Dirty deals in the oil industry - Ribadu reports

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 61739

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ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

R I V E R G O D S D AY O R U B E B E

A FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP—What remains of the East-West Road that the Niger Delta Ministry has failed to fix, as

captured, yesterday, by Vanguard's Akpokona Omafuaire. More photos on Page 15.

Dirty deals in oil industry — Ribadu Report •Says Nigeria loses billions of dollars to oil

BY CLARA NWACHUKWU, WITH AGENCY REPORTS

deals between major oil firms and govt officials LAGOS—NIGERIA lost out on tens of billions of dollars in oil FG commences review of National Policy on Education •Pg.23

Travelling in America •P. 17 OCHEREOME NNANNA •P.19

THE HUB •P.19 C M Y K

•Crude oil sold without formal contract Kole Omotoso writes For Vanguard From The Departure Lounge Respected and internationally-acclaimed author, Prof. Kole Omotoso, will from Friday, October 26, 2012 become a regular feature in the Vanguard as he joins the league of high profile columnists to serve you the best of informed opinions and analyses in your best read newspaper Vanguard.

His column: From The Departure Lounge de-

buts tomorrow. It is a must read!

Sallah: IG orders 24-hour security alert •P 7 We 'll ensure no flood in next 50 years — Jonathan •Presents N500m to Benue •P.8 flood victims

and gas revenues over the last decade from cut price deals struck between some multinational oil companies and Continues on page 5

Mr & Mrs

2 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 3

C M Y K

4 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012—5

POCKET CARTOON

Dirty deals in oil industry — Ribadu Report Continues from page 1 government officials, a confidential report says.

A team headed by the former head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, produced the 146-page study on an oil ministry request. It covers the year 2002 to 2011.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest crude oil exporter, shipping more than two million barrels per day (bpd), and is also home to the world’s ninth biggest gas reserves and one of the largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export terminals.

The report provides new details on Nigeria’s long history of corruption in the oil sector, which has enriched its elite and provided the oil majors with hefty profits while two-thirds of people live in poverty.

Oil Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke told Reuters on Tuesday she had received the report last month but that it was a draft and the government was still supposed to give input. The one seen by Reuters was labeled “Final Report.”

Report findings The report concluded that oil majors- Shell, Total and Eni made bumper profits from cutprice gas, while Nige-

rian oil ministers handed out licences at their own discretion.

This, while not illegal, did not follow best practice of using open bids. Hundreds of millions of dollars in signature bonuses on those deals were also missing, it said.

“We have not seen this report and are, therefore, unable to comment on the content, but we will study it if and when it is published,” a Shell spokesman said.

The report alleges international oil traders sometimes buy crude without any formal contracts, and the state oil firm had short-changed the Nigerian treasury of billions of Naira over the last 10 years by selling crude oil and gas to itself below market rates.

There was no suggestion that the oil majors or traders had done anything illegal, but the report highlighted a lack of transparency in their dealings in a nation rife with graft.

“It is a draft,” AlisonMadueke said. “There will be some areas where the government ... may have a slightly different opinion ... (and) will put its point of view to the committee.”

She said she expects the final report to be with President

LIFEWORDS

BY PASTOR ITUAH

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others? -Dr. Martins Luther King Jr. The value of a man’s life does not consist of the abundance which he has but that which he gives.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

It is interesting to note that what makes us stand out in our lives is what really makes us different and this awesome knowing is that the ultimate achievement in a person’s life is learning how to love and to give divine love to others —Ella Randle

W

HEN we let ourselves be loved beautifully, we allow those who would make the most positive impact in our lives make a difference.

Joy Bell C, made a remarkable statement about giving and receiving love. “We have to allow ourselves to be loved by the people who really love us, the people who really matter. Too much of the time, we are blinded by our own pursuits of people to love us, and all the while, the people who do love us have to stand on the sidewalk and watch us entreat for something that is a part of our heritage” Love beautifully and intensely enough to burn through all those layer of opacity and see through another’s heart as an extension of yours and learn to appreciate the gift of loving.

Goodluck Jonathan within two weeks.

Missing billions Ribadu’s probe was among several set up following a week of nationwide strikes against a rise in fuel prices in January, which morphed into a campaign against oil corruption.

Billions of dollars of revenue was missing in unpaid debts from signature bonuses and royalties, the report found.

Oil firms pay at cut-down prices Nigeria LNG, a company jointly owned by the NNPC, Shell, Total and Eni had paid the country for gas at cut-down prices before exporting it to international markets, the report said.

Total and Eni declined to comment because they invest in but do not operate Nigeria LNG, the role played by Shell.

“The estimated cumulative of the deficit between value obtainable on the international market and what is currently being obtained from NLNG, over the 10 year period, amounts to approximately $29 billion,” the report said.

It also said foreign oil firms had outstanding debts.

Addax, now a unit of China’s state-owned Sinopec, owes Nigeria $1.5 billion in unpaid royalties, part of a $3 billion black hole of unpaid bonuses and royalties owed by oil firms.

Addax did not respond to requests for comment, but the report noted it disputes owing the signature bonuses.

Shell owes the Nigerian government N137.57 billion ($874 million) for gas sold from its Bonga deep offshore field, the report said, while oil majors owed $58 million between them for gas flaring penalties. They were also not adhering to newer higher fines.

The probe also said Nigeria was the only nation to sell all its crude through international oil traders rather than directly to refineries, adding that such trades were often opaque.

Informal trading It said some interna-

tional oil traders who were not “on the approved master list of customers” had been sold crude oil “without a formal contract” so little could be obtained about the details of these deals, which can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

“This logically will serve to reduce margins obtainable on sale of crude oil,” the report said.

But Alison-Madueke disputed this, saying there are no informal contracts and there is “an official tender put out every year”, which can be seen by the public in newspapers.

The state oil firm gets an allocation of 445,000 bpd of crude oil to refine locally but it has been selling itself this oil at cut down prices, a practice which cost Nigeria $5 billion in potential revenue between 20022011, the report said.

“NNPC buys at international rates,” AlisonMadueke retorted.

The report said the NNPC made 86.6 billion naira over the 10-year period by using overly generous exchange rates in its declarations to the government.

There was no sign of the money.

Nigerian oil ministers between 2008-2011 handed out seven discretionary licences but there is $183 million in signature bonuses missing from the deals, the report said. Three of these oil licences were awarded since AlisonMadueke took up her position in 2010, according to the report.

“I have not given any discretionary awards during this administration,” Alison-Madueke told Reuters, although she added that the president had the right to do so instead of using bids if he saw fit. “That is entirely up to him,” she said.

Among the report’s recommendations were that parts of NNPC be reorganized or scrapped, an independent review of the use of traders be set up and a transparency law be passed requiring oil companies to disclose all payments made to Nigeria.

U.S. regulators put new rules in place in August that will require U.S. listed oil and gas companies to disclose payments they make to foreign governments like Nigeria.

Minister/NNPC defence Strangely, none of the oil companies mentioned in the alleged fraud responded to their calls, and the NNPC which “responded’ did not say anything different from the minister. Even members of the committee could not comment.

In a swift reaction on behalf of the minister, the NNPC forwarded excerpts from the minister ’s interview with Reuters, which read: “Minister: The report is not normally put in the public domain until the government’s complete report is finalized.

What normally happens when you set up a committee is that when the committee hands in its report, a team is put together by the arm of government or agency that set up the committee in the first place.

"That has already happened. That team consists of people with relevant experience in the area. So, it is not just about the Revenue Task Force. The Revenue Task Force handed in its report sometime in September. But there were also the Governance and Control and the Refineries Task Forces which have all sent in their draft reports.

"We have set up a team that is looking at them across the board to see if there is a difference in opinion or a difference in perspective. This team will complete its work and submit a comprehensive report in the next 10 days.

"It is only after then that government will talk about implementation and the issues that you mentioned will be addressed. Government will decide on where to draw the line on any issue that is not in conformity with its policies.

And some of the points you have raised are, in fact, not as they have been presented. I am very careful not to com-

ment on the report until it has been finalized.

There are areas that have already been handled by these committees because they are not the way they were presented. That is why I’m very careful not to comment before we finalize. There are some areas that I thought should be addressed because they come up very often in the media, such as the issue of discretionary awards. I have not given any discretionary award since the inception of this administration. What normally happens with discretionary awards is that they are part of marginal or major bid rounds. It is in the President’s power by law to grant discretionary awards or to go with competitive bidding or to go with a mixed bag when you have a bid round, and it is entirely up to him to decide which way to go.

When the next marginal or major bid rounds will be done, they will be publicly announced. We do expect that within the next couple of months, the marginal bid rounds will be announced. We hope that the major bid round will follow before the end of the year.”

The statement, signed by the NNPC spokesman, Fidel Pepple, titled: “Petroleum Minister Clears Air on Committee Report …. Says It Will Be Ready Soon,” did not clarify issues raised by Reuters.

Members of the committee included a former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Steve Oronsaye, deputy chairman.

Other members are, a Director of Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, Mallam Abba Kyari; Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN; Ms Benedicta Molokwu, Mr. Supo Sasore, SAN; Mr. Tony Idigbe, SAN; Mr. Anthony GeorgeIkoli, SAN; Dr. Omolara Akanji, Mr.Ituah Ighodalo, Mr. Bon Otti, Prof.

Olusegun Okunnu, Mallam Samaila Zubairu, Mr.Ignatius Adegunle and Mr. Gerald Ilukwe.

6 —Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

Boko Haram: Why Sambo, Adoke were not interrogated —SSS Ndume gave AGF’s telephone number to Boko Haram —Witness alleged to have had contacts with the sect, “however, instead of inviting them for questioning as we did in the case of Ndume, the service decided to investigate the claim using our state-craft.”

The witness who told the court that he had been in the business of investigation for the past 31 years, maintained that it was an apprehended spokesman of the sect in Maiduguri, Ali Sanda

volunteered three separate statements upon his arrest on November 21, 2011, BUJA — CHIEF admitted having contacts investigator of the with the Boko Haram sect, State Security Service, SSS, insisting that he even gave Mr James Ene Izih, some materials including a yesterday, explained before compact disk, given to him a Federal High Court in by the sect, to both the Vice Abuja, why the duo of Vice President and Director of President Namadi Sambo the SSS. and the Attorney General “My lord, our Ndume was indicted of the Federation and investigative panel was set Minister of Justice,

by Boko Haram up with a mandate to trace, Mohammed Bello Adoke, ex-spokesman locate, arrest, question, SAN, were not interrogated with a view to ascertaining He told the court that detain and prosecute any their level of involvement Ndume, who he said person arrested in connection with the bombings. It was in the course of executing the mandate that one Boko Haram suspect, Konduga, a.k.a Usman Alzawahiri, was arrested.

“He was arrested at Gwange Area of Maiduguri in Borno State, where he functioned as the spokesman of the sect. It was in the process of his interrogation by the Special Investigation Panel, SIP, that he mentioned Senator Ndume and one Saidu Pinda who is now deceased.

“Konduga had alleged that Ndume assisted the sect to carry out certain terrorist activities in From left: Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim; Chief of Staff to Maiduguri. On account of the President, Chief Mike Ogiadomhe and Vice President Namadi Sambo during the Federal Executive that, we invited the accused Council meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday. person and I detailed some of my case officers to witness his voluntary statement on November 21, 2011.

“He made three different statements on that particular day and made additional statements on November 24, 30 and December 2, 2011, where he confessed

BY IKECHUKWU before the court, he saying the issues were otherwise of the GTA. NNOCHIRI According to him, “we that he had made discovered that Bakassi “political and highly are heading straight to the telephone contacts with indigenes only adduced a volatile.”

BUJA — verifying affidavit.

He said the court was ill- court of appeal. The judge Konduga.

“Due to that confession, INDIGENES of The presiding judge equipped to dabble into did not hear us on the issue Bakassi in Cross River placed reliance on the such issues as were raised of jurisdiction but went we had to take his mobile State, yesterday, went decided case-law in by the Bakassi indigenes, ahead to raise and resolve phone from him for expert before the Abuja Division Agbakoba Vs SSS, to insist insisting that the Nigerian it without hearing the analysis because we had of the Court of Appeal to that the inability of the constitution did not imbue parties. The Bakassi people already taken Konduga’s challenge the dismissal of plaintiffs to file the requisite the high court with powers will exhaust every known phone too.”

The two phones the suit they filed with a affidavit in line with the to intervene or adjudicate domestic remedy in view to voiding the rules of the court, rendered on “political arrangements” enforcement of their rights comprising Nokia E-7 and controversial Green Tree their suit incompetent. such as the Green Tree as a pre-requisite to their Nokia 27100, were Agreement, GTA, Nigeria the tendered and admitted into The judge said: “A Agreement brokered by approaching entered into with verifying affidavit cannot be former President Olusegun International Court of evidence yesterday as Cameroon in 2006.

Justice, ICJ, as recognizable exhibits P5 and P5(a). substituted for the primary Obasanjo in 2006.

Meanwhile, under cross They took their plight to affidavit upon which every parties in international law. examination

by Ndume’s the appellate court after other application rests. Bakassi indigenes It may take time but we will lawyer, Chief Ricky Tarfa, Justice Gabriel Kolawole Verifying affidavit is only head to Apeal Court get there.” relied on technicalities and meant to support the main It would be recalled that SAN, the witness said it was dismissed their legal action. affidavit. Therefore, in the the plaintiffs had in their the decision of the security Meanwhile, in a swift In a ruling he delivered, absence of the requisite reaction to the ruling, motion ex-parte, sought an agency not to invite Vice yesterday, Kolawole affidavit, this suit is ex-facie counsel to Bakassi order of mandamus that President Sambo for maintained that the incompetent and is doomed indigenes, Mr Festus A. would compel the Federal interrogation, adding: “We plaintiffs failed to attach an to be struck out.”

Ogwuche, contended that Government to by any investigate cases based on affidavit to support the Besides,Kolawole said the judge failed to take full means available to it, the facts we have. On the reliefs they sought against the court lacked the cognizance of the repossess, occupy and take allegation against the VP, the Federal Government, jurisdiction to delve into the weightiness of the issues full legal and administrative though we did not have an noting that after a careful substantive matters that raised before him vis-à-vis control of the Bakassi audience with him, we investigated the claim perusal of the processes were raised in the suit, the constitutionality or Peninsula.

BY IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

A

with the Boko Haram Islamic sect.

Izih who, yesterday, testified as the second prosecution witness, PW-2, in the ongoing trial of the lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District, Mohammed Ali Ndume, also told the court that Ndume gave the telephone number of the Attorney-General of the Federation to the Islamic sect.

The witness said though Sambo and Adoke were

Umar Konduga, and Ndume that fingered the VP and the AGF, in separate confessional statements they made upon their arrest by a special investigation panel that investigated the spate of bombings in parts of the country.

Green Tree Agreement: Bakassi indigenes head to Appeal Court

As court declines jurisdiction to hear suit

A

using our state-craft.”

Besides, Izih told the court that the SSS operatives who searched Ndume’s house, seized his laptop and phones, saying they, however, failed to recover any judgement linking him to the sect.

The court, yesterday, adjourned further hearing on the case till November 1, 5 and December 11.

Ndume gave AGF’s telephone number to Boko Haram —Witness The witness further told the court that it was the accused senator who gave the telephone number of Mohammed Adoke to the Boko Haram.

The accused has, however, said he established the link to facilitate peace as a member of the Presidential Committee on Security in the North-East zone.

Izih said Konduga informed the panel that Ndume obliged him with the GSM telephone number of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation.

The witness said the number was used to bargain a governorship petition filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Borno State.

Izih said that Konduga had testified that the calls to the AGF were threats to spur him to influence the governorship election tribunal members to cede the election victory to PDP or risk mayhem in the state.

He explained that the name of the AGF was dragged into the panel report submitted on November 25, 2011 on the grounds that his GSM number was found in Konduga’s telephone set.

Izih said that Konduga’s transaction with the AGF was a threat to the minister’s life, adding that the accused facilitated it by giving out Adoke’s telephone number to a senior official of Boko Haram.

Ineh, in his testimony, further said that the items found in the accused’s telephone were indicative of his close connection with the dreaded group.

“The fact that Konduga was tried and convicted of terrorism acts is enough to show that the accused is also liable,” he said.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole adjourned the matter to Nov. 1, Nov. 5 and December 11 for continuation.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012—7

$620,000 SUBSIDY BRIBE:

Pressure on Police to charge Otedola with Lawan As Lawan continues to report to police

BY KINGSLEY OMONOBI

A

From left: Mr. Tunde Lemo, Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN; Mr. Segun Aina, President/Chairman of Council, CIBN; Mr. Frank Nweke Jr., Director General, NESG and Mrs. Rukayat Yusuf, Assistant Director, CIBN National Secretariat, Abuja,during the public hearing on CBN Act amendment organised by the House Representatives Joint Committee on Banking & Currency and Justice at the National Assembly complex, Abuja, yesterday.

Sallah: IG orders 24-hour security alert We are ready for trouble makers —Police Says it received intelligence plan to disrupt celebration

A

BY KINGSLEY OMONOBI

BUJA — FOLLOWING security reports that the Islamic terror group, Boko Haram, was bent on disrupting the Eid-elKabir celebrations in various parts of the country, the InspectorGeneral of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, has directed all zonal Assistant Inspectors General, AIGs, and state Commissioners of Police to provide water-tight security across the country before, during and after the celebrations.

The IGP gave the directive just as FCT Police Command disclosed, yesterday, that it was in possession of intelligence reports that trouble makers, including terrorists and criminal minded persons, were planning to carry out attacks in some unknown places in the federal capital territory but warned that its men were already on alert and primed for action in case of any eventuality.

Command CPs have also been directed to personally ensure that key and vulnerable points, all places of worship, recreation centres, resorts and other public places are adequately and

effectively protected to enable worshippers and the general public enjoy maximum fulfillment.

According to a statement signed by Force spokesman, CSP Frank Mba, the IG in addition, urged Commanders of Police Highway Patrol Teams to ensure that motorized patrols on highways targeted at crime and accident prevention, were intensified to ensure a safe, secure and peaceful celebration.

IG orders AIGs, CPs to ensure adequate security He said: “Policemen deployed on our highways have also been directed to render necessary assistance to travellers and road users, especially accident victims and those who might have suffered vehicular break down. In a similar vein, Zonal AIGs and CPs have also been advised to ensure the provision of 24 hours security around all government installations, facilities and other related vulnerable targets.

“The IGP warned officers who will be deployed during the period, to ensure that

they comport themselves. They must be firm but polite, civil and professional in the discharge of their assigned roles, giving due regard and respect to the fundamental human rights of citizens at all times.”

While expressing the belief that Almighty Allah will, in his infinite mercy and in answer to the fervent prayers of Muslim faithful, resolve the country’s numerous challenges and grant the country ’s leaders the wisdom to lead the nation aright, the IG sought the prayers, support and understanding of Nigerians, assuring that

by God’s grace, the battle against crime and criminality will eventually be won.

Massive deployment of Policemen On his part, FCT Police Commissioner, Aderenle Shinaba, while explaining security measures put in place to ensure hitch-free Sallah celebration, stated that massive deployments of counter terrorism, mobile Police and regular policemen had been made while a 24-hour

round the clock patrol of the city by men of patrol vehicles and foot patrol had been activated.

Noting that the security measures will be in force before, during and after the Sallah celebration, CP Shinaba said: “We have done a lot to bring down the spate of violent crime and disturbances in the FCT and we will ensure that the tempo is sustained during this period and beyond.

“We have put in many measures to make sure this period of celebration is free of hoodlums and violence. We got reports and rumours of imminent attacks and danger by violent groups. We will make sure that all the threats and rumours received are checked out and appropriate measures taken to prevent them from seeing the light of day.”

He advised, however, that “people should stop spreading unfounded rumours most of which are meant to unsettle the society. Our programme of action is to provide security before, during and after the celebration to ensure there is peace. Let me use this opportunity to commend the Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed for providing the command with 75 patrol vehicles which ensured that our presence is everywhere."

BUJA — I N D I C AT I O N S emerged, yesterday, that the Police are under intense pressure to charge Chief Femi Otedola, the accuser of the erstwhile chairman of the House Probe Committee, Hon. Farouk Lawal, if at all Farouk is to be prosecuted.

Vanguard gathered that the delay in arraigning Lawan after months of the conclusion of the investigative reports followed intrigues and pressure being mounted on the government by top brass of the National Assembly to drop the charges against him.

With government insistence, however, that the matter was purely left

for the Police to handle and that it will abide by Police findings, mounting pressure is now on the police to charge Otedola along, with sources saying this may lead to the Federal Government intervening to give Lawan a safe landing.

However, the embattled former Fuel Subsidy Adhoc Committee Chairman, Farouk Lawan, has continued to report to the police authorities in compliance with his bail condition which says he should be reporting twice a week to the police.

Consequently, a register was opened for him to be signing every time he reports in a week and Vanguard gathered that so far, he has obeyed the directive diligently and signed attendance register about 40 times.

Zanna to spend more days with SSS  Visiting Senators prevented from seeing him

BY SONI DANIEL, REGIONAL EDITOR, NORTH

A

BUJA — THERE were indications, last night, that Senator Khalifa Ahmad Zanna,who has been undergoing interrogation at the State Security Service, SSS, in Abuja might spend more time with the operatives.

A competent source told Vanguard that the man was still being grilled after reporting to his interviewers the second day.

Vanguard gathered that the lawmaker, who is suspected to have links with Boko Haram, had been with the operatives since he reported for another round of questioning by the undercover agents.

It was learnt that based on the continued crossexamination of the lawmaker by the security agents, his colleagues became worried and decided to visit the headquarters of the SSS on Aso Drive, adjacent the Presidential Villa to press for his release.

They were, however, turned back by the operatives, who did not allow them to see the embattled Senator

representing Borno Central in the Senate.

A security source hinted, last night, that it was apparent that the Senator might spend some more days with the agency, as the senior officers were yet to take him on.

The agents believe that the lawmaker has a case to answer, having confessed that the wanted Boko Haram kingpin, Shuiabu Bama, who was arrested in a house which was said to belong to him, is his nephew.

But he has denied ownership of the house, which he claimed belongs to the former governor of the state, Ali Modu Sheriff.

Sheriff, on the other hand, has accused Zanna of being economical with the truth by trying to distance himself from Boko Haram.

Modu Sheriff yet to show up However, as at last night, sources in Abuja confirmed that Sheriff was yet to show up.

A source said: “The former governor might have been contacted to appear but since it is an open invitation, he can come at any time. We are yet to see him but we know that he may come soon."

8—Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

Delta community raises alarm over devastation by flood

BY FESTUS AHON

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VISIT: From left: Minnister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe; Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Environment, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife; Chairman, Senate Committee on Environnment, Senator Clever Ikisikpo; Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State and President Goodluck Jonathan, during the President's visit to victims of flood disaster in Benue State, yesterday.

We 'll ensure no flood in next 30 to 50 years —Jonathan Presents N500m to Benue flood victims

BY PETER DURU

M

AKURDI — PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has assured that his administration would take steps to avert flooding in the country in the coming 30 to 50 years by ensuring the completion of the Kashin-bila dam in Taraba State; the construction of a dam on River Benue and dykes across the country.

The President gave this assurance in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, when he visited the state to assess the damage caused by flood in parts of state and also to commiserate with the victims.

While lamenting the condition of the victims, the President also decried economic losses suffered by the victims, assuring that the Federal Government would do everything to mitigate the effect of the flood on their lives.

He noted that the Federal Government had already released N500 million to the state government stressing that this would be disbursed to the victims to assist them to pick up their lives again.

Jonathan also promised the release of funds to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to purchase improved seedlings that would be distributed to farmers across the coun-

try, adding that money will also be given to the Ministry of Health to ensure control of water borne diseases like cholera and diarrhoea in parts of the country in the aftermath of the flooding.

He said: “Government is committed to turning your calamity into a blessing.

Those of you who lost farmlands would be given high yielding seedlings to make you improve your farm produce. We will help you start new economic lives and pray that you do not suffer from such calamity again.”

He expressed appreciation to developmental partners, non-governmental organisations,

8 die in Rivers relief camps for flood victims

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

P

ORT HARCOURT— NO fewer than eight victims of the flood disaster in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, have died at their camps.

Deputy Governor of Rivers State and Chairman of the State Flood Relief Committee, Tele Ikuru, who announced this yesterday in Port Harcourt, said the government would not hesitate to sanction any traditional ruler caught diverting re-

lief materials meant for victims.

