollywood actress and Editor, Saturday Vanguard, Chioma Gabriel during the visit of Adegbite to Vanguard Newspaper's corporate headquarter in Apapa, Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Diran Oshe.

25-yr-old man commits suicide in Bauchi

BY SUZAN EDEH

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AUCHI—A 25-year-old man whose name was given as James Ishaku, has reportedly committed suicide in Bauchi.

The body of Ishaku from Alkaleri Local Government Area of the state was discovered “when the Police Federal highway patrol team first saw the corpse dangling from a tree along Wuntin Dada quarters and reported the matter to GRA Police station which sent policemen to remove the corpse and deposit same at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi".

State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Deputy Superintendent Abbas Abdullahi confirmed the story, saying, that although the Police were yet to ascertain the reason why Ishaku decided to take his own life, investigations into the case was still ongoing.

Abdullahi further said that anybody identified to have connection with the circumstances which led

to the victim’s death would be p r o s e c u t e d .

Vanguard gathered that when the corpse was discovered, the police found on him an old Bible, three separate pictures that showed him being baptized by a clergy dated September 1, 2012 inside a water with other people at the background taking pictures

of the ceremony even as he smiled in most of the pictures.

The deceased who looked hale and hearthy, wore a pair of jeans and a Polo T- shirt. The police had been answering calls coming into the deceased’s handset in a bid to ask those who knew him to come to the GRA police station for his corpse.

Fish out attackers of Emir of Kano, Saraki tells security agencies

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI

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LORIN—FORMER Governor of Kwara State, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has challenged security agencies in the country to fish out those who attacked the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero and bring them to justice to serve as deterrent to others.

Saraki also condemned the attack, describing it as dastardly

and very unfortunate.

The Senator representing Kwara Central Senatorial District in a statement through his media aide, Akintoba Fatigun said that bringing the culprits to justice would send the right signal that the security operatives "are up and doing in their responsib i l i t i e s . " He also asked security agencies to beef up intelligence network

and work as a team to nip in the bud, such dangerous trend.

The statement said: "I am saddened by the news of this barbaric attack towards a peace loving and respected Emir. Why on earth will such wicked act come to the thought of anyone. The security challenges in the country has taken a new dimension and from all indications. No one seems to be safe" .

By Bartholomew Madukwe

PEOPLE SPEAK

08102479985

AUCHI— GOVERNOR Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State has called on traditional rulers in the state to be fair and just to their subjects to ensure peaceful coexistence among the people.

Yuguda made the call while addressing 17 newly-appointed district heads in the state.

He recalled that traditional rulers in the past were peace makers due to their closeness to the people.

He urged the new district heads to imbibe the spirit of peace and harmony for peaceful co-existence among their people.

Yuguda observed that evil doers had, in the past, tried to ensure that crisis permeated in every spectrum of the society but without success.

He said that the state government, in conjunction with security operatives, would continue to ensure safety of lives and property of the people.

The governor advised that, in spite of the religious, tribal and political affiliations of their subjects, traditional rulers should be fair and just to enable the current peaceful co-existence in the state to prevail.

(nwamad@yahoo.com)

AFCON 2013: THE CHANCES OF SUPER EAGLES (4)

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was thinking I would be able to watch the Super Eagles play on Monday, but now that hope is dashed. However, I have to point out that the present squad that Coach Stephen Keshi would be parading at the competition need to do more works. Mr. Tunde Spencer—Sound Engineer.

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ITH the way our players are looking hungry to bring back confidence on them, I do not see them not doing well. But my only worry is for the players to know that their defence is a bit week. Miss Blessing Ubah—Student.

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UPER Eagles is a bet ter team to lift the cup, but they need to watch out for teams like Cape Verde, Ghana and Ivory Coast. I see the hunger in the players and I wish them goodluck in the 2013 AFCON. Miss Harlis Udoh—Student.

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HANCES, when I can not follow the 2013 AFCON because of Nigeria’s failure to get the broadcast right! Super Eagles has what it takes to do well, just like every other team in the competition. So the chance for all is 50-50. Miss Bukola Okereke—Student.

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am not a football follow er, but I know that with God on our side, Nigeria shall carry the 2013 Nations Cup. Meanwhile, somebody should ask questions on why Nigeria has to pay very high to broadcast the AFCON. Mrs. Adichie Chioma— Bussiness person.

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UR strikers are not as good as expected.

Gone are the days of Rashidi Yekini. Then, when you see Super Eagles, you have seen a winning team.

Those were the days when there was enough motivation for the players. Mr. Sunday Ajiboye—Musical Director.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013—17

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President Goodluck Jonathan vandal!

Pipeline vandals weigh their chances and believe that the law will never catch up with them and if arrested, a godfather would spring them from detention or the judicial process would drag till their prosecution is forgotten.

Indeed, a greater incentive to hack into pipelines of our national wealth is

The President, Channels TV and Ikeja Police College

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HE surprise visit President Jonathan made to Ikeja Police College last Friday, on his way to ECOWAS meeting at Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, was a great show of leadership. But I had expected him to order, on the spot, the dismissal of the Commandant and Commissioner who presided over this rot! Instead, I was confounded that the President was rather interested in knowing how Channels Television was able to penetrate the fortress and record the mess without detection as if he would have preferred the rot covered like other rots in our nation. John Momoh and Channels TV deserve national honours for the courageous work.

What we call a Police College is a dungeon worse than any of our prisons!

It is not just about the facilities. When I saw visuals of their food, I puked and could not eat that night. We must look into the treatment the recruits are subjected to in the name of training. I called attention to this several years ago, when, on a school run to Air Force Secondary School, Ikeja, I saw recruits of the college that early morning in files going to fetch water at Ikeja GRA for officers. They looked like prison inmates. What goes on in that dungeon is sheer brutalisation! And anybody, policeman or woman who graduates from that torture chamber can never be anything else but enemy of society.

BY ADEWALE KUPOLUYI Continued from yesterday's pg 18 N 2012, very few state workers were beneficiaries from the scheme, as states are allowed to enact their own laws since the PRA 2004 is not binding on them.

So far, about 21 states have adopted the contributory pension scheme while 14 others have initiated the process of enacting versions of contributory pension schemes in their states, except Lagos, that has fully funded its pension obligation.

The systematic rot has contributed to the disposition of several military and para-military organisations to pull-out from the contributory pension scheme, which is a big blow to the entire project.

A number of considerations become useful for better and effective management. For example, the use of e-payment of pensions should be fully deplored for easy reference, easy update and logistics of the pension scheme system. The existing system whereby basic operations are carried out manually is archaic, manipulative and encourages

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infrastructure deficit resorting to selfhelp just like the pipeline vandals. They do not want to wait for their retirement benefits at the end of their career. And since they are the ones hacking into the pension funds, they have little faith in it. So they make hay while the sun shines. Like the Arepo pipeline vandals, their activities also result to hundreds of deaths on our bad roads, cause fire and environmental degradation when trailers and tankers capsize and spill their contents. Also here, the law hardly catches up with them. With the money stolen, they line up ten Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SANs, with others knocking off one another’s teeth in a fight to defend a rogue!

Pipeline vandalism as a metaphor provided by the confidence that, with the mouth-watering proceeds, the criminal could buy justice. He gets instant recognition, membership of exclusive clubs and is celebrated. He gets front pew reserved for him and his harem of women in churches. He chairs the church harvests and becomes the favourite and untouchable son of the soil! He caps his new status by becoming a party chieftain with the possibility of becoming a distinguished senator or honourable member. He could end up a Governor, you never know. With money you can always buy power in Nigeria.

This is the truth about many vandals who prowl the land in various forms and in different places, who hack into our treasury and steal the nation’s wealth

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PART from the menace of terrorism in certain parts of Northern Nigeria, another seemingly intractable menace in the country is pipeline vandalism.

Some criminals, well-armed and ready to kill, and sometimes well connected, hack into the nation’s oil pipelines and siphon petroleum products. Often, in the process of stealing the nation’s illfated wealth, there is a fire outbreak, the criminals and some innocent bystanders are roasted, property worth millions are incinerated, the environment further despoiled by fire and oil leakage, national assets are damaged and billions of Naira are wasted in replacements. This criminal indulgence, we have been told, cost the nation over five hundred billions of Naira in the last few years. This activity has also tasked the capacity of maritime and security agencies.

But pipeline vandals in our national life are not just those who operate in the swamps of Arepo and other places. Our nation is feasted on in many ways by different pipeline vandals. Pipeline vandalism, after all, is a manifestation of self-help by those unwilling to act lawfully and wait for their share of the national wealth flowing through the pipes to reach them. The vandals in fact do not believe or have faith that their equitable share of the nation’s wealth will ever get to them. When the Niger Delta militants resorted to pipeline vandalism and sundry criminal activities in the creeks, it was argued that it was because the region has been cheated in the distribution of the wealth that flows in their land. And we all flowed along with this line of reasoning, unfortunately without separating the strands of pure thievery from genuine nationalistic agitation.

Thus, the rump of the criminal activities grew and spread nationwide. Every Nigerian, in a way, is now a pipeline

We are annoyingly soft on crime, and our society can never make progress that way; that people can commit crime with impunity and walk about free is our greatest national shame

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and leave the national anguish we see today. Those civil servants who stole pension funds are exactly like pipeline vandals. Their activities have caused deaths of many pensioners. They remain at large today because their calculation that the law will be very slow in catching and prosecuting them has proved right. Those civil servants who have been fleecing us of our trillion Naira budgets and leaving us with

Flambouyant pipeline vandals

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hat of our politicians? It is among them that we have the most flambouyant pipeline vandals. The day they make their cameo appearance in court is more colourful than Calabar carnival! He drives into the court majestically in a stretch limousine and is heralded into the courtroom by ululating women in liveried attires and men energetically drumming as their dashikis billow with every movement.

Come to think of it, politicians have hacked so much into our national resources through different ways and the law is impotent in censuring them.

Remember the guy, Farouk Lawan, who admitted publicly that he took $620,000 bribe money from oil (this oily business sef!) merchant Mr .Femi Otedola (alias Otedollar) to doctor the fuel subsidy probe report, and went on to doctor the report on national television? What has happened to him? NOTHING! And if anything is going to happen to anybody, it will be to Otedola, and they are waiting for him. If you don’t believe me, that pipeline vandals anywhere are powerful and can fight back even if the sparks from their gunfire causes a national conflagration, ask Arunma Oteh! And watch your palms while you wait for the day Herman Hembe will go to jail for taking dollar estacode for a trip he never made; you may grow grey hairs on your palms.

The motive of every pipeline vandal in our national life is lack of faith in ever getting his fair slice of the national cake, so he resorts to self-help. Others are driven by sheer greed. The driving force is the belief that he will get away with the crime one way or the other. As I have always insisted, corruption is not our problem. Absence of law and order is. We are annoyingly soft on crime, and our society can never make progress that way. That people can commit crime with impunity and walk about free is our greatest national shame!

OPINION Still on the plight of pensioners (3) sharp practices.

Relevant financial institutions should deploy the use of the “alert systems” to inform the pensionercustomer about the credit status of his/her account and at the same time instructing him/her, to claim entitlements. Although, some banks are fond of delaying payment, for this has continued to inflict a lot of psychological trauma on the pensioners.

There is the need to make the new pension scheme to serve as a veritable platform that would allow genuine private sector actors take a lead while the government should provide the enabling environment and sound quality control mechanism.

It is becoming clearer by the day that business ventures are badly run by state apparatus. Those in charge of the administration of pension should be made to remember that retirement dawns on them, sooner or later. There is, therefore, the moral burden and need to adore elderly and senior citizens. This is what is obtainable in civilised societies.

More importantly, government should stop paying lip service to this sensitive national responsibility and get things right. All those found guilty of fraudulent acts, as far as pension administration is concerned should be punished within the ambit of the law, to serve as deterrent to others. Retirees shouldn’t be left to suffer unnecessarily or die in the course of waiting for their benefits. They have their families to cater for. They have bills to settle too.

Paying pensioners their entitlement should not be seen as a favour or a liability, as the present arrangement suggests. It is their right. They should, therefore, not be treated as outcasts and destitute.

Even destitute have rights. Or, is retirement is a crime?

Concluded

*Mr. Kupoluyi wrote from Federal Varsity of Agric., Abeokuta, Ogun State.

18 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 CONTRADICTIONS that distinguish the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from all others sustain it. A party that, in its 15 years, has never elected its national chairman, talks of democracy with the same glibness it practises it and it works.

Current chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, in reminding his members that none of them is bigger than the party, makes the same argument about the supremacy of the party without proof of its efficacy. Supremacy of the party is based on laws not the whims PDP instituted in those 15 years.

The rebellion of governors and other PDP members is based on the inferiority of the party which built over the years through wanton breaking of its constitution from its foreclosure of the debates on zoning to tweaking it to suit immediate needs.

How does PDP intend to punish the mutineers? Can it punish them without further endangering its position? Is the PDP chairman just noticing the powers of governors, whose candidates dominate the National Working Committee?

Tukur suffers the double disability of his

BY OKELO MADUKAIFE Continued from yesterday's Viewpoints pg

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T follows therefore that he also did not ask the appeal court in Enugu to declare him governor. But he was so declared. So why would he not promptly pander to Obasanjo, even if the latter’s game was to under-develop Anambra? Why would he not show gratitude to a man who bent some ‘unbendables’ to award him a gubernatorial seat like a chieftaincy title, knowing then, what many are just getting to know about the Nigerian judiciary.

Why would he not even pay what the governor before him failed to pay from Anambra State treasury, just to remain in power and sustain his gratitude? So where would the money come from if not the local government allocations, and of course N9.5 billion recovered from the same Obasanjo who withheld it for years until his midwifed alternative to Ngige came. What the two have in common is that they never reflect in the budget of the state. That is the issue that stops Obi from holding local government elections and not any other thing. How can the mouth of a babe be suddenly removed from the lactating breasts of the mother?

What is wrong in ACN helping Anambra State deepen its course of democracy in 2009 (Obi’s first term) by leading a coalition of parties to court to stop the government from holding any elections

PDP Bigger Than Nothing partisan interests in the turmoil over the executive of the party in his native Adamawa and the weak support he would get from a President whose hands are full battling the same governors and his own various burdens.

Tukur is at most disposable and the history of former seven PDP chairmen is a study in this regard.

When Tukur was governor 30 years ago, politics was a game of numbers – that has not changed. What appears lost on Tukur are the dynamics of today’s politics, where as national party executives appropriate shaky power

handles at the centre, governors lock up delegates whose votes make all the difference.

During Tukur’s days in the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, it was inconceivable that a governor would exchange an unkind word, even in private, with party chairman, Augustus Meredith Akinloye: party discipline saw to that.

Unfortunately, PDP’s bigness is based on nothing. It has no verifiable membership.

Neither the President nor governors use the party’s manifesto (it has one) in their campaigns. PDP is a useful platform for accessing power and easily forgotten until the next elections.

Its national executives bear the moral burden of not being elected. They are unpopular and stooges of the President who handpicks them.

Those are not the credentials that could give one the credibility to claim as Tukur did recently, “I am committed to reconciliation, without confrontation. We must run a party based on justice”.

The indiscipline in PDP prefaces the larger domineering attitude of politicians, across parties, which makes our democracy uncivil, almost militarised.

OPINION Anambra LG polls:Buck stops at Obi's desk (2) based on a faulty voter register which Obi connived with Maurice Iwu in INEC to manufacture,just to rig local government elections. The end result was names from Idemili North were found by voters in Aguata, Orumba names went to Oyi. Dunukofia disappeared to Awka North and so on. It was deliberate. It was designed by those who smuggled Obi into power in Anambra State to perpetuate him.

If the mere fact of leading other opposition parties to stop that show of shame is all that stopped the elections, then Obi has no excuse because elections in Nigeria and anywhere in the world are usually body-guarded by court cases. In the recently concluded US elections, there were court cases already. ACN did not seek that elections should not hold, but that the faulty voter register should be corrected.

It is a matter to note that the vigilance of ACN led to an early discovery of the flaws on the register, but rather than correct it, Obi, Iwu and their masters made eight staff of INEC a scapegoat by sacking them for adulterating the register, only to produce the same document to disenfranchise Anambra selectively in February 2010.

Even then ACN won, only to be shortchanged .Eventually post-Iwu INEC upheld ACN’s observations and embarked on a

voter review exercise, not just in Anambra but nationally.

So what excuse does Obi have for not conducting the local government elections after March 2010? Nothing except the contrived sack of Prof. Titus Eze, a chairman appointed by Obi. The sack was carried out by Governor Obi through his Secretary to the State government, Mr Paul Odenigbo. The appendage House of Assembly led by Obi’s appointee deliberated on the letter for one day and decided without inviting the accused.

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n receipt of the SSG’s sack letter, Prof Titus Eze sued the government of Anambra State. The government raised a preliminary objection through the then Attorney General, Mr E.D. Chukwuma that the plaintiff did not join the State House of Assembly. The court decided in favour of the plaintiff, holding that suing the Anambra State government in the instant case the House of Assembly was part and parcel of Anambra State government.

A date was fixed for the trial and the government gave a notice of Appeal on the preliminary objection. Rather than embark on the appeal, the government made a uturn and applied for the transfer of the case.

That transfer has not been effected till date under the watchful guide of democratic Gov. Obi. Where is the Chief Judge of Anambra State?

Contrary to the many lies that have been told,NO INJUNCTION HAS BEEN ISSUED BY THE COURT TO STOP THE APPOINTMENT OF ANOTHER ANSIEC CHAIRMAN to conduct elections. Let Gov Obi cause the purported injunction which his uncle and campaign manager said was issued by the courts to be published, if it exists, or withdraw that excuse for another.

It is bad enough that Obi does not want to conduct local government elections for reasons already stated. But what is worse is that he cannot admit that what he considers obstacles cannot pass by that description because Obi's, political will and the LG fund honey pot are the two real obstacles for not conducting LG polls in the state.

We are compelled to ask why Obi thinks he can be in charge without being in charge. When the blame is not on Obasanjo, it is ACN. When it is not ACN, it is INEC. When INEC is no longer the issue, it is the State House of Assembly and when the Court dismisses the need to join the House of Assembly separately it is the judiciary. Who will it be next? None but Governor Obi, we suspect. The buck passing must stop at his desk!

Concluded *Mr. Madukaife is the publicity secretary of ACN in Anambra State.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANAUARY 22, 2013— 19

, Arepo, the Police and the outline of an outlaw economy N the News page of Vanguard, Monday, January 14, 2013 one finds these captions- "There is no security at Arepo"- Amosun; 3 more bodies recovered; pipeline vandalization, a big businessDPR". All of these captions are perspectives on Arepo as a structure of anarchy.

The Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun observed the opportunities created by anarchy for entrepreneurs of disorder. He accused officials of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC of conniving with vandals to wreak havoc on the country's economy through pipeline vandalism". The Governor infers the culpability of NNPC from the company's inability to police and protect the core asset of the nation's foreign exchange economy. Inaction in protecting the pipeline in the governor's opinion is tantamount to deliberate handing over of multibillion naira petroleum infrastructure to "hoodlums". "We are own problem in this nation. We are our own enemies because this clearly is a case of failure of governance. This is why I said that NNPC with their inaction are part of this problem. I want to believe that they are the people aiding and abetting these vandals. How can some vandals put everybody in this

Uduaghan’s Delta in the sand of time

BY PERCY OWAIYE

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nation into problem?"

A top management staff of DPR states that Arepo pipelines is a big business "because some villages live of the pipelines and have no organisation of collaborators who other job, so vandalism will are employed for early warning on continue. Arepo has been the presence of government happening not one, or two, even officials. A petroleum theft subover 10 years and since then, the economy exists and the profit security agencies are not helping opportunities have transformed into economic and neither is PPMC the owners of "vandals" the pipelines checkmating the predators. These entrepreneurs of disorders have been transformed havoc".

On the surface, these comments into petroleum theft mercenary are provoked by the huge carnage and this is the core security from explosions caused by fires problem. Governor Amosun sees unwittingly started by participants “the national security risk in this in pipeline vandalization. Arepo is venture- hence his proposal. "If they not unique in deaths associated want to stop vandalism in Ogun with the high risk ventures of State, I don't know of any other petroleum theft. Petroleum theft is state, they should come and we will a multilevel industry discuss because I don't want Ogun headquartered by international State to be on the front page for pirate-bunkerers. Arepo is however wrong reasons. I will write again unique in its structure of to the appropriate authorities and petroleum theft. Its modus I have been doing that. This is not operandi show that it is a function good for us as a nation. Every time, of highly armed brigandage. The they will say that vandals have security forces of the petroleum done this and that, what have they sector are overburden and often (NNPC) done?" A good question are facing small armies of but posed to the wrong party. This petroleum plunderers better question goes to the heart of the armed than the security forces. The problem of the economic so-called vandals or hoodlums organisation of society.

There are two contexts of have been known to have resorted to killing security personnel to economic organisation of society. maintain access to the pipelines. The contexts of order and the They have an elaborate contexts of anarchy and both have

WAS in Asaba sometime in August last year to get an impression of the city and the state. It was the first time I was returning to Asaba after 31 years, when I was a Higher School Certificate (HSC) student of Saint Patrick’s College, Asaba - a subject I will return to later.

As part of the visitation, we toured some of the projects the governor had completed or were on-going at the time, and ended up with an interview session late into the night with the governor. As I sat through the interview which lasted barely 30minutes, you could see that the Delta helmsman is a man with his eyes trained on history. The governor is also a man blessed with a simple way of life and a very analytical mind. As he explained on that occasion, “Delta Beyond Oil” has become the barometer to the future Delta that he is presently shaping. When the oil resource with which Delta is abundantly blessed finishes one day or declines in value, as may likely happen someday, where will the people and the state be? Finding answers to this question clearly, is his overriding drive.

As part of the process of preparing Delta for this inevitable outcome, he has developed three major items, namely human capital development, infrastructural development and peace and security. As he posited in his interview, the three items are interwoven and the significance of the tripod

to his immediate constituency (Delta Sate) is there for all to see. In the build up to this administration, security, the absence of it, that is, was a major issue in the daily lives of Deltans. Deliberate and coordinated efforts therefore had to be made to procure and sustain peace and security in the state. Today, apart from the infrequent cases of kidnapping, that lives are mostly secure in the state is a mark of how well the governor’s strategy and hands-on approach has worked.

On infrastructural development, a lot has happened since Governor Uduaghan assumed office.

We arrived Asaba from Lagos by air, thanks to the new airport built by his administration. I have read criticisms on how expensive the airport is, and that it is poorly sited, too close to town. Apart from the huge impression the airport had on me as a first time visitor, I returned to it, later in the day, for a proper facility tour and briefing. The airport, conceived as an international cargo airport, is strategically located to benefit from the age-long business preoccupation of surrounding and nearby towns of Onitsha, Nnewi, Awka and other South-East states, and not forgetting Delta State too, were activities around oil and gas holdings, not to talk of new initiatives in agriculture and commerce are bound to benefit from and feed the new airport.

Already, the benefits are accruing, as the governor talked of a number of new warehouses springing up within Asaba and

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s it was in the course of the 1917 Russian Revolution when the soviets of workers sprouted in the transition of disorder and anarchy marking the overthrow of the old Czarist order and prior to the establishment of the Bolshevik order, so in the ongoing transition between the decaying of the inherited colonial structures of power and the yet to be created and established Nigerian Post Colonial Order, illicit states have sprung up to organise illicit enclave economies that provide alternate wealth creating opportunities unavailable in the legitimate economy to the class we have called "entrepreneurs of disorder".

The "illicit states" are thriving in Nigeria's NNPC Economy and foster, protect and develop the "illicit economies" which are organised as parasites in the legitimate economy.

Vandalisation of the pipelines are productive measures of these

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The Oil theft Business has its federal, state, and local government structure and it is The Business that is the Illicit State with its own defence and security organs

their political organisations.

History shows this to be the case.

In the colonial era, the British sought to protect their business of Whisky championed by the producers of Gordon GIN. Before Gordon there was what the colonial government branded as "Illicit Gin", the natives' invention and rival to Gordon. Presently, there is also the rivalry between the approved refineries of the NNPC and the home-invented refineries based on stolen oil. Two rival economies with two rival contexts of operations, the governmental and the "anti-governmental"; the anti-governmental existing as an "illicit" or criminal subsector of the governmental; both having their markets and in the Nigerian contemporary situation the "illicit" is often protected by those in the legitimate economy who use it for primitive accumulation of petroleum wealth. The Niger Delta creeks constitute the "university" for training and educating the "vandals" in the political economy of the "illicit state".

Asaba has become the new headquarters of the country’s booming Nollywood industry because massive construction of new estates and hotels provides the ambiance and locations conducive for business

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neighbouring towns. In fact, I could not help but notice that somehow, Asaba has significantly worked its way up the preferred destination for conferences, summits and what not in the country. It is not difficult to see that easier access made possible by the new airport has hugely contributed to this welcome development. Well, what I also found out is that Asaba has become the new headquarters of the country’s booming Nollywood industry. When I asked why, I was told that the massive construction of new estates and hotels provides the ambiance and locations conducive for business. This was confirmed on another visit in December last year, when the hotel I lodged in had a number of Nollywood stars in residence, and doing their thing.

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e also toured the Asaba-Ughelli dual carriageway. This is a project which the governor confirmed to us in the interview later as very close to his heart. This project

parallel economies that often cripple the legitimate economy.

Security issues arise out of the "enemy relations" between the licit and the illicit economies. The Constitution recognises this problem in its provision in Section 214(2)(c) which empowers the National Assembly to make provisions for branches of the Nigerian Police Force forming part of the armed forces of the Federation or for the protection of harbours, waterways, railway and airfields". The National Assembly can make provisions for the setting up of a branch of the Nigeria Police for the protection of the NNPC Economy.

It is in thinking through the functions of this special branch of the police, that it becomes clear that what police will face are not criminals but nascent para-state organisations in the genre of corporate illegal, syndicates that have been created for the global running of the business and trade of the Drug Cartels; organisations that have become so large that they constitute "de-facto" state, governments and economies. The Oil theft Business has its federal, state, and local government structure and it is The Business that is the Illicit State with its own defence and security organs. The National Assembly must recognise the character of the problem it addresses through section 214 (2)(c) and that problem is "statist" in its origin, structure and its "illicit" institutions.

Other regimes faced with this problem, whether it be the case of the MAFIA, or of the South American Cocaine Cartels or the South-East Asia Opium sub-states, have recognised that these "outlaw organs" are pseudo states and must be dealt with in "state making terms", that is by seeing them as rival dominions contesting for economic supremacy. Governor Amosun has seen the governance implications of the growth of Arepo as an "Outlow Economy".

Addressing Arepo politically is the challenge.

which was awarded in three segments to three different contractors apparently to hasten its completion has left the governor and people of the state with mixed emotions.

Whereas, the first and final legs of the road project are not making as much progress as was expected, the middle and by far, difficult part of the road project is making good progress. The defaulting contractors that have handled big and more sensitive projects for the state in the past is leaving the governor with a difficult choice to make, but he says he might be forced to revoke the contract.

The ICT Park sited on the outskirts of Anwai-Asaba, presents a picture into the future. Located on an elevated landscape overlooking the River Niger from across the road, it cuts the picture of a serene, picturesque and reflective hob. Even though at the time of our visit, the Park has not taken off beyond foundation, it does not fail to remind you of the famed Silicon Valley. As it was explained to us, the park is proposed as a joint venture between ICT private sector investors, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) and the state government. When fully built it will be a dream place both for its location and value, adding much more to the profile of the state than many can envisage now.

This brings me to the all important point of human capital development. Whereas, physical infrastructure is important in the development of any political entity, it is the quality of the human capital available to it that can largely determine its advancement or the lack of it.

Continues tomorrow on pg 17

*Mr. Owaiye, a researh &development consultant, wrote from Lagos.

20—Vanguard , TUESDAY TUESDAY,, JANUARY 22, 2013

Freedom at last for Otokoto murder suspect •Incarcerated for 16 years

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

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IME was when some people of sudden wealth took over the landscape of Imo State. They did whatever they liked, when, how and where they chose. Some even felt that spotting policemen as orderlies were no longer fashionable hence they settled for armed soldiers.

More often than not, they were seen blocking the roads completely, while chatting with their friends. Anybody that dared to protest got the severest beating of his life.

The “bouncers” around them descended on motorists at will and even went as far as denting people’s cars at the slightest “provocation”. Nobody dared to call them names. They were gods of sorts.

They threw money at people with ease. Royal fathers fell over heels and wanted to outdo each other in their mad

less citizens abated in the state. The spontaneous agitation by the people gingered the security agencies into action. A lot of people were arrested and suffered serious deprivations as a result. A new vista of life commenced.

Virtually all the people working in Otokoto Hotel, including the Hotel Manager, Mr. Ebenezer Egwuekwe, were arrested.

Summary trial If residents of Owerri were given the opportunity, all the suspects would have been given summary trial by the mob and lynched. All the same, the suspects suffered varying levels of indignity. Members of their different families even had worse stories to tell than those cooling their heels in prison. A couple of those described by the police as “the prime suspects” were later ar-

Besides spen-ding a staggering N2.5 million as legal fees, the family also incurred other expenses

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rush to hand out chieftaincy titles to this class of people.

All these acts angered the people. It was no wonder that people’s anger boiled over in 1996, when they heard about the brutal beheading of 11year old Innocent Okonkwo and his eventual burial in a shallow grave located in Otokoto Hotels, Amakohia, Owerri. That marked the limit of their endurance. They could take no more and the result was a mass protest in Owerri.

Angry residents of Owerri moved from point to the other in search of these people of very questionable wealth.

Buildings belonging to such people were torched. Their personal effects were either burnt or looted by people.

Cases of missing persons, dehumanization, brutalization, molestation and wanton destruction of property belonging to hapless and help-

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raigned in court. After a long tortuous criminal trial in Owerri, they were sentenced to death.

The convicts, including 62year old Ebenezer Egwuekwe, were moved to Federal Prisons, Port Harcourt. However, armed with his stoic belief in his innocence, Egwuekwe appealed his death sentence. This battle for life lasted about 16 years! For the family, it remains a thing of joy that their bread winner did not die in prison while the legal battle lasted. They are also happy that 16 years after, the innocence of Egwuekwe has been upheld by the Court of Appeal.

His ordeal started when one of the staff of Otokoto Hotel was caught with a fresh human head at Eziama, in the Ikeduru Local Council Area.

He was asked to report to police which he did. He was subsequently arrested and

•Mr. Ebenezer Egwuekwe charged for murder.

Narrating his prison experience, Egwuekwe said he was moved from one prison to another. According to him, his worst experience was in Port Harcourt where he was treated like a condemned criminal. “If I had committed anything worthy of imprisonment, I would have accepted my fate but unfortunately, I

did nothing to warrant 16 years of suffering. While in prison, all my friends deserted me and my wife and eight children passed through very difficult times,” Egwuekwe said.

He recalled with grief that his few landed properties were sold to pay his legal fees and take care of his feeding.

He stated that he cannot fully

express the level of hardship his family passed through as he was the only bread winner of the family.

Egwuekwe was, however, thankful to God that despite his travails, he has been released and cleared of all the charges slammed on him. He however appealed to people of goodwill to assist him get back on his feet and be integrated into the free society again. He added:“ I don’t know where to start life again. I don’t even know with what to start with again.

My mates, who started the race with me, have since overtaken me.”

Speaking also, his first son, Mr. Ifeanyi Egwuekwe, affirmed that the family passed through very hard times since their father was arrested and incarcerated.

“Besides spending a staggering N2.5 million as legal fees, the family also incurred other expenses. In all, we are very happy that our dear father has been reunited with the family”, Ifeanyi said.

Vendors allege extortion by Oyo govt officials

By OLA AJAYI

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EWSPAPER vendors in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital have kicked against constant harassment and extortion by government officials popularly called YES-O. These extortion allegations have prompted the Newspaper Distribution Association of Nigeria to threaten the withdrawal their services if the government does not address the issue.

General Secretary of the Association, Mr. Babatunde Abimbola, told Vanguard Metro that his members “are fed up with these YES-O men.”

He said: “They harass and collect money from my members under the guise of beautification. We are not disturbing the programme of the government in any way. Why should my members be subjected to this kind of treatment just be-

cause they are doing their jobs. We have done all we could to explain to these people, but they have remained adamant and unyielding.”

One of the vendors, Mr. Dada Igwe said, “We have not been having it easy these past two weeks. At Ijokodo, Apete, Roundabout, Mokola areas of Ibadan, they harassed me. They don’t allow us to sell our papers and we don’t constitute any nuisance as we always keep our environment clean after sales”.

Mr. Michael Obasohon, President of a group which goes by the name BRACED Association also alleged that some people capitalise on the on-going demolition of illegal structures to swindle residents of the state. He further alleged that the traders would be threatened that their shops would be sealed up or have their goods confiscated by the state government.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2012 — 21

Nigeria currently suffers from dearth of business, investment statistics — LCCI

BY NAOMI UZOR

T

HE Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry, LCCI, yesterday said Nigeria currently suffers from dearth of business and investment statistics needed for strategic planning.

Speaking at the Presentation of the Nigerian Business Confidence Index at Commerce house, the President of LCCI, Mr Goodie Ibru said, If Nigeria must achieve the desired level of development, the place of data and statistics is crucial and that Nigeria currently suffers from dearth of business and investment statistics needed for strategic planning.

“In fact, decision-makers lack regular access to useful leading economic indicators to aid them in making business decisions even in the midst of rising risk profiles in Nigeria. The Lagos Chamber has decided to mitigate this concern by producing a template for the Nigerian Business Confidence Index (BCI)” he said.

According to him, the objective is to produce an initial BCI that will form the basis for a continuous quarterly BCI survey, analysis and report for the country. It is a tailor made estimate of the business environment from the perception of top private sector players in Nigeria.

Among several benefits of the BCI, we expect to see an increase in the quality and flow of information through the business and regulatory landscape, decision makers can begin to make more timely and better informed decisions.

Ibru said the time has therefore come when the Nigerian government would be aided with results of various surveys to be conducted by various interest groups like consultants, the media, research institutes, chambers of commerce and statistics bureaus in this country. This development is expected to strengthen the policy response of the government. The Business Confidence Index is one of the several indices computed in developed economies to measure the pulse of the economy and particularly the level of confidence the business community has in any particu-

lar economy. These indices, no doubt have aided the progress we see today in the most developed economies of the world.

He urged government to give more financial support to national Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to strengthen its capacity to provide the needed data and statistics for information users in this country. I also task the statistical agencies on timely release of data as appropriate for decision making and planning.

The Director, Research and Advocacy, Mr Vincent Nwani while

presenting the Maiden edition (Q1, 2013) of Business Confidence Index (BCI), said aggregate BCI scores show that business expectation in Nigeria is currently less confident with a weighted score of 10.5 per cent, This is the aggregate of OECD index indicators score and the localised BCI indicators.

“Kindly note that, BCI indicators are designed so that the score fluctuates between -100 per cent and 100 per cent. For Instance, as investment optimism grows, the indicator would increase from 1 per cent to 100 per cent with a similar decline from -1 per cent to -100 per cent if business leaders become more pessimistic. We ensured that a Nigerian survey take account of the local context that impact businesses in our model. For now, Nigeria lags far behind the 50 per cent minimum benchmark for high business confidence level” he said.

•From left: Former Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Ibidapo Obe; Director, Manufacturing, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Mr. Doyin Ashiru; Chief Executive Officer, Tricontinental Group, Mr. Toyin Ashiru and Chairman, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Chief Samuel Bolarinde, during a reception in honour of Doyin on his new appointment, in Lagos.

Enterprise Bank boss restates need for discipline, good mgt M

ANAGING Director/Chief Executive Officer, Enterprise Bank Limited (EBL), Mallam Ahmed Kuru has described high moral values, efficient management, service discipline and culture change in both the public and private sectors of the Nigeria’s socio-political and economic landscape as the panacea for stable growth.

Kuru, who spoke recently at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) venue of the 28th Omolayole Management Lecture series themed “The future of enterprise in the age of collaboration,” said although it takes a lot of hard work and commitment to achieve these virtues collectively and individually, there was no better value the leaders can bequeath to the younger

generation in the country than to leave them with the legacies of efficiency of management, quality service, discipline and high moral values.

He said all over the world, countries that have experienced and are still going through impressive economic, social and political growths, transparent and sincere leadership styles at all levels as well as high moral standards are those that realised that low moralism, poor knowledge, bad leadership or management structures, indiscipline and poor service standards among other vices are not the bedrock for building a stable and programme economy.

To achieve this in Nigeria, Kuru said there was urgent need to positively collaborate with other nations with the view to leveraging their advantages and approaching every endeavour from the

perspective of enterprise, which he defined as the ability to think of new project ideas and turn them into successful ventures.

The Enterprise Bank boss added, “The primary purpose of establishing an enterprise in the first place is to create value through the production of goods or services that satisfy both domestic consumption and export earnings.

Besides profit generation for key stakeholders, a successful enterprise is vital to achieving national aspirations in diverse ways: job creation in the economy and employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed, improved living standards of the people, contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth-rates and wealth creation needs.”

155.95

0.45

2,282.00

-18.00

18.4

-0.02

111.78 95.55 CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL DOLLAR POUNDS EURO FRANC YEN CFA WAUA RENMINBI RIYA KRONA SDR

154.72 246.6392 206.6131 165.9196 1.7222 0.2963 237.2893 24.8913 41.2554 27.678 238.0522

155.22 247.4362 207.2808 166.4558 1.7277 0.3063 238.0562 24.9722 41.3887 27.7674 238.8215

+0.68 +0.06 SELLING 155.72 248.2333 207.9485 166.992 1.7333 0.3163 238.823 25.0531 41.522 27.8569 239.5908

CBN Exchange rate as at 21 /01/2013

22 — Vanguard, TUESDAY,JANUARY 22, 2013

An Alternative Privatisation Model W

From left: Group Head, Marketing Communications, Fidelity Bank, Emma Esinnah; MD/CEO, Reginald Ihejiahi and GM, Fidelity Bank Plc, Emeka Obiagwu at the 2ndMega Draw of the Fidelity 25thanniversary cars and cash savings promo, in Lagos, weekend.

NSE to undertake review of stocks’ nominal value …Defends transaction cost in primary market

BY NKIRUKA NNOROM

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HIEF Executive Of ficer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, has announced that the Exchange will soon undertake a review of the market structure that bars shares of quoted companies from falling below their par value.

Making the announcement while reviewing the performance of the stock market and making prognosis into the New Year, Onyema dismissed the claims that the cost of transaction in the primary segment of the market was costly and needed to be reviewed to allow more companies to access the market using the instrument of initial public offers.

His announcement followed repeated calls by stakeholders that the ceiling should be removed so that companies that do not have the fundamental to remain at that state could be priced down accordingly. In view of this, he said that the NSE has concluded plans to inaugurate a working committee with a view to determining what is obtainable in other climes and align the market to it.

“We are going to set up a working committee to work with the industries, the companies and everybody else to see if the market structure today where you have the par value as the lowest it can go is the right market structure, and we will see what other markets are C M Y K

doing and actually come up with something,” he assured.

On the issue of cost of transactions in the primary market, he noted that though a lot still need to be done to increase the vibrancy of that segment of the market, however, compared with other markets, NSE ranked among the cheapest in terms of cost.

His words: “Even though you may think that the cost of activities in the primary market is high, if you juxtapose it against other markets I have worked in, you will find out that it is really low actually. The totally amount I think by law is 4.35 percent.

In America, your investment banker alone

will charge you five to six percent on the value of the transaction; forget about other parties to the transaction. I think a lot of work needs to be done in the primary market to make listing of companies and other products more efficient, but in terms of costing, we are very competitive actually.”

The nominal value of any particular is the face value of the stock and the shares are not permitted to fall below the par value. It is the value stated in the corporate charter below which shares of that class cannot be sold upon initial offering. In the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the par value of quoted companies is 50kobo.

Diamondbank records highest gain among SSA banking stocks

D

IAMOND Bank Plc has recorded a share price gain of 158.4 per cent in US dollar to emerge the best stock among banks in Sub-Saharan Africa and third best stock out of the 10 best stocks in the subcontinent, a survey by InvestingInAfrica.net said.

The other stocks in the survey are: International Breweries Plc 172.5 per cent, Cadbury Nigeria Plc 159.5 per cent, a Kenya-based Uchumi Supermarket 150.8 per cent, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc 98.7 per cent, British American Tobacco of Kenya 98.4 per cent, Access Bank Plc 90.7 per cent, Bralirwa of Rwanda 83.5 per cent, United Bank for Africa Plc 78.5 per cent and Ghana Oil 78.2 per cent.

The research which excluded South African stocks from the list, noted that after posting a loss in 2011, Diamond Bank put up great numbers in 2012, remarking that over the first nine months, the management of the bank more than doubled operating profits, and investors obviously liked what they saw.

The report observed that even after its 158.4 per cent US dollar gain, Diamond Bank stock is still trading at just 4.2x trailing earnings.

HENEVER the Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN, announces that some venture or other is to be privatised, there is the feeling that the FGN is about to give away something of substantial value for very little in return. Our suspicions, that a great game is on, are heightened when we observe the relatively short period within which bids should be submitted. Evaluation of bids, the choice of the preferred bidder and negotiations leading to payments by the preferred bidder always seem to go on endlessly. What we find is that the preferred bidder usually has to borrow from the banks all the amounts they require for their investment in the privatised venture. This factor is at the heart of the problems with the model adopted for privatisation by the FGN. During the first attempt at privatising Nigerian Telecommunications Plc, NITEL, in 2001, the preferred bidder, Investors Group Nigeria Limited, IGNL, obtained loans from First Bank of Nigeria Plc in order to pay a deposit for the shares of NITEL. However, IGNL was unable to obtain additional loans to cover the full payment for the shares allotted to it and therefore the privatisation of NITEL faltered at this first attempt. In the current privatisation of electric power sector companies, there are indications that the preferred bidders have foreign technical partners but hardly any foreign financial partners and it would appear that the preferred bidders would seek to obtain loans from Nigerian banks in order to pay for their share allotments.

Ordinarily, privatisation of a venture owned by the FGN would be expected to bring about improved overall performance of the venture. In the first place, a profit motive would be introduced into the venture while the preferred bidder is expected to provide additional resources for day-to-day operations and for capital investment in the venture.

Under current arrangements, the preferred bidder pays for the transfer by the FGN to the preferred bidder of existing shares held by the FGN in the privatised venture. The payment goes to the FGN and none of the payment is retained in the privatised venture.

The alternative would be for the FGN to create and offer additional shares in the venture, the preferred bidder would pay for the additional shares and the payment would be retained in the company less any costs paid to the capital market regulators and professional advisers to the share offer.

One example worth considering, if we are to appreciate the need for the adoption of the alternative, is that of Ikeja Hotel Plc, owners of Sheraton Hotel Ikeja and part-

owners of the Federal Palace Hotel Lagos, who as core investors purchased from the FGN 51% of the shares of Capital Hotels Plc, owners of Sheraton Hotel Abuja.

Ikeja Hotel Plc borrowed part of the funds used for the purchase.

As at its 2010 Annual General Meeting, Ikeja Hotel Plc has paid about N11billion in initial payment, loan interest and loan capital repayments and it is still owing about N5billion for this 51% stake. The loan was taken in or about October 2002 and the 51% stake is currently worth not more than N5.5billion on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Over the years, dividends earned on this 51% stake has not exceeded N60million in any year and Ikeja Hotel Plc has used its earnings from Sheraton Hotel Ikeja for loan interest and loan capital repayments. Ikeja Hotel Plc has not paid any dividends to its shareholders during 2011 and 2012 and its current valuation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange is not more than N2.1billion.

Capital Hotels Plc needs injection of capital funds to be spent on the refurbishment of its rooms if it is to attract top international clientele and improve its profitability. Ikeja Hotel Plc has reasonable earnings from its operations at Sheraton Hotel Ikeja but its purchase of 51% stake in Capital Hotels Plc has been a drawback on its overall performance. The shareholders of Ikeja Hotel Plc have to grapple with the effects of their 51% stake in Capital Hotels Plc. However, in the aviation sector and the oil and gas sector, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, has taken up shares in some companies in exchange for loans which the promoters of the companies obtained from Nigerian banks.

Nigerian banks should look very carefully at any loan proposals from the preferred bidders of the privatised electric power sector companies. The preferred bidders must be made to put up a considerable part of the sums required for the shares allotted to them if the banks are to grant them any loans. A situation in which AMCON will have to take over from the banks at a future date any bad loans granted to the electric power sector must be avoided. There is evidence that the electric power sector companies need substantial capital investment if the companies are to be profitable.

The deals for the privatisation of the electric power sector companies have been concluded and we can only wait to observe the overall performance of the companies once the preferred bidders assume management control.

DR. AKINTOLA OMIGBODUN omigbodunaa@yahoo.com

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 — 23

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24 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

CIBN blames fraud in banking industry on unskilled manpower

By CHINEDU IBEABUCHI

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HARTERED Insti tute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, has attributed the prevalence of fraud in the banking industry to non professionals occupying sensitive positions in banks.

Deji Olanrewaju, Member, Governing Council of the Institute said this in a press briefing organised by its Lagos Chapter new executive committee, adding that there is still the paucity of professional bankers in the country which is a major factor for lapses in the industry.

He said, “It is instructive to note that when we are talking about professional bankers, we are less than 4,500 that are professionally qualified as core bankers in this country. Out of these, some of us are in the academic world, some are already retired. “ So, if you are talking about professionalism in the banking industry which has been our focal point, these problems

arose as a result of people who are not professionals occupying sensitive positions.

“There are certain key areas that should not be handled by non professionals. But unfortunately, over the years, just miniatures of people that have been working in the banking industry are professionals. That is why we taking concerted effort now to make sure that our rules are amended so that unless you are a chartered member of this institute, you cannot even work in a bank.

“So, until we are able to drive this and government is able to support us, we may not be able to be answerable to all those people who commit fraud in the banking industry,” he said.

To tackle this, the Institute said it is organising an international conference in Dubai UAE for the Regulators and Operators in the financial services industry to a view to evolving best practices for implementation of Basel 11 and

Base111 in Nigeria.

The new Chairman, CIBN Lagos Chapter, Mr. Bolade Agbola, said this is part of his six point agenda aimed at instilling sanity in the banking industry.

He said, “Bank of International Settlement (BIS), the global body evolving rules for risk management, had been developing new rules and practices to forestall reoccurrence of the global financial crisis that had put the world economies in prostrate state since 2007.

“We are living witnesses of how bad an economy could go notwithstanding the so called blessings of oil windfall revenue if there is problem in the financial system,” he said.The branch late last year saw the need for an offshore training and strategic session program for senior management staff of our regulators (CBN and NDIC ) and the Banks (Money Deposit Banks ,Development Banks, Discount House. Mortgage Banks, Microfinance Banks).

Wetland MFB gets ADF grants

BY RITA OBODOECHINA

W

ETLAND Micro Finance Bank, MFB, has secured a grant from the African Development Foundation, ADF, to enable it achieve its microfinance objectives.

According to the President and Chief Executive officer of ADF, Mr. Lloyd Pierson, the grants is for the sole purpose of supporting wetland’s project in the area of its operation.

He said, “In pursuant to the authority contained in the African Development Foundation Act, the ADF here by awards to Wetland Micro finance bank a sum of N7, 340,000, but not to exceed the equivalent of US $250,000, for the sole purpose of supporting Wetland’s project, this award is effective and obligation is made as of the date of this award letter and shall apply to commitments made by Wetland in furtherance of the grant’s objectives during the

period of beginning with the effective date and ending September 30th in the 2015.

“The award is made on the condition that the grantee will administer the funds in accordance with the attached terms and conditions of the grant agreement.”

He noted that “ADF will disburse funds to cover the costs of activities and items listed in the budget, provided that the Grantee properly incurs these costs during g the period of this agreement or properly commits in writing during the period of this agreement to pay such costs.

He noted that duration of the agreement is for the period commencing September 14th, 2012 and ending September 30th, 2015 “Not later than thirty days after the first, second, and third anniversaries of the agreement’s expiration date, the grantee shall submit to ADF, an annual business financial statement, a current invento-

ry of ADF financed assets with a purchase value equivalent to $1,000, or more specifying for each asset the original purchase value current market value, current condition of the asset( functioning or non functioning), whether the item has been sold or transferred, and if sold or transferred state why, purchasers name and business, selling price, and the date of the transfer ” he said.

He noted that duration of the agreement is for the period commencing September 14th, 2012 and ending September 30th, 2015.

According to him, for a period not to exceed three years after the expiration of this agreement, the grantee shall, upon request by ADF, provide ADF with performance information on the project financed by this agreement” The grantee shall also transmit or deliver the annual updates to ADF in the same manner as the quarterly reports of this agreement.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 — 25

BRIEF

NCDMB cautions Chevron on discrimination against local firms

BY GODWIN ORITSE

T

HE Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has cautioned Chevron Nigeria Limited, one of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria against discriminating against Nigerian firms, saying that such “discrimination is a violation of Section 3(2) of the NCDMB Act” In a letter to the Managing Director of the oil firm, sighted by Vanguard, the Board in a response to a petition written by the Indigenous Shipowners Association of Nigeria (ISAN), directed Chevron to withdraw a marine notice it published to counter the one published by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

The letter with reference number: NCDMB/ES/18/13 dated January 14, 2013, and signed by the Executive Secretary, Mr Ernest Nwapa, said that the Board in collaboration with NIMASA is empowered by law to enforce the Cabotage Act in matters pertaining to Nigerian Content Development.

The letter read in part, “The Board’s attention has been drawn to a letter by the Indigenous Ship owners Association of Nigeria to Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) demanding that you withdraw a Ma-

rine Notice: NMA SBU Marine Notice 2010/02 by you dated 7th December 2011.

“As stated in the letter, the referred Marine Notice issued

by CNL gave preference to certain classification societies and has been the reason for discrimination against the vessels belonging to Nigerian ship owners.

“The discrimination against Nigerian Ship owners’ Association is in violation of section 3(2) of the NOGICD Act

2010 which stipulates that first consideration shall be given to Nigerian companies.

“Furthermore, Section 105 of the NOGICD Act 2010 empowers the Board in conjunction with NIMASA to enforce compliance with relevant sections of the Cabotage Act in relation to matters pertaining to Content Development.

“In view of the aforementioned, the Board urges CNL to withdraw the said Marine Notice and adopt the Classi-

fication Societies authorized by NIMASA.” Vanguard had broken story of CNL’s discrimination. It would be recalled that NIMASA had in a Marine Notice published June this year given recognition to six classification societies, namely: American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Bureau Veritas (BV), Det Norske Veritas (DNV), Lloyds Register (LR), International Naval Survey Bureau (INSB) and International Register of Shipping (IRS).

From left: Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu; MD/CEO Net-Work Oil and Gas Limited, Mr. Clifford Osawaru and Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke, at the commissioning of the Oredo Intergrated Gas Handling Facility in Edo State.

PPMC to boost products reserves by 80m litres

BY MICHAEL EBOH

P

IPELINES and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, is set to increase Nigeria’s petroleum products reserves by 80 million litres, with the construction of four new storage tanks and the rehabilitation of three existing tanks at its Mosimi Depot in Ogun state.

Speaking during the inspection of construction works at the depot, Mr. Haruna Momoh, Managing Director, PPMC, said the construction and rehabilitation of the tanks, which will be completed by August 2013, will help boost storage and prevent disrup-

tion in the supply of petroleum products in the country.

Momoh stated that the project was awarded to an indigenous firm in line with the local content policy of the Federal Government, adding that the government is satisfied with the quality and pace of work of the contractors thus far.

He disclosed that the project, approved by the Federal Government, is an initiative of the presidency to boost products’ supply and drive the National Strategic Stock Reserve policy.

The PPMC boss also noted that the supply of petroleum products across Nigeria is still

robust, adding that it is committed to the mandatory 30 days national stock reserves.

He however, said the only challenge confronting the PPMC is in the area of distribution of the products, due to incessant vandalism, theft and sabotage.

He said, “We have to create additional capacity so that the public will not feel any impact whenever there is a disruption in supply. There are four new tanks under construction at the moment, while three other tanks are under rehabilitation.

“All we want to do, as much as possible, is to create more than enough holding stock at

this Mosimi depot, so that from here, we can pump products to places like Satelite, Ore, Ibadan and Ilorin. The total completion date for the project is August 2013, however, some of the tanks, especially the ones under rehabilitation and refurbishment will come on stream before August.”

Momoh maintained that the transformation agenda of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has made it mandatory for the PPMC to operate in line with best industry practices to ensure the achievement of its goal of becoming a world class oil and gas company.

IEPL enhances import substitution programme

By EDIRI EJOH

I

N an effort to contribute to the development of Nigeria, Indorama Eleme Petrochamicals, IEPL, said that the company will help Nigeria to conserve foreign exchange through its import substitution programme.

Under the programme, the company said it intended to become a net exporter of petrochemicals; Poly-Ethylene Terephthalate, PET; fertiliser and methanol, adding that it had the capacity to meet local demand for the products and for export.

The Managing Director, IEPL, MR. Manish Mundra, who spoke of the company’s plans in 2013, in a recent inhouse publication, disclosed that the company produces about 500,000 metric tonnes of polymer resins with a variety of customised grades of polypropylene, polyethylene and a host of others in line with this vision.

It would be recalled that in July last year, Indorama commissioned a world class PET Plant, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, with a capacity of producing 86,000MT of PET resins annually.

The Group Managing Director of Indorama Corporation, Mr. Amit Lohia, had noted that Nigeria presently imported 100 percent of its demand for PET resins, and gave the assurance that with the new plant, IEPL can save Nigeria “a whopping $140million from import substitution and our dream is to turn Nigeria into a net exporter of PET resins.

Lohia further noted that the Indorama PET plant is second only to South Africa’s plant and the first in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Expatiating on the import substitution programme, Mundra said the company was working towards making its fertilizer project in excess of 2.4million MT/annum and its methanol project to come on stream.

He also said that the availability of hydrocarbons in large quantities in Nigeria has strengthened its vision of building Africa’s largest petrochemical hub in Nigeria.

26 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

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Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013—29

NUPENG absolves members from products adulteration

BY GODWIN ORITSE

T

HE Nigeria Union of Pe troleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, has absolved its members, particularly, the Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD, from any form of petroleum products adulteration, saying that “the authorities should be held responsible for the rot in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.

In an exclusive interview with Vanguard in Lagos, NUPENG’s Lagos Zonal Chairman, Comrade Tokunbo Koro-

do, said that the menace of product adulteration is gradually taking its toll on the nation’s economy as vehicles; machines and equipment worth billions of Naira have been lost to this criminal act.

Korodo argued that if any of its members is found to be involved in any form of product adulteration, that person should be arrested and prosecuted, to serve as a deterrent to others who may have criminal motives.

“We do not encourage and we do not believe that tanker drivers would be involved in

this criminal act. If the government says that there are black spots where this atrocity is being committed, we do not need to publicise it, let the law enforcement agents do their work and get these criminals apprehended, and when they see us come forward to get their release then they can brand us as the criminals behind the perpetrators of this criminal act,” he added.

He however blamed the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) who is empowered by law to checkmate the

excesses of the some importers of petroleum products for the escalation of the crime, particularly among the tank farm operators, and owners of retail outlets who in a bid to maximise profit, allegedly take the products through different stages of adulteration.

He blamed the management of DPR for allowing its officials to hob nub with some of the operators who violate the rules and are left to go unpunished.

He said, “We have an equipment called thermometer used for density detection, before a truck is loaded, it is the duty

of DPR to ensure that the products coming out of the depots passed the density test. But because of their romance and relationship with tank farm owners, they have jettisoned their primary assignment and they now passed the blame to tanker drivers and NUPENG members we will resist that.

“If we are empowered by law to carry out test on these products on our own before they are loaded into trucks, you will see that products adulteration will become a thing of the past,” he asserted.

30 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

BRIEF

Siemens ready to add 10 gigabytes power in Nigeria

BY KUNLE KALEJAYE

S

EQUEL to the Memo randum of Understanding, MoU, recently signed between Siemens Limited and the Federal Government, Siemens said it is now set to contribute about 10 gigabytes of power to the national grid.

The firm said in a statement made available to Vanguard that the essence of the MoU was to reiterate its commitment to operate in Nigeria, and contribute its quota to the development of the nation’s economy.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens, Mr Michael Lakota, described Nigeria as a dynamic market, and promised to work towards boosting the country ’s image at the Germany=based, Siemens AG (its parent company).

Lakota said the firm was currently operating in four major sectors, comprising energy, industry, health and infrastructure development, but maintained that “Our main focus in Nigeria is power. We can provide world-class technology for generation, transmission and distribution.”

He added that professionalism was key to helping Nigeria achieve major feats in the power sector, stressing that there was no need for the country to have turbines and power plants that are currently non-functional, considering the high energy need of the country.

He also noted that the firm was currently putting finishing touches to a couple of its power projects at Geregu power plant, and Lekki, among others.

Last year, the firm announced plans to build a new service workshop for heavy duty gas turbines in Nigeria as part of its commitment to the country’s ongoing power sector reform. It also promised to support Nigeria with a study on the integration of renewable power into the country’s energy mix.

President Goodluck Jonathan, the then Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, and a number of high-ranking political and industrial delegates visited the Siemens gas turbine factory in Berlin in April last year.

Subsequently, an agreement was signed between the company and the Ministry of Power in order to strengthen their strategic partnership.

Under the terms of the agreement, Siemens will on a case-by-case basis consider to support the financing of power plant projects in Nigeria.

Furthermore, the Nigerian

company, Scanpower, and Siemens signed a technical partnership agreement for the construction of a 1,600-megawatt gas turbine power station at Lekki, in Lagos State,” the firm stated.

It would be recalled that Siemens operations in Nigeria was earlier truncated by an alleged $17.5million bribery scam. Even though the Federal Government in 2010 dropped criminal charges filed against Siemens AG and Siemens Nigeria Limited over their involvement in the crime, the company only succeeded in getting a commitment from the Federal Gov-

ernment last year.

In withdrawing the charges, Siemens was committed to pay a fine of N7billion as compensation for the criminal act, but it is uncertain till date whether Siemens actually paid the fine, and if it did, what infrastructure development government ploughed the money into.

The then Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke, who made the announcement , said, “I wish to announce that government has entered into an agreement with Siemens in relation to the infractions of

the company and those of its past and present employees charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“In consideration of the company ’s sober expression of regret and solemn undertakings, agreement to pay a penal fine of N7 billion, representing three times the amount of bribes given by the company and undertaking to put in place a monitoring committee, comprising of two nominees of the Federal Government, the government has agreed to discontinue the criminal prosecution it instituted against Siemens.

From left: Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi; Acting Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, Mr. Benjamin Dikki; and Managing Director, Nigerian Electricity Liability Management Company, NELMCo, Dr. Sam Agbogun, at the BPE’s pre-negotiation meeting with preferred bidders of PHCN successor companies, in Abuja.

Wind power tops new US generation capacity for 2012

W

ITH key federal tax credits due to expire at year-end 2012, US wind energy developers brought a total of 45 projects online with a total rated generating capacity of 3,095 megawatts (MW) in December. That amounts to more than double the amount of coal-fired generation capacity and some 34% more than natural gasfired electricity generation capacity, according to the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Office of Energy’s Energy Infrastructure Update for December 2012.

Statistics for the entire year are no less impressive. Nearly 10,700 MW of wind power capacity came online in 2012 as compared to 4,510 MW for coal and 8,746 MW of natural gasfired capacity. In total, 40.5% of new US electricity generation capacity came from wind power installations as compared to

33.1% for natural gas. In other words, as Adam hinted in December would be the case, wind power was #1 for new US electricity production in 2012.

Year-over-year comparisons show a 56% increase in US wind power capacity, though coal-fired generation capacity expanded at an even greater rate, rising more than 133% year-over-year (YoY). Additional natural gas-fired generation capacity decreased nearly 21% YoY. Sixteen solar power projects came online in December, adding 77 MW to US solar power generation capacity.

For the year, 240 solar power projects with a total capacity of 1,476 MW went live, a 30.5% YoY gain.

Following is the lengthy list of wind power generation capacity that was brought online in the US in December 2012, organized by region: New England

Iberdrola SA’s 28.5 MW Hoosac Wind in Bershire County, MA is online. Hoosac Wind consists of 19 GE 1.5 MW wind turbines. The electricity generated is sold to NSTAR Electric Co. under long-term contract.

Iberdrola SA’s 48 MW Groton Wind Project in Grafton County, NH is online. Groton Wind consists of 24 Gamesa Energy USA 2 MW wind turbines. The electricity generated is sold to NSTAR Electric Co. under long-term contract.

Georgia Mountain Community Wind’s 10 MW Georgia Mountain Wind in Chittenden County, VT is online. Georgia Mountain consists of 4 Goldwind Science & Technology 2.5 MW wind turbines. The electricity generated is sold to Burlington Electric Department under long-term contract.

ERHC Energy provides guidance for rights offering

E

RHC Energy Inc., a pub licly traded American company with oil and gas assets in Sub-Saharan Africa, has released guidelines on how to participate in its ongoing rights offering.

It would be recalled that in late December, ERHC distributed on a pro rata basis one non-transferable subscription right for every three shares of common stock owned. Shareholders as of the close of business on December 17, 2012 were eligible to receive subscription rights, each of which entitled the holder to purchase one share of the company ’s common stock at a subscription price equal to $0.075 per share.

The company, in a statement made available to Vanguard, also said it planned to apply the funds to specific exploration and development activities in the Republics of Chad and Kenya, as well as for general corporate purposes and working capital needs.

The rights offering is being made only by means of the Prospectus Supplement filed by the Company with the SEC on December 27, 2012.

Parts of the guidelines include: •Shareholders who hold their shares directly should have recently received the Prospectus Supplement, together with a letter from the Company describing the rights offering, a Shareholder Subscription Rights Agreement, instructions for how to complete the shareholder subscription rights agreement, and IRS Form W9. Those wishing to exercise their rights should review all materials, properly complete and execute the shareholder subscription rights agreement and deliver it and payment in full to the subscription agent •Shareholders whose shares are held in street name through a brokerage account, bank or other nominee, will not receive the materials described above and must instruct their broker, bank, or nominee whether or not to exercise subscription rights on their behalf. Those wishing to obtain a separate shareholder subscription rights agreement should promptly contact their broker, bank, or other nominee with that request, although it is not necessary to have a physical shareholder subscription rights agreement to elect to exercise rights if shares are held in street name.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 — 31

By FELIX AYANRUOH

P

ART one of this article reviewed the Petrole um Industry Bill (PIB) fiscal regime and the need for the host government to enact a flexible fiscal regime that favours both parties’ mutual interests.

Section 305 of the PIB allows for deductions for tax purposes - expenses wholly, exclusively, necessarily and reasonably incurred for the purpose of upstream petroleum operations. Itemised deductions include funds for decommissioning, abandonment expenditure, and interest upon any loans, including intercompany loans as long as the tax authorities are satisfied that the interest payable is on capital used in upstream petroleum operations except interest incurred under a Production Sharing Contract (PSC).

Section 306 of the PIB, like most global fiscal regimes excludes some categories of tax deductions - general, administrative and overhead expenses incurred outside Nigeria in excess of one percent of capital expenditure and 20 percent of any expenses incurred except for goods or services not available in Nigeria in the required quantity or quality.

However, legal and arbitration costs related to cases against the tax authorities or the Federal Government except awarded to the company during the legal or arbitration process will not be tax deductible. Also excluded from the deductions are costs incurred in organising or managing any partnership, joint venture or other arrangement between or among companies, gas flaring charges, insurance costs payable to an affiliate of the company, any signature or production bonuses and costs of obtaining and maintenance of a performance bond under a PSC. As regards gas operations, taxing stimulus available to upstream gas operations is limited to tax holiday under the Companies Income Tax Act, which allows for gas supply exclusively for domestic market. Dividend distribution by upstream companies will not be affected by the withholding provision of the bill provided such profits have been subject to NHT and CIT. Nigeria’s fiscal regime in comparison to its competitors and peers still remained attractive. The PIB introduces a more balanced and fair cost based incentives regime in place of the production-based regime -government revenues come from production and not cost.

Based on ranking by government take and attractiveness to investments, the proposed PIB fiscal regime appears to

Examining the PIB Fiscal Regime (2) be in the median percentile.

In other words more governments appear to take a larger share of the rent than what the bill is proposing. The global international average for CIT is 35 percent, while Nigeria’s is 30 percent. Also, the international average for government equity for PSC is 75 percent - Saudi Arabia 100 percent; Angola 78 percent; Norway 78 percent; and Ghana 80 percent more than what the

PIB is also proposing.

Additionally, on the issues of attractiveness and financial impact on hydrocarbon operation – argued by the international oil companies, Ernst & Young 2012 global oil and gas tax guide stated that, “the UK made two significant changes by increasing the tax rate for existing petroleum operations from 30 percent to 40 percent in 2002, and then another increase to 50 per-

cent in 2005.The tax rate for the large old legacy fields like Ninian, Brae and Forties rose to 75 percent ...The negative financial impact to IOCs from these changes was one of the largest in the world.” With these increases the North Sea still remains an attractive investment region to international oil companies.

However, the above stated figure oversimplifies the question of the fairness and

attractiveness of fiscal regimes and may, in fact, be misleading. Companies do not invest on the basis of the government’s notional share of the returns alone; they focus on the investor ’s actual economic returns on their investment and value creation – including project risks.

•Concluded

Shell’s Bonga 225,000 barrels/day deepwater Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel

IGHF project to boost power supply — Diezani A

MAJOR milestone in the drive towards steady power supply in the country has been recorded with the commissioning of the Oredo Integrated Gas Handling Facility (IGHF) constructed by Net-Work Oil and Gas Limited, which will supply gas to the National Independent Power Projects (NIPPs).

The Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, who commissioned the project last week, also commended Mr. Clifford Osawaru, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Net-Work Oil & Gas, and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), for exceeding government’s expectations in the project delivery. The facility is a 100 percent local content facility.

The minister said since the Nigerian Content Act was signed into law in 2010, various indigenous marketers, operators and service providers in the downstream sector of the Oil and Gas industry have come to full fruition. “I think the Oredo Gas plant is a fantastic example of this sort of indigenous enterprise where a wholly indigenous crew has worked with our NPDC which is a subsidiary of NNPC, to bring a gas plant to fruition within the shortest possible time; and to make good on Mr. President’s 12 month emergency gas supply plan.

“It is wonderful for us and very satisfying for me and the Group Managing Director of NNPC as well to see that by the end of 2013, this plant alone will be supplying to the domestic gas market at 100 million standard cubic feet of gas daily, mscf/d. Already, as we speak, it has wrapped up and is supplying 76mscf/d. And I think that in itself, is quite amazing.”

She noted that with the commissioning, the nation will be getting gas for power supply as well as liquefied petroleum gas, LPG for domestic consumption.

“The spin off effect will further assist in moving the economy forward by opening up the service sectors to indigenously owned companies to be able to produce a facility like the IGHF,” she added.

Also speaking, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, said the Oredo IGHF is unique because it is the first major gas development project which is aimed at the realisation of a strategic plan of being an integrated and oil and gas company. As well as the fact that it symbolises a response to the Federal government’s gas to power initiative.

“As we speak, NPDC produces an average of 130,000 barrels per day, bbl/d, and currently ranks as fifth largest oil producer in the country. NPDC is poised to surpass her target of 250bbl/d equivalent by the Year 2015.

Where we are standing today in Oredo covers a block of about 460 square kilometers consisting of three fields with an average production of 6,000bbl/d, with prospects for further development.

“The average production from this field in the past 15 years was stagnated at less than 1,000bbl/d. This facility also has the capacity to eliminate gas flaring in compliance with the federal government environmental requirements. Furthermore, NNPC and NPDC are pursuing with vigour the development of more resources in order to provide gas to Pan-Ocean Oil Company Limited to optimise the utilisation of their gas plant.”

Net-Work Oil boss, Osawaru, thanked the minister and the NNPC GMD for giving the company the opportunity to prove that Nigerian companies had all it takes to excel. He argued that “With this plant, there will be no doubt that Nigerian companies have come of age in the oil and gas sector.”

32—Vanguard , TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

2012, phenomenal year, says Porsche

BY THEODORE OPARA

Porsche Middle East and Africa FZE, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, has had an astounding year across the Middle East region with a 15 per cent sales increase on 2011 across all models.

The regional Porsche representative has witnessed a dramatic rise in demand with an overall total sales growth of almost 60 per cent over a five year period between 2007 and 2012. At the close of the year a record 9,171 vehicles were delivered to customers across the region compared to 7,945 in 2011 (+ 15 per cent).

The highlight of this record-breaking year was December with a total of 1,099 vehicles sold, the highest monthly deliveries of Porsche cars in the region in its history.

George Wills, Managing Director of Porsche Middle East and Africa FZE, says: “2012 was a phenomenal year; demand across key model ranges was extremely positive with the Cayenne and 911 proving to be extremely popular with customers. Order banks for the new Boxster are bulging and the Panamera GTS has proven a real success, too. We have continuously offered new product highlights throughout the last 12 months and this strategy has paid off.”

The popularity of the Cayenne continues to rise in the region with a 19 per cent year on year

sales increase of the model. It contributed more than 60 per cent of the overall sales figures for 2012.

Together with the recently announced Panamera Platinum Edition, Porsche will unveil the new Cayenne Turbo S at the upcoming Qatar Motor Show (29th of January till 2nd of February 2013).

With an engine power of 550 hp, it ranks at the very top in the sports car manufacturer’s SUV model range and represents one of the fastest SUV available today.

Weststar unveils all-new Mercedes Benz GL-Class M

ERCEDESBenz, through its Authorised General Distributor in Nigeria, Weststar Associates Limited has introduced yet another first-class offering in the SUV segment to the Nigeria market, the 2013 GL – Class.

According to Mr. Mirko Plath, CEO, Weststar Associates Limited, “Customers of the GLClass will enjoy double the benefits when opting for the new model. To begin with, the luxury vehicles for on-road and off-road use now has an extended range of standard equipment. The extensive standard equipment includes a number of comfort details such as electric sliding sunroof, electrically operated EASY-PACK

tailgate, EASY ENTRY system for convenient access to the third row of seats from both sides, high-insulation windscreen or electromechanical steering. In the interior, the scope of standard equipment comprises a colour screen with photorealistic display and dashboard finished in ARTICO man-made leather”.

Additional safety comes courtesy of the now standard assistance systems - the new generation of the GL supports the driver with the COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST* collision warning system, and AT TENTION ASSIST drowsiness detection system.

Helping to reduce the burden on the driver

significantly when driving at the limits of what is physically possible are systems which detect the load for example, or Steer Assist which supports the driver with a steering moment on the steering wheel in the event of the vehicle oversteering. One of the new GL’s innovations and highlights is the standard-fit Crosswind Assist, which helps the driver by targeted brake actuation if the vehicle is affected by sudden crosswinds.

The GL 500 4MATIC BlueEFFICIENCY in particular offers Active Parking Assist including

PARKTRONIC, the Intelligent Light System, the KEYLESS-GO access and drive authorisation system, 3-zone THERMOTRONIC automatic climate control and multicontour leather seats for driver and front passenger including massage function. Not to be overlooked as part of the added-value details fitted as standard are also the new engines. They boast better performance with increased output and torque, while at the same time enabling a reduction in consumption levels of up to 20 percent to be achieved. The V8 petrol model, the GL 500

4 M A T I C B l u e E F F I C I E N C Y, produces 320 kW (435 hp) and powerful torque levels of 700 Nm while consuming just 11.3 l/100 km (NEDC).

“GL customers will also be delighted with the exceptional capabilities of the vehicle when it comes to driving off the beaten track too. With 4MATIC permanent all-wheel drive, a special off-road transmission mode and Downhill Speed Regulation (DSR), Mercedes-Benz is ensuring that the necessary off-road performance is on hand to help make any off-road excursion trouble-free.

Ford commends Coscharis staff for awards

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HREE Coscharis staff have emerged winners at the Ford Regional Service Technician Competition that is the World Cup Service Excellence competition held recently in South Africa.

Congratulating the winners, Mr John Earp of the Ford Export Operations & Global Growth Initiatives (E & G), South Africa described the winners as worthy ambassadors who represented their dealerships exceptionally well and urged them to keep up the spirit.

He described them as the new brand

ambassadors of Ford and charged them to continue to represent the brand well. Winners from Coscharis Motors- Mr Felix Adepinye (first), Mrs Amaka ChijiokeOkeke (second) and Miss Ifeyinwa Onyemelukwe (second) competed with participants from other countries in the subsahara region.

The three winners from Coscharis Motors had competed at the local level last November with participants from various Ford Service Centres of the Company.

The competition commenced in earnest with winners from

Coscharis Ford Service network across the country converging at the Lekkki office complex where the Group General Manager Aftersales, Mr Vasant Rele had coordinated the exercise designed to bring out the best in the service personnel especially those who come in daily contact with customers.

The participants reviewed the customer’s job card and examined the vehicle before the technicians took over.

Points scored through this process determined the winners of the competition.

Vanguard , TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013—33

Tata to increase market share with Manza I

N our 2012 end of the year analysis, we identified the Tata Manza as one of the sedans to watch out for this year.

The Indian-made Compact sedan introduced into the Indian domestic market last year has proved itself as one of the fastest selling sedan in its class, boasting of classleading features.

The four cylinder Tata Manza is equipped with five-speed manual transmission which is reputed for its class-leading efficiency. An improve version of the old Tata Indigo, the Manza engine develops power output of 66KW@ 6000 rpm with its MPFI fuel injection engine. Manza’s torque is 116Nm @ 4750 rpm.

Built to the toughest industry specification, the Manza is equipped with independent lower wishbone Mcpherson Strut type suspension in front while the rear suspension is semi-independent twist beam with coil springs and hydraulic shock absorbers. Boasting one of the largest luggage compartments in its segment (460 litres), the Manza has a spacious interior that compares with sedans in the upper segment.

Ergonomically designed seats, a 2 DIN music sys-

tem and hands-free communication enhance the comfort level in the car.

A modern sedan by every standard, the Manza

is loaded with latest features that are usually found in cars in the luxury segment.

Infrared remote for mu-

HE management of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has said that the organization is committed to highly mobile, efficient and effective traffic management in line with the best global practices in 2013.

Speaking at the organization headquarters at Oshodi, the general manager, Engr. Babatunde Edu said the agency officials will be more courteous and po-

light are some of the interior features of the allnew Manza.

The Manza is also packed with array of se-

FRSC warns job seekers against scammers

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HE Federal Road Safety Corps has warned Nigerians not to patronise scammers who have created fake re-

cruitment portals to defraud people. The Corps in a statement said that it is not recruiting staff nor has it ask anyone to

LASTMA tasks staff on motorists

T

sic system, ipod compatibility, collapsible steering, music system with MP3 and USB, cabin Lamp delay, and vanity

lite in dealing with the motorists in the New Year and the watch word will be obedience of the rule of law, respect for motorists and be firm in the implementation of the traffic law.

“The experience of 2012 will serve as a guide, and impetus to deliver better and efficient services. The agency has strategically positioned the personnel to move it forward, in order to achieve the set objectives of free flow of

traffic and accident free Lagos. This is in conformity with the Lagos state service delivery.

As professional traffic managers, we have mapped out strategy that will increase the level of voluntarily compliance through awareness, sensitization and public enlightenment. The agency is more determined than ever to enhance sanity, decency, orderliness and safe road usage”Edu reiterated.

recruit staff for her.

A statement signed by the Corps states the attention of the Federal Road Safety Corps has been drawn to on-going activities of scammers who have created a fake recruitment portal, under the guise of extorting money from desperate job seekers to join the employ of the Corps.

These scammers have placed an FRSC recruitment exercise advert for 2012/2013 on the internet with a directive for prospective candidates to purchase forms online through a non-existing bank account for the sum of ten thousand naira only and a Glo enquiry line of one Dr. Gbenga, purporting

same to have been authorized by the FRSC management. Disturbed by this trend, the management of the Federal Road Safety Corps wishes to discountenance itself from this criminal act and advises the general public especially, job seekers to disregard such unauthorized and mischievous publications as the Corps has no immediate arrangements to embark on any recruitment exercise.

For avoidance of doubt, the general public should note that the Corps has numerous platforms for publishing its activities such as its web site, Facebook and twitter.

curity feature to prevent it against being stolen or from intruders. Transponder type key with ignition cut-off, immobilizer-fuel cut-off, chime and buzzer.

Also fitted to the Manza are numerous safety features such as antiLocking brake system (ABS), and Electronic Brake-Force Distribution (EBD). Despite all the attributes of the all-new Manza, Vanguard Motoring gathered that Tata Africa Services Nigeria Limited is offering it at a very competitive price.

With the price advantage and outstanding value, the Manza comes with three years/ 100,000km warranty, (depending on which comes first).

A Tata source told Vanguard Motoring that the company is planning to take huge share of the passenger car market with the all-new Manza which is due for launch in the early quarter of the year.

Ashok Leyland bags National Energy Conservation Awards

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*Mr. Matthew Aje of Coscharis Ford (l) presenting the HIV test kits to medical personnel at General Hospital at Ajegunle

WO manufacturing units of Ashok Leyland, have won the most prestigious National Energy Conservation Awards 2012. Ashok Leyland’s state-of-theart manufacturing plants in Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) and Alwar (Rajasthan) in India, have been awarded by the Ministry of Power, Government of India for implementing various en-

ergy conservation initiatives.

Mr. Alok Gupta, Plant Director, Pantnagar plant and Mr. A.K. Chopra, General Manager, Alwar plant received the awards from Shri.

Pranab Mukherjee, Hon’ble President of India, in the presence of Shri. Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Minister of State of Power, Government of India and other

senior officials from the government and industry, at a recently concluded award function in New Delhi. Pantnagar, the new plant of Ashok Leyland which went operational in the year 2010, received the second place in the ‘Major Consumer’ category, followed by the Alwar plant which won the second place in the ‘Minor Consumer’ category.

34—Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

Boko Haram: Time to dialogue with the sect tion? The need for external

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HILE the effort of Lt. General Ihejirika in containing the menace of Boko Haram is praiseworthy, the government has not done enough to persuade the terrorist to give up their attacks.

Government should connect the various groups of Moslem hierarchy to help, hoping that the terrorists would listen to them. Now the sect has regrouped making headway in the Kaduna area of North Central, The worst incident occurred at Jaji inside the Barracks. How they escaped the security checks nobody could tell, killing almost eleven people and injuring about 30. I went to the scene and was horrified.

To say that people capable of doing this are animals would be wrong. No animal would do such a thing. I went on to visit the casualties at the designated hospitals where the injured were receiving intensive care. The carnage was truly terrible.

I concluded that the only way to stop further attacks was to dialogue with the sect.

Who and who would be the main channels of communica-

President Jonathan and alleged feud with OBJ PRESIDENT Jonathan may appear slow, but he is definitely not stupid. Come to think of it, he is more intelligent than he looks. Remember how he played the fools to become the president of this nation; that shows that he has a mind of his own.

That they do not agree on many issues should not be a surprise to discerning watchers of Nigeria politics.

Kelly 07057006736

President Jonathan and OBJ

I an not surprised that the romance between President Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo, his alleged godfather, has gone sour. If you may want to know, it is a marriage of convenience based on treachery which has now imploded.

Taiwo writes in via email

Still on President Jonathan and OBJ Jonathan’s government is

help has become imperative after last November’s appalling attack.

A time has equally come to review the security situation in the country. The number of people involved in security checks should be widened and fresh people co-opted which would include retired members of the Police, Army, SSS, Navy, Air force etc.

It is unfortunate that the sect still finds Borno State safe to unleash mayhem.

Why is it so difficult to provide adequate security to the people of the State? The government should provide security to that State no matter the cost of doing so. Confidence building measures ought to be announced to assuage the people.

The sect’s bitterness could have been ascertained and addressed; it is not true that their action is because of their jailed colleagues serving various prison terms nationwide.

They had stated times without number that the President was their top target for assassination and to install a new leader. This sounds absurd.

If it ever happens, it will lead to endless riots throughout the nation. God forbid! Only

very reckless. Sentiment aside, if the Obasanjo administration left $35billion in the Excess Crude Account, how on earth could President Jonathan have spent, in less than three years such amount with nothing to show as alleged. What happened to Mallam Ribadu’s reports

,

Dear Sir,

a democratically elected President would find himself in Aso Rock.

Government should be prepared in principle to sit down at a round table and dialogue with the sect leaders to halt this carnage whether in a foreign country or else where. If there is need to make concessions to achieve normalcy why not. We are adding more fuel to the fire by publicly exaggerating the powers of our

Re: Nigerian youths must stand up to be counted tribute enormously to the Dear Sir,

I

want to appreciate your efforts at reminding Nigerians especially the youths of the negative value system prevalent in our country today.

Your interactive letter suggested that religious leaders’ personal ambitions con-

taking the issue of insecurity in our country seriously and yet some persons are going round pasting posters and asking him to run for the presidential race come 2015 when most issues that are confronting the country have not been solved.

Anonymous 08158086822

FG to provide mobile phones to farmers What purpose will this serve? Most farmers already have mobile phones. What

It is high time NNPC knew the actual fuel subsidy payable for each litre of fuel to determine the actual price of each product. It is not right, pricing products at the inflated figure of subsidy; we all saw the revelations at the House of Representative Subsidy probe and Ribadu’s report

on fuel subsidy and other frauds in the sector? the nation cannot develop meaningfully if its leadership remains fraudulent.

Funsho 08039832219

Insecurity in the country It is a shame that President Jonathan's government is not

security network.

Information on rewards should be passed nationwide for any one giving useful information that would lead to arrest of any member of Boko Haram sect. There is need to keep the sect guessing of some of the proposed measures as they are implemented. No need to inform the House of any proposed security measures.

By: Cletus Okereke

,

government should do is to provide seeds and other farm inputs. We have been trying to get cocoa pods and palm seeds that fruits in 30 or 36 months for a very long time but can't get them.

The minister should tell us where and how to get those seeds. Government should not waste N6 billion on mobile

decay of the value of our youths.

I’m writing this piece because I disagree with some of your opinions. For instance, I know a lot of religious bodies which organise high profile leadership summits and conferences for Nigerian youths free of charge.

This is done on yearly basis and thousands of youths

phones. The National Assembly should not approve this wastage.

Mani 08078921191

Plea bargain and corruption cases The fact that high profile corruption cases filed against former governors are still at the plea bargain stage is an indication that we have lost the war against corruption in this country. The truth is that nothing will happen to those former governors who are facing corruption cases and charges.

They know how to wriggle out of trouble because the Nigerian society itself is very corrupt, especially the judiciary.

Anonymous 08057156187

Still on plea bargaing and corrupt judges The court is where justice is

have embraced the opportunity. Many Nigerian youths are no longer engaged in those corrupt and social vices you highlighted but are now not only yearning for positive values but are also living them out. I can count one thousand and one of such youths including my humble self. So I dare say your perspective needs to be reviewed on this issue of youths and values.

In fact, the media have contributed greatly to these negative values in our society today by ‘mindlessly and emphatically ’ focusing on the negative values of our youths. I remember someone said that “ you are what you read, hear and watch”.

Hence, constantly focusing on these poor values by the media leaves their readers thinking and subsequently acting in that direction. There are so many good news about Nigerian youths that are not disseminated to the populace.

Many youths are doing things with a touch of positive values and excellence these days, even though unrecognised. I believe these are the kind of news that will drive home the points.

Aniekwena Chris

Xtianvector@yahoo.com

expected to be served, but not here in Nigeria. Many of our judges are allegedly very corrupt. Rather than bring those high profile corrupt people to book, they allow them to walk freely by granting them bail and plea bargaining. Mr. President should order the reopening of all corruption cases and cases of looting.

Anonymous 08075167180

Corruption in oil sector and fuel subsidy It is high time NNPC knew the actual fuel subsidy payable for each litre of fuel to determine the actual price of each product. It is not right, pricing products at the inflated figure of subsidy. We all saw the revelations at the House of Representative subsidy probe and Ribadu’s report.

Mani 08078921191

SAYINGS OF OUR ELDERS 1.The feathers on a fowl do not let one know that the fowl sometimes sweats.

Amarachi (08162271104), Ebonyi State.

Send us your Sayings of Our Elders. They must be African sayings or proverbs. Biblical or English proverbs are unacceptable. You will be paid N100.00 for every saying published. Address your sayings to: The Co-ordinator, Sayings of Our Elders,Vanguard Media Ltd., PMB 1007, Apapa,

V anguard AY, JANU ARY 22, 2013 — 35 Vanguard anguard,, TUESD TUESDA JANUARY

LEISURE

YOUR LUCK TODAY

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

VIRGO; This is not the right time to rely on promises made by others. Continue to take matters-of-the-heart seriously. Reason with your reliable associates LIBRA; Tension within the domestic scene will start to ease off. Yet you will need to watch what you do within your base till after 10.15pm tonight.

SCORPIO; Both yourself and other important personalities to you are beginning to see things from same point of view making it easy for you to eliminate unnecessary rift SAGITTARIUS; Venus moves into a positive angle to your Star and encourages peaceful settlement. Exhibition of maturity on your part will favour you better.

CAPRICORN; Gradually you are dropping aggressive approach you have adopted in the last few days to the betterment of your cause. Remain practical till after 10.15pm

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Richard Eromosele

...THERE are rich folks who have no house of their own, and there are poor folks who have built mansions. There are managers who have no house of their own, yet, there are messengers who are comfirmed landlords.

It is not so much about

Are you a senior tenant? how much money you have or how wealthy you are, it is basically a function of good planning. With proper planning, you can build your own house and become a landlord within a reasonable time. For example, one

TERROR MUDA

of my friends built his house by joining two sets of contribution meeting/association.

And when it was his turn to be given the monthly contribution in one, he pleaded with the rightful person in the second

in “Never say goodbye”

meeting. In that way, he collected both monies, bought land and commenced building his house.

Today, he is a landlord.

There are titles and there are titles, but senior tenant...? God forbid! Think about it seriously!

By Lanre Kehinde

AQUARIUS; Better than yesterday; however that is not to say you should throw caution to the wind. Improvement on your love life indicated. Try to comport yourself.

PISCES; After a few days of fun you may need to settle down to serious business. Those of you working till very late evening will need to be more careful till after 10.15pm. Reason with your tried and trusted old hands(friends) ARIES; Venus at positive angle boosts your sparkling personality to the betterment of your cause. Could be a nice day for the-young-at-heart TAURUS; It is important you don’t allow your mind to wander unnecessarily so that minor but costly mistakes would be averted. Avoid late evening confusion.

GEMINI; Recent tension generated by controversy over money will start to ease off. Be more vigilant if you are working late in the evening.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Princess Shii’

By Andy Akman

CANCER;. Other people will continue to have their says and if you try to indoctrinate them tensed atmosphere will be aggravated. Be patient LEO; Entrance of romantic Venus into your Star Sign will enhance your prospects. Both financial and love related success are possible.

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING Send yyour our dat th ttoo the As tr ological datee and place of bir birth Astr trological Counselling, PP.M.B .M.B 1100 00 7, Apapa, Lagos 007,

Would my life be stable?

VIRGINIA

dadadekola@yahoo.com

Dear Joshua, I want to know about my future, especially what I should expect from my love life both in the immediate and far future. However that is not to say I am not interested in good financial standing.

Omotayo-Oyo.

Dear Omotayo, Although there will be a particular time you will need to be more careful so that you will not gamble with love as predicted under your love life.

The love of luxury comes from your stelliu-Taurus which must not be totally discouraged but should not be allowed to go beyond your control. Yes envy and jealousy can creep in as indicated by the oppositions between your natal Venus/Saturn in Taurus and Jupiter in Scorpio, but that is not enough excuse for either failure or manipulation of occult powers against you. Whatever anybody says and/or does GREAT FINANCIAL SUCCESS is your portion.

The most influential planet during your birth hour is Venus-the planet of MONEY and LOVE. You are the romantic type whose magnetic personality and open handedness are sources of big trap to his members of opposite sex. As handsome as you are you truly crave stability in your love life/home and the happiness you desired will be yours. You will need to watch carefully around and during your 46th year on earth as you may be tempted to gamble with matters-of-the-heart.

Commen3

by Lawrence Akapa

36— Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

New Year: Fire guts 125 buildings in two weeks •We receive about 10 fire distress calls everyday — Fire boss

lines, many lives would have been lost and property worth billions of naira would have also been damaged through fire outbreaks. And the reason many lives and properties running into billions of naira were lost in the past was because residents don’t know which number to call when there is any fire disaster.

“Besides, today, each of our vehicles have the ability to transport 10, 000 litres of water to emergency scene. We have

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

T

HE prayer on the lips of most people on the eve of every New Year is that the coming year should bring good tidings. It is too early to tell if the prayer has been answered 22 days into 2013 but the series of fire disasters witnessed in the first two weeks of the year in Lagos do not give cause for cheer. So far, about 125 buildings have been gutted by fire with the fire service receiving an average of 10 distress calls everyday.

According to the Director, Lagos State Fire Services, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe, “In year 2012, a total of 1,539 fire incidents were recorded in Lagos while about 125 fire incidents were recorded between January 1 -15, 2013.

We receive an average of 10 fire distress calls per day, in recent times.”

To fight fire effectively, Governor Babatunde Fashola had in the wake of his administration set up the emergency toll free numbers: 767 and 112 for quick response to emergency situations.

Before the establishment of the toll free number, the state fire services only attended to three fire outbreak calls daily.

skilful officers. But they wouldn’t have been skilful if they weren’t trained frequently especially on the job training.

The state fire service men are well insured by a reputable insurance company.”

During an inspection tour recently, Fashola said the state government had applied for the supply of 30 fire engines from a company in Illinois in the United States.

Some recent and most challenging fire outbreaks in Lagos include the June 3, 2012 Ojo Giwa Street, December 26, 2012 Jakanra, Lagos Island, fire disaster, caused by explosion of fire crackers that gutted over 10 buildings.

FIRE OUTBREAK SAFETY TIPS

*

In 2007, when Fashola assumed office, there were only eight fire stations. He later established five additional fire stations, increasing the number to 13. All are well equipped. It was learnt that by the end of the first quarter of this year, two new fire stations would be commissioned. One of the fire stations is located at Abesan Estate and the other would be at Lekki Phase II. Fadipe said the equipment

provided by the state government had been helpful: “With the facilities provided by the governor, we have the capability to cope with any fire disaster in the state. Fire service responsibility is multifaceted. We respond to accident, fire, rescue, flood boat mishaps and prevention. We are always the first responder to emergency challenges.”

“If the governor didn’t establish the emergency toll free

-Raise alarm -Call the fire service immediately -Evacuate the building or premises -Don’t push or pull -Attack the fire with appropriate fire extinguisher -Move to the assembly point -Take roll call Ensure that: -Portable fire extinguisher are checked regularly and installed in conspicuous places -Electrical socket are not over loaded - Electrical appliances are switched off while leaving home/close of work - Electrical panels are tightly covered -Escape route/exit doors are not blocked/padlocked -Training/drills are conducted for members of staff regularly -Ash trays are provided where smoking is permitted -Candles are lit on protected base -Children are not allowed to play with matches or lighters -Gas cylinder are installed outside the kitchen -Generator is not refueled while working or hot -Fire notice are displayed in strategic and conspicuous locations -Fire exits shouldn’t be wedged -Family designated emergency exit point should be created in a burglar proof

11 years after, Ikeja bomb blast victims cry for compensation

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

E

LEVEN years after the Ikeja Cantonment bomb blasts that led to the death of over 1000 Nigerians with 12000 rendered homeless, victims of the disaster are still awaiting a compensation package promised by the Federal Government.

It was gathered that the Federal Government had earlier given N500,000 each, as a temporal relief package to parents who lost a child or children and those whose bodies were recovered, while N250, 000 each were given to parents who could not find their children, with a promise to pay actual compensation after 10 years.

As of press time, the victims are still waiting for the compensation without any positive response from Federal Government’s agents, who have continued to keep mum over the issue.

Chairman of the Association of the affected victims, Mr. Olaniran Majekodunni, could

* Lagos plans low-key commemoration

playing games with us on the issue of compensation.

Though, we are not saying that what they are giving us could actually compensate the lives that were lost, but at least it would go a long way in healing some of the wounds.”

“We are already planning a peaceful demonstration against Federal Government’s failure to fulfill its compensation promise to the victims. Come January 27, 2013, we are carrying placards in protest.

“We have written to federal government, through our lawyer, Femi Falana, on several occasions without hearing from any of their agents. We are lost, but will see to its logical conclusion.”

L

*

A cross section of the victims at a function, recently.

not be reached at press time but the secretary, Mr. John Adebayo Orire, who lost his son in the incident, decried the Federal

Government’s lackadaisical attitude towards the victims, saying, “we are staging a peaceful protest during the 11th an-

niversary.”

He continued: “It is saddening that 11 years after, the Federal Government has been

agos plans low-key commemoration Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who recently gave 70 verified families the sum of N250,000.00 each as compensation, had in 2012 set up a 10man anniversary committee to Continues on page 37

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 — 37

By OLASUNKANMI AKONI & MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

A

S the rainy seasons draw near, Lagos residents have begun to express fear over the preparedness of government to curtail the perennial flood challenge confronting the state.

Mr. Nicholas Abraham, a banker, while speaking to Megacityspotlight on his expectation urged Governor Babatunde Fashola to prevail on contractors handling various water channel projects across the state to complete the projects before the rains.

Though, the effect of flooding in Lagos last year was comparatively reduced due to extensive on going drainage channel projects across the state, Mr. Jimoh Ajayi, a businessman, called on the state and local governments to rehabilitate most of the major roads still in disrepair before the rains.

He noted that, “ with improved drainage system and accessible roads, flooding would be minimized.”

However, Governor Fashola during his visit to the Iponri Drainage Canal in Orile Iganmu as part of his on going tour of such facilities across the state to assess the level of preparedness towards the next rainy season, assured residents that adequate measures were being taken to reduce flood in the state this year even as he urged industries in the state to maintain high level of environmental compliance.

Coming barely 24 hours after his extensive tour of ongoing projects in Ikorodu Division of the state as part of

Fast-track de-flooding, road projects before the rains, residents beg govt •No cause for alarm — Fashola the statewide inspection of projects, the governor also visited the Nigerian Breweries Plc, Iganmu, proposed site for the Iponri Market Extension and a reclaimed swampy land in Orile along the Lagos – Badagry Expressway where government plans to build a recreation centre for the community.

“Most of the canals that drain Lagos to the Lagoon are earth canals which means they exist naturally. It costs a lot to keep them functional and from being overgrown by vegetation. So, what we are

trying to do now is to build a body of concrete lined channels across Lagos. It is going to take awhile, but we have started several years ago and we are building kilometre by kilometre until we complete it”, the governor explained.

According to him, the Iponri Drainage Canal begins from Otto Creek taking flood water from Ijora, Iponri, BodeThomas and Alakija areas into the Lagoon on the Lagos Island side.

“I have come here just to measure the progress of work and to see how quickly we can

complete that before the rainy season. The successful completion of the project would be definitive for how this area will drain during the rainy season”.

Fashola said his visit to the Nigerian Breweries Plc, Iganmu, was to assess the level of compliance of the company to environmental regulations expressing satisfaction at the level of compliance of the company.

“One is happy to see that they have complied at the highest level. This is the kind of standard we want other industries to adopt. It comes

11 years after, Ikeja bomb blast victims cry for compensation Continued from page 36 ensure proper and successful commemoration of the anniversary. Led by the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Obafemi Hamzat, the members include Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr Wale Ahmed; Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa; Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba and chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, as well as Permanent Secretaries of the four ministries.

The state government is however planning a low key 11th anniversary, come next Sunday, January 27.

Indeed, January 27, 2002 was horrendous in the history of Lagos and the entire nation.

The Ikeja military cantonment

was a large military cantonment and storage area in the city of Lagos, situated north of the city centre near the districts of Isolo and Onigbongo.

T

he base was being used to store a large quantity of “high calibre bombs” and other sundry explosives. On the afternoon of January 27, a fire broke out in a street market being held next to the base, which was also home to the families of soldiers. At around 6 pm the fire apparently spread to the base’s main munitions store, causing an enormous explosion. The blast killed many of the base staff and their families and immediately destroyed several nearby streets, flying debris starting numerous fires further away.

Also thrown up by the blast were thousands of unexploded

military munitions, which fell in a rain of exploding shells, grenades and bullets casting further destruction across most of the northern section of the city. Thousands of people from Ikeja and neighbouring districts, seeing explosions and fires breaking out, fled their houses in an attempt to leave the affected areas. As the streets became more and more crowded, explosions amid the fleeing crowds from shells falling from the initial explosion created panic.

A stampede developed as panicking people fled in all directions, trampling those who fell underfoot. It was also reported that people were jumping from burning highrise buildings and being killed in desperate attempts to cross the busy Ikeja dual carriageway.

In far away Ejigbo area, most people who ran towards Oke-Afa, drowned in the canal.

Most of them, oblivious of quick sand in the canal, drowned as they fell over one another. Local divers did their best to rescue the unfortunate victims but many died before they could get help.

T

he final death toll is hard to compute, although the Red Cross claimed that at least 1,000 bodies were recovered and a number of people were reported missing and never found. In addition to the dead, at least 5,000 people were injured in the disaster and over 12,000 left homeless, with entire districts of the city gutted. About 20,000 people fled the city on the night of the explosion, and the survivors gradually returned over the course of the weeks.

at a cost but, the cost of doing that is far cheaper than doing it the other way where you discharge chemicals and affluence into the water body ”, the Governor said adding that the result of such discharge would be that the substance goes down into the underground water.

Lagos ferries over 1m passengers monthly

BY MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

T

O boost water transportation, the Lagos State Government has acquired two ferries and embarked on the repair of the five aluminum boats acquired during the Alhaji Lateef Jakande administration for the Mile 2 Jetty as well as construction of more jetties.

Lamenting that passenger traffic on water was still low at the current rate of one million passengers a month, he said things would take a turn for the better when “the jetties for the ferries, which are still under construction” are completed.

Fashola who spoke during a tour of ongoing projects in the state during the week, said that activities will commence immediately the jetties are completed and linked together by radio for the passengers to know the arrival and departure time of ferries.

He noted that operating coordinated water transportation in the state does not end in building the jetties adding, “Building is only an aspect of the work.

The ground work of getting the concessionaires, licensing them, making sure that the waterways remain safe, is part of the core responsibility of the State’s Water ways Authority (LASWA). Again, there is a depth at which a ferry can ferry on water, so you constantly have to dredge the water to make it navigable.”

The governor said with the completion of repairs on the five boats, the State would have seven ferries and in addition to the ferries now being operated by private companies such as Metro Ferry which moves from Ipakodo to Ebute-Ero and a lot of other smaller ferries from other companies running from Lekki all through to Ojo, the water transportation capacity of the State would continue to increase. “We are currently doing well over one million passengers in a month but it will expand as we go on. You will notice at Ipakodo that we also have bus terminal so we are going to have LAGBUS there”, he disclosed.

38—Vanguard, TUESDAY, January, 22, 2013

Deceit, danger all around (6) HI, As if the stories of kidnapping and bombing across the country are not enough, the “ember months” including the beginning of a new year are considered precarious whether by design, myth or reality. A lot of weird, incredible stories make the rounds during this period, all of them twisted with violence, spiritual and physical manipulations, loss of property

and death. For those who are lucky of a chance to tell the bone chilling stories, life may never be the same as they once knew it. In this series, some of these people will be sharing their experiences with us. The story you are about to read today was recently told by a young lady who claimed she narrowly escaped being kidnapped after she boarded a taxi right in front of her house.

Adiza (33), a Civil Servant, lost 40,000 to some fraudsters a while back. She said she was so hooked that she took a bath in a flowing river with ‘a man of God’.

All I wanted was to get the money for the ‘man of God’. Eventually, he promised to get me the money in the morning. To my surprise the next day, my husband did not go to work.

When I started talking about the money, he told me he would have to get it at the bank and so, would be going out later in the day. As time ticked, I became very worried about the development.

What if my husband does not go out to get the money and then the ‘man of God’ arrives, what would I tell him? Again, should my husband see this man, how would I explain his mission in our house?

I was in the kitchen when the ‘man of God’ arrived. As soon as I heard my husband shouting my name and questioning him, something snapped in my head. It was as if a wool was removed from my eyes or fog from my brain. I started questioning myself too about what I was doing with the man.

I walked into the sitting room and began telling my husband all that had been going on in the last two days. He was not

only angry, he descended on the man and started beating him, threatening to take him to the Police. Soon, the ‘man of God’ began begging for mercy and confessed that everything had been a big scam. He promised to return the money he had taken from me and pleaded that we do not introduce the Police into the matter. By then, I was overcome by shame. How could I have been so foolish? I prevailed on my husband to leave him and allow him go in peace.

I was speechless and could only weep afterwards. My husband refused to beg me and it only made me feel worse and ashamed of myself.

Friends Searching Males •Adebayo, 38, a business man, from Oyo state, needs a lady, aged 38-40, for a serious relationship.08032625550 •Olaoye, resides in Ibadan, needs a lady, who is God fearing, loving, caring and ready to marry. 08063933840 •Alex, 25, tall and fair in complexion, needs a sexy and romantic lady, aged 30- 45. 08066895006 •Williams, 30, 5.9 tall, dark in complexion, slim, handsome and resides in Benin city, needs a fat, busty and sexy lady, aged 25-45, for a relationship.08185773571 •Oserez, 23, from Irrua, in Edo state, needs a pretty and clean fair or chocolate in complexion lady, within Edo state, for a relationship.08054290088 •Collins, 26, a graduate from Anambra state, needs a God fearing, good looking and gainfully employed lady, for a serious relationship 07063772744 •Emeka, 31, needs a lady, aged 38-40, for a relationship.08038362613 •Ogoo, 32, resides in Lagos, needs a lady, aged 20 and above, for a relationship. 08161615650 •Tony, from Benin, needs a rich and matured lady, for relationship.08105682274.

•Vincent, handsome, and resides in Owerri, needs a lady, for a relationship.08061122870 •Ibraheem, 39, needs lady, aged 25-35, who is a Muslim, good looking, caring, well shaped and busty, for a relationship.0802070275,08105081189 •Elvis, resides in Edo state, needs a big and very busty lady, that also resides in Edo state for a relationship.08094767899 •Mavin, from Warri, needs a lady, for a serious relationship, that will lead to marriage.

07067775115

Vanguard , TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 —39

From Left: Mr. Obinna Anyalebechi, Marketing Manager, Guinness Nigeria Plc; Mr. Tunde Bank-Anthony, Executive Secretary, Lagos State Sports Endowment Fund; Dr. Abiola Awonuga, represenative of Lagos State Government and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Sports, Youth and Social Development and Mr. Austin Ufomba, Marketing and Innovations Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, during a press briefing on unveiling of the 'World Largest Jersey,' by Guinness Nigeria, yesterday, at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi

Cross-section of some beneficiaries from Bristow Uplift Team and one of the schools' headmasters, during Bristow's corporate social responsibility reachout to more than 400 pupils in Akwa Ibom State with school bags, uniforms, shoes, sportswears and sweaters.

From left: Tope Asiwaju, Public Relations/ Events Manager, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, receiving an award from Senator Joy Emordi, Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters and Mrs. Ify Umenyi, Director General, Consumer Protection Council, during the maiden dinner of the Nigerian Consumer Award (NICA), at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Abuja.

From left: Sen. Muhammadu Magoro; former Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki and Alhaji Muhammed Ilisu Bashir, Emir of Gwandu, at the burial of Hajiya Goggo-Baba Dasuki, in Kaduna, yesterday.

From left: Dr. Christopher Abashiya, Gov. Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna State, Bishop Jonathan Dodo, the state Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria; Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga, Kaduna State Deputy Governor and Comrade Yusuf Idris, state Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, during the payment of compensation to victims of the last post-presidential election violence, in Kaduna, at Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina House,Kaduna. Photo: Olu Ajayi

Sen. Bindow Jibrilla (left), Adamawa North Senatorial District, being welcomed by Customs officers, during his sympathy visit to Maiha town, Adamawa, over the recent attack on Maiha Customs out-post by gunmen.

Mrs. Mary Eyagbe, Chief Public Relations Officer, Delta State Hospitals Management Board (right), representing Dr. Caroline Ajuyah, Permanent Secretary of the Board; members of Urhobo Progress Union, Northern California, United States of America branch and staff of Central Hospital, Ughelli, during the commissioning of medical equipment donated to the hospital by the union.

From left: Senator Ben Obi, Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Inter party Affairs, and Mr. Greg Lawless, head of political section, United States of America Embassy, Abuja, during Obi's courtesy visit to the embassy.

From left: Mr. Francis Fasuyi, Director of Studies of Vivian Fowler College; Messrs Samuel Sipes, Jen Bauer, both U.S.Vice Consul and Consul General and Mrs. Olufunke Fowler-Amba, Director of the college, at Vivian Fowler College's Year 2013 Continuing Education/Counselling Fair, at the College premises, in Lagos. Photo: Biodun Ogunleye

40—Vanguard, TUESDAY TUESDAY,, JANUARY 22, 2013

IMI lauds FG on roads’ rehabilitation

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

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AGOS—INFRA STRUCTURE Monitors Intenational ,IMI, has commended the Federal Government for what it described as the success of Project Safe Passage, saying that the project made failed roads across the country motorable during the end of year period.

It also called on the government to replicate the political will it displayed with the fixing of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos and Ovia River Bridge along Benin-OreShagamu Expressway on the East-West road.

A statement by Johnbull Adaghe, Mary Keane, Country Director and Secretary respectively, urged government to improve on the rail and power sectors.

The statement reads: ‘’Government’s responses to the condition of the third mainland bridge in Lagos State and Ovia River bridge in Edo State, along Benin-Ore-Shagamu expressway where railings were constructed to prevent motorists plunging into the river, are well thought interventions.”

IMSU Ag VC wants law, medicine faculties accredited

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WERRI—PRO F E S S O R Ukachukwu Awuzie, the acting Vice-Chancellor, Imo State University, IMSU, Owerri, has stressed the need to accredit the institution’s faculties of law and medicine, saying it was its most pressing challenge.

Awuzie said this in Owerri, yesterday, at the inauguration of a sevenmember council to superintend the affairs of the university.

He said that two of the university’s flagship programmes, law and medicine, were threatened with possible denial of accreditation by the relevant agencies and the National Universities Commission.

He said: “It is our sincere hope and prayer that the council will tackle the problem with all the resources at its disposal.

Other challenges facing the university are issues to be presented to the council at a later date.”

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State ( left ) and Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, during Mrs. Dere Awosika’s 60th Birthday celebration in Lagos.

Acting Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Efiok Cobham (right), addressing the displaced people of Adadama, Abi Local Government Area of the state, as a result of the communal clash between them and Amagu people of Ikwo LGA of Ebonyi State, at their temporary camp at Anong-Ediba, Cross River State.

Ex-Gov Mu’azu slams group over petition

BY HENRY UMORU

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BUJA—FORMER gov ernor of Bauchi State, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu has challenged some faceless people involved in writing fictitious petitions against him to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to come out openly and face him, instead of hiding under fake organisations to blakmail him.

Muazu who spoke through his Personal Assistant, Alhaji Kabiru

Ilelah, in Abuja, said that those he described as his detractors had been writing frivolous petitions to the EFCC to tarnish his reputation.

He, however, urged the EFCC to arrest and prosecute them against the backdrop that they were not only mischievous, habitual petition writers, but also blackmailers.

Muazu dismissed the organisation- National Congress of Democrats, NCD, which was the platform used by his enemies to

attack him, pointing out that some of the signatories including one Abubakar Dogonyaro Bibi and one Yakubu Alhaji Jibrin were fake.

He said: ‘’The NCD is a nonexisting organisation. It is not registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC as a Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO. Those behind these series of attacks in the media on my person are nonentities. The EFCC should investigate the serial attacks, to among other things identify the real sponsors of the attacks.’’

Ikot Akpan Udo crisis: Why we‘re rejecting Akwa Ibom govt’s MoU —Community

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YO—THE Ikot Akpan Udo community, yesterday, urged the Akwa Ibom State Government to delineate boundary between Ikot Abasi and Eastern Obolo Local Government areas using the Akpan Udo River which rises at Ikot Ekpang in Mkpatenin Local Government Area and empties into the Atlantic Ocean, to avoid future bloodbaths in the area.

The community said in a statement by the Village Head, Eteidung Oscar Abel, that it has decided to reject the state government’s memorandum of understanding with Amazaba of Eastern Obolo Local Government Area if the pre-condition

was not addressed.

Eteidung Abel said that contrary to government’s information, Ikot Akpan Udo community did not have boundary problems with Amazaba, noting that the Amazaba lived on Ikot Akpan Udo land. Rather, he explained that the boundary dispute was between Ikot Abasi and Eastern Obolo local government councils.

He said that the state government has not only failed to release the commission of inquiry report on the mayhem unleashed on Ikot Akpan Udo community by the Amazaba in August 2008, in which the whole town was burnt and 13 persons killed, but

was allegedly shielding the merchants of death from justice.

The community noted that if government officials who do not live in the neighbourhood insist on planting Amazaba on Ikot Akpan Udo land, they would inadvertently be granting them licence to annihilate remnants of Ikot Akpan Udo in the future.

Eteidung Abel noted, however, that peace will return to the area when the state government relocates Amazaba to Otunene and Ememen on the delineated left bank of the Akpan Udo River which shall belong to Eastern Obolo council area, stressing that anything short of this would be resisted by his people.

Youths charged to uphold nation’s image

BY DANIEL ETEGHE &

ONOZURE DANIA AGOS—GROUP Manag ing Director, Daar Communication Plc, Mr. Tony Akiotu, has called on Nigerian youths to desist from participating in acts capable of plunging the country into crisis.

According to him, Nigeria has in recent times been grappling with the problem of youth restiveness.

Akiotu, who spoke as chair-

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man at inauguration and public presentation of late Dr. Marius Uchenna Ashibuogwu’s Foundation in Lagos, said that youth restiveness was one of the major crises Nigeria was facing at the moment as a nation.

He regretted that most youths had been used as political thugs to cause disaster in different parts of the country.

He said: “Today, our dear country is facing serious challenges due to youth restiveness which

unfortunately is assuming a dangerous dimension.

“Youth crisis in the country has reduced geographical device in the country to mere intellectual instruction, North and South, East and West, the story is the same.”

According to him, the security situation in the country, occasioned by the numerous bombings is mostly carried out by the youths.

Ilelah further said that ‘’the petitioners were paid agents who were out to carry on with their campaign of calumny with the objective of tarnishing Mu’azu’s reputation in the eyes of the public. ‘’It is a mere tool being used to settle political scores, blackmail and intimidate innocent individuals. Their so called address in CRDP Keffi (opposite the late Wazirin Keffi’s house) is also not traceable,” he said.

Artiste tasks Uduaghan on dividends of democracy

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BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

ENIN CITY— NIGER Delta musician and activist, Monye Idowu (aka Maleke) has urged Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan to leave a positive legacy in the state by ensuring that the people enjoy the desired dividend of democracy during his tenure as governor.

He also charged former Nollywood actor, Richard Mofe Damijo, to use his position as Commissioner for Arts and Culture in the state to touch the lives of his colleagues in the entertainment industry.

He said: “We have not been too impressed with his activities especially on his relationship with former colleagues.

“I have a lot of things I want to say about our governor but I will not do that because I want to give him a chance to improve the lives of our people more. I have travelled across the Niger Delta states in the course of my job and I know the difference in terms of development.”

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

MEGA PARTY: Drivers

— 41

of the merger

THE three leading opposition parties in the country have revved preparations for the formation of a mega opposition party with the selection of high profile personalities to drive the process. Do these drivers know the way?

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR

A

FTER months of dithering procrastination Nigeria ’s leading opposition parties are about taking the decisive step of fusing themselves into a single body. Even where it is played down, the single purpose of the impending fusion is to wrest power from the dominant Peoples Democratic Party, PDP which rules at the centre and controls 24 of the nation’s 36 states.

Given the historical suspicion among the nation’s opposition parties, doubts have for long shadowed talks on the proposed merger among the parties. Ahead of the 2015 presidential election, that suspicion has not been missing.

The leading parties in the merger talks are the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN which controls six states, the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP with three states, All Progressive Grand Alliance with two states and the Congress for Progressives Change, CPC which has one state in its kitty.

*Buhari: CPC national leader

*Tinubu: ACN national leader

*Ikimi: Leading the ACN merger talks

*Gadi: Leading the CPC merger talks

Opposition party The only other opposition party not involved in the merger plans is the Labour Party which has control of Ondo State. The party is now presently seen as a single purpose political vehicle for its only governor, Dr. Segun Mimiko who by several accounts could soon be on his way to the PDP. Besides supporting the PDP in the last presidential election, Mimiko has made more nominees to the PDP federal administration than the PDP in Ondo State.

APGA’s participation in the proposed alliance is ensnared by the crisis in the party. The faction of the party loyal to Chief Victor Umeh is believed to be interested in the merger, while the other loyal to Governor Peter Obi is not interested.

Buhari/Tinubu as arrowheads: Given the

looming political shadows of some opposition leaders in the persons of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola C M Y K

Tinubu, it is not surprising that the CPC and the ACN would be the major drivers of the merger process.

But suspicions continue to trail the possibility of any or the two of them burying their own personal presidential ambitions on the altar of the collective dream of the merged party.

Buhari who had in the past pledged not to contest another presidential election after three successive losses in 2003, 2007 and 2011 is now said to be considering a rethink.

Tinubu, who has the Southwest as his foothold, is also said to be considering putting the rest of the nation under his political grasp.

CPC'S TEAM

ACN'S TEAM

Alhaji Garba Gadi- Chairman Gov Umaru Tanko Al-Makura Professor Tam David-West Alhaji Sabo Nanono Senator Hadi Sirika Chief Okoi Obono OblaOwelle Oscar Udoji Engr. Ife Oyedele Mr Osita Okechukwu Chief Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba Mrs Lucy Ajayi Air Cdre (Rtd) Bernard Banfa Engr. B. D. Lawal Dr Haruna Yerima Mr James Ocholi , SAN Alhaji Adebayo Shittu Professor Buba Bajoga Dr. Osagie Ehanire.

Chief Tom Ikimi- chairman Aremo Olusegun Osoba Otunba Niyi Adebayo Babatunde Fashola, Rauf Aregbesola, Sen. John Akpanudoedehe, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Sen. George Akume, Hon.Abike Dabiri-Erewa Sen. Lawal Shuaibu, Chief Audu Ogbe, Chief Achike Udenwa, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Sen. Chris Ngige, Dr. Usman Bugaje, Hadjia Rabiat Eshak, Dr. Ibrahim Y. Lame, Alhaji Yusuf Ali Alhaji Lai Mohammed

The lure for either of them is that the proposed merged party could be a formidable platform to displace the PDP from the centre and from many Government Houses.

Moved by that prospect, the CPC, ACN and the ANPP have now named committees to guide the merger talks among the parties.

The CPC named the immediate past Deputy Governor of Bauchi State , Alhaji Garba Gadi as head of its merger committee, while the ACN has former National

Continues on page 42

42 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

MEGA PARTY: Drivers of the merger

*Shekarau: Ex-governor, Kano State

*Bugaje: Ex-ACN scribe

*Dabiri: ACN lawmaker

Continues from page 41 Chairman of the defunct National Republican Convention, NRC and Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Tom Ikimi as chairman of its 18 man merger committee. The ANPP on its part has empowered its rebuilding committee headed by former governor Ibrahim Shekarau to prospect the merger of the parties.

The committee also includes all serving ANPP governors, former governors, Alhaji Abdulrahman Adamu a former minister, the national women leader, Hajia Ramatu Tijani as members of the 20 man committee.

PDP since 1999,” the party said in a statement last weekend announcing the constitution of a merger committee.

“The merger of the three parties is like a ‘Noah’s Ark’ which all Nigerians who are tired of the endless drift of our country must enter into. This is not about winning power at the centre at all costs, as the naysayer will want Nigerians to believe. It is about putting the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians above everything else.

Doubters and spoilers

Prospects of the merger But even before the committees could formally make contact with one another the idea of Buhari sitting down with his former colleagues in ANPP to talk was already sending wrong signals on the prospects of the merger.

Buhari’s close associates and the general himself, it is believed still have grudges over the way and manner they were stabbed in the back by some ANPP governors who rode on the back of the general to win and seek re-election but abandoned him at the time of the presidential election in 2003 and 2007.

As if giving vent to that suspicion, Buhari at the inauguration of the CPC merger committee last Wednesday, said the merger process would be in phases with that between the CPC and the ACN coming first before the end of the first half of the year.

C M Y K

*Onu: ANPP chairman ANPP chieftains meanwhile fixated with the past glories of the party which at its zenith had control of seven states are suggesting even otherwise with some asking the other parties to dissolve into the ANPP. Speaking at the weekend Senator Abba Ibrahim, a former three time governor of Yobe State said the ANPP was expecting the ACN and the CPC to dissolve into the ANPP on the fact that the ANPP is the oldest of the three!

The inclination of Senator Ibrahim is expected to confound some party chieftains who are desirous of reversing the declining fortunes of the one time leading opposition

*David-West party.

CPC's team: The CPC on its part is not without its own internal contradictions. A faction of the party opposed to the mainstream national chairman, Prince Tony Momoh has also raised a red flag against talks between the party and other opposition parties.

The faction led by Senator Rufai Hanga claims that it is the genuine faction of the party.

Gadi was chosen to be the chairman upon what party sources disclosed was his principled refusal to decamp with Governor Isa Yuguda to the PDP after both of them were elected as governor and deputy in 2007. Gadi was impeached by the Bauchi State House of

Assembly in August 2010 purportedly for his refusal to decamp to the PDP. The CPC is also faced with internal mutterings over the genuineness of the approaches from the ACN. Some in the party believe that the ACN and its leadership simply would want to use Buhari and dump him and negotiate an accommodation deal with the PDP. The ACN is nonetheless united in its own approach towards the merger. “This is not about the ACN, CPC or ANPP but about our country Nigeria , which is tottering on the edge of disaster due mainly to the lack of leadership and failure of governance by the ruling

“We will also like to inform Nigerians that contrary to what the doubters and spoilers are saying, the three parties are going into the merger plans unconditionally and without a set mind over posts or anything else. The only issue that has been settled is the urgent need to rescue and salvage our country. In this regard, the opposition knows it has a date with history.”

ACN's team: It is really a date with history. ACN said the appointment of the committee is an indication of its total commitment to making the merger a reality, adding that there is no going back in the party’s determination to work with the CPC and the ANPP to rescue and salvage Nigeria.

It also congratulated the leadership of the CPC and the ANPP, which have already named their own merger committees, for their patriotism, and appealed to all Nigerians to support the planned merger.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 — 43

*From right: Senate President, David Mark; former president, Olusegun Obasanjo; former ING chairman, Chief Ernest Shonekan, and ex-president of Ghana, John Kuffuor at the event.

Obasanjo’s civic reception and matters arising IT was truly a celebration of the person, passions and patriotism of three time Nigeria leader, Olusegun Obasanjo. Many friends and some foes of the man that has been a recurring decimal in Nigeria’s politics turned out to celebrate him at a two day event staged in Abeokuta.

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

T

HE two- day event to h o N o u r President Olusegun Obasanjo was, by some accounts, orchestrated to give some life to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the Southwest. What better way for a party ravaged by internal crisis to rouse itself than to orgnaise a programme around one of the Southwest’s most enduring political figures. However, the absence of some notable PDP disenchanters from the programme, to some extent, questioned that objective.

The two day event had first a lecture in the imposing Obasanjo Presidential Library and on the second day, a civic reception on the sprawling grounds of the Ake Palace in Abeokuta. Given the international and national platforms Obasanjo has distinguished himself on, it was not surprising that the guest list at the events cut across national boundaries. Heading the list was the Guest Lecturer, former president John Kuffor of Ghana, President Goodluck Jonathan who was represented by Vice-president Namadi Sambo and some notable beneficiaries of Obasanjo’s political patronage including Senate President David Mark and erstwhile vice-president of the World Bank, Oby Ezekwesili.

The PDP national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the in-

cumbent governors of Adamawa, Imo, Akwa Ibom and Delta states were present, though the host governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun was absent and was represented by his deputy, Segun Adesegun. Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State was represented by his Chief of Staff Prof.

Yahya Kuta, Sule Lamido of Jigawa was represented by his deputy, Ahmed Mahmud, and Plateau governor Jonah Jang was also represented.

National attendance Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State was the only governor present on the first day of the two day event which also had Chief Ernest Shonekan, Senate President, David Mark, Ezekwesili, former Special adviser to President Obasanjo on legislative matters, Florence Ita-Giwa, the Olubara of Ibara, Oba Jacob Omolade and former Military administrator of Western Nigeria, Vice Admiral Akin Aduwo eulogised Obasanjo.

But the reception had a more national attendance with all six geopolitical zones ably represented. The Secretary of the PDP BoT, Senator Waliu Jubril, brought the message of the PDP North Central, describing the former President as “our Baba”. Adamu Bello gave the message from the Northeast, Mrs. Nenadi Usman gave the message on behalf of

the Northwest, Governor Rochas Okorocha gave the message of the Southeast, Governor Godswill Akpabio gave the message from the South-South while the message of solidarity from Obasanjo’s new friends in the Governors Forum was brought

by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State.

Matters arising Given the unfolding battle of wits between President Jonathan and Obasanjo ears were tuned to what Jonathan would say in his speech read out by Sambo.

Jonathan as expected was conciliatory saying his administration would build on the foundations laid by Obasanjo’s administration.

Kuffuor on his part was quick to note Obasanjo’s salutary role in stabilizing his government when he came to power in 2001 in Ghana. “I had limited options at this time. I quickly ran to Obasanjo and requested that he should lift the fuel embargo Nigeria placed on Ghana for refusing to service its debt. “Obasanjo graciously accepted and began to sell fuel to Ghana on favourable terms. This singular gesture served as impetus for the uplift of Ghana when other donor countries across the globe refused to offer assistance,” Kufuor recalled.

Kufuor also recalled how Obasanjo was instrumental to several conflict resolutions between African countries, thereby promoting peace on the continent. The Chairman of the occasion, the former Head of Interim National Government, Chief Earnest Shonekan described

nor Uduaghan because, we can learn from them. Governor Uduaghan was a Secretary to the government of Delta state under governor James Ibori and one of the reasons that people had against him was his close connection, so to say with Ibori.

“I wanted to find out, because at that time we knew little about the character of Ibori, so I called him, I said, tell me all these things that Ibori did, how much of it did you know , how much were you part of the cover up, how much of it were you part of the transferring of money and this distinguished doctor looked at me in the face and said I was doing my job as I know best how to do it. But not only that what do I need the money for, I am a medical doctor, I had two children at that time, so my needs in life were very limited you can check me any part of the world you will find that I am as honest as you see me .

Colleague of a failure

Obasanjo as a man of integrity, saying , Obasanjo was the first Nigerian Military leader who in 1979 relinquished power peacefully to a democratically elected government. Senator Mark, also eulogized Obasanjo, describing him as an outstanding Nigerian statesman and a national icon whose love for thenation would be difficult to surpass.

Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan and Godswill Akpabio of Delta and Akwa-Ibom states respectively also extolled the virtues of the former President at the programme, describing him as “the defender of the defenceless.’

They both recalled how Obasanjo fought on the part of justice against the powers that opposed them in their respective states when they sought elections as governors of their states. The National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, in his remarks described Obasanjo as a living legend, recalling that the party made giant strides during his administration. He described Obasanjo as a symbol of hope, noting that he was relentless and fought with dogged determination at a time when most Nigerians had given up hope: Responding, Obasanjo appreciated organisers of the event, and attributed all his accomplishment to God. Noting the references on how he ensured the ascendancy of both Uduaghan and Akpabio to power, he said: “When their situation arose I had to make special enquiries, I found what I found that they are good men that were about to be deprived of what is for them. And one of the things I abhor, I abhor injustice, so, I went along with them to enthrone justice.

“Let me take the case of Gover-

Obasanjo, however, responded in a different tone to the assertion by Governor Okorocha that he and Obasanjo were colleagues having contested the 2003 PDP presidential primaries with the former president.

“How can I be a colleague of a failure? You are a failure in contesting for the presidency of Nigeria!,” the ex-president said, pointing at Okorocha to the bewilderment of the governor and some guests.

I met him (Okorocha) not long ago by virtue of the fact that he was brought up in Jos, one of the few cities that I found in the 50s and 70s as genuine melting pot in Nigeria; he probably would not have been able to achieve what he has achieved. “He is a true Nigerian. And when he wants to pull me down, he will say we are colleagues. How can I be a colleague of a failure? You are a failure in contesting for the presidency of Nigeria!” The former president also used the opportunity to underpin the threeprinciples behind most of the actions he took while in office saying: He said they are “Can I defend my action before God? Can I defend my action before the people? Will my action benefit majority of people’, adding that a leader should be “fearless and courageous” and be ready to step on “toes” whenever it was necessary.

Obasanjo also expressed optimism that Nigeria and the African continent would very soon be ranked as one of the best countries and continents in the world.

Other dignitaries at the event included the embattled PDP National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former Ekiti Governor, Chief Segun Oni, former Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Agagu, and Rivers State Deputy Governor, Mr. Tele Ikuru, who represented Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

C M Y K

44—Vanguard, TUESD AY, JANUARY 22, 2013 TUESDA

Abortions safe when performed by certified nurses, midwives — STUDY

F

• Neglected Tropical Diseases: Clockwise from top left - Guineaworm, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, buruli ulcer, schistosimiasis.

Nigeria: Giant strides against Neglected Tropical Diseases

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

F

OR decades, Nigeria has had the ignominy of being identified as the country with the greatest number of cases of high prevalence Neglected Tropical Diseases, NTDs. The NTDs include, Soil Transmitted Helminthes, Lymphatic Filariasis, Onchocerciasis, Dracunculiasis, Schistosomiasis, Dengue fever, Human African Trypanosomiasis, Buruli ulcer, Leprosy and Trachoma. All have been found to be most common in Nigeria.

These disorders have gradually gained notoriety as causative agents of enormous disease burden with significant adverse economic impact and effects on maternal-child health and worker productivity, among others.

NTDs are communicable diseases linked with poverty and prevalent in areas with poor sanitation, inadequate safe water supply and substandard housing conditions.

They are estimated to affect over one billion people in the world, majority of who are in the developing countries. They debilitate, blind or maim their victims, permanently curtail every conceivable human potential and impair economic growth, childhood growth, intellectual development, and educational outcomes, thereby

limiting national productivity.

Within the last decade or so, NTDs have gained increasing worldwide recognition as impediments to development, attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, and other national development programme targets.

Of the 17 NTDs recognised

by WHO, 13 parasitic and bacterial infections are most common in Nigeria, which also has the greatest number of lymphatic filariasis and river blindness cases among all African nations and the largest number of schistosomiasis cases globally.

Poverty alleviation There are about 18 million Nigerians at risk for trachoma, with nearly 1.3 million people living with trichiasis and the third or fourth largest number of new cases of leprosy in Africa in addition to some of the greatest number of cases of yellow fever, rabies, and Buruli ulcer in Africa. From the forgoing, the control, elimination and eradication of the NTDs is a major contribution to poverty alleviation and attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Federal Ministry of Health has established structures to control, eliminate and

eradicate these neglected diseases in an integrated, cost-effective manner in collaboration with development partners and in line with relevant WHO Resolutions and Declarations.

Federal Government, with support from partners, has begun to combat these diseases and is set to launch an intergrated multi-year national plan for NTD control and elimination.

The plan, which will serve as blueprint for massive scale up of activities in the country by 2020, is to be launched 7th February, 2013.

Launch of the multi-year plan is the culmination of series of activities initiated by the Federal Ministry of Health, to tackle the menace of leprosy, buruli ulcer, trachoma, intesti-

• Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu

nal helminth infections, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis and other NTDs. Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu who dropped the hint last week, said the Masterplan, which is for five years, 2013-2017, was developed with support from the World Health Organisation African Regional Office, WHOAFRO. The Masterplan describes operational mechanisms to integrate and co-implement interventions for the NTDs in Nigeria building on achievements already recorded such as the Community Directed Treatment with Ivermectin (CDTI) strategy, elimination of Guinea Worm Disease and elimination of leprosy at national level.

Chukwu reiterated that Nigeria had progressed with advancements to achieve the World Health Organisation, WHO, elimination target of less than 1 case per 10,000 population for leprosy with successful multi-drug therapy (MDT) since 1996 is also of significance.

“These indicate commitment by the government of Nigeria to increase momentum in action for the control and elimination of NTDs in the country and also part of the follow up from the London declaration

Continues on page 46

IRST trimester abortions are just as safe when performed by trained nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified nurse midwives as when conducted by physicians, according to a new six-year study led by University of California, San Francisco, UCSF. The study published in the American Journal of Public Health comes a week before the 40th anniversary of the Roe vs.

Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the United States.

Currently in the United States, a patchwork of state regulations determines who can provide abortions, with several states specifically prohibiting non-physician clinicians from performing the procedure.

The new study was designed to evaluate the safety of early aspiration abortions when performed by nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified nurse midwives trained in the procedure.

Legal waiver The study was conducted under a legal waiver from the Health Workforce Pilot Projects Programme, a division of the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. California law requires a legal clarification about who can perform aspiration abortions.

The researchers report that the results show the pool of abortion providers could be safely expanded beyond physicians to include other trained health care professionals.

They found that nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and physician assistants can provide early abortion care that is clinically as safe as physicians. They also found that outpatient abortion is very safe, whether it is provided by physicians or by nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives or physician assistants.

Nationally, 92 percent of abortions take place in the first trimester but studies find that black, uninsured and low-income women continue to have less access to this care, Continues on page 45

Vanguard, TUESD AY, JANUARY 22, 2013 — TUESDA

4-month-old Emmanuel in search of N2m for corrective heart surgery

Bridge Clinic supports LSMoH with neonatal equipment

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

Commissioner of Health Medical Director, The Bridge Clinic Lagos, Dr. Richardson Ajayi, said the gesture was aimed towards attaining the Millennium Development Goal, MDG, 4 which is the reduction, by two thirds, of child mortality by 2015.

Ajayi said birth asphyxia is one of the major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality adding that "the expediency of its management directly influences the quality of life of the child who is being managed."

"Our desire is for our health systems especially our public health systems which largely cater for the masses to be adequately equipped to better manage the neonatal emergencies with the right equipment within the shortest time."

In a response, I d r i s acknowledged t h e presentation as a good gesture.

"There are a lot of • L-R, Permanent Secretary, LSMoH, Dr. Femi Olugbile, with the challenges in Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris receiving hospital equiphealth ment from MD/ Clinical Director , The Bridge Clinic, Lagos, Dr. Rich- the ard Ajayi . sector.

S

URVIVAL of newborns in Lagos State hospitals has been strengthened with the Lagos State Ministry of Health taking delivery of 100 units of neonatal resuscitation equipment from The Bridge Clinic, Lagos.

The move is to stem the tide of newborn deaths from largely preventable causes such as respiratory distress due to acute respiratory tract infections and birth asphyxia, diarrheoa, measles, malaria and malnutrition.

Presenting the units to the State

BY GABRIEL OLAWALE

T

HE birth of a new baby is usually met with joy and celebration, but the story of the Iyamahs took a different course following the birth of theie son, Emmanuel, on September 25, 2012 at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH. Right from birth, Emmanuel was not breathing normally. He was feverish and ran a high temperature. His worried parents went from pillar to post looking for a solution to the problem until series of tests confirmed a daunting diagnosis. He had a hole-in-the heart.

At the moment, a life-saving corrective surgery projected at N2 million stands between the 4-month-old and certain death. The father, Patrick Iyamah stated that cold, high temperature and unstable breathing is the genesis of the ordeal brought upon the infant two weeks after birth.

"At birth everything was normal, but two weeks later, we discovered he was not breathing properly. He was often cold. At other times, he was running high temperature.

"We took him to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH. He was given all kinds of drugs and our expectation was to see changes, but the reverse was the case. The situation got worse. They ran series of tests at LUTH for almost one month before the diagnosis was made. He is still in pain and cries ceaselessly.”

45

• Emmanuel A medical report from the Paediatric Cardiology Unit, LUTH, describes Emmanuel’s condition as symptomatic congenital heart disease and confirmed by echocardiography to be a heart murmur and bronchopneumonia.

Patrick who is already at his wits’ end is now pleading for assistance to raise the required sum for the surgery to save Emmanuel’s life.

“The condition is beyond what doctors at LUTH can handle, so we have been referred to India for the muchneeded surgery, but the big drawback is lack of funds. “I have spent all that I have. I spent so much on tests when he was admitted. Now I need help to raise the N2 million. I’m pleading with the Lagos State Governor and well meaning Nigerians to help restore my son’s hope for life."

• If you are touched and wish to assist Emmanuel, donations can be sent to Iyamah Patrick, First Bank 3044398122 or call 08026666880 for more details.

Abortions safer with nurses, midwives Continues frompage 44 accordIn California, 13 percent of women using state Medicaid insurance obtain abortions after the first trimester. Because the average cost of a second trimester abortion is substantially higher

than a first trimester procedure and abortion complications increase as the pregnancy advances, shifting the population distribution of abortions to earlier gestations may result in safer, less costly care, according to the research team.

‘Lifestyle change best approach to tackle heart disease’ C

ARDIOVASCULAR diseases, CVDs are the world’s largest killers, claiming 17.3 million lives a year. Over the years, the World Health Organisation, World Heart Federation and the Nigeria Heart Foundation, have regularley identified risk factors for CVDs. In this interview, Dr Funmi Akinloye, Medical Director Urah Health Nigeria Limited speaks to Chioma Obinna, on the need to adopt the right attitude as well as lifestyle changes as part of ongoing efforts to create awareness and education about CVDs and allied issues. Excerpts: Why CVD is on the rise in Nigeria Cardiovascular disease is endemic worldwide, but we have double burden of NCDs and communicable disorders. NCDs are rather unique because they are silent in the onset. They give no time frame to get treatment. What we need to do is to pick it up early.

Steps to be taken It is a step of will and discipline. The 21st century is a century of creature comforts that are making us inactive. But this machine called the body was not created for that lifestyle. It is made for activity and healthy food.

Food that does not have too much sugar and salt and if you must eat too much sugar, it means that you are walking 50 miles to the farm like our grand fathers did. They burnt it off before they got to the farm and also burned it up in the farm.And at 99 their muscles are still apparent and they are healthy.

• Dr Funmi Akinloye And they died peacefully. This generations have taken this body and made it inactive. We seat behind a desk, our phones are mobile we don’t need to get up to get anything or do anything.

We can sit there for nine hours. We take 10 steps in a day and we need to take 10,000 steps in a day.We sit down and don’t move. We don’t exercise. There is need for us to wind back and go back to plain eating. Have some luxuries one or twice a week,

but learn to exercise.

Prevention of CVD It should be a matter of will and discipline and change of lifestyles and attitude. It is like corruption issue; once our mind set is different we will stop it.

Your mind set is to make you aware that these things you worked for, you are not going to live to enjoy it.

People should be seen taking care of themselves and then, employers should see that employees are trying to keep fit and reward such.

Why women are more prone to heart diseases Right from medical school until lately, we were told that women were protected from heart disease by the female hormones and this was true. But women have moved into the 21st century lifestyle which has overcome the natural protection. Why? Because God knows women have to carry the babies and during pregnancy, there is a lot of burden on women's heart but no pregnant women dies of heart failure because hormones protect the heart. But if she has weakened her system by unhealthy eating, then that protection is gone.

Link between HBP in pregnancy and CVD A cardiovascular disease by definition is any disease of the cardiovascular system whether in pregnancy or not. But the high blood pressure of pregnancy is not counted as a CVD because it is at a special time. When a woman is already overweight, when her salt and sugar level already high from unhealthy living and then she gets pregnant, the

Continues on page 46

46—Vanguard, TUESD AY, JANUARY 22, 2013 TUESDA

Dangerous ways acidosis impacts on the body (2) Calcium and cancer N order for blood to retain oxygen, it must also remain alkaline. Diet is critical to this process as minerals and nutrients such as calcium that help the blood to remain alkaline are typically obtained through the food we eat. If our diet is lacking in these essential nutrients, it will be forced to find them in alternative sources such as spinal fl uid, the kidneys and liver or saliva. Ironically, this then causes these organs to become acidic and vulnerable to cancer and other diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and lupus.

I

Calcium is actually classifi ed as an alkaline earth metal. Chemically, it makes up about 1.5 percent of the human body.

This invaluable element is involved in almost every biological function within the body. It provides electrical energy to make the heart beat and the muscles move and it is responsible for feeding the cells and even DNA replication, a crucial process in cellular repair and aging. More importantly, calcium is essential to pH control as it can easily destroy acid in bodily fluids.

As early as the 1950s, researchers dis-

‘Lifestyle change, best attack Continues from page 46 natural protection is now over ruled by unhealthy life style.

Ideal diet for healthy heart Two things. First, if you want to eat more than 10, 000 calories, good luck, but work off the 10,000 calories in a day but since you can do that it will be wise to eat what you can burn off and leave what the body needs to remain healthy.

So if you have a sedimentary life, then you must burn off the excess that you eat. Secondly; you must eat healthy meals. You must consume more water, vegetables and fruits.

Vegetables and fruits like tangerine,cucumber or carrot or a piece of cabbage. You need five portions of vegetables and fruits every day and this is not so difficult?

Thirdly, your cooking habit. I think

water is very important not only for this purpose but for your kidneys. At least drink eight glasses of water a day. There is no natural food that is not good for you but the processing is the problem because in the process of processing it and making it taste good certain chemicals including salt and sugar and some other food taste enhancers are added.

So if you want to know how sweet food is, ask a diabetic, use as more natural food as you can, you will keep between the boundary of healthy .

But when it is processed or cooked badly, it is not good for you. Freshly cooked food and unprocessed food is never unhealthy.

Ideal blood pressure: It is frightening now because studies have shown that 120/80 is now the height of normal. So you want to be

Julia Oyefunke Fortune

The Cancer

FIGHTER

juliafortune@hotmail.com

covered patients suffering from various degenerative diseases could actually be cured by consuming large amounts of calcium, magnesium, vitamin D and other essential nutrients. Although thousands were cured of cancer by increasing their calcium intake, the traditional medical establishment ignored the evidence and actually condemned and persecuted doctors who suggested this to be a viable treatment for the disease.

Today, numerous studies again recognize that calcium can in fact, reduce the risk of all cancers.

Oxygen and cancer Despite the many claims by various

cancer associations and traditional medical professionals that we have yet to find the cure for cancer because we have yet to find the underlying cause, studies have actually shown for years that the fundamental cause of cancer is as simple as low cellular oxygenation levels. In fact, in 1923, Dr. Otto Warburg discovered the real cause of cancer and in 1931 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery.

Dr. Warburg showed cancer can only exist in cells in which the respiration of oxygen is replaced by the fermentation of sugar.

Nigeria plots against NTDs Continues from page 44 which affirms the commitment of the global community to the elimination of neglected tropical diseases worldwide,” Chukwu stated.

National Coordinator, NTDs FMOH, Dr. Yisa Saka, said the five-year masterplan is developed to achive commitment. Already, several partners including DFID and USAID have signified interest in assisting Nigeria scale up interventions in line with the NTD plan. But the launch is just the beginning of a long series of deliberate activities designed to liberate Nigeria from the shackles of NTDs. In 2012, Nigeria supported the London Declaration in which a wide

group of partners committed to redoubling efforts to control or eliminate NTDs by the end of this decade.

The WHO has since launched its second NTD report, “Sustaining the Drive to Overcome the Global Impact of Neglected Tropical Diseases”, which discusses the path to achieving the 2020 goals, identifies challenges and proposes plans to address each disease.

In 2010, Nigeria hosted a joint action forum during which it pledged US$5.0 million towards onchocerciasis elimination. The Federal Government also pleged US$20 million to be released as from this year. In 2012, leading pharmaceutical companies provided 1.12 billion treatments for NTDs.

Continued from page 44

COMMON SEXUAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR NOVELTY BASED SOLUTIONS (ADVERTORIAL)

H

ELLO everyone and welcome. I have a ques tion for you? Whose job is it to make sure that sex is fun in the bedroom? Is it the man’s responsibility or the woman’s responsibility? You see, at the heart of this question lies one of the major relationship problems between men and women, especially among couples who are in a long term relationship. A lot of men complain that their wives and partners contribute nothing in bed.

They say women just lay in bed and expect to be pleasured and that getting them to have sex in the first place is a struggle. The women on the other hand believe that it is the man’s job to pleasure them and complain that men are selfish and are only eager to pleasure themselves quickly and leave instead of focusing on giving pleasure to the woman.

Well, the answer to this question is that sex is the responsibility of the man AND woman. Couples should focus on each other; remain dedicated to pleasuring one another and take responsibility for romance and the initiation of intercourse. If men and women followed this principle and gave their best to satisfy each other, relationships will have fewer problems and couples will have better lives.

Sex is a galvanizing element that draws a man and woman together and when couples are tight and respect each other, it is easier for them to solve their other problems together without much difficulty. Let this be the guiding principle for all of us in relationships. Let us answer a few questions from our readers.

Hello sir. I have been having problems of premature ejaculation and weak erection. I started taking Maxman but had to stop because it caused increase in my heart rate to the point of dizziness and it affected my immune system. Can I get a permanent solution without side effects? Funso Dear Funso, I have never heard of the drug Maxman and we have never sold it. Do you have high blood

pressure? If you are not sure, do a hospital test. Aphrodisiacs work by pumping more blood to the penis or clitoris to enable the user get aroused.

This means that your heart will have to work harder to pump more blood, hence a higher heart rate. So if your blood pressure is already high, it will go even higher when you take an erection drug, causing the dizziness you complained about.

That is why people with heart problems are not advised to take certain types of erection drugs. So do a hospital test. If the test confirms that you are okay, then I recommend Xzen 1200 for you. Xzen 1200 is a very good erection supplement and it is herbal as well.

Men with similar problems like it a lot. And for your premature ejaculation, a delay cream is best for you.

Prolonging Cream is very good for this. Apply it minutes before sex and you will stay long. And regarding the issue of a permanent solution, no such thing exists yet. The day drug makers begin to produce permanent solutions, I will be the first to tell you about it.

Take care – Uche Please what can I do to enjoy sex with my husband?

If he touches me, I don’t feel anything and my private part will dry that sometimes he used to get hurt.

If I masturbate, I enjoy it – Gloria Dear Gloria, your husband simply needs to learn how to make love the right way, starting with lots of foreplay. For more details on love making, buy the movie 32 Ways to please Your lover and watch it with your husband. As for your dryness problems, use a lubricant during intercourse. Colt Slick Lubricant and Climax Burst Lubricant are all great for the prevention of dryness – Uche That’s it for today. Adults in need of these treatments/ novelties can reach us on 08191978308 or 08027901621 to order or they can order online at www.zeevirtualmedia.com. Zee Virtual Media delivers to you wherever you are in Nigeria. For enquiries email us at custserv@zeevirtualmedia.com. Happy holidays - Uche Edochie, MD, Zee Virtual Media.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 — 47

C M Y K

48 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

HIGH POINTS * Construction of guest houses, ministadium, staff quarters, principal officers’ houses, lecture theatres, workshops and students’ hostels *Beautification and landscaping of the campus *Harnessing the Otamiri River for electricity, recreation, agriculture, water supply.

•One of the numerous building projects at FUTO

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

W

HEN Professor Chigozie Cyril Asiabaka was named the substantive Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO, it was naturally received with mixed feelings.

There were those who rightly or wrongly, did not believe in Asiabaka’s ability to move the institution to greater heights.

On June 20, 2011, Professor Asiabaka presented his inaugural address to the university community at the 17th General Assembly. He carefully captioned his 28-page address “The Quest For Excellence”.

His principal vision was “to reposition FUTO to be a topranked first class institution of excellence in technological knowledge production and dissemination, through teaching, research and service to humankind”.

He enunciated short term activities that would be realized in his first six months in office.

Professor Asiabaka said he would, as a matter of urgency, commence the beautification of the entire campus, start negotiation for massive infrastructural development, including guest houses, ministadium, staff quarters, principal officers’ houses, lecture theatres, workshops and students’ hostels.

The forward looking FUTO Vice Chancellor also planned to harness the Otamiri River for electricity, recreation, agriculture, water supply.

A major challenge to Asiabaka’s administration was the poor infrastructure of the University. While successive administrations have endeavoured to improve the level of infrastructure, the

Massive infrastructural projects redefine FUTO’s landscape growing population within the University community exposes the urgent need to expand facilities.

Within one year in office, Prof Asiabaka commenced the beautification and landscaping of the University campus, construction of a new building complex for the School of Engineering and Engineering Technology, SEET, which accommodates six departments in the School.

FUTO environment has equally changed with the construction of Engineering and Nuclear Science building, as well as the establishment of a Centre for Excellence in Advanced Material and Manufacturing Technology, under the auspices of the

National Agency of Science and Technology Infrastructure, NASENI. The University is now a proud owner of a National Information Technology Development Centre and Public Procurement Research Centre building, funded through endowment support.

Other successes recorded by Asiabaka include installation of solar street lights throughout the campus and installation of a 24 channel DVR closed circuit television facility on campus.

A new Senate Building has been designed to cater for the institution’s expansion and consolidation of administrative and management functions.

The same is also true of a Research and Technology Park

project, the completion of the Chevron ICT building, establishment of a contemporary Centre for Research and International Development.

Delivering the state of the University address at the 19th General Assembly on July 24, 2012, Asiabaka told an elated university community that a Centre for Nuclear Energy Study and Training, CNEST, construction of the Dental Technology Building,, construction of Optical/ Optometry Building have been realized.

Other buildings that stand to Asiabaka’s credit are the School of Environmental Technology Phase B, School of Environmental Technology,

SOET and School of Management Technology Building Complex.

Construction work has since commenced on the Centre for Research and Technical Assistance for Youth Development, as well as the construction of FUTO Entrepreneurship Centre. The list appear endless but he is worried that the host communities are badly encroaching on the University land and very fast too. “ We are aware of the fact that the University has been unable to fully access its full scope of land due to avoidable encroachment by persons in the host communities. Our development projects are therefore being clustered around the limited space so far available to FUTO”, Professor Asiabaka said.

He further lamented that these limitations undermine the development of this University on many fronts and place serious constraints on the administration’s capacity to engage in the type of orderly development that will mutually benefit FUTO and the host communities, based on the provisions in the institution’s master plan.

Hazards arising from improper use of products V

irtually all households have products that may be hazardous if used, stored or disposed of improperly.

They may pose serious fire, health or environmental hazards.

If they are used, stored and disposed of properly, however, they can be relatively safe.

A few safety guides may be helpful.

Don’t store chemicals with food Household chemicals should not be stored with food products as they could spill contaminating your food Don’t store flammable liquids or gasses in the home Propane cylinders, gas cans, charcoal lighter and automotive fluids should not be stored in the house. Compressed gasses like propane should be stored outside or in sheds that are extremely well ventilated. Never store flammable liquids or gasses near sources of heat or ignition, and only store them

in their original containers or containers approved for the flammable liquid or gas.

Keep out of reach of children Cleaners and other household chemicals can be very deadly and should be stored in cabinets that are out of reach of children. Lock the cabinets if necessary. Teach children about the dangers of chemicals.

Household chemicals should not be transferred to different containers unless the container is properly labeled and compatible with the chemical. In addition chemicals should never be transferred to containers that originally contained food Dispose of properly Products should NEVER be discarded on the ground or poured into storm drains. Many products shouldn’t even be disposed of in the trash or down the toilet.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 —49

Succour underway for motorists as Lagos expands Mile 12- Ikorodu road to 6 lanes

By JUDE NJOKU

M

OTORISTS who are usually trapped for several hours in the traffic gridlock along the Mile 12/ Ikorodu Road, will soon heave a sigh of relief . This is because the ever-busy 14 kilometre road will now be expanded to take six lanes. Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola who disclosed this when he led members of the State Executive Council and newsmen to inspect ongoing projects in Ikorodu, explained that there would be three lanes on each side of the road. According to him, one lane on each side of the road would be reserved for the Bus Rapid Transit BRT. There would also be three BRT terminals along the road.

Governor Fashola gave reasons for the apparent slow pace of work on the road project.

According to him, the contractors are collaborating with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria PHCN, to relocate their obstructing facilities on the road.

These include about 300 electricity poles and cables.

Justifying borrowing money for the project, the Governor said: “This is what we do with the money we borrow. By making the investment, we build for tomorrow. This is the best way to build infrastructure. Aside from the low interest rate, we have a long period of repayment.

Alternatively, if we wait for later, the cost will be very high as the Naira continues to lose value”.

Quality of work At Ibeshe Road, which has been completed by Messrs Arab Contractors, the Governor expressed satisfaction with the quality of work done. He however advised the company to expedite action on the construction the new Jetty located in the area.

“Last week, we visited Mile 2 Jetty. Last year, when we visited Ajah, we saw the Ajah Jetty. Now, we have done Ibeshe Road and we decided that before the contractors leave, they should put another jetty here so that people can actually have a choice whether to drive or take a ferry to Ipakodo,” he explained.

The Governor who stated that his campaign team spent over one and half hours on the road during the electioneering period, was elated that he used only ten minutes to do the same journey.

“Today we have done it in 10 minutes. This is what development is all about and, I think that the people are pleased.

Our work continues because it is not finished. This is the kind of development we have planned

•Ongoing expansion of Mile 12 -Ikorodu Road project and we are implementing with a methodological approach. The jetties are not all completed. Until we complete them and link them by radio, by departure and arrival schedule that is timed, we cannot start full operation”, Fashola said.

O

ther ongoing schemes inspected by the Governor and his team were: Igbogbo Baiyeku Road (HOMS), Housing Scheme along Odo-Onosa/OdoAyandelu Road, Resettlement Centre for flood victims, Ikosi, Agbowa, Housing site Agbowa (Choice Estate) and Relocation of Oko-Baba Sawmill to Agbowa Timber Village.

At the site of the on-going relocation project for Oko-Baba Sawmillers, Governor Fashola

said, it would be “a clearly articulated timber village”.

The Village will have its own offices, trailer park and other ancillary services like welding, carpentry and woodwork.

“What is further interesting about the Timber Village is the housing estate that is being constructed where people can live in much more modern housing facilities away from the unsightly and unacceptable conditions that now exists. We made an agreement with them, I signed on behalf of government a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU with them.

This is the future that we want for them. We are delivering on our promise and there is going to be a community of about 3000 houses here with the first 400 already done”, the Governor

said.

The Governor also inspected the 144 units resettlement housing scheme to accommodate the people displaced by the flood at Ajegunle.

“We have also been to the housing unit being built by the Ministry of Housing at Igbogbo where you have about 264 housing units.

We also saw the one been constructed by the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development where there are 660 units. What this implies is that the whole place is coming alive as development is reaching the inner recesses of Igbogbo, Ejinrin, Ikosi Agbowa all in Epe area,” he said.

QSRBN threatens to prosecute practising foreigners

By CHRIS OCHAYI & MOSES ADEJOH

T

HE Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria, QSRBN, has threatened to prosecute foreigners practising the quantity surveying in Nigeria.. QSRBN President, Mallam Husaini Adamu Dikko who stated this in Abuja, said the Board is already compiling the list of these expatriates and will soon commence their prosecution in the courts according.

Mallam Dikko said “we are not unaware of the presence of some persons especially non-Nigerians who are practising as quantity surveyors in Nigeria in clear violation of the Quantity Surveyors Board of Nigeria, Act Cap 383 LFN 1990. Noting that the country has a total of 2,000 registered quantity surveyors and 150 practising firms, the Dikko said the QSRBN governing board

is in the process of reforming the Board to position it adequately to discharge its mandate.

“The Board is critically examining situations where huge capital projects in the building and construction sector are regularly executed without the quantity surveyors input on the government side.

The ideal situation is that the quantity surveyors cost advice must be sought and obtained on any building and construction project in which government fund is involved whether at the Federal, State or local government level,” he said.

The QSRBN boss explained that “this is because the government fund is tax payer’s money and public accountability demands so. We should as a country be able to capture our capital formation at real cost and Gross Domestic Product as actual factor costs not inflated costs”.

FERMA has reduced roads disrepair to 35 percent —MD Federal Roads THE Maintenance Agency, FERMA which was established as an interventionist agency 10 years ago, has reduced the level of roads disrepair to about 35 percent. This claim was made by the managing director of the Agency, Engr. Gabriel Amuchi while briefing the permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works, Dr. Abubakar Koro Muhammad who visited the Agency’s head office in Abuja.

He explained that 10 years ago when FERMA came in being, about 75 percent of Federal roads were in poor, weak, failed or in collapsed conditions due to many years of non-maintenance.

Apart from non-maintenance, the FERMA boss stated that some of the roads had out-lived their design lives.

He noted that with careful planning, prudent utilisation of resources and effective deployment of personnel to road maintenance, the Agency has reduced the level of disrepair to about 35 percent over the period.

Besides the maintenance of road carriageways and their appurtenances, Amuchi said FERMA has also invested a lot in road support services like truck parks and observation camps as well as street lighting of critical locations and bridges nationwide. This, he said, were aimed at providing alternative parking spaces for trucks which currently park on highways and in the process, damage such facilities. The observation camps, according to him, have assisted the Federal Road Safety Commission and Nigeria Police to provide first aid services to highway accident victims, as well as check highway crime at flash points located across the country.

50 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

Mali: Rebels run into bush as French troops take more towns

F

RENCH and Malian armored columns rolled into the towns of Diabaly and Douentza in central Mali yesterday after the al Qaeda-linked rebels who had seized them melted into the bush to avoid air strikes.

France said the advance was a success in its campaign to oust Islamist fighters from Mali’s vast desert, where they have held sway for 10 months, raising fears the area could become a launchpad for international attacks.

“This advance by Mali’s army into towns held by their enemies is a certain military success for the government in Bamako and for French forces supporting the operations,” French Defence Minister JeanYves Le Drian said in a statement.

trucks with machineguns mounted on the back littered the sandy streets between the mud-brick buildings.

France has deployed 2,000 troops to Mali and its warplanes pounded

OATUU backs international intervention

BY VICTOR AHIUMAYOUNG

A

A French soldier stands guard as a villager looks on in front of charred pickup trucks used by Islamist rebels in Diabaly Diabaly, 350 km (220 miles) north of Mali’s dusty riverside capital Bamako, had harbored the main cluster of insurgents south of the frontline towns of Mopti

and Sevare. Douentza lies 800 km northeast of Bamako along the main road toward the rebel stronghold of Gao. Residents of Diabaly

said some of the rebels had abandoned their flowing robes to blend in with the local population.

The charred and twisted wreckage of their pick-up

Inauguration: Barack Obama urges Americans to ‘seize the moment’ ending. An economic seize it together.”

B

ARACK Obama has told the American people to “seize the moment”, in a speech in Washington DC inaugurating his second term as US president.

After taking the oath of office, he said America’s possibilities were limitless as it emerged from a decade of war and a long economic crisis.

Mr Obama, 51, who is the 44th US president, was sworn in to his second term

by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Hundreds of thousands of people crammed the ceremony on the National Mall.

Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, along with dozens of senators, congressional

recovery has begun.

America’s possibilities are limitless.”

He added: “My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it - so long as we

•Obama leaders and other dignitaries attended the event at the US Capitol.

In his inaugural address, the Democratic president laid out his vision for the next four years and repeatedly declared: “Our journey is not complete.”

“This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience,” he said. “A decade of war is now

In an 18-minute, 2,114word speech, Mr Obama called for “collective action” to preserve American freedom, which he linked to social and economic equality.

A

S part of its contribution to the international coalition to crush the Malian rebels, the European Union has offered to train the armed forces of Mali and support the war efforts with finance.

A statement released by

the EU and made available to journalists in Abuja yesterday also announced the establishment of European Union Training Mission (EUTM Mali).

The statement announced the appointment of General Francois Lecointre as the Mission Commander.

According to the statement, “The Council

FRICAN workers have thrown their weight behind the current intervention by the multinationalforceincluding Nigeria to free Mali from the grip of the undemocratiIslamic forces that have seihalf of the country.

Under the umbrella of the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity, OATUU, the workers lamented that the activities of the undemocratiforces in Mali including arbitrary arrests, rejection of people’s fundamental human rights and the mindless vandalization of cultural and historic monuments have shown clearthat they were determined to propel Mali back into the dark ages

Speaking through the OATUUSecretaryGeneral, Owei Lakemfa, OATUU said the world must not allow such groups to rule even one foot of the African continent.

According to the statement “Iis unfortunate that some elements in the Maliarmy had further weakened the country’s ability to defenitself by overthrowing the democratically elected government last March, thus leaving the country vulnerable and open to be overrun by these separatist, fundamentaand terrorists.

It is therefore clear that our brothers and sisters Mali all the support they can get. is why African workers wothe decision by Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, Senegal, Nir, Gui, Burkina Faso and Togo to send troops under the ECOW AS bnnr lMali.”

Algeria hostage crisis: 37 foreigners die in siege

A

LGERIA’s Prime Minister has said 37

foreigners from eight nationalities and one

Smoke rises above following demining operations at the In Amenas gas plant

EU offers to train Malian armed forces

BY Victoria Ojeme ABUJA

rebel columns and bases for an 11th day on Monday. Its intervention turned back an Islamist column heading towards Bamako that threatened to topple Mali’s government.

hereby decides to establish the European Union Training Mission (EUTM Mali), which will be responsible for providing the Malian Armed Forces with military training and advice within the framework of Resolutions 2071 and 2085 and in response to the direct request by the Malian authorities to the EU. It also

hereby decides to appoint General Francois Lecointre as the Mission Commander. “ It invites the Mission Commander to speed up the plans and preparations so that the EUTM can be launched by mid-February at the latest; to that end, it invites him to send the first technical team to Bamako within the next few days”

Algerian worker were killed during the hostage crisis at the gas plant.

PM Abdelmalek Sellal said 29 of the militants who overran the facility near the desert town of In Amenas had been killed and three captured alive. One Canadian was among the hostage takers, he added.

The four-day siege ended at the weekend when Algerian troops recaptured the site. Five hostages are still missing.

With this development, Japan yesterday said seven of its nationals had been killed and three others remained missing.

US officials confirmed that three Americans were among the dead, with seven survivors.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said thee Britons had been killed, with three others missing

and presumed dead.

He said the hostage crisis highlighted the need for a “strong security response” matched by an “intelligent political response”.

The foreigners killed or still missing also include workers from Norway, Romania, Malaysia, the Philippines and Romania.

Mr Sellal praised the decision by Algerian special forces to storm the site, adding that the aim of the kidnappers was to “blow up the gas plant”.

“The terrorists also shot some of the hostages in the head, killing them,” he stressed.

The prime minister said the kidnappers had crossed into the country from northern Mali, and that they were from Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Mali, Niger, Canada and Mauritania.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 — 51

Obama begins new battle for legacy with optimism

P

RESIDENT Obama officially began his second term on January 20. But concerns remain on what should be his priorities at home and abroad. In his Memo to the President, the anchor man of CNN’s Global Public Fareed Zakaria spoke with former senior policymakers from both sides of the aisle to get their take on what Obama should and shouldn’t be doing in the next four years.

What do you think? What should Obama’s priorities be?

Share your comments below.

James Baker, Treasury Secretary under Ronald Reagan: My advice is, Mr. President,

whatever happens in the second term, you are going to bear the consequences of it.

Our country is in sick shape financially. Economically, we are really in bad shape. If we didn’t have the dollar as the de facto reserve currency of the world, we would be Greece.

And we have got to fix our economic problem, and it’s not going to be fixed without leadership from you… It’s his administration that’s in charge.

And if we don’t get our economy out of this ditch, he’s the one that’s going to pay the price, he and his administration.

Paul O’Neill, Treasury Secretary under George W.

Bush: I don’t want people to pay taxes if they have $20,000 a year worth of income. But at $30,000, I might like for people to pay $1, just $1, so they have a - a legitimate claim for saying, I’m part of the society and I don’t pay a lot, but I do pay something.

Everybody participates and there’s no game playing. It’s a very efficient way to ray - raise revenue.

Right now, it costs us $431 billion a year to administer the tax system we have. And the tax gap, the money we’re not collecting that’s theoretically owed, is $400 billion a year.

We could do better than that.

We can think better than that.

And the president needs to lay that out for us.

Elaine Chao, Labor Secretary under George W. Bush: So what we’re seeing, actually, is a lot of discouraged workers, people who can’t find jobs.

And they’ve just given up and they’re no longer working and they ’re not counted in the workforce anymore. So we’ve got to do better on the job creation side.

It’s the private sector who does the bulk of the hiring. And they ’ve got to have the confidence.

And that confidence comes from a more reasonable taxation level, more

reasonable regulatory reform and then also the fiscal discipline that we need in our country to restore our country’s overall financial ratings.

Steven Rattner, “Car Czar” for Barack Obama: We need to have long-term tax policy, long-term budget policy, long-term regulatory policy, not doing this a few months at a time, not careening from a debt ceiling debacle to a fiscal cliff to some other issue with tax credits that expire every few months and all that kind of stuff. And so I think somehow the government as a whole has to come together in order to give business the confidence it needs.

To be continued

52 —

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

Drogba, Adebayor in battle royale C

ÔTE D’IVOIRE will want to show their intention early on in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations when they face Togo at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium today.

The Elephants are without a doubt the favourites to not only top Group D, that includes Togo, Algeria and Tunisia, but to win the tournament overall.

Ivorian stars Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, Didier Zokora and Gervinho add to this credence of being Africa’s best team.

Coupled with the unexpected loss to Zambia at the 2012 AFCON final, and one has a team arguably more motivated than the rest.

“I must remind you that Netherlands had a side everyone said were the best for years and they never won a trophy,” Drogba said.

On the other hand, Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure shied away from favourites label bestowed upon his country.

“It’s true that we are the favourite team and when you have that status you have to take advantage of the quality and experience that you have in our team,” said the 2011 African Player of the Year.

“We know we have to do better than last year when we lost the final to a better Zambia team. We have almost the same team back again, so it’s matter of focus and determination.”

•Drogba

•Adebayor Ivory Coast’s starting line-up is no secret as Drogba, Gervinho, the Toure brothers and Zokora are regulars as opposed to Togo, of whom little is known except the inner-team strife.

Togo captain and striker Emmanuel Adebayor is without a doubt their most recognised player, and after much confusion, will participate at AF-

CON. The Tottenham ace initially refused to come to South Africa amid security fears, and then was dramatically dropped before a Togo Football Association manager stepped in.

With internal wrangles a norm for the Sparrow Hawks, it appears that the Elephants will have a straightforward task.

Tunisia, Algeria in desert war

T

UNISIA will host North African rivals Algeria in their opening Group D encounter of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium tonight..

The two sides are no strangers to one another, C M Y K

having played each other on 47 separate occasions, and will chalk up number 48 when they meet in what will be the second game of the ‘Group of Death’, with Ivory Coast and Togo kicking off proceedings

earlier in the day.

The Carthage Eagles, meanwhile, last lifted the AFCON title on home soil in 2004, having finished as runners-up in the 1965 and 1996 instalments, while three of their last four involvements in the tournament have ended at the quarter-final stage.

On the team front, Tunisia coach Sami Trabelsi will be looking to 22year-old Youssef Msakni to pull the strings in midfield, while the country’s top-scorer Issam

Jemaa is set to lead the line up front.

For Algeria, Valencia star Sofiane Feghouli will be carrying much of the nation’s hopes, with the La Liga star having a wealth of experience to call on at the tournament.

The last time the two sides met it was Algeria who came out on top, winning 1-0 in a friendly in 2011, while the Desert Warriors’ biggest win over their upcoming opponents was an 8-0 thrashing away from home in 1958.

•Youssef

•Feghoul

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22 2013 — 53

Herbalist offers to help Bafana win A

herbalist from the Eastern Cape, Reuben Matewu, says he can help Bafana Bafana win matches at the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

South Africa settled for a goalless draw in their Afcon opener against Cape Verde Islands at the National Stadium on Saturday, compounding concerns about their ability to find the back of the net.

“I can help Bafana Bafana for free if they want and I’ll do that for the first three matches,” Matewu told trufm, a regional SABC radio station, on Sunday.

“Thereafter I will charge them as they would have started winning.

“I’m not like those people who use bad muti. I will only use herbs, which are easily available here in South Africa.”

While he would start charging for his services after a few matches, Matewu insisted he was not after the money.

Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana, the vice-president of the SA Football Association (Safa) and chairman of the Afcon local organising committee, said Matewu’s offer might be considered.

“We always welcome whatever help we can get to ensure Bafana Bafana do well,” Nonkonyana said.

“Let the man speak to me and see what we can do after that.”

Sibonelo Madela, a traditional healer from Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal, had threatened to prevent Bafana from winning matches.

This was after he claimed he was owed R90,000 by Safa for assisting the team during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Madela claimed that Bafana used his muti before their 2-1 victory over France during the group stages of the global showpiece. Despite the win, they were knocked out in the first round of the competition.

Safa spokesman Dominic Chimhavi reportedly said at the time that Nonkonyana had given Madela R10 000 out of “his own goodwill”, but no deal had been made between the inyanga and the national football body. – Sapa

C M Y K

NFF budget slashed N

Cape Verde midfielder Platini (L) vies with South Africa's defender Siyabonga Sangweni during a group A football match at the 2013 African Cup of Nations in Soweto . The match ended 0-0. PHOTO: AFP

Yaya Toure: Group D is the most difficult

I

VORY Coast midfielder Yaya Toure says his side are ready to challenge for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations despite the strong opposition that they will face.

The Elephants go into the tournament as one of the top favourites, and the Manchester City star says they are prepared mentally and physically.

“We have prepared in very good conditions in the United Arab Emirates and also here in South Africa,” Toure told Le Buteur.

“We are working in a good atmosphere. I think the group is well prepared for the African Cup of Nations.”

Sabri Lamouchi’s side will start their campaign

IGERIA Football Federation may not be as buoyant as they planned to execute all their programmes this year.

It was revealed in South Africa that only about half of a proposed 1.4 billion Naira (less than $9 million) budget was approved.

It was gathered from officials here at the Nations Cup in South Africa that the government only approved 790 million Naira (about $5 million) from their proposed expenditure.

And of this approved budget, the Nigeria sports ministry has released only 490 million Naira to the NFF with a promise to release the balance this week.

The ministry also received another 220 million Naira ($1.3 million) for the Nations Cup. “The NFF are groaning under serious financial problems in South Africa as they only received about half of the budget approved for them,” a top source i n f o r m e d MTNFootball.com “There is a promise for them to get the balance of this budget but even then that may not be adequate

• Maigari as what was finally approved was just about half of their request.”

Nigeria have had to step down on a bonus scheme that would have fetched each player about $100,000 were they to win the ongoing AFCON in South Africa.

Officials said the money problems will continue for the remaining part of a year in which the NFF have to prosecute six 2014 World Cup qualifiers beginning with a home game against Kenya in March.

Nigeria will also feature at the African Youth Championship, the African Junior Championship as well as the African Beach Soccer Championship all in 2013..

Mali ready for Black Stars

M

•Toure against Togo at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Tuesday afternoon, and

Toure believes the match will not be a walk in the park for his side.

ALI coach Patrice Carteron says they are ready for Ghana after a morale-boosting win against Niger in their first group match of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

The Eagles earned the first victory of this year’s finals as all the teams in Group A drew their matches on Saturday, while in Group B Ghana threw away a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It was none other than Mali captain and veter-

an midfielder Seydou Keita who scored the only goal in the 84th minute, and Mali, along with the Black Stars, are favoured to top this group.

The giants clash on Thursday.

“It was a difficult game against a very defensive team like Niger,” Carteron told BBC. “But I’m happy for the players because they have worked hard and this win will boost confidence for the next match against Ghana.”

54 —

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22 2013

Fire outbreak in Mombela Stadium

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Zambia’s Stoppila Sunzu (L) battles for the ball with Ethiopia’s Said Ahmed during yesterday’s match at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit. It ended 1-1.PHOTO: AFP

S the Super Eagles were playing the Stallions of Burkina Faso in Nespruit, an announcer called spectators to inform that there was a fire outbreak in the complex and warned them not to use the elevator when going out of the stadium.

There was pandemonium as fans began to leave the stadium.

However, despite the panic on the stands, the match continued as officials ensured play was not disrupted.

I won't blow their heads off — Keshi

Continued from back page

Ethiopia stun Africa •Ten men dominate Zambia in a 1-1 draw

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UPPOSED soccer minnows, Ethiopia stunned the world yesterday when they held defending African champions, Zambia to a thrilling 11 draw in a Group C match at the Mbombela Stadium Back at the Nations Cup after 31 years of absence, Ethiopia, played with ten men after goalkeeper Jemal Tassew, was sent off in the first half by referee Castane Otogo for fouling Chisamba Lungu, and still got a much deserved draw with the Zambians, were were left rocked with the result.

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It was a game of record as the Ethiopians finally scored their first goal at the Nations Cup. They had never scored in their previous outings at the tournament.

Goalkeeper Jemal Tassew’s flying chesthigh kick on Zambian midfielder Chisamba Lungu caused an 11minute delay in the eventful game at the Mbombela Stadium and his dismissal provoked an angry response from the passionate Ethiopian fans who threw bottles and vuvuzelas on the pitch in protest.

They were already upset after their key player Saladin Seid missed a penalty in the 25th minute after he was earlier denied what looked to be a certain goal as the ball bounced over an open goal on the hard surface.

The Ethiopian fans were even unhappier before the halftime whistle went when Collins Mbesuma fired Zambia ahead with a left-footed half-volley

time to psyche them up ahead of the next game against Zambia. “Victor Moses had a knock in Faro in one of the tune up matches we had in Faro, so I did not want to risk him because we still have a long way to go.

past substitute keeper Zerihun Tadelle.

However, Ethiopia equalised in the 65th minute when their skipper Adane Girma powered home a shot that went in off the post and they held on for a point. The crowd went wild in the stadium Girma shot into the near post after being played in by a deft pass

by Saladin Said. Addis Hintsa began the move with an incisive through ball, that is what you call impact from the bench.

... scare Nigeria T

HE performance of Ethiopia against defending champions, Zambia, was talk of the day even after the NigeriaBurkina Faso match yesterday.

They were reduced to ten men in the first half following a red card to their keeper but that did not stop their possession football.

Their marking was good, their runs classy and their use of space surpassed what book makers had assumed.

They were not superb in front of goal otherwise they would have humiliated Zambia. What impressed fans was not just their equaliser but their entire play which is now a source of concern for Nigerians.

“There’s problem and big work for us to do. Ethiopia could be a problem. They play well and their fans here are many,”a top member of the Nigeria Football Football Federation said shortly before Eagles took on Burkina Faso.

*HISTORIC..... Ethiopia’s Girma Gebrayes celebrates after scoring against Zambia yesterday. It was their first goal since theyr started competing at the Nations Cup.PHOTO: AFP

Vanguard, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 — 55

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VANGUARD, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013

I won’t blow their heads off – Keshi

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IGERIA coach, Stephen Keshi has said he was proud of his players. In a post match briefing Kesi said, “I am proud of my players and I am proud of what they did. They did exactly

what I asked them to do.

This is about the fourth time we are playing a competitive game since we came together. I am not going to blow their heads out. This night I am going to let

everything lie low until tomorrow morning. If it entails talking to them as a group I will do that. If I have to talk to them individually, I will do same. I will take my Continues on Page 54

Eagles fumble in 1-1 draw N

IGERIA last night, marked their return to Africa Cup of Nations with a fumbling 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso in a Group C match at the Mbombela Stadium In a largely uneventful game watched by vuvuzela-sounding fans, Emmanuel Emenike edged the Nigerians in front in the 23rd minute but sloppy defending by Godfrey Oboabona and Joseph Yobo gifted the Burnikabes a precious and well deserved draw, after Alain Traore equalised in the last minute of injury time.

For most period of the game, the Eagles looked out of sorts as they failed to stamp authority in a match that a first half goal ought to have given them the confidence to play better than they did. Save for Mikel, the others were making textbook errors.

Mikel was voted man of the match. The goal by Emenike was the only silver lining that the Nigerian could hold on to.

TODAY'S

Traore celebrates Burkina Faso's equaliser.

It was a real poacher’s goal from the Spartak Moscow forward, who dived to poke the ball home from close range ahead of the onrushing Burkina Faso goalkeeper Abdoulaye Soulama, after a deft knockdown from strike partner Brown Ideye.

But after the goal, the Eagles threw caution into the wind as they were booked for reckless fouls.

The likes of Fegor Ogude, Efe Ambrose, Nosa Igiebor, Mikel all got booked by the Algerian referee. Efe pulled a defender’s shirt and this

PUZZLE

earned him the red card.

The one man advantage paid for the Burkinabes, who mounted pressure on the Eagles and deservedly got their equaliser in the 94 th minute.

Jonathan Pitroipa got clear in the penalty area but the chance looked to have been wasted as he put in a poor cut back while falling over. But the centre back pair of Yobo and Oboabona, then got in each others way, allowing substitute Alain Traore to expertly place his shot past Vincent Enyeama.

YESTER DAY'S YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

RESULTS

Nigeria Zambia

1 1

ACROSS 1 Scrape (6) 5 Pantry (6) 9 Go in (5) 10 Appeared (6) 11 Entertained (6) 12 Blithe (5) 14 Paradise (4) 17 Put on (3) 18 Factory (4) 20 Foot-lever (5) 22 Postpone (5) 23 Ripened (7) 24 Melted (5) 26 Bare (5) 29 Parched (4) 30 Serpent (3) 32 Ancestry (4) 33 Colour (5) 35 Hidden (6) 36 Develop (6) 37 Stop (5) 38 Dashed (6) 39 Trapped (6)

TODAY'S MATCHES

Burkina Faso 1 Ethiopia 1

I/Coast vs Tunisia vs

DOWN 1 Slumbering (6) 2 Revelled (6) 3 Consider (4) 4 Finished (5) 5 Memorise (5) 6 Host (4) 7 Vaporise (6) 8 Insolently (6) 13 Arch (7) 15 Object (5) 16 Titled (5) 18 Decoration (5) 19 Burdened (5) 21 Boy (3) 22 Lair (3) 24 Omitted (6) 25 Relative (6) 27 Murderer (6) 28 Protect (6) 30 Performed (5) 31 Iron (5) 33 Formerly (4) 34 Flat (4)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

ACROSS: 4, Study 7, Clever 9, For 10, Tee 12, Lease 13, Evil 15, Ashen 17, Coarse 19, Dont 20, Titan 22, Eat 24, Meander 27, Wit 28, Needy 31, Rota 33, Dieted 35, Cream 37, Dial 38, Ditto 39, Lid 41, Oar 42, Torero 43, Heard.

How to Play Sudoku

THE VIGILANTE

Togo — 4pm Algeria — 7pm

DOWN: 1, Accept 2, Depict 3, Get 4, Sole 5, Trend 6, Deserted 8, Rear 11, Essential 14, Loam 16, Head 18, Anew 21, Impolie 23, Tent 25, Aide 26, Reed 29, Edited 30, Yellow 32, Actor 34, Emit 36, Road 40, Dog.

e-mail: rowolove@yahoo.co.uk

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

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