Gunmen on the rampage in Kogi, Yobe by Vanguard Media Limited

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SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 22, 2012

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NEMA confirms two barges burnt in P-Harcourt blast BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

Ogun State Deputy Governor, Prince Segun Adesegun casting his vote at Ago-Iwoye Ward 8 during the state’s local government election, yesterday.

WO barges, one tug boat and a fishing boat were among items consumed in the multiple explosion on Friday in a vessel at Abuloma jetty, Port H a r c o u r t . Mr Emenike Umesi of the National Emergency Management Agency,

NEMA, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard on the incident, said four persons died in the e x p l o s i o n . Eye witnesses had put the death toll at between nine and thirty persons. The NEMA official said two persons were injured, adding that they were responding to treatment in hospital. He said there was

smoldering fire at the time of this report. His words, “Situation report: fire is still burning but very low, causualties: 4 dead, 2 injured. Damages: 1 fishing boat, 1 tug boat, 2 barges.Recommmendation: need for burnt vessel to be removed from the water way to avoid further accidents.”

The vessel exploded three times at the Abuloma jetty on Friday while a welding work was ongoing inside it. It was reportedly conveying crude when the explosions occured.Initial fears expressed by eye witnesses was that no fewer than eleven person had died in the explosions.

Anxiety mounts over missing journalist BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

ESCRIBED by many as easy g o i n g , hardworking, godly and amiable, Alhaji Rasak Aremu Gawat, ace Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, presenter, has been missing for more than one week. To be precise, he was declared missing penultimate Wednesday when the case was

reported to the police. Gawat, anchor man of an Islamic programme on television, was said to have left home for the office on that fateful Wednesday, but did not return home. His vehicle was later found abandoned on Apongbon Bridge, Lagos Island. Consequent upon this, family members, relatives, friends and well wishers have continued to express fear on the possibility of finding Gawat alive,

hence the declaration of daily fasting and praying for divine intervention. The presenter ’s wife, Fatimat, and son, Jubril, have sent passionate pleas to whoever might be in possession of their breadwinner to release him. Also, repeated calls to his p hone line have remained unsuccessful The wife, in tears, begged thus: “We ask for forgiveness from whoever he might have offended unknowingly.

Anyone that may have seen him should immediately, kindly, contact the nearest police station or better still the family members or any NTA office for appropriate action.” Last week, Lagos State House of Assembly, led by Rt Hon Adeyemi Ikuforiji, directed the police to find Gawat. Meanwhile, the General Manager of Lagos State Traffic Managing Agency, L ASTMA, Engr. Babatunde Edu, has

explained how the agency recovered the abandoned vehicle of the missing television presenter on Apongbon Bridge. According to him, a black colour Toyota SUV with number plate RE 77 AAA was discovered on the Eko Bridge inward Apongbon around 11:45pm on Tuesday night by LASTMA officials led by the Zonal Head, Mr Akinpelu Ayuba, while conducting safety checks on the bridge in order to ensure that no impediments were left unattended to on the bridge as a result of abandoned or broken down vehicle. The vehicle was parked very close to the kerb with no visible sign of hit from other motorists except thatthe hazard light of the vehicle was on and the four doors were locked. He added: “Thinking that the unknown occupant (s) had run out of fuel and had gone to source for same or in dire need of assistance, the dedicated officers, in order to ensure the safety of the occupant (s) and also render assistance if need be, formed a search group to look out for the vehicle occupant(s)”. Edu said the search went on for over one hour with no trace of the occupant(s). In order to guard against stealing of the vehicle and to ensure that other road users did not run into the vehicle in the darkness of night, the black jeep, according to him, was towed, in the early hours of Wednesday, to bthe themselves Olowu Zone of the agency ’s office in Lagos Island. He continued: “On Wednesday, the base officer of the Zone, Mrs Ganiat Ijaoba, while conducting routine checks on all impounded vehicles, discovered, through the side glass (as the doors were locked), that the passenger seat of the jeep had some religious stuff such as Qurans, Islamic materials,

documents and complimentary cards that had Gawat Communications written on them, A distant relative of Gawat who is also an official of the agency and familiar with the vehicle contacted the family. “Later, Gawat’s wife, Fatimat, and three other men appeared at the Zone, and later joined by the police led by the Divisional Police Officer of Adeniji Central Police Station, Lagos Island, Lagos, Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, Monday Agbonnika. On their arrival, a duplicate key was brought out in the presence of LASTMA officials with an attempt to open the jeep, after several unsuccessful attempts. According to Edu, the first son of the victim, Jubril. invited a panel beater who forcefully opened the car doors in the presence of his mother, officials and relatives. “After the doors were opened, Jibril entered the jeep to source for some documents which were observed to be missing together with his phone. Several unsuccessful calls were made to the victim’s phone. Subsequently, t he team consisting of Mrs. Gawat, other members of the family, officials of LASTMA and the police later visited the scene where the vehicle was initially towed”. Wor ried by the development, Governor Babatunde Fashola has appealed to residents and well meaning Nigerians who have information regarding the whereabouts of Gawat to come forward with it. Fashola, who made the appeal while speaking to newsman, said that such information will aid investigation by the police and the state government on the issue. The governor added: “So, anybody who has any information that may lead us to him, let us know. My number is 08034301122”.

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Governor Ibikunle Amosun casting his vote during the Local Government Election at Ita Iyalode Ward 11 Abeokuta. Photo By WUMI AKINOLA

Politicians, civil servants engage in mutual assured suspicion —Pepple, Housing Minister BY DAYO JOHNSON

Gunmen on the rampage in Kogi, Yobe Continued from page 1 commenced their operation. They reportedly shot sporadically into the air. It was gathered that a group of the gunmen attacked Iyara branch of Unity Bank and bombed the strongroom with improvised explosive devices (IED) and carted away some cash from the vault. The gunmen were said to have killed a policeman on guard at the bank before blowing up the strongroom. The other group was said to have headed straight for the Divisional Police Station in the town where they allegedly met strong resistance from the police anti-terrorist squad which foiled their plans to loot the ar moury. Residents of Iyara, who spoke to our correspondent, said the gunmen held the town hostage for the better part of the night as they kept detonating explosives indiscriminately amid sporadic shooting. Kogi State police command’s spokesman (PPRO), Mr Ile Simon (DSP), confirmed the attack on the bank and the police station but could not give casualty figure and the amount of money taken from the bank. ’’We cannot say for now. All we got from there is that they attacked the bank and our station and there was exchange of fire’’, Simon said. Last Sunday, the police had uncovered a bomb making factory in Okaito, in Okahi Local Government Area of the state. The building housing the bomb factory is a four-bedroom

apartment. It is the second to the last building in the area. The building has since been pulled down by the government in conjunction with security agents. According to a resident who craved anonymity, “it was not long the criminal gangs rented the building to carry out their criminal activities.” He said the house was owned by an Ebira man, but was rented to an unknown person from Damaturu, Yobe State, adding that the residents never envisaged that such activity was happening in the house.

Gunmen school

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In the meantime, unknown gunmen, at the weekend, burnt a school in Yobe State. Sources in Damaturu gave the name of the school as Yobe

Monarch disenfranchised as OBJ, lawmakers boycott Ogun council poll *Low turn out mars election BY DAUD OLATUNJI

NE of the first class Obas in Ogun State , the Akarigbo of Remo, Oba Micheal Adeniyi Sonarinwo, and his six family members were part of the hundreds of the people that were disenfranchised during yesterday’s election into the 20 local government areas and 236 wards in the state.

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Children’s Academy. It is a privately-owned school with nursery, primar y and secondary arms. Each of the arms has sets of blocks allocated to it. The school is located along the Gashu’a-Potiskum Bypass in D a m a t u r u . The proprietor of the school is Hajiya Mairo Amshi, a former Commissioner of Agriculture in the state. It was learnt that only one hall was not totally destroyed in the s c h o o l . Students of the school writing their West African Examinations Council Senior School Certificate Examination had to make use of the only spared hall. Damaturu has in recent times become the hotbed of the activities of the dreaded sect, Boko Haram.

INISTER of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Amal Pepple, yesterday, expressed concern over mutual suspicion and apprehension between public servants and their political leaders in the administration of government affairs in the Country. Pepple regretted that the political leaders and civil servants do not see their roles as partners but competitors in nation-building. She spoke in Akure at the 2012 Iju Public Affairs Forum to commemorate the 70 th birthday of the convener, Prof Ladipo Adamolekun, held at the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA. Yesterday ’s celebration lecture, chaired by Mr Sam Amuka, the Publisher of Vanguard Newspapers, was attended by Governors Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State and Senator Bode Olajumoke among other eminent personalities. According to the Minister, if mutual suspicion is not checked, it may have untold consequences on the system by impacting it negatively. Delivering the public

The election, characterized by low voter turn-out, was marred by irregularities and pockets of violence as well as ballot snatching and alleged killings. It was boycotted by some of the members of the National Assembly (both Senate and House of Representatives) from the state. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who, though did not show up for the election, had his name missing from the voters’ register at his ward in Abeokuta. At Ward 11, Unit 15 where Obasanjo was supposed to cast his vote, the presiding officer, who pleaded for anonymity, told Sunday Vanguard that, the former president’s name could not be found on the voters registers, He however directed the reporter to check at Unit 16. An attempt to locate Obasanjo’s name on the voters’ register at Unit 16 hit the brick wall as the Presiding Officer, Kolawole Oyetola, confirmed that the former president’s name was not amongst those on the register in his possession. The monarch, who was disenfranchised, was said to have arrived the polling centre at 9 am with his wives and other members of his family but could not be accredited , following the failure of the electoral officers at ward 2,Ita-Oba Sagamu in Owonifari street in Sagamu local government to provide the voters’ register. The electoral officers were said to have been chased away when they reportedly asked the

electorate and the Oba to write their names on an exercise book in lieu of the voters’ register. Leading the protest, both the agent of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peoples Party of Nigeria PPN, Kayode Ibrahim and Solomon Olumide respectively, acused the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission,OGSIEC,of planning to rig the election in favour of the Action Congress of Nigeria,A C N. The atmosphere was tense as the aggrieved disenfranchised electorate trooped to the streets and chased the A C N agent for the ward away . A team of soldiers,:ho came in a commercial bus marked Lagos XP 207 KSF was rafted to the place which restored law and order,while the convoy of the state police commissioner was also seen patrolling the area at 11;15.a.m. There were reported cases of ballot snatching at Isara-Remo in Remo North local government area while two people were said to have lost their lives in Sabo ward in Sagamu local government area. Governor Ibikunle Amosun of the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria and the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party, traded words over alleged massive rigging of the poll in many parts of the state. The governor, who acknowleged the low turn out, said ,that 25 per cent voters that came out to vote should not be regarded as too small.

lecture, entitled, “Relationship between Higher Civil Servants and their Political Masters”, Pepple said that elected leaders, in their assessment, deride public servants as “too bureaucratic, lethargic, incompetent, uncooperative, unproductive, obstructive and corrupt. She added that public servants too also “see the political masters as “inexperienced, pursuers of short term political gains, impatient, immature, selfcentered, greedy, uncaring, parochial and equally corrupt”. According to her, the two groups are constantly in a struggle to fix each other in their pre-conceived mould of mental judgment which “invariably breeds mutual suspicion and apprehension thereby setting the stage for conflict. The Minister noted that friction also occurs when political leaders attempt to drag civil servants into the murky waters of politics by coercing them to pursue narrow partisan interests which may not be in the national interest and the civil servants choose to resist the pressure by acting professionally. In other words, Pepple added that a civil servant too may choose to explore the privileged of access to the political master to seek for unmerited favour such as appointment to strategic positions and the political masters refuse to bow to such pressures. She expressed concern that appointment into the civil service is not merit-driven, saying “there are concerns that the recruitment process into the service is highly influenced by both political and administrative leadership”. On the part of the political leaders, the Minister said there should be as little influence as possible in service matters such as posting, transfers, promotions, preparedness to act ethically at all times and clear demonstration of competence on the job and no request for departures from declared and approved policies to suit individual cases. Pepple said that the two should understand that they occupy strategic positions in government and their collaboration and partnership is very essential for proper administration of the state and the achievement of strategic national priorities for advancing the cause of national development. The chairman of the occasion, Mr Amuka, described the celebrant as a man of skill and talent who is highly sought after within and outside the country, adding that he has always given his best to Nigeria. Amuka however regretted that the nation’s civil service is the problem of the country. According to him, the nation cannot improve without the civil service. Mimiko and Fayemi eulogized the celebrant for his contribution to the nation’s development through his writings. Mimiko called for the restructuring of the system to allow for true federalism for the nation to move forward.

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Slain Lagos chief: Police assure of justice BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI & MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

NE person, identi fied as the deputy Baale (Chief) of Makoko, a Lagos suburb, Mr. Timothy Huntoyanwha, was allegedly shot dead, yesterday, by one of the security officials attached to the demolition team in the on-going clearing of shanties in Makoko waterfront, Yaba Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State. The state government had, last Monday, commenced clearing of Iwaya/ Makoko area with the aim of reclaiming the waterfront. Speaking to Sunday Vanguard in a telephone

chat, Mr. Ade Aguntor, who claimed to have witnessed the scene, identified the victim as Huntoyanwha, while the security officer who allegedly shot him was identified as a marine police officer, Corporal Boma Peddle. Aguntor explained that the incident happened at about 10:30 am when the representatives of the community who were sent to Alausa secretariat to hold a meeting with the Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Mr. Adesegun Oniru, were still briefing the elders on the outcome of the meeting held on Friday. According to him, “at the meeting, the Baale of Makoko Community,

Chief Aji Steven, was informed that the officials of the state government have arrived to continue with the demolition exercise in his territory. And immediately he heard this, he left the meeting to order his subjects to ensure that they removed all their property from the house before the demolition exercise commenced. “Steven, who was accompanied by Huntoyanwha, sat down to watch how the demolition exercise will commence. As the demolition commenced, Steven further ordered those whose houses were being demolished to park their woods, that they will be useful.” “While the Baale was still giving the order, Peddle stood up from where he was sitting and began to shoot sporadically. One of the bullets hit Huntoyanwha in his left side of his stomach.” “Immediately he (Hunt-

oyanwha) was hit by the shot, he alerted the Baale who quickly rushed him into the boat towards Oworonshoki jetty. While on their way to Gbagada General Hospital, Huntoyanwha died.” Meanwhile, it was gathered that the officer in question has been detained by the police. A statement, yesterday, by Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, said investigation into the matter had commenced.

76 oil wells: Our position, by Akwa Ibom

BOUT two weeks after the Supreme Court confirmed Akwa Ibom as the rightful owner of the 76 disputed oil wells, it has been revealed fresh facts indicate that Cross River State ought not to have taken the issue to court. According to the Akwa Ibom State Attorney General and

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Executive Chairman Kosofe local government of Lagos State, Hon. Afolabi Sofola, his Supervisor for Environment, Engr. Akala Olalekan & Alhaji Bankole Ashaolu, during the last environmental sanitation exercise held by the local government in Arowojobe Estate, Mende.

structure for the banking community in Nigeria and Payments Service Provider within and outside Nigeria, with a mission to be the most preferred epayment service provider in Africa.

Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Ekpenyong Ntekim, Cross River State was instead indebted to Akwa Ibom to the tune of N18.4billion , which it “surreptitiously caused the Revenue Mobilzation , Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to deduct from the derivation revenues of Akwa Ibom State between January 2008 and May 2012”. Ntekim explained that contrary to the position of Cross River State that the N18.4 billion was deducted from the ecological fund, the said amount was actually arbitrarily and illegally deducted from the statutory derivation revenue of Akwa Ibom

Ijaws mourn Ovie-Whiskey

HE Ijaw Monitor ing Group (IMG) says the death of Justice Victor Ovie-Whiskey is a great loss to the country even though he died at very ripe age. In a condolence message by Comrade Joseph Evah on behalf of IMG, the Ijaw stated that Justice Ovie-Whiskey was

quintessential leader in the legal profession and represents one of the finest and best public servants Nigeria has ever produced. “We regret that Nigerians and Deltans in particular, as well as the entire family of Justice OvieWhiskey have lost a gem to the world beyond.”

State. “It should be stressed that the entire sum of over N18 billion paid to Cross River State during the said period was not sourced from any Ecological funds but from the statutory derivation revenues of Akwa Ibom”, he stated. The commissioner pointed out that the deduction was even twice the value of the derivation revenue accruable from the 76 oil wells for the period in contravention of Section 162(2) of the 1999 Constitution. This action, Ntekim said, negated the brotherly gesture in the proposals canvassed through a letter by the Akwa Ibom State Government to its Cross River State counterpart in January 2011. He said that the Akwa Ibom State Government even offered Cross River State a monthly grant of N250 million in appreciation of the historical and cultural ties that bind the two sister states; a gesture that was turned down by the Cross River State Government, which opted for a continued legal tussle.

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‘FG can save N200bn from the use of natural gas’ BY SIMON EBEGBEULEM & OGIEVA OYEMWENOSA

HE use of condensed natural gas (CNG) instead of petrol could fetch the Federal Government over N200billion from every one million cars converted into CNG from petrol engine, says the Managing Director, NIPCO, Venkataramen Venkatapathy. Consequently, the Federal Government yesterday expressed its readiness to partner with the private sector to explore the alternative source of powering vehicles and for other industrial uses in Nigeria. Speaking to journalists at a familiarization tour of facilities of one its partners, the Green Gas Company in Benin City, the Group Executive Director, Oil and Gas of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Dr. David Ige, disclosed that one of the key agenda of the President Jonathan transformation policy was the exploration of abundant natural gas reserves for the benefit of the people. He said the initiative, a joint venture between NIPCO Nigeria Limited and the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC), was to lever-

age natural gas in vehicular use as is it is “significantly cheaper, more environmental friendly, while drivers can save between N1,000 and N2, 000 a day if they run on compressed natural gas”. According to him, “The first thing to understand is that Nigeria like you know have a lot of natural gas and there is no reason why we shouldn’t use the gas reserve for the betterment of our people, either for power, industrial or vehicular use and that is one of the key agenda of the president in this transformation process. “You noticed that we have been doing a lot on gas to power, gas to industrialization and more importantly, this is what affects the ordinary man on the street, the vehicular use. The benefit of that is that it is significantly cheaper. You can see what the drivers here have been saying, these drivers can save up to N1000 to N2000 per day on petrol cost and we expect that over time that saving could be able to pass to the passenger. An average passenger in Nigeria can move around at a relatively cheaper rate than they were with petrol.” Earlier, Managing Director, NIPCO, Venkat-

We’ll defy rains to complete Delta road — Contractor BY FESTUS AHON

OTORISTS and residents heaved a sigh of relief as Delta State government commenced the construction of the Okumagba Estate Road dualisation project. The project manager of the company handling the project, Niger Construction Limited, Engr Johnny George, said the 2.5 kilometre road, with drainage and pavement, would be completed in record time

as the state government has provided all the necessary requirements. George, who explained that compensation had been paid and the demolition of structures obstructing the project had commenced, noted that the road would not be closed to traffic during the construction. He said Niger Construction Company Limited would defy the rainy season to commence the construction of the road

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because of the priority the state government placed on the project. Some of the residents of the area expressed happiness at the commencement of the project, noting that it would boost business activities in the area. They commended Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan for his dogged efforts to improve the living standard of Deltans and pledged their continued support for his administration .

Dedication

prominent Niger Delta activist, C hief Michael Johnny, and family members will today dedicate their daughter to God. The dedication takes place at Land of Cannon Church, by Victory School, Aribowa Street, off Refinery road, Ekpan, and thereafter reception at the private residence of Chief Johnny, at new layout, Jakpa.

aramen Venkatapathy, disclosed that for every one million cars or vehicles, if converted to the use of CNG, Nigeria would save close to 1.25 million dollars (200 billion naira) on oil subsidy. “We are working to promote natural gas as an alternative to fuel because it is abundantly available in Nigeria, so it can substitute petrol and in that case, you don’t need to import PMS, it can displace the PMS”.

From left: Mr. Abdul Ramon Mahammed, coordinator, Mrs Adenike Osu, Army Children Senior High School; Mr. Adeboye Dada( NAFT) President, Lagos State and Mr. Isaac Awotunde, during the French Academic Competition, for French Secondary Schools held at Victory Grammar School, Lagos organised by the Medat Edu Concept in collaboration with National Association of French Teachers,NAFT, Lagos State Branch. Photo by Diran Oshe.

Aguleri, Umuleri blow hot again BY ANAYO OKOLI

HE fragile peace in the war-torn Aguleri and Umuleri communities in Anambra East Council of Anambra State is being threatened as the former joined issues with the latter over alleged land encroachment. Umuleri had recently, through Mr. George Obukwesili, accused Aguleri of encroaching on their Aguakor land and threatened that “if the state and federal governments should close their eyes and allow this gun powder to explode, the 1995-1999crisis will be a child’s play”. Aguleri dismissed the allegation, saying it was rather Umuleri community that had unceremoniously withdrawn from a peace committee set up by the two communities since 2004 to resolve all the land issues between them. In a statement in Umuahia by Chief Ralph Igwa, Chairman of Aguleri Peace Committtee, he denied that there is “palpable tension between the two communities.” Igwa said the impression “does not reflect the current situation in the area and it is inconsistent with the facts regarding the present state of the relationship between the two communities”. He however regretted that Umuleri pulled out of the peace committee without any reason and resorted to using the police to harass Aguleri people, which, he said, was “capable of engendering renewed tension between the two erstwhile hostile communi-

ties”. He urged Umuleri to return to the peace committee to enable the communities thrash out the disagreement between them. “ The truth is that the two communities having failed to resolve their age-long dispute through courts, tribunals or third party mediations, took a bold peace initiative in 2004 by de-

ciding to peacefully settle their problem by themselves. And so, in March, 2004, the two communities set up the Aguleri/Umuleri Peace Committee with mandate to determine acceptable boundaries between Aguleri and Umuleri communities”, Igwa said. According to him, the committee worked till 2004 till 2010 “when the Umuleri representatives

in the committee [allegedly] suddenly pulled out without any formal reason till date”. Aguleri therefore accused Umuleri of aborting the peace process and called on them to return to the committee to discuss any matter that may be threatening the peace of the communities, even as they warned the police not to allow themselves to be misused by Umuleri.

Ogun produces first winner of Spelling Bee

HE maiden edition of Spelling Bee Competition for public secondary schools in Ogun State has produced its first winner, Master Dansu Emmanuel of Community Senior High School, Tube in Ipokia Local Government of the state. The grand finale of the maiden edition, which took place at Valley View Auditorium, Isale-Igbein, Abeokuta, brought together 60 students from public secondary schools across the 20 local government areas of the state, and it was witnessed by the facilitator of the competition and wife of the governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun. The competition also produced Master Remmy Emmanuel of Salawu Abiola Comprehensive High School, Osiele in Odeda Local Government area as the first runner-up and Covenant Harrison of St. Peter ’s Comprehensive College, Olomore, Abeokuta in Abeokuta North Local Government area as the second runner-up. The winner of the competition was recognised as the Most Outstanding Speller in Ogun State, and he was presented with a cheque of

Wife of the Governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun (left), presenting the star prize of N250,000 cheque to the winner of the maiden edition of Spelling Bee Competition for public secondary schools in Ogun State, Master Dansu Emmanuel of Community Senior High School, Tube in Ipokia during the grand finale of the competition in Abeokuta. N250,000, a trophy, a laptop and a scholarship award for his university education. The second and third positions were given N150,000 and N100,000 respectively. Speaking at the occasion, the wife of the governor of Ogun State urged the students to focus on their studies and promised to do everything within her reach to encourage them for a better performance in academic endeavours.

“Education has been variously described as the bedrock of growth and development in any given society. A child who can spell correctly stands a better chance of writing, reading and speaking effectively and by implication such child will surely excel in his/her academic undertakings. The Spelling Bee Competition is designed to motivate our children for them to improve on their education standards,” she said.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012 , PAGE 9

SUBSIDY FRAUD INCORPORATED (1)

Fresh scandal surrounds FG’s committee zAllegations of conflict of interest zCommittee’s activities hinder EFCC’s role zDuplicity occasioned by systemic failure zHow FG can track culprits By Jide Ajani

his will shock you. It is the report of Sunday Vanguard’s painstaking investigation with sources inside Aso Rock Presiden-

tial Villa, the Nigeria National Petroleum C orporation, NNPC, the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, the Petroleum Equalization Fund, PSF, and the Petroleum Support Fund, PSF, just to mention a few. It is about the serial complicity of some operators in the oil industry, government agencies and high ranking government officials in a mélange of corrupt practices occasioned by cover ups, deception and deliberate

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Some of the marketers who preferred to speak on conditions of anonymity made it clear that most of the “so called major marketers were actually in agreement with other lesser known importers who took the risk of financing and importation of petroleum products”

misinformation to unsuspecting members of the Nigerian public. It is a story of conflict of interest regarding those investigating and verifying the claims of mar-

keters, a story of filth and willful negligence fueled by insatiable greed. It was an innocent memo; but panic oozed from it.

The genesis of what has today become the fraud in the management of subsidy funds all started with a directive from the Federal Government of Nigeria. Although the House of Representatives Committee which investigated the management of subsidy on petrol presented its report which has become mired in scandalous controversy, occasioned by a bribery saga, the several committees set up by the federal government may not be about to get to the root of the matter by calling a spade a spade – there is the Nuhu Ribadu committee set up by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC; there was the Aigboje AigImoukhuede committee; and now there is another committee which just submitted its report penultimate weekend, headed again by Aigboje AigImoukhuede. Switching into a panic mode, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-led government of late President Umaru Musa Yar ’Adua, sensing that long queues at the petrol stations across the country represents a clear and present national security challenge, sent a memo to the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPRA. This was in October,

2008. Dated October 20, 2008, the memo, signed on behalf of the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, from the Presidency came through the SGF’s (PARASTATALS DEPARTMENT, GENERAL SERVICES). The reference: SGF. 19/S.53/II/ The title of the memo: “RE: OUTCOME OF THE STAKEHOLDERS MEETING ON IMPORT PLAN FOR 4TH QUARTER, 2008/REVIEW OF PSF IMPLEMENTATION”. “I am directed to refer to your letter Ref. No. A.1/1/228/C.7/III/ 468 of 16th October, 2008”, the content of the letter reads, “on the outcome of the stakeholders meeting of 14th October, 2008 to harmonize import plan for November and December, 2008 and to convey the approval of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for: “1) The import plan for November – December, 2008 as harmonized with the marketers during the stakeholders meeting and as recommended; and “2) The participation of the recommended companies with storage facilities or valid throughout agreement that have completed the necessary due diligence processes to import the products in order to sustain adequate supply in the system. “I am to further inform you that you are required to sub-

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The new PIB goes to the National Assembly

Continued from page 9 mit a report on the performance of the participating companies to this Office at the completion of the import exercise. “Please accept the warm regards of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation”. What had happened just before that memo was that the PPPRA had recommended that there was need for an expansion of the frontiers of fuel importation into the country and had, therefore, requested an approval from the Presidency. Whereas possession of storage facilities was an earlier condition precedent, the need to include importers who had valid throughout agreement, with a view to making the product more available became inevitable. In fact, some of the marketers who preferred to speak on conditions of anonymity made it clear that most of the “so called major marketers were actually in agreement with other lesser known importers who took the risk of financing and importation of petroleum products”. But this was to open the floodgate. HOW SUBSIDY FRAUD IS COMMITTED

ne of the major points where the fraud is com-

mitted is the Atlas Cove Jetty, Apapa, Lagos, which is Nigeria’s major delivery and re-distribution point for refined petroleum products. The second, strategic, point is represented by the plethora of depots in Lagos. Atlas Cove, first built in 1979, and rebuilt by Julius Berger in 2000, is owned and managed by the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, on behalf of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, as a storage farm/facility that channels refined products through System 2B pipelines that runs through Ejigbo (a suburb in Lagos). These pipelines supply petroleum products to the entire Western region of Nigeria, Kwara and Edo States. Depots served by the Atlas Cove Jetty include Mosimi, Ore, Ibadan and Shagamu. The Atlas Cove Jetty is also used to off-load coastal vessels as well as pump petroleum products to the Atlas Cove Depot for storage. This command center for refined petroleum products is administered from Abuja by the PPMC, a subsidiary of the government owned NNPC. A very dependable source at

By Dele Sobowale “I am happy to announce to you that this morning (Wednesday), Mr. President forwarded the Petroleum Industrial Bill to the National Assembly”, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Minister of Petroleum; July 18, 2012. President Goodluck Jonathan

Allegations of conflict of interest Atlas Cove told Sunday Vanguard that the country had always been held hostage by the petrol import cabal in connivance with the government that claims to be serving and protecting Nigerians.

source said what has been in place at Atlas Cove can best be described as “round-

tripping, as some of the marketers with allocation for importation are involved in the scheme. According to the source, “they bring in a particular amount of refined product, declare the product on arrival to the relevant government agencies’ staff (DPR, PPPRA, Petroleum Equalisation Fund, PEF) and after these officials have okayed the product quantity in preparation for subsidy application, about half of the product originally meant for domestic consumption would then be diverted to other neighbouring West African states”. In the case of private depot owners, “some of them doctor the figures they submit with a view to making undeserving claims. The quantity of products discharged some times does not tally with the inflated figures that are recorded. It is one big, very big conspiracy. The importers are involved; the depot owners are involved; the people who are supposed to verify the claims are also involved. People collect subsidy for what they did not import. That is why the figures and claims keep going up. Those involved know themselves; and those to whom they make re-

turns also know themselves. It is for government to dig deep and find these people out”, the source concluded. Had it been limited to these categories of people alone, the corruption associated with the subsidy funds may not have assumed the humongous nature it assumed. But there were all manner of petty crooks in the toga of government officials and importers as well as depot owners who doctored records. For instance, those with “valid throughout agreement that have completed the necessary due diligence processes to import the products” also connive with depot owners to make illegitimate claims. CAUSE OF PANIC BY FG ack to the FG’s memo of

2008! Before the memo, there was beginning to appear at gas stations across the country long vehicular queues. The PPPRA, Sunday Vanguard has been made to understand, designed a seemingly “more flexible import plan” which accommodated a few more companies. There was need for the federal government to approve the arrangement made by PPPRA. That was the message conveyed by the letter from the Office of the SGF. But it was not a magna charta for PPPRA to enthrone a regime of recklessness. However, what was to follow was to create its own muddle. On January 21, 2009, the fed

or many Nigerians as well as the global in vestment community, this is a welcome development – although nobody accustomed to the way this particular government works will heave a sigh of relief yet. The reasons are not hard to discover and the Minister provided some reasons for skepticism. According to her, “The new bill looks at new areas that are quite critical and first of all they are the inspectorate, the regulatory agencies for the oil and gas sector to ensure that they are independent and that they can actually do the regulation”. That is only one of several objections that Nigerian stakeholders had to the original bill which Mrs. Alison-Madueke and the President were trying to push through the National Assembly, NASS, last year – with very heavy financial assistance from the International Oil Companies, IOCs. President Jonathan, during his state visit to Turkey last year, had promised to have the PIB passed and signed by May 29, last year. The Minister had repeated the announcement – to which some of us strongly objected on many grounds. First, by the time Jonathan was promising his Turkish counterpart a signed bill by May 2011, there were at least three versions of the bill in the National Assembly. The first was the Executive Bill, which was drafted mainly by the International Oil Companies to serve their own interests – understandably. That Executive Bill, if signed into law, without major amendments, would have amounted to selling our country down the river. It is of great importance that the Minister now admits that the government has taken a look “at new areas” which, in its haste or complicity with the IOCs, were inadvertently or deliberately overlooked in the first bill. In addition to the Executive Bill, there was an amended version of the bill in the House of Representatives. Some of us have drawn the attention of our representatives to the lapses in the Executive Bill which would work against the interest of Nigerians. The patriotic members of the House had dutifully ensured that most of the concerns, including regulatory matters, were included in the House version of the bill.

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Is government doing enough to resolve the fuel subsidy crisis? BY ALAINE ELIZABETH, UDEH SANDRA, MAMILOR ANN AND SAYO HAMZAT LAMIDE LANIPEKUN: In a way, yes. This is evident in the panels set up to probe the activities of fuel marketers and also the Presidency’s vow to deal with the culprits. But government can do a lot more to instil transparency in the system. We must stop the barefaced stealing that is going on in the oil sector. OLABISI BELLO: No, government seems to lack the courage to deal with the subsidy problem.because those involved in that scandal are still walking around freely. Any offense that does not attract punishment is no offense. They should be brought to books. Promoters of those oil companies are still walking the streets like the crime has been legislated. Mr Samuel: The issue of fuel subsidy is a growing issue as we hear

new stories about it everyday. The removal of fuel subsidy is right as it will enable government to raise enough funds to focus on the improvement of basic infrastructure needed for the development of the economy but this should be based on accountability by government. Fuel subsidy removal practically means that fuel will be sold by individual marketers at their own price thereby making government to save money for roads, creation of job opportunities,standardizing power generation and more, but the problem now is that government is not trustworthy. Government must create amenities for the people to be able to endure the hardships. But I won’t say government is doing it right as the people are still struggling to face the hardships of bad economy especially with the increase in the price of fuel and

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012 , PAGE 11

The new PIB goes to the National Assembly Continued from page 10

Mrs. Alison-Madueke

Lamorde

Committee’s activities hinder EFCC’s role Continued from page 10 eral government decided to reduce the pump head price of petrol. The consequence of that was the creation of even longer queues. Importers and marketers began to complain and there was need for the federal government to address their concerns. Therefore, through the PPPRA, the FG summoned a ‘Technical Committee’ meeting of stakeholders. The meeting was held on Thursday, January 29, 2009. A source in the Office of the SGF made Sunday Vanguard understand that the meeting needed to be called because “the government of the day was beginning to feel that there might be sabotage because of the growing shortage of petroleum products”. At the meeting that day, there were representatives of NUPENG, PPMC, MOMAN, DPR, PENGASSAN, Ministry of Petroleum, IPMAN, TUC, CBN, DAPPMA, and a host of other stakeholders. It was at that meeting that marketers complained of the removal of standard deviation from the PPPRA Template. After the meeting which lasted hours, resolutions were reached. A copy of the resolution ob-

tained by Sunday Vanguard reads: “On the issue of exchange rate, it was agreed that the CBN Marginal Rate plus 1% CBN commission and 1% bank charges should be added in the Template. “Members agreed that the Freight Rate based on the 2009 World Scale will be considered “For the financing cost element, it was agreed that the PPPRA should confirm bank interest rates and other charges that make up the cost and come up with a submission. “Members agreed that the PPPRA should adopt the weighted average of Port Charges (NPA), on the Pricing template. “Members agreed that the PPPRA should update the Pricing template with the reviewed parameters, and present same to the next meeting for consideration. “The meeting advised that recommendation should be made on the need to dialogue with the NPA with a view to reducing their charges. “In addition, the PPPRA may also seek intervention in the FOREX by exploring the possibility of a special window for an exchange rate for the wet products that capture a reasonable rate that guarantees predictable products importation”. The resolutions of this meet-

ing were conveyed to the federal government in a letter with reference number A3/9/118/C.7/ T/84, on February 5, 2009. However, typical of government activities in Nigeria, there was no immediate response. This was at a time when the federal government brought down the price of petrol from N70 to N65. This led to serious shortages and queues were once again back at the filling stations. Sunday Vanguard was informed by an industry source that the PPPRA “ was instructed by the Office of the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources to immediately address the Marketers complaints with a view to eliminating long queues at the filling stations”. It was in addressing that chal-

lenge that some smart Nigerians, made up of bankers and government officials, along with importers began to make the kill, as disclosed above.

COMMITTEES APLENTY AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST

he probe into the shady deals was first instituted by the Senate under the chairmanship of Senator Magnus Abe. Then

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Continued from page 10 unstable power supply. Evangelist Darlington: We understand that government has been spending billions of naira to subsidize fuel so that it can be affordable for the poor masses but part of the money can be used for other important things. Fuel subsidy removal implies that there will be competition in the market among individual marketers and there will be accessibility but fuel subsidy has led to the monopolizing of fuel by a particular group of people which is why we sometimes experience scarcity of fuel. Now, the question is, can government be trusted with the funds accruable from the fuel subsidy removal?. Well, I won’t say government is trying or not but I am still believing that they are still on the drawing board, visioning and making solid foundation concerning this issue. Government should also endeavor to fish out those in the oil sector who are stealing the subsidy funds. Mr. Tunde Akinsanya: No, the government is not doing anything. In fact, our government encourages corruption especially in the oil sector. Concerning this subsidy scandal, how do the oil marketers

Finally, there was a Senate version of the bill; which also included some amendments to the original bill. Here, again, individuals and civil society groups had pointed to lapses in the original Executive Bill which needed to be corrected before the bill could be regarded as fair to all stakeholders. As anyone can imagine, the Executive, the Senate and House versions were different in some respects and would have needed to be harmonized. Unfortunately, the Executive branch was not prepared for amendments last year. More unfortunate still, the President and the Minister became totally engaged in the campaign for the presidency while time was running out on the out-going National Assembly. In an article published early last year in SUNDAY VANGUARD, titled “PIB LETTER TO JONATHAN, MARK AND BANKOLE”, a request was made to the three leaders to step down the bill last year and have it re-presented this year. Reproduced below is a part of that column; which is designed to serve as a reminder to our leaders once again that this bill is perhaps the most important bill for consideration by any NASS since 1960 and the consequences for us, if not carefully handled, will be grave. “RE: PIB Forgive me for this joint address to the top three officials of our Federal Republic of Nigeria in the year 2011. Only God knows which, if any of you, will remain in those positions after May 29, 2011. But, one thing is certain; you will all remain Nigerians. So will I. Therefore, irrespective of our positions, political affiliations, ethnicity and religion, even now, we are at least united in one respect – we are all Nigerians and as such owe our first allegiance to our fatherland. There is no other motive for this letter, which will be made public, than to ensure that the vital interests of our nation are protected – now and forever whenever this bill is eventually passed. Let me also state very clearly that the nation needs a bill to restructure the petroleum sector and to make it more attractive to private investors. But, not the bill; which is now about to be rushed through the National Assembly; as will be demonstrated presently. This bill gives too much to others and too little to Nigeria.

or a start, two weeks ago, I had written an ap peal to the NASS urging them to step down this bill until a new NASS which will have four years is elected because it is a complex bill. The original ran into over 800 pages and it is doubtful if up to ten of our lawmakers read the entire document. But, I not only obtained a copy of the bill, at great expense to myself, I read it; condensed it and even wrote an Executive Summary not more than 12 pages out of it. Since war is too important to be left only to Generals, I had assumed that a bill which will affect the welfare of Nigerians so profoundly will also be considered too important to be left only to members of the NASS. I was waiting for the NASS to call for a na-

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have access to the subsidy funds without documentation? The committee they set up is just to hoodwink the people that they are working. What they were supposed to do was to monitor the subsidy payment, and back it up with full documentation. What do you expect from a situation where the wrong people are in government, people who do not have governance experience? Bidemi M. Akinsanya: Government is supposed to seize the passports of those involved, their property, lock them up before anything. The government is not doing anything. How can they wait since January before doing anything? They are using the alleged bribery to cover up a grave anomaly. We are not deceived. Mr Christian: Yes, government has listed some plans/benefits from the removal of the fuel subsidy as construction of roads, rehabilitation of railway, building of refineries, the hydro stations, information technology and water projects. The Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment program, under which the projects would be executed, also provides for the im-

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PAGE 12—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012

The new PIB goes to the National Assembly Continued from page 11

Pump of scandal

How FG can track culprits Continued from page 11 came the drama of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Subsidy Management, with Hon. Lawan Farouk as chairman. The Senate Committee is yet to conclude its work. But the Farouk Committee which concluded its work has been entrapped by s bribery scandal involving a member of President Jonathan’s Economic Management Team, EMT, Femi Otedola of Zenon Oil and Gas, Sunday Vanguard was informed last week in Abuja that the banks were also part of the problem, including the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. Of particular interest is one of the banks whose Chief Executive is involved in some form of remedial activities being engaged by the FG. Pouring through tones of documentary evidence, Sunday Vanguard was exposed to a verity of LETTERS OF CREDIT ostensibly opened for the transaction of fuel importation. And whereas it could not be established during this investigation that the banks were directly involved in any form of “sharp practices”, according to a source, “the status of the committees chaired by Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede of Access Bank can not escape the tar of conflict of interest”. Whereas there was documentary evidence to prove that, like most other banks, Access Bank was involved in the financing of businesses conducted pursuant to importing petrol, the choice of Aig- Imoukhuede as the chairman of two committees involved in the verification of claims regarding subsidy does not in any way present the FG as conducting its investigations in an unbiased manner.

irstly, some marketers and industry sources dis

closed to Sunday Vanguard that “conducting a verification exercise the way the first committee set up by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Finance Minister and co-ordinating minister for the administration’s EMT did, revealing that over N400billion should be refunded to the government, a sum which the committee said constituted wrongful payments, how would anyone explain the fact that the chairman of the committee also runs a bank that was involved in the business of financing importation of petrol? “It was because some importers raised an alarm about the unfairness of the first committee by not allowing them to come forward and defend themselves that made Mr. President to set up another committee but again with the same individual as its chairman. This is not about the person of Aig- Imoukhuede but, in coming to equity, there is need to come with clean hands. It does more harm than good to the FG to appoint the chief executive of a participating bank to verify subsidy claims. Some of us know what Aig-Imoukhuede represents but it is not even in his interest to chair such a committee. Nigerians are watching and the insinuation is already there that all these is about man-know-man”, the source said. Reminded that some of those who benefited from the subsidy wrongly are being prepared for prosecution, the source, who

is one of the major importers, maintained, “Who does not know what will happen at the end of the day? Some of those that would be arraigned would be the ones who are not connected. Yes, some people would be prosecuted but the real issue here is the role of conflict of interest.” When you add up the Senator Abe Committee, the Farouk Committee, the Ribadu Committee, the first Imoukhuede Committee and the second Imoukhuede Committee, the question to ask is, where would all these lead? In addition, the role of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is gradually coming to light as inside sources say the commission is about to break loose.

HOW NOT TO TRACK SUBSIDY ROUGUES

et, investigations have revealed that there is a very simple (even simplistic) approach to tracking the subsidy thieves. A very dependable source inside Aso Rock Presidential Villa disclosed to Sunday Vanguard that on December 24, 2010, a near scandal almost broke out when the PPPRA issued a “Request for a notarized Letter of undertaking on accuracy of petroleum products supply and evacuation records”. The Presidency source disclosed that the move to ensure that all petroleum products importers and depot owners sign an undertaking of performance was first rebuffed. “It was an attempt at ensuring that depot owners and importers do not engage in what has now become the sharing of the subsidy loot. When we got hint of the move, it was seen as a welcome development by some but again, there was need to ensure that a dislocation is not created in the supply chain for the availability of products as this was coming close to an election period”, the source said. Even at that, Sunday Vanguard was able to discover that all the importers and depot owners were made to sign the undertaking that they would be straightforward in their dealings. In fact, the undertaking that was signed by the importers and marketers also had penalties which, apart from leading to prosecution, also has the stringency of forfeiture of depots in the event that records are not accurate. Now, the PPPRA introduced a checklist. NEXT WEEK *PPPRA’S CHECKLIST (CONDITIONS TO BE MET BEFORE SUBSIDY FUNDS CAN BE ACCESSED) *A THOROUGH ANALYSIS OF THE LATEST VERSION OF THE PIB *THE NOTARIZED LETTER OF UNDERTAKING SIGNED BY THE IMPORTERS AND DEPOT OWNERS *ROLE OF BANKS AND THE CBN *STEP BY STEP APPROACH TO IMPORTATION

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plementation of short term social welfare programmes to alleviate the impact of subsidy removal on Nigerians. These programs will comprise mass transit, public works, including training in artisanship for unskilled youth and social services to reduce high maternal and infant mortality rates. These projects will be funded from the Federal Government share of the savings derived from the removal of the fuel subsidies. The government is doing its best to resolve the bribery scandal between Femi Otedola and Farouk Lawan. Mr Francis: Government is playing hide and seek on the matter of subsidy money. Femi Otedola and Farouk Lawan are in the comfort of their respective houses. Government has not done enough, this is demonstrated by their inability to initiate legal proceedings against the two actors in the scandal and others alleged to be involved in the mismanagement of the subsidy funds. A couple of committees have been set up by government to look into the subsidy thing. This is a sign of unseriousness from government in prosecuting those alleged to be involved in the scam. Farouk and Femi Otedola ought to be with the EFCC now telling investigatyors what they know. The way the situation is going, this matter may end up the way most other cases have been treated in Nigeria before.

tional input into the bill; perhaps to conduct zonal hearings and give the people whose parsimony they will auction off a chance to have a say in their own future. Nothing like that happened. Instead, the passage of the bill had been treated as a conspiracy between the NASS, the International Oil Companies, IOCs, and, now, the Presidency. The House of Representatives passed its own version of the bill with slight amendments to the original document prepared by patriotic Nigerians. The Senate is getting set to pass its own version with several amendments which favour IOCs more than the Nigerian people. To demonstrate that this is not an alarm by an “uninformed” person, enclosed are photocopies of the front and 7th pages of the version now under consideration in the Senate. I have spent nothing less than N300,000 of my own money to obtain these documents. The Senate version is so riddled with unpatriotic amendments suggesting that elements in government labouring under conflict of interest and the IOCs have collaborated in the attempt to foist a bill on Nigerians which is not in our interest.

he President’s promise, when on state visit to Turkey, that the PIB will be passed before May 2011 was alarming because it means that Jonathan might have been persuaded to support a bill which is not in the national interest. Unfortunately, the President is handicapped by his quest for re-election. He probably has not had the time to read what he is being asked to support by his advisers in the Executive branch. The leading advisers to the President are the Minister for Petroleum Resources, the Senior Special Adviser to the President and the Group Managing Director of NNPC. The Minister, a former Executive Director of an OIC, also has a Special Assistant who is also a former employee of the same IOC. The GMD-NNPC similarly has at least one assistant recruited from an IOC; and the Senior Special Adviser to Jonathan is also a former senior staff of an IOC but also surrounded by “escapees” from various IOCs. On account of conflict of interest, they not only, deliberately or inadvertently, serve the interest of the IOCs; they also constitute the spy ring which WikiLeaks has exposed. One thing is certain. Whereas the IOCs pursue their own self-interest 100%, top officials of the Executive branch of government are, at best, lukewarm, and, at worst, subversive of the national interest”. We don’t know how long the new bill is. A long bill is guaranteed not to be read. But, the IOCs remain organized and they probably have a copy before Nigerians get a chance to read it. We are also disorganized. So we are at a disadvantage and we cannot rely on government to protect our interests. But our readers can rest assured that we will follow through to the end on PIB.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 13

2012 ANNUAL IJU PUBLIC AFFAIRS FORUM The 2012 Iju Public Affairs Forum to commemorate the 70th birthday of Professor Oladipupo Adamolekun was delivered by Ms Amal Pepple, Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), yesterday. Photos by Dare Fasube.

From left: Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State,his wife, Bisi ; Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and Mrs Jumoke Adamolekun, wife of the celebrant, at the event.

From left: Professor Akin Mabogunje, his wife , Ttilola and Professor Joop Berckout, at the event.

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From left: Professor Biyi Adaramola, Vice Chancellor, FUTA; Ms Amal Pepple, Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development; Mr Sam Amuka, Publisher, Vanguard Newspapers and Chairman of the forum; Professor Ladipo Adamolekun; celebrant and Professor Dele Olowu at the ceremony.

The Adamolekuns,children of the celebrant at the event.

From left : Mrs Jumoke Adamolekun, wife of the celebrant; Professor Femi Odesanmi and Mr Kole Omotosho at the event.

PAGE 14—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012

Before I made it … I failed twice as garment, shoe producer —Ritalori-Ogbebor

Life Is A Tragedy For Those Who Feel, And A Comedy For Those Who Think —JEAN DE LA

*‘My food-for-all plan’ By Charles Kumolu

HE comes across as a fearless and courageous person. And indeed she is. Whoever encounters her must definitely be amazed by the manner she conducts her daily affairs with the dexterity of someone in his 30s or 40s. But that is Chief RitaloriOgbebor, the Igba of Warri Kingdom and a woman who got the Ritalori story started. While this revealing chat with Sunday Vanguard lasted, her intelligence radiated from the way she responded to questions. Though Ritalori-Ogbebor is a household name in Nigeria, following her various philanthropic activities, business tentacles and particularly her persistent calls for a better life for the citizenry, this piece presents Ritalori the journalist, hotelier and activist in a manner that has never been seen. From your background, we discovered that you were trained as a journalist in England and rose to become the first Di-

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zRitalori...I left journalism in 1966. I did not leave with money.

rector of Programmes at the then Nigerian Television Service ,NTS. Today you have built the Ritalori brand which includes world class hotels, shipping companies, oil companies, commercial farming, among others. How did you get the Ritalori story started? To talk about my present, you must go back to my past because where I am coming from is very essential. What pleased me when I was growing up was that I had disciplined parents, who were so concerned about integrity. I was born with integrity. And the tribe from which I come from also has integrity. My great grand mother was a princess. So that tells you that I have a royal background. But the first thing that makes me proud is that I am an Itsekiri woman. And when you come from a tribe that people respect for integrity, then you are expected to be a disciplined person. When you also have parents with integrity, you will have no choice than to live an exemplary life. So, this is my beginning. My immediate father and mother were instrumental to who I am and what I am today. I am very proud of them. That is why in everything I do, I pray hard I do it diligently like them. I do so to ensure that I preserve their good names. And if I can not preserve their legacy, then I step aside. It is for that reason that I have been working

I went to England on scholarship. And getting there I saw many avenues, which I utilised to prepare myself for the task ahead.

hard all my life to keep that priceless name going for generations yet unborn, so that they can have a role model and carry on with their lives. So, this is where I am coming from and this is what motivates me everyday especially when I am down. For example, I learnt something from my grand mother. She was a composer and composed all her life experiences into songs. She had catalogue of songs, which she sang whenever she was happy and when she was down. This is what has been guarding me.

ou schooled in England at a time schooling abroad was a rare privilege. Did you school in the UK because you had a rich background and what were your memorable experiences while there? No.There was no money, because I was not left with wealth that made me school abroad. But I met the palace

of my great grand mother, who lived over two hundred and fifty years ago. My grand father also lived two hundred years ago. But these people left behind integrity that opened doors for me. If you go to Warri today and ask of Ritalori, immediately people will remember that I am the daughter of Princess Igba because she founded a town. And that town is still existing, because my grand father lived to look after the town. And today, we are still looking after the town. We are proud that my great grand mother protected foreigners, indigenes and slaves in that town.(I am sorry to talk about slave). Now that I am what I am, I am following her footsteps. So, it is not the money, but integrity and I inherited that. A man must live with integrity, your yes must be yes and your no must be no. And you should always pray to God that under no circumstances,

should you drop your integrity and honour. I want to dispel that idea that my parents had money, hence I was sent to school in England. In those days before and after independence, young girls were going to study Secretarial courses and I happened to be lucky to have a scholarship. So, I went to England on scholarship. And getting there I saw many avenues, which I utilised to prepare myself for the task ahead. I was just studying from one school to the other. I did journalism and script writing. After my secretarial course, I got a job with the Nigerian Television Service in England. I did not stop there, I kept doing everything that was interesting. I was not born a poor person, I was born with a rich soul. While in England, I got a job with ATV, which is Associated Television. Nigeria Television Service, NTS, was already established in Lagos here, it was from there that I got the job with NTS as a Programme Director. Ever since, I have been on the move. Like I said, one of my greatest influence in life was my father, he was a perfectionist. Anytime we thought our father had achieved something, he would carry a straight face.

You don’t see him jubilating. And when he smiles, it would be like a million dollar smile. My father smiled only rarely. When were those times? He hardly tells you his mood. For instance, I have always done well during my school days, but my father has never said I was brilliant. Also, when I was building the hotel, I did not tell him. I was already at the third or second floor when he knew about it. So, when he came, to Lagos, he did not show excitement, he took one good look at it with a straight face and asked me if my mother was aware that I was building the hotel. He never said anything. He gives you a feeling you can do more. I have never seen my father drink or smoke. He was soft spoken. But his yes was yes and his no was his no. And whenever I was angry over anything, he would ask why I was being worried having said no. I love him more today, he taught me integrity and how to live by my words. He taught me all that I know today.

t what point did you leave journalism, because the Ritalori brand today, makes it appear as if you left journalism with bag loads of money and why did you take that decision to quit the job at that time? I left journalism in 1966. I did not leave with money. I left with my integrity. I started a magazine called The Teenager. I was the editor, I was the reporter and the marketer. I had to quit publishing. Are you saying that you failed as a publisher? Yes, I failed in publishing because there was no money in it. I did not relent, I went back to the UK and started working, with a family that was into shoe making. Before I came back to Nigeria, worked with them. Don’t foget that, at that time, I was no longer a student. When I came back, Awolowo was the Minister of Finance. Then there was a ban on importation of bags and shoes. I had to put together a factory, which was producing shoes and bags. The company existed until after the civil war. Unfortunately, the ban was lifted and importers came into the business. And it eventually displaced we the local

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 15

, Life Is A Tragedy For Those Who Feel, And A Comedy For Those Who Think —JEAN DE LA BRUYERE

manufacturers. A lot of shoe factories like Bata, Lennards and Ritalori stated dying. I was into garments production also. I had seven shops across the country. You can see why I loved my great grandmother, because one difficulty opened new challenges. The same applies to my father, who never talked much, but his body language gave me the belief that I don’t have any reason to buckle under any situation. There must always be challenges in life. The UAC, Esquire had monopoly of importation of goods from their country, I was glad I challenged their monopoly. I started in my living room here, but, within little time, I had opened up places like Ajegunle, which was a place people feared to go. When I started production, I went to Esquire and asked them to give me contract to manufacture for them. Within a little time, I had opened stores at Ajegunle, Idumota, Surulere and other places. But the ban that was lifted affected the business seriously, I had to quit the business. Again, I failed as a garment and shoe producer. This time, it was a matter of survival, I now asked myself, what next. After that I went into hotel and hospitality business.

hat motivates you in life? My soul has always been searching for good things, it is the good things that my soul is searching for that is my driving force. I hate poverty and it is the fear of poverty that is driving me to work hard, because I have never experienced poverty. And I can’t imagine myself being poor. I hate to see people who are cheated, who can not feed and have to go about begging for food. This is why I have created farms for the then jobless youths of Warri and its environs. Today, they are gainfully employed in the farms. Today, I have brought those boys out from Warri. We are aiming to transplant on 50 acres and, very soon, we’ll start crushing for sugar. About 3,500 suckers were planted and each sucker has brought forth additional four. Now, the farm boasts of more than 14, 500 suckers to plant. The aim is to provide food sufficiency in Delta and beyond. The C M Y K

‘My food-for-all plan’

Ritalori...There must always be challenges in life

My soul has always been searching for good things, it is the good things that my soul is searching for that represent my driving force. I hate poverty and it is the fear of poverty that is driving me to work hard, because I have never experienced poverty

youths welfare is very important to the expansion of these farms. This is why I leave the comfort of my homes in Lagos and Abuja to spend time with them. Are you saying that you abandoned the comfort of the city, purposely for farming in your rural community for the benefit of youths? Can we know what prompted you into commercial farming at this stage? People see me as a role model and I have strived to remain so. At the moment, I am more

concerned with the socio-economic development of my people. So, I have taken the development of my people as a project in totality. At a point in my life, I discovered that after all my achievements, there was still something missing. I felt there was something I had not done. It is for this reason that I found myself going back to Warri.

his decision to go back to my root, Ajigba, was informed by the urge to bequeath a lasting legacy to my

people. Ajigba is a village in Warri South local Government Area. Having made up my mind to recreate the place, I decided that it would be a good community that would once more create wealth for people, especially Warri youths, who were jobless. I was not happy seeing Warri youths wallowing in poverty. This is why I decided to create a farming village in Ajigba. It is not an ordinary farm, it is mechanised farm covering a huge expanse of land. The idea is not just to produce for subsistence need, it is mainly to create wealth for the youths. We produce and process raw materials. Already the National Sugar Council has commended our sugar cane plantation. We are into piggery, all forms of mechanised farming. All that I am now hoping for in life is the best, because this project that I have undertaken is a product of vision. And this vision has transformed to good value to Warri people and humanity. The next five years

In the next five years, Delta State would be one of the major suppliers of rice in this country, courtesy of Ajigba farms. Nigeria would depend on Odogene farms for its wealth. The swamps of that locality would also be transformed to a fully functional town. I have always been a wealth creator. I have been creating jobs. I conceived and built my hotels without anybody helping me. And you should know that building hotels of that magnitude is no joke. And I have been sustaining them.

Continued from page 14

I have never accepted political appointments in my life, because I am constantly creating new things which require time and honour to become realistic

hen your name is men tioned many people describe you as a politician, yet you always maintain you are not one. Why always refusing this toga of politician? Have you at any point in your life had an ugly experience that informed your decision of not wanting to be identified as one? I am still saying it that I am not a politician and have never been. What I do is to speak and act to contribute my quota to the socio-economic upliftment of this nation, because that is the only country we have. With my position, I am directly responsible for the daily lives of a lot of people, so it would not be out of context if I always talk for there to be better life for Nigerians. Perhaps that is why people think I am a politician. I have never accepted political appointments in my life, because I am constantly creating new things which require time and honour to become realistic. Looking at this your journey through life, can we know, if there was anything, event or people, that left an indelible mark on you. It could be positive or negative, can you share such experience with us? (Long pause) What I don’t like is injustice, because it makes me angry. So instead of being excited, I get angry when things are not done well. I feel pains when I see people who oppress other people being celebrated. And it is evident in today’s Nigeria. Each time I see what is going on in Nigeria today, I get sad. Today, I have gone back home to Ajigba, which is the cradle of my life. I have gone back to put up a community, which would be taken care of the way I want this country to be governed. Today, I am the Igba of Warri, which no one had been honoured with since my great grand mother and I am proud of that.

debbiemoments@gmail.com

The existential fallacies of Femi Aribisala

VER two months ago when a col league of mine, through a mobile phone text message, drew my attention to Femi Aribisala’srejoinder to my two-part essay in Sunday Vanguard entitled “The Significance of Easter,” I wanted to reply the following week. But at the last minute I changed my mind because I am usually unenthusiastic to defend myself against criticism, especially from religionists who dogmatically believe that a single“holy”book contains all the important spiritual and moral truths in the world. In any case, since Aribisala’s riposte, “Barrack Obama Does Not Exist,” contains existential fallacies which are the stock-intrade of Christians that a 100-level undergraduate logic student can easily identify and debunk, and since Aribisala himself and likeminded Christian apologists might believe, falsely, that his rejoinder is a definitive refutation of my sceptical stance on the historicity of the biblical Jesus, it is necessary to point out gaping errors in Aribisala’s reasoning.

To begin with, Aribisala was so eager to parade his “burning bush experience” that he forgot the main thrust of my argument. I did not say that Jesus of Nazareth did not exist, simpliciter. Instead, I argued that,giventhe irreconcilable contradictions in the Gospels’ narratives about a character named Jesus and the resounding silence

suming that there was a religious teacher named Jesus…whose activities were mythologised to create the fictional character in the gospels and who, as some investigators have suggested, did not die on the cross… .” ThereforeI did not rule out the possibility that the Gospels’ accounts are fabricated narratives woven around an actual person. What my essay

Christian apologists would continue to defend acrobatically the mythologies in the New Testament precisely because without myths Christianity would lose its psychological appeal

about him by notable historians of the period, which strongly suggests that the biblical figure is probably a mythologised version of an obscure insignificant Jewish rabbi who preached unorthodox version of Judaism in the twilight years of the ancient Roman Empire,the foundation of Easter celebrationsis mythological as well. I even stated in my article that “as-

ruled out is complete veracity of what was written about a certain Jesus in the New Testament. That said, Aribisala’s parody of Obama being a myth, and his tongue-incheek reference to the existence of his wife, are pointless and totally misplaced. Indeed, those areinappropriateexamples, because despite the shenanigans of Donald Trump and others

Ever changing times (2)

IME seems to have an agenda and we zip through the decades, all the while changing and evolving. I was never attracted to the fifties but my fondness for the sixties remains. The world morphed from decade to decade, some faster than the others; changing in form and way of life. I would dare to say the sixties and part of the seventies were the glory days but fast forward to the nineties and the middle class is now extinct and a new breed of the super rich emerges trailed by the very angry and the very poor. By this time, mankind bears no resemblance to the golden child of the sixties, the revolution is now well and truly over, the slogan is no longer love and peace but Aluta-continua ( the struggle

continues). The balance of power has truly changed and there are no more super powers; money is the new leveller and there is plenty of it in China. The old super powers may still have military might but they all go cap in hand to those they formerly despised. The age of awareness has begun, the first decade is payback time and it seems we all have to pay for the sins of mankind, dead and living. This is the time when there are no guarantees, good no longer begets good and evil is knocking on everyone’s door; bloodshed and gore is the poster of the new millennium. We all seem to be in a hurry to do things as if we have a premonition that time, our time is running out. Every single advancement in technology is geared towards

making things faster and it seems even science knows we are in a race against time. A curious thing happened sometime ago in London. My sister and I had been walking past a church and we observed a memorial service was

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PAGE 16—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012 who challenged the American citizenship of Obama, there are authentic verifiable documents that establish the particulars of his birth beyond reasonable doubt, and no one has ever claimed that he performed the kind of incredible superhuman feats credited to Jesus in The Holy Bible. Moreover, there is no record of Obama resurrecting after death and ascending into heaven to sit at the right hand of a god. Mutatis mutandis, the same arguments apply to Karen, Aribisala’s wife, who I am certain exists because she was my teacher and I see her regularly at the Faculty of Arts building, University of Lagos. It is trivially correct, as Aribisalaasserts, that there are conflicting reports about all historical figures. ut the issue is that, B even in the case of founders of influential phil-

osophical-spiritual and religious systems in antiquity, such as Socrates, Plato, Buddha, Confucius etc., authoritative historians of the period they lived documented some of their activities. Again, the actual writings of these personages, or verifiable accounts of their teachings and activities written by disciples, have come down to us. Concerning Buddha, Zoroaster,Mohammed, and other paradigmatic figures around whom legendshave accreted over millennia, there are extant trustworthy records testifying to theiractual existence, and historians generally reacha consensusabout what is fact and what is fiction in available documents about them.But the case of

who had touched all these lives, my sister passed me the pamphlet and to my utter horror; the smiling face of a 15 year old stares back at me. This young man and been a sterling student, a wonderful son to his mother, and a very strong youth leader in his community. On the day he died, he had been particularly sweet to his mother, even coming back for an extra hug before going to school. During his lunch break, he left the school cafeteria and with a book in hand, sat under a tree to read; he fell off the bench and before anything could be done for him; he had died.

The balance of power has truly changed and there are no more super powers; money is the new leveller and there is plenty of it in China

being held, we stood to watch and see who was being given such a grand farewell. There were beautiful testimonials from friends and families for a wonderful person;

An autopsy revealed that his death was from natural courses; every organ was in perfect order and in my mind no reasonable explanation could excuse a death that was

Jesus is on another level altogether. Even if we ignore contradictions in the Gospels’ account and the incontrovertible fact that the New Testament is definitely not a historical record since the extant copies were written in Greek not earlier than seventy years after the events they purportedly describe by believers who lived in foreign countries, it is very odd that historians of the period did not write about a so-called messiah who performed momentous miracles. eanwhile, there is M strong agreement among scholars that a

small passage in the massive, thirty-two volume historicalwork of the first-century Jewish priest and historian, Josephus, which mentioned the name ‘Jesus,’is a Christian fabrication. Of course, Femi Aribisala is neither interested in the question of the veridicality of the Gospels’ narratives nor in the findings of eminent scholars that have painstakingly investigated the historicity of Jesus: like most Christian apologists he is much more preoccupied with maintaining a dogma at all cost. Anyway, his conflation of objective reality with his own hallucinatory experiences and those of Saul is a typical instantiation of slipshod reasoning characteristic of religious apologists. Philosophers such as Gaunilo, David Hume, Immanuel Kant and Bertrand Russell have definitively demonstrated the error of extrapolating from subjective experiences to objective existence. The key point here is that, no matter what Aribisala claims to have

most unreasonable! I took exception to people saying he lived a good life. Where I come from that is a tragedy!!! How on earth can you say a 15 year old lived a good life? He had barely lived!!! His death for me is a tragedy and goes against every belief I hold!! It took me back to all such tragic events that occur to shatter the peace of life as I know it but has anybody noticed that it is becoming common place? Imagine the case of entire families wiped out in the recent June 3rd plane crash. I didn’t know the Anyene family but I know most of us shed tears for a family that lost husband, wife, four children, grand mother, sister and cousin. That particular incident was in my view an abomination!!!Bad things are becoming the lot of good people and the old have started burying their young. I was brought up to believe that if you lived a good life, good things were your reward; it seems to me that a long life would be one of such good things!!! What words can possibly explain this contradiction in the belief system of basic right and wrong? So here I am in what I call desperate times and

done with his “living Jesus”and irrespective of the number of “burning bush experiences” he had had in the past or will have in the future, all these are totally irrelevant to the question of establishing the objective reality of the contents of those encounters. Aribisala’s illogical leap from phantasmagoria to actuality is symptomatic of a mind suffused with illusory consolations of religious dogma and unwilling to entertain the possibility that Christianity is fundamentally mythological.If a well-educated man like Femi Aribisala is unwilling to differentiate between mythology and reality just to defend a dogma, you can imagine the mindset of millions of illiterate and undereducated Nigerians. Christian apologists would continue to defend acrobatically the mythologies in the New Testament precisely because without myths Christianity would lose its psychological appeal and eventually wither away, thereby jeopardising the easy privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the entire Christian establishment. That is why the demythologising programmeof Rudolf Bultmannwill never be widely accepted by theologians. f indeed it is true, as I Femi Aribisala claimed, that Jesus showed

up to him “in person,” I can only remind him that, for most young children during Yuletide Father Christmas or Santa Claus shows up “in person.”Does it then follow that there is an actual Santa Claus?

I wish to God I could escape back to a time when life had possibilities instead of impending doom. At times self pity sets in and I ask how come my generation is the one that looks likely to see Armageddon? At times like these I question whether this generation will ever produce the same number of grandparents the previous ones gave us? How come life expectancy especially in this part of the world is getting shorter by the day? This last week alone 140 people have lost their lives to religious terrorism in Plateau state. Bombs go off intermittently, crime, especially kidnappings is on the rise. The times are so desperate that even in the western world one is more likely to die of terrorist activity or something just as vile!! If this is the payback decade I certainly wish the next one will be the give back decade. The new atmosphere in the world is tension; the air is thick with hate and hostility and I am sure I am not the only one dreaming of easier times. I know time will change again; it always does; my prayer is that it changes for the better.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 17

“If you are looking for trouble, you’ve come to the right place”. Notice in front of bar in Kansas City, in the days of the American Wild West.

NY public official wanting to have trouble with me should make a care less statement about job creation; be it the President, a Governor, Minster or whatever. Unemployment, affecting over 40% of our people; and involving every home in Nigeria, is such a personal and social tragedy that it should be completely taken out of the salad bowl of lies which public officials peddle all over Nigeria. Henceforth, every announcement which comes to my notice will be challenged and if found to be untrue will be condemned in the strongest language permissible - short of libel - on this page. There will be no compromise on that. Ministers can tell the President all the nonsense they want at the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting all they want. Jonathan wouldn’t

Perhaps it is a coincidence that the same number - 1.3 million fictitious jobs - was announced to have been created by the Bank of Industry, BOI, in one year. But, GEJ’s government officials must be in love with 1.3 million as a figure to peddle around for job creation – whether true or not

know the difference anyway or ask the right questions. That was why he got all of us into trouble about fuel subsidy. He failed to ask the right questions. The Wednesday meeting is almost always a case of the bland leading the bland. But, the minute they take the malarkey to the public domain, Unijankara people are waiting for them. We will ambush them and deal with them. And, we don’t need the Freedom of information Act to do that. The three articles that got me into detention during Babangida’s regime and the four that resulted in the same treatment under Abacha were written without the protection of the FoI bill. Only lazy media people ask for FoI. The determined search for truth and the will to publish what we know is all we need; at least that is all I need; to deal with the liars and jesters in public office. The latest among public office holders to promise jobs is the Federal Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson. In a feature article published in the PUNCH on July 3, 2012, titled, “ICT Job creation: beyond empty promises”, the Honourable Minister (she is still honourable until she fails to fulfill the promise) was reported to have told an ICT stakeholders forum that the federal government has plans to create 1.3 million jobs “through the Information Communication Technology sector by 2015”. Perhaps it is a coincidence that the same number - 1.3 million fictitious jobs - was announced to have been created by the Bank of Industry, BOI, in one year. But, GEJ’s government officials must be in love with 1.3 million as a figure to peddle around for job creation – whether true or not. Be that as it may, this is just a warning to the Minister that somebody is watching and waiting to know how many jobs have been created each year and how the cumulative adds up to 1.3 million by 2015. Generally, I

C M Y K

dislike arguing with ladies. My upbringing at home, at St Peter’s Primary School, Lagos, and Igbobi College, Yaba, has ingrained in me the habits of a gentleman. So, unless pressed to the wall, I never quarrel with the fairer sex. I don’t want to take on Mrs. Johnson the way Mrs. Allison Deziani forced me to open fire on her as Minister of Petroleum Resources. Mrs. Johnson still has time to backtrack and provide more achievable projections. But, if she insists on 1.3 million and fails, she will just be another Minister deserving the lash on this page. That is not a threat; it is a promise. Jobs are too important to be subjected to the cynical publication of lies which have characterized governments in Nigeria almost from 1960.The fact, is unemployment and poverty and the social maladies which destitution induces are too crucial for anyone to raise our hopes and dash them at will. Personally, I am sick and tired of official lies on jobs. For a start, will the Honourable Minster, who has been twelve months on the job, tell us how many of the 1.3 million had been created in the last twelve months and how I can verify the claim? Or are we to wait until 2015, when she might not even be in office, to have 1.3 million created in one year? What are the projections for 2013, 2014 and 2015 and who is going to create the jobs – private or public sector? Jonathan probably did not ask her; he after all doesn’t “give a damn” about anything important.

'Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime' “The Test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” -¯ Franklin D. Roosevelt

HERE are superstitions in some countries, where people avoid Friday the 13th. For the superstitious this day is a harbinger of doom. People avoid going out on this day and call in sick. On the 13th of July, early that morning, a oil tanker driving in the southern Rivers State swerved trying to avoid three oncoming vehicles including a bus. After the collusion, and while the tanker was resting on its side, hundreds of locals in the Ahoada area flocked to the scene to collect the spilling fuel. The authorities said the vehicle did not immediately burst into flames but did so sometime after the villagers rushed to collect the fuel. Many of the dead were okada drivers, who raced to fill up their tanks after learning of the crash, according to an AFP photographer at the scene. Apparently, some troops who got to

Job creation: Tread softly ICT Minister -- 1

NIGERIANS DESERVE THE INSULTS FROM JONATHAN “I don’t give a damn about it if you want to criticize me from here to heaven. Channels can talk about that from morning till night, all the papers can write about it. It’s a matter of principle”. - President Jonathan, June 24, 2012 during media chat in Aso Rock. “The emperor has nothing at all on”. Hans Christian Anderson, 1805-1875, in The Emperor’s new clothes”.

It is easy for the president to tell the country he is deeply saddened about the deaths. It serves no purpose if we do not learn from the past; then we are guaranteed to repeat it

President Jonathan has just relieved me of a burden by staging that media chat. Those block-heads who have been wasting my time accusing me of hating Jonathan will now have to explain if there is anything to love in a leader, in one of the most vilified countries in the world, refusing to strike a blow against corruption by clinging to a principle which can only be subscribed to by social, political and economic predators. As usual with GEJ, he was telling only half the truth; or perhaps, an entire untruth. When he declared that, “I was governor of Bayelsa state, I was thoroughly investigated”, he deliberately forgot to add that the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, listed him among some governors who made restitution. In plain language, the former governor of Bayelsa State, now President of Nigeria does not want to expose himself again. That may be the reason why the President refuses to declare his assets now. Jonathan is hanging unto a fig-leaf, which he calls principle. But, Nigerians, my fellow countrymen, deserve the insult of one shareholder out of 160 million, telling the rest of us to “go to hell”. You voted him into office and we will receive four years of such insults. He’ll be back again in 2015 to insult you more. You deserve it. We, at Unijankara, knew the man all along; we were not surprised. In fact instead of the media chat, or publicized insult to Nigerians, we watched football – which was less infuriating and more entertaining. The commentators even taught us good English!

the scene before the fire broke out told the villagers to refrain from going near the tanker according the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Alagoa Morris, coordinator at advocacy group Oil Watch Nigeria, asks: ‘How can people who have enough to eat scoop oil that belongs to someone else? It is poverty.’ This is sadly the truth. Life is cheap and no lessons have been learnt to prevent similar accidents from happening again and again. No risk assessment, no contingency plan and no medical protocol to follow when dealing with burnt victims. In fact, no emergency services was on site to take charge of the situation until much after the explosion. The pictures of the dead was gruesome, they littered the scene, burnt beyond recognition in what can only be described as self immolation . So, why on earth would people in a oil producing state run out to collect spilled oil? How wretched have we become that people are reduced to this desperate depths? Why in a country that produces crude oil and liquefied natural gas and ships it across the world still cannot afford to provide affordable oil for its people?. We all know that Nigeria makes billions of dollars every year. Where does the money go?

am surely not the only Nigerian waiting for the answers from Madam to these questions – otherwise the first salvo will come soon…

Major road accidents in Nigeria, often involving long- haul and poorly maintained tankers regularly ply bad roads. This was avoidable; so said the president and the governor of the state. When people live on less than $2 a day and are existing in grinding poverty. It is not avoidable and their condition will not improve until the government deem it fit to raise the living conditions of inhabitants. It would help if kickbacks and blatant corruption were not of the government and the present administration. At least two contracts have been signed over the last six years to expand the highway that runs through Niger Delta states, according to a government website. However, corruption often hinders or slows down road construction and maintenance projects. Mr Alagoa said the accident ‘would not have happened if the road had two lanes there’. Yes, and if the road was maintained and the infrastructure was up to standard.

resident Goodluck Jonathan said in a statement he is ‘deeply saddened by the loss of many lives’ caused by the explosion and ‘particularly distraught by the fact that once again, so many Nigerian lives have been lost in an avoidable fuel fire disaster’. I mean, the sentiments mean nothing, just hot air and more fluff. It is easy for the president to tell the country he is deeply sadden about the deaths. It serves no purpose if we do not learn from the past, then we are guaranteed to repeat it. If he is really sadden about the current incidents what of the other times that had claimed many lives? Which one he is most deeply sadden about? The death toll is stacking up and all we hear is talk shop and photo opportunity. In October 1998, more than 1,000 people died at Jesse, in the south-eastern Delta State, when a pipeline exploded as people tried to steal fuel. In April last year, a fuel tanker overturned at an army checkpoint in the central part of the country, sparking an inferno in which some 50 people were killed. 125 people were killed by a pipeline explosion in the village of Ovim in Abia State September 16, 2004 nearly 60 were killed when a pipeline exploded on the outskirts of Lagos. More than 17,000 people died in about 31,000 road accidents across Nigeria. I would not go on as it seems lives are cheap and grinding poverty has damaged people to the point that they will do anything to make a fast buck including risking their own lives. Every single life lost is one too many. Sadly, it was given adequate news coverage over here but it was clinical in its delivery. People are becoming numb to the news that comes from Nigeria. Most finger of blame is at the politicians and their corrupt ways. No one I have spoken to thinks it will change for the better.

PAGE 18—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012

When petroleum is more of evil than good er but foreign airlines always land in the same airports and during the same period. hen a Nigerian air W craft crashes and it happens quite often, we are usually only able to send its black box to other countries for scientific analysis although the findings are never disclosed perhaps due to operational reasons. None of our universities is rated among the best even in the poor continent of Africa. Our public power sup-

OME eight years ago, the University of Maiduguri found me worthy to serve as its 18th Convocation lecturer. The topic was “the place of Nigeria in the global village”. Initially, it didn’t strike me as a difficult subject because the question whether Nigeria should be ranked among the rich and developed nations or among the poor and underdeveloped entity should not be hard to answer. But then, several issues troubled my thought process. Nigeria is obviously not supposed to be counted among poor countries in view of her immense wealth. After all, a former Head of state had reportedly said that the problem of Nigeria was not how to make money but how to spend our massive wealth. At the same time, it appears irrational to describe Nigeria as a rich country when its average citizen lives on less than one American dollar a day. The nation has neither an official airline nor any aircraft that can be described as new. Our domestic aircrafts are occasionally unable to land in our airports due to bad weath-

an election day in Nigeria presents a war scenario with a standby army and police formations that take sides with the highest bidder. fter thinking of many A other issues which made the list of our woes

seem endless, I recalled the finding not too long ago by one amorphous body that Nigerians are a happy people. Oh yes, Nigeria is made up of a set of determined people who before the advent of this century, had

A truer assessment of our nation is that, as in many things in which we are neither here nor there, Nigeria is both rich and poor

ply has remained epileptic since the British colonial masters left us in the dark more than half a century ago. Our top most leaders are the only ones that are assured of good health care in other countries. We are a democracy that is yet to apply the same technology for voting that is currently in place worldwide hence

planned to end our woes through a pragmatic programme known as Vision 2010 by which every Nigerian was to get all the good things of life. Indeed, we have since arranged to be among the 20 most developed nations of the world in year 2020. Thus, to write off Nigeria as a poor country is probably inaccurate.

Finally, a House of Representatives government granted the courtesy of addressing the joint sitting of Nigeria’s National Assembly – or in the extreme – upon his impeachment . I am therefore prone to contend, but with much deference, with the legal luminary, Mr. Femi Falana, who writing in the Punch of June 25, argues to the contrary.

e contends that in the exercise of its oversight function, a reserve power permits the Federal House of Representatives under sections 88 and 89 to summon “any person, authority, ministry or government department charged with the authority of executing laws and disbursing or administering money appropriated or to be appropriated by the National Assembly.” In Mr. Falana’s perspective, the words, “any person” and “authority” lends coverage to the National Assembly given the particular and irreducible truth that the president is both a person and an authority under the law. At first glance, it would seem a fair argument, and it would seem that the House of Representatives may have such a sweeping power. But it is a provision which I think is countermanded by another provision in the constitution of the principle of the separa-

tion of powers especially in a presidential system in which those powers - the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature – must necessarily remain separate zones of authority and action. The framers of the constitution, in creating the buffer that prohibits the Assembly from simply summoning the president, do so to protect the office from whimsical, mischievous and derogative action and

OT long ago, the Federal House of Representatives resolved to invite or in fact, summon the President of the Federation of Nigeria to appear before it apparently to explain himself and aspects of his administration’s policy, particularly with regard to the state of insecurity in Nigeria. Wrong move. The House of representatives erred in the matter of privilege. A few cautionary voices spoke up basically to alert members of the Assembly that not even the National Assembly, sitting jointly as the parliament of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has the power or the statutory authority to summon or invite the president of the Republic to appear before it, except on grounds of impeachment. Even on those grounds, the president may refuse to appear until the end of the proceedings. He is not obligated to stand before the Assembly. The president is forbidden by law from the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly, except on those occasions permitted by his function, such as his annual address to the joint sitting of the National Assembly on the state of the nation, or the presentation of his budget, or in the company of a visiting Head of

Rather, a truer assessment of our nation is that, as in many things in which we are neither here nor there, Nigeria is both rich and poor. She is wealthy but poor hence she is a rich nation among the poorest countries in the world. Thus our economic status is like our politics which President Babangida rightly found as far back as 1989 to be ‘a little to the left and a little to the right of the centre’. In retrospect, I feel fulfilled that at the University of Maiduguri Convocation in 2004, I was unable to locate the exact place of Nigeria in the global village. Today, it is clearer to me that because wealth can sometimes be destructive, Nigeria is suffering from petroleum mentality- a mindset for squander mania which rationalizes big government, poor service delivery, greed, poverty and inequity. Because Nigeria collects ample revenue from God-given petroleum resources to which it invests nothing, it sustains an exorbitant cost of governance with bloated bodies like a cabinet of 43 Ministers whereas a prudent nation would not go for more than half that figure; an unwieldy and inefficient bureaucracy where the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and that of the Head of Service have 12 Permanent Secretaries at 6 per office. So, what can petroleum not make us do? ast week, the constitu L tion of a new Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum

Corporation

office of the president cannot be above the law, and to that extent, the precedents already granted us by the High Court limiting executive immunity especially on violation of the penal code stands clear with me.

he presence of these legal articles helps to sustain the basic fact that the president is not above the law, and cannot be held above the law when it comes to his personal and official conduct. These are not the contentions of those who argue for the delineation of powers, and the protection of the principle of separation under our current system. With this in mind, I want to re-emphasize that the National Assembly or any of its arms,

The president has failed, the members of the House contend, to implement the provisions of the 2012 budget as was passed by the National Assembly

errant legislation. In much the same way, the president lacks the power to summon the officers of the National Assembly over matters of legislation. Parties to those institutions could generally meet for cordials certainly and out of courtesy by personal invitation, and under such a guise discuss beneficial matters of state. But none of these arms has the authority of summons on the other. I think in general, I agree with Falana that the

like the House of Representatives, can only summon or invite the president only in the process of impeachment. It is thus with interest that I, and I hope many other Nigerians, followed the threats to impeach the president of Nigeria by members of the House of Representatives last week. Finally, I said to myself, the House is beginning to find its footing as the elected representatives of the Nigeria people. The grounds on which the threat is made

(NNPC) which strangely included one of our Benin brothers unusually excited some of us. Our joy had nothing to do with just his membership of any board because such things do not really impress our people. We are a liberal and accommodating tribe and although we account for more than half of the population and landmass of Edo State, the Governor does not come from among us. e are also neither the W Minister nor the ambassador; we are noth-

ing but a sleeping giant and we care not; provided those in power can take care of us. Our joy therefore was that someone we know has moved into the board of the almighty NNPC- a body that is so lucrative that the take-home pay of its newly recruited staff competes favourably with that of a Senator. Who does not like the NNPC when petroleum, its main product is not only indispensable, but instantly translates anyone who gets it into wealth? During the last fuel subsidy protest, the people of Bayelsa did not join the rest of us not because their son is the President but because everyone was struggling to get a piece of a subsisting trade. According to media reports, the NNPC mega station opposite Asokoro Housing estate in Yenagoa, the state capital, only sells kerosene to their ‘registered’ customers who buy over 20 jerry cans of 20litres each at N2, 500.00 and resell at N3, 000.00 just by the side of the station’s gate There are many other exis quite valid. The president has failed, the members of the House contend, to implement the provisions of the 2012 budget as was passed by the National Assembly. Such a failure of his office is serious matter. This is the particular kind of oversight that the National Assembly was established to carry out; to scrutinize the function of government, and to prevent the excesses or even failures of executive power. The presidency is not the most powerful office in the land. It is the National Assembly. But since the return of common suffrage in Nigeria about fourteen years ago, Nigerians have had very weak parliaments, and overbearing and most times unaccountable executive power.

he inability of the elected Assemblies to check theperformance of the executive arm of the state has led to dismay and increasing disillusion by Nigerians about the real value of democracy. State governments sack local government chairmen. The president privatizes the nation, and no one knows exactly how, where, or who pays for what. Nothing is accounted for. Contract for the Niger bridge has been awarded yearly in every budget. Yet, no Niger bridge. National revenue goes down the drain. Federal and state budgets are hardly implemented, and year by year, Nigerians are presented with government expenditures that do not reflect either in their quality of life or in the improvement of social services. There is hardly a credi-

amples which confirm that in Nigeria, petroleum is our king. Its big operatives were originally described as an invincible cartel before the security agencies reportedly earmarked 6 of them as the main culprits. If as we hear, oil bunkers operate in the dead of night, that the Otedola/Lawan saga took place around the same time seems to fall in line. In addition, the only reason why there has been so much debate on the case is because it concerns petroleum. If it was about another sector, the suspect would have been arrested at the point of the crime since the amount involved was supposedly marked money. imilarly, the giver S would not have been given the opportunity to

show the nation his camera shots of the entire episode. The larger society would only have been hearing whatever both parties were saying in court and not at press conferences and another public hearing. But there is hardly anything that cannot happen with petroleum. Only last Monday, the Presidency was forced to alert the nation about a fake version of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) when the real PIB was not ready. In view of the ingenuity in the petroleum sector, government had to introduce security marks in the real PIB which included the Coat of Arms of the nation as well as signing across each page that says the Petroleum Industry Bill for 2012. Who says petroleum is only a blessing? ble monitoring process that permits the citizen, through their representatives to match what is on paper with what is on the ground. This level of complicity is the basis of corruption. It has existed for so long that Nigerians began to see the National Assembly as an indolent institution; a place to go and sleep, get fat on mind-boggling allowances, and snore through four years, while the rest of the world goes by.

he recent bribery scan dals in the House have further soured Nigerians on the House of Representatives. But it seems that with the current debate over budgets, and the serious threat to impeach the president for not implementing the budget based on the allocations already cleared and passed by the national Assembly in 2012, the House of Representatives is finally awakening to its true role as the defender of the rights of the citizens. As the chief purser of the nation, the House has the mandate to demand an account of all federal expenditures; all implemented budgets, and all manners of contract as entered into by the executive on behalf of Nigerians. The president of course has assured the House that he agrees with them, and that he would take steps to get the ministries to implement the budget. Go Reps! Way indeed to go. You may not summon the Prez on any flimsy ground, but you may force him to act in serious matters, failing which you may then use the power to impeach him. ‘Tis all there folks.

AY V ANGU ARD, JUL Y 22, 2012, P AGE 19 SUND VANGU ANGUARD, JULY PA SUNDA

Pregnant without a man (4) ...Donating an egg

INGLE women, infertile or gay couples who cannot bear chil dren of their own may decide to opt for assisted reproductive therapy through the purchase of an egg/ sperm or an embryo that may already be frozen and preserved to be used for IVF. The egg donors are thoroughly screened for medical, infectious, psychological and genetic conditions. Egg/sperm donation has enabled conceptions and healthy pregnancies for many women. In which case the recipient of the donated sperm/egg enters an agreement that the child born is for the mother who carries the pregnancy and delivers it. Selecting A Donor According to experts, many babies are born successfully through the IVF done from the eggs of another woman who willingly donates her own healthy eggs to help another woman get pregnant. Selecting an egg donor can be an emotional time for the woman or couple with times of sadness and excitement. STEPS FOR SELECTING AN EGG/ SPERM DONOR 1. Make a list of the traits you hope to find in your child, by choosing the racial/physical/ ethnic characteristics you desire. Decide if the educational / health/ family background of the donor is important to you? 2. Ask your fertility doctor for references for egg donors or egg donor agencies. Your fertility clinic could have egg donors available or you will be referred to egg donor agencies. 3. Visit the egg donor coordinator in the fertility clinic or egg donor agencies your doctor referred you to. The agency will require you to fill forms regarding you, your partner (if applicable) and the traits you hope to find in the egg donor. 4. Carefully review the egg donor profiles that are given to you. Depending on the agency or clinic, some profiles come with the donors photograph. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel pressured to pick a donor if you do not find your desired traits. Wait for new profiles or visit a different C M Y K

agency. 5. Inform the agency or clinic of the donor you wish to use and also have a backup donor if possible. A backup is helpful to have in case any problems arise preventing the original donor from donating, such as health issues. Donating your eggs for money in Nigeria In Nigeria, the IVF industry has found its feet and egg/ sperm donation for money has grown in popularity due to an increasing rate of infertility. A source in one of the fertility clinic says more than ever before, the number of young men and girls willing to donate their spermatozoa and egg is increasing by the dayâ&#x20AC;?. He added, however, that despite the increasing popularity of the practice, demand still outweighs supply. Fertility clinics in the United States pay healthy donors for their eggs ranging from $5,000 and $15,000. STEPS 1. You need to evaluate yourself to make sure that you meet the qualifications to be an egg donor. This may include being a non-smoker, and in your 20s and having a body mass index under 30 and live within 40 miles of the clinic. The requirement may vary from one fertility clinic to another 2. Contact the clinic to let them know your interest and to schedule an initial appointment. 3.Visit the clinic for your initial appointment. At this appointment, you will need to undergo medical tests such as blood tests and a psychological test, and provide your true medical history. If approved for egg donation, you will be given a medication that will temporarily stop your menstrual cycle, as well as medication that produces multiple eggs in one cycle. You will be given a follow-up appointment for the harvesting of the eggs. 4.Arrive at the clinic on the scheduled day and time for the harvesting of the eggs. This procedure typically takes around 30 minutes. You should bring someone to drive you home. After the procedure, you may be placed on restricted activity for three to five days for recovery. Once the harvesting is complete, you will be paid your donor fee.

P AGE 20 — PA

SUND AY Vanguard, JUL Y 22, 2012 SUNDA JULY

0808 066 0660 (Texts only!)

Why your friend’s husband? Well, why not?!

VER the years, the myth that getting older kills a woman’s sex life has been rubbished by women in their late and early fifties who’ve constantly shown that this period has been the most passionate, exciting and sensual years yet. I was with friends and taking stock of the wild parties we’d attended over the last few moths and wondering what method of detox to settle for when in breezed Muni, a friend of several years, though not a close one. She swept my pleasantries aside and declared: “We think you should have a word with your friend, Joan,” she said, her nostrils flared. Here comes trouble, I said silently. Joan could hardly be called a good friend. I’d known her for years and, if you readers recall, she was the one who pretended she lost a necklace on one of our weekends away, hoping the host would pay for the tinsel she tried to pass off as real gold. Years after, she was after CTB, pretending she wanted a favour from him and asking me to give her his phone number! Just how brazen can you get? So what seemed to be the problem now? Joan has turned into a real barracuda and is having a pick of friends’ husbands If she wants to graze, shouldn’t she be doing it further afield from

home?. This was quite interesting. Keeping a straight face, I didn’t let on what problems Joan had taken me through in the past but I promised to have a word with her. Joan is the type of girl you see only when she needs a favour from you. Curiosity made me ring her as soon as Muni left, and she enthusiastically agreed for me to come to her place the next day after work. She was really glowing as she entertained me lavishly. “So, what’s this rumour going the rounds that you’re having a pick of friends’ husbands?” I asked her. We’ve always been straight with each other and she shrieked with triumphant laughter. “So, who’s complaining?” I told her. “Let Muni complain all she likes” she told me smugly. She’s always been too smug for my liking and is always blabbing about how promiscuous I was. Se must have blabbed to her husband because the day I ran into him at a friend’s place, he looked at me in a very curious way, flattering me to high heavens. I was a bit put out by this show of affection and was on my way when he offered to see me off. “You look really smashing you know, he said, a bit nervous, yet excited.

tel suites for the night where we drank lovely wine. I felt amazing - felt young and vibrant . The mistake I made was confiding in some of our friends. At first, they were half-teasing, saying they envied me but I could sense they were disapp roving. It was then that I noticed I was being invited to their houses less and less.

`I’ve always found you so sexy!’ I was a bit angry at first but then I thought of his hoity-toity wife and gave him my phone number when he asked for it. I was determined to get back at Muni for always disapproving of me. He didn’t waste time hiring me into my bedroom when he called the next day, where I showed him every sinful trick I’d learnt over the years. He left with a dazed smile on his face - and I’ve seen him a couple of times since then. He’s quite hot, really! So, when your Muni whines that I should settle down, I smile quietly to myself that if she only knew the. truth, she wouldn’t be preaching to me so

The Locust for backpain

C M Y K

breathing. Repeat the posture two or three times. Relax in Makarasana. Benefits

Technique IE flat on the floor with face down wards and keep the hands by the side of the body with the fingers clenched into fists. Rest the chin on the ground by raising the head. Inhale and stiffen the body by pressing the fists against the floor. Slowly raise the legs as high as possible. Keep the legs in a straight line, while the two thighs, knees and ankles touch each other. The weight of the legs must fall on the body and hands. Contract the muscles of the buttocks, stretch the muscles of the thighs and further extend the position of the legs. Retain the posture for a few seconds in the beginning and gradually increase the duration. Concentrate on the upper portion of the body, i.e. above the waist. Slowly lower the legs to the floor and simultaneously exhale. Relax with normal

The Locust brings elasticity to the cervical (upper back) region, and strength to the lower back

tones up the muscles at the back and the intestinal organs in the abdominal region and relieves pain in the lumbar and sacral regions. Above all, it aids digestion and relieves gastric troubles. Main Benefits: The Locust brings elasticity to the cervical (upper back) region, and strength to the lower back, but it is important to stretch the chin as far forwards as possible if these benefits are to be

smugly. Rather, she would save her breath for her husband! “I was married before, as you well know, before my husband ran away with an old friend. Well, I’m not loosing sleep over that. My children are grown and have done well for themselves. I’d always had a high sex drive and I told myself a long time ago that I only had one life and I was bent on not wasting it! That was when I decided to make life as exciting as I possibly could. I put in daring extensions to my hair, invested in clothes and shoes and, soon, my confidence was soaring. After years of getting sexually frustrated by my ex, I was ready to conquer the

world - my libido was on the rampage. “I was apprehensive about my ability to lure men to my bed, but I ran into a lot of them at parties and in the course of my business that it was such a turn-on choosing among all these lovely men. I accepted a lot of dates and once they realized all I wanted was fun, they were quite happy to take me out to dinner and for drinks. Then we’d rush to my place and greedily have deserts or whatever to top up the night! After such a long time without sexual satisfaction, I was suddenly getting through a couple of them a week. I have made love in the shower, on the kitchen table -everywhere . A few of my lovely men have taken me to posh ho-

gained. When you first attempt the Locust, you may be dismayed to find that your feet rise only slightly from the floor. Do not be discouraged. This will improve rapidly with practice and time. Lower back is strengthened. Flexibility of the upper back is improved

Legs are kept straight and lifted as high as possible. Hands are together Elbows are straight,

t was at this time that snooty Muni purposely called round to my place to lecture me on my ‘sinful’ lifestyle. She wanted me to join her Pentecostal church, saying “ you don’t have to degrade yourself like this,” and quoting from the Bible to buttress her point . I was enraged. Why was it degrading to enjoy a man wanting you, bedding you and making you feel alive again? I told her to get out of my house, that I didn’t need ‘saving’ and was quite capable of living my own life. So, why come crying to you when she couldn’t get through to me? One favour she did me was making me realize it was only sensible to keep my sex lifestyle to myself. Living alone, there was no one to check up on me anyway. That was why when Muni’s husband showed interest, I helped myself to his services. I wish someone would tell Muni and watch her burn with fury!”

and as close together as possible. Chin is stretched forwards on the ground

The Half Locust Both legs are straight Tune the raising and lowering of the leg to the breath. Chin is stretched forwards. The Full Locust

The practice of this Asana renders the spine supple and elastic. It relieves backache or strain on the spine caused by the hard work, etc. It also

Yoga classes at 32 Ademola Adetokunbo Victoria Island, Lagos, 9.10am on Saturdays

SUND AY Vanguard, JUL Y 22, 2012, PAGE 21 JULY SUNDA bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

08056180152,

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Would you go this far to have a baby?

OMEN today are used to get ting what they want. They believe that ‘having it all is their right, not a privilege. Women no longer think merely being ‘married’ to their work is in any way satisfactor y. Life without a child is.seen as a failure”. An older friend, Dolapo made this observation when we discussed pesperate measures some professional women make to get pregnant. It’s not that they can’t. By the time they chase a profession, make the right connection and have the financial success they crave, most of the eligible men are taken. The ones that aren’t are not exactly enamoured by the prospect of the patter of tiny feet either because they ’ve had enough kids - or are just having a fling. Ibukun was in her mid thirties when she met Pete - just over 40. “Pete was married with two children under 10,” Ibukun said, “and he wasn’t exactly unknown when I ran into him at a friend’s place. We both went to the same university but we weren’t such good friends. In fact it was Pete who singled me out of the group of friends I was with and we reminisced over old times. I remembered him to be a bit of a nerd when we were students - but he’s mophed into this dishy, sophisticated man who had his thriving legal firm. We exchanged phone numbers, got to know each other better over time and started an affair.

o him I was a chal lenge He’d obviously lusted over.me in our student days but he wasn’t my type, so I ignored him. Now it seemed a bit of a triumph for him the way we were sleeping together.

“By this time, I was really getting broody, I wanted a child very badly. Now I was in my mid 30s, I decided if I didn’t get pregnant soon then it might never happen. In spite of the fact that Pete made it clear he didn’t want children from different women, I still wanted to hang on to him long enough to get pregnant. I thought that if we eventually split up, I might not get a replacement boyfriend in time to use my rapidly dwindling egg supply! He was a very cautious lover, unfortunately. He refused to rely on the fact I was on the pill, and insisted we use a condom for every moment of our intimate contact. `It’s not that I don’t trust you,’ he lied. ‘But there are loads of women out there claiming to want a career, but underneath wanting to start a family.’ I called his bluff and told him there was no way I would want a baby with him, given he hadn’t been married for too long. Yet the truth was, I had hatched a plan even you will find shocking. ecause he wouldn’t B give me what I wanted, I decided to steal it from him. I resolved to steal his sperm from him in the middle of the night as he slept over from time to time. I thought it was my right for giving him full rein of my home and body. The ‘theft’ itself was very easy to carry out. One night, after sex, I took the used condom, and in the privacy of the bathroom, used the special syringe my doctor gave me to artificially inseminate myself. I don’t understand why more men aren’t wise to this risk of used up condoms - maybe sex scrambles their brain! So you had better warn your male readers wishing to avoid any chance of unwanted fatherhood - if a woman disappears to the loo immediately after sex, I suggest they find out exactly what she’s up to – with

that used condom she was supposed to be disposing. “As it tun1ed out, my three attempts so far to get pregnant by Pete failed, but I’m still hopeful - all nights for the thief and just one for the owner of the property! Of course, not every woman in my position would resort to extreme measures. But I believe that any man who has a serious relationship with a woman in her mid 30s or early 40s should take it as a fact that she will want to use him to procreate, by fair means or foul, no matter how much she protests otherwise.” nd when is a woman A most likely to become a sperm-snatcher? “If her ca-

reer is not panning out exactly as she thought it would,” Dolapo said. “If she is 35 or over and childless. If she worries the man might walk out on her. I believe these are the women who are most likely to be panicked into making the decision to get pregnant in whatever way they can. This doesn’t mean they’ll be a particularly good mum, but because the relationship would not have been a complete waste of time, with nothing to show for it but bad memories.” How to attract customers! (Humour) A young man walks into a post-office one day to find a middle-aged, balding man at the counter stamping ‘love’

on bright pink envelopes with hearts all over them. The man then takes out a perfume bottle and begins to spray scent all over them. he young man’s cu T riosity got the better of him, so he goes up to

the balding man and ask him what he’s doing. The man says: “I’m sending out 1,000 Valentine cards signed: ‘Guess who?’ “But why are you doing that?” asked the young man. “I’m a divorce lawyer,” the man replies with a grin. When to tell your loved one bare-faced lies! When the person you love asks a ‘loaded’ question and you can’t avoid answering it without either hurting them, or setting their wheels of suspicion rolling, that’s when, according to one expert, it’s kinder to answer with a little white lie rather than’ with brutal honesty. According to Linda Books, a London marriage counsellor, you shouldn’t feel guilty about answering with a ‘little white lie’ rather than brutal honesty. “There are many occasions when it’s kinder not to tell the truth”, she says. “For instance, if someone isn’t looking their best, but you tell them they’re looking great, that’s a constructive

through, sending us some sunshine and mending hearts of blue. Just a prayer spoken from the heart can make our woes take flight until our burdens suddenly feel small and light. Chris Onunaku 08032988826/08184844015 dekris4real@gmail.com

OUR column to express your loving thoughts in words to your sweetheart. Don’t be shy. Let it flow and let him or her know how dearly you feel. Write now in not more than 75 words to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, P.M.B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E.mail: sunlovenotes@yahoo.com Please mark your envelope: “LOVE NOTES"

Gift of Love

Sometimes we're in despair much sorrow we own. We forget that God is with us, and we're never alone. We only need to seek him, and he'll help us C M Y K

Within us

True love grows within us, that part of us that weeps when who we love weeps, that part that smiles when they smile, that part that makes us feel secure when we are around each other, it comes from within and floods our hearts with joy. That's the part of my heart I promise to share with you forever. Life without love is like death without a witness. Love you always. Obazee Victor. 07031338939 d4greatness@yahoo.com

My Valuable Asset

You have always been valuable to me in all aspects

white lie aimed at cheering them up. Little lies like that can’t be bad. So, you can still be a nice person and a liar at the same time!” Awkward questions can crop up at any time in a relationship, many of which will require a instant answer. You won’t have time to dither or hesitate, and an honest reply could easily ruin the relationship. hat would you do, W for instance, if your partner, snuggling up to

you in bed after you’ve made love, suddenly comes out with, “ was it like this with you know-who? “Even though you cannot blame his or her curiosity getting out of hand at such a time, and assuming that they know you’ve had past lovers, they should never expect you to make such a comparison”, says Linda. “Whether it was or wasn’t as good is irrelevant. Such a loaded question shouldn’t even be answered to the detriment of either of your past loves or present lover. The smart reply would be ‘’Nothing could be like this except with you”. Similarly, if your partner is ever dumb enough to ask: “How many men/ women have you made love to in your life?!” You

could make light of it by starting to count your conquest on your fingers, or you could say, “I haven’t got a clue - I lost count years ago!” But those responses are as dumb as the question, says Linda, who suggests the following white lie is the perfect answer: “Numbers don’t matter. Only you matter”. A woman, rather than a man, is likely to come up with the poser. “Do you think I’m putting on too much weight?” So how do you answer that kind of unfair question? Whatever you say is likely to be wrong. Say yes, and you will certainly hurt her feelings, but even a ‘’No, of course, not”, could ‘bring the response, “oh, you’re saying that to please me”. Your best bet even if you think he or she is getting a little plump is; “I think you look great just the way you are”.

n-laws are often a bone of contention between married couples, as it is not easy for one partner to get on with the other ’s parents. “Chance are that, sooner or later, you’re going to be asked: ‘ what do you really think of my family,” says Linda. “Of course if you get on famously with them, no lie is necessary, but if you find them interfering, bossy, jealous or boring, don’t say so. Your partner may not like them much either, but it’s okay for him or her to say it. You must never express doubt: say they are terrific and sound as if you mean it. Insecure lovers often ask: Did you miss me? And there’s only one answer to that, “ yes of course I did” even if you didn’t. Even if you met someone else while you were away, still say ‘ yes’. Because of course, it’s kinder”.

of life . believe me, this days I can not do anything without consulting you. You are wise, caring and perfect. you are more than a girlfriend to me, you are my mother, my best friend, my love. everything I desire in a woman is in you, rest your mind for I am yours forever. just continue to love me as I have love you and nothing in this world wold share us apart. I love you. Kiss!! Omor ville omorville@google.com, 08062486549

My jewel

Shadow my image, the real expression of love. Can a man run away without his shadow? It is practically impossible. My jewel, you are my shadow, for your love will never leave me, it always hangs around the table of any heart. Godfrey Iwuorie chidi geochi171@yahoo.com 08064349445

PAGE 22â&#x20AC;&#x201D;SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012

News: Nigeria gets first female justice

"Fellow benchers, do we just say Espirit de corps or RUN"

M A I L B A G

All letters bearing writers' names and full addresses should be typed and forwarded to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, Kirikiri Canal, P. M. B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E-mail: sunvanguardmail@yahoo.com

The colour of democracy: The Edo State example Dear Sir, T is a statement of fact that one good tur n deser ves another. Attention nationwide shifted to Edo State the heartbeat of the nation on July 14th 2012 as Edolites trooped out en-masse to elect the next governor of the state. Democracy was at its best. Edo

State has set the pace for a free, fair, credible and violence-free election in Nigeria. The people of Edo State were unanimous in their decision and spoke in one voice hence the votes swung in one direction. The ACN candidate won in every Local Government Area in the state, Edo State in particular and the nation in general stood still as the

results were read out. Finally it was jubilations unprecedented following the announcement of Comrade Adams Oshomhole as winner of the gubernatorial election held in Edo State. His good works speaks volume for him, his outstanding performance campaigned for him because he had indeed changed the face of Edo State

NYSC and havoc on Nigerian education system Dear Sir,

HE National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) of Nigeria has wittingly or unwittingly caused much damage to the country's educational system judging by the fallig standard of performance of our children in certificate examinations. This is a result of systematic destruction of school pupils over the years by unqualified youth corps members deployed by the NYSC authorities to teach our children. The truth is that most of the corps members that are sent to teach in primary and secondary schools are untrained to teach and as a result end up destroying our school children. Ironically, NYSC will post other professionally qualified corps members to appropriate fields only, such as medical doctors to clinics and hospitals, accountants to banks, but would do the reverse to schools. What NYSC does to school students thus is comparable to putting an unqualified pilot to fly a fully loaded passenger plane. The consequence of that journey could well be imagined. This is what happens to our school children who are handed over from one set or batch of youth corps members to another, from term to term and from year to year until they write their certificate examinations. While, for instance, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) would not allow an uncertified medical doctor to attend to a patient in the hospital, nor the Nigeria Bar

Association (NBA) permit a none-lawyer practice in court we should ask what the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria is doing apart from collecting registration fees and registering Nigerian certified school teachers. Yet we wail about the falling standard of education and poor academic performance of our children. State policies on education may quickly correct this anomally. For example the Delta State government's proposal to, by the end of this year 2012, drop every noneprofessional teacher in every public and

private school in the state, as well as prosecute the employers of such noneprofessional teachers will halt the trend of the use of unqualified corps members in teaching our children. Alternatively, NYSC posting staff and requesting school heads should ensure, without breach, that only certified corps members are posted to teach in schools. The educational legacy of the Nigerian child should not be mortgaged. Pastor Emmanuel Ifie, Warri, Delta State. emmanuel.ifie@yahoo.com

Democracy of eternal carnage Dear Sir,

Physiognomically speaking, the concept of political gerimandering is regarded as the genesis of recurring decimal in our democratic dispensation. Without any impugnment, our political mechanism is predicated on plutocracy, self absorption and all that. To all intents and purposes,the whole shebang is based on political shenanigans,a hotch-potch of ideas,fuddy-duddy conception as regards political formation in the country. The be-all-and-end-all is that of megalomanian and machiavellianism in which a large number of Nigerian politicians are noted for, without for any iota of doubt.

Some sects are still aiming at ethnic cleansing which is the mother of insecurity in the polity, killing and

maiming innocent citizens of the country with impunity. But for any government to thrive, there should be adequate security of lives and property as a pathfinder for development. Political disequilibrium should be corrected for peace and tranquility to thrive in the country. Ultimately, our security system is absurd and should be responsible and responsive. Fot the nation to be free from this unbridled carnage, the security of lives and property should be paramount. Adeola Onitolo, 1,Maysun Avenue, Shasha, Lagos.

and established the precedence of good governance and a benchmark for which all future governors of the state cannot but try to overdo. He has really fixed the entire state on the right track. Find the truth and sell it not. In Edo State we found the truth. Our votes are not for sale. Across the length and breath of Edo State things are working again. Edo State government under the able leadership of Comrade Adams Oshomhole deserves accolades and support. The Federal Government must as a matter of urgency support the Edo State government to tackle the biggest problem of perenial flooding facing Edo State. Tackling this phenomenal problem would no doubt leave a big hole in the pocket of any State government. The support of the Federal Government is solicited for in this regard. This idea or concept that a state is not in the main stream of a particular political party with the Federal government should be jettisoned. A state is a part of the nation and by extension the nation. With this victory, hence the mandate given to him for the next four years, the good people of Edo State hope that in the year 2016 when Oshomhole would be leaving office, Edo State would be a paradise of some sort. He has started it and by the grace of God, he will complete it. If every state in the country is developed, then the nation at large would be developed. The road-map to a sustainable and accelerated developed state's economy lies in the ability of the state to utilize it's natural resources. Despite all odds, if we get our priorities right with round pegs in round holes, the vast wealth of Edo State in particular and the nation in general would be harnessed positively. Erekose Peter, University of Benin, Benin City. erekosepeter@yahoo.com 07067446977

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 23

My Broken heart won’t mend! Dear Rebecca

am a 21 year old girl deeply in love with a 25 year old man who has been living in Germany in the last two years. He stopped writing to me after a while. He is now married to a white woman. We started dating in five years ago and I am so used to him. My problem is that I can’t go for another man. I have discovered that no matter how rich a guy may be, I find it difficult to equate him with this guy. I am burning with desire for him. I wish to get him back to marry me if possible. I can’t love another. Please tell me what to do. Worried Baby, Delta State.

REPL Y REPLY

understand how you feel about this man whom you have been dating since you were 16. Of course you would be so used to him as he was probably your first boyfriend. But one of the secrets of a happy life is that there should be no stagnation in any part of our life at any given time. You have to move on whether things are working out fine for you or not. Just like the world does. Night must give way to day, and day to night. Nothing is at a standstill, until life is over. At 21, your world should not stop because of another human being. I know it is difficult for us to accept rejection from someone we love, but there is no need longing for something that is no longer ours. Even if this man were still living in Nigeria, he belongs to another woman now, and you have to let him go in your heart. If you keep on holding on to him in your heart, your world would be at a standstill and depression would set in, bringing all sorts of health problems. God forbid. You have a life to live. While you are walking about with a heavy load in your heart, he is walking about free over there, enjoying his life. You will be cheating yourself if you continue this way. Set yourself free from this bondage. The first step is to sit down and think about your past relationship with him, feeling all the pain of him no longer writing to you, and finally marrying someone else. Next, turn the problem over to God, thanking him for the way things went. Then for-

give the man aloud and with all your heart, and wish him well. Then tell God to provide another man who will bring you joy and happiness. This may not happen immediately and you should not go out to grab any man. You’re only 21, so, concentrate on your studies or career and mix freely and happily with responsible young people. Help around the house and take interest in other people’s lives. Take up hobbies and continue with your life. You are only young once, so, enjoy your youth under God’s guidance.

Life becoming meaningless Dear Rebecca

am a nineteen year old young man still battling with WAEC . Since my parents moved from Lagos to Delta State, my whole life has changed for the worse . My GCE examination centre was involved in examination malpractice . I have since written about three WACE without success. I am particularly worried now that my immediate junior sister cleared her papers at one sitting. I cannot talk to my father because he is too harsh and my mother only thinks about my younger sister ’s future. Due to frustration , I started smoking and drinking alcohol. I have nobody to talk to about how I feel. My father is not popular with his relatives. I have no friend . If I don’t make WACE this year, I will contemplate suicide because my father will call me a complete failure . How do I stop drinking and smoking before the habit gets worse ? I really need your help. Michael , Asaba REPL Y REPLY

ORRY about how those examina tions have been turning out. Still, if you are reading this, it means you are still alive . Thank God for that . Suicide is a sin against God and also against human laws and it really does not solve the problem at hand. I understand how you feel about these temporary set backs

in your academic career , but instead of being discouraged and seeking solace in smoking and alcohol, take the problem to God in trust and prayer I know this sounds silly because God will not go and change your marks, or physically restrain you from damaging your health with cigarettes and alcohol, but He will give you the confidence to cope with these ups and downs in life. Knowing that his love for you is better, surer and more reliable than that of human beings fills you with the peace to think clearly about your problems and tackle them. God is actually the only parent we have, so get close to him and tell him how you feel. Ask for forgiveness for whatever sins you committed and ask him to take total control of your life as you cannot do it on your own . Go to the pastors of your church and ask them to pray for you and recommend Bible passages that can help you cope. There is no situation in life that a similar one cannot be found in the Bible; like the stories of David, Job, Paul,etc. Fasting, even if its only for half a day ,will put you in a sober mood, to pour out your heart to God. Tell him everything, and be patient for his response. Solutions will not come at once and you will still have to persevere and study hard. Don’t worry about other people’s successes around you, or your parents’ reaction. All fingers are not equally and

self-pity is a waste of time . Fix your eyes on God trusting and asking him to open your way to success, and help you kick out bad habits, and wish your sister well. It’s her luck to clear her papers once. Your own turn will come . Be patient and be polite to your parents and understand that they may be harsh but they want the best for you. Their love and concern for you is expressed in anxiety and harshness. This may not be helpful,but that is their nature. Accept it. Seek coaching for your weak subjects and occupy yourself with studying God’s word and healthy hobbies. Make sure that you choose subjects you like and which you know you can handle well. That will make success easier to achieve, than choosing subjects which you don’t excel at, but which you’ve been told would be crucial to the course your parents want you to do at the university. Don’t accept to do courses you know you cannot handle. Explain to your parents why you want to choose a different course from the one they recommended. Mothers are usually interested in the progress of their sons, sometimes more than they are in their daughters. Could it be that your mother switched her attention to your sister because you were not pulling your weight at your studies and taking them seriously? Could it be that you’ve been hanging out with the wrong set of young people who are leading you astray?

Parents do become fedup with a child who is visibly seen as not wanting to face his/her studies squarely, and is idling away. I’m sure that’s not your portion. Resolve to put your studies first, and study hard to pass. Enrol for WAEC, NECO, GCE, etc. Move only with responsible and focused young people who are striving to be

successful. As for smoking and drinking, they are very bad for you, as they damage your lungs, heart, and other internal organs. If you don’t stop these bad habits, you may not even need to kill yourself. They would do the job. So, be wise and quit smoking and taking alcohol. God will give you the strength. Amen.

How do I know who’s gay? Dear Rebecca

am a teenage boy in a senior second ary school. I would be glad if you could let me know how one can identify a gay person. Anytime I dance, I prefer dancing with girls than boys. Infact, I find it hard dancing with a boy. Please help me. I want to know if I am gay. Chris, Kano

REPL Y REPLY

EOPLE who are ref ereed to as “gay” are people whose sexual preference is for someone of their own sex. Men who prefer men are called homosexuals, and women who prefer women are called lesbians. There are no external features on the human body which can tell you whether a person is gay or not, although these days those who assume the female in a same sex relationship tend show this by exhibiting some feminity in the way they dress or speak. This is not always a yardstick for know-

ing who’s homosexual, though. Those who are, and who are looking for a sex partner will just have to go find out themselves. In western countries, they have social places where they meet others, either in a club or a bar, or through advertisements in special magazines. While some religions have no opposition to people’s sexual preference, the bible is totally against it and Christians who live by the Holy Book avoid being gay, no matter what their feelings are deep down. This is because it is personal choice that one has to make, not because one is really born to be gay, and it is something one cannot help but be. In the past among showbiz people, when the act was always concealed, some famous actors/actresses got married and had children without revealing their preference. It was only those close to them who knew, and reveal this after the actor had died. Sometimes, their families would deny that they were gay. As for you, if you would rather hold girls than boys, then you are certainly not gay.

•All letters for publication on this page should be sent to: Dear Rebecca, Vanguard Media Ltd, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria. E-mail: dearrebecca2@yahoo.com

PAGE 24—SUNDAY VANGUARD,JULY 22, 2012

INCREASED VIOLENCE: Give helplines

C M Y K

T was a Saturday morning, and we had barely begun our meeting at Mrs. X’s house, when the strident voice of a young girl rent the air. “No! No! Leave me alone! Leave me alone.” she screamed. “Leave me alone, you hear? Ooooooooh! I say, leave me alone. Oh no!” You can imagine the effect on us. We rushed to the window to look down into the premises of the house next door, where the screams were coming from. We saw a young girl of about 15 being held in a tight embrace by a bare feet young man in only shorts. The more the girl screamed, the tighter he held her. Another young girl of about the same age was standing some distance away, looking on and swinging her arms as if it was a normal sight. “Call the police immediately,” a member told Mrs. X. “Ssshh. I won’t do anything of the sort.” “Why not? If something isn’t done fast, that man may violate the girl.” “There’s no need for him to do that. She and the other girl lives in the house with him and some other young men – about six or seven of them. He’s probably her boyfriend or her husband, who knows?. What would one report to the police?” “That man may not be the one she’s living with, and he’s trying to violate her in her man’s absence.” Just as we were trying to think that over, the girl broke free from the man and ran towards the main gate. He went after her, got her and dragged her into the house. The other girl followed. More screams and the man’s bullying voice. “I beg you, leave me alone. Leave me alone.” “I won’t leave you alone.” “Oh my God! Leave me alone!” By now, it had become the affair of the neighbourhood as some people gathered outside the gate, calling out the man’s name. He didn’t answer, and the screams continued. A guard in a neighbouring house went into the premises, and called out the man’s name. “Wetin dey happen? …........ wetin dey happen.” No answer, and the girl’s screams subsided into whines. The guard and the others dispersed. Soon four young men in jerseys, and football boots came in and entered the house. Mrs. X explained that they lived there. They must have been briefed about what was going on, because they called out the man’s name and asked what was going on. Soon, the girl bolted out of the house and ran into the street. One of the boys ran after her, calling out her name, but she was gone. We heaved a sigh of relief and returned to our seats; wondering what those two young girls were doing in a house full of men. “Aren’t they under-aged? Where are their parents or guardians? That’s what I would like to know.” said a member. “They look like girls who abandoned their families, or were brought into the city by men, to be used as sex objects. When these men get tired of them, they would turn them loose onto the streets, and in no time, they turn to prostitution.” “They could end up being used for rituals, or, they would get pregnant and go for abortion.” “Or, they have the babies and abandon them.” “That’s if they don’t strangle them first.” We sighed at the helplessness of such a situation. Tough life! I asked Mrs. X if the men beat those girls. “Of course there’s violence there.

View-Point

Helen Ovbiagele Woman Editor

That’s to be expected when the men are their meal tickets. If they don’t do as they are told, they get beaten. The first time I heard one of the girls screaming as she was being beaten, I called our local police station to tell them.” “The lady who took the call was very polite, but said that they couldn’t just barge into a private residence and interfere in an obvious domestic matter, unless the victim comes to report to the police herself. After that, I just tune out when I hear them being beaten. The wonder of it all is that after getting these beatings, these girls continue living with the men, until they’re thrown out. I won’t be surprised if that girl who dashed out just now, returns in the evening to continue living there. I don’t think any of them actually has a

It is important to have Police helplines for reporting abuses, violence and criminal activities, but with regards to violence in the home, and child abuse, the social/welfare department of the local government, which is supposed to be close to the community and the grassroot, should come in

receptive home to return to, or who to turn to for help.” That’s the sad thing. Help, ready help, goes a long way in tackling the increasing violence we’re witnessing in homes and among young people around the world, not just in Nigeria or Africa. It seems there’s this generational anger which drives people to inflict physical hurt on another human being. Dialogue seems incapable of settling any matter these days. But it’s women and young girls who are mainly the victims in our country. Whereas in the western world governments are concerned enough to establish help lines that people can ring to report violence, there’s nothing like that here, and that’s why violence, particularly the domestic one, is on the increase. Who do you report cases to?. Here, the Police may interfere in violence on the street, but they’re usually reluctant to go to residences when there’s a report of violence. Even some victims who’ve had the courage to go report, say they were advised to go settle with their attackers. I understand the need to encourage peaceful settlement, but none timely intervention by the law, may make matters worse, and lead to loss of life! It is important to have Police helplines for reporting abuses, violence and criminal activities, but with regards to violence in the home, and child abuse, the social/welfare department of the local government, which is supposed to be close to the community and the grassroot, should come in , in a big way and give residents in their areas, helplines which are displayed in every ward. In some western countries, the scene my friends and I witnessed would have been reported to the local social welfare department, who of course, has records of people living in the wards, and who would have been aware that those girls live at that residence. They would know the troubled families in the communities, and assign officers to specific ones who need help. Children who are in danger of abuse, or those who have spiralled out of control, are legally removed from their families, are placed in homes. There they are well-monitored and supervised by their assigned social welfare officers. If these ones fail in their duty and those young people come to harm, the officers are charged to court, because they’re supposed to report to the Police any threat to their wards’ lives and general well-being. Rightly or wrongly, I’ve always wondered if our local government areas are really close to the communities, and are doing their job well. Apart from bringing tenement rate bills and chasing shopkeepers, technicians, mechanics and traders for one offence or the other, I don’t see what positive impact they are making on our lives. Maybe their duties have not been well-defined for them.

LADIES COLLECTION, LATEST PAKISATNI AND INDIAN FASHION TRENDS WILLS-INDIA-FASHION-WEEK-2012 bloggers.com

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 25

The end...Rescuers bringing a body out of the dam

By OLA AJAYI, Ibadan

ith the torrential rainfall that started penultimate Saturday evening and did not stop until Sunday, residents of Ibadan needed no prophet to tell them that God was probably angry. But, the cause of the anger, they may not know. When the rain eventually stopped on Sunday around 4pm, some houses were already submerged with scores of those living by the river bank running out of their residence so that they were not drowned. Those who did not know the havoc it had wreaked were thanking God that the rain was not like the one that ravaged the city last August. But they were soon to know. Even while they were thanking God, the family members of Iyiola were also troubled having searched fruitlessly for two of their children and three other friends. Two policemen from the Special Anti Robbery Squad who were on leave were among the five people being searched for. Though they had been declared missing since Saturday night, the family members still had a glitter of hope that they would be found. The family members had earlier warned Sunkanmi and Wole not to go out to the club because of the rain; besides, time was about 10.30pm. But all the pleas fell on deaf ears. It seemed the only sound they wanted to answer was the one saying their time on earth was over. By divine providence, the sixth person that should have gone with them reportedly changed his mind and said he would come in his own car. About an hour later, the family members became suspicious that something tragic had hapC M Y K

Ibadan day of deadly flood

11-day-old husband, four others’journey of no return to night club

Elder sister of one of the deceased persons (l) consoling her younger sister pened when they made calls to the deceased persons phones and got no response. The sixth person was said to have got to the 411 Club that they said they were going to but did not find them there. It was later discovered that the deceased persons changed their minds and went to another club along Ring Road. Having searched everywhere without their traces, the family members reported to the police who swung into action searching all the nooks and crannies for them. After several efforts, they recovered the car they went out

in Favour Canal, Ikolaba but could not find any of them inside. On Tuesday, in the morning, the police had a breakthrough. They found the bodies of three of the victims’ floating on Dandaru Dam. Tears flowed freely as hundreds of sympathizers that thronged the scene beheld the victims bloated bodies.

hen the families of the deceased persons came, weeping became contagious. The relatives found it difficult to identify the bodies. An official of the National

Emergency Management Agency tutored them on how to identify the bodies. He told them to look out for tattoos, for those who had it on their bodies, rings, among other things. As soon as some of them saw tattoos on the shoulders of the bodies, they wept uncontrollably with some of them rolling on the ground. When Sunday Vanguard saw a woman that called herself the mother of two of the victims whose bodies were recovered, she declined comments, saying it would be awkward to grant interview on the death of her sons. She broke down in tears. Mrs. Bunmi Qudus, an elder sister of Sunkanmi and Wole Iyiola, managed to speak some words. She looked blank as her lips moved slowly. She said, “They were five in the car. They left home around 10.30pm on Saturday. They were probably coming from the club when their car fell inside the flood. They have only brought three out of the river. We have not seen the remaining two. We live at Oluwo nla in Bashorun area of the city. They came from Lagos. They didn’t know the Ibadan terrain. They were coming from the

club”. More pathetic was the case of Wole Iyiola who was said to have got married 11 days before the disaster. How would the new bride take the twist in her life”, a relation asked rhetorically? The younger sister of the deceased refused to be consoled. “Ah, you should have listened when we were warning you not to go to the club. See the grief you have caused us. How can two children of the same mother die like this? Their father died when they were young. We told them not to go out. Iyiola(dead father), it seems you are sleeping in heaven”, the sister lamented.

he then took her phone and dialed a number telling the person at the other end they had found the two victims. Dead. “Please, let me see them”. As she surged forward, other relatives standing by stopped her. While speaking on the incident, the Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Olabisi Ilobanafor, said they could only identify two of the victims. They identified the one that had tattoos on both shoulders and the other by his wristwatch. She said on Saturday, July 14, there was a downpour and at about 10.30am on Sunday, “a relative of the victims, Damilola Olasupo, informed the command that a group of five young men were on their way to the club. But, after they called them on phone, they could not contact them. They wanted to go to 411 Club but later changed their mind and went to Bubbles along Ring Road”. Continuing, she said, “On Sunday, a search party was raised. The search party found the three bodies at Dandaru and informed us. We called the State Emergency Management Agency, and the Fire Service. We have recovered the three bodies. They are Sergeant Ojo Adelusi from Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Wole Iyiola and Sunkanmi Iyiola. We are still looking for Ope and Sunday Ijebo. We will go back to where the vehicle fell into the river. It fell at Tewogbade Bridge at Bodija. We later got the vehicle at Favour Canal, Bodija”.

Bereaved mum.. lost two sons

PAGE 26—SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 22, 2012

Country News

Baby Destiny with two holes in the heart needs N2 million to live

he birth of a child brings not only joy to the immediate family but also peace in the community. For instance, in some parts of Nigeria like Igbo land, the birth of a child brings unity and settles quarrels among friends, enemies and neighbours. But when this most sought after gift comes with a price, neither the mother of the child nor the father, relations and friends can sleep with their two eyes closed. Worse still, the condition is complicated when the couple is faced with the challenge of resources to tackle the life-threatening situation. This is exactly the situation Mr & Mrs Godwin Aboh are facing. Their 15-month old baby, Destiny, is down with two large holes in the heart, a condition experts at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), say if nothing is done pretty fast, the baby may not live to celebrate his second birthday. And Destiny’s case is a bit complicated than what could be taken care of here in Nigeria. He needs N2 million for a life-saving surgery in India. Unfortunately his parents cannot afford it. The couple already had a travelling passport obtained for Destiny for possible medical trip in India last Monday when they visisted the Vanguard Corporate Head Office, Apapa, La-

gos. Sadly, securing a passport was far from the issue at stake. Where is the money? This is the one million dollar question this young couple has long been searching for an answer to four days after the birth of Destiny at Zoligan Hospital, Ajegunle, Lagos. A year and three months after, nothing substantial has been done to reduce Destiny’s

By CHIOMA OBINNA

and severe PAH. By this result, Destiny requires urgent medical attention. He cannot feed like every other child; even as essential as breast milk is to babies, he has never had a taste of it due to ill health. He only feeds on milk. His father, a contract security officer with Cardinal Security, can no longer cope with the baby’s exorbitant hospital and

It has been a tough situation for us. Only the feeding and drugs that are changed every two weeks have consumed all my life savings

suffering.. Having to take care of the baby is difficult as he cries all day. Some times he loses consciousness. It is so bad that you even think he was dead. At 15 months (a year and three months), Destiny cannot sit or play like every other child. His breathing is abnormal. He only feeds on milk. He consumes at least three tins of milk in two days. Destiny is said to have been born with a congenital heart disease. According to an echocardiogram report from LASUTH, signed by Dr. B. A Animasahun, a consultant paediatric cardiologist, the baby has large perimembranous vascular disease, VSD, with posterior upper muscular extension, moderate sized PDAL- R

feeding bills. . The mother, Anna, who confessed to have fainted when the result of the echo test was broken to her, said: “I lost consciousness immediately the news was broken to me because I know the kind of work my husband does and definitely that cannot afford the hospital bill not to talk of our feeding. “The meagre salary of my husband before now was not able to sustain us and our two other children. Our survival till this moment remains a miracle. “Since the diagnosis, we have been running from pillar to post to raise money; all we get is promises, but, according to the doctors at LASUTH, we have little time.

Baby Destiny...A battle to live “We have been to Kanu Heart Foundation where we were told that the list of awaiting patients is long and that if we want to wait, it may take two to three years before it will get to our turn. It was then we knew there was no hope. We have also been to many other Foundations but help seems not to be coming our way. Then, we decided to come to Vanguard to appeal to Nigerians to help us save the life of our son.” The husband, Godwin, continued from there. According to him, it all began like a child’s play. He told Sunday Vanguard that Destiny’s condition started the day after they were discharged after his birth. Destiny’s health condition started like fever. According to medical science, some babies are born with such congenital defects. The Aboh

Hail, West Africa’s largest round about By TONY NYONG

LL roads led to Nnung Udoe, headquarters of Ibesikpo Asutan local government recently, where Obong Victor Attah, former governor of Akwa Ibom State, hails. The occasion was the long awaited opportunity for all to bear witness to the unveiling of another wonder of the world: the largest round about in West Africa, constructed by a Chinese company, the China Civil Engineering Construction Company, CCECC, that is fast becoming a giant in road construction. President Goodluck Jonathan led some of his ministers and all the 109 senators, among other dignitaries, to the unveiling C M Y K

ceremony. And the Akwa Ibom State governor, Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio, the man behind the uncommon transformation, was on hand to reel out his efforts in the transformation and in impacting on Akwa Ibom peoples’ lives.

The19-killometres Nung Udoe - Aka dualized road is a sight to behold. The street lights lining the road give a sense of what is obtained in developed countries like the United States of America and United Kingdom. The 20-metre diametre

roundabout linking five access roads is indeed a standard quality road. President Goodluck Jonathan who has always been impressed by the level of development of the state under Akpabio was more than stunned by the type of quality road the Chinese company could construct. He said while commissioning the road that efforts at attracting the firm to the state were yielding positive results and would provide the right foundation for the vibrant economy the country needed. It is a known fact that global competitiveness in the provision of basic and quality infrastructure is hampered to a large extent by companies who do not

family was able to recognise the medical implications even though they do not have the resources to take care of the baby. Appealing to Nigerians, corporate organisations, philanthropists and the governor of his home state of Benue, Gabriel Suswam, to come to their aid, Godwin said: “It has been a tough situation for us. Only the feeding and drugs that are changed every two weeks have consumed all my life savings. “I appeal to Nigerians, corporate organisations and Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola to please save my child. I want my baby to live but how do I do it if I don’t get help? Doctors are saying that we are running out of time.” If you are touched by the story of Destiny, please contact Mr & Mrs Godwin Aboh on 08051517256 or 08057033128

deliver their projects within specified periods. The construction firm has become a leader in the road construction business in Akwa Ibom State because of its commitment to timely delivery and high quality jobs. This attitude has largely revolutionized road construction in the state. The firm reflects the desire of Akpabio to give meaning to the lives of all Akwa Ibom people and to empower them by giving the indigenes the opportunity to supply several of the raw materials. In giving supplies to indigenes of the state, the firm has empowered them to provide a livelihood for themselves and other extended relations. Akpabio has always displayed unsurpassed passion for the youths as leaders of tomorrow.

Continues on page 27

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 27

Country News

Chieftaincy tussle tears Edo community apart *I am the authentic Aidonogie – Umoru, contender to the throne Disagreement lingers over the heir to the throne of Aidonogie of South Ibie Kingdom in Etsako West Local Government of Edo State. Recently, Alhaji Kelvin Aliyu Zibiri Danesi claimed to be the Aidonogie, saying there is no controversy over the title. Prince Umoru Inusa Umoru, a chartered accountant and tax practitioner, in this interview, speaks on the genesis of the dispute surrounding the rightful heir to the Aidonogie of South- Ibie throne. Excerpts: By EBUN SOSSOU

ould you chronicle the events leading to the Aidonogie chieftaincy dispute in South-Ibie? In South Ibie, there is only one ruling House known as Okhokho Ruling House and the occupant of the chieftaincy stool/Clan Head of South Ibie referred to as the Aidonogie. The Okhokho Ruling House has two branches known as Oghiator and Danesi, from which the Aidonogie is installed. The procedure regulating the ascension to the stool is codified and it was made under section 8 of the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Edict, 1979 and entitled, “The Customary Law Regulating Succession to the Clan Head (Aidonogie) of South-Ibie”. Sections 2 and 3 of the law regulating succession to the title of the clan head provide that succession alternates between the two branches and, to qualify, one must be the el-

dest surviving son of the last clan head from the branch of the ruling house whose turn is to produce the clan head. After the death of the last Aidonogie in 1997 making the post vacant, in accordance with provisions of section three of the law, it became the turn of the Danesi branch to produce the candidate to fill the throne. The Danesi branch presented Kelvin Aliyu Danesi, who, on the account of the clear provisions of section 3, was not qualified When my father, Alhaji I M J Umoru, died in 1997, we were still organising the burial rites when we received a writ of summon from Kelvin Aliyu Danesi restraining us from installing another king from our family. After we received the summon, we proceeded to court and when judgement was to be delivered, the then military administrator, the late Navy Captain Onyearugbulem, did not understand the issues involved but nonetheless came to my

village and gave Kelvin the staff of office. We wondered why this should be, and went to court. On June 20, , 1999, Justice Coram Sadoh delivered judgement, saying Kelvin had no right to become the Aidonogie because of the law on ground. After the judgement, he went on appeal at the Appeal Court. Meanwhile, the state government had taken their decision on the matter that whatever staff of office he had received before was null and void according to the law.

hat he had no right to the throne. Then my family was asked to present someone who will occupy the throne and my late elder brother, Mr. Momodu Yinusa Umoru, was presented by the family but because Kelvin said he had gone to the Appeal Court, we waited for the judgement. When the judgement from the Appeal Court came in our favour, he went to the Supreme Court. Then there was a twist. The

Prince Umoru Inusa Umoru chieftaincy law dramatically changed. Somebody allegedly tampered with it. We went to court and Justice Komolafe Wilson delivered another ruling restraining Kelvin, as well as and the state government from recognising him as the person entitled to the throne, according to the chieftaincy law of 1979. The judge told them the law could not be tampered with. After this, Kelvin wrote to the Supreme Court that he wanted to withdraw his appeal. We went back to court on April 13, 2009 following which Justice Ighodalo of the High Court, Edo State told Kelvin that he had been told by three different courts that he should not parade himself as the leader of South- Ibie. The recent media claim that he is Aidonogie and that there is no controversy is a very good evidence to tender at the court of law that he has committed con-

tempt of court. It is worthy of note that, in 1979, the then Bendel State government reviewed all the Chieftaincy Declaration Acts in the state including that of South Ibie Kingdom and the Danesi dynasty seized the opportunity to re-establish itself as a contending party to the throne. There was a caveat though, that is, vide Clause 3 of the Act which states, “To qualify as the Aidonogie of South Ibie Kingdom, one must be the eldest surviving son of the last clan head from the branch of the ruling house whose turn it is to produce the clan head”. Between 1979 and 1997, during the reign of the first Aidonogie, HRH Alhaji I M J Umoru ‘JP’, no one challenged this law. When the Aidonogie joined his ancestors, the only person qualified in the Danesi dynasty to take over was Chief Pa Momoh Danesi who was disfranchised by the Danesi dynasty itself as too old in an affidavit dated February 2, 1998 and signed by him and members of his family. The extant law did not leave a vacuum.

or example, Section 14 (1c) of the Traditional Rulers and Chiefs Law of Edo State clearly states that in a situation like this, “…the branch next entitled according to the Declaration shall submit a qualified candidate for the Aidonogieship”. From the foregoing, therefore, it is very clear that the claim in the publication by Aliyu Kelvin Zibiri Danesi is not right. It is nothing but an attempt to stand history on the head.

WAHALA DEY-O :‘My husband denied me sex for five years’ By ADEOLA ADENUGA

housewife, Mrs. Modupe Falola, stunned Agege Grade A Customary Court when she said that her husband, Mr. Falilu Falola, denied her sex for five years. The mother of one claimed that trouble started when her husband returned from church one day and told her that she was suffering from a generational curse which she had to pray fervently about for deliverance. She added that her husband took advantage of what he heard from his prophet to treat her badly. “ I was heavily pregnant then and immediately I delivered the baby, my husband stopped having sex with me and as well stopped giving me money for the upkeep of the only child of the marriage”, the defendant in the case of divorce instituted by her husband stated. She alleged that Falilu failed to take care of her and the child and whenever her parents invited him for reconciliation, he refused to honour the invitation. In a counter position, Falola told the court that he met his enstranged wife through a close friend, saying that when his friend discussed about C M Y K

her, he told him he was not interested. He said Modupe was secretary to his friend. The petitioner claimed that he later got to know after three months that the marriage arrangement was a conspiracy between his friend and Modupe. “I would not have agreed to marry her but l had to sympathize with her when she claimed that her sister‘s husband had sent her away on the excuse that he was travelling abroad and, since we had been dating, I had to give the marriage plan a second thought,“ he said. Falilu said he regretted later when he discovered that Modupe was troublesome and always picked quarrel with neighbours. The petitioner claimed that what really gave him concern was that his wife quarrelled with

his house boy of many years, and the boy left in annoyance. Falilu vowed that even if the court paved the way for settlement, he had made up his mind not to have anything to do with her “because we are not compatible”. “ I stopped having sex with her five years ago, because of her bad behaviour; besides, Modupe is not friendly with the children l had from my previous marriage”. He urged the court to dissolve the marriage and grant him custody of the only child of the union. Meanwhile, the court president, Mr. Emmanuel Shokunle, adjourned the case till August 7, 2012 for further hearing and warned the couple to maintain absolute peace.

West Africa’s largest round about Continued from page 26 That in itself has made it possible for the youth segment to benefit from his specific attention and strategic programmes targeted at youth empowerment and development. And unlike other construction firms in the state, CCEC has, by allowing the youths the opportunity to scout

for jobs and do their supplies caused them to be proficient, uplift their standard of living, and give them the spirit of commitment to the service of the people and a desire to change the society.

28 —SUNDAY, Vanguard, JULY 22, 2012

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SUNDAY, Vanguard, JULY 22, 2012 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;29

50 happy cheers for Sina Kawonise

he Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Compass Newspaper , Adesina Kawon

With Ayo Onikoyi

08033286159

Colourful 70th birthday for Ladi Jadesimi

ise Marked his 50th Birthday with a lecture at the Conference Hotel Hall, GRA IjebuOde, Ogun state recently and the occasion turned out to be a social gathering of prominent Nigerians, which included the former governor of Ogun state, his deputy and a host of others. Photos By Wumi Akinola

r. Ladi Jadesimi, a founding Partner at Arthur Andersen Nigeria and a major in vestor in Niger Delta Oil Company celebrated his 70th birthday in Ikoyi, Lagos on Saturday 14th. His family and friends lit up the night to give him a befitting and deserving colourful birthday celebration. Many important personalities from various walks of life graced the occasion. Photos by Lamidi Bamidele

Ladi Jadesimi cutting his birthday cake

Mr. Sina Kawonise assisted by his wife

Chief Femi Asekun and his wife, Remi Mr. Ladi jadesimi, celebrant (3rd left); Mrs Aliero Jadesimi wife of the celebrant by his left and their children

Mr Ladi Jadesimi, the celebrant (left) welcoming Mr. Jonathan Long, Chairman, First City Monument Bank FCMB

From left; Prof. Bisi Showumi; Mr. Ladi Jadesimi and Prof. Bukky Ogunmekan

From left; Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Alhaja Salimot Badru, Mr. & Mrs. Sina Kawonise and their children, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and others

Guest Lecturer; Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Amb. Tokunbo Awolowo Dosunmu

Joan Agha Foundation @ one

he first anniversary of Joan Agha Foundation was held last Sunday in Lagos. The occasion which was a funfilled affair of merriment and entertainment attracted some very important personalities drawn from various walks of life. Photos by Bamidele Lamidi

L-R: Mr. Charles Agha; Dr Chioma Agha; Engineer Billy Agha; Mrs Joan Agha, Presidnet, Joan Agha Foundation and Mr. Ahmed Ikhalea C M Y K

L-R: Sir Steven Omojafor, Chairman, STB-MC CANN; Mrs Joan Agha, Presidnet of Foundation and Chief Andy Otike-Obaro, Chairman

L-R: Chief Gilbert Grant; Mr. Tunde Afolabi, MD/ CEO Amni International Petroleum and Sir Steve Omojafor

PAGE 30 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 31

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PAGE 32—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012

Advertising Quality Standard ...APCON, AAAN and the rest of us

C M Y K

requiring of peculiar usage pattern to ensure adequate awareness of how-to-use among their target users, to optimize their competitive advantages. Some campaigns are designed for this purpose. By extension, however, some educational campaigns are targeted for long term attitude change among the critical mass in a given market segment for purposes of creating the enabling environment for the introduction of a new and hitherto unfamiliar variant of a product category.

tactical reasons such as sales activation, promotion and announcement. At this point, the campaign (and indeed the marketing) objective is to MAKE-KNOWN the brand person, value offer and essence. 2. IMPROVE (D) MARKET PERFORMANCE. Marketing is about taking advantage of opportunities to drive for competitive advantage - at the market place. Therefore, research findings, at some point, suggests the need for brand information communication for purposes of either taking advantage of a particular opening or correcting a prevalent perception of a given brand among target market, considered a wrong representation of a rather true situation that should be to the brand's advantage if presented differently, to improve on the brand's performance in the market. Sometimes, the resultant gain could be qualified in terms of value or volume. When such needs are identified, the campaigns to address them are so-classified by the challenges they are to address. 3.BRAND, TRADE & CONSUMER REWARD PROMOTION. When campaign objective is to promote a given brand, it is often times related with new offer price, better or improved consumer service in terms of improved distribution network or channel expansion, introduction of new product pack and other such need to communicate relative change in the brand person to the target market for clear competitive advantage. Sometimes, such promos are designed to reward trade and/

or consumer, for their loyalty and support over a period. Such promos are also used to recruit new users, check the activities of competing brands or frustrate new (brands) entrants. 4. ( C O N S U M E R ) EDUCATION. In some rare cases, the peculiarity of some brands necessitates some form of consumer education on how-to-use, and some other reasons. In the course of

ERHAPS there is a need for us to re-iterate the mission of MC&A DIGEST, which is: to contribute towards upholding those practice values expected of advertising practice, based on the ethics of the profession, to the extent that there remain a population of practitioners (no matter how small in size) that will carry on from the past and out-going practitioners, based on the grand rules, for the good of all. We at MC&A DIGEST are committed to protecting the profession and practice of advertising from hunger, intellectual laziness, inordinate ambition, disregard for ethical standard, lack of commitment and such other compromises owing to inadequate training and experience preparatory to acceptable practice standard. In pursuit of our mission, we have been consistent in stating and restating those fundamentals in the practice of advertising (brands management, marketing communication and advertising), in the last eighteen months of our publication. We have been challenged to continually remind practitioners of the duties, roles and responsibilities of advertising. Advertising is a service requiring of careful application of peculiar skills and abilities, towards peopleinformation, enlightenment and guidance; it is a delicate application of identifiable variables for purposes of influencing the mind. It is about information management – gathering, processing, analysis and dissemination. Advertising is highly influential in the process of decision-making. Advertising practice is highly demanding of intellectual and mental engagement. Practitioners toil to add value in so many ways; they are most often cut out to live for others. What with the trouble of gathering and processing information in form of research and (strategic) planning, competitive analysis, creative planning and interpretation of research findings…the process of generating advertising products is tedious, elaborate, critical and expressive. Functionally, therefore, adverts and/or campaigns are tied to clearly identifiable objectives, namely: 1 . A W A R E N E S S GENERATION/GROWTH. As basic necessity, brands need to create and send out information for and about their selves to exist, starting from market entry/introduction to rebirth, repositioning and for

There have been times when brands have had to protect themselves against legal issues, perception or a reckless competitor

practice, one has had to develop such campaign for a brand of analgesic pain-killer and a medicated and antiseptic soap. Brands gain immensely from such efforts because if wrongly used, such brands deliver negatively on their value-essence and promise, resulting in negative consumer experience and ultimate consumer rejection. So it is imperative for brands

5. B R A N D PROTECTION. There have been times when brands have had to protect themselves against legal issues, perception or a reckless competitor. Such information could be sent in form of public announcement, infomercial or commercial. So, at some point, Panadol had to so warn “if e nor bi Panadol,…! From the profiling thus far, it is clear how important advert messages are, in respect to their functions and the role they play as communication tools. We also imagine it is by reason of this importance that the regulators took time to establish the necessary quality and ethical standard to guard against abuse or wrongful application. For this and other regulatory related purposes, the A D V E R T I S I N G PRACTITIONERS' COUNCIL of NIGERIA - APCON – was established.

or the purpose of this article, we like to also mention other related agencies and government departments here, to include: Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), National Agency For Food & Drugs Administration (NAFDAC), National Lottery Regulatory Commission and the Consumer Protection Council. Together, all of the above-listed are challenged by the common goal of protecting the public from wrong and misleading information about brands and products on offer at the market place, ensure acceptable quality standard in the production and dissemination of advert messages and uphold top-end ethical standard in advertising and marketing communication practice. Expressly stated, please see the mission of the AAAN: “AAAN SHALL seek to regulate the practice of advertising, among memberagencies towards improving standards, corporate responsibility, profitability and

knowledge; encourage symbiotic relationships among practitioners and other related sectoral bodies, in order to enhance the business environment in which WE operate, thereby strengthening the contribution of advertising to the nation's development” Please note that the emphasis on WE above is mine. Of all contained in the AAAN MS as above, our concern is on (a) regulation… and (b) strengthening the contribution of advertising to…. Readers should please deduce the importance of the duties of the other agencies and departments we listed above, from the mission statement of AAAN, in relation to the objective of ensuring acceptable standard advertising and the protection of consumers against brand/ product offering and advert messages that are capable of misleading the public.

iven the narration so far, we at MC&A DIGEST like to, on behalf of the general (consumer) public, ask the following questions: 1. Are advert messages being generated and broadcast by advertising agencies and their clients truly vetted with the objective of protecting the consumerpublic against misleading information in mind? 2. Can the offer and promo promises being made by some brands in the market today be taken as truly actionable and redeemed as promised 3. Is it true that consumers in Nigeria will become so individually powerful to be able to pick up 50kg weight with the left hand and still be so strong to leisurely do carpet hover, just by drinking (what measure of) milk a day? 4. How do we ascertain that the new variant of Panadol on offer is 5 times more powerful than the one previously offered? Hmm! We shall stop the story at this point. But we like to report, as practitioners in brands management, that the regulators have plenty of work to do, because so many of the product campaign and promo messages on parade are not sincere. Consequently, “consumer ” apathy is growing, the quality of practice is dropping aggressively and the consumer is being compromised. We rest our case!

Please Note This page is open for sponsorship and advert placement.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 33

For Nigeria’s future development, we should invest in women and children —Zainab Maina For decades, she has championed women causes, either as an activist, gender advocate, community mobilize or as a politician. Her in-depth knowledge on women development and gender equity issues were further manifested when she served as the National President of the National Council of Women’s Societies and recently, as the Director of Women Mobilization of the Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organization. In a recent chat, current Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, nevertheless lamented the cost of gender inequality and the general poor condition of women, adding that it is a major constraint to growth in the country, and stressing that investing in girls and women is an investment in Nigeria’s future development. Excerpts: BY VICTORIA OJEME Impact of inequality HE statistics of the state of the Nigerian women and adoles cent girls are appalling. Significantly, they are worrisome all over the country, North, South, East or West. Women everywhere in Nigeria have worse life chances than men. “Nigeria ’s 80.2 million women have a worse chance in life than the men; 60-79% of the rural workforce is women but men are five times more likely to own land. More than 70 % of girls and women between 20 and 29 in the North West cannot read or write and only 31% complete secondary school. Women occupy 21% of non formal sector positions and only 17 % of this in senior cadre,” she stated. According to her, Nigeria is marked by huge geographical disparities. “Human development outcomes for girls and women are worse in the North, where poverty levels are sometimes twice as high as parts of the South (72% in the North-East compared with 26% in the South-East and a national average of 54%). Nearly half of all children under five are malnourished in the North-East, compared to 22% in the South-East. Hausa girls, for example, are 35% less likely to go to school than Yoruba boys. “The impact of inequality on the lives of girls and women is reflected starkly in health and education outcomes, nationally and between North and South. Levels of gender violence are also high, notably in the South where inequality is greatest,” she said. Maina further identified women economic independence as an essential dimension of women’s empowerment, saying, “Improving their access to and control over resources increases investment in human capital, will in turn improve children’s health,

nutrition, education and future growth. “Though many women are involved in subsistence agriculture and off-farm activities, men are five times more likely than women to own land. Women own 4% of land in the North-East, and just over 10% in the South-East and South-South”, she said. The Minister advocated a reversal of the trend, insisting that, “Land ownership and land tenure give women security and provide a key to access other resources and opportunities. Inequality in formal sectors She also observed that income inequality in the formal sector is another area of concern for national gender mainstreaming, stating that only one in every three employees in the privileged non-agricultural formal sector is a woman. The Minister noted that regardless of their educational qualifications, women occupy fewer than 30% of all posts in the public sector and only 17% of senior positions. S h e

Hajiya Zainab Maina ...Girls who are educated will also contribute to future eco-

nomic growth.

The impact of inequality on the lives of girls and women is reflected starkly in health and education outcomes, nationally and between North and South suggested that the public sector could highlight and address this issue by conducting a gender audit to identify

where gender equity can be strengthened in recruitment, promotion and pay. Girl-child education The issue of Girl-Child education is another concern for the minister as she noted that for Nigeria to capitalize on the potential of its people, and ensure healthier, more educated, empowered and productive citizens, it must invest in educating the mothers of the next generation. “The evidence is irrefutable that educated women are more likely to use health services and to have fewer and better-nourished children, and their children are more likely to survive. Girls who are educated will also contribute to future economic growth. Education policy can influence parental decisions about the need to educate the girl-child”, the Minister said. The minister also noted that Nigeria has the largest number of out-of-school children in the world.

The figures, according to her, show wide disparities between States and across communities as she said, “70.8% of young women aged 20-29 in the North-West are unable to read or write compared to 9.7% in the South-East. Several reasons explain this; socio-cultural traits, poverty, early marriage, early childbirth, poor sanitation, and the shortage of female teachers.” Maternal mortality Maina lamented further that the nation has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world with one woman dying every ten minutes during delivery, “That is 545 deaths per every 100,000 successful deliveries; nearly 50% of all Nigerian women are mothers before they turn 20. She attributed this to the weak economic base of the women and their inability to access quality health care services, adding that “decisions to seek treatment may be influenced by a woman’s social position in the household, and her economic status, age, and education.” C M Y K

PAGE 34— SUNDAY

VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012

Our fears for power sector privatization —Labour …faults timing of tariff increase Amid worsening electricity supply in the country, the Federal Government on June 1, 2012, jerked up claiming it is to attract private investors into the sector. In an interview with the PresidentGeneral of Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEAC, Engineer Bede Opara, spoke about labour position, the stalled negotiation with government on severance benefits for workers of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, among others. Excerpts What is the state of negotiation between government and labour today? EGOTIATION between PHCN Labour Unions and the Federal Government started May last year and it has dragged on for so long. In some situation we may agree, but the implementations always have some issues. The stage in which we are now is the discussion of severance package as well as terminal package. The labour position is that since PHCN will be privatized to different companies and if we are to continue to work with the new owners, we must be settled of the one we have done already with PHCN so that by the time we get into those companies whom we do not know who will run it, we will have a new conditions of service or agreement with the new investors.That is where we are. The issue of the terminal benefit is where we are now and nothing has been agreed. Governments are saying that they are going to pay us maximum of one year basic salary, which means no matter the calculation, the number of weeks and the years of service an individual has rendered once it gets to your one year basic salary that is the end. At the same time, the federal governments are saying that they are not going to pay the total emolument salaries. But Labour unions, we are saying that when it comes to salary it has to be total monthly salary, not basic salary. Because basic salary is nothing compared to the other allowances. So we have not agreed on these issues. They are saying basic salaries; the unions are saying total emoluments. May be I have served for 15 years and another person worked for five years, they are saying all of us will be paid one year maximum. We have said no because there is nowhere anyone who has worked for 20 or 30 years is not short change at the end of his service. What about the issue of Pension? What government is saying about the issue of pension is that we should move to Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS and open RSA, Retirement Savings Account. But we have our scheme that is the Superannuation Fund Scheme and we are running it but unfortunately, the management of PHCN has over the years not been funding that account properly. If they have not been

funding the scheme properly it is not our business it that of the federal government because they are the one that appointed the management of the scheme. We have made some researches and discovered that the amount we will get from RSA cannot be compared to what we get now according to our condition of service. Our condition of service

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG & KUNLE KALEJAYE

Our problem is that there must be some things on ground before the adjustment takes effect. Like the number of meter, let the people have meters so that they can be sure of what they are consuming

says government has to implement it because that is our contract document with the federal government. If we have to move to RSA, talking about what the law says, funding should be proper. We must agree on the value of what you want to put into the account. These are some of the issues that are on ground which is why the condition of service must be implemented before any other digression. From your investigation, if was properly funded, what would have been accrued? By the assessment made by PHCN as at 2010, we had about N331 billion and as of today it is a different ball game. Who is driving the process of privatizing PHCN because we seem to have noticed overbearing influence of the Ministry of Power? As far as we are concerned it is the Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE that is the one driving the process. We know that the force behind BPE is the government. They have chairman of National Council of Privatisation, NCP as the vice president but the acting ingredient there is the Minister of Power. Whatever is the outcome of the negotiation, the ministry of power will be one to take the lead. But as regards the driving force what the law says is BPE that will drive it but they are only an integral part of government or an arm of government. Whenever government calls you for another round of meeting as it is now, what will be your Position? Our position has not change. It is when we get in there we will see if government has shifted ground or not. But if they have not shifted their grounds, I don’t see Labour shifting their ground.

Engineer Bede Opara What is your take on the new tariff as Nigerians believe they are simply paying for darkness? If you ask me if there is need for the adjustment of electricity tariff I will say yes. Why? We know the cost of generation or the cost of producing power is very high. Before now what the public or consumers are paying to PHCN is far less than the production of power. But our problem is that there have to be some things on ground before the adjustment takes effect. Like the number of meter, let the people have meters so that they can be sure of what they are consuming. Also the increase in power generation that

everybody is looking forward to should come so that the increment in tariff will be justifiable and that that is the angle Labour is taking in regards to the tariff increment. We believe that if power is there at least, up to 18 hours a day Nigerians will be willing to pay for the new tariff. Our members have suffered so much in the field when it comes to collection of revenue for the company. However, government assured us of every effort to be deployed to ensure that meters from NERC (Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission) told us that between now and 18 months everywhere should be properly

metered. If that is done people will find it easier to pay, but we know that Nigerians are very difficult in doing something, we know that some people will still cheat but the point is that it will be easier to catch up with people that are cheating and sanction them properly. In a nut-shell let government make effort and put the required structures down and the materials needed for this power issue to be resolved so that Nigerians can easily welcome the new tariff. The government is saying that people that are on the low consumption level, the low income people, people who are consuming below 50 unit kilowatt pair hour, their bills will be compensated by government subsidy called MYTO (Multi Year Tariff Order). Government is saying the tariff adjustment is what will attract investment in the power sector. Does it sound logical? That has been our argument. We are saying make the product available and then put your price. In the spirit of reform, Labour is not saying no to reform. But what labour said earlier was complete no to Privatisation but since government is saying that they must privatize then they have to pay us. Investors are asking if there is any future in this business but it is left for the government to assure them that there is future in the business. We are expecting government to make the product available and it is like the same condition that investors are giving the government and they are

Continues on page 35

CBN partners WAIFEM on capacity building BY UDEME CLEMENT

FTEN fundamental and far reaching policy measures are instituted by national authorities to improve the performance of specific sectors of the economy. However, poor communication of policy measures, actions of governments and regulatory agencies often result in misunderstanding, thus impeding the achievement of desired goals. To mitigate this malaise, new and revised policies must be clearly communicated and explained to the public without any form of ambiguity so as to ensure full compliance”. These were the words of the director general, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Prof. Akpan Ekpo, while delivering the keynote address, at the opening ceremony of the course on ‘Report writing skills and presentation techniques’, organised by WAIFEM in collaboration with CBN for the staff of the bank, in Lagos . He said, “The CBN’s regulatory and oversight functions demand constant and extensive internal as well as external communication. Therefore, those vested with the responsibility of discharging

these roles must master efficient communication process to enhance their report writing skills for the overall success of the bank and the sector at large. The course is designed for relevant officials in order to equip them with cutting-edge communication and report writing competence. This course is one of the series organised especially for the staff of the CBN to enhance their skills in reporting and dissemination of economic, financial and administrative information needed for daily operations in the

financial sector of the economy.” He went on, “The main objective of the course is to empower the participants with the capacity to use communication as a powerful tool for job effectiveness. The focus of the course include the use of correct grammatical structures in English language in a clear and concise manner that is related to specific purpose, audience and readership, to organise information in logical forms for both oral and written presentations and to enable participants write and present better economic, financial and administrative reports”

Director General of WAIFEM, Prof A.H Ekpo (middle) delivering his keynote address, to his immediate left is Mr Olorunshola, Head, Learning Centre, CBN Lagos, left is Mr Ousman Sowe, the course director, to the right of the DG is Prof Ebun Clarke, the Lead Facilitator and Dr Johnson Asiama, Director, Macroeconomic Management Department ,WAIFEM.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 35

FG urged to revisit maintenance hangar project BY UDEME CLEMENT

Alhaji Bello Ahmed Alkali

HE Federal Government has been advised to revisit the issue of building a modern maintenance hangar for airlines to carry out major checks within the country instead of flying abroad to incur huge overhead costs.

Government was also asked to take full charge of importation and distribution of aviation fuel, technically known as Jet A-1, which is a specialised commodity, to prevent any form of contamination. A former regional manager of Chanchangi Airline, Alhaji Bello Ahmed Alkali, gave this advice, saying that one of the major problems facing local carriers today is maintenance of aircraft. “Aside from A and B checks, other checks are done abroad. This tells so much on the over-head costs of the airlines, because they need to fly their airplanes outside the country for major maintenance. In the process, they maintain the personnel staying with the airplanes over there. These expenditures could be curtailed if we have a maintenance hangar capable of handling C and other heavier checks in Nigeria ”, Alkali, also the director of

operations, Trade Craft, added. He continued, “It is on record that few years back, a one-time aviation minister was at the point of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with one of the biggest carriers in the world to build a modern maintenance hangar in Nigeria , but the project was stepped down due to sudden change in government’s policy. I am appealing to government to revisit that issue with the seriousness it deserves. I believe with the interest of the present government in the sector, we can have such hangar built within six months in Nigeria .” On what must be done to ensure immediate acquisition of modern airplanes to satisfy the demand of passengers, he said, “the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), as a regulatory body, is in charge of technical as well as economic aspects of regulation. It should advise government and

make recommendation for operators to be assisted in getting new airplanes, like the 737-800 and 700 series. Notwithstanding, accident can still happen with new airplanes, but with modern airplanes, the passengers will be free to travel by air ”. On what government has been doing to grow the sector, he said:” Government is re-modelling the airports, which had never been done over 20 years now. The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has been repositioned to Category-One position in the world with modern equipment installed in all our airports, thereby giving pilots easy flight from destination A to B. The Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET) is also fully repositioned to compete globally by giving weather reports not only to airports and pilots, seaports and captains of ships, but also environment weather hazards

warnings. We have first class NCAA in place with professionals who underwent rigorous evaluation to earn Nigeria Category-One certification. The Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) is well funded with full capacity to train pilots, engineers, dispatchers, cabin crew and other aviation workers. With these in place, Nigeria will soon have qualified professionals to handle the industry effectively. After the Dana crash, passengers are afraid to fly. This may not be unconnected with comments made by people about the accident. That is why people ought to have waited for the outcome of the investigations before casting-aspersion. I can assure the public that the industry is fully regulated by the NCAA to ensure that all carriers maintain their airplanes according to standards, and the safest way to travel is by air.”

Our fears for power sector privatization—Labour Continued from page 34 agreeing to the investors’ terms. But for saying that the tariff must be increased before investor to come, is what do not agree to. Some have argued against the continued investment in Power since government is privatizing the sector. There is the fear that government may not be able to recoup the huge sum of money being pumped into the sector now? When government makes the market conducive for investors to come in, they should be able to recoup the amount of money they have pumped into the system. That is why we are saying there should be proper assessment of the infrastructure, what is on ground should be valued properly. For instance if PHCN in the past worth N20billion, now that a lot of investments have been made, it should now be N20bilion plus X value. The X represents the investments that have been made in the sector. From the experiences from the previous privatization exercise, are you convinced that PHCN will be better? Labour position all along has been that privatization will not give us the answer. Why? Our reason then was that we have looked at all companies privatized by BPE, they have failed. Even if BPE is claiming that about ten of them are doing well. Ten out of 100 is not a pass mark. An organization like PHCN is what they want to take into that same market where things don’t go well, we are afraid that things will not go well. That has been our position in the past and it still remains our position. If the government wants to privatized, we have told them to go ahead with but they have to settle us. Let me give you the example of Daily Times. I don’t think that company has produced any paper for people to read since privatisation. The whole edifice has become a warehouse where empty cartons by a soft drinks manufacturing company are stored. The workers that left that place what is their position, what has happened to them? The

privatization of Daily Times, has it made that place better? What is the guarantee that such a thing that happen there will not happen to PHCN? These are our arguments and we want to see that the kind of privatization that will be done in PHCN will not be that type. The power sector is such a critical sector that you cannot afford to say alright, let us close it down, let us say one year we will pick it up again. It is not possible but for other companies you can close it for one year or two before picking it up again. But we cannot afford to do such a thing in the power sector. Apart from been a worker in PHCN we are also Nigerians, so whatever affects Nigeria affects us too. Even if we are not working here whatsoever is the fallout in PHCN or any privatization that does not work out well, will touch us. We feel we own it as a duty to Nigerians to say if you must privatized, make sure it is done right and again workers must be properly settled. We do not want to go out before the government settles us. What will the role be of organized in privatized power sector? Labour will always be there and we know all things will be done to cow labour, but we will resist that with everything we have. Part of the resistance is to ensure that the kinds of people coming in to manage the transmission station are not known anti-labour employers. We were informed that Indians were coming in. We told the minister clearly “if you are bringing in Indians no matter who they are we say no.” I have to be sincere to you, the minister listened to us and it is not Indians that are coming, the people that are coming are Canadians. It is not as if Indians are not succeeding in one thing or the other but the point is anywhere we see any threat of muzzling labour we will resist it. If the investors say they do not want labour that business will fold because part of our negotiation is that labour will function freely. We have written it down and it has been adopted by the government and anybody who wants to violate it we will frustrate such a person.

Some have argued that corruption including by PHCN workers was part of brought power sector to this present lamentable state. How do you respond to this? Corruption is like a Nigerian now but it does not mean that there is no corruption elsewhere. After all, the word corruption is an English word, not a Nigerian word. So as it exits here so it also it exits elsewhere. If I say that corruption has not play any part in the current state of the power sector, it is a lie. This culture of impunity in Nigeria is so bad that when contracts are given out and they are not executed, there are no sanctions against the offenders. There are lots of contracts that have been awarded, the contractors did not perform and nobody was sanction. Now that they want to privatise the sector, what we are saying is that let it be done transparently for all to see. But where did the corruption start? What kind of government will run a sector for 20 years without building a single power station yet population is increasing the way it is increasing, development is going on? You do not need a prophet to tell that corruption played a part in what happened in the past. So a lot of what you are seeing now that the infrastructure that was built so many years is almost what we are still using before the present initiative by the present government in power and those infrastructure have been over stretched. Is there a follow up on Labour’s part to ensure that their recommendation is fully implemented by Government? We have agreed in the negotiation we are having with government that there will be an implementation committee and when there is an implementation committee government is still the chairman of the committee, labour will always have representatives there and if they don’t implement, we will always voice out. However, if PHCN generates 30,000mega watts of electricity today, there will be market for it. We have the example of NESCO

in Jos where they generate and transmit power and there is market for them to sell their product for over 80 years. I congratulate the federal government for opening up the sector so that state and local governments can built their own power plant if they have the capacity so that they can transmit and distribute. Labour as a union welcomes it because before the law was passed it went through the first and second reading in the National Assembly, we did complain. For instance, Akwa Ibom is generating 100mega watts. If all state can contribute at least 100mega watts multiply by 36, will give 3600mega watts there is no doubt that we will have enough power supply without bringing foreign investors into the country. If you add 3600 mega watts to what PHCN have that is about 3,500 we will have about 7,100mw this automatically means that we will have more than 18 hours of electricity. Private companies can make their feasibility study and make a choice of what they want to produce. If they discovered that there is coal somewhere, they can build their power there, the same goes for hydro and solar.

But government should be able to provide the enabling environment for them to operate. Also there should be a powerful regulator to enforce the laws governing the sector. Can we rely on NERC to enforce the law in the power sector? The chairman of NERC has been an activist, if he fails we will all join hands to fight him because he should be our own, he is a man of radical mind. But we don’t know his challenges because the job is enormous. What will be the place of generator importers in the whole scheme? Generator importers are not the cause of the problem in the power sector. They did not tell government not to build power stations. But there are big investors in the generator business, let them go and build their own power stations, they will still make their money. I only see generator importers like people who sell their products when there is traffic jam on the road. Those who sell their products on the road when there is traffic are not the cause of the traffic jam. In other words, they have only seen the opportunity for them to sell their products.

From left: Permanent Secretary Min of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Risikat Akiyode , Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope Adefulire, Osun State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Adetoun Adegboyega, and Special Adviser on Women Affairs, Osun State, Mrs Funso Eso Williams, during a courtesy visit and facility tour of Skills and Vocational Centers in Lagos State by Team Osun, held at Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja.PHOTO; Kehinde Gbadamosi.

PAGE 36—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012

ROFOROFO FIGHT ON ABUJA ROADS

t is drama unlimited. And it is not about to stop. Everyday in one part of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, or the other, you are bound to see a car owner or driver locked in an altercation or fisticuffs with parking attendants engaged by the FCT authorities. In less than seven months of the introduction of the FCT’s ‘park and pay’ system, Abuja residents are yet to get accustomed to the regime of having to pay for parking their vehicles. The inconveniences associated with the system are better imagined than experienced. The administration of the FCT says it needs the ‘park n pay’ system as an avenue for revenue generation; but motorists in the Abuja metropolis disagree with its mode of operations. Abuja motorists are expected to pay fees ranging from N50 to N100 to park on designated streets from 30 minutes upwards. Defaulters are slammed with N5,000 penalty. Cars are clamped (locked) and the fine is expected to be paid by those who have paid the initial money but over stayed for 20 to 30 minutes. One of the victims of the parking system, narrating his ordeal to Sunday Vanguard, said he called the telephone lines pasted on his car after C M Y K

‘Park n Pay’ is daylight robbery —Motorists his number plate had been removed for contravening the ‘park and pay’ rule more than eight times with no single response, explaining that he had to drive home without the number plates.. Another complained that the parking permit being sold by the companies is exploitative because the areas it covers are not specified in the card, and people assume that it

By Favour Nnabugwu & Caleb Ayansina

tal human rights of the people in the capital city. His words, “It was on June 12, at about 1 o’ clock in the afternoon. I had an appointment with the head of security at the NNPC, tower and I parked in the facility and a lady told me that if I was going to stay an hour, I should pay N100 and I paid N200 in case I stayed longer; after paying they gave me a ticket to

Abuja motorists are expected to pay parking fees ranging from N50 to N100 to park on designated streets from 30 minutes upwards. Defaulters are usually slammed with a N5000 penalty

covers all districts in the FCT. Chairman, Stetson Group of Companies, Mr. Steve Olaye, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, expressed displeasure about the way the FCT authorities are running the ‘park n pay’ regime, noting that it is against norms of decency and respect for the fundamen-

display it on my car and I went in for the meeting. By the time I came out of the meeting the time was about 4pm”. He continued, “I discovered that my number plates were no longer there and I made enquiries about who took the number plates and the people around said it might be that I

had spent more time than I paid for . I looked for the individual so I could pay for the extra time that I stayed but I couldn’t locate her. “Now the truth is that I had to drive my car to my house in Utako without the plate numbers with series of challenges on the way. The police pulled me over at the Berger Roundabout asking me why I was driving the vehicle without number plates and I complained to them that it was the parking attendant that took my number plates. “When I got to their office, I saw Nigerians that were subjected to unnecessary and appalling treatments. There was a guy whose number plates they took and he could not go back to Kaduna because they asked for N5,000, which he could not pay because he had only had N2,500 with him. Why should we go through the torture? “This is extortion. I lived in the US for years, you pay parking ticket; if for any reason you exceed your time you pay for the added time that you used and not the removal of your number plates. Num-

ber plates are very sensitive; they are attached to your name. If for any reason they take your number plates and commit a crime, it is you that owns the number plates that will be held responsible”. Also relaying his experience, Mr. Isaku Bulus, a staff of Magnum Insurance Brokers, said: “I went to the Federal Secretariat, Ministry of Education to be precise, and I parked there; before I left they asked me for my parking permit and I showed them they said that the one I had was not applicable to their own zone. They then requested for the permit of their own zone which I didn’t have; they gave me the one for their zone and I paid and went to the Ministry of Education. By the time I got back, my car had been clamped. “I approached the lady and I asked her, how many minutes had been used. All she said was ‘see them going’; and I ran after them pleading that they should come and unclamp and they said my time had expired; that I had to go and pay N5,000; I went back to my car and I looked at their notice and started calling the three telephone numbers there, none responded. “I had to take a drop to this place and paid N300 for the drop, after coming here, they said they could not do anything, that I had to go to the bank and pay N5000 and come back to this place; the people who are enforcing this are over doing it”. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Platimum Parking

Continues on page 37

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 37

BOKO HARAM

You know the killers of our people, former Rep tells northern leaders *Says Middle Belt has suffered enough to keep Nigeria one

former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. David Idoko, representing Ogbadibo, Okpokwu, Ado Federal constituency in Benue State, has challenged leaders in northern Nigeria to move into villages, communities and hamlets in the region to fish out the perpetrators of the bombings and killings going on in the name of Boko Haram. Idoko said the remarks credited to elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, calling on the Senate President, Senator David Mark, to resign from office for issuing a warning that Nigeria might split if the activities of Boko Haram were not checked, were uncalled for. He also decried the comments by the Arewa Consul-

tative Forum, ACF, and human rights activist, Mallam Shehu Sani, where they attacked Mark. The former lawmaker noted that the statements made by Mark in Uyo at the Senate retreat were supposed to be corrective, but people are venting venomous anger on him. “I think that is not the issue. We should look at the substance of what he has said and really see if it could help solve the problem. We have a problem and we must agree that the problem is real. We have people who are killing unarmed women and children, just throwing bombs and killing them”, he stated.

hese are things that are peculiar to us in Nigeria only in places of worship and this is not correct and I think

if people are getting sufficiently angry and they are saying leaders should please wake up and solve this prob-

By Chris Ochayi

Let us wake up, move into our communities, ask questions; let the leaders do what they should do to stop the wasting of lives

lem”. “We have leaders in our communities, we have leaders in the National Assembly, we

have leaders in the state Houses of Assembly, we have local government chairmen, these are all leaders and if you want the definition of leader, anybody whom God has given the opportunity to lead the people is a leader. “Even in your house, you are a leader and I think that, in good faith, we should wake up and ask ourselves these questions: Can we correct these things? Can the leaders do what should be done for these things to stop? In those days when a visitor - and even till today - comes to a community and he is spending more than four, five days, the community leader must be told there’s a visitor in that community. “And where I come from, Idoma land, it is difficult for the community not to know who is the odd one out in terms of acts of destruction or damage; so what the Senate President has said, I think that we must not read other meanings to it. Let us wake up, move into our communities, ask questions; let the leaders do what they should do to stop the wasting of lives. “Just like Bishop Kukah said, we can’t be dancing on wet graves, we are human beings and unless you are not a human being, people should be sufficiently angry to try to solve these problems.

Government is not supposed to fish out these people, we are supposed to point them out to government – it’s not in every village that you have the police, it’s not in every village that you have the army; there are indeed leaders whom government pays in most villages but not in every village. “There are some villages that you have heads that are not even paid by government and so what we are saying is that the leadership of the North should sit together, including us who are leaders and let us fish out who these devils are; the economy in the North is crumbling and we can’t throw our eyes the other way and pretend these things are not happening.

hey are killing our broth ers and sisters. The other issue clearly is that we must also guard our statements, if we say Nigeria is one; the people who fought for Nigeria to be one are basically the people of the Middle Belt. Where we come from in the Middle Belt, we suffered so much for the country to be one and so if the country is one, people can not afford not to allow us to talk when we see that the country is being destroyed and `frankly speaking too, we all owe each other the duty of care. “I have served the nation for eight years in the National Assembly and I think that I owe the nation a duty of care to be able to talk like a leader and, if in my place there is somebody who is planning to do any dastardly act, I should quickly point him out to government and government will pick him up.”

‘Park n Pay’ is daylight robbery — Motorists Continued from page 36 Management Services (PPMS), Otunba Olusegun Olarewaju, in defence of the ‘park and pay’ regime, stated that street parking management was in the Act that created Abuja as a Federal Capital City (FCC). Olarenwaju stated that street parking management, recently introduced by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), was to stop illegal parking in the city.

e said, “The purpose is to sanitise parking management and parking arrangement on our roads. If parking is not managed properly, manhours will be lost through illegal parking and there will be mayhem on the roads. “The pilot phase of the on street parking management, practiced in advanced cities of the world, had yielded tremendous results and would be replicated in Abuja. “What we’re trying to do is to sanitise illegal parking everywhere in the city. Look at TiC M Y K

gris, Aguiyi Ironsi, in Maitama, which had been a no-goarea in the past, you can drive through the road now within seconds. Before it used to be double parking, triple parking everywhere on the road, nobody cared, but now the area is sanitized”. The FCT administration has the support of the Senate on the ‘park n pay’ regime as the parliament charged the minister in charge of the FCT to implement the regime, saying every free space for parking must be maximally utilized to generate revenue for the FCT. The Senate President, Mr. David Mark, who gave the hint, spoke in Abuja at an interactive session between the FCT Minister and residents of the territory. The event was organized to commemorate 20 years of relocation of the seat of power from Lagos to Abuja. “For Abuja to be a model city, you must take painful decisions. I am saying this, so that those in charge of Abuja could embark on initiative, geared toward boosting internally gen-

ment, not how much the FCTA is going to make or is making from the scheme. However, I must tell you that the FCT minister mentioned at several occasions that the administration will subsidize mass transportation in the city. How are we going to get the money to subsidize mass transportation? The answer is simple – through government earnings from projects like the Park and Pay Scheme”.

Abuja road erated revenue so that they can provide the facilities that you want them to provide in the city. “The minister of Abuja should make sure that there are facilities to take care of the pressure and those trooping to Abuja because, if care is not taken, sooner than later, Abuja will be like Lagos. People have to pay for the parking space in Abuja”, he said. Giving some insight into the

idea behind the scheme, the Secretary, FCT Transportation Secretariat, Engr. Jonathan Ivoke, said the major focus was traffic management. According to him, “The scheme aims at bringing sanity to Abuja roads by checking traffic congestion in the city where people park haphazardly on the shoulders of the road and walkways meant for pedestrians. “Our target is traffic manage-

he Secretary also listed employment creation as one of the numerous benefits of the project as he said that the scheme has already provided employment for more than 500 youths, who, he said, are presently working with the two companies managing the scheme on the streets of Abuja. According to him, “Motorists who park on the parking area without a valid ticket, would attract a fine of N5,000. A similar fine would also be meted out for wrong parking on shoulders of the road, flowerbeds and walkways”.

PAGE 38—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012

ABUJA IN BRIEF By Favour Nnabugwu

Development control begins marking of 19 villages for demolition

Jumoke Akinjide dedicates salaries to the alleviation of poverty By Favour Nnabugwu

he Minister of State for Federal Capital Terri tory (FCT), Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, has established a revolving micro-credit loan valued at N10 million for members of the Oyo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The minister stated this in Ile Aperin, Oyo State during the distribution of poverty alleviation materials to PDP members across the 33 local government areas of the state. The poverty alleviation materials include: six tractors with full implements, 100 refrigerators, 100 deep freezers and 60 water pumps. She explained that the micro-credit loan and the poverty alleviation materials were part of concerted measures to empower the people and deliver dividends of democracy. “The revolving loan is part

zOlajumoke Akinjide

of the promise I made to our people last year to empower them. This money is not from government. It is an accumulation of my salaries and allowances and other personal savings in the last one year”, Akinjide said. “I want to assure you that I remain

irrevocably committed to improving the welfare of our people and will continue to do so in my own little way. Our people have to enjoy the dividends of democracy. I want to urge the beneficiaries of the revolving loan and poverty alleviation materials to utilize them judiciously” The minister enjoined members to support the PDP leadership in Oyo State in order to sustain peace and unity within the party and the South West region. She assured that the PDP would return to the mainstream politics in the state by 2015 and solicited the loyalty and cooperation of all members of the party for the realization of the goal. She reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government towards the improvement of the living standards of every Nigerian.

Turkish Airlines seeks FG’s approval to fly into Abuja, Kano By Emma Ujah, who was in Istanbul

urkish Airlines has ap plied to the Federal Government for approval to fly into Abuja and Kano. The airline already flies Istanbul-Lagos on daily basis. According to the Chief Executive Officer and President of the company, Dr. Temel Kotil, Turkish Airlines sees Nigeria as a growing market for the company’s strategic focus destinations and the additional flights into the two cities as very lucrative, with potentials to strengthen the economic ties between Nigeria and Turkey. Kotil spoke with a group of Nigerian journalists who were on a facility tour at the airlines’ headquarters and Turkish Flight Training Centre in Istanbul, Turkey’s commercial nerve centre, last week. He said his company was eager to commence daily flights into Abuja and Kano, as soon as the Federal Ministry of Aviation gives the necessary approval and signs the agreement to that effect. His words, “With its huge resources, Africa is the place to go. We want to expand our business in that continent. C M Y K

zTurkish Airlines

With her huge population and resources, we want to increase our flights to Nigeria. We want to fly into Abuja, Kano and Enugu.” According to Kotil, Turkish Airlines wants to be the strongest carrier operation connecting Africa and the rest of the World and that his country’s global geographical position gives his company a comparative advantage over its competitors in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, describing Turkey as “a cultural and economic gateway” to several nations of the world. The CEO said that Turkish Airlines is the seventh largest airline in terms of network size, flying into 161 international destinations and 34 domestic destinations, as at last month. According to him, the secret of

the airlines’ success has been superior quality at competitive costs as it has built a young fleet of 200 aircraft with an average age of 6 years. With a total of 2, 500 pilots and a cabin crew strength of 5, 500, Turkish Airlines’ boss disclosed that his organization has invested heavily on simulation facilities for the training and retraining of its pilots and cabin crew to ensure they remained on top of their jobs. Kotil said that a retraining programme has been designed for all pilots to return to the simulation cockpits every six months, saying it is compulsory for all of them to pass the training examinations before resuming flights, while the cabin crew members also return to base for retraining on a regular basis.

n preparation for the demolition of the 19 villages earmarked for demolition by the Department of Development Control of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, the department has commenced marking of the villages in phases. The villages are: Idu, Karmo-Dape, Tasha, Gwagwa, Saburi, Zauda, Jahi, Gishiri, Mabushi, Mpape, Kuchigoro, Chika, Aleita, Piwoyi, Lugbe, Pyakassa, Tudun-wada, Dei-dei and Guzape. Image maker of the department, Mrs. Josie Mudashiru, said some armed policemen sighted in front of the office were going out for the marking. According to her, “AMMC has commenced a two-month sensitisation period in the affected areas. We have commenced sensitisation programmes in Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Gwari and pidgin English in the affected areas before the demolition exercise. We have involved chiefs, youths and other stakeholders in the sensitisation programme”.

FCTA withdraws quarry

he FCT Administration has withdrawn tem porary permits given to companies involved in quarry activities in Abuja. The FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, made this disclosure at a meeting with some officials of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, AMMC. The Minister thus directed that the FCT Development Control Department gets the list of quarry operators from the Federal Capital Development Authority to effectively enforce the removal. Mohammed revealed that the FCT Development Control Department has also suspended the processing of all building plans submitted where quarry activities are on-going. The Minister disclosed that out of the list of the first batch forwarded to his office by the FCT Development Control Department among all the property seeking for re-validation, nine of such structures after undergoing integrity test have failed. He directed the Building Inspectorate Division of the FCT Development Control to invigorate action in handling the anticipated flurry of submissions by affected developers of the abandoned projects. According to him, the database created for the scheme as well as necessary information will be placed on the departmental website with photo clips to facilitate regular monitoring and update as work progresses on individual sites.

FCTA condemns NESREA over closure of construction companies

he Federal Capital Territory Administration has condemned the closure of the headquarters of some construction companies by the National Environmental Standards and Regulation Enforcement Agency, NESREA, in Abuja. The administration described the action of NESREA as wrong and a direct encroachment on issues that are strictly within the purview of the FCT which the laws recognize as a state, and warned that the administration may consider legal action to redress the confusing interpretation of the law by NESREA. Speaking through the Director of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, Isa Shuaibu, the FCT Administration said NESREA overreached itself through the closure of Julius Berger and Arab Contractors’ offices.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 39

Mr. Terence McCulley...In order for Nigeria to solve its various security challenges, whether in Niger Delta or in the North, governments at all levels, local, state or federal, need to repair that broken social contact, which will provide essential services to communities, need to become relevant again in peoples’ lives.

Public declaration of assets is a tool in accountability — US Ambassador McCulley z Says Nigeria needs holistic approach to tackle terror zEmbassy records a lot of visa fraud’

his interview with the United States Ambas sador to Nigeria, Mr. Terence McCulley was packaged in the wake of the rumpus arising from publications of the communiqué of the US-Nigerian Bi-National Commission stipulating public declaration of assets by public officers. It was as such expected that meeting with the senior American diplomat in Nigeria, that the issue would surface. There were of course many other issues. The raging insecurity threats facing northern Nigeria and issues bordering on alleged hostility of U.S consular officers to Nigerian visa applicants. Indeed the sight of scores of Nigerians lined up to face the consular officers in seeming desperation to catch their own portion of the American dream stirred the Sunday Vanguard team as it passed by through the firm but friendly security officers at the consulate. Following the security checks, the team, made up of Emmanuel Aziken, Vera Sam-Anyagafu, Prisca Sam-Duru and Joe Akintola, Photo Editor, moved in C M Y K

to meet McCulley for the interview, with a team of senior American diplomats in attendance. The envoy is a career diplomat with varied experience in Africa that spans US diplomatic missions in South Africa, Chad, Mali, Niger, Togo, Senegal and Tunisia. McCulley, before his posting to Nigeria, had served as Ambassador to Mali where he served as Chief of Mission. He was born in the heart of the US bible belt region of Medford, Oregon, and has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in European History and French Language and Literature obtained from the University of Oregon. How far would the United States and Nigeria go to ensure that the two parties uphold the framework of the Bi-National Commission tying the two countries? I think it is important to look at the Bi-National Commission as a vehicle for our bilateral dialogue and our bilateral engagements with the government of Nigeria. The BiNational Commission was established in April, 2010, signed by former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The commission

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor, Vera SamAnyagafu & Prisca Sam-Duru

We believe that transparency and accountability are essential elements in good governance. That is, indeed, a fundamental part of our conversation with the Nigerian government

set up five working groups to advance our bilateral dialogue with the government of Nigeria. One is governance transparency and integrity, another is energy and investment. Another is agriculture and food security, Niger Delta and regional security. We meet regularly to discuss our views on all these issues, how we can help build our bilateral relationship and advance our common goals. We met in June in Washington. It was a sort of stock taking exercise, two years on to see where we are. It was the highest level of the Bi-National Commission that we have conducted with the government of

Nigeria. Our side was led by our Deputy Secretary of States Bill Barnes and the Nigerian side was led by the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Ashiru. It was attended by numerous governors, senior officials across the Nigerian government as well as civil society and the private sector.

o, we looked at each area. On the issue of security, how can we work together to build Nigeria’s capacity to address a variety of security challenges that the country is facing? On energy and investment, how can we work together to ensure a level playing field for foreign investors, how can we work together to ensure that the Petroleum Industry Bill is passed in a manner that reflects equity for all stakeholders, both Nigerian and foreign oil companies? In agriculture, how can we support the government’s transformation agriculture agenda where food and agriculture is a business and where are the opportunities for American investors? We did not hold the Niger Delta Working Group meeting but we are holding that in Abuja later in August. So it’s really a vehicle for high level dialogue to build on the excellent bi-lateral relationship that we have with the government and people of Nigeria. On the issue of transparency in governance in the framework of the bi-national commission, are you satisfied with the issue of public declaration of assets on the part of Nigerian government officials? We believe that transparency and accountability are essential elements in good governance. That is, indeed, a fundamental part of our conversation with the Nigerian government. In the run up to Nigeria’s historic 2011 elections, that was very much the theme of the conversation we had and our actions in support of the Nigerian civil society, in support of INEC to build a capacity through technical

assistance to engage with Nigerian senior leadership to press for credible and fair elections. So, that transparency in governance and integrity working group will be a vehicle to help advance good governance agenda and encourage greater accountability and transparency.

ince Nigeria’s historic elections, we have continued that conversation. Certainly, we believe that good governance is intimately linked to security. In order for Nigeria to solve its various security challenges, whether in Niger Delta or in the North, governments at all levels, local, state or federal, need to repair that broken social contact, which will provide essential services to communities, need to become relevant again in peoples’ lives. That will form a very important part of our bilateral dialogue with Nigeria. Does the debate on the public declaration of assets by Nigeria government officials interest you? Actually, this is a Nigerian issue. We are friends and partners. As in Nigeria, in United States, declaration of assets is very much part of our political culture. Virtually every senior government official must make an annual declaration of assets. I make an annual declaration of assets. We believe that it is an important part in providing accountability and assurance for those who are placed in positions of public responsibility. So, from the American experience, we believe it is an effective tool and it certainly promotes transparency. I think this is, debate that Nigerians will have to resolve by themselves.

ow is the United States responding to the transformation agenda of the Jonathan administration? President Jonathan, when he came into office in May 2011, advanced a very ambitious agen-

Continues on page 40

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Nigeria needs holistic approach to tackle terror

Mr. Terence McCulley...We have been frankly disappointed that that the opportunities provided by AGOA has not been fully tapped

da, in agriculture, in power and we believe that it is important for progress to be made in these areas, to put Nigeria where it wants or needs to be. So, in agriculture, for instance, we are looking at how we can help provide technical assistance to farmers, how we can attract American investments to the agriculture sector. After all, it is 42% of GDP and most Nigerian farmers are subsistence farmers. I think that the Honourable Minister Adesina is correct that we need to look at agriculture as a business and if the conditions are right, if there is a lot of transparency, I think it will interest Americans to invest in that sector. In the power sector, we had an energy trade mission that came to Nigeria this year with American companies who are looking to invest in Nigeria’s power sector in support of efforts to provide electricity across this country. We were talking with some people a couple of days ago and I noted that Times Square in New York consumes more electricity than is produced in Nigeria in a year. So clearly, there is a lot of work to be done and I think there is interest by US companies. Last November, we had a visit from the CEO of US Export-Import Bank who signed a $1.5 billion MOU with the Ministry of Power to support purchase of American goods and services in the power sector. US administration officials have over time sought to promote civic rights including the rights of homosexuals. But seeing the culture gap with Africa in this area, to what extent would you tie technical assistance programmes to the enactment of rights of homosexuals? President Obama and Secretary

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Clinton have made it clear that we support the rights of LGBTs, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender. It is an important part of our foreign policy agenda. We believe it is a fundamental human right and we believe that it is not a question of culture, it’s a question of rights for all human beings. We have not made explicit link as Prime Minister Cameron (of the United Kingdom) did between aid and respect for human rights but it is certainly going to be an important part of our conversation and, in fact, we engaged, a couple of months ago, with the National Assembly when the bill that was before the parliament which was to put a ban on same sex marriage, and appeared also to make consensual behavior criminal and even coming together

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We think there are many more opportunities for Nigerian business people to export to the United States, to take advantage of one of the most generous trade regimes that the world has ever seen.

to advocate for LGBT rights criminal. We said same sex marriage is a controversial issue in the US as well, it has been left as a matter for the states to decide. In some states, it is permitted; in some states it is banned. Congress has passed the Defence of Marriage Act which says that marriage is between a man and a woman. But we said basically, it’s up to the states.

association, to criminalise consensual acts between consenting adults, you are getting at fundamental human rights and, in fact, it is contrary to international conventions to which Nigeria is a party to. We see it really as a basic human right and not a culture issue. And this is a conversation we are going to continue to be having. We recognise that it is an issue which is difficult here in Nigeria and also in Africa. Have you made an assessment of the impact of the African Growth and Opportunities Act, AGOA ,on business with Nigeria? We have been frankly disappointed that Nigeria business has not taken advantage of AGOA to the extent we had hoped. 99.55 percent of Nigeria’s export to US is crude oil, that’s 0.45% for the rest, cocoa, cassava and other items. It is not a lot. We think there are many more opportunities for Nigerian business people to export to the United States, to take advantage of one of the most generous trade regimes that the world has ever seen. While we said we will welcome increased Nigerian exports to the United States, I was taken by the comments your Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi made when he said ‘we have a market of over 160 million people; if we can diversify our economy, we have a huge internal market, so we do not necessarily need to export.’ But we will welcome increased Nigerian export to the United States under AGOA, we will also welcome a Ni-

ut that’s a conversation that Nigerians need to have. But our point is that by appearing to place limits on freedom of

gerian economy which is more transparent, which is more diverse, which is going to create opportunities for Nigerian business people to sell goods within Nigeria and also create opportunities for American investors to come in and invest in the country. Has the commercial section of the embassy identified constraints that made AGOA not to be effective in Nigeria? I think there are a number of factors. If you are looking at agricultural products, we have very strict sanitary regulations just as the

European Union. I don’t think that they are insurmountable. When I was Ambassador to Mali, I saw Malian mango farmers successfully export mangoes to Holland which has equally strict sanitary regulations. So, I think that it’s a matter of understanding, of getting information. It is a matter of understanding the US market and looking at where the opportunities are and certainly our commercial section here in Lagos and economic office in the embassy in Abuja is open to providing information about where the opportunities may be and helping Nigerian business people understand our rules and regulations which will allow them extend their market to the United States. So you were in Mali? Yes. Is the US administration concerned about the influence of Al-Queda in the Magreb which has taken over a substantial portion of that country? It’s a fact that I am no longer Ambassador to Mali but, looking at that from the Nigerian perspective, we have been very impressed as usual with the Nigerian role within the ECOWAS in responding to the crisis in Mali. I think we are all concerned about the establishment of an Islamist enclave in northern Mali, particularly with the fall of Gaddafi, you have an influx of weapons from Libya. When I was in Mali, we heard and read stories in the press of the socalled Nigerian Taliban or Boko Haram travelling into northern Mali for training. Yes, obviously, we are concerned that what is going on in northern Mali could have destabilising effect on the entire region which could provide a haven for those who wish to do obvious harm, to train. We are worried about potential links between extremists in northern Nigeria and extremists beyond Nigerian borders.

o, yes I think we have a right to be concerned about it. We have been very supportive of the ECOWAS’ efforts to redress the situation, to deploy an ECOWAS force to Bamako to help stabilize the transitional government of President Traore to allow that government to feel safe, to begin to restructure the Malian security forces and to initiate a dialogue with the elements of the Tuaregian insurgences, notably the MNLA, towards achieving a political solution to what is going on in Mali now and deny operational space to

extremists who wish to do us harm. So you believe in some measure of dialogue with Islamist groups? Well, I think it is important to differentiate between AQIM which is an Al-queda affiliated group which has kidnapped and killed westerners, which has attacked the UN in Algeria, which has perpetrated acts of barbarity and Tuareg insurgents who continue to express the moderate Malian version of Islam and really have no problem with Tuaregs. Given concerns in the United States about the deployment of troops toAfghanistan, would the US be ready to deploy troops to help ECOWAS quell the insurgency? Absolutely not. That’s not on the table. We believe and have been very been very supportive of what ECOWAS has been doing since the outbreak of the crisis in Mali and Guinea Bissau. We believe this is an African issue and must be solved by Africans with the support of international partners and friends like the United States. We are certainly prepared to provide capacity to ECOWAS to help plan an eventual deployment. I know that we and France have got a lot of things and will be prepared to provide logistical support but this is a job for ECOWAS with the support of its international partners. There no question of US troops participating. What then is the essence of AFRICOM, the African Central Command of the US Army? There is a lot of misunderstanding about what AFRICOM is and what AFRICOM is not. I know that when the command stood up in 2005, there was somehow (claims) that America was going to establish a command on the African continent for whatever purpose .There has been a lot of misinformation. AFRICOM is a unified command which is merely a continuation of what the United States has been doing on the African continent for 50 years. Prior to the establishment of AFRICOM, our engagement with the African continent was divided between the European Command, the Pacific Command and the Central Command. It made no sense. Africa is one continent and we decided that as we partner with Africa’s military to provide technical system, build capacity, it is more reasonable to do it with one command that has its sole focus on Africa and that is why AFRICOM was created. But it was really a continuation of the kind of joint exercise, training we’ve been doing since African countries achieved independence.

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The poor husband, the rich wife and Boko Haram(2) BY FEMI FANI-KAYODE VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF A nation divided on ethnic and religious lines.

nd just as he takes ex ception to what I have said here about the Is-

lamists that seek to spread global jihad, I also take equally strong exception to the fact that literally hundreds of thousands of my fellow southern, Middle-Belt and northern Christian brothers and sisters have been killed by Muslim fundamentalists and Islamists in northern Nigeria over the last 50 years for no just cause. The innocent blood of those people cries to God in heaven for vengeance up till today and it gets louder and louder by the day. Boko Haram have said publicly that they want Sharia criminal law and an Islamic fundamentalist state, where no western education is to be permitted, to be established in all the northern states of Nigeria before they stop killing and bombing innocent people and spreading terror. Yet the truth is that that will never happen as long as Nigeria remains a secular state. And if Nigeria ever stops being a secular state, then we will simply break it up and go our separate ways. It is as simple as that. No-one wants a full blown religious war but nei-

ther will we run away if it is foisted on us. For how long can the people of the south sit by idly and watch silently as their own kith and kin that reside in the North and their northern minority Christian brothers and sisters are subjected to nothing less than genocide and mass murder from the most ruthless and barbaric terrorist organisation that this country has ever known. Yet I believe that there is still hope and that a war can still be avoided. That hope lies in the speedy convocation of a Sovereign National Conference. That, in my view, is the only vehicle that can provide a lasting solution to the monumental challenges that we are facing in our country today, including the scourge of Boko Haram. I say this because, whether we like to admit it or not, Nigeria is more divided today on ethnic and religious lines than it has ever been since our independence in 1960. We should iron out all these issues at such a conference once and for all. These religious clashes and killings feature in the northern part of Nigeria alone and hardly in the south. In the south-west where I come from, the Christians, the Muslims and the traditional worshippers are one and we treat each other with love, respect, understanding and sensitivity. We do not kill ourselves on account of our religious differences and we will not allow anyone to con-

taminate us, separate us or come between us. That is simply our way and clearly many from other parts of Nigeria and indeed the rest of the world have a lot to learn from us. I have been actively involved in the struggle against internal colonialism and religious bigotry since 1990 when I first entered the murky and dangerous waters of partisan politics. My position then, as it is today, is as follows- if Nigeria cannot be built on a foundation of equality, equity and fairness for ALL her people, whether they be Christian, Muslim, pagan, northern, Middle-Belter or southern, then we should reject the concept of a united Nigeria and we should begin to renegotiate the terms of our union. The truth is that there is absolutely nothing that is sacrosanct about the unity of the Nigerian state. As a matter of fact, there has been an intellectual and perfectly respectable school of thought since 1914 when Nigeria was created that it was an ‘’unworkable union’’ and a ‘’cruel joke’’. Lord Frederick Lugard’s vision, and indeed his intention, when he recommended the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates of Nigeria in 1914 was ably described and enunciated by his own very words when he said that the northern protectorate of Nigeria could be described as the ‘’poor husband’’ whilst the southern protectorate could be described as the ‘’rich wife’’. He

then pronounced the ‘’permanency ’’ of our forced union by saying- ‘’today we marry the two and our prayer is that this union lasts forever ’’. That is how the north and the south got ‘’married’’ and that is how the famous amalgamation of 1914 came about. The problem was that the two young spouses were never asked by their British masters whether they actually wanted to stay together, let alone get married. Worst still, the ‘’poor husband’’ was never

VIEWPOINT

If Nigeria ever stops being a secular state, then we will simply break it up and go our separate ways. It is as simple as that

given the opportunity to court, woo or propose to the ‘’rich wife’’. What a marriage. To make matters worse, the two spouses came from different worlds, had different backgrounds, had a different religion, had a different history and

had a different world-view . Today, the ‘’rich wife’’ and the ‘’poor husband’’ have suffered immensely in each other ’s loving arms. We fought a brutal and avoidable three year civil war from 1967 in which we killed no less than two million of our own people. Since1960, the story has been more or less the same and the tales of tragedy and woe have just continued to pour in. If it is not genocide, mass killings or sectarian butchery by groups like Boko Haram, then it is always something else. Yet today’s barbarism and mass killings are far more horrendous than ever and are far better planned, funded, orchestrated and executed by those that are behind them. The question is how much longer can the ‘’rich wife’’ and the ‘’poor husband’’ give and take this sort of thing from one another? For how long can the centre hold before the voices of reason and restraint are drowned by the compulsive and uncontrollable desire for reprisals and revenge? For how long can mere hope and fervent prayer prevent the dogs of war from being unleashed? May God save Nigeria. Concluded

* Fani-Kayode was the former spokesman to President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Minister of Culture and Tourism and former Minister of Aviation.

Undemocratically honoring a democrat BY RASHEED OJIKUTU

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF More questions than answers on the renaming of UNILAG after Chief MKO Abiola.

HE Jonathan administra tion, on Tuesday, May 29, 2012, again did the right thing at a wrong time and in a wrong manner by renaming the University of Lagos after the winner and president-elect in the 1993 general elections in Nigeria. The action was like a good intention laden with faulty implementation. This is similar to the political misjudgment of January 1, 2012 when the same government inadvertently announced the deregulation of the downstream sector without recourse to the major stakeholders in that industry, thereby acting a “kill-joy” to the masses of our people who, for one day out of 365 days, decided to scout for happiness where there is none. To them, it suffice to ‘dance’ for at least being alive. The consequences of such governmental indiscretion resulted in the almost total shut down of the Nigerian economy while it lasted. Similarly, the rechristening of the University of Lagos at a time when the community is in a

mourning mood over the expiration of its Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adetokunbo Babatunde Sofoluwe, speaks volume of the inner-working of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. The action, which exhibits sheer insensitivity and sadism on the part of the administration, is a clear indication of dishonor to the memory of the Vice-Chancellor who was still lying in the morgue as a result of cardiovascular accident which he suffered on active duty. It was as if the statement the Federal Government was making to the community is that “the name of the University of Lagos should die with the Vice-Chancellor ”. But for the great love students and staff have for the peace loving, amiable gentleman, the burial plans would have been truncated by protests. The main contention in this case is the illegality and the somewhat arbitrariness of the action of the government on the renaming of the University of Lagos as Moshood Abiola University. Although, amended a couple of times (for example, it was amended on 8th day of March 1967 and in 1975), The Lagos University Act, under the title, “Constitution and Functions of the University and its Constituent Bodies”, states as follows: “As from the appointed day the University established by the University of Lagos Act 1962 ( hereafter in this decree referred to as the 1962 Act) shall be a body

corporate by the name of the University of Lagos hereafter in this Decree referred to as ‘ the University’) and shall be constituted in accordance with the provisions of this Decree. There is nowhere in the act, where the ‘Visitor to the University’ is directly or remotely given the power to change the name of the University. Without prejudice to the law profession, to which I am not a member, it is clear from the afore-

VIEWPOINT

amendment. We should also find out what the constitution says about proactive action before a law is enacted. Can the president act contrary to the law of the nation and later make submission to the National Assembly for an amendment to cover his track? These are questions begging for immediate answer. The law of a nation is sacrosanct and supreme and no individual, no matter how highly placed, should raise the stake of

There is nowhere in the act, where the ‘Visitor to the University’ is directly or remotely given the power to change the name of the University

mentioned that the power of the president is strictly restricted to the execution and maintenance of laws made by the National Assembly. Therefore, the action of Jonathan as contained in his pronouncements of March 29, 2012 amount to usurpation of the powers not granted to him by law. It is in this regard that public servants who are saddled with the responsibilities of execution of orders of the Presidency should tarry, lest they would be committing illegality if they tamper with the name of the University of Lagos as contained in the Act setting it up without appropriate

personal judgment beyond the statute of the community. The president and his government should realize that subjectivity and despotism ruins a nation. Another question is, “Does the Jonathan administration itself believes that Moshood Abiola won the 1993 election? One does not have to labor profusely to answer the question as the ‘double tone’ in Jonathan’s broadcast speaks for itself. Unless the government of Jonathan is frolicsome, then it should be assumed that the phrase “presumed winner of the 1993 election” tagged on Abiola in Jonathan’s address

to the nation is not accidental. Unfortunately, without the acceptance of the fact that Abiola was the legitimate winner of that election, then the ‘honor ’ bestowed on him would be pointless and trivial. Unlike the Presidency, the University of Lagos community is tenacious in their resolve that Moshood Kashimawo Abiola deserves a national monument in his honor but the quarrel is with the subversion of the constitutional provisions and the secrecy that attended the whole exercise. Let it be clear that “there is so much attached to a name”. A nation where the name of a fifty year old university changes overnight without amendment to the law setting it up cannot be an investor’s haven. The world is watching through the binocular of public protests and government reactions to them. Does it occur to us that most Nigerian universities are struggling because of this arbitrariness that has been our bane for years? Without stability, our universities will continue to dwindle in fortune. No wonder that there is a wide gulf between what the Nigerian universities are doing at the moment and what they are capable of doing.

Ojikutu, a professor, is of the Faculty of Business Administration, University of Lagos, ladiojikutu@yahoo.com, rojikutu@unilag.edu.ng.

Contribution of not more than 1,200 words should be sent to sundayvanguard@yahoo.com

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Testimonies Galore At Open Heavens Gallery By SAM EYOBOKA

ESTIMONIES have continued to be the lot of numerous visitors, Christians and non-Christians, to the Open Heavens International Centre at the Redemption Camp of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, which houses a very unique gallery/library. Barely a year after the conversion of Pastor Enoch Adeboye's first residence to a gallery/library, where serious-minded brethren who desire to meet the revered spiritual leader one-onone are given an opportunity to travel the path he (Adeboye) traversed, the place has played host to thousands of worshippers wishing to pray. Pastor Yusuf Olayiwola from Katsina who visited the gallery said: "The grace of God on Pastor and Pastor (Mrs.) Adeboye has been inspirational and challenging. It is a great privilege to be related to such a great icon." Dr. Remi Sogunro narrated how he laid three requests before the LORD at Daddy G.O's Prayer Room and the first request was granted instantly, while the second was granted days later and answer to the third came few weeks later. Rhema Ufuomaoghene Akalamudo, a JSS I student, amongst many other visitors, was healed of a sprained waist after praying in the Prayer Room. Last year July, the matriarch of the church, Pastor (Mrs.) Folu Adeboye had a vision to convert their first house in the camp, where they jointly fought against wet floors, wild animals, reptiles, and other pr-

incipalities and powers, into a place where tourists to the camp can practically appreciate Pastor Adeboye’s spiritual voyage. That was how the gallery, a video pictorial journey of Pastor Adeboye, was born on July 6, 2011. Situated on 1, Holiness Road in the camp, the gallery gives a vivid description of how God has used the man of God to impact this generation. It contains the basic things the first family used when they first moved into the Redemption Camp from their modest home in Mushin, Lagos—a conference room where the guest is made welcome by the G.O. himself on video and prayed for; Life and Times, a pictorial documentary profile of the G.O's life and times from birth to academia; from the academia to ministry, The Gallery, a long aisle of photo gallery; Mummy's Room; a recast of Mummy's Room as it once was (without a bed); Daddy's Room---a recast of Daddy's Room the way it was when they first moved in to the camp; Prayer Closet--G.O's prayer closet where earnest and fervent prayers were uttered and answers received. The guest is then chaperoned through G.O's Library where he/she has a first hand peep into the shelves to see Daddy's favourite books, resource and relics, his authored books; Daddy G.O's 70th Birthday Room which presents an enciting montage of childhood, ministry, family and academic photographs, his sporting materials like the boxing gloves. Finally the Souvenir Shop

*The new ultra-modern Open Heavens Centre housing the Gallery and Library on Holiness Road.

*The Bed used by Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye and his wife, Folu, when they first moved to the Redemption Camp. It's part of the Open Heavens Gallery. showing G.O's published books, bibles, Open Heavens Devotional, Gift items such as T-shirts, calendars, brochures, memorabilia, mugs, T-cups, flasks, ball pens, face caps etc. One of the unique features of the library is that there are, at least, two volumes of the Holy Qu'ran and the private sermon notes of the General Overseer dating back to 1998. At a recent dawn first anniversary ceremony, the RCCG matriach used the occasion to thank all those who had contributed to the realisation of

L-R: Pastor Deolu Adeboye, Pastor Uche Almona, Pastor (Mrs.) Folu Adeboye, Pastor Dapo Fisayo and General Manager of Open Heavens Gallery/Library, Mrs. Doyin Omojola cutting the first anniversary cake.

the dream, stating that over N60 million was spent on the project aimed principally at drawing people closer to God. According to her, there had been challenges "but because of the name that covers the place---Open Heavens---we have overcome all upstacles," noting that some individuals who pirated the annual devotional were recently arrested and dealt with in accordance with the nation's laws. She revealed that over 140,000 copies of this year's edition of the devotional were

still in the stores because of the activities of pirates. Pastor Adeboye who acknowledged that his first year as general overseer was very challenging, said he had several encounters while in the then swampy house, adding "It is the house of Power." According to him, the only lesson he had learnt in life is that the only friend one can trust 100 per cent is God, adding "He is my ultimate role model." Curator, Femi Adisa said the gallery is open to the public every day except Sundays.

rather than wait for white collar jobs that are no whewre to be found. In his words: “The government should do something about unemployment and alleviate poverty in the county. It is so disheartening seeing the army of unemployed graduates in the country." Chairman of dedication committee, Dr. Kayode Roberts said the foundation of the project was laid by former president of Nigeria, Chief

Olusegun Obasanjo seven years ago, pointing out that event would run for eight days. Theme: “Celebrating God’s Glory.” The activities, according to him, include crossover and dedication service, concert, symposium, teenagers & children’s talent show, prayer chain, praise night which will be led by Dr. Ron Kenoly, BigB, Tim Godfrey & Citadel of Praise and the grand finale on Sunday with a thanksgiving service, dedication and love feast.

Ron Kenoly to grace Baptist Church dedication

ESIDENT pastor of Ikoyi Baptist Church, Rev. Abayomi Lawal has called on the Federal Government to evolve new strategies to confront the unabating security challenges facing the country, reports OLAYINKA LATONA. Briefing newsmen in preparation for a dedication of new sanctuary scheduled for today, the cleric stated that the Church is worried about the spate bombings, destruction of

lives and property in some parts of the country. He urged the Federal Government to develop the political will to fish out the brains behind the spate of insecurity in the country, adding that those perpetrating the evils are not ghosts, but human and that such people should be brought to justice. He said: “President Goodluck Jonathan has not done enough to stem the growing trend of terrorism in the coun-

try; warning that the killings could lead to a religious war if something drastic is done urgently.” Lawal also urged government to put in place policies that would open up avenues for youth employment. He also advised religious bodies and other corporate organisations as well as public spirited individuals to establish vocational centres and train the youths on various skills to make stand as entrepreneurs

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INSECURITY:

Ademowo, Okotie, Osu enjoin FG to wake up

THE DYNAMICS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD (1)

N the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord. However, everything he saw was the antithesis of what is regularly proclaimed in the churches. Everything he saw was the complete opposite of what is esteemed in the world. What Isaiah saw was remarkably different from what obtains in Nigeria. Isaiah turned to God in consternation: “Surely, this is not what you want me to tell the people. Nobody will believe this report.” (Isaiah 53:1). Who indeed believes the report that Jesus, the Messiah, lacks the vainglories of this world? Abominations But we need to believe the report of Isaiah if we are to embrace the peculiar glories of the kingdom of God. God said to Isaiah: “Tell my people to prepare the way of the Lord.” In order to do that, we must have a radically new mindset. Every valley in our lives must be exalted; every mountain and hill must be brought low; the crooked places must be made straight and the rough places smooth; then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. (Isaiah 40:4-5). If we would like to know the ways of the Lord, we must be prepared to ignore virtually all the values we have learnt from the world. Jesus says; “What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15). Does that mean my university degree is an abomination to God? Yes, indeed! Does it me-an my expensive yacht is an a b o m i n a t i o n ? Ye s , indeed! Does it mean my mansion in Banana Island is an abominat-ion? Yes, indeed! Think of anything the world esteems; from the biggest church building in the world in Otta, Nigeria no less; to our very own 49th most influential man in the world according to Newsweek magaC M Y K

Jesus had to be an ugly man; that his beauty may be exclusively divine zine. According to Jesus, God not only disregards such accolades, he absolutely hates them. They are abomination in his eyes. “‘For My thou-ghts are not your thoug-hts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” (Isaiah 55:89). Diametric opposites The ways of God are diametrically opposite to the ways of men. Christians need to understand this once and for all. If men think something is black, God is going to consider it to be white. If men think something is good, God is likely to consider it to be bad. If men think something is beautiful, God is likely to consider it to be ugly. Think of a man who comes from a very good home and has a very good background. His parents are socialites and he is born into inherited wealth. Know one thing for sure; God is less than impressed with him. That is why Jesus was born in a manger and of very poor parentage. Jesus’ parents were so poor they could not afford to offer a lamb as sacrifice for a male child that opened the womb, according to the law. So they offered the poor man’s substitute: a pair of turtledoves. (Leviticus 12:8). Think of a man who was born in one of our great metropolis: the city of Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Kano or Jos. One thing is for certain: God is less than impressed. That is why Jesus was born in a nondescript place like Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2). Jesus grew up in obscurity. He lived not in a major city like Jerusalem, but in Nazareth; a town not even

on the map. Therefore, someone asked disparagingly: “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Deceitfulness of riches Think of a man with companies at home and abroad. He has houses in every state capital and in choice locations all over the world. He has a fleet of cars and his own jetplanes. My sister, is that not the kind of husband you would like? Know this for sure: God is less than impressed. The Lord says: “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey.’” (Matthew 21:5). Daughter of Zion, Jesus was not husband-material. He did not drive around in a Mercedes-Jeep, but on a donkey. He did not even build his own house. Instead, he said: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Matthew 8:20). Think of a woman of great and dazzling beauty. Our very own Agbani Darego easily comes to mind. She blazed the trail as Nigeria’s first Miss World; for a season the acclaimed most beautiful woman in the world. But if we were to seek God’s opinion, he would consider her beauty to be ugly. That is why Jesus had to be an ugly man; that his beauty may be exclusively divine. Isaiah says Jesus was ugly: “He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” (Isaiah 53:2). However, because Jesus was ugly according to the values of this world, he was handsome according to the values of the kingdom of God. The beauty of the Lord is the beauty of holiness. (2 Chronicles 20:21). His beauty is the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit that is of great

BY SAM EYOBOKA & OLAYINKA LATONA

price in the eyes of the Lord. (I Peter 3:4). Disadvantageous advantages Think of a man with all the educational qualifications you can imagine. He may be our very own Chike Obi; or our highfalutin Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka. Know this for certain, God is not impressed with him at all. That is why Jesus did not go to school. He did not go to university. He did not have a doctorate. He was not a Professor Emeritus. He did not even go to the local theological seminary. Nevertheless, he had wisdom from on high: “And the Jews marveled, saying, ‘How does this Man know letters, having never studied?’” (John 7:15). Every advantage in the world is a disadvant-age in the kingdom of God; and every disadv-antage is an advanta-ge. Therefore, in the kingdom, the way up is down. In order to enter, we must be born again. (John 3:3-5). In order to see, we have to be blind. (John 9:39). In order to be full, we have to hun-ger. (Luke 6:21). In order to gain, we have to lose. (Matthew 13:4446). In order to be rich, we have to be poor. (1 Samuel 2:7). In order to be strong, we have to be weak. (Judges 7:2-7). In order to be masters, we have to be slaves. (Matthew 20:25-28). The elder must serve the younger. (Genesis 25: 23). In order to laugh, we have to weep. (Luke 6: 21). In order to enter into glory, we have to endure suffering. (Luke 24:25-26). In order to be healed, we have to be sick. (Luke 5:31). In order to live, we have to die. (John 12:24). In or-der to save our life, we have to lose it. (Matthew 16:25). In order to be first, we have to be last. (Matthew 19:30). These are the kingdom dynamics presented in the person and doctrine of Jesus.

MINENT Christian religious leaders, the Dean of Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and the Archbishop of Ecclesiastical Province of Lagos, Most Rev. Ephraim Ademo-wo, founder, Household of God, Rev. Chris Okotie and Lagos Archdiocesan director of Social Communications, Rev. Monsignor Gabriel Osu have decried the deplorable state of insecurity in the country, urging the Goodluck Jonathan Administration to wake from its slumber and arrest the dangerous trend. The clerics spoke at the heels of the latest violent uprising in Jos, which led to death of a serving senator and a Plateau State House leader who were attending the funeral of some 50 innocent Nigerians who were killed at a pastor’s house a day earlier. In an interview, the Anglican archbishop said the nation’s leaders “should just wake up from their slumber and do something. How can they just be there and allow people to be slaughtered like this? There should be action, not even tomorrow, but now.”

ccording to him, the security situation in the country has grown from bad to worse where innocent Christians are apprehensive of what would happen at the approach of every Sunday, adding “we have to pray more and then we have to be our brother’s keeper.” Continuing, Ademowo enjoined fellow Christians in the country to extend a hand of fellowship to the brethren in the North who are bearing the brunt of the unholy hardship unleashed upon them by the activities of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram. “It’s not for us to just stay there. We must be security conscious,” he appealed, pointing out that there is relative peace in Lagos State where the state governor, Mr. Raji Babatunde Fashola recently invited religious leaders, traditional rulers and other stakeholders to discuss how Lagosians can live together peacefully in spite of religious and tribal differences. Asked if he was satisfied with the Federal Government's handling of the security situation, Ademowo said the government needed to tinker with its machinery, because “the way things are going, a lot of people are frustrated. “I think the Federal Government needs to put in more efforts. The Federal Government is just crawling and crawling. How can people be dying like chicken and the Federal Government is there and is not doing anything. It’s very painful; very very painful,” he lamented. In his own reaction, Osu told our reporter that a nation without security cannot claim to be an investment destination, calling on the Federal Government to wake up and guarantee the security of life and property of the people.

ccording to the Catholic spokesman, where the government fails to ensure security of lives there should be no point hanging there, because “the nation is tired of Police telling us they will fish out the culprits. There would be no sermon by Christian preachers that can assuage the anger of Christian youths in the northern part of the country.” Continuing, Osu said Nigerians can no longer be fooled by empty promises of getting to the root of the matter even when the killing goes on unchecked, noting that the new NSA had told the nation that he had the telephone numbers of the perpetrators, asking ‘is that what we want at this moment?’ Responding to the development, Rev. Okotie condemned the attack in Jos, saying: “This brazen assault is unacceptable and we can no longer tolerate it.” He warned that the Federal Government must do something urgent about the incessant attacks on innocent citizens in the North before it gets out of hand.

PAGE 48 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012

chimeena@yahoo.com

Map Media holds Fashion VS Music show BY PRISCA SAM-DURU

One of the cultural performances at the event.

The Village Headmaster as Olusola goes home I

t was on a Monday, the first work ing day of the week. And as expected many people would be busy in their offices or in their business places. But this day was different as the turn out recorded at the carnival Panorama, a cultural fiesta involving arts, culture and the media practitioners organised by the Lagos culture community in honour of an outstanding art patron, culture colossus, ace broadcaster and creator of the popular Television drama, The Village Headmaster, Late Ambassador Solomon Olusegun Olusola who passed on recently at 77 was a clear testimony of the fact that it is always good to be good. Though it started in a lighter mood with few dignitaries present around by 10.00am take off time for the event, and within that time what was in the mind of many was whether it was how the Lagos art and culture community which Olusola represented in many occasions would honour him. But that feeling of apprehension gave way later in the day as prominent Nigerians from all walks of life took their seats at the Banquet Hall of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos to be part of the memorial farewell. The late Segun Olusola was a culture icon who put his footprints in the sand of time. He was actively involved in the promotion of the rich cultural heritage of his people, a humanitarian that defended the case of the oppressed, little wonder then that he was respected and loved by all who came in contact with him.

he event took off at the open field with a procession led by the cultural troupe of the NTN clad in national colour and other kids who went round the field with songs and C M Y K

cultural display. After that, they settled at the open field for an open-air musical jamboree where the few dignitaries that came early to pay respect to the cultural icon were entertained with cultural performances by masqueraders and theatre troupes, popular musicians of different genres and comedians before moving to the banquet hall of the theatre where there were plethora of performances by different groups. On the way to the hall, the guest were welcomed with a mat carpet session as against the usual red

BY JAPHET ALAKAM

bers of the Village Headmaster cast. Also present were members of the Olusola family and members of the Igbo speaking community in Lagos led by Eze John Nwosu, Eze Ndi Igbo of Mushin.

he set was specially designed in a special way to suit the celebration for the big masquerade and as expected there were rich display of cultural heritages by associations, guilds, and selected groups and individuals featuring drama, dance, music, comedy, literature and media. They include those by Funmi Odusolu, the National Troupe of Nigeria who thrilled the audience with many dances, a music presentation by Queen Sheeba from Ibadan, Lagos State Council for Arts and Culture, another wonderful high life presentation by Funkadelic Agidigbo Band from Isale Eko, a special performance by Laffomonia, led by Hafiz Oyetoro popularly called Saka who thrilled the audience with a comedy about the life of the late Olusola. There were also the Mmanwu masquerade from Imo State that gave the audience a bit of performance from the Eastern heartland, but of all the presentation, the one that drew more applause was the performance by Oba Gbenga , the royal father who is also a culture man demonstrated through song, story telling and music that an old man does not become tired in the music that he knew. Other highlights of the package include; a plethora of tributes by the people and a film show directed by Tunde Kelani’s Mainframe Productions.

The late Segun Olusola was a culture icon who put his footprints in the sand of time

carpet by others and as they walked on it, they were greeted with the craft exhibition showcasing variety of crafts, carved works, books, art paraphernalia, fashion accessories and affordable art items by the National Council Art and Craft. Right inside the hall were notable Nigerians who came to pay respect to the great culture man, they include; Oba Gbenga G.Sonuga, the Fadesewa of Simara, Fatai Rolling Dollar, Orits Wiliki, Newton Jibunor, Frank Okonta, Prince Yemisi Shyllon, who chaired the occasion, Tunde Babawale of CBBAC, Demas Nwoko, Ahmed Yerima, Benson Idonije, Ben Tomoloju, Orlando Julius, Kabir Yusuf, GM of National Theatre, Martin Adaji of NTN, Dejumo Lewis, Femi Robinson, Larry Williams, Melvin Obringo and other living mem-

n a bid to meet the demands of the ever-evolving and competitive entertainment industry, MAP Media Consult, a talent management firm in Lagos, is organizing an event tagged, “Fashion VS Music” a stage and platform for young designers and artistes to showcase fresh talents that the nation is endowed with. According to the CEO, Map Media Consult, Mr. Temitope Longe, the Maiden Edition which holds later this month, featuring artistes such as Engager, Sledge, Isaac Geralds, Ekeng Bassey, Simi and designers like O’milua, Dadu Bajo, Jewelry house, Hauz of Beca, Laj Clothing and many more, is expected to define the meeting point between fashion and the music industry with the concept of renewing and restructuring the entertainment industry. Longe disclosed that the talent show, is borne out of the need to appreciate the creativity and uniqueness of young fashion designers and musicians who do not have the opportunity or platform to showcase their talent to the public.

e said it is disappointing that just a few designers and labels are known and thriving in the Nigerian fashion industry which exposes the fact that many raw talents lay untapped especially among the younger generation due to a lack of support for them to display their creative works. “Fashion VS Music is here to recognize the hard work of fresh talents waiting to be celebrated. We have crafted this platform for young creative minds to explore and show what they have to the world” he declared, emphasizing that, “We are not talking about people who are at their peak but young and vibrant acts who would be taking our generation to the next level” The show also aims at discovering talented designers who would compete favourably with their international counterparts currently making waves like Deola Sagoe, Calvin Klein, Gianni Versace as well as other fashion giants across the world. Longe also regretted that as vibrant as the music industry is, many talented artistes have not had a taste of fame or stardom due to lack of funds and support to foster their budding musical career, but expressed optimism that Fashion VS Music would be providing the audience, the stage and relevant exposure needed to facilitate their career. It is interesting however that top organizations and media outfits such as Nigezie, LG, Brand Edge, House of Oba, Charvet Nigeria Limited, Select Pro Cosmetics and Body Products, Montaigne AH Limited, Jara, Running Visions Limited, Rumon Services Limited, Glaxo Smithkline and many others have indicated interest to support the show.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 49

BY PRISCA SAM-DURU

CUL TURE CULTURE

HE just concluded 2 nd Toyin Falola Annual International Conference(TOFAC), organized by the Ibadan Cultural Studies Group, in collaboration with the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC), saw scholars, identifying vibrant entrepreneurship, infrastructural, technological developments, zero tolerance to corruption, poverty reduction, greener economic, as factors which would serve as catalyst to reviving Nigeria and Africa. The four day conference held in Lagos, with theme, “Cultures, Identities, Nationalities and Modernities in Africa and the African Diaspora”, had in attendance, scholars, intellectuals, cultural icons and experts within Africa and the African Diaspora. who discussed on possible way out of challenges facing Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. Profs Toyin Falola in whose honour the annual international conference was instituted and BO Oloruntimehin, as well as Michael Vickers from UK, Timothy Stapleton from Canada and Barbara Harlow from USA who were the keynote speakers and Prof. Bessie House Soremekun from Indiana University who was the plenary lecturer, were among the distinguished persons that graced the occasion. The Minister for Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, chief Edem Duke who declared the conference open, noted its timeliness because according to him, issues which the conference identified and addressed were relevant especially considering the urgency in establishing workable solutions to the teaming challenges presently rocking Nigeria and Africa as a whole. He said the conference was designed as a global platform of academic tradition for intellectuals, researchers and students alike in order to tackle cultural issues as identified in the theme of the conference, adding that it would afford them the

At CBAAC’s forum, scholars discuss road map for Africa’s growth

Pastor Tunde Babawale, DG, CBAAC addressing auidence. opportunity to chart policies that would aid global efforts aimed at global peace building.

ccording to him, “As an endur ing legacy in honour of professor Toyin Falola, a distinguished scholar and teacher of African and African American History, this effort should be sustained to outlive him”, stressing that the conference should be instituted in honour of distinguished individuals who would remain committed to fostering the growth and development of their society. The plenary session speaker, who is also the founding Executive Director of Centre for Global Entrepreneurship and sustainable Development, Indiana University, Prof. Bessie House Soremekun posited that a solid and vibrant

The Minister for Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, chief Edem Duke who declared the conference open, noted its timeliness

entrepreneurship development is a major factor in moving the continent forward. She described the concept of Africa Diaspora as an articulate effort aimed at promoting the political struggle of the African people both home and abroad noting that it is not

Duke charges agencies on life changing programmes

INISTER of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, has charged Heads of Agencies under his Ministry to pursue projects and programmes that will have direct impact on Nigerians and transform their lives. The Minister gave the charge in Abuja during a meeting with Senior Management Staff of the Ministry and Chief Executive Officers of parastatals in the Ministry. Chief Edem Duke reminded Heads of parastatals of the targets set for the culture and tourism sector in the Vision 20: 2020 of the Federal Government which include a 10% annual growth rate in tourists’ arrival at Nigerian airports and land borders from 2010; increased contribution of tourism to the GDP from 2.5 % in 2007

to 5% by 2013; increase in number of registered hotels in Nigeria from 1,700 in 2008 to 2, 500 by 2013; development of 5 tourism clusters for Nigeria by 2013, training of additional 10,000 tourism and hospitality workers by 2013, development of a two-day entry visa processing procedure for Nigerian Embassies; increase the contribution of cultural industries from 2% in 2007 to 70% by 2013; generation of 2 billion naira annually from Nigerian theatre and carnival from 2010 and generation of a minimum of $100 million in craft exports by 2013 etc he Minister said while the Ministry and its agencies have been active in T recent times, a lot still needs to be done to achieve set objectives: “ There is no doubt

that we have carried out a lot of activities in the Ministry since I assumed office, but I suspect that we have not performed as well as we ought to. Our current level of performance which measures how we are executing our mandate, in my opinion, begs for improvement. Put differently, we cannot easily point to the measurable impact which a lot of activities that have been carried out in the sector have on the citizenry.” He therefore charged them, as technocrats and experts, to fashion out modalities for deepening the implementation of President Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda which is basically aimed at making tangible impact on the lives of all Nigerians. In attendance were Heads of NCAC, CBAAC, NIHOTOUR, NTDC, NGA, NOA, National Troupe of Nigeria, while Heads of NCMM , National Theatre and NICO were represented.

a recent creation but a concept that is never completed. Prof Soremekun further suggested the establishment of Diaspora Development Fund for infrastructural a n d entrepreneurship developments especially at the

rural communities. he Director General of CBAAC, Prof. Tunde Babawale in his contribution, revealed that the Centre had employed strategies such as hosting lectures, seminars, workshops, symposia and exhibitions to achieve its statutory objectives, which are to promote public interest in understanding and appreciation of Black and African arts and culture by placing emphasis on the contributions of Black and African people to world’s civilization. “Our decision to collaborate, organize and host this conference is one of the ways by which we direct public attention to matters of concern to Black and African people across the world”, He said. He however noted that the socioeconomic engagement of the people across the globe has continued to be defined and re-defined by change, evident in varying transitions, transnational boundaries adjustments and re-adjustments, wars fought and won in addition to new technological discoveries. He however regretted that in the midst of these realities, African continent had failed to optimize its benefits and potentials to the development of the people.

Fashola, Akinjide, others for LASU student’s book launch

Culture and parastatal heads with minister of tourism, Chief Edem Duke at the meeting.

LL roads lead to the Ojo campus of Lagos State University (L ASU),Tuesday, July 24 as Chinedu Ihenetu-Geoffrey, a Part V Law student of the institution, presents his book to the public. Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, senior members of the Nigerian Bar, among other dignitaries from all walks of life, are expected to grace the presentation of the book, titled: “Power of Advo-

cacy: A Moot Guide for Global Law Students”. Chief Richard Akinjide, Lawal Pedro, Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Tunde Fagbohunlu, Dr. Koyinsola Ajayi, Professor Adesanya, Dele Adesina, Norrison Quakers, Tunde Ajibade and Gani-Adetola Kaseem are some of the Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) who would be available to appraise Ihenetu-Geoffrey’s intellectual work, among others.

PAGE 50—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012

In brief Governor Adams Oshiomhole worked for his second mandate

C M Y K

Gov Oshiomhole

The Oshiomhole 'mystique' By Simon Ebegbulem, Benin City I knew why this state was ran aground by successive governments”, therefore he vowed to end the romance and be a man of his own. After the ACN lawmakers took over the leadership of the House having won some of the seats through the court,

hen Comrade A d a m s Oshiomhole assumed duties as governor of Edo State in November 13, 2008, after the Appeal Court in Benin sacked, on November 12, 2008, the then Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government led by Prof. Osarhiemen Osunbor, there was this anxiety amongst his supporters as to whether he will be able to replicate his achievements as a two-time President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the governance of the state. Having felt the pulse of the people when he took over the reigns of government, Oshiomhole promised the people of Edo three things: To end god fatherism in the state, provide infrastructure and stop all forms of levies in the markets and motor parks. Very smart of him you will say. The reason was that at the time he came in, the people were already fed up with the leadership of the PDP in Edo and their style of governance. The people saw the PDP as elitist promoted by a cabal and had no connection with the common man. Therefore Oshiomhole immediately endeared himself to the people by his persistent attacks on the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, who is generally seen as the symbol of the PDP in the state. Though he initially tried to work with the PDP leaders by appointing three commissioners from the party, the romance with Anenih went sour when the PDP leader was said to have opposed Oshiomhole’s first budget when the PDP House of Assembly then, led by Zakawanu Garuba, Anenih’s associate, refused to approve the budget. In order to resolve the brouhaha, Anenih invited Oshiomhole and the then leadership of the House to Abuja but Oshiomhole came back to Benin worse than when he was dealing with only the lawmakers. He lamented that all the laudable projects he promised the masses of Edo were removed from the budget by Anenih. According to Oshiomhole, “I wept after I left his parlour, that was how

districts, firing from all cylinders. He gained more support in his war against god fatherism in Edo and that was the main reason, the PDP leaders particularly from Edo South dumped the party for the ACN. He identified the problems of the people and vowed to solve them. For instance, in Edo Central, the people had not had water since after the one provided

Oshiomhole’s unique style of leadership in Edo endeared him to the people and it was not surprising that he won in all the 18 local government Councils in the state

the governor and his god son in the House, Philip Shauibu, plotted the fall of the PDP leadership in the House and, in a Gestapo manner, Zakawanu was removed and Bright Omokhodion, from Edo Central, who defected to the ACN few hours before the coup, became the Speaker. After that, Oshiomhole was able to get approval to pay the state counterpart funding of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme and other bills which had been hanging were passed.

e then commenced his developmental projects in the three senatorial

those days by Chief Anthony Enahoro went into comatose. His government provided Dango drilling machines and deployed them there; today the people are celebrating it. In Edo South, he identified the problem of erosion and flooding. He felt that despite the fact that Benin City is known as an ancient one, there is serious need to modernize it, particularly since it is the home of the revered Oba of Benin so that any tourist that visited will appreciate both the cultural heritage of the kingdom and the beauty of the city. Consequently, he commenced the beautification of Benin

City. As a matter of fact, the revered Benin monarch was so appreciative of his effort that he suggested that even if it means breaking part of the palace fence to make the project a reality, he would not mind. Oshiomhole also commenced the multi billion Benin Water Storm project which will cost the state N30 billion. Today, even though the project is yet to be completed, the people of Edo have started feeling the impact as you hardly see flooding in areas like Five Junction, Teachers House and Tom Line areas when it rains. And while Oshiomhole was putting solid infrastructure in place, he was equally harvesting PDP members into the ACN. Oshiomhole’s unique style of leadership in Edo endeared him to the people and it was not surprising that he won in all the 18 local government Councils in the state. Unlike other leaders who may prefer to confine themselves to the luxury of their offices, Oshiomhole sometimes escapes from the Government House without his security aides having knowledge of his whereabouts.

hey will eventually find him either in beer parlours chatting and having a drink with commercial motor cycle riders (Okada) and youths or at the market with

market women. He prefers feeling the pulse of the people directly than getting information from a third party. And once he does that, you will see multitude of people escorting him back to Government House with praises. Crime reduced drastically in Edo since he came in because he was able to cage all the guys people described as trouble makers in town. He brought them together with good counseling that they could have decent jobs outside crime. And he gave them alternatives to life; as a matter of fact, unlike many other governors, Oshiomhole can attend birthdays or naming ceremonies irrespective of your status without feeling like a governor. He once received knocks from the PDP on this issue when they described him as the Master of Ceremony in any gathering. He demystified governance in the state to the chagrin of the elite. One aspect of governance that is always difficult for any governor is managing the running of the state and party leadership. But he has successfully managed that. Oshiomhole will not give a party leader contract that will be detrimental to the people and he will as well explain to the leader why he refused but rather will look for another means to settle the person concerned.

nd, at the end of the day, it will be a win-win situation even when you don’t get what you want from him and you will also notice that the party leader will understand his position and stuck with him even though some may describe him as being too stingy and autocratic in that regard. The governor cheerfully explained while in a relax mood: “I know that some of my party leaders and commissioners are not happy because I don’t give them contracts, but the truth is that when people like Ibori and other governors are being paraded by the EFCC, did you see any commissioner or any party leader with them? No. So since I am the only one that will carry the cross, I have to make sure that I award contract to reputable contractors so that I will not be embarrassed and I have no apologies about that”. His explanation on this particularly day elicited loud laughter from the friends around.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012,PAGE 51

Never again will the forces of darkness take over Edo â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Oshiomhole After his last weekend victory at the Edo State governorship election, Governor Adams Oshiomhole addressed the people of the state in a live press conference. He gave reasons why he was hard on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the early hours of penultimate Saturday. He also gave an insight on how his second tenure will look like, his relationship with the former Chairman Board of Trustee of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih and other issues. Excerpts:

Victory is for Edo people thank the Almighty God for not only blessing my candidature, He also created a cool environment, moderate sunshine such that no one had excuse not to come out and vote. And immediately after the election, God brought the rain to come and cool the environment. To God be the glory that I have the honour to be re-elected along with my deputy. I also believe that the event has also shown that men with little minds can plot violence but God can neutralize all of that. I want to express my condolence to the families of the policemen and INEC ad-hoc staff who died when their boat capsized around Ologbo area. My heart goes for the families. The government of Edo State will support them to ensure that their families do not lack. I congratulate the people of Edo for, perhaps for the first time, expressed their choice for the office of the governor without the usual snatching of ballot boxes and thuggery that characterized previous elections, particularly the ones of 2007 and even 2003. The large turn out of voters shows that the people appreciate that there is no alternative to democracy. This victory is truly theirs because, in a genuine democracy, the people are actually the winners to the extent that the person declared is a reflection of the popular will. The task now is for us to build on these gains and ensure that never again will any one who is not elected or any one who is not the free choice of the people be proclaimed by any one for any elective position not only in Edo but through out the country.

Why I attacked INEC At the commencement of the poll, I made a statement about my impression with the way

the election was going on. I was very hard on INEC because I felt and I remain convinced that INEC cannot be excused for not being able to deliver polling materials at a time provided by themselves, 8 a.m.. And given the fact that this was just one state election and with all the assurances we were given and knowing fully well that the materials were delivered from CBN to INEC office mid day on Thursday, there is no justifiable reason why INEC failed the people of Edo South to deliver voting materials on time. I believe that the Resident Electoral Commissioner, I believe he demonstrated uncommon quality of leadership, even under tension he maintained his cool. I have no doubt in my

By Simon Ebegbulem

the prime target particularly Oredo, Ikpoba Okahi and Egor Local Government Areas which constitute the heart of Benin City. The calculation was that when you delay the supply of materials in these areas, given the population, many of the people may not be able to vote. Now it is unacceptable and there can be no justifiable reason for INEC will be able to deliver election materials to Edo Central and part of Edo North, such that accreditation started at 8am. If they can deliver election materials to local governments two hours away from Benin City, how can you explain that you cannot deliver election materials within Benin including polling units that are five or ten minutes drive from INEC office. And in some cases the materials did not get

The challenge however is that in the course of trying to ensure effective supervision of the election, some of the people posted to Edo are people who cannot be considered as fit

mind that he conducted himself very responsibly. The challenge however is that in the course of trying to ensure effective supervision of the election, some of the people posted to Edo are people who cannot be considered as fit and proper persons to be entrusted with any sensitive national assignment that requires uprightness and a level of integrity. We had information which I passed to Prof. Jega in a petition over six weeks ago to the effect that there was a deal between some elements in INEC and one of the political parties in Edo to delay the delivery of election materials to polling booths on election day. And in that letter I detailed that Edo South was

to these local governments up to 12noon. We also complained to Prof. Jega part of the plans to mutilate voters register to create confusion on election day; again this aspect played out in some parts of Benin City.

he confusion at Garrick Memorial voting center, which incidentally is the very voting point of the PDP, where they had more names in the so-called addendum register over and above the names contained in the register that was displayed to the political parties is another issue. The document was doctored by an element in INEC. The confusion at New Era voting center, where a register that

Gov Oshiomhole...Sweet victory was unknown to the people was the one that was delivered is yet another issue, so for about two to three hours, there was confusion in that polling unit. Again that was an rror of the heart not of the head. Thank God that at the end of the day every thing went smoothly but if you look at the total number of registered voters and the total number of votes cast, you will know that the delay to supply materials to Edo South substantially reduced the number of people that wanted to vote. So I believe that on INEC official was responsible for the delay and it is in line with his character. And I want to appeal to Prof.Jega to save his own name by not deploying corrupt INEC officials to conduct elections no matter where the pressure is coming from. He must understand that whatever INEC does or fail to do, in the final analysis, the buck stops at his desk. He must bear the full responsibility of the conduct of any INEC official. And I ask him to investigate why within Benin City, what led to the delay such that within Benin City where the materials are, for three hours, materials were not delivered and yet the same materials were delivered in some parts of Edo North and through out Edo Central so that he will give appropriate sanctions to those who tried to disenfranchise people from

Edo South. And those local governments are the most populated in Edo. Kudos Oba of Benin, others et me say that I am proud of the NYSC members, as well as students from UNIBEN and Auchi Polytechnic who were appointed as ad-hoc staff. From the report I received across the state, I believe they conducted themselves very well. So I want to congratulate the REC here and the leadership he provided. I believe that the outcome of this election is significant in many ways because, for the first time, Edo people across the three senatorial districts spoke in unison. The result shows that I won in all the 18 local government areas decisively. I believe that all the efforts by some persons to whip up ethnic sentiments have been rebuked by the good people of Edo State. And I believe this will go a long way in shaping the character of our future election. No one will contest election purely on the basis of ethnic sentiment. The Edo electorate has shown that merit alone will determine their pattern of voting and indeed that their votes is not for the highest bidder. If it were for the highest bidder, some of those who lost their polling units, given the amount of money they spent, if you divide it by the number of votes they got in their polling units, it will

PAGE 52—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012

SUNDAY TRAVELOGUE TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO:

Basking in the majesty and allure of nature dollars. The Piarco International Airport, any day, is a beauty to behold. It would be criminal to compare it to what we have presently in Lagos. Though Nigeria’s airports are being restructured and renovated, most frequent travellers still believe that the final product of the turnaround-maintenance may still not match international standards.

MAP OF TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

HE date was June 20, 2012. The mission was this year ’s congress of International Press Institute, IPI, holding in the Caribbean dualisland nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Although this was neither my first visit to the Caribbean nor South America, the mere thought of the trip still set my adrenaline surging. It quickened my pulse. It raised my expectations to fever pitch. Why? This is because I had only learnt of the twin cities in my geography lessons in secondary school. And widely travelled as one has been privileged to be, I had never gone beyond the realm of fantasy as far as Trinidad and Tobago was concerned. My excitement beggared description in the final minutes to the commencement of the journey that will take us, first, to Houston, Texas, in the United States, then, to our final destination. When our United Airlines airbus finally took off from the Murtala Mohamed International Airport, Lagos, on the first leg of our journey, I metaphorically walked on air. “America, here we come!” I intoned. At last, I was fulfilling a dream of over four decades. I took special interest in Trinidad and Tobago during my years in the secondary school. The stories from this historical land had always made me long for a visit. We flew 13 hours, nonstop, through the coast of West Africa and over the frightful Bermuda triangle into George Bush International Airport in Houston. I had a delay of over eight hours before connecting the only daily flight by the United Airlines to Trinidad. The flight took another six hours. By the time we landed at Piarco International Airport in Trinidad, I had spent a staggering 27 hours in transit! In the bosom of T&T After the rigorous airport clearance by the Homeland Security officials at Houston Airport, I headed for my transit

gate to Trinidad and Tobago. Now, are you planning your first trip ever to Trinidad, through the United States? Prime your mind to rigorous check at the point of entry. You would be scientifically screened; your luggage would be thoroughly scrutinized. The process of retrieving baggage was made rigorous with repeated security checks. At the ‘C’ checkpoint, some Nigerian women had a hell of a time as the security officials intercepted some Nigerian foodstuffs they were carrying like garri, fried meat, pepper, fruits-all items said to have been banned for importation into the United States by travellers. If you hold more than $10,000, you must declared this in writing in a form, perhaps as a routine measure against money laundering. In this regard, information supplied must be accurate as any false

BY FOLU OLAMITI, who was in the Caribbean twin cities

had always felt that the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, is an old structure, which ought to have been pulled down for a world-class replacement. Officials of the IPI, Trinidad local chapter, were on hand to make participants’ journey to their hotel enjoyable. The twin islands are blessed with an abundance of natural resources. That perhaps explains the reason they remain the most keenly contested colonial territories in history. Apart from the tourism sector that enjoys priority attention as complement to the national economy, the country also takes pleasure in its industrial base, which is hinged on oil and natural gas resources. The Hyatt Hotel, which hosted the IPI congress and accommodated 80 percent of the participants, is situated right opposite the deep-water harbour that has the capacity to accommodate cruise ships. Behind the hotel is the seat of government called the Parliament Building. The Prime Minister and her cabinet have their offices at the building. The Republic runs a parliamentary system of government where the Head of

The festival of colour, like its parallels in Nigeria, unites the varied ethnicities and cultures that define the dual-island nation

declaration could prompt security operatives to seize your money and initiate a process of prosecution against you. Ignorance is not an excuse. So, you must familiarize yourself with the immigration laws of the United States before embarking on your trip. As I learnt, the authorities in that land had been super security conscious since the days of 9/11. Finally,I flew out of Houston for a six hour flight to Port Of Spain in Trinidad and landed at Piarco International Airport. I made my way out of the beautiful airport and later took an AT&T SIM Card to enable me make urgent calls within and outside the country. It was then I realized that a US dollar is equivalent to 60 Trinidad

State is the President, but the executive powers are vested in the Prime Minister. E s t i m a t e d population of this twin country is 1.3 million, with 55,000 residing in Tobago. The ethnic mix consists of 40.3 percent of east Indian descent, 39.5 percent African, mixed-18.4 percent, European0.6 percent, while the Chinese and other nationals constitute 1.2 percent.

Picturesque airport, et al One striking feature I noticed at the arrival hall of the airport was the steel band, which has made the Trinidad and Tobago famous. The people see the steel pan as their national instrument, invented as a gift to the world. Invented in the 20th century the steel pan is made by turning the

bottoms of steel oil drums. There has been a yearly steel band festival that attracts music lovers from across the country and outside. I took a trip down the Island of Trinidad, visited the Aspire caves and climbed to the top of the island through a snake-like road to the top of the hill and got a fantastic panoramic view of Trinidad. Owing to the tight programme at the IPI congress, there was little for sightseeing. Work competed keenly with necessity for relaxation. Loud in Tobago owever, trip to this beautiful country will be incomplete if you don’t visit Tobago, which is just 20 minutes by air and two hours by fast boat. The after-congress tour of Tobago on June 27,2012 included the newly elected IPI chair, a woman named Galina Sidorova. The flight actually took us 15 minutes with a Dash 8 propeller plane. The Island is serene and regales in its age of innocence. Seemingly un-violated. It is not as cosmopolitan as Trinidad, yet, its colonial history, its marine activities and good rustic cuisine all make it the favourite of many visitors from across the world. The tour took us to the island, submerged by an undulating hill with alluring green vegetation and Atlantic Ocean with captivating beaches. The coast of Tobago has numerous vantage points with canons (war relics) on the beach sites of oil forts. Many of the smaller forts were built from timber and survive only in name, but those visible include Fort Milford with Crown Point Hotel; Rocky Point with its view over Mount Irvine Bay and Fort Bennett which protects the easterly entrance to the famous Turtle Beach.

ur tourist guide told us that the early settlers arrived from Britain, France and Holland and built homes. Most of the great houses, he said, were long gone, no thanks to the ravages by termites and hurricane disaster recorded in 1963. We learnt that Tobago was once famous for sugar plantation where men and women of African descents worked as slaves. The relics of the plantation showed us that sugar has always been a king commodity in that part of the world. The first exports occurred in 1770 with 37 factories in operation. Part of our tourist package was a boat ride on the deep blue ocean. The ocean, we were told, is safe for swimming. Some of us took a dive with life jackets into the warm sea. It was refreshing for me to watch the divers satisfy their passion from the boat. I thought that even with a jacket, I would never have been able to dive into the waters as fear of drowning gripped me. All Trinidad and Tobago beaches are publicly operated. Some were made to serve the interest of visitors. We were strictly advised to stick to public beaches with tour guides on the ground in order to avoid untoward experience. We were later taken on a guided tour of Tobago Museum where history of the transformation of the small Island into a paradise city was well documented.

This year, August specifically, the twin islands country will be celebrating its 50th Independent Anniversary. You can feel frenetic preparations everywhere. The occasion is expected to be celebrated throughout the country with calypso music and steel bands adding values to the events.

Soca carnival Like Brazil, like most Caribbean and South American cities, cultural carnivals are serious business, as they say, in Trinidad and Tobago. For instance, and according to travelnet.com, during such carnivals Soca music reverberates in the streets. Like spirit-possessed beings, beautiful damsels in bikini gyrate and shake sexily to the rhythmic sounds from steel bands and other musical sources. The carnivals spice a season of cultural celebrations that bury the sordid history of slavery and indenture. The festival of colour, like its parallels in Nigeria, unites the varied ethnicities and cultures that define the dual-island nation. They all converge in love, in food, in music and dance to lift one another to a seventhlevel of ecstasy. This is Trinidad and Tobago-islands of pleasure. Cities with surfeit of natural and nocturnal attractions. Please, don’t ask me to give details. Seeing, as they say, is believing. Suffice it to say that you can never have a dull moment in this dual-island nation. Not with its azure sky, its deep blue sea, personable and very hospitable citizens, and cuisines that make your palate salivate long after you have returned home. Indeed, if you love adventure, if your are fun loving, Trinidad and Tobago is the place to visit. It is a tourist destination you can’t ignore, despite its security challenges. Postscript t is possible to conclude that a country of 1.3 million people would be crime free. Far from it! The number of armed policemen on the streets suggests that all is not well in the country. Every government building had large presence of gun-totting policemen. In fact, participants at the IPI congress were shocked at the farewell Gala Night when the master of ceremony, before the arrival of the Prime Minister, announced to delegates not to panic if any attack occurred, disclosing that there were six marked escaped routes at the Prime Minister residence to guarantee safety. The announcement jolted everyone, just as my friend, Malam Garba Shehu gave me a frightening look. I got the message. He was with his wife and his teenage son. But God waved all forms of evil away from the arena. Indeed, plainclothe securitymen detailed for the event overwhelmed the guests. That speaks volume. It is a way of concluding that Nigeria is not the only country that is groaning under the pang of terrorism. Nothing best explains this than the large presence of men in uniform on the streets, churches, mosques, public buildings and even private residences in Trinidad and Tobago. The world indeed is under the siege of terrorism!

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 22, 2012, PAGE 53

Spirit of love

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54 — SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNLY 22 , 2012

Falconets face Ghana in warm-up N IGERIA female U20 team, the Falconets, will take on their Ghanaian counterparts in two World Cup warm-ups

Turkish move excites Uche S

UPER Eagles mid fielder Kalu Uche is excited to join newly promoted Turkish side Kasimpasa on a threeyear deal from Spanish club Espanyol. Uche only joined Espanyol on a free transfer from the bankrupt Swiss team Neuchatel Xamax in January. But his six goals in 17 games made him the club’s top scorer last season and caught the attention of Kasimpasa. The 29-year-old, who has played in Spain, Poland, France and Switzerland, said he is happy with his latest move. “I’m excited with this whole new life and challenge,” he told BBC Sport. “Obviously, the offer is a good one and once both clubs agreed on a deal, it was a lot easier to sort the personal terms. “It’s a good deal financially and on a sporting aspect, importantly, I am happy with everything.”

next week, officials said. The World Cup-bound team fly out to Accra on Monday afternoon to play the Black Princesses of Ghana in two games on Tuesday and Thursday. The reigning world vice champions will return to the country on Friday for some more friendlies with top Nigeria Women’s League teams, before flying out to Korea Republic on August 1 for a two-week

final training camp in Namhei, from where they fly into Japan for the World Cup on August 15. NFF general secretary, Musa Amadu, said: “We are aware of the strength

Omoigui makes F/Eagles squad

ALLORCA youth team striker Cedric Omoigui was the surprise inclusion on the Nigeria U20 squad for a 2013 AYC qualifier in Tan-

IOC Continues from BP

•Kalu Uche Uche and Kasimpasa refused to disclose financial details, but Spanish media say Espanyol will get between US$1.3 million and $1.8 million. “They have a good sporting plan and I like it. My plan is to give my best to the club,” he said. “I want to make a huge contribution and continue their success in the Super League as well. “I have a strong feeling

the team will do well this coming season and I want to be a part of that remarkable success story. “It won’t be easy but with their ambition and quality of players, I have a feeling I have chosen the right club to continue my career. “It’s a new adventure and I am increasingly confident it will take us to the top.”

disqualified because of the late Antonio Pettigrew confessing to having been doped at the time of the Games. Nigeria are elevated to title winners with Jamaica taking silver and the Bahamas the bronze. “Pettigrew was disqualified in August 2008 but the EB delayed a decision on reallocation until it had received information stemming from investigations into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) sports-doping scandal,” a statement read. “Having confirmed that no further information on other athletes would be forthcoming the EB agreed to reallocate the medals and diplomas.

of the Black Princesses, who will also be taking part in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Japan.” The Falconets play Brazil, Korea Republic and Italy in Group B of the World Cup, while Ghana battle Germany, USA and China in Group D.

“The teams from Nigeria, Jamaica and the Bahamas that finished behind the US men in the 4x400m race will be awarded gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.”

zania. Coach John Sam Obuh named Omoigui in his 20man squad for the team’s AYC qualifier against Tanzania on Sunday, July 29. The squad also boasts of ABS first-choice goalkeeper Jonah Usman, Lobi Stars midfield star Moses Orkuma and Uche Agbo of Enyimba. The Flying Eagles will also face their Rwandese counterparts in a warmup game prior to their qualifying match in Tanzania.

Manchester Continues from BP £15million and United boss Alex Ferguson also confirmed a bid, understood to be about £13m. The Gunners want at least £20m for the striker. Ferguson said: “Obviously, Arsenal have given out the fact we’ve made a bid for him. “There’s no point talking about something that might not happen.

“There are other clubs interested in the player. We’ve shown an interest and that is where we are at the moment.” Juventus are also in the running and have said they will pay £8m for the Arsenal skipper. The Londoners are resigned to losing last season’s Premier League top-scorer but told him yesterday in talks they will hold out for the full amount.

Iw as loc was lockked-up at Kirikiri prisons af aftter I helped Nigeria win Olympic medal — Toblow

obias Igwe, a.k.a Toblow is a veteran grassroots athletics coach who has carved a niche for himself in the athletics circuit. In this interview, he tells Vanguard Grass to Grace how he started as a grass-roots coach and how he used to go to different schools and streets in Lagos to scout for young talents especially during Inter-house and other competitions. Toblow, as he is fondly called by his admirers, also recalls his travails as a coach and how he was accused of vandalising the National Stadium scoreboard in Lagos, which almost ruined his coaching career. Despite that, he says, he refused to give up the fight but remained a relevant factor in the country. Excerpts: Starting off as a sportsman am from Ibeame Ugiri, Isiala Mbano in Imo State but I migrated to Lagos. I am the first man from the east of the Niger to win a medal at the AFN/Mobil Championship in the 3,000 metres triple chase. I created a Lagos record in 1977 which is still existing till today.

Genesis of my Grass-root coaching y love for young talents in this country lured me into coaching in 1978. Then I used to go from school to school in Lagos and combed every nook and cranny of Lagos. I usually went to schools within La-

C M Y K

’

I was supposed to be a hero, but I was cheated and disgraced for no reason

these athletes, I ensured they always come to the National Stadium for training after school. I supported their transportation with my personal fund. That was how I discovered Mary OnyaliOmagbemi, she was my greatest discovery as she was made African Queen of the Track from the grass-roots. Tina Iheagwam, Sunday Uti, Henry Amike, David Omi, Abiodun Salami, the Ezinwa brothers, Davidson and Osmond, Uchenna Emedolu, Clement Chukwu Victor Oliseh, Alice Nwosu, Victor Okoli, Nkiruka Uwakwe, Josephine Omaka and Bakare among so many others. After making them champions from the grass-roots, they all made impact at national competitions before they moved to the United States on scholarship. It was at that point that I moved to the East and Anambra was my first port of call in 1988. Best moment inning the 1992 Barcelona Olympics was my best moment in coaching, because before then Nigeria had never won a silver in the Olympics. When I got a silver in the relay for men and bronze in the women’s relay for the

’

gos to scout for young talents especially whenever there was an Inter-House sports competition. I even went out on the streets. In fact St. Finbars and Isolo Grammar School were my pilots . In discovering

• Igwe first time, I was very happy because I have improved on the Nigerian record, better than I met it. Toughest moment y toughest moment was when I was

locked up at the Alagbon and Kirikiri prisons after I had helped Nigeria win medals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. I was locked up in the back cell at the Kirikiri Prisons with hardened criminals for four months for an offence I did not commit. I was falsely accused of masterminding the theft of the scoreboard at the National Stadium in Lagos. And if I may ask, what has an athletics coach got to do with a football scoreboard? What hurts me most was that I was not given the cash reward that was given to coaches for their achievements at the 1996 Olympics. The then national football team coach, Jo Bonfrere and his assistant, Willy Bazuaye, were given big money to go home with. The athletics coaches were given N100,000 each, but I did not receive anything. The National Sports Commission (NSC) held onto my money for no reason. I was supposed to be a hero, but I was cheated and disgraced for no reason. When they discovered I did not do what I was accused of, the people who planned it ensured that the case did not see the living day light. That was how the matter died off without compensation. Later I got to know that some sports ad-

ministrators planned to ruin me because, for them I was a vocal and controversial figure. They eventually framed me up for a crime I knew nothing about. What they did not know was that, that incident further boosted my desire to succeed in life. Overcoming my challenges ne thing about me is that I love challenges and you can only get tested when you are really challenged. I overcame my toughest times with implicit, confidence and trust in God.

Lesson learned he four things I learned during my difficult moments were, to be focused, determined no matter how difficult the situation was, to be truthful and be able to trust God.

My Advice eople should learn to be positive in any situation they find themselves no matter how difficult it appears to be. Life is all about challenges and the way you handle your situation goes a long way. As the saying goes, “tough times don’t last but tough people do”.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 22, 2012 — 55

•Iloh

Olympics: Team Nigeria will soar if — Iloh STORIES BY KATE OBODO

ORMER President of the Cycling federation of Rev. Moses Ilo is optimistic that Nigeria will do well at the Olympics if the right things are done to the athletes. “What I want the officials of Team Nigeria to do is to give these athletes who have shown signs of progress the best and attend to their needs. Make them know that it is not only to win medals but also to develop the spirit of patriotism and know that they are representing Nigeria and in the end Nigerians would be appreciative of their efforts. “Right now, sportsmen are suspicious of Nigeria especially government, who in the past promised and failed. Also for them to succeed, they need psychologists to boost them up for the competition. They should treat them like very rare jewels and I believe if they are well taken care of, there will be hope. “We need to be patriotic because nobody really cares about Nigeria now, but this is an opportunity for us to restore the image of Nigeria. All hands should be on deck for these athletes to succeed. They should also ensure they don’t have any distraction, no internal quarrel. They should treat them well and let them know

that over 160 million Nigerians are praying for them.” Iloh said.

Asked if Nigeria can surpass the last Olympics in 2008, Rev. Iloh said, “of course, we can do well. We should be able to get at-least 4 gold medals from athletics, and 2 from boxing.”

Welcome to London — Neymar of Brazil arriving for the Olympics

Nations Cup: Izilien warns over Liberia

ORMER Golden Ea glets coach Godwin Izilien has called for adequate preparations ahead of Super Eagles nations cup qualifier against the Lone Star of Liberia. Izilien is of the view that early preparation is the key that would see the Eagles through in their quest to qualify for the forthcoming Nations Cup. “My advice is that they should be prepared for a good fight,” Izilien said in an phone inter view. He added that coach Stephen Keshi and his crew should ensure they get the best legs for the match. “ I urge Keshi to use the best players in the match. C M Y K

If you are well prepared you can get a good result but if you the contrary, the end result is failure. “The only thing that will see us through is adequate

preparation. Also, the players should be aware that they are not going to get it easy against liberia. it is going to be tough.” he added.

Heartland no threat to us — Crown

ROWN FC of Ogbomosho were at their best last Friday when they defeated Kwara United 3-2 at the Legacy Pitch, National Stadium to qualify for the quarter-final stage of the Federation Cup. They will now travel to Port Harcourt to confront Heartland tomorrow. Coach Oladuni Oyekale has said that playing against the defending champions of the competition was going to be

tough but assured that his wards were ready to do their best to outshine their opponent in the game holding in Port Harcourt. “We are not afraid of Heartland. They are good but we are up to the challenge and my boys have promised to do their best. Though the time to prepare for the match is limited but we are ready for the challenge”, said Oyekale.

London Olympics and the Nigerian spirit

N a matter of five days the 2012 Olympic Games will begin in London and will run for 17 days with over 10,000 athletes, including Nigerians, jostling for medals. For the first time, the country is presenting a lean contingent of 85 athletes, a departure from the past when the slogan seemed to be the more the merrier, where almost every sport was allowed to attend. For this year, the National Sports Commission, NSC, stressed that it wanted only sports where Nigeria has comparative advantage and thus emphasised that most team sports, except of course football, where the country has never really done well even on the African scene, will not be part of the world sports festival. Ironically, football, both men and women listed earlier for the Games, failed to pick tickets and the NSC thus settled for wrestling, weightlifting, boxing, athletics, canoeing (surprisingly) and taekwondo. Basketball was never in NSC’s agenda but the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF believed in its players, especially after the national male team stunned Africa last year in Mozambique to win the All Africa Games gold medal for the first time. At the African qualifiers, the team tagged D’Tigers missed the ticket which Tunisia won, against Angola surprisingly. So to Venezuela they went for another chance. Three tickets were on the card. No one, not even basketball buffs in the country, gave them any chance. One man who believed in them however, was debonair sports minister and Chairman of the National Sports Commission, NSC, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi, who said, after the team lost their first match to host, Venezuela, that he was sure the team would qualify because they posses the Nigerian spirit. They picked their pieces from there and went ahead to down European giants, Lithuania and Greece, succumbed to Russia but overwhelmed Dominican Republic to pick the third ticket behind Lithuania and Russia. With Team Nigeria contingent selected from all the qualified sports set to begin the medal rush in London, Nigerians are expectant that they may not be mere participants but contenders for medals. But are they really prepared? Their preparation may not be the best in terms of duration but they definitely got quality training from the various training tours they embarked on. For the first time too, the Director General of the NSC, Chief Patrick Ekeji had a sports minister with whom he has a good working relationship and approves of his plans. With the 2012 national budget being delayed and money not forthcoming, the NSC sort for loan to prepare the athletes pending when funds would be made available to it. Surprisingly, instead of lauding the NSC, the House Committee on sports raised eyebrows, ostensibly after some disgruntled elements petitioned it. Malam Abdullahi stood behind the DG and defended the action of the NSC and preparation of the athletes went ahead unhindered and silently, locally first before they were sent abroad. The federations, notably athletics, weightlifting and wrestling are promising medals of any colour from their athletes. Olympic champion, Daniel Igali in particular, who has been involved in preparing the wrestlers for the Olympics, has said that wrestling would win medals but added that had their preparation been early enough, he would have been sure of a least a gold. President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, Chief Solomon Ogba is also banking on the female athletes to get one or two medals from the relays and long jump. Taekwondo is hoping that Chika Chukwumerije would hit form like in Beijing and improve on his bronze medal. And who says the lone canoeist will not surprise the world, same for the two weightlifters registered. The miracle workers in basketball should also not be written off. The Nigerian spirit which Malam Abdullahi talked about before the feat of the basketball team has always been exhibited by Nigerian athletes in past Games, be it Olympics, All Africa Games or even the FIFA World Cup. It was the same spirit that gave Chioma Ajunwa the country’s first individual Olympic gold medal in 1996, Mary Onyali (200m) and Falilat Ogunkoya (400m) their first individual medals, bronze each, in 1996, the women’s 4x100 bronze in 1992 as well as the Aniefiok Udo-Obong anchored 4x400m silver at the Sydney Games in 2000 which was later upgraded to gold after the USA team were stripped of the gold when a member of their quartet tested positive to a banned drug. In a year when the NSC and the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC are working harmoniously together for the good of the contingent, coupled by the fact that some good corporate bodies like Promasidor, First Bank and world acclaimed insurance company, IEI, are backing Nigeria’s campaign, there is a silver lining somewhere in the sky. To crown it all, Promasidor’s pledge of monetary award, N1,500,000, N1,000,000 and N500,000 for gold, silver and bronze medal winners, athletes’ morale would surely be boosted to give their all. Like in previous years when expectations are low from the citizens, Team Nigeria may surprise themselves and Nigerians in London.

SUNDAY Vanguard, July 22, 2012

IOC hand Nigeria relay gold N

IGERIA were officially awarded the men’s 4x400m relay gold medal from the 2000 Olympics on Saturday following a meeting of the

International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board. The Nigerians took the gold

originally won by the United States, who have since been

•Continues on P54

•Van Persie

Manchester clubs fight over RVP R

VICTORIOUS: Okagbare (r) coasts to victory in the 100m final at the Diamond League in Monaco on Friday

OBIN VAN PERSIE is caught up in a huge bid-

ding war between Manchester United and Manchester City. City offered Arsenal around

OLYMPICS Okagbare: I won’t fumble in London •Continues on P54

BY JOHN EGBOKHAN

IGERIA’S brightest prospects for a medal at the Olympics Games starting on July 27, Blessing Okagbare has said that she was not going to fumble when push comes to shove in London. Okagbare has been in imperious form of late, winning two IAAAG Diamond League races to push her stake for a medal in the women’s 100m against a star-studded field, comprising defending Olympic champion Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce of Jamaica (10.70), Camelita Jeter of the USA (10.81), Veronica Campbell Brown (10. 82), Kelly Ann Baptiste (10.86) and Allyson Felix of USA (10.92). The meet in Monaco was the final major stop before the Games of the XXX Olympiad, London 2012. Choruses of The Clash classic ‘London Calling’ were in heavy rotation throughout the evening

during the ninth stop on the Diamond League circuit, ndicating where the focus of the athletics world would be turning immediately following the meeting-ending fireworks display. And no one looked more like an Olympic champion-inwaiting than Ikagbare, whose 10.96 run through the still Mediterranean evening was another personal best for the former African 100m champion. With the victory, Okagbare has done enough to make the sprint world take note and add her to the list of solid medal contenders in London. Running even with American Tianna Madison for much of the race, the 23-year-old Nigerian pulled away over the final 20 metres to a 10.96 victory, despite a stumble at the start. Madison finished second in a time of 10.99 while another American, Tianna Madison clocked 11.09 to finish third. With fears raised over her ability to withstand the pressure at the big stage that the

Olympics offers, given that she has expended more energy in her last two races, Okagbare dispelled any such thought of a flop, insisting that she was capable of handling the pressure at the Games. Speaking moments after her triumph, Okagbare, who a week back in Crystal Palace, 1

dusted a stronger field comprising Fraser-Pryce and Jeter, said “for now, I am just going to keep my focus, go to London and do my very best there. I won’t fumble. I am a competitor and hope to give my best ,” said Okagbare, who took the African title in the

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