According to the Deputy Governor, there are reports that some traditional rulers and community leaders were diverting relief materials meant for victims in camps in their domains.

Ikuru urged traditional rulers and leaders in communities affected by the flood to work with government officials to effectively distribute the relief materials.

He said: “It is absurd for chiefs and leaders of some communities to bring their chieftaincy and

communal problems to the camps, and engage in favoritism and criminal diversion of relief materials meant for the flood victims. Such acts of criminality will not be condoned henceforth, and defaulters will be made to face the full wrath of the law. ” The deputy governor implored the Federal Government to increase the amount penciled down for the state by the Federal Government to mitigate the plight of victims of the flood disaster. According to him, the N300 million earmarked for the state is too small to make any impact.

faith-based organisations, security agencies and other well-meaning Nigerians for their support to the flood victims across the nation.

Flood affected five LGAs Earlier in his speech, Governor Gabriel Suswam disclosed that flood affected five local governments of Makurdi, Guma, Gwer West, Logo and Agatu, noting that over 4,378 males, 6,378 female, 9,300 children, 348 infants, 341 pregnant women and eight physically challenged persons were displaced by the flood while 18 births had been recorded in the designated camps.

The governor who commended the President for the release of N500 million, assured that the money and several relief materials received from different organizsations and individuals would be applied strictly to displaced persons.

He expressed fears of imminent food crisis in the affected states across the country and appealed to the Federal Government to intervene quickly to avert famine in the country.

Suswam urged the Federal Government to construct an 18 kilometre dam on River Benue and dykes across the Benue to check future flooding.

GHELLI—PEO PLE of Orere community, Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State, have raised alarm over the level of destruction inflicted on the community by ravaging flood.

They urged the state government to send officials of the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, to assess the level of destruction with a view to assisting them.

The people, in a statement by the community’s President-General, Mr. Andrew Omonikeme,

and Secretary General, Mr. Matthias Ibikimi, described the situation as pathetic and grim, and lamented the destruction of their farmlands and fish ponds by the flood.

The statement said: “Majority of the fishing camps were affected as the fishermen were forced out of their camps, thereby throwing them into sudden and compulsory unemployment and without definite homes of their own.”

The statement noted that the heavy rains had also increased the volume of water in the main Orere River, “causing a very swift current.”

....As Bayelsa solicits assistance of int'l donor agencies

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

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ENAGOA—GOV ERNOR Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, yesterday, said the flood problem in the state was beyond the state and Federal Government and called on international donor organizations and other relevant agencies to come to the aid of the state government.

Dickson, who described Bayelsa as a massive refugee camp occasioned by the flood, said the state deserved the support of all relevant donor agencies to mitigate the plight of the victims.

The governor made the appeal when he received the Senior Special Assist-

ant to the President on MDGs, Dr. Precious Gbeneor, in Yemagoa.

He lauded the efforts of the Federal Government towards alleviating the plight of flood victims through the provision of relief materials.

Dickson also commended the Federal Government for using the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, as a platform to address the core areas of poverty alleviation and collaborating with state governments in tackling development issues.

He particularly lauded the agency for the provision of counterpart funding for development projects and soft loans for small and medium enterprises, SMEs.

C-River unveils new tourism brand today

C

ROSS River State will today break new grounds in tourism development in Nigeria with the launch of a new tourism brand at the Wheat Baker Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos.

The event, which is expected to have in attendance the Who-is-Who in the travel and tourism industry, media, investors and other operators in the industry, is aimed at reaffirming the state as a veritable national and international tourists' destination.

According to the Special Adviser, Tourism Development, Mr. Wilfred Usani, the event signifies another bold step by Cross River State Gov-

ernment to utilize tourism for sustainable economic development.

He said: “The launch of this campaign is a demonstration by the Cross River State Government of its commitment to its stated vision of growing tourism to become one of the main economic drivers for the state that would ensure wealth creation, provision of jobs and the development of infrastructure in the state for the betterment of the people.

“This campaign will be the first of its kind in Nigeria and is targeted at generating in-bound tourist travel as opposed to out-bound, which is currently the norm.”

Vanguard , THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 —9

FG releases second tranche of YOUWIN payments

T

HE FEDERAL Government has commenced payment of the second tranche to winners of the first cycle of the national business plans competition, Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YOUWIN).

The project coordinator, Dr. Supo Olusi, in an interactive session with journalists yesterday, said with the payment, some winners had now received at least 50 per cent of the total grant sum.

This, he stated, was in line with the programme design “ which is explicit that payments shall be released only after certain pre-agreed milestones have been reached by the entrepreneurs.

“It’s a precautionary measure taken to ensure

that the winners are steadfast with growing their businesses. Those who do not make the preagreed milestones don’t get their grant until our monitors can physically verify, after visiting their premises, that they have made the kind of progress that reassures us that their business is sustainable”.

Olusi explained that government was serious about nurturing a new generation of Nigerian entrepreneurs with a mind-set for results rather than those who see grants like this as their own piece of the national cake.

“Entrepreneurship is hard work”, he said, “and we intend to instill that discipline in the YOUWIN entrepreneurial class.”

Amosun cedes land to Lagos for agric purpose

By DAUD OLATUNJ

A

B E O K U TA — GOVERNOR Ibikunle Amosu of Ogun State yesterday ceded 500 hectares of agricultural land in Eggua, Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State to Lagos State.

He also handed over Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) in respect of Iju Water Works located in Ifo Local Government Area of the state to Lagos State governor, Mr.Babatunde Raji Fashola.

Amosun and Fashola held a three-hour closed door meeting at the government House, Oke-Igbein, Abeokuta before governor Amosun presented the letter of transfer of ownership to Governor Fashola .

Addressing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting, the Deputy Chief of Staff to governor Amosun, Alhaji Shuaib Salisu, read the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting on behalf of the two governors.

The communiqué jointly signed by governors Raji Fashola and Ibikunle Amosun, agreed to continue deliberation on the Adiyan Water Works land area in Ifo Local

G o v e r n m e n t .

The two governors also used the meeting to resolve disputes relating to 15 border areas along corridors of Sectors A and B which include Iregbo, Agbara, River Ilo, Iroko village, Isheri, Emuren, Ojodu,Akute, Ajuwon, Mojoda, Ogijo, Agbado, Alagbole, Iju and Ilogbo Eremi.

The communiqué read "the request for Agricultural Land by Lagos State Government has been granted and Letter of Allocation in respect of 500 hectares in Eggua (Yewa North LGA of Ogun State) was presented by H.E. Senator Ibikunle Amosun, FCA, to H.E. Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN."

From left: Mr. Abimbola Sodipo, Special Assistant on Tax and Revenue Matters to Lagos State Governor; Mr. Raji Fashola, Governor of Lagos State; Mr. Ibikunle Amosun, Ogun State Governor; Mr. Segun Adesegun, Ogun State Deputy governor and Mrs. Modupe Adekunle, Ogun State Head of Service, at the joint meeting of Ogun and Lagos state governments on border matters, at Government House, Oke Igbein, Abeokuta yesterday. Photo:WUMI AKINOLA

Justice Opesan grants accelerated hearing to Okada riders'suit against Lagos State

By Abdulwahab Abdulah & Onozure Dania

J

USTICE AISHAT Opesanwo of a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, yesterday, granted accelerated hearing to the suit filed by some commercial motorcycle operators against the Lagos State Government for banning their operations in some federal highways in the state.

The trial judge, however, struck out an interlocutory application, filed by the claimants, where they prayed the court to restrain the government from implementing the new Lagos State Traffic Law. The suit was filed by Bamidele Aturu on behalf of the commercial motorcycle operators under the aegis of the All Nigerians Autobike Commercial Owners and

workers Association, A N A C O W A .

The defendants in the suit are the Lagos State Government, the Lagos State House of Assembly and the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Mr Ade Ipaye.

When the matter came up for mention, counsel to the claimants, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, informed the court that they were withdrawing their application for interlocutory injunction and that they intended to substitute it with another application for accelerated hearing.

According to him: “There is a need for us to withdraw our interlocutory application so that the court can hear the substantive suit in an accelerated manner. We believe that there is a need for the court to urgently deal with this matter because it is in the

interest of the generality of the populace.

"Many of them have been suffering from this draconian action of the government to restrict the motorcyclists from operating in federal high ways.”

The state Attorney General, Mr. Ade Ipaye, who is the third defendant and counsel to

Vanguard NUJ Chapel visits Sylva’s family, eugolises late colleague

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

E

MOTIONS WERE betrayed yesterday when members of the Vanguard Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, paid a condolence visit to the family of the late

TUC decries implementation of traffic laws in Lagos

BY VICTOR AHIUMAYOUNG

T

RADE UNION Congress of Nigeria, TUC, yesterday expressed dismay over the manner Lagos State Government is implementing the State Traffic Law especially as it affects the commercial motorcycle operators, (Okada riders) TUC in a statement by its President-General and Secretary-General, Comrade Peter Esele and Chief John Kolawole, respectively, said the

action of the state was c o n d e m n a b l e , considering the socioeconomic implications of the issue at stake.

According to the statement: “Regardless of what the law says it should be implemented with human face. The idea of impounding and destroying the bikes in the present circumstances is very unfortunate.

"We believe that one of the most important responsibilities of the state is to protect

properties of its citizens especially the economic ones.

"It stands to reason that these small holders must have lost so much in this few days, which will render most of them indebted and vulnerable.

"It also stands to reason that such policy that will affect livelihood and security of the state should be carried out with alternative programmes or proposals, with the buy in of the ‘to be’ affected group, more so when the

Lagos State Government, informed the court that the law was already being enforced in the state. ”My Lord, take judicial notice that the law came into effect on August 2, 2012. It was in reaction to the enforcement of the law that the claimants herein only on Monday, October 22, 2012 went on rampage.

assets are convertible.”

“We take note that there are various poverty alleviation programmes on-going in the state, but no action has been taken to woo the okada riders into any, nor is there any alternative programme to absorb the shock, the policy will create.

"We therefore call on the His Excellency, Mr. Raji Fashola (SAN) to halt the ongoing action against the Okada riders for more peaceful dialogue and creative means of resolving the issue.”

Vanguard’s Deputy Photo Editor, Sylva Eleanya, at his residence in Ejigbo, Lagos.

Late Sylva’s colleagues who eugolised him, said it would be difficult to fill the vacuum he left behind in the organisation.

It would be recalled that Sylva died in the early hours of Sunday.

Speaking, Acting Secretary of the Chapel, Mr. Wahab Abdulah, said the late ace photo journalist was dedicated to his job and was very friendly with his colleagues both in the office and professional colleagues.

Describing his sudden death as a great loss to the Vanguard family, he said: “Sylva will always be remembered among his colleagues because he was a man that loved to promote what was good and forbade what was bad.”

10—Vanguard,

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25,

2012

Ogun govt doles out N7.5m to widows of slain policemen

By DAUD OLATUNJI

A

From left: Mr. Kemi Mimiko, wife of the governor; Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, Governor of Ondo State and the Olugbo of Ugbo, Oba Obateru Akinruntan, at a victory dinner for Governor Mimiko in Akure.

Afenifere predicts the demise of ACN in South-West

BY DAYO JOHNSON

A

K U R E — AFENIFERE, the pan Yoruba sociocultural organization, yesterday reviewed the victory of Governor Olusegun Mimiko in the Saturday governorship election and predicted the demise of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in the South-West geo-political zone.

In a congratulatory letter to Mimiko, the leaders of the group said the outcome of the election showed that Yoruba people were tired of ACN and would be ready to kick them out at the appropriate time.

According to them in the letter entitled “Afenifere salutes Mr. Governor and wishes him well” by the Leader and Secretary of the association, Chiefs Reuben Fasoranti and Seinde Arogbofa, the victory of Mimiko at the poll was a testimony that people of the zone were tired of political godfatherism.

The letter read: “We need to remind you that this victory, among other things, is victory over god-fatherism, a rejection of political imposition and slavery from outside the state and the people’s hope of a better deal to come.

"One or two of your predecessors in office as governor of Ondo State have one way or the

other broken the jinx of second term in office.

But yours is unique and not associated with rancour or political upheaval. We appreciate God for you.

The group, however, advised Mimiko to justify the confidence given to him by the electorate through aggressive attack on graduate and able bodied people's

j o b l e s s n e s s , consolidation of social services to the people and the multiplication of same to those who are yet to benefit from the government largesse.

They added:“There is need for the exhibition of fair-play and justice to all, and carry the banner of progressive politics into national politics, now that the eclipse of the ACN is unavoidable.

ADO EKITI - ViceChancellor, Federal University, Oye, Ekiti, FUOYE, Professor Chinedu Nebo, has said about 1.1 million youth are denied admissions into universities and other tertiary institutions y e a r l y .

4 ACN leaders arrested for absconding with party funds

BY DAYO JOHNSON

A

KURE — FOUR leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in Ondo State have been arrested and detained at the Criminal Investigation

Tokunboh Awolowo-Dosunmu commends Ondo citizens for re-electing governor

BY DAYO JOHNSON

A

KURE — THE daughter of the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. (Mrs.) Tokunbo Awolowo Dosunmu, has

commended the people of Ondo State for their steadfastness and loyalty in the victory of the incumbent Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko in the just concluded gubernatorial election in

the state.

Similarly, Senator Femi Okunrounmu of the Yoruba Unity Forum and Dr. Kunle Olajide, a chieftain of Afenifere, also gave kudos to the

people for not dancing to the tunes of unpatriotic politicians and for reposing their confidence in the leadership of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.

Adeboye hails Mimiko’s re-election

BY SAM EYOBOKA

T

HE GENERAL Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG),

Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, has described the re-election of the Ondo State governor, Dr.. Olusegun Mimiko, as clean, transparent

and peaceful.

The clergyman made the remark in a congratulatory message by his Special Assistant on Administration and

Nebo laments admission denials for 1.1m Nigerian youths yearly

BY GBENGA ARIYIBi

B E O K U TA — FORTY hours after five policemen were killed by armed robbers in Abeokuta and Ibafo in Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, the state government has donated the sum of N7.5 million to the families of the p o l i c e m e n .

Emotion was high yesterday at the Governor ’s Office, OkeMosan, Abeokuta, when the widows of the five late policemen were brought by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye, to the governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun who presented cash of N500,000 each to the widows for the burial of the deceased

While justifying the need for more higher institutions in the country, Nebo argued that an average of 1.5 million Nigerian youths sat for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination annually, saying only 400,000 thousands got admitted.

Speaking in Oye Ekiti yesterday, the VC

equally faulted patronage of foreign universities by wealthy Nigerians.

According to him, statistics had shown that wealthy Nigerians spend as much as N400 billion on themselves and their children’s education overseas, while the universities at home were under serious

stress as a result of underfunding.

He identified lack of accommodation for his staff and the initial protracted crisis over where the university should be sited between Ikole and Oye Ekiti , as the greatest impediments of the fledging u n i v e r s i t y .

p o l i c e m e n .

Before the cash donation to the widows who came with their children, Amosun represented by the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Mr. Taiwo Adeoluwa, explained that the money was meant for their burial expenses and other immediate needs.

He, however, said N1million each had already been set aside for the upkeep of each of the families which would be paid to the next of kins of the dead officers after burial.

It will be recalled that five policemen and two civilians were killed by a-15 man armed robbery gang that attacked Abeokuta and Ibafo in Ogun State.

Personnel, Pastor Johnson Odesola, to the governor and the entire people of Ondo State, yesterday.

He maintained that the re-election of Mimiko was indeed a landslide victory, saying, “So overwhelming that everyone agrees that the result was a true and accurate expression of the voters’ choice.”

Adeboye stated that the entire family of the RCCG is proud of Mimiko’s honesty, transparency, dedication and hard work in his first term in office and wishes he continues in that light and with the fear of God, with his second term.

Department, CID, Akure, for allegedly absconding with the money meant for governorship election of the party in the state.

Sources within the party said the suspects after collecting the money running into millions of naira fled.

Deputy DirectorGeneral of ACN campaign team in Ondo South Senatorial District Mr. Femi Johnson said this in Akure.

The suspects included a former Special Assistant to a Minister, a legal practitioner in Ilaje Local Government, one local government party chairman in the southern senatorial district and a chieftain of the party in the area.

Mr. Johnson, who however, declined to disclose the specific amount the suspects absconded with, said the leadership of the party would recover the stolen money from them.

He pointed out that the money was meant for the election in the southern senatorial district and was directly handed over to the suspects for distribution until they bolted away with it.

He however denied that he was arrested alongside the suspects, adding that the money released through him six weeks to the election, was disbursed appropriately to the accused.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 11

Students of Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, Henry Edewo and Emmanuel Isikhuime, arrested for alleged kidnap and murder of a female student, Mercy Peter, in Auchi.

Rivers constitutes new RSIEC

Two students arrested over alleged kidnap, murder of female colleague

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

B

ENIN—TWO stu dents of Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, Henry Edewo, 21 and Emmanuel Isikhuime, have been arrested by the Police for kidnapping, raping and murdering a female student, Mercy Peter, 21, also a student of the institution.

They were alleged to have buried their victim in a shallow grave in a forest at Ugbor village, Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State, after killing her.

Vanguard gathered that the victim, who was kidnapped on July 29, this year, was killed four days later, after she was serially raped by the suspects.

They were also alleged to have continued to demand for ransom from her parents after killing her.

State Police Public Relations Officer, Anthony Airhuoyo, however, told

newsmen that the police made a breakthrough in the case on October 17 when two of the suspects were arrested.

He added that a third suspect, whose name was given as Charles,

Allegation of fraud trails recruitment of 500 successful applicants teachers in Edo was posted on the notice

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

B

ENIN—ALLEGATION of fraud is trailing the recruitment of 500 teachers in Edo State by the State PostPrimary Education Board, following reports that applicants were asked to pay N200,000 to be recruited.

It was learnt that in order to engage the services of enough teachers

in secondary schools in the state, Governor Adams Oshiomhole directed the Board to recruit 500 teachers who would teach science subjects, English and Mathematics.

Consequently, the subjects were advertised and over 11,000 persons were said to have applied for employment.

Vanguard learnt, however, that after conducting interviews, a list of

Delta Varsity SSANU demands release of kidnapped colleague gress held on Tuesday,

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

A

BRAKA—SENIOR Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, Delta State University, DELSU, Abraka chapter, has called for the immediate and unconditional release of one of its members, Mrs. Angela Njoseh, who was kidnapped on Sunday, October 21.

Still lamenting the pains of the earlier abduction of some of its members, including Mr. Atori, Mrs. Muoboghare

was still on the run.

Airhuoyo disclosed that the suspects took the police to the spot where they buried Mercy and her corpse was exhumed.

He said they were awaiting autopsy report.

and the Commissioner for Higher Education, Professor Hope Eghagha, who was released a week ago, the union said it was jolted by yet another abduction of its member, Mrs. Njoseh.

Condemning the spate of kidnapping of its members, SSANU noted that Mrs. Njoseh, who works in the admissions office of the University, was abducted from her residence at Obiaruku while the family was going to church early that morning.

At an emergency con-

October 23, the union condemned the porous security situation in the university and its environs and denounced the continued targeting and abduction of its members by kidnappers.

In a resolution by the Chairman, Comrade Ohwavworua and Secretary Comrade Matthew Eyuren, at the end of the emergency congress, SSANU called on the state government to arrest the ugly security situation immediately “or else it would be forced to embark on an indefinite strike."

board, but it was gathered that officials of the Board hurriedly removed the list when members of the public started raising questions about the credentials of some successful candidates.

It was observed that majority of those whose names were published did not take part in the interview but were recruited, apparently after paying the money allegedly demanded.

Vanguard was reliably informed that majority of those who were recruited were either not qualified or not majors in any science subject.

Vanguard learnt that Governor Oshiomhole had been informed of the situation and that there are plans to sack the entire Board members, a situation which is already creating tension among members of the Board.

When contacted, Edo State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Ekpenisi Omorotionwa, said though he had received such report, he was yet to obtain concrete evidence to enable the Ministry take action against the perpetrators.

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

P

ORT HAR COURT— RIVERS State Government has sworn in Prof. Augustine Ahiazu as the new chairman of Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC. Performing the ceremony at Government House, Port Harcourt, Governor Chibuike Amaechi charged the new team to ensure the promotion of democratic values.

Other members of the commission are: Dr. Eddy Adiele, Dame S. O. Nwachukwu, Dr. (Mrs) Vinolia Fubara, Ibiso Dakoru, Kennedy Tsaro Pueba and Kathryn Ajayi.

Governor Amaechi charged the commission

to conduct a credible local government election in the state in 2014.

The governor further assured that he would not interfere with the operations of the commission, and urged the new team to see their office as sacred.

Amaechi, who charged members of the commission to endeavor to discharge their responsibility dispassionately, implored them to ensure that the vote of the electorate counted in elections they would conduct.

He said: “To an extent, I liken the position you hold to that of a pastor which is sacred and you are the altar of God. “I think that the position you hold will determine the credibility of the kind of election you organise."

Power outage cripples business activities in Sapele

BY GODWIN OGHRE

S

APELE—INCES SANT interruption of power supply in Sapele, Delta State, by Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, for the past one month, has finally crippled business activities in the town and its environs.

The power outage has generated public outcry from people of the area, who complain that all entreaties to the power company had fallen on deaf ears.

Spokesman of SapeleOkpe community, Dr. Vincent Ekariko, told newsmen in Sapele, yesterday, that almost all

the transformers in the area had broken down.

According to him, the transformers have not been changed by the power company, despite the fact that the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Power, made available several new and high powered transformers for the area.

He also said most electric poles and their cables had fallen and were yet to be replaced or repaired by the power company.

The people of Ugbeyeyi axis of Sapele have also complained that electricity had ceased to function in their area for the past one year.

12—Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

Turk kidnapped in Rivers

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

P

ORT HAR COURT—A Turk, Mr. Baran Karakus, has been allegedly kidnapped at Nkoro area of Rivers State.

Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Ben Ugwuegbulam, who confirmed the development, said the Police was

on top of the situation to track down those behind the kidnap and secure the release of the hostage.

The hostage, according to sources, was abducted in his Hilux vehicle while supervising the multi-billion naira Ogoni-Opobo-Andoni Unity road project being handled by his firm, Rivigo JVC Nigeria Limited.

Students task oil firms on FUPRE's infrastructure devt

BY TOMMY ANADUAKA

COMMISSIONING: Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State driving one of the Marcopolo Buses shortly after the commissioning of 50 Marcopolo Buses by the governor in Asaba, Wednesday.

Photo: Henry Unini.

Flood divides S-South in three ....East-West Road turned to river

BY EMMA AMAIZE

W

ARRI—THE ravaging flood which started last month has partitioned oil-rich South-South geo-political zone into three parts and turned the East-West Road, the only highway linking the six states of the region, into a river.

As at yesterday, Edo and Delta states were on one side, having been cut off from Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.

Bayelsa is isolated, as people could not access the state from neighboring Rivers State.

Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom states are the only three states in the South-South where people could pass through via the East-West Road.

Vanguard reporters who went on a tour of the East-West Road, yesterday, discovered that flood had cut off the road at Uwheru in Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State. They had to board a boat to get to Patani, the boundary town between Delta and Bayelsa states.

At Patani, the reporters took another boat to cross over to Bayelsa State, but could not get to Rivers State, as the road had been severed between Mbiama and Ahoada.

East-West Road no longer passable

It was gathered that to get to Rivers State, transporters and other motorists from Edo, Delta and Bayelsa states have to pass through the SouthEast states of Anambra, Abia and Imo, as EastWest Road is no longer passable.

Delta State portion of the East-West Road appears to be the worst hit with boat drivers and motorcyclists making brisk business, while some youths have built makeshift wooden bridges and collect toll of N100 from pedestrians before passage.

At Uwheru, our reporters joined other travelers to cross the “River Jordan” created by flood on the East-West Road before boarding a boat to Ohoror, also in Ughelli North Local Government Area.

From Ohoror, they took another boat across Umeh community to Aven, near Patani, from where motorcyclists took them to Patani town.

Patani devastated At Patani, where the former national president of Ijaw Youth Council, Dr. Chris Ekiyor, had, through his nongovernmental organization, Rural Health Africa Initiative, RAHI, set up a relief camp for flood victims from Patani, Buluangiama, Abari and other affected communities in Delta State, the devastation was enor-

mous.

Dr. Ekiyor, whose residence in Patani is under water, told Vanguard that since the flood started, the East-West Road had been cut off.

He said: “I was in New York when I got information that flood had sacked my community. I had to rush down to Nigeria. I took a flight to Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, but I could not cross to Bayelsa to get to Delta State.

“I abandoned my car at Ahoada area with my driver and stripped myself to my boxers to cross the river on East-West road to a point where I was able to board a boat and later found myself in Patani.

“I have been here in Patani for more than three weeks, trying to assist the flood victims.

We have been cut off from other parts of the state and the SouthSouth zone. You can see the situation yourself.”

Ekiyor wondered why the Federal Government had not gone to fix the East-West Road, saying that when flood cut off Kogi-Abuja expressway, the Federal Government quickly intervened.

“Why is the situation different in the case of East-West Road? Are they saying they are not aware?” he asked.

He said that bringing relief materials to the victims in the RAHI flood camp was difficult, as people, including gov-

ernment officials could not access the place because of flood.

D

ELTA State stu dents have appealed to oil companies operating in the Niger Delta to assist the Federal University of Petroleum Resources in Uvwie Local Government Area of the state.

Speaking during a visit by the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS/ Joint Campus Committee, JCC, Delta State chapter, to

the institution, its chairman, Mr. Prince Koyoyo Uhrorho, said, FUPRE lacked basic infrastructures as libraries, laboratories and hostels, for conducive learning.

The Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Lawal Bichi, while commending the NANS/JCC Delta State executive for the visit to the institution, implored them to sustain such harmonious relationship with FUPRE and other institutions of higher learning in the state.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 13

C M Y K

14—Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

to take delivery of Airbus Two houses belonging to kidnap, robbery BA A380 aircraft in 2013 suspect demolished in Anambra L

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

A

WKA—TWO houses belonging to a suspected robbery and kidnap kingpin, Mr. Emeka Ezekude, were, yesterday, demolished at Umuatu, Uli in Ihiala local government area of Anambra State, with the people of the community commending Governor Peter Obi for the action.

One of the buildings, a nine-bedroom executive bungalow, was still at the finishing stage, while the other was a four bedroom bungalow.

Some people who spoke with Vanguard in the community, said the construction of the executive bungalow was begun barely fa ew months ago.

The suspect was said to

belong to the notorious kidnap gang, led by the late Olisa Ifejika, alias Ofeakwu, whose mansions were demolished at Oraifite in Ekwusigo local government area two months ago.

Ifejika was said to have named Ezekude as a member of his gang while being interrogated by the police and investigations led to the discovery of large quantity of arms and ammunition in his house at Uli. Ezekude, 40, married with five children, was said to be involved in the delivery of sand to building contractors, while his main business was armed robbery and kidnapping.

Items recovered from the house include one rocket grenade, three grenade pro-

pellers, two A.K. 47 rifles, zero six riffle, 27 A.K 47 magazines, 170 rounds of live ammunition and nine chains used in restraining kidnap victims. The arms and ammunition were hidden underground in plastic containers in his premises.

Yesterday’s demolition brings to three the number of houses belonging to criminals pulled down in Anambra State.

Governor Peter Obi, who led the demolition yesterday, said it was part of the war against kidnapping and other crimes in the state, insisting that any building linked with kidnapping and armed robbery would be demolished.

He made it clear that gov-

ernment would not allow anybody to benefit from proceeds of kidnap and other forms of crime, assuring that government was already winning the battle as the wave of kidnap across the state had drastically reduced.

He commended the police and other security agents for their sustained efforts to rid the state of criminals and hoodlums, assuring of continued government support to security operatives.

Deputy commissioner of police in charge of operations, Mr. Ayole Abeh, who accompanied the governor to Uli for the exercise, explained that the suspect confessed to being an armed robber and a kidnapper during interrogation.

AGOS—THE first of British Airways’ super jumbo Airbus A380 aircraft is to be delivered to the airline in July 2013, even as the building of the plane reached a major milestone this week, with the installation of four giant RollsRoyce Trent 900 engines.

The engines, which each produces 70,000 lbs of thrust (or approximately 30,000 horsepower, the equivalent of 300 family cars), were attached to aircraft ‘MSN095’, the first of 12 A380s the airline has on order.

British Airways’ Director of Engineering, Garry

Copeland, said: “We are delighted to see the aircraft taking shape, and can’t wait for it to join the British Airways fleet. This delivery is the latest step in a huge investment to upgrade the fleet and improve the inflight experience for our customers.”

Having been constructed at Rolls-Royce Derby plant, the engines were transported to Toulouse via road and ferry. Each engine, weighing six tonnes and with a diameter measuring almost 10 feet, took a team of five Airbus engineers to install.

Immigration boss tasks officers on security

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

O

W E R R I— C O M P TROLLER General of Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, Mrs. Rose Chinyere Uzoma, has charged officers and men of the agency to redouble their efforts in the current fight against crime and criminals.

Uzoma stated this while addressing NIS officers, Zone E Command Head-

quarters, Owerri, who were promoted recently.

Uzoma, who was represented by the Assistant Comptroller General in charge of Zone E, Chief Chibueze Adike, noted that the country was passing through a crucial period in its growth and development as a result of sundry crimes and acts of injustice being perpetrated by some misguided elements.

‘Why fuel scarcity may persist'

BY EMMAARUBI

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Rubbles of the demolished buildings by Anambra State Government owned by alleged kidnap, robbery kingpin at Umuatu, Uli, Ihiala LGA, Anambra State.

Senate to probe alleged sale of Police frequency band

by NCC He said the committee while invitations had been pear before the committee

BY TONY EDIKE

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NUGU—THE Chair man, Senate Committee on Communications, Senator Gilbert Nnaji, said, yesterday, that his committee was currently investigating the face-off between the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and Nigeria Police Force over the controversial sale of 450 Mhz Frequency Band belonging to the police.

Senator Nnaji, who is on a constituency visit as part of the Sallah break, dropped the hint at his Enugu Constituency Office while playing host to the people of his senatorial district.

had already directed Executive Vice Chairman of NCC to immediately furnish it with the detailed report

sent out to the InspectorGeneral of Police and the Managing Director of OpenSky Limited to ap-

to shed more light on the purported sale which is already generating public concern across the nation.

Court orders SSS, IGP to probe monarch's abduction in Anambra

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AGOS—THE Federal High Court, Lagos, has ordered the DirectorGeneral, State Security Service, SSS, Mr Ita Ekpenyong, and Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, to investigate last year ’s abduction of a royal father in Anambra State , Chief Lawrence Oragwu.

Justice Mohammed Idris, in a judgment, or-

dered Abubakar to mandate a special unit of the police to commence or take over and conclude the investigation.

He ordered the respondents to transmit to the court’s registry a type-written report of their respective investigations “ within three months.”

Chief Oragwu, a retired Deputy Comptrol-

ler-General of Customs, was abducted by unknown gunmen on June 2, last year in Agulu, Anaocha Local Government Area, Anambra State , on his way from church with his driver.

He was at the time the acting Igweof AdaziNnukwu in Anaocha Local Government Area of the state.

ARRI—THE Man aging Director of Matrix Energy Limited, Alhaji Abdulkabir Aliu has stated that petroleum product scarcity would continue unless the Federal Government allows market forces to determine product prices.

He also appealed to the Federal Government to remove subsidy as it had no business getting involved in subsidy payment, just as he called on the government

to properly investigate the subsidy scam and bring any dealer found culpable to book.

Addressing the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Downstream sector led by its Chairman, Dakuku Peterside at the company premises at Ifiekporo, Warri, Delta State, Aliu alleged that the Federal Government is owing the company N5 bilion, a condition that has rendered it incapable of further importing fuel to ease the situation in the country.

Vanguard , THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012—15

RIVER GODSDAY ORUBEBE ON EAST-WEST ROAD

Cut in two.

Stranded travellers being ferried in canoes on the East-West Road. PHOTOS: Akpokona Omafuaire.

ABOVE AND BELOW: Waiting for Godot at Evwreni, near Ughelli, Delta State.

The other side of the road at Evwreni, Delta State.

Stranded at Ohoror community.

Divided.

Youths set up monkey bridges to collect toll fees.

ABOVE: Mr. Emma Amaize, Vanguard SouthSouth Regional Editor, using the monkey bridge.

BELOW: Wading through River East-West Road.

Trapped at the Aven community axis of the road.

16 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 17

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Olusegun Mimiko: A victory foretold

Travelling in America

A Greyhound travel bus with him and he told me he had been out of Nigeria since February! He was on his way to attend a son’s graduation ceremony.

Monday brought home to me the horrors of the various American wars in distant destinations around the world.

I was on the queue at Dallas airport to take a flight to Phoenix, Arizona, on my way to California. I was dressed in the normal Northern Nigerian kaftan with a cap when a huge soldier-type, White man tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and he asked: “Which was your confession sir?” I paused for a while puzzled about his question and he saw that on my face: “Oh, it is because of your dress sir ”. I

answered that I am a Muslim.

“Well, a few weeks ago, I would have been loath to come close to you”, was his answer!

Frankly, I was worried, because this hulk could wring my neck in a minute! He then went on to tell me that he was a soldier and had just completed a training/ therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD (I recollected that I wrote about that in last week’s column!). It was that therapy which has calmed him considerably. He assisted me to put my bag through the screening process as I also told him about my late cousin, who I believe died from complications of PTSD after Nigeria’s tragic Civil War. We were headed for different gates for our respective flights and the last thing he told me was: “May Allah be with you”! That was another unintended consequence of imperialist wars! But the humanity we all share will somehow seep to the surface of all manners of

The Sultan, Archbishop Onaiyekan, CAN in the North: Significant gestures for peace

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HEN the story broke recently, that both the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’adAbubakar and Archbishop John Onayekan, had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, the significance of the gesture was very clear. The two leaders have been significant voices for inter-religious harmony in Nigeria. In the Sultan, we have a blend of the traditional and the modern; the will and energy to provide leadership for the Muslim Ummah in a difficult historical conjuncture. It has not been smooth sailing for the Sultan, and there have been omissions and mistakes while the traditional structures of leadership are straining, as society has become ever younger! To the Sultan’s credit, he has maintained a consistent effort at re-building inter-faith and inter-communal relationships, especially in the North.

I have known Archbishop John Onayekan from his time as the auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Diocess of Ilorin during the 1980s.Onayekan is a legend in Northern Nigeria.

During the 1960s, he had been the best student in the WASC examination in West Africa, and so excited was the late Sardauna of Sokoto, that he C M Y K

took the entire cabinet of Northern Region to Onayekan’s school outside of Gboko, in today ’s Benue state, to congratulate the young Onayekan.

Archbishop Onayekan had already made up his mind to become a priest and in his calling, has remained an exemplary leader, working with single-minded devotion for peace and inter-faith harmony.

The Sultan of Sokoto and Archbishop John Onayekan are emblematic representatives of the tendency for peace building in a most difficult period of our lives. Their nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize is a significant recognition of the work they have done jointly and in different forums over the years. It is also recognition of the thawing of the animosity that built up over the years between our faith communities.

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n equally significant development was the advertorial placed by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) of the 19 Northern States, in LEADERSHIP newspaper of Friday, October 12, 2012. The advertorial was placed by the Northern CAN and signed by Archbishop Peter Jatau, Ptesident, CAN of the Northern States Prof.

Daniel Babayi, the Executive

Secretary in solidarity with the Muslim community and it “utterly deploy(ed) and condemn(ed) the shameful video ‘the innocence of Muslims’”. Northern CAN argued that the film “ was clearly designed to defame and provoke Muslims the world over. This slander of the Islamic faith is entirely unacceptable and we stand in full solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters in Nigeria in the face of the assault on their religion”. Those who have followed the work of Archbishop Peter Jatau in Jos, testify to the effort he has made to build peace between the Muslim and Christian communities in that part of the North. The work of these religious leaders has never been easy, especially with the inflamed passion that they often have to deal with in their daily work. These leaders work with many individuals, men and women, young and old, in the peace building efforts essential to rebuilding the ethos of communal harmony, mutual respect and understanding without which we cannot begin to achieve meaningful development in Northern Nigeria. These are efforts that should be recognised and applauded!

subterfuge. And talking about our humanity, I was to have a two-hour stop over at Phoenix, Arizona. It is a destination I am familiar with; and I picked up a conversation with an elderly Somali woman cleaner dressed in a typically Somali manner, especially in the USA and Europe.

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couple of minutes after our conversation, I saw her at the counter of a beverages shop where I wanted to purchase a drink. She asked where I came from and I

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AM writing these lines around 7am in Buena Park, California, but it is close to 3pm on Tuesday afternoon in Nigeria. I had to wake up consciously remembering the time difference between here and home. That is a constant part of my consciousness when I travel around the world: Eritrea, Canada, Western Sahara, Guinea, India or even Darfur; it is a long list of destinations!

My life remarkably reflects my nomadic origins and as I often tell my friends (a painful fact that my family lives with!), I carry the gene of travel; and in the past week, I have been in the United States. I have retained a very ambiguous relationship with this incredible country! This time I have been in Houston where my sister-in-law was delivered of a set of triplets. Then I decided to do the Greyhound bus to Dallas to see my old friend from the Radio Nigeria days, Frank Oshodi. Back in secondary school we used to read those James Hadley Chase books, and I cannot quite remember which one was set around Greyhound buses.

Somehow, I always felt I should do the trip and almost like a Nigerian experience, a smooth trip through the expansive Texan countryside came to a sudden halt about 34 miles to Dallas. The bus developed a fault! The African-American driver was some character; he regaled us with stories which kept everyone laughing and he wanted us to know how lucky we were anyway, because a $1million Mercedes Benz bus was on its way to pick us! There was an assortment of human types on the bus, including a Nigerian Pentecostal preacher from Warri. His phone was the busiest and his voice, the loudest too! I naturally spoke

I want Obama to get a second term; the alternative of Romney will mean more invasions and killings of peoples around the world and Iran might just be the first!

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replied that I was Nigerian. I knew she was Somali, but strangely, I guessed that she was from Puntland, and I got it right! She was pleasantly surprised I knew that corner of Somalia! She ended becoming my ‘saviour ’, because I had mixed up the time, still using the time from Dallas! She suggested that I checked with the airline about time for my trip; the boarding pass I held read Gate 21, but the flight had been processed through a different gate. I was so sure of the gate and had been engrossed with my reading of Naomi Klein’s SHOCK THERAPY. I needed some amount of shock to find my way to the flight; the gate was about to be locked. And I just made it; just! We arrived on time in Los Angeles and my friend, Adeyombo Aderinto, picked me up. We drove through to Buena Park, listening to and discussing the last debate between President Barack Obama and his rightwing opponent, Mitt Romney. America’s election impacts upon our lives. I was not caught up in the Obama wave four years ago, but I am realistic enough to know that he is generally more progressive than his opponent. I want Obama to get a second term; the alternative of Romney will mean more invasions and killings of peoples around the world and Iran might just be the first! That is what Bibi Netanyahu is priming the world for and if Romney wins, then the Israeli tail will certainly wag the American dog into another war! It is so scary really!

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HE last time I saw the Ondo state gover nor, Olusegun Mimiko, was about six months ago. The buildup to the recent election was beginning, and one could catch a whiff of the coming battle. I asked him about the coming Tinubu threat; and he frankly answered that he was not fazed. He had kept his side of the Social Contract with his people, he assured me, and if his record of service was the basis of judgment, then he believed he would win the election. We never saw again and were not in contact, till last weekend’s poll.

But I had written that I hoped he won; and he did! There are several reasons why I wanted him to. But above all else, there was Bola Tinubu’sarrogance which seemed to have put off so many people, not just in Ondo state, but around the country, given all I have read on the internet.

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he ACN machinery of p r o p a g a n d a , disinformation, abuses and threat went into overdrive; while the more intellectual detachment tried to present a doom’s day backdrop of a much-vaunted ‘sacred’ integration project as an inevitability and reason why Mimiko was going to be uprooted. Bola Tinubu in his delusion boasted that it was over for Mimiko. In his mind the Ondo satrapy was just a matter of time; unfortunately, even his Ondo satrap, Akeredolu did not win in his constituency! And to add salt to the open injury, Tinubu’s satrap only came third in the election! There might be other issues that led to Olusegun Mimiko’s impressive victory, but for me, the grotesque level of indecency which the Tinubu machinery deployed was one of the most annoying parts of the campaign and it must have rankled people in Ondo. When governors and political leaders turn out like thugs and area boys, in a desperate urge for power, and did not even respect their opponent’s humanity, then something was seriously amiss! In the end, Bola Tinubu got his comeuppance!

Olusegun Mimiko is not the lightweight their propaganda profiled him to be.

Gov. Olusegun Mimiko

18 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 TWO issues are distracting the Ghanaian general elections that are 44 days away – the disqualification of former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, of the newly formed National Democratic Party, NDP, and electronic registration of voters that went a further step by asking prospective voters to verify their details by SMS. Ghanaians have criticised the voting verification method as unsuitable for a population with low literacy and a telephone penetration of about 30 per cent. Another criticism of electronic verification is that the SMS cost more than regular ones.

However, concerns about registration pale significantly when compared to the disqualification of Mrs. Rawlings, who the Electoral Commission, EC, said failed to fill her nomination forms properly.

The decision is a major blow for the flamboyant grandmother whose husband, Jerry Rawlings, ruled Ghana for almost 19 years.

Her departure from National Democratic Congress, NDC, which her husband founded, came after she lost the party ticket to then President John Evans Atta Mills.

Ghana’s Heated Elections She stridently criticised Mills from assumption of office in January 2009 till his death last July.

Her failing to make it to the ballot paper in the coming elections, is raising questions over whether EC was following its rules or was out to get Mrs. Rawlings.

Mrs. Rawlings’ party is threatening legal action, the first heat awaiting the elections. NDP Chairman Dr Josiah Aryeh said EC contravened its own regulations by rejecting the NDP forms which it submitted before the deadline. In the last elections, he said, EC allowed Dr. Edward Mahama of PNC to re-submit his forms long after the lapse of the EC’s official deadline.

“If there are mistakes then the NDP

should be allowed to correct them, as has been the case with Dr. Edward Mahama,” the party demanded.

EC has drawn ballot for the seven parties, cleared for the presidential election.They would appear on the ballot paper in this sequence - UFP, NDC, NPP, PPP, GCPP, PNC and CPP. Two other parties, Ghana Freedom Party, and the Yes Peoples’ Party, were also disqualified.

Work beckons for EC as the December 8 elections approach. After 20 years of democratic administrations, with seamless transitions, the world looks up to Ghana as the beacon in a continent where free and fair elections are rare.

The challenge before EC is to conduct free and fair elections. It has to consider Mrs. Rawlings’ case on its merit, if any, without reacting to blackmail, or succumbing to the influence of government.

Ghana’s sterling democratic credentials need sustenance after surviving the scary 2008 election, that Mills won with the slimmest margin to beat the candidate of the ruling party.

OPINION

BY HANDEL OKOLI

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AYING a tribute to Alex Ekwueme is not such an easy task, especially when you consider his diverse array of accomplishments in community philanthropy, architecture, academics, politics and the Church. Only a text book of several volumes can really capture the depth of the human ingenuity which has defined the life of this great Nigerian.

However, on this momentous occasion of his 80th birthday, I cannot help but join many Nigerians in celebrating a man of excellence, courageous and visionary political icon, architect, historian, sociologist and legal practitioner. Ide is to me the greatest Nigerian patriot of our time- always making the right choices for the unity of Nigeria.

His choice of NPN in 1978 as his political platform was informed by the need to steer Nigeria away from the perennial ethnic tensions that characterised the Nigerian civil war.

Awo’s UPN and Zik’s NPP were to draw the country back to those tendencies

Alex Ekwueme: The visionary icon @80 which Nigeria could hardly afford.

Even in government, Ide utilized his intellectual background and urbane nature to the fullest. His probity of character and integrity came under judicial review and Justice Samson Uwaifo upheld Ide’s conduct as a public officer.

Undeterred by the indignities he suffered in prison, in the 1994 Constitutional Conference, Ide took time to x-ray the evolution of the Nigerian state and by sheer force of inner conviction and visionary clarity, he came up inter alia with the idea of the six geopolitical zones which was viewed with suspicion by the reactionary politicians. Yet, by excellent political brinkmanship he navigated his ideas from a minority report of his committee to the endorsement of the plenary. This was later to deny him the Presidency in 1999 when he presented himself for nomination in Jos. By

accepting the result of the primaries Ide’s character and sense of patriotism became even more evident. Rather than view his conduct as a mark of strength, many saw it as evidence of weakness; very tragic indeed!!!

Under the Obasanjo regime, Ide became the quintessence father of the party with his several interventions, using the platform of the BOT which he chaired. The self-inflicted executive and legislative tensions were resolved on several occasions.

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background, I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined”.

Ide deserves to be honoured not only on his birthdays but by the party living up to the vision of its founding fathers which includes inclusiveness, adherence to the rule of law, party discipline and supremacy.

I do not know how else to honour Ide whom I served (and still serve) as a Special Assistant than to assure him that his light, like the Olympic torch, will continue to shine through us in Oko, the South East and Nigeria.

Happy birthday, Sir!!

t is doubtful whether the PDP has reciprocated the sacrifices of their leading light. With the balkanization of the party in Anambra State and the marginalization of the founding fathers, Abraham Lincoln’s famous address in New Salem, Illinois in March 9, 1832 is helpful. He said: “If the good people, in their wisdom, * Mr. Okoli, former SA to ex-president shall see it fit to keep me in the Olusegun Obasanjo, wrote from Abuja.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012—19

, NOI spills the beans in a new book

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HEN my pal, Paul Nwabuikwu, the Special Assistant to Dr Ngozi OkonjoIweala (NOI), our Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, called to inform me that his principal had written a book on her first “missionary journey ” to fix Nigeria’s economy, and that a copy was on the way for my appraisal, I was full of excitement. I wanted to see what she had to say about the dramatic parting of ways between her and former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Was my curiosity quenched after spending the past weekend reading through the 198 pages of the book entitled: Reforming the Unreformable, Lessons from Nigeria? Keep your hats on. We will get to that shortly.

Let’s first discuss the book itself.

The book consists of eight chapters written in very simple, readable English good enough for any averagely educated person to grasp. Dr OkonjoIweala obviously writes just as she speaks. You could hear her clear, smooth voice ringing out

of the pages in that peculiar way of hers, totally avoiding pretentious Ivy League academism. This book, in its simplicity and clarity of language, reminds you of Lee Kwan Yew’s big book: From Third World to First, the Singapore Story. I dare speculate NOI was inspired by Lee’s work.

It traces the journey of Nigeria’s economy from a diversified agrobased beginnings to the effects of “the curse of oil”, whereby the value of our Naira went burst, the incentive to invest in agriculture flew out of the window and Nigeria wound up a miserable mono -economy. Part of the distortion it created included runaway corruption and a $30 billion foreign debt burden that hung around Nigeria’s frame like a “giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief” as Shakespeare would say.

When Obasanjo was elected President in 1999, top on his agenda was debt “forgiveness” or at least “relief ”. We all saw how he ran himself ragged with public funds repeatedly to Western capitals. Once the president was

NOI is back to continue from where she stopped; it is now time to address some of those “unfinished businesses”, particularly diversifying the economy, creating jobs and reforming the Customs

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introduced to NOI the partnership clicked. NOI came on board as an adviser. But it was not until after Obasanjo won his re-election in 2003 and he took extra-ordinary steps to bring NOI home as Finance Minister, (“dollar salary ” and all) that Nigerians started taking note.

She had just resigned her position as Vice President and Corporate Secretary of the World Bank to come home and “give back” to a system that produced her.

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his book describes in lucid detail, the many internecine intrigues both within and outside the Economic Team. She discusses at length the various reforms to promote transparency and reduce corruption. But the most compelling part of the narrative is the ambitious debt buy-back deal which led to the cancellation of a massive 60 per cent of Nigeria’s $30 billion debt,

thus exiting her from the Paris Club albatross. She noted: “Nigeria’s debt relief package was the second ever for any country in the Paris Club’s 50year history, and Nigeria was the first low-income country to be allowed to execute a buy-back on a portion of its debt”.

Okonjo-Iweala rates her first coming to fix the economy a great success. Quite evidently, she was not the only one seeing it this way. Shortly after she resigned from the Obasanjo cabinet she was snaffled by the President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, to return as the Managing Director of the Bank. Right now, she is back on her old job as Finance Minister under a different president. In fact, NOI even ran for the Presidency of the World Bank and lost to America’s Jim Yong Kim. She is rated one of the most influential women in the world today.

But even Okonjo-Iweala admitted that her first sojourn, as successful as it was, still fell short on so many fronts. Some of the reforms could not be sustained after she and Obasanjo the regime left office. She admitted there were many unfinished businesses, mainly in the areas of making the gains of reform to reach the grassroots and provide jobs for the youth.

And now, I bring out all she had to say of her acrimonious parting of ways with Obasanjo, and I will quote her very words.

“In any event, it was also apparent that, with the achievement of debt relief, the president’s greatest “ask” of the (Economic Team), and in particular of me as its leader, had been achieved. The intense attention and support given to the team was no longer viewed as

necessary or important. My sudden resignation from government in August 2006 certainly did not help matters. It left the team’s members upset and reeling, despite the fact that I had been moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs three months earlier, and then removed as head of the Economic Team.

“I resigned because the principles of transparency, openness, and trust that had guided my work in government no longer seemed to obtain and I felt I could not deliver on any important reform agenda in that environment…”.

NOI did not end the work without digging into her experience as a reformer of one of the world’s most challenging economies to proffer guidelines and strategies for prospective reformers.

NOI is back to continue from where she stopped. It is now time to address some of those “unfinished businesses”, particularly diversifying the economy, creating jobs and reforming the Customs, one of the sectors she could not obtain the support of the Obasanjo regime to delve into. She should, however, note that her second time around has not been as well received as the first. The controversy over slow budget implementation this year, largely dumped at her doorstep has not helped the perception that this is not quite the NOI of 2003 – 2007.

We wait to see the jobs tumble out of the woodwork and non-oil items taking a bigger space in our national revenue due to expansion into new frontiers.

For NOI the nation waits for new results. The wait is beginning to seem long.

Point of Order, Doyin Okupe!

UR point of order is on Dr. Doyin Indeed, an abuse on our duly accredited Okupe who, in the character or a institutions is an abuse on our collective O rabble-rouser, has become too loud and sensibilities.

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Apparently, in the two instances of Okupe’s intrusion, the moral message left behind is: “Since you have a President who is not bright enough, I will always be the one to address you on important occasions even if that is not what the Constitution demands”.

Okupe has started well and he is spreading fast. At first, it was the nation’s 52nd Independence Anniversary Broadcast; then, the budget presentation; and by next year, perhaps, he will move to New York, where he will stand side by side with President Jonathan on the podium, telling him how to address the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Nigeria’s descent to confusion is deepening by the day, no thanks to Dr. Okupe. The official spokesman of Government is supposed to be the Minister of Information but he has been rendered redundant by Okupe. By normal practice, the day after the budget presentation – just about when Okupe was addressing the press on the budget – the Minister of Finance would have been analyzing the President’s budget speech and giving details of the provisions. Okupe’s usurpation has watered down all that.

Whatever happened to party discipline?

Okupe has thoroughly exposed PDP’s failure. He says the Executive failed because the Legislature failed – and both are PDPcontrolled! He rightly wonders who would expect 100 percent performance on a budget that was passed in April, just five months ago. But he cleverly avoided mentioning that the budget was thrown into the National Assembly a few days before Christmas and that was the genesis of the entire failure!

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he is overheating the polity. We have no reason to believe that this is what President Goodluck Jonathan wants because whoever pockets a small snake out of kindness will soon realise that there are limits to kindness.

Gradually, Okupe is beginning to wear the character of a person who has been planted on our President with the sole charge to destroy the President from within. Otherwise, which handler would consistently encourage his principal to commit suicide so that he would quickly jump in to justify how the principal got his hanging ropes?

One gets the impression that when President Jonathan went to present his budget estimates to the National Assembly, Dr. Okupe was not around.

Otherwise, he would have been the one to do the presentation. He would have started by asking the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or for that matter, any member of the National Assembly, to remain silent throughout his stay in the chamber. But if they must say anything, he would have been magnanimous enough to hand them a prepared script of what to say.

Which branch of government is headed by Dr. Okupe? For all we know, Dr. Jonathan got to Aso Rock on the people’s popular votes. Senator David Mark and Aminu Tambuwal were elected into the National Assembly by their people. But where does Dr. Okupe come in? Certainly, Nigeria is one place where an unelected intruder can invade the fiefdom of a duly elected official; abuse him thoroughly; and get away with it.

Okupe must be pointed to order; there is nowhere that the National Assembly is required to submit the result of its oversight either to him or to any other person for vetting

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f Okupe’s design was to browbeat the National Assembly into rubberstamping the estimates and passing them before the end of the year, it has failed. He probably does not know that the venom he has just vomited at the National Assembly will take more than three months to clear in which case, we are already looking far into mid-2013 for the passage of the budget.

While Okupe beats his chest about the early presentation of the 2013 Appropriation Bill, he probably does not know that the US Congress is already working on the 2014 appropriations, thanks to good budget cycles! In modern legislation, that’s what qualifies for early budgeting.

Legislative oversight of the administration as enshrined in Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution is a potent instrument of control. How else, for instance, would we

have known that the 2012 budget performance was abysmally low? The oversight process is around the year, which brings to naught Okupe’s insinuation that the legislators moved round the country in just one week. In any case, how long does it take to know that a project that was proposed for a place did not take off? Legislative oversight facilitates the lawmaking process.

Okupe must be pointed to order in his wild goose chase. After all, there is nowhere that the National Assembly is required to submit the result of its oversight either to him or to any other person for vetting.

Since when did the President’s budget proposal stop being “mere estimates”? It was for people like Okupe that Speaker Tambuwal had a flash back to Section 81(1) of the 1999 Constitution where the President’s document has been appropriately defined as “estimates of revenue and expenditure”.

To Okupe, referring to the budget figures as mere estimates demeans the quality of the document but he was quick to say: “What it requires is to table this before the elected representatives of the people for them to consider it and deliberate upon. Where amendments/adjustments are required, it should be done…”. He forgot to tell his audience that in the process of considering, deliberating, amending and adjusting this “sacrosanct” document, the legislature can knock it down completely and rearrange it in the superior interest of the people. For now, the figures remain mere estimates.

20 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 21

Firm targets improvement in human capital

FG identifies technology as pivot to economic growth

By LAZARUS IBEABUCHI

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OISE Nigeria said it is committed to raising human capital standard and reengineering the nation’s employability workforce.

To achieve this, it has introduced software called Psense that would help employers of labour assess the performance of their workforce.

Unveiling the software in Lagos, Mrs Mavi Isibor, CEO of Poise Nigeria, said Psense, designed by its subsidiary, Poise Graduate Finishing School in collaboration with Biddle Consulting, USA, is a revolutionary assessment tool designed to solve the recruitment challenges by testing an individual’s skills which a University degree cannot guarantee, and a one on one interview may not certify.

She said, “Research has shown that about 55 per cent of the world’s GDP will be coming from Africa and Asia in less than ten years. As we move towards that era, we will have more employable Nigerian graduates not just in Nigeria, but across the borders.

“We will be more marketable and more able to compete with graduates from other countries. Right now, we are not yet there. Even companies here employ Nigerians who study abroad. But our home grown graduates are yet to compete or be at par. There are jobs available, but there are fewer graduates fit for them.

“The Psense employability skill certification programme would boost a job seeker ’s hard and soft employability skills that the employer is looking for. It will also help employers get the right people into their organisations. It is a first of its kind in the country. It tests for value that the employer is looking for. We are partnering with various tertiary institutions to introduce this in the school curriculum,” she said.

Commenting on this, Mrs Ukinebo Dare, Head, Poise’ Graduate Finishing School, said Psense is an employability certification that tests, provides resources and training.

“It prepares the would-be employee with the skills needed to excel in his career. It helps those already employed with how to improve on their strengths and weaknesses. It also helps tertiary institutions prepare their students for the labour market.”

By DOTUN IBIWOYE

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HE federal government has disclosed that it plans to use technology in driving its transformation agenda and ensuring progress in the economy.

Speaking on the topic ‘Technology as a Pivot for Transformation’, at the Fourth Biennial lecture of the Alumni Association of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri

(FUTO), Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Ita Bassey Ewa, stated that technology is a major means in the attainment of the vision 20:2020 goal in capacity development and innovation.

The Minister who was represented by the Director General, Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, Mrs Gloria Elemo, averred that the government was committed to positioning the country at an enviable state

with the recent approval of the new National Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation, ST&I, by the Federal Executive Council.

The policy thrust is on building synergy through seamless collaboration of all stakeholders in education and research, both in the public and private sectors.

Ewa who has been a vocal advocate for venturing into the unexploited science and technology potentials of Ni-

From left: Senior System Engineer, Sales and Projects for Central and North East Africa APC Schneider Electric, Mr Ossy Anyabuike; Head of Payment and Mobility Practices, Accenture Nigeria, Mrs Henrietta Bankole-Olusina; Enterprise Account Manager, West Africa APC Schneider Electric, Mr Josiah Mogboonjubola and representative of Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Eme Chimene Eleonu at the 2012 Mobile Money roundtable, in Lagos. PHOTO: Keinde Gbadamosi.

Omidyar, Monitor Group set to unveil whitepaper on Nigerian entrepreneurs

By FRANKLIN ALLI

T

HERE are images in this attachment, they will not be displayed. Download the original attachment Omidyar Network and Monitor Group say they want to unveil a whitepaper on entrepreneurs in Nigeria and five other countries in Africa. The other countries are Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania.

A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision.

In Nigeria, a white paper is a policy document, approved by the Federal Government and made available to the general public as a means of presenting government policy preferences prior to the introduction of legislation.

Tebogo Skwambane, Managing Partner of the Monitor Group, Johannesburg, who disclosed this during the presentation of a survey of entrepreneurs in Nigeria and the other affected countries, said the whitepaper will be released in March next year.

“The multi-phase research project will gather insights into the health of entrepreneurial ecosystems in Africa, the challenges facing African entrepreneurs and the barriers to creat-

geria, stated clearly in the foreword of the policy document that if the Transformation Agenda of the present administration must be successful, science and technology must be integrated into national socio-economic development processes and must be accorded the highest priority. He also stressed that technology remains the most potent tool of this era for development and transformation in all facets of human endeavour and undoubtedly pivotal to employment generation, poverty eradication and economic growth.

According to him, “The key ingredients of development of any nation are subsumed within the trio of Technology, Raw Materials and Capital. To all intent and purpose, it is technology that drives and dictates the relevance of raw materials in its transformation into capital for investments that will impact on the socio-economic life of the people of Nigeria.

“One notable feature of this policy is the emphasis innovation which has become a global tool for fast-tracking sustainable development.

This policy is a clear demonstration of the country’s renewed commitment to ensure that our R&D engagements enhance wealth creation through the growth of small scale enterprises.

“The policy also supports the establishment and strengthening of coordination and management of ST&I activities within a virile National Innovation System (NIS).

ing environments supportive of entrepreneurship,” he said. He said that findings from the survey conducted have shown that entrepreneurship is gaining +2.2 163.85 credibility as a vocation in the continent.

“While 57 per cent of respondents con2,500.00 +11.00 sider becoming an entrepreneur a desirable career choice, sixty per cent of 19.99 -0.24 respondents held that the cost of capital hinders company formation and growth and only 23 per cent believe they can afford the costs associated with using 109.75 +0.31 existing infrastructure.

Findings, he disclosed, further re89.07 +0.42 vealed that, “Eighty per cent believe primary and secondary schools do not CURRENCY BUYING CENTRAL SELLING devote enough time to teaching entre154.76 155.26 155.76 preneurship, and 59 per cent believe the DOLLAR STERLING 247.4303 248.2297 249.0291 same of colleges and universities; 55 per EURO 201.234 201.8846 202.5347 cent feel that there aren’t sufficient busi- FRANC 166.3013 166.8386 167.3759 ness support services available for new YEN 1.9376 1.9439 1.9502 0.2892 0.2992 0.3092 and growing firms and sixty-two per cent CFA 237.9556 238.7244 239.4932 responded that they know entrepreneurs WAUA RENMINBI 24.7686 24.8491 24.9296 who have admitted to circumventing RIYAL 41.2671 41.4005 41.5338 administrative burdens that discourage KRONA 26.9753 27.0625 27.1496 238.1756 238.9451 239.7146 formalizing a business. These include: SDR paying taxes, obtaining licenses and CBN Exchange rate as at 24/10/2012 hiring employees informally.”

22 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

Analysts seek checks on foreign investors to curtail market volatility

BY LAZARUS IBEABUCHI

R

EGULATORS in the Ni gerian capital market have been called upon to put in place policies that will prevent volatility in the market, following the influx of foreign investors.

According to analysts at Stanbic IBTC Asset Management Limited, the emergence of foreign portfolio managers could increase the volatility of the market, and therefore, they expect the regulatory authorities to adopt policies that will promote market stability.

The Analysts in the company’s economic outlook for 4th quarter, 2012, also said that following the increased interest in the fixed income market, especially by foreign investors, they expect that yields would most likely continue to decline, howbeit, gradually due to the inclusion of Nigerian Government Bonds in the JP Morgan Government Bond Index as Foreign Portfolio Managers like Exchange Traded Funds, Hedges & Mutual Fund Managers, among others continues to buy into these securities “Furthermore, we expect the commencement of market making and extension of daily price limit on some stocks should bode well for the eq-

uity market. Also we expect the growing confidence and increased allocation by foreign investors to be maintained given the improvement in global risk appetite, especially in the Eurozone.

“Thus, notwithstanding the likelihood of profit taking, we expect the rally to be sustained and a positive return to be recorded in the last

quarter of 2012.” they said.

Taking a cursory look at the market performance in the third quarter, the report said the All Share Index appreciated by 20.43 per cent to close the quarter at 26,011.64 representing the first quarterly double digit return in seven quarters. Thus, on a year-todate basis, the ASI has returned 25.47 per cent.

During the quarters, the eq-

uity market rallied strongly due to positive investors’ sentiment supported by improving economic fundamentals and good half year results by some blue chip companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

This fuelled the increased activity of foreign portfolio managers who saw value in some of the listed companies especially blue chip companies and consequently decided to increase their allocation.

From left: Ashok Jain, Managing Director, Flying Dove Limited; Omokehinde Ojomuyide, Country Manager West Africa, MasterCard Worldwide; Rohan Israni, Marketing Director, Flying Dove Nigeria Limited; Kamil Olufowobi, Acceptance Director, West Africa, MasterCard Worldwide and Obi Okwuegbunam, Director, Account Management, West Africa, MasterCard Worldwide, at the Lagos Sony Centre following the commencement of MasterCard Nigeria and Flying Dove Limited’s collaboration in support of cCashless Nigeria.

NAICOM, SEC to carry out joint supervision of companies

BY ROSEMARY ONUOHA

T

HE National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC,

have agreed on the need to collaborate in the supervision and regulation of insurance companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE. This was made known when

the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms Arunma Oteh, paid a courtesy visit to the headquarters of NAICOM. In his welcome remarks, the

Enterprise Bank, officials to face legal action over fraud

BY CALEB AYANSINA

A

private company, Citi Stride Limited, has threatened to institute legal action against Enterprise Bank Limited and its officials should it failed to give the full disclosure of how an account was opened in its name for illegal transactions.

The company also demanded the closure of the account, as well as the sum of N100 million, as damages for opening and profiting from its goodwill without its consent.

Vanguard investigation showed that sometime in September 2011, one Mr. Abiola Ige Opeyemi connived with the bank officials at Mararaba branch, Nasarawa State, to open an account in the name of the company (Citi Stride Ltd), without the normal recall to norm of

corporate account opening in Nigeria Banking Institutions.

The Managing Director of the company, Prince Omonigho Sadjere, told Vanguard that, Abiola Opeyemi is neither a stakeholder or director in his company, but he maintained and runs account number 1200964734 in his company’s name.

He said Opeyemi had been transferring funds through the illegal account to the tune of N4 million. Also, the company’s Legal Adviser, Ikechukwu Emeto, said he had complained about the illegality to the bank, “and nothing has been done to discontinue this manifest negligence and active connivance”, adding, “our client has suffered serious hardship and loss of goodwill”.

Emeto noted that the act is ca-

pable of putting his client into serious trouble with anti graft agencies, as any atrocity committed by Opeyemi and the bank officials will only be traced to his client.

He maintained that, if the bank failed to meet their demands within the 14 days given to them in their letter, they might be forced to take legal action against them.

“May we state in no unclear terms that in any event of your failure to so meet with our client’s demand, we shall carry out our client’s instructions, to institute legal actions against the bank and its officers”, Emeto threatened.

Mainwhile, the Bank through its Secretary, Olufunke Olakunri expressed the management determination to settle the issue raised by the company.

Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel, noted that some 10 years ago, the Commission would have little or nothing to do with SEC because not more than three insurance companies were listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, but as at today, he added, well over 30 insurance companies are listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

“Some of the companies we have primary responsibility to regulate also have one or two things to file or do with SEC by virtue of the fact that they are quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

This, therefore makes it imperative for the two regulators to collaborate to ensure effective supervision and regulation of the entities they have to deal with”, the Commissioner said.

Oteh agreed with the Commissioner and stressed the need for the two agencies to collaborate in joint inspection and supervision of insurance companies that are listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Investors’ confidence: ICAEW urges integrity in financial reporting

BY NKIRUKA NNOROM

I

NSTITUTE of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, ICAEW, has called on companies operating in Nigeria to adopt integrity in their financial reporting, saying that this is at the heart of improved investors’ confidence in many other markets around the world.

Vernon Soare, ICAEW Executive Director, Professional Standards made the remark while presenting a paper termed ‘Building Trust in Financial Reporting: Meeting Stakeholders’ Expectations’, at the 42nd national conference of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN. He stated that adoption of such principle among auditors of companies would go a long way in building trust in stakeholders.

“It seems to me that the essence of an accountant’s professional contribution is not knowledge of figures and finance. Important as this is, but integrity: the integrity to provide the meaningful, accurate and timely information is needed for the financial decision making that underpins the success of our economy…. the integrity of the independent audit which is fundamental to business trust and the integrity and impartiality of the business advice provided,” he said.

Soare listed drivers of organisational integrity to include honesty and truthfulness, compliance with laws, openness and adaptability, as well as consistency and taking corrective action among others.

According to him, the core elements underpinning strong economies include regulatory architecture, processes and good financial reporting.

He observed that sustained national growth and development could be achieved through investors’ confidence emanating from application of these three principles.

He stated, “Executives, economists and policy makers are growing tentatively optimistic about the development of functioning capital markets, which in turn could help put the African continent on the path of even faster, more sustainable growth. What needs to be done is to convert the interest into investment.”

He emphasised that strong professional bodies, legislative frameworks, regulatory oversight and ddisciplinary processes are important in entrenching integrity among companies.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 23

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

T

HE Federal Government has commenced holistic review of the National Policy on Education in tandem with the nation’s t r a n s f o r m a t i o n process. Executive Secretary of Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) and Chairman of the High Level Committee on Updating the National Policy on Education, Professor Godswill Obioma, said the current policy on education was deficient in view of the present-day realities and emerging issues affecting the education sector.

He spoke at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja on Wednesday on the review process of the education policy.

Obioma said that the current 63-3-4 system of education would also be reviewed to make it compulsory for one year early child education.

He said the campaign for access to education in the country warranted that early childhood education is properly incorporated in the national system of education.

He also noted that the present administration of President Goodluck Jonathan attaches great importance to human development and that government was determined to reposition the education sector through provision of a sound policy framework.

Prof. Obioma also said the society was dynamic and many reforms have taken place overtime, which have not been adequately reflected in the

• Prof. Godswill Obioma

FG commences review of National Policy on Education current policy in place.

The NERDC boss further said that there was need for Nigeria to review the international agreed goals such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Education

For All (EFA) goals beyond 2015. He said the new policy would redefine those goals in line with the national development agenda He said; “Various countries have set for themselves an

agenda on what to do and as we approach 2015, the whole world is trying to redefine those goals. And so, the policy also must be changed in tandem with those redefinitions.

“Secondly, we are operating a system whereby Mr. President has set for us agenda, which we hope will take us to Vision 20:2020. The transformation agenda has as one of its strategic goals, human development and education is very critical to human development; “critical in the sense that education is an instrument per excellence for social and economic reconstruction. So, if we look at education as critical to human development and critically connected to transformation agenda, we must go back and ask ourselves, the current policy on education, will it still drive that process?” Obioma said.

He added that the review would also take into consideration education in disaster areas, saying “a couple of weeks ago and until recently, we have been witnessing flood and children and human persons are in disaster areas and you have noted that a number of populations have moved from communities where they were domiciled which have been engulfed by flood, to schools where children are expected to be learning.

“And those children are in deprived environment. They are in environment in which we call disaster environment. Even those other children whose schools were flooded are now helpless in refugee camps. But we don’t have anything like that in the current policy on how to address such situation,” he said.

53 corps members to repeat service

BY DAYO ADESULU

N

o fewer than 53 corps members will repeat their service, even as they have been denied NYSC discharge certificates at the passing out ceremony in Ipaja, Lagos for absconding during service year and other offences committed.

While addressing the 8,165

Batch ‘C’ corps members deployed to Lagos State, the NYSC state coordinator, Mrs Adenike Adeyemi said; “Disciplinary measures of repetition of service shall be meted on 21 corps members who absconded and 32 given extension of service ranging from two weeks to two months.”

According to Adeyemi, the

punitive measure was to discourage serving corps members from playing truancy while on national assignment adding; “The NYSC teaches and exemplifies discipline, patriotism and committed service.”

However, on a sad note, Adeyemi disclosed that out of the 8,165 that served in the state, eight persons whom she

referred to as patriots, lost their lives during the period.

The state coordinator who charged the discharged corps members to live by tenets of hard work, urged them to practise the various skills acquisition programmes they were exposed to in the past 12 months. “An entrepreneur is a founder, an organiser, producer and promoter of his

own business, thinking along this direction will save you the disappointment of waiting for non-existent white collar jobs,” she said.

However, in line with the NYSC policy of rewarding excellence and hardwork, four exceptional corps members were giventhe State Honours Award to factor out the Nigeria of your dream.”

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Nigerian student breaks world record, scores 4.0 over 4.0 in Turkish varsity -- PAGE 24

UNESCO, Nigeria sign MoU PAGE 25

We aim to eradicate malaria in Africa – Ezekiel Adebiyi PAGE 32

24 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

Nigerian student breaks world record, scores 4.0 over 4.0 in Turkish varsity

*Tunji receiving diploma from the President, Turkish Republic of North Cyprus

BY DAYO ADESULU, STARRYS OBAZEI & MUSBAUDEEN SHEKONI

A

GENIU s could be referred to as an exceptional child who is academically sound. B u t , how would you describe an individual who never misses a point in his examinations from first year in the university to the final year? If there is any adjective to qualify such a person, that word could best describe Tunji Olu-Taiwo, an Engineering student of Eastern Mediterranean University in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus who obtained 4.0 CGPA out of 4.0 CGPA, the first ever in the department.

Encomiums have continued to be showered o n Tu n j i O l u -Ta i w o f r o m various quarters, because his impressive performance has placed him in the spotlight.

Over the years, Nigeria’s human resources have ranked among the best in the world partly due to the profound efforts of criticalminded parents that

stimulate the astuteness that hides within every student, begging for whom to push the trigger.

Tu n j i O l u -Ta i w o , w h o hails from Ifako-Ijaye Local Government Area of Lagos State, emerged the best graduating student from the Faculty of Engineering, obtaining a status of High Honours (first class).

Tunji is the first African to have bagged such a status in the Department of Engineering, obtaining a degree in Engineering on a Grade Point Average of 4.00 out of 4.00 (straight A’s).

Amid great honour and eulogy sang by the students and academic, expressing marvel at the development, Vanguard met with Tunji in an online chat to speak more on his success.

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg as Role Model “I am looking up to Mark Zuckerberg, he is a genius I love to emulate,” Tunji said.

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984) is an American computer programmer and

Internet entrepreneur. He is best known as one of the five co-founders of the social networking site, Facebook.

Zuckerberg is the chairman and chief executive of Facebook. Inc. Further Study “I plan to further by specializing in the field of software engineering.

"Software Engineering is a course I have cherished right from time. I know I owe the society more with this, that is the reason that I wish to go further in that regard for this dream to be fulfilled."

Hopes and challenges in Nigeria Tunji expressed hope in Nigeria when he said; “there is no place like home,” adding; “I like the fact that no matter the difficult situations Nigerians find themselves in, they still try to be happy.”

Advice for the Government Poverty, I believe is the greatest distraction, frustrating process of seeking admission into universities and lack of steady electricity are some

dire challenges the people, especially students, usually grapple with, in his honest opinion. Tunji advised the government thus: "Admissions should be done on a per semester basis. I will advise that the Federal Government should try to provide constant electricity. This, to me, will automatically eradicate about 50 per cent of Nigeria’s problems. Also, a simple advice for all students is that the road to success is not on a straight path. Patience is a ver y important virtue that should be put to good use."

His Background " M y f a t h e r, D r. M i ke Olufemi Taiwo is a dental surgeon and a retired army officer. He is from Lagos S t a t e . M y m o t h e r, M r s .

Ajoke Lillian Olu-Taiwo is a business consultant. She hails from Kogi State.

My parents modelled my life the way it is today. They took time to instil discipline in me. I was born and raised in the great city of Kano. I grew up in a large Catholic family, with three brothers and four sisters. I started reading at a very young

age. My parents made sure I did my assignments and that zeal still remains in me up to this moment."

Tunji’s father who spoke w i t h Va n g u a rd a b o u t Tunji’s up- bringing said; “I brought up all my children in Kano. I noticed that many parents allow their children freedom to wander about after school which I detested so I made it mandatory for my children to remain home-bound. I was part of their lives. I made sure their home works were done and their books studied on daily basis. I was their mentor and at the same time, their friend.

"Nevertheless, because all work without play makes Jack a dull boy, so I provided indoor games for my children. When they were big enough to play table tennis, I played the game with them. It was fun.

"I also taught them chess and was always beating them, but when Tunji came from Cyprus, he started beating me hands down and I began to marvel. I was not too surprised about the result he made,” said Dr Olu Taiwo.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 —25

UNESCO, Nigeria sign MoU

BY AGADA ABUTU, UNN

T

HE United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nigeria in regards to establishing the international institute of Biotechnology at the University of Nigeria.

At a colourful ceremony held recently at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the Director General of UNESCO, Mrs Irina Bokova, signed the MoU on behalf of UNESCO, while the Honourable

Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, signed for the Federal Government of Nigeria.

In a short address during ceremony, Mrs Bokova described biotechnology as a catalyst for economic development and wealth creation and reiterated the commitment of UNESCO “to promote networking for the development of science, education and knowledge exchange and to building national capacity”. In her post-signing address, Professor Ahmed Rufa’i revealed that the government of Nigeria had placed a

premium on the establishment of the centre and expressed her optimism that the centre will soon become a reference institution that would contribute to national and international capacity building, research and development.

While reacting to the development, the principal officer of the institution, Professor Bartholomew Okolo, explained that the centre was the only one of its kind in Africa and has the mandate to address the problems of food security and tropical diseases in Africa. He further gave the assurance that the centre

• Education Minister, Prof.

Ruqayyatu Rufai

would live up to these mandates and would have the desired impact not only on the lives of Nigerians, but on the lives of all Africans.

The centre is intended to conduct advanced training, education and research in biotechnology with emphasis on food security, bio-resource conservation and tropical diseases.

In addition, the centre will host international conferences, and collaborate with other institutions in Nigeria and the rest of Africa to advance biotechnology education in the sub-region.

UNN professor among winners of L'Oreal-UNESCO WIN Awards

BY EBELE ORAKPO

A

NIGERIAN female scien tist is among five women expected to receive the 2013 15th L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women In Science (WIN) awards. The five women scientists, according to a release by the organisers of the awards were chosen for their researches which demonstrated “exceptionally original approaches to fundamental research in the Physical Sciences, from contributing to better understanding of climate change, to advancing research on neurodegenerative diseases and potentially uncovering new energy sources.”

The laureates are Professor Francisca Nneka Okeke, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (Nigeria) “for her significant contributions to the understanding of daily variations of the ion currents in the upper atmosphere which may further our understanding of climate c h a n g e . ” Professor Pratibha Gai of the University of York (UK) “for ingeniously modifying her electron microscope so that she was able to observe chemical reactions occurring at surface atoms of catalysts which will help scientists in their development of new medicines or new energy s o u r c e s . ” Professor Reiko Kuroda,

Frequently Confused Words Childish – Childlike A child is ‘a young human who is not yet an adult.’ Both childish and childlike refer to ‘a person being like a child’ but the two words do not have the same connotative meaning.

Childish has a negative connotation, while childlike has a positive connotation. Childish, when applied to adults, is a term of disapproval. It is used in a derogatory way to mean ‘behaving in a stupid or a silly way; acting like a child in an immature way’. Childish refers to the less desirable qualities of a child such as ‘selfishness’ and ‘irresponsibility.’

C M Y K

University of Colorado, Boulder (USA) “for having been the first to cool down molecules so much that she can observe chemical reactions in slow motion which may help further understanding of molecular processes which are important for medicine or new energy sources.” ”These five outstanding women scientists have given the world a better understanding of how nature works. Their pioneering research and discoveries have changed the way we think in various areas of the physical sciences and opened new frontiers in science and technology. Such key developments have the potential to transform our

society.

Their work, their dedication, serves as an inspiration to us all,” said UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova.

On 28 March, 2013, the five will be honoured at an Awards ceremony in Paris and will receive US$100,000 in recognition of their accomplishments.Chairman and CEO of L’Oréal , JeanPaul Agon said; “We are very proud to have changed the face of science by supporting women in science. We are convinced that science and women bring hope and foster discovery, innovation and excellence. All the best talents must be called upon to accomplish this mission.

Childlike is a complimentary term used to describe the positive characteristics that children usually have. Childlike connotes the attractive qualities of the child such as innocence, trust, simplicity and enthusiasm. When applied to adults or children, it is usually a term of approval. Thus, childish and childlike are used in different contexts.

Examples: ‘When I became a man, I put away childish things’. I Corinthians 13:11.

Don’t be so childish!

He accepted the offer with childlike enthusiasm.

Even at sixty-five, my uncle seemed childlike.

My wife has a childlike trust in others.

government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter”. Thomas Jefferson.

I live in the last house on the right.

Tokyo University of Science (Japan), “for discovering the functional importance of the difference between left handed and right-handed molecules which has wide applications including research on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer ’s.”

Professor Marcia Barbosa, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre (Brazil) “for discovering one of the peculiarities of water which may lead to better understanding of how earthquakes occur and how proteins fold which is important for the treatment of d i s e a s e s . ” Professor Deborah Jin, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and

Later – Latter – Last Use later when referring to a term in the future, latter when referring to the second of two things, groups or persons mentioned previously and last after more than two things or people have been mentioned.

Examples: I’ll see you later in the day.

“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a

Instruction: Choose the appropriate word from the alternatives in the bracket.

1.

The cashier did not take the customer’s remark as a (compliment/ complement).

2. (compliments/ complement) of the season!

3.

Communal labour should (compliment/complement) government efforts on road repairs.

4.

Men and women have strengths that (compliment/complement) each other.

5.

The bus was (stationary/stationery) when a car ran into it.

6.

Adun went to a

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

26— Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

YABATECH set to increase carrying capacity

BY IKENNA ASOMBA

D

ETERMINED to actualise Federal Government’s policy on increased access to quality education in the country, Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Lagos, is set to increase her carrying capacity to cater for the high number of candidates seeking admission into the college through the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The management of the institution has just concluded the inspection of resources and carrying capacity status visit by its regulatory agency, National Board for Technical Education.

In her address at the plenary session of the NBTE visit, the rector of the college, Dr. Margaret Ibiyeye-Ladipo, disclosed that over 100,000 applicants are seeking admission into the college through JAMB in the last

•Dr. Margaret Ibiyeye Ladipo, Yabatech Rector UTME. She said: “The college is responsive to the Federal Government’s transformation agenda of increasing access to

quality education in Nigeria and this course we are championing. To this end, a 500-seater lecture hall is being upgraded to a 2,000 capacity

BRIEF

block of classrooms with offices for lecturers; a seven-story building which is nearing completion and would be ready for the next academic session, contains 93 offices, seminar rooms and a completed twostorey building donated by the college alumni.”

Similarly, the rector disclosed that the college is constructing another 1,300seat auditorium with complement of classrooms to seat additional 360 students with other buildings for Marine Engineering and Agriculture situated at her Epe campus including the School of Science building; the Rector, added.

Dr. Ladipo told the NBTE team that the process of shortlisting of applicants is on-going to complement the staff on ground as required by the NBTE while a number of equipment in various departments have been purchased, the library stockpiled with current books, journals and supported by the e-library.

UNICAL holds ICT seminar

BY STANLEY UCHEGBU, UNICAL

T

he Management of University of Calabar (UNICAL) has held a one day seminar on Information Communication Technology (ICT) for the registered students of the university. The reason for the seminar was to teach the students how to freely access the internet facilities provided on campus.

The seminar which was held at the International Conference Center of the institution was attended by its ViceChancellor, Professor James Epoke, Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof. Eyong U. Eyong, Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences, Prof. Joseph Udoayang, the Information Officer of the university, Mr. Effiong Eyo, Director of ICT, Mr. Roughus Okoro, SUG President, Comr. Ayi Ekpeyong and his executives, Speaker, SUG Parliament and other dignitaries.

In his opening remark, Dean of Students' Affairs, Prof.

Eyong said that the aim of the seminar was to inform the students on importance of ICT, adding that a student who is ICT illiterate does not deserve to be called a student of this noble institution.

With the internet provision on campus, a student has no right to say that he or she does C M Y K

not have enough materials for his study because the internet is there to provide materials in abundance, he said.

Speaking at the seminar, the Vice-Chancellor said that it is extremely consequential to acquire knowledge through internet facilities on campus.

According to him, the university set up the facilities to ease research efforts by students and lecturers alike.

The project seeks to provide students and lecturers with access to vital information required to excel in their studies. It provides our students

with the platform to compete favourably with their counterparts in other parts of the world, he said.

He commended the director of ICT, Roughus Okoro for the gesture and pledged to ensure maximum utilisation of the facility.

•Cross section of participants at the ICT seminar

MAPOLY Rector seeks help over transportation problem

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

R

ECTOR of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Architect Tokunbo Fowode, has solicited help from corporate organisations, individuals as well as Ogun State Government over the problems of transportation facing the students.

Fowode who spoke shortly after the commissioning of a luxurious bus appreciated the state government for giving the Management access to use the institution’s funds to procure a bus in addition to the ones on ground in a bid to reduce the transportation problem in the institution.

He said; ”We solicit for help from organisations, both government and nongovernmental organisations and individuals to come to the rescue of students on transportation problems.

He explained that the procurement of the buses was to ease transportation pains of the people, pointing out the cost has been subsidized for the students.

He, however, advised the students to take good care of the bus, and see it as theirs and should avoid any form of vandalisation.

While commissioning the buses, the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Barrister Segun Odubela lauded the effort of the school management in realising the needs of the students.

He commended their efforts, saying they have clearly shown they have the interest of the students at heart by acquiring the bus from their Internally Generated Revenue.

He promised them additional buses which will be given by the state government to ease transportation problem. ”Our governor likes students so much; recently, we donated two luxurious buses to Olabisi Onabanjo University. It’s a gradual thing, I promise it will soon reach Mapoly,” Odubela said.

Faculty clinches victory at debate

BY SIKIRU AKINOLA & JANE ARIYIBI, OAU

T

he academic strength of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife was recently brought alive, as the

Faculty of Pharmacy emerged victorious at the maiden edition of the Shade Olafimihan InterPharmacy Schools Debate Competition.

The event which is the 41st edition of the Pharmacy Week,

organised by the executives of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigerian Students, PANS, kicked off with a seminar which was delivered by eminent personalities in the field of pharmacy.

One of the guest lecturers, Pharmacist Oyegunju Isiaka Akinloye, who is the factory manager of Fidson Health Care Plc said that building a career requires nurturing an ambition right from the early stage of life.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25 , 2012 — 27 ifychimexs@yahoo.com

Vol 01

No. 12

OCTOBER, 2012

www.vanguardngr.com

Capacity Building

•CGC Dikko receiving the ANAN award

Dikko gets ANAN Fellowship award F

OLLOWING achievements of the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Dikko Inde Abdullahi, since he assumed office in 2009 which have earned him accolades and recognitions from diverse sectors of the Nigerian economy and the rest of the world, the Council of Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), a professional accounting body has awarded him a distinguished Fellowship of the Association.

Distinguished fellowship The award came shortly after the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) conferred different awards of recognition on him.

The Council said the award was in recognition of Dikko’s transparent and highly C M Y K

,

Stories by Ifeyinwa Obi

The award has challenged him to do more in his capacity as the Comptroller-General of Customs especially at the time when the Service is gearing up to take over fullyCustoms operations from the Service providers

,

accountable style of leadership which has transformed the Service in all spheres of its activities.

Speaking on the award, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Dikko Inde Abdullahi, CFR, expressed appreciation to the Council of ANAN for the conferment and assured the accounting body of his determination to protect and uphold the ethics of accountability in his position as the CGC. He said, the award has challenged him to do more in his capacity as the Comptroller-General of Customs especially at the

time when the Service is gearing up to take over full Customs operations from the Service providers.

It would be recalled that Customs has recorded tremendous success under Dikko three years on.

However, when Dikko, assured the nation of a total overhaul of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) soon after his appointment in August 2009, it appeared to many as a political promise.

Three years down the road, his achievements are not only visible but laudable in the history of the Nigerian Customs.

Before 2009, training and retraining of officers did not receive the d e s e r v e d attention. Training was limited to ASYCUDA and refresher courses in its Kano and Lagos training colleges. But a department of human resources development was created at the inception of the D i k k o - l e d administration days after being sworn into office.

So far, the department has successfully completed the training of 18,036 officers, both locally and internationally.

Officers benefitted from trainings in the US, Japan, Switzerland, Brussels, South Africa, Hong kong including trainings in Nigeria, in 2009.

Also in 2010, officers were also sponsored for trainings in Brussels, Geneva, Mali, South Africa, Florida, New York, Canada, Zimbabwe as well as in Nigeria among other places. Another set of officers also benefited from trainings in Ghana, Congo, Brussels, Pittsburg, Malaysia, China, Canada, India, Italy as well as in Nigeria in 2011, and in 2012, officers have also benefitted from trainings in Botswana, Ghana, California as well as in Nigeria.

Regular Promotion To ensure that officers and men of the Service are adequately motivated for optimal performance, dserving officers and men are being promoted as at when due. In this regard, three promotion exercises have been conducted since the inception of Dikko’s administration.

Migration to Single Window Platform Under his regime, migration to the Single Window platform. This is a facility which allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge Continues on page 29

Business grinds to a halt at Seme border over bad roads

B

USINESS activities at the nation’s busiest and revenueyielding land border, Seme Border, have virtually grounded to a halt owing to the deplorable state of the Nigerian side of the international road that links the country with Benin Republic and other ECOWAS countries.

Plying the road has become a nightmare to both travellers and business men who transact their businesses along the route. The road has caved in at several spots while deep gorges have developed in many areas forcing motorists to switch from one lane to the other in a bid to avoid the worst spots.

Travelling on the road now takes long hours with accidents on the increase.

“Safety of lives has become a big issue here,” said a Customs officer that did not want his name in print. “Last week, we lost an Immigration officer who fell into one of the ditches on the road with his car.”

Lamenting the poor condition of the road and the economic losses, a business man and clearing agent who operates at the border, Chief Samuel Madubuike,said that business activities have virtually stopped at the border because of the road.

He said:“We lose trailers to the road on daily basis. Our trailers fall everyday there and we lose a lot of money.

Last Friday, I lost two trailers, one at Agbara, the other at Gbaji. I lost N7million in the two accidents. Each time a trailer falls, we have to rebuild it because the cost of repairs is the same as the cost of a new build. So we have to rebuild, and so we spend a lot of money.”

28—Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25 , 2012

W

HILE the fight against smuggling has remained unabated despite legislation, the Area Controller, Federal Operations Unit, Zone A Ikeja, Comptroller Dan Ugo has again warned that there was no hiding place for smugglers.

Although no conviction has been made as a result of Nigerian Judicial system, the CAC noted without mincing words that if unnecessary imported items were allowed into the country, they could bury Nigeria’s economy, and the productive sector of the economy will be gone.

He noted: “If they turn a new leaf and go into genuine business, it will be better for everybody. We want to be friends with everybody.”

There is no hiding

place for smugglers — Comptr oller Dan Ugo Comptroller

Strategies for catching smugglers:

CAC, FOU Zone A Compt. Dan Ugo

Seizures:

Poultry products seized In line with the circular on zero tolerance for all poultry products from the headquarters, the command, he said has seized 13,418 (thirteen thousand, four hundred and eighteen) cartons of assorted poultry products between June and September, 2012.

Prior to that period, the Command , he added had seized a substantial number of the product. He, however, noted that the emphasis became more serious as soon as the circular got to the commandin June this year.

He said: “The seizure is valued at N41, 981, 400 (Fortyone million, nine hundred and eighty-one thousand, four hundred) Naira only with a Duty Paid Value of 50, 377, 680 (Fifty million, three hundred and seventy-seven thousand and six hundred and eighty ) Naira only.

“We took off from there and I can say to you that between that time and now, we have made 30, 480 seizures of cartons of assorted poultry products and the DPV for that is N50, 377, 680. So in as much as we are making seizures of all items, we have completely almost paralyzed efforts of those who try to bring in poultry products.

“Because you don’t even know the sources of these products, you don’t know if they come in refrigerated and end-up becoming problems to C M Y K

the consumers. In as much as we are guiding against revenue and local farmers, we are also trying to defend our populace to ensure Nigerians don’t get into problems for eating what they don’t know because of the health implications.

“So, that’s part of the goals

,

He disclosed that the command has made so many elaborate seizures, adding: “But because it’s something we do everyday, I can’t start pinpointing and saying this is the most elaborate. For instance, my target to my officers is that in a week, we must make at least 100 seizures and that we have been trying to sustain. So for me to look at what’s elaborate or highlight seizures, it will be difficult for me to say.”

we seek to achieve, as directed by the CGC, which I say has been wonderful.”

Zero tolerance on smuggling: According to him, there was zero tolerance for the smuggling of poultry products.

He said: “If you look at it today, many Nigerians have invested

We are also trying to defend our populace to ensure that Nigerians don’t get into problems for eating what they don’t know because of the health implications

,

so much on poultry products just to feed this country. And to allow in poultry products from any other country means you are killing these local poultry farms and the efforts of all the local farmers.

“They are employing Nigerians, taking loans from banks and they are patriotic in going into the farms. You will be working against their interest and their efforts if you allow poultry products to be imported into the country. It’s on that note that the CGC said there’s zero tolerance for importation of poultry products.”

Suspects L-r: Compt. Dan Ugo flanked by his SA and other senior officers hands over the documents of possession to the Minister State for Power, Arc. Darius Ishaku

From the fallout of the seizures, he disclosed that the suspects were those people caught carrying those items, adding that this year there were 233.

“We have over 40 cases in court. And because most of the seizures were intercepted along bush paths, which the smugglers usually take, when we sight them, they take to their heels.”

Seizure records from January 7 through October, 2012

Destruction of seized frozen poultry products

and forty-four million, and sixty-two thousand, one hundred and fifty three Naira) with a duty paid Value (DPU) of N890, 056, 446 (Eight hundred and ninety million, and fifty-six thousand, and four hundred and forty-six) Naira only.

Also, during the period, the command, according to Ugo apprehended 233 suspects, most of whom were charged to court by the legal department.

For the period under review, he disclosed that the command made 2, 142 (two thousand, one hundred and forty-two) seizures of various contraband goods valued at 744, 062, 153 (Seven hundred

Apart from the eagle-eyes of Customs men in catching up with these smugglers, other strategy put in place to catch up with them, according to him was on reliance on Intelligence information.

“As you are aware, the Customs has Custom Intelligence Unit (CIU); we rely very heavily on profiling of imports and importers. It’s all about management. That also helps us to narrow our targets. We also make use of informants, which is completely different from Intelligence, because Intelligence is already filtered and brought to the fore as something you can finger on.

“So, when we get such raw information from patriotic Nigerians, we go through it to ensure its worth before going ahead to do our job. They have been successful in most instances, so these are some of the ways we get information to do our jobs. More so, our experience comes to play. We have so many experienced officers on ground. Yes, with our experience we can can get at least 80 per cent reliance on the hunches we get.”

Strategy of the Command The Duty Paid Value of the seizures the Command has made, according to Compt. Ugo was N890, 056, 446. So that’s the DPV of those 2, 142 seizures we have made, he added.

To restore sanity into the system, he said that the FOU ‘A’ under his leadership was always putting various strategies in place to ensure the realization of our mission and vision.

“One of our strategy is Intelligence gathering and it is heartening to note that this strategy has assisted the Command in no small measure to record some of the highlighted successes.

“I wish to also at this juncture salute the courage of some Nigerians who have always given us useful information which we usually assess before implementation.

“It is important to mention that the challenge of fighting Continues on page 30

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25 , 2012 — 29

Dikko gets ANAN Fellowship award Continues from page 27

DCG Makafi receiving the award of Government Agency of the Year 2011by Leadership newspaper, on behalf of the CGC

Seme Command warns smugglers, intercepts cannabis shipment A

S the countdown to the Yuletide period begins, the Customs High Command has issued a stern warning to smugglers to keep away from the nation’s international borders.

The warning is coming on the heels of the arrest of a couple at Seme Border for allegedly bringing in cannabis (marijuana) valued at N3.2 million from the Republic of Benin.

The Yuletide season is associated with activities occasioned by the importation of sundry items by importers who take advantage of the huge sales that go with the period.

Apart from Muslim festivals, Christmas also takes place in the last quarter of the year and many importers often bring in many consignments ahead of the period.

the command, there will be no hiding place for smugglers and their nefarious activities”.

Salleh, who recently took over the leadership of the command from Alhaji Sadiq Sahabi, planned to hold what he called an “enlightenment and awareness campaign” with all traders on the need for legal businesses at the border.

He said: “First and foremost, I will carry out enlightenment and awareness campaign among traders at Seme border to sensitise them on the need to transact legal business.”

He urged traders not to evade customs duty, saying that proceeds from the duties were being used for infrastructure development of the nation. He also called for

seat of the car where the driver ’s wife and a baby were seated, through intelligence and uncompromising enforcement.

He said the car used to convey the cannabis was intercepted at Gbaji checkpoint where the concealed blocks of compressed weeds were discovered. He added that the arrest and seizure underlined his resolve to strengthen the existing inter service tie between the Customs at the border and other government agencies like NDLEA. On resumption, Saleh had visited sister agencies and assured them of increasing Customs co-operation in preventing government revenue loss and importation

Room for sharp practices They do this to take advantage of the penchant for Nigerians to buy things ahead of the festivities. This often gives room for sharp practices such as under-declarations and concealments as many importers in collusion with their agents want to make brisk businesses.

Customs Area Controller (CAC), Seme Border Command, Comptroller Othman Salleh, in a statement, warned smugglers to stay clear of the border post.

The statement, signed by the Public Relations Officer, NCS, Seme Border Command, Mr. Ernest Ollotah, quoted Salleh as issuing the warning at Seme, near Badagry.

His words: “Any smuggler hoping to use Seme Border Post to perpetrate illegal trade should have a rethink. During my tenure as the controller of C M Y K

•Commissioning of Customs service vehicles the cooperation of other security agencies at the border post to ensure effective security of the country.

The cannabis was concealed in 30 packs in the vehicle used by the couple. Handing the suspects, exhibits and a Kia Sephia car with Lagos number plate KSF160AG to operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Saleh said men and officers of the command were able to detect the banned substance concealed in the bonnet and beneath the rear

or exportation of any item or commodity in the import and export prohibition list.

He warned persons involved in any form of illegality against the Nigerian state at the border to desist from doing so, as all government security agencies operating under his chairmanship at the joint security meeting are sustaining the existing intelligence and information sharing strategy to win the war against smuggling and other unlawful acts.

s t a n d a r d i s e d information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all import, export and transit-related r e g u l a t o r y requirements.

The migration has been described as a giant achievement for the Dikko-led management and has further convinced stakeholders of his readiness to rid the NCS of corruption.

The capacity building was developed and promoted by various world organisations concerned with trade facilitation during trade negotiations with World Trade Organisation (WTO). Only a few countries like Canada, US, Netherlands, and Switzerland have adopted this facility.

Barracks upgrade, housing scheme and purchase of merchines Before his administration, Customs officers’ barracks were more like squalors. But from look of things, the barracks now wear new looks following rehabilitation.

In addition, the Service has embarked on a housing scheme and has already purchased 120 housing units in Kuje, Abuja for senior officers while junior officers’ housing scheme is underway.

Similarly all Customs clinics have been renovated, equipped and stocked with drugs and are open to civilians in their neighbourhoods.

Under his watch,120 units three-bedroom detached duplexes Housing Estate have been purchased and were commissioned by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. He has also purchased 400 Units of Toyota Hilux Van for Border Patrol Operations.

Hosting of the WCO policy commission meeting Remarkably, history was made when Nigeria at the 66th policy

commission meeting and 117th/118th council session of the WCO, secured the hosting right of the 67th policy commission meeting.

The meeting which is the highest decision making body of the WCO, held in Abuja between December 7 and 10, 2011. Delegates from 52 WCO member countries were successfully hosted at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, for five days.

P r e s i d e n t Jonathan’s visit to WCO Another historical event was recorded when President Goodluck Jonathan was invited to deliver a paper at the 119th/120th session of the WCO, with a view to sharing with the world how a total overhaul of the NCS was achieved by Nigeria. The paper presented by President Jonathan has somewhat become a model for Customs administrators in many developing nations.

Town hall meeting with stakeholders It may not be an over statement to say that Dikko again made history as the first Customs CG to visit the trade fair in Lagos and address more than 1,000 stakeholders made up of i m p o r t e r s , manufacturers and agents.

This was aimed at getting first-hand knowledge of what their challenges were for the purpose of improving compliance.

Trade facilitation No doubt , free flow of trade within the hinterland has been made possible through the dismantling of all Customs in-country checkpoints under his regime. This has also helped to check corrupt practices hitherto engaged in by Customs officers. In a similar vein, the Service is conforming to all trade agreements designed to promote regional trade.

30—Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25 , 2012

New Customs platform will reduce delay in cargo clearance, says Umar T

HE regime aimed at enhancing quick cargo exit being test- run by the management of Apapa Area One Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) will address challenges of delay in cargo clearance at the nation’s gateways, the Customs Area Controller (CAC) Comptroller Mohammed Umar has said.

Umar who disclosed this at the stakeholders’ forum in Lagos said some of the problems associated with delay in cargo clearance were attempts by some misguided importers to short change the government in her accrued revenue.

He said the new clearance procedure also incorporates other government agencies such as National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in its implementation.

According to him, the procedure would enhance security checks at ports, especially substandard goods and others that pose security challenges to the country.

He said these were some of the resolutions reached at the last stakeholders’ forum with the Comptroller General of Customs, Dikko Inde Abdullahi in Abuja.

Seamless ports operations The controller assured the stakeholders that Apapa Area One Command was focused on seamless ports operation.

He, however, lamented that some freight forwarders for whatever reason are still engaging in nefarious activities during cargo clearance.

The act, he said, could hinder government’s 48 hours cargo clearance policy.

Umar noted: “It is through a forum like this that we can get feed back from other stakeholders, review procedures where necessary, highlight challenges and proffer solution to them.”

The CAC said Apapa Area One command under him did not claim any monopoly of knowledge, pledging that he would encourage open door policy and healthy, progressive dialogue that will impact positively on achieving collective goals.

“We should always have it at back of our minds that the need of our country Nigeria C M Y K

far supersedes that of any group or individual or individual”, he said.

Some of the stakeholders who spoke at the forum

complained of delay in cargo clearance, high port charges and transport difficulties.

President of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners

(AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi said lack of parking space has been hindering the operations of his members.

•CGC commissioning the new vehicles for the comptrollers

He said that efforts were being made to secure suitable parking spaces for his members.

Meanwhile, the Apapa Area One Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has generated N19.6 billion into government coffers last month, the Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller Mohammed Umar has said.

Umar who made the revelation at an industry forum in Lagos noted that the Command still remained committed to seamless clearance.

He, however, said that there were several other militating factors that are affecting seamless clearance at the ports.

Specifically, low level of economic activities at the Command during the month under review was the reason the Command could not surpass the generated amount.

There is no hiding place for smugglers —Compt Ugo Continues from page 28

smuggling requires the cooperation and assistance of all and sundry,” he added.

Relationship with stakeholders According to him, the Command enjoys a very robust relationship with the various stakeholders in their effort to perform their statutory functions.

For example, the Nigerian Police, Army, NAFDAC,

NDLEA, SON etc are some of the agencies that have a symbiotic relationship with the Customs service.

He said: “Also, the traditional institutions especially in the border areas where we operate have demonstrated at several times their determination to assist the Service in doing its job. We hope to sustain and build on these relationships for the overall interest of the nation.”

Role of CGC

management team The achievements of the unit during the period under review, he said cannot be complete without prominently mentioning the efforts of their indefatigable CGC, and members of his management.

Ugo noted: “It will amount to stating the obvious if I say that the Dikko administration is the best thing that has happened to the service in recent times.

This is because, apart from providing effective leadership,

Customs rakes in N19.6b from Apapa Port A

BOUT N19.6 billion was generated by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Apapa Area One Command into the federation account last in September.

Lagos Port Complex (LPC), which is home to Africa’s largest container terminal, Apapa Port, is under the watch of the command. The port is presently run by a private operator, APM Terminals Apapa Limited under the port concession programme of the federal government which was initiated during the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

Customs Area Controller (CAC), Apapa Area One Command, Comptroller Mohammed Umar who disclosed this said that but for several other militating factors such low level of

economic activities, the command would have generated more.

Umar who spoke when the President of the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN), Mr. Bolaji Akinola, led other executive members of the association on a courtesy call to the command headquarters, Apapa, Lagos.

Constructive criticisms Umar said he was always open to constructive criticisms that would make the command perform its duties better in the overall interest of Nigeria and the growth of the nation’s economy.

The Customs chief said that security and flood challenges impacted negatively on the Command’s activities and

thus on its September 2012 revenue.

He challenged the media to educate Nigerians, particularly importers, to make honest declaration of their imports.

Akinola had earlier told Umar that MARAN was in the forefront of promoting developmental journalism. He said the association has taken its contribution to the development of the maritime industry seriously.

He prayed for a successful tenure for Umar, even as he hailed the longstanding cordial relationship between the command and MARAN. He enjoined the CAC, who is barely two months in office, to strengthen the relationship and maintain an open door policy with members of the association.

the management has been able to ensure a paradigm shift in all facets of Customs operations.

“The Dikko administration brought the Service to international limelight with the recognition of the Service in the comity of Customs administrations in the world.

Also his appointment as a regional Vice Chairman of West and Central Africa is a testament to my assertion.”

According to him, Dikko’s regime was reputed to have exceedingly achieved so much in terms of capacity building, staff motivation/remuneration and setting of right standards in Customs administration in line with international best practices.

His administration has also provided the necessary logistics in terms of functional official vehicles. We will remain eternally grateful to the CGC and the management for all these, he said.

Advice to the public

The unit, Ugo said will continue to raise the ante in anti-smuggling in line with expectations of the Service. He added: “We will not relent in policing the various flanks under our jurisdiction. “ We are happy to also note that our efforts in suppressing smuggling is paying off in view of the revenue profile of the various Commands in the zone.

“A recent survey disclosed a quantum leap in the revenue collected by most of the Commands as against that of the previous year. We will not renege in that regard.”

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 31

Character moulding is part of education —Educationist

A

n educationist, Mr Ben Uzoukwu has said that character moulding cannot be divorced from the general education of a child, stressing that discipline is a major ingredient in academic excellence.

Uzoukwu, who is the Principal of Loral International Schools, stated this during the 2012/ 2013 matriculation ceremony of the school in Lagos. According to him, education does not end in knowing how to read and write, even as he reiterated that his school does not toy with moral standards and values.

His words; “When you talk about standard of education, it’s not just about reading and writing but it also include character moulding. Here in Loral School, we do not joke with the two. We combine academics with character moulding.

This is because, a child that is not disciplined cannot do well academically.

“Discipline has direct influence on general academic performance of a child. We believe that with discipline, a child can go very far. So discipline is a bedrock, after that, we ensure that they key into healthy academic competition.”

The Principal noted that the education system in Nigeria is going through a lot of challenges, but expressed optimism that with political will and commitment of the stakeholders, the problems would be solved.

BY LAJU ARENYEKA

A

few years ago, if your school uniform looked anything like the pleated skirt, you wanted it to be as short as possible, as straight as possible, and you also wanted to wear your uniform for as short a time as possible.

Times have changed however, as the fashion item we once thought belonged to the mary amakas and sister spiros now wave the fashion flag across the waists of thousands of fashion gurus in Quadlife-style parlance.

Stop pretending like you don’t want to join the band wagon; learn how to wear the pleated skirt just right.

•Tucking-in-is-the-inthing: If there is any reason to work on your tummy, it’s the pleated skirt.

This presents a striking hour glass shape that is irresistible.

•To ‘top’ it all up: ‘Fitted’ is the key word here.

Go for a body hugging blouse or tank top that is a few shades away from the colour of your skirt.

•Buckle up: Belts, whether slim or wide could save your pleated skirt escapade. Wear slim belts on the band of your skirt and wide belts on the space between your blouse and skirt •Step it up: A pair of stiletto or wedge heels are a step in the right direction especially if you are

Association holds election

Pleated skirts have it... not too tall.

•Watch what’s underneath: Because the pleated skirts in vogue are made of light transparent material, it is

paramount to ensure that all your stakes are covered underneath.

Today, if you had a school uniform anything like the pleated skirt, you’d want it

to be as long as possible, as full as possible, and you’d want to wear it for as long as possible!

Baby lawyers’ conference raises hope for Nigeria’s transformation agenda

BY NOSAKHARE UWADIAE, UNIBEN

A

s part of its effort t o w a r d s contributing to nation building and transformation, the Christian Law Student’s Fellowship of Nigeria (CLASFON), held its 21st annual conference, themed; The Christian Lawyer: God’s Agent of National Transformation, at its University of Benin (UNIBEN) chapter.

The conference saw in attendance no fewer than 2,000 members from 32 universities across the country. Welcoming participants, CLASFON National President, Mr. Selchang Singlah, said the theme was carefully selected and would have impact in the day-to-day activities of members.

“It speaks of our responsibilities as Christian law students in building a C M Y K

T

he Lagos State University Alumni Association will hold its 2012 national elections between Thursday, November 15 and Saturday, November 17, 2012.

In a statement signed by the Chairman of the association, the election is scheduled to hold on 15th November & Friday, 16th November, 2012 between 8.00a.m and 4.00p.m at the Alumni Relations Office, Student Affairs Building, LASU, then on Saturday, 17th November, 2012, between 10.00a.m and 3.00p.m at the Lagos Television premises, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

The contested positions are the National President, National Vice-President, National General Secretary, Assistant National General Secretary, National Treasurer, National Financial Secretary and Assistant National Financial Secretary. Others are the National Public Relations Officer, National Social Secretary, National Auditor, Legal Officer and Alumni Representative in Council.”

The statement also informed that eligibility for election (to vote and be voted for) include the payment of annual dues of N5,000 for each year of 2011 and 2012 and the purchase of nomination forms at the Alumni Relations Office, which will end on Friday October 26, 2012.

UNILAG graduate to launch 5th book

BY MAKINDE OLUWATOBI, UNILAG

A

•Pastor Benson Akhigbe, Coordinator, Firm Foundation, Benin (3rd right) and other exco members. nation where peace and justice shall reign, and we are God’s agents with whom He will break in pieces nations, and destroy evil principles of kingdoms.”

Speakers at the event included: Mr. Michael Imoyera, Coordinator, Peace House Edo/Delta; Pastor Benson Akhigbe,

Coordinator, Firm Foundation, Benin; Pastor Frances Ighalo, State Overseer, Deeper Life, Edo State; Barr. Chukwudi Enabeli, Counsel, Pinheiro & Co. Lagos and Prof. Kelvin Nwosu, former Director of Law School, Abuja among others. Pastor Akhigbe who spoke on The role of

lawyers in transforming the nation’s economy, dropped five principles for the participants. They are Family as the basic building block, the body of believers as the primary centre, self government under God, stewardship of private property and building of local communities.

BEOKUTA will be agog with the planned launch of Seidu the Youth Corper, written

by Tosin Adesile, a graduate of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka.

The event which will be holding on the 8th of November 2012 at the NUJ secretariat, OkeIlewo, Abeokuta in Ogun State by 1pm would have in attendance dignitaries such as the first lady of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunsho Amosun, Ogun StateCommissioner for Education, Mr. Segun Odubela, Director of Infrastructure, Ogun State, Engr. Olaniran, among others.

The father of the day is Prince Niyi Olatidoye, while the mother of the day is Mrs. A. O. Sobola.

Other guests of honour are Mrs. Adedotun, Mrs. Efe Soriyan, Very Rev(Dr). I.A. Adeniji, among others.

The event which is the Abeokuta edition of the book launch, having previously been launched in Lagos would also feature a lecture entitled; Restoring Morals in our Higher Institutions.

32— Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

We aim to eradicate malaria in Africa — Ezekiel Adebiyi

I

•Professor Ezekiel Adebiyi

BY EBELE ORAKPO

t was Dr. Alex Marvel, a clinical psychologist who said that when you start looking for solutions to your prob-lems in others, you will not find them because they are within yourself. This holds true for Africa, the answer to the continent’s myriad problems lies in the hands of her citizens. This saying must have propelled a team of researchers led by Professor Ezekiel Femi Adebiyi, Head, Department of Computer and Information Sciences, College of Science and Technology and Lead, Bioinformatics Research, Covenant University, Ota, to go into research work aimed at not just reducing malaria transmission to a level where it is no longer a public health problem, but eradicating it altogether by turning theories to products.

He spoke to Vanguard Learning via e-mail. Excerpts:

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ODE MALARIA: E r a d i c a t i o n developments for the decade According to Professor Ezekiel Adebiyi, the overall goal of the project which is in three phases “is to produce effective three high tech products for the control and final eradication of malaria starting with Nigeria. The malaria parasite needs man and the mosquito to continue surviving.”

Elaborating, Professor Adebiyi who is the President, Nigeria Society of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and Secretary, African Society of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, said; “Our first targeted product (from project I), a cuisine of anti-malaria drugs, is to allow rapid cure of malaria in humans. This is to reduce to zero the chance of an uninfected mosquito being infected after a bite. The second targeted product (from project II), an advanced but human-friendly pesticide, is to help delete rapidly all malaria infected mosquitoes.

The third (from project III) is aimed at producing a mathematical modelling for the prediction of mosquitoes’ metapopulation dynamics towards understanding and validating the seasonal dynamics of this vector. An integration of novel genetic control methods such as Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), lethal densovirus and genetically manipulated endopathogenic fungi, into this mathematical modelling, will allow us to push down the population of C M Y K

the mosquitoes in some areas as may be necessary during the deployment phase of the first two products.”

W

here are we presently/ Novel finding: Adebiyi said that as touching project I, “a computational method (popularly called CPA) investigating the topology of the biochemical metabolic networks was developed to mine new viable drug targets in the most deadly malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Initial drug screening in-vitro antiplasmodial assay experiments in Prof. Michael Lanzer ’s laboratory at the University of Heidelberg, Germany have been performed against the predicted drug targets. The results obtained have been successful on some of the enzymatic sites and it shows that the predicted sites on the malaria parasite proved to be effective as drug targets. For the first time, this work may produce novel anti-malarial drugs, whose biological mode of action can be determined accurately. This is a novel finding as the biological mode of action of even the most efficient anti-malarial drug is presently unknown. This discovery provides for the first time anti-malarial drug target sites upon which a viable structural design pipeline is being built. It also provides a viable platform to optimize the fitting of `indigenous’ medicinal plants’ bioactive compounds via a rational drugs design approach. Further preclinical development is ongoing to design and take suc-

•A pictorial view of the project cessful inhibitors (drugs) to the market," he said, adding; "the execution of this pre-clinical development will cost 2.5 – 3m Euro. This cost will be borne with other funding bodies and our industry partners.

Covenant University has provided an initial fund of about 104,000 Euro to jump-start this."

Speaking on project II, Adebiyi said; "The overall goal is to produce evolution-proof insecticides that will only kill malaria-infected Anopheles gambiae

,

insecticides."

For project III, Adebiyi said a C++ based, stochastic spatially-explicit predictive computational model (AnoSpEx) has been developed, which is "biologically rich, weather datadriven, and parameterized by field data, to simulate Anopheles metapopulation dynamics towards understanding and validating the seasonal dynamics of this vector. The next research is to develop an advanced model by integrating

The expected result of the successful execution and application of our work will make Nigeria and eventually, Africa, free of malaria-infected humans and mosquitoes like the western world

(A. gamb) mosquitoes. Strong non-genomics rationals behind such innovation have been carefully enumerated in a PLoS Essay by Read, Lynch and Thomas entitled: How to make evolution-proof insecticides for malaria control.

"In a work I did with Dr Olubanke Ogunlana of the Department of Biological Sciences, Covenant University, a first version of biochemical metabolic network, AnoCyc, for A. gambiae was developed and deployed under the www.bioCyc.org databases.

This will enable us to extract effectively, insecticidal targets upon which to build the first generation of evolution-proof

,

novel genetic control methods into AnoSpEx. This will be realised by incorporating genetic concepts such as SIT (Sterile Insect Technique), lethal densovirus and genetically manipulated endo-pathogenic fungi."

Hand-held machine for detecting malaria infection at the liver stage: Said Adebiyi; "From the understanding of our environment, in particular West Africa, it is perhaps the place where malaria originated and from the weather set-up, it will continue to be a reservoir of mosquitoes. We have a project geared at creating a technol-

ogy (a hand-held machine) that will allow us to detect malaria infection at the liver stage. The malaria parasite goes through the liver before arriving at the blood stage where it manifests. It is, therefore, imperative to note that many lives (in particular the people with sickle cell anaemia) will be saved if these parasites can be detected and treated at the asymptomatic liver stage instead of waiting till the disease manifestation at the blood stage.

Notwithstanding the importance of early and accurate diagnosis in malaria treatment discovery, most of the existing diagnostics gave little attention to malaria detection at the liver stage, hence the need to explore detection at this level of the parasite life cycle," he said, noting that they have developed computational systems biology techniques that have been used to mine viable genes that can be used to develop Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) experiments for the detection of malaria at the liver stage. Our next task here is the development of PCR experimental protocols to experimentally validate the sensitivity of these genes."

He said the anticipated hand-held machine will be useful to "save persons from the manifestation of malaria (even before we start our malaria eradication campaign) and this will be an advantage for persons with sickle cell anaemia. The results of this work will also be useful for the development of a viable anti-malaria vaccine. One big plus of this project is that it will be very useful for sustenance of the gains obtained after the successful deployment of the Code Malaria technologies.

That is, we are able to treat persons of malaria before the parasite enters the blood stage where the mosquito transmits it.

"The expected result of the successful execution and application of our work will make Nigeria and eventually, Africa, free of malaria-infected humans and mosquitoes like the western world," he stated.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 33

BRIEF Group sets up foundation on standard of education

BY MUSBAUDEEN SHEKONI

A

DDING to the already weighty box of achievements, Lumen Christi High School, Uromi, Edo State has again been decorated at the Hallmarks of Labour Foundation Young Achievers Award 2012.

The award was informed by its feat in having the best West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results among a throng of 11,000 secondary schools that presented candidates for the 2011 WASSCE. In 2007 and 2009, the school, which was established in 1986 by the then Archbishop of Benin City, Dr. P. E Ekpu, beat other high-flying secondary schools to the coveted award.

In the 2011 WASSCE, Lumen Christi High School, again stood a good ground in English Language, Mathematics and Science subjects.

In its 16th year, the annual award which held on the 17th of October, 2012, at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos had H. E. Amb. (Dr) Christopher Kolade as the Chairman of the occasion and the Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as the special guest of honour.

Other dignitaries present at the event were Her Excellency, Dame Abimbola Fashola, First Lady of Lagos State, Prof. Alele-Williams OFR, Izoma Philips Asiodu, CON

B

•Lumen Christi High Schoolstudent receives the laurel of excellence Prof. Umaru Shehu.

Lumen Christi gets best school laurel and Emeritus Prof. Umaru Shehu, CFR. Chief organiser of the Young Achievers Award, Mrs Patricia Otuedon-Arawore is committed to the total development of the society through vehicles of encouragement. According to Otuedon-Arawore, “Hallmarks Foundation had this year, turned its searchlight on the youth, to nurture and groom tomorrow’s leaders, mindful of

Lifebuoy promotes good hygiene in schools

BY ABIGAIL IZIMA

A

s part of efforts to reduce infant mortality rate in the country, Unilever Nigeria Plc, through its Lifebuoy health soap has started its schools' engagement initiative to teach children handwashing techniques in schools.

Simultaneous visits were made to different schools within Lagos by Unilever staff. At each visit, the Lifebuoy representatives demonstrated to the children the 10 steps involved in washing one’s hands, adding that washing their hands with Lifebuoy soap would keep their hands clean and germfree for up to 12 hours.

Speaking during the handwashing exercise, Brand Manager, Lifebuoy soap, Dexter Adeola, said this year marks the fifth birthday of Global Handwashing Day (GHD) – a day co-founded by

Unilever’s health soap brand, Lifebuoy, to raise awareness of handwashing with soap as a simple but life-saving habit.

He said; “Lifebuoy aims to reduce the number of preventable diarrhoeal deaths in Nigeria through hygiene interventions like handwashing with soap.

“Handwashing with soap is one of the most effective and low cost ways to prevent diseases like pneumonia and diarrhoea which stop 2.1 million children every year from reaching their fifth birthday. We know from clinical research that handwashing with soap at key occasions can reduce the risk of diarrhoea by up to approximately 45 per cent. That means that handwashing with soap could help a lot more children reach their fifth birthday.” Adeola said.

At the visit to the Temple

the fact that the investment in our human capital is crucial to our development as a nation.”

She maintained that the mission of the Young Achievers Awards remains “to discover young Nigerians with great potentials. Mentor, encourage and provide a platform for them to realise their maximum potentials while showcasing them as examples for other youths to emulate."

The school received a plaque, science equipment worth a million Naira and two computer sets from the organisers of Hallmarks of Labour Foundation.

In appreciation, the Principal of Lumen Christi High School, Rev. Fr. (Dr) Theophilus Itaman said “the award will go a long way towards encouraging the students and staff to work harder."

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

ENIN—IN its bid to im prove the Education sector in Esan land, the Association of Esan professionals in Edo Central Senatorial District of Edo State have set up an AEP Educational Foundation which would focus on raising funds for the development of education in the area.

President of the Association of Esan Professionals, Mr. Michael Osime disclosed this weekend at Ubiaja during the 9th Economic Empowerment conference with the theme, Developing a 21st Century Economy in Esanland : Education and Agriculture as Driving Force.”

Besides, he disclosed that the group has commissioned Dr. Agodi Alagbe, Lead Investigator, Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California to under a need assessment of programme which will assist the group to know their needs in education in Esanland.

On how to address the educational crisis in Esanland, Osime said: “We started by letting the authorities in government, know the deplorable conditions of education and the need to act immediately.

“We continued by discussing the stakeholders’ responsibilities," he said.

Students guided in career paths

BY NDIDI UCHE

I

N a bid to guide Nigerian students in making right career choices, the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) Lagos Chapter held its 2012 Annual Career Talk at Government Senior College Osborne, Ikoyi, Lagos last week Wednesday.

Schools chosen were 10 public senior secondary schools and five private senior secondary schools in Ikoyi-Obalende LCDA within Education District III. Among the activities of the day were presentation of seminar papers, drama and choreography by Methodist High School, Poems by Igbobi College and presentation of gifts. The topics presented were Humanities, Choosing Science and Technology- based careers, Choosing Business Studies as a Career etc.

Based on the specified topics, the speakers encouraged the students to choose

•Students at the event. a career that has to do with their interest not based on what people say, adding that, whatever career they desire, the foundation must be solid because it is done throughout life.

The students were reminded to carefully consider their individual interest, know where their strengths and weaknesses lie to avoid falling into the effect from

wrong career choices.

On the importance of Guidance and counselling in Nigerian secondary schools, school teachers were informed that the neglect of guidance and counselling have led to unemployment in the country adding that principals in Nigerian schools should allow guidance and counselling in their school programmes.

34— Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

Education summit to address global unemployment, education

MKO remembered as Crescent varsity rolls out three first class

BY BASHIR ADEFAKA

C

HIEF Moshood Abiola’s June 12, 1993 presidential victory came alive recently at the 4th convocation of the Crescent University Abeokuta, Ogun State, where the trio of the Awujale of Ijebu Land, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona; Governors Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano) and Ibrahim Shehu Shema of Katsina states were showered with honourary doctorate degrees. A total of 115 graduates including three in the first class category, were turned out.

Governor Kwankwaso named Chief Abiola and the Proprietor of Crescent University, Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN) as some of the excellent products from Ogun State who had contributed immensely to the socio-cultural and econo-political growth and development in Nigeria.

Responding to the institution’s gesture on behalf of the three recipients, Kwankwaso said as “Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives at that time, I was very close to Chief MKO Abiola. That was the time the Muslim-Muslim ticket was put up and yet, all Nigerian Muslims and Christians voted

and we won that e l e c t i o n .

“My house was near Bashir Tofa’s house in Kano where Tofa comes from and yet, I voted for MKO Abiola because that was not an election based on religious or tribal sentiment but an election to chart the course of progress and new beginning for N i g e r i a . " Kwankwaso, who •Fatiml Adeniyi, best graduating student, described Prince Crescent University, Abeokuta.

Bola Ajibola (SAN), as a bridge between Northern and Southern peoples of Nigeria, said in his administration’s commitment to education development in his state, that he had encouraged massive enrolment of children in schools by offering five meals a week and two sets each of uniforms to all school children, building state-of-the-art education infrastructure as well as sending different categories of students abroad for higher and

specialized courses to take Kano State to greater height.

In his address, the ViceChancellor of the institution, Professor Hassan Okeleye, said the university was graduating 115 students from three colleges - 74 students from College of Social and Management Sciences, 23 from College of Natural and Applied Sciences and 18 from College of Information and Communication Technology.

LASU Transport students tour US

• The studentswhile being received by the University management on October 5. On the left is the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. John Oladapo Obafunwa.

BY OLASUNKANMI AROWOLO, LASU

T

he pioneer students of the Lagos State University School of Transport (LASUSOT), who were sponsored by the Lagos State Government to the US, have returned armed with great knowledge.

The state government, in a bid to train professionals, sponsored the students abroad to be exposed to what is obtainable in developed countries so as to solve transport problems in the state.

Findings revealed that Governor Babatunde Fashola has decided to invest annually on the SOT so as to solve the

challenges of transportation in Lagos by producing the needed qualified manpower, which will make the Transport sector perform its critical role in the nation's socio-economic development.

The sponsorship is part of the fulfilment of the school’s mission which states thus: “To provide opportunities for prospective transport professionals to acquire specialized training in transport planning and policy, transport technology and infrastructure as well as transport management and operations.”

The leader of the team who is also the President of Transport Students’ Association, Edwin

Aniebue briefed the management team on their brief training and practical experience at the 2012 Edition of the American Public Transportation Association Conference in the US. In appreciation of the opportunity given them by the Vice- Chancellor, Prof. John Obafunwa, the students presented an appreciation card to him, while also thanking the governor for the offer.

According to Aniebue, “ we have learnt a lot beyond the classroom. We were taken through the practical aspect of transport; we interacted with transport experts."

BY DAYO ADESULU

A

S unemployment rate in Nigeria reached an all-time low of 23.9 per cent, the ability of the country’s education system to adequately prepare young people for a successful future is an increasing concern. The rapidly growing number of unemployed Nigerian youths creates conditions that around the world have led to violence and civil unrest. Globally, there is much discussion about how well education is equipping students for the labour market. Many argue that it is time for a re-examination, and possibly a major overhaul, of the education system.

The role of education in preparing young people for the world of work will be a key theme at the fourth World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in Doha, Qatar, from November 13 to 15, 2012. A debate on the topic

will be moderated by Michael Trucano, Senior ICT and Education Policy Specialist of the World Bank, who conducts research on this issue and is the organisation’s focal point within the education sector. He is also the principal contributor to World Bank’s influential EduTech blog.

A second WISE book will be launched at WISE 2012. Learning a Living: Radical Innovation in Education for Work, explores the relationship between education, innovation, work and the workforce. It examines the skills gap and highlights 15 case studies from diverse societies and economies which are finding new ways to bridge it.

Over 1,000 innovators from more than 100 countries, including educational thinkers and practitioners, representatives of governments and NGOs, business leaders and social entrepreneurs, will discuss new ideas and practices at WISE 2012. Prominent countries attending the summit include South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, USA, China, France.

‘Do the right thing to transform Nigeria’

BY ALADE AROMASHODU

A

S part of the activities marking the 3rd Annual Lecture of the National Association of Women Academics (NAWACS), BellsTech University chapter, students of the university have been called upon to be apostles and evangelists of the nation’s Transformation Agenda because as youths, they stand to benefit more than any other segment of the society, now and in the future. They need to ‘do the right thing to transform Nigeria’ into a secured and egalitarian society of our dream. These were the summations of Ogun State Director of National Orientation Agency, Mr. Emmanuel Olusola Babalola.

The director who gave the charge at NAWACS’ event, entitled: Quality Youths for a Secured and Egalitarian Society, reiterated that society should build quality youths via innate potentials in the youths that will be fully exploited and properly channeled through correct guidance, mobilization and full integration into the society’s social fabric.

On quality youths as apostles of transformation for a secured and egalitarian society, Babalola noted further that youths are not only a subject for policy development, they can and must play a key role in the design, elaboration, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policies that concern them, saying, their participation in the affairs of the nation is not only a right but also a civic participation. He went on: “They are the foundation block of the nation, the essence that makes the society to progress, regress, or digress. Societal problems are not caused by lack of resources to transform Nigeria, but lack of quality youths,” the director stated.

I

n his own submission, Prof. Isaac Adebayo Adeyemi, the Vice-Chancellor of Bells University of Technology, described NAWACS as a learned association engaged in the academic upliftment of women in Nigerian universities, adding; “The unique value of the contributions of the women extends beyond childbearing and managing the home front. Women are capable of carrying out academic research and contributing to knowledge which has informed the establishment of NAWACS in Bells Tech.

Continuing, Prof Adeyemi said the programme title, Quality Youths for a Secured and Egalitarian Society” was apt and very critical to moulding the lives of our young ones, noting, the egalitarian doctrine maintains that all human beings are equal in fundamental worth or social status.

In her own contribution, Dr. (Mrs) E. O. Areola of Centre for Foundation Education (CENFED), of the institution, described quality youths as those with formal education such as those in the university, adding, "education is the key to raising quality youths."

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012—35

Tyre marketers shop for investors in N2.26bn facility STORIES BY FRANKLIN ALLI

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HE Association of Nigerian Tyre Marketers (ANTM) has called for more investors in the tyre business to participate in their N2.26 billion ultramodern international shopping edifice at the International Trade Fair Complex in Lagos.

They have also concluded arrangements to relocate from their current base at Idumota, to the permanent site (trade fair complex) in May 2013.

The President of the Association, Alhaji Issa Akanbi Mohammed, who

disclosed these at a media briefing, said the centre is being built at the cost of N2.26 billion naira.

“This is why we are calling for more tyre dealers to come on board and own a shop there by registering at our secretariat. The buildings are fire proof as we are not using any wood or flammable substance in its construction. Even the roof is concrete casting. By the way we are going, our May, 2013 relocation date is a reality.”

According to him, the new tyre market at Trade Fair Complex will be

called African Mobility Centre. “The edifice is named African Mobility Centre because all the facilities and infrastructures are of world standard.

He assured that the project after it is completed will provide adequate space, freedom, security, quality services and affordable prices for the shopping pleasure of all tyre dealers anywhere in Africa.

“We hope to complete and move into the first phase of the centre by May next year, while construction works will continue on phase 2 of the

project,” he stated. Okechukwu Eze Ifeoma , the Association’s Vice President cited insecurity, congestion, constant harassment by hoodlums and unguarded rent increment as some of the rea-

sons that prompted their decision to move away from Lagos Island to a more business friendly environment.

“Also we saw an urgent need to comply with the directive of Lagos state

Government which demands an end to street trading, and that all markets should move away from residential areas. It’s for our own good.”

Manufacturing sector still burdened by high cost of fund – LCCI

BY NAOMI UZOR

T

HE Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, has said that the manufacturing sector is still groaning under the pressure of

dwindling sales, weak consumer demand, high cost of fund, dumping of substandard products at ridiculous prices in the market and unethical practices in the distributive trade sector.

In a review of the third quarter of the economy, the President of LCCI, Mr. Goodie Ibru, said the manufacturing sector is being saddled with numerous pressures and it’s taking a great toll on the economy.

“However, some manufacturers acknowledged the improvement in power supply but lamented the outrageous tariff. There are concerns about weak commitment to the implementation of the policy of patronage of made-in-Nigeria products by government ministries and agencies. We believe that stronger commitment to the policy of patronage of made in Nigeria products would have a tremendous impact on the industrial sector,” he said.

Promasidor set to train journalists at LBS

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ROMASIDOR Ni geria Limited says it’s set to train journalists from different media houses across the country at the Lagos Business School.

The company it will be recalled, had during a Media Brand Academy held at Akodo, a resort in Lagos, promised to build journalists capacity as part of its corporate social responsibility.

Accordingly, the company has launched its Quill Awards, saying it’s is aimed at rewarding excellence in the media.

Mr. Andrew Enahoro, Head Legal and PR, said that the awards cover five categories: Brand Advocate of the year, Best CSR Report of the year, Most Educative Report of the year, Best Report on Nutrition and the Best Photo Story of the year.

Mr. Ayodele Oguntubi, Coordinator Corporate Affairs, said that interested journalists can only submit one entry per category, except the Brand Advocate category where “we will do the collation ourselves with the help of our agency.”

36—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

120 military personnel deployed to NIMASA to checkmate piracy STORIES BY GODWIN ORITSE

F

OLLOWING the re solve by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to check mate the activities of pirates on the nation’s coastal waters, the agency has requested and gotten 124 military personnel deployed to beef up the operations of its Maritime Guard Command (MGC).

The personnel are drawn from the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy, the Nigerian Air-force and the Nigerian Police.

The NIMASA’s Coast Guard Command which is headed by the Navy Captain Promise Dappa has been responsible for recent success the agency has recorded in the various arrest of pirates and criminals on the nation’s waters.

A Memo originating from the Parastatal Tender Board (PTB) and dated 12 th September and signed by Adamu Mshelia, Head Maritime Safety seafarers Standard department, requested for a total of N28million for the monthly operational allowances for the 120 military personnel.

The memo also requested for the approval of the Director General of the

agency following the anticipatory approval granted by the PTB. It was noted that the monthly recurrent and resplenishable expenditure covering monthly allowances, feeding for the operatives, intelligence gathering and contingencies.

A break down of the figure showed that while over N3.7million is be paid out as allowances, N14.4million will be spent on the feeding of the officers, as against N6million and N4million earmarked for intelligence gathering and logistics respectively.

In the memo, it was stated that the N4million earmarked for logistics, contingency unforeseen challenges for the designated maritime zones of Lagos Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri.

Part of the memo reads “The board is invited to note that following the deployment of 120 officers and men drawn from the Armed forces and the Nigerian Police Force into the MGC for the purpose of beefing its manning level in the fight against piracy on the Nigerian Territorial waters, there became a need to provide foe some funds to cater for the recurrent expenditure on allowances for the of-

ficers and men on the operations”.

It will recalled that only

last week a combined operation of the MGC and the officials of the Global

I

N a bid to register its presence in maritime businesses in Nigeria, Fidelity bank Plc has succeeded in assisting Rangk Limited a maritime service company in acquiring two service boats namely ‘M.V. Radiant and M.V Rider’ for the oil and gas operations.

Speaking at the commissioning of the boats, Executive Director Lagos West Mr Ikemefuna Mbagwu said that the bank’s involvement in the acquisition of the vessels is part of its responsibility to promote indigenous capacity.

Nbagwu stated the acquisition of vessels for operators in the maritime

and oil and gas industries is an important part of the bank’s business.

He noted that the banks are more confident to invest in the maritime subsector because operators are better organised now.

He disclosed that the bank is one of the designated banks that is to disburse the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) adding that Fidelity is more than to execute the project on behalf of the Nigerian Maritime A administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) His words “This is part of our responsibility for promoting indigenous entrepreneurs and of course Rangk is a customer of our and one of the foremost promoters of indigenous participation in the maritime sector.

“This is a very important

waters foiled a ship hijack and arrested 15 pirates off the coast of Cotonou in Benin Republic.

From right: Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi, Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA); Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba and NIMASA’s Executive Director in charge of shipping development, Captain Ezekiel Bala Agaba during the visit of the Chief of Naval Staff to NIMASA headquarters, in Lagos.

....Navy, NIMASA redefine strategies to tackle pirate T HE Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral Joseph Ezeoba has reiterated the commitment of the Nigerian Navy to tackle the menace of the

pirates and armed robbery at sea.

Speaking at the corporate Headquarters of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety

Fidelity Bank finances vessel acquisition for Ndubusi Kanu’s firm

BY GODWIN ORITSE, MAIMUNA MOHAMMED & VICTORIA EDEMA

West Specialist Vessels concessionaire of the security Nigerian coastal

aspect of business for us at the bank and for the nation and as you the know the government is making every move tp promote indigenous participation in the operations of the International Oil Companies (IOCs)”.

Although, Mbagwu declined to disclose the bank’s financial commitment to the acquisition of

the vessels, but sources close to the bank told Vanguard that the vessels cost about $21million which translate to N3,3billion.

The vessels are built of aluminum hulls, and designed in such a way that they can ride rough seas and speed uop to 15 nautical miles and 25 nautical miles in calm weather.

Agency (NIMASA) Admiral Ezeoba said that NIMASA is the first Government agency he is visiting because of the importance of the agency’s operations to the function of the Navy.

He stated that NIMASA has been a strategic partner with the Nigerian Navy, adding that he intend to strengthen the partnership so as to be able to deliver on the mandate of President Jonathan.

He disclosed that Mr. President has mandated him to eradicate all forms of illegality in Nigerian waters some of which include crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and piracy.

He further stated that the issue of piracy has con-

NIS to honour NPA MD, NIMASA DG, others

P

ROMINENT mari time industry stakeholders; including the chairman, Senate committee on marine, Senator Zynab Kure, the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA); Mallam Habib Abdulahi and the Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) , Mr Patrick Ziakede Akpobo-

lokemi are set to be honoured by the Nigerian Institute of Shipping (NIS). The awards is part of the programme of event of the Annual General Meeting of the institute scheduled for Lagos next week of Nigeria’s oldest private maritime manpower training institution; the Nigerian Institute of Shipping (NIS).

Also expected to grace

the occasion are: PDP National Chairman,Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, former Military Governor of Imo State; Navy Commodore Anthony Oguguo [Rtrd], Senate President, Senator David Mark, Deputy Speaker, House of Representative; Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, Chairman House Committee on Marine Transport; Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

stituted a serious threat to maritime trade, economic growth and national development noting that with its partnership with NIMASA the menace of pirates will be reduced to the barest minimum.

He said “ It should be on record that NIMASA is the first parastatal of government we are visiting because of the importance I accord NIMASA within the scheme of the Nigerian Navy operational duty.

“NIMASA has been a strategic partner with the Nigerian Navy and will remain the sane, and in going forward, it is my intent for the partnership to be strengthened so that collectively we can deliver on Mr. President’s mandate.

“The Nigerian Navy and NIMASA have been at the vanguard of trying to address this anomaly which has become a serious threat to our national development. “Ït is on this note that I deemed fit to visit so that we can redefine our concept of operation, focus on strategic partnership and provide the platforms that we need to curtail the menace”.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 37

C M Y K

38—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

120 military personnel deployed to NIMASA to checkmate piracy STORIES BY GODWIN ORITSE

F

OLLOWING the re solve by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to check mate the activities of pirates on the nation’s coastal waters, the agency has requested and gotten 124 military personnel deployed to beef up the operations of its Maritime Guard Command (MGC).

The personnel are drawn from the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy, the Nigerian Air-force and the Nigerian Police.

The NIMASA’s Coast Guard Command which is headed by the Navy Captain Promise Dappa has been responsible for recent success the agency has recorded in the various arrest of pirates and criminals on the nation’s waters.

A Memo originating from the Parastatal Tender Board (PTB) and dated 12 th September and signed by Adamu Mshelia, Head Maritime Safety seafarers Standard department, requested for a total of N28million for the monthly operational allowances for the 120 military personnel.

The memo also requested for the approval of the Director General of the

agency following the anticipatory approval granted by the PTB. It was noted that the monthly recurrent and resplenishable expenditure covering monthly allowances, feeding for the operatives, intelligence gathering and contingencies.

A break down of the figure showed that while over N3.7million is be paid out as allowances, N14.4million will be spent on the feeding of the officers, as against N6million and N4million earmarked for intelligence gathering and logistics respectively.

In the memo, it was stated that the N4million earmarked for logistics, contingency unforeseen challenges for the designated maritime zones of Lagos Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri.

Part of the memo reads “The board is invited to note that following the deployment of 120 officers and men drawn from the Armed forces and the Nigerian Police Force into the MGC for the purpose of beefing its manning level in the fight against piracy on the Nigerian Territorial waters, there became a need to provide foe some funds to cater for the recurrent expenditure on allowances for the of-

ficers and men on the operations”.

It will recalled that only

last week a combined operation of the MGC and the officials of the Global

I

N a bid to register its presence in maritime businesses in Nigeria, Fidelity bank Plc has succeeded in assisting Rangk Limited a maritime service company in acquiring two service boats namely ‘M.V. Radiant and M.V Rider’ for the oil and gas operations.

Speaking at the commissioning of the boats, Executive Director Lagos West Mr Ikemefuna Mbagwu said that the bank’s involvement in the acquisition of the vessels is part of its responsibility to promote indigenous capacity.

Nbagwu stated the acquisition of vessels for operators in the maritime C M Y K

and oil and gas industries is an important part of the bank’s business.

He noted that the banks are more confident to invest in the maritime subsector because operators are better organised now.

He disclosed that the bank is one of the designated banks that is to disburse the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) adding that Fidelity is more than to execute the project on behalf of the Nigerian Maritime A administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) His words “This is part of our responsibility for promoting indigenous entrepreneurs and of course Rangk is a customer of our and one of the foremost promoters of indigenous participation in the maritime sector.

“This is a very important

waters foiled a ship hijack and arrested 15 pirates off the coast of Cotonou in Benin Republic.

From right: Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi, Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA); Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba and NIMASA’s Executive Director in charge of shipping development, Captain Ezekiel Bala Agaba during the visit of the Chief of Naval Staff to NIMASA headquarters, in Lagos.

....Navy, NIMASA redefine strategies to tackle pirate T

HE Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral Joseph Ezeoba has reiterated the commitment of the Nigerian Navy to tackle the menace of the

pirates and armed robbery at sea.

Speaking at the corporate Headquarters of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety

Fidelity Bank finances vessel acquisition for Ndubusi Kanu’s firm

BY GODWIN ORITSE, MAIMUNA MOHAMMED & VICTORIA EDEMA

West Specialist Vessels concessionaire of the security Nigerian coastal

aspect of business for us at the bank and for the nation and as you the know the government is making every move tp promote indigenous participation in the operations of the International Oil Companies (IOCs)”.

Although, Mbagwu declined to disclose the bank’s financial commitment to the acquisition of

the vessels, but sources close to the bank told Vanguard that the vessels cost about $21million which translate to N3,3billion.

The vessels are built of aluminum hulls, and designed in such a way that they can ride rough seas and speed uop to 15 nautical miles and 25 nautical miles in calm weather.

Agency (NIMASA) Admiral Ezeoba said that NIMASA is the first Government agency he is visiting because of the importance of the agency’s operations to the function of the Navy.

He stated that NIMASA has been a strategic partner with the Nigerian Navy, adding that he intend to strengthen the partnership so as to be able to deliver on the mandate of President Jonathan.

He disclosed that Mr. President has mandated him to eradicate all forms of illegality in Nigerian waters some of which include crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and piracy.

He further stated that the issue of piracy has con-

NIS to honour NPA MD, NIMASA DG, others

P

ROMINENT mari time industry stakeholders; including the chairman, Senate committee on marine, Senator Zynab Kure, the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA); Mallam Habib Abdulahi and the Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) , Mr Patrick Ziakede Akpobo-

lokemi are set to be honoured by the Nigerian Institute of Shipping (NIS). The awards is part of the programme of event of the Annual General Meeting of the institute scheduled for Lagos next week of Nigeria’s oldest private maritime manpower training institution; the Nigerian Institute of Shipping (NIS).

Also expected to grace

the occasion are: PDP National Chairman,Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, former Military Governor of Imo State; Navy Commodore Anthony Oguguo [Rtrd], Senate President, Senator David Mark, Deputy Speaker, House of Representative; Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, Chairman House Committee on Marine Transport; Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

stituted a serious threat to maritime trade, economic growth and national development noting that with its partnership with NIMASA the menace of pirates will be reduced to the barest minimum.

He said “ It should be on record that NIMASA is the first parastatal of government we are visiting because of the importance I accord NIMASA within the scheme of the Nigerian Navy operational duty.

“NIMASA has been a strategic partner with the Nigerian Navy and will remain the sane, and in going forward, it is my intent for the partnership to be strengthened so that collectively we can deliver on Mr. President’s mandate.

“The Nigerian Navy and NIMASA have been at the vanguard of trying to address this anomaly which has become a serious threat to our national development. “Ït is on this note that I deemed fit to visit so that we can redefine our concept of operation, focus on strategic partnership and provide the platforms that we need to curtail the menace”.

38—Vanguard, THURSD AY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 THURSDA

Early diagnosis key to defeating cancer — EXPERTS

A

S Nigerians joined the rest of the world to mark 2012 Childhood Cancer Month, experts have identified early diagnosis, awareness creation and political will as strategies to achieving significant cure rate in cancer related diseases in the country.

The experts who noted that poor awareness have continued to mar management and treatment of cancer; particularly in children, regretted that Nigeria government was yet to fully identify with the disease.

A Consultant Paediatrician at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Dr. Edamisan Temiye, who stressed the need for strong political will to check the rising incidence of cancer, rated the country low in the management and treatment of the disease. Temiye who spoke during a 10 kiliometre Fund Raising Walk by Children Living with Cancer Found a t i o n , C L W C F, t a g g e d ; “Walkathon” to assist children with cancer, said: “Delay in making diagnosis makes the cost more and the chances of cure to be less. Individual’s corporate bodies and government must support the treatment and care of chil-

SSS

dren with cancer.” He further called on the Federal Government to establish cancer treatment centres, adding that if picked up early, it can be cured. “In fact, we have more cure in children than in adults and it is the level of cure that was recorded in children that made us to start seeking for cure in adults. So, cure is possible.

On her part, Founder and President CLWCF, Dr. Nneka Nwobbi explained that the walk was to raise funds for the purchase of a cold centrifuge, a blood separating machine for the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, stating that, “chemotherapy is one out of other support systems which must be in place for effective cancer cure. And part of the support system is blood transfusion.

She called for free treatment for children with cancer in all government -owned hospitals across the country.

• Alhaji Muhammed Goni Abubakar, Government and Community Relations Officer, MTN and Jigawa State government officials during the presentation of relief materials to flood victims in the State.

500 Lagosians receive free eye surgery

BY BOSE ADELAJA

A

S part of its corporate social respon sibilities, the Rotary Club of Lagos, Palm Grove Estate, has offered free eye surgery to 500 less privileged glaucoma and cataract patients in the state.

Giving details of the free eye surgery at the General Hospital, Lagos, President of the Rotary Club Rotarian Suman Ramesh, highlighted the danger associated with the eye problems, warning that prevention is better than cure.

She further stressed the importance of eye bank urging Lagosians to donate their eyes to the bank which in turn can happen after death.

Ramesh said appropriate steps will be taken within a period of six months as soon as the information arrive the eye bank.

She also recommended the use of eye glasses for correction of the sight where necessary. The 500 beneficiaries were drawn from all parts of the state on the arrival of the medical team from India.

Ramesh advised that Lagosians should ensure their eyes are washed twice daily.

Fielding questions from the patients after the surgery, Secretary Rotary Eye Institute, India Rotarian Viral Purchit, said the surgery was successful and patients have received adequate treatment from the medical team but advised they should complete their dosage and make use of the recommended glasses for two weeks. ‘’You have been given the dosage that will last for three months, I don’t think you need further medication, if need be, I advise that you visit a general hospital where you will be well treated.’’

COMMON SEXUAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR NOVELTY BASED SOLUTIONS (ADVERTORIAL)

S

OMETIMES my wife urinates on me during inter course. I have told her to urinate before sex and even when she does, it still happens - Eric Hello Eric, she is not urinating on you. She is actually ejaculating. Some women reach orgasm and ejaculate sometimes. Just change your sheets afterwards or use plastic sheets during intercourse – Uche My hubby always complains of being too tired for sex. He is a man and the men I know always want to have sex. How can I get him to have sex again? Or is he having an affair? Laura Dear Laura, anything is possible. A lot of men and women are too tired for sex after work. But there are also some people who have affairs outside and come home too tired for sex as well. Before you conclude he is cheating, I suggest helping him by getting him to take a shower after work and giving him a massage. Massages are relaxing and arousing. Massage gels like the Anti-Stress Massage Oil and Pheromone Arousal Gel are infused with pheromone scents that make us want sex. Adult movies also help get us in the mood instantly so you can try watching some movies him. And finally, he can always take an arousal drink like the Libigrow Libido Shots. It arouses and gives energy for hours of intercourse – Uche Please my wife is making life difficult for us. We have two little children now and we need help to take care of the kids and the house. But my wife refuses to get help.

She says she does not trust these young girls who will come and snatch her husband. I come home sometimes and there is no food. My wife says she is too tired to cook. I cannot live like this – Mike Dear Mike, it is not just you. Women generally don’t trust other women around their husbands. I know this can make life difficult but a lot of men truly do have sex with their house girls. I think the best thing both of you can do is to get a house keeper who comes and goes at the end of the day. The house keeper should also be

married with children and she must be 45 years old and above. That way, your wife will be comfortable with her presence and you will get the help you need. Start this way and with time she may no longer care what type of house keeper comes in. This is really about earning her trust – Uche Please what supplement can couples use to increase libido in both and give strong erection for the man? Also I need a supplement to reduce pains during intercourse for the woman. Thanks – Onyebuchi Hello Onyebuchi, you and your wife can use Hot Rawks supplement. It is good for lifting women’s libido and good for men’s erections as well. Regarding the sexual pain you are talking about, if it is pain that results from vaginal dryness, then all you need is a lubricant, not a supplement. Climax Burst Lubricant is good for this – Uche I have been married for five years and still can’t last up to 2 minutes in bed. It is terrible – Isa Isa this is a big problem for men. The best solution still remains using delay creams. Apply the Power PLus Delay Cream before intercourse and you will last longer – Uche Thank you for the Mega Me Penis Enlarger. It is working and I am so happy - Fred How often should I take Sex Voltz and is it really good? Bernard You take Sex Volts every two to three days. It is really good for strong erections, stamina and back to back multiple performances – Uche The names of the people featured here have been changed for their privacy. Adults in need of these treatments/novelties can call 08191978308 or 08027901621 or any other number here to order or they can order online at www.zeevirtualmedia.com. Zee Virtual Media delivers to you wherever you are in Nigeria. For enquiries, send your emails to custserv@zeevirtualmedia.com - Uche Edochie, MD, Zee Virtual Media.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 39

C M Y K

40—Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

WEDDING: From left— Former Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State; his wife, Oluwakemi, and Mr. Yinka Olanipekun at the wedding of Mr. Kareem Yusuf and former Miss Victoria Umoh at Spirit and Life Bible Church, Abuja.

Lagos politician hails Mimiko's victory

F

ORMER governorship candidate of Labour Party, LP, in Lagos State, Dr. Rotimi Olulana, has described Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s triumph at last Saturday’s governorship election in Ondo State as a well-deserved victory.

Speaking with Vanguard in Lagos, Olulana said against all odds and narrow-mindedness of those who wanted to overturn the state of good governance in the only oilproducing state of the South-West, that the apostle of Iroko politics had emerged victorious.

He said: “I can now, like I have always done, vehemently say we are vindicated as a formidable party and as a people that have passed through series of attacks, socially and politically, from those who thought Ondo State people would sell out.”

Burial

M

R. Godwin Isibor, 100, of Idumeko, Ekpon in Igueben Local Government of Edo State, is dead.

Late Pa Isibor will be buried tomorrow at his residence, number 143, Idumeko Road, Ekpon.

He is survived by many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, among who is Mr. Michael Eboh of Vanguard.

Late Pa Isibor.

POLITICS: From left— Mrs. Titi-Laoye Tomori, Osun State Deputy Governor; Mrs. Mofolake Adegboyega, Osun State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare; and Alhaja Ayo Omidiran, member, House of Representatives, at a one-day programme on women in politics in Osogbo.

Ebonyi students accuse council boss of N48m bursary fraud

BY PETER OKUTU

A

BAKALIKI—NATIONAL Association of Onicha Local Government Undergraduates, NAOLGUS, yesterday, alleged that the Chairman of the local government has misappropriated N48 million under the guise of paying bursary to undergraduates of the area, who are studying law in different institutions across the country.

However, in a quick reaction, the council boss, Chief Obasi Nwode, de-

nied any form of financial misappropriation, adding that he had charged the aggrieved undergraduates to be patient as he would pay their bursary during next year’s budgetary allocation.

In a statement by Mr. Christian Ani and Mr. Eze Friday, NAOLGUS’s National President and Secretary-General, respectively, the undergraduates said they decided to take the matter to the government due to the manner issues concerning them had been relegated to the back-

ground.

He also noted that the general welfare of students of Onicha council was poor. They called on the state government to urgently address the matter, warning that if nothing was done to cushion the effect of the situation, they would be forced to embark on a peaceful demonstration across the state.

The statement read in part: “It may shock you to know that Onicha Local Government and five development centres in the council budgeted N48 mil-

lion naira for students’ bursary from 2010 till date.

“To our greatest consternation, students are yet to receive a kobo from such huge amount. We pray the Governor that the N48 million, which has been siphoned by the council boss and coordinators in the name of students’ bursary, should be disbursed to us.

“All our letters and visitations to urge them pay students fell on deaf ears. If nothing is done speedily, we may be forced to embark on peaceful demonstration.”

Onaiyekan, 5 others to become cardinals

BY KENNETH EHIGIATOR, with Agency Reports

T

HE Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Onaiyekan, is one of six cardinals to be appointed by the Roman Catholic Pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI. Others are America’s James Michael Harvey, Lebanon’s Bechara Boutros Rahi, India’s Baselios Cleemis, Columbia’s Ruben Salazar Gomez and Philippines’ Luis Antonio Tagle.

The last Cardinal appointed from Nigeria was Anthony Olubumi Okogie, who recently retired as the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos.

A statement by the Vatican, yesterday, said the European Roman Catholic prelates would join the Vatican’s College of Cardinals to effect the appointment, a move which may affect the election of future Pope.

This will be the second time this year Cardinals would be appointed by the Pontiff.

The College, the elite body that advises the Pontiff and elects his successor upon his death, is currently heavily weighted in favour of Europe.

The announcement follows the death of several cardinals in recent months and will bring the number of those eligible to vote back up to the maximum of 120.

Cardinals must be young enough, under 80, to take part in a papal election.

Born on January 29, 1944, Onaiyekan was ordained a priest in 1969.

He was a former Catholic Bishop of Ilorin, former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, and a former President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN. The new Cardinal, who was appointed and ordained the archbishop of Abuja since 1994, is among four Nigerian Catholic Bishops attending the Synod of Bishops in Rome.

Religious watchers had

not expected that there would be another consistory until next year.

In February, 22 new “princes of the Church” were created amid criticism at the number of Europeans and poor representation from elsewhere.

While nearly half of the world’s Catholics are in Latin America, there was only one new cardinal appointed from “the Catholic continent.”

The nomination of

seven Italians in Benedict’s fourth consistory also brought to 30 the elector cardinals from Italy, almost a quarter of the total, far outweighing any other country.

The nominations sparked rumours of a power struggle at the heart of the Vatican, with some observers saying that Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, was behind the promotion of Italians up the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy.

COFFHA holds investiture

C

OMMITTEE of Friends for Humanity, COFFHA, has invited Lagosians to the investiture ceremony of her President, Mrs Phil Okonkwo, and fund raising ceremony, in respect of the building of a N40 million COFFHA Centre in Lagos.

Dignitaries expected at the event are Dame Abimbola Fashola, First Lady of Lagos State, as Special Guest of Honour; Chief Adebayo Sarumi of the Nigeria Ports Authority, as

Chairman.

The event, billed for October 26 at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, will begin at 2pm.

Mrs Phil Okonkwo.

FERMA intensifies road repairs

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

D

ETERMINED to beat the 90 days deadline given it by President Goodluck Jonathan, to repair federal roads across the country, the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA, has commenced patchworks and maintenance of critical roads to ease traffic during the yuletide seasons.

Managing Director of the agency, Engr. Gabriel Amuchi, said during an inspection of ongoing preventive intervention work on Abuja-Kaduna road yesterday, that at the pace the agency was working, it was most likely to beat the deadline by 20 days.

He said: “We have effectively started when the dry season sets in, so we are looking at not more than 90 days between the month of October and December. We are aggressive about it all over the country.”

Prayer summit

I

NTERCESSORY Covenant Church, in conjunction with Akwa Ibom Clergy Forum, will hold a national prayer summit 2012 with the theme Nation at Risk, on Saturday, October 27, at the church auditorium along Bello Road, Ishaga, Lagos at noon.

President of the group, Rev. Udo S. Udo, told newsmen that the country needs prayers to survive the current challenges.

Ministering at the occasion will be Rev. Kola Idowu, Bishop A. Umondia, Superintendent Pastor, western Region of Mount Zion Lighthouse Full Gospel Church and other anointed men of God.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012—41

dayobenson@yahoo.com I N S I D E

Understanding NHRC solicits for improve Counsel Corner Human Rights Law in funding of prison, speedy Nigeria (3) — Pg 42 — Pg 43 trial — Pg 45

N/Asssembly Resolutions are persuasive morally, not constitutionallybinding

BY MIKE A.A. OZEKHOME, SAN

I

NTRODUCTION: RECENTLY, there has been a ruckus about whether or not, the resolutions of the National Assembly are binding on the Executive, headed by the President.

There are protagonists and antagonists. Still, others navigated a middle ground, (albeit subscribing to the “turn the other cheek” doctrine), stating that although the resolutions are not binding, the President ought to adhere to them for the smooth and efficient running of government.

Without being suffused with emotive •President Jonathan reasoning which tend towards argumentum ad populum, (appeal to emotions), it is necessary to never a place where the resolutions of understand what the word the National Assembly were given the “resolution” mean and whether weight of a law or an Act of the resolutions are indeed, binding on the National Assembly. Although an Act of Executive arm of Government.

If the Federation is at war in which the DEFINITION OF territory of Nigeria is physically involved RESOLUTION and the President considers that it is not Resolution has been defined by practicable to hold elections, the Wikipedia as “a National Assembly may by resolution written motion extend the period of four years adopted by a deliberative mentioned in subsection (1) of this body.” According section from time to time but not beyond to Merriam Webster’s a period of six months at any one time “resolution” is “a formal expression of opinion, will, or the National Assembly itself is passed intent voted by an official body or into law by way of resolutions and the Head of the Executive or his Vice or Deputy can be removed by way of resolution of the legislative House (after complying with some other sections of the Constitution itself), there is no provision in the Constitution which gives the Legislature the unfettered right to dictate to the Executive, how it should exercise the powers exclusively granted to it by the Constitution, though such resolutions may influence it.

At this junction, it is apposite to examine some Constitutional provisions regarding resolutions MIKE OZEKHOME, SAN which seem to suggest that the Legislature has power to influence the powers reserved for the Executive arm assembled group”. of government.

“RESOLUTIONS” UNDER THE Section 5(1) (4)(a) of the 1999 CONSTITUTION The word “resolution” appears in the Constitution provides that: (a) the President shall not declare a Constitution, thirty-six (36) times. In state of war between the Federation all these thirty-six times, there was

,

,

•David Mark, Senate president and another country except with the sanction of a resolution of both Houses of the National Assembly, sitting in a joint session; and Section 6 (1)(4) of the Constitution which deals with the ideals and objectives of the National economy provides that (4) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section (a) the reference to the “major sectors of the economy” shall be construed as a reference to such economic activities as may, from time to time, be declared by a resolution of each House of the National Assembly to be managed and operated exclusively by the Government of the Federation, and until a resolution to the contrary is made by the National Assembly, economic activities being operated exclusively by the Government of the Federation on the date immediately preceding the day when this section comes into force, whether directly or through the agencies of a statutory or other corporation or company, shall be deemed to be major sectors of the economy; (emphasis mine) Section 16 (2) of the Constitution provides: If the Federation is at war in which the territory of Nigeria is physically involved and the President considers that it is not practicable to hold elections, the National Assembly may by resolution extend the period of four years mentioned in subsection (1) of this section from time to time but not beyond a period of six months at any one time.

Section 84 (3) which provides for the appointment of the Auditor-General of the Federation, provides thus: Except with the sanction of a

resolution of the Senate, no person shall act in the office of the AuditorGeneral for a period exceeding six months.

88. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, each House of the National Assembly shall have power by resolution published in its journal or in the Official Gazette of the Government of the Federation to direct or cause to be directed investigation into (the matters stated therein).

Section 105 (2) of the Constitution provides that the National Assembly can by resolution, extend the tenure of elected officials when the country is in a state of war. It provides: If the Federation is at war in which the territory of Nigeria is physically involved and the President considers that it is not practicable to hold elections, the National Assembly may by resolution extend the period of four years mentioned in subsection (1) of this section from time to time but not beyond a period of six months at any one time Section 151 (1) (2) of the Constitution provides that National Assembly shall by resolution prescribe the number, allowances and remuneration of the President’s special advisers.

Section 305 (1) of the Constitution dealing with proclamation of a State of Emergency provides that: (2) The President shall immediately after the publication, transmit copies of the Official -Gazette of the Government of the Federation containing the proclamation including the details of the emergency to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, each of whom shall forthwith convene or arrange for a meeting of the House of which he is President or Speaker, as the case may be, to consider the situation and decide whether or not to pass a Continues on page 42

EDITORIAL TEAM Dayo Benson (Editor) Innocent Anaba Wahab Abdulah Ikechukwu Nnochiri

42—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

Understanding Human Rights Law in Nigeria(3)

BY CHARLES EZEAGU

A

NOTHER ray of hope is the right which citizens have to approach the High Courts when any of these provisions has been, is being, or is likely to be contravened in relation to them under Section 46. But one may ask, how soon does a litigant obtain judgment?

Have all citizens the muscle (financially and otherwise) to follow up such rights to its enforcement?

All these questions are to be attended to in the course of this essay.

Right To Life Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, provides: (1)“Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a Court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria.

(2)A person shall not be regarded as having been deprived of his life in contravention of this Section, if he dies as a result of the use to such extent and in such circumstances as are permitted by law of such force as is reasonably necessary: (a) For the defence of any person from unlawful violence or for the defence of property; (b) In order to effect a lawful arrest to or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained; or (c) For the purpose of suppressing a riot, insurrection or mutiny.”

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has held in the case of KALU V. STATE (1998) 13 NWLR, Part 583, 531 that the right to life in Nigeria law is not absolute but qualified. In the same vein, some eminent legal scholars while commenting on this constitutional provision opined that life is sacrosanct as deliberate killing is abhorred in all societies the world over.

Police officers or soldiers may not resort to lethal force such as firing live ammunition at people unless their own lives or the lives of others are in immediate danger, and less extreme measures are not available to avert the danger. The constitution however recognizes some exceptions to the rule relating to preservation of life… the blanket derogation from the right in matters relating to defence of property and killing of a suspect who resists arrest may need to be reviewed if life is to have any real meaning.

See: M.A. Ajomo, Perspectives on Human Rights; Page 80-81.

It is germane at this point to raise a question whether the provision permitting killing in defence of property reflects our cultural value. In our cultural value preferences, does property come before life? The

answer to this question is obviously in the negative. In the entire Africa, including Nigeria, life is valued over and above every other thing.

Consequently, any permissible qualification of the right to life must undoubtably be absolutely necessary for the defence of another life, or for the security of the entire society. Killing in defence of property is not permitted in most civilized societies. For example, Article 2(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is similar to our Section 33(2) of the 1999 Constitution does not permit killing in defence of property.

In line with the European Convention, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights did not provide for permissible limitations on right to life.

Article 4 of the Charter provides:

•Charles Ezeagu is “Human beings are inviolable. Every person shall be entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person.

No one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right”.

The import of this provision that ‘no one may be arbitrarily deprived of this right’ is that the

right could be subject to drew his dagger at him, the restrictions in certain 1st Accused raised alarm circumstances. The municipal shouting “thief, thief” and law will be left with the option to grabbed the deceased arm, determine those circumstances. engaged him in a physical Be that as it may, any municipal combat in order to disarm him. law that authorizes arbitrary The 1st Accused thought the killing will be inconsistent with deceased to be a member of the Charter. an armed robbery gang who Inasmuchas the use of force have come to attack him. As may sometimes be necessary, the deceased and the 1st conduct resulting in death Accused were struggling, whether intentional, negligent or other neighbours rushed in accidental should always have to and joined the 1st Accused in be justified. The force applied the beating and they overmust be proportional to that force powered the deceased. The being repelled leading to death. deceased was dead before the In the case of Okonkwo V. The Police arrived along with the State (1998) 4 NWLR 143, the 1st Accused who went to call deceased lived in the same the Police when they had tied compound with the Appellant down the deceased and kept and the 1st Accused. The deceased forced himself into the To be continued premises of the 1st Accused with Ezeagu is a Legal a dagger alone at about 12 Practitioner and Human midnight. As the deceased challenged the 1st accused and Rights Activist based in Abuja, Nigeria.

N/Asssembly Resolutions are persuasive morally, not constitutionallybinding and not experiment, forage or foray into the powers granted other arms. This is the where interpretation. Since the the hallowed doctrine of the Constitution of the Federal separation of powers derive Republic of Nigeria has from. Thus, in the case of A.G, expressly delineated the ABIA STATE v. A.G ,FED jurisdiction, precinct and (2006) 7 S.C (Pt 1) 51, the purview of the powers of the three arms of government, (see apex Court of the land, per Onnoghen, J.S.C. dilated Sections 4, 5 and 6 of the lucidly as follows: Constitution of the Federal “Where the rule of law Republic of Nigeria, 1999), it reigns, political expediency follows that the powers ought to be sacrificed on the belonging to any arm of alter of the rule of law so as to government is exhaustively guarantee the continued dealt with. This is the existence of democratic foundation and bastion of the doctrine of the rule of law. The institutions fashioned to promote social values of rule of law simply posits that liberty, orderly conduct and once the Constitution has development, particularly in a granted powers to any arm of republic founded on the government, it becomes principles of federalism where incumbent on that arm of power is not only apportioned government to religiously between the Federal and adhere to, and be contented State Governments but also with the powers so granted it

Continues from page 41

the Local Governments with checks and balances. Within the Federal and State governments, power is further apportioned among the three arms of government termed the legislature, Executive and the Judiciary see sections 4, 5 and 6 of the 1999 Constitution.”

Since Nigeria operates a Constitutional Democracy (See UGWU V. ARARUME (2007) ALL FWLR (Pt. 377) 807 at 897 Paras. D- E (SC)) based on the principles of separation of powers as eminently laid out by the Constitution itself, it follows that any act done by any other arm of government not expressly granted to it by the Constitution will be ultravires and be regarded as a barefaced usurpation of the Constitution for which it

becomes inescapable for such act to suffer the fate of nullification by being declared null and void to the extent of its inconsistency with the overriding provisions of the Constitution by the courts of the land. See Section 1 (3) of the Constitution and the cases of TIMOTHY V. OFORKA (2008) 9 NWLR (Pt.1091) 204 at 213, para. D (CA); ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION V. ABUBAKAR (2007) ALL FWLR, (Pt 375)1264 at 1289, paras. B - E (CA); ROTIMI AND ORS V. MACGREGOR (1974) 11 S.C. 102; EKULO FARMS LTD. V. UNION BANK OF NIGERIA PLC. (2006) 4 S.C. (Pt.II) 1; INEC v. Musa (2003) 3 NWLR (pt.805) p8.72; ADEDIRAN V. INTERLAND TRANSPORT LTD. (1991) 9 NWLR (pt.214) pg.155; A.G ABIA STATE V.

Continues on page 45

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012—43

VANGUARD LAW IN PIX Feedbac k eedback

IBA CONFERENCE: International Bar Association, IBA, had its annual conference in Dublin in Republic of Ireland recently. Pictures below show some faces at the programme.

Motorcyclist ‘raped' by HIV ladies

T

HERE is a case of two ladies who boarded a commercial motorbike and when they got to a lonely spot they forced the bike to stop and forced the rider to have sex with them in-turn at gun point.

They were aware that they were HIV positive, how will the case be treated if they are apprehended?

Anonymous It has been said on few occasions in this column that the law as it is on rape at present only contemplates that it is a male that is capable of committing the act against a female.

The scenario that you described, either real or imagined, has ingredients of rape in the eye of a right thinking ordinary person. But in the eye of the law it is unfortunately not so, at least for now.

Sometimes, the law is as it is and not the way it ought to be. That is why it is necessary to review some of our laws to reflect present challenges.

Those who drafted both the criminal and penal code probably did not anticipate that a time would come when females would sexually assault males physically. Curiously, one would have expected that the recent review of Lagos State Criminal Code would contemplate this and reflect it accordingly.

But this is not too late as law review is a continuous exercise.

Back to the instant case, there are elements of other criminal offences in the incident. If the runaway HIV positive ladies are apprehended by the police, they are likely to face prosecution for being in possession of arms unlawfully since you said the motorcyclist was stopped at point.

Also, they are likely to be charged with indecent sexual assault similarly, they may equally to be charged with attempted murder since there was an obvious threat to life of their victim. However, there is no law at the moment criminalizing willful spread of HIV by infected persons.

For the umpteenth time, will repeat the provisions of the criminal code and penal code on rape.

According to Section 282[1] of the Penal Code: “A man is said to commit rape when he has intercourse with a woman in any of the following circumstances: a, against her will; b, without her consent; c, with her consent, when her consent has been obtained by putting her in fear of death or of hurt; d, with her consent, when the man knows that he is not her husband and that her consent is given because she believes that he is another man to whom she is or believes herself to be lawfully married; e, with or without her consent, when she is under fourteen years of age or of unsound mind.”

Similarly, Section 357 of the Criminal code, Laws of the Federation: defines rape as: “Any person who has unlawful canal knowledge of a woman or girl without her consent or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threat or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of harm, or by means of false or fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act, or, in the case of married woman impersonating her husband is guilty of an offence which is called rape.”

Ireland’s Taioseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny, formally opened the conference.

Aniefok Dennis, Hon. Justice Pius Idiong, Emeka Ngige, SAN, and the S.A. to the Akwa Ibom State Governor on Aviation.

Akinlolu Osinbajo (right) with another participant.

R-L, Akinlolu Osinbajo, Dr. & Mrs. Tunde Segun and Seun Abimbola

Chief Bayo Ojo,SAN, former AGF

Prime Minister Enda Kenny addressing participants at the opening ceremony.

Hon Justice Adegbola Adeniyi(R) with Prof. Lanre Fagbohun of the Nig Inst of Advanced Legal Studies

Boma Obuoforibo, Donatus Anupuo and Wilson Iorshe.

Rent payment after quit notice

Sir, i want you to educate tenants on the issue of quit notice. Wheather they need to pay for the period of months the quit notice will last because most tenants assume that when a quit notice is given to a tenant they will not pay for the period of months.Comrade uche Goodluck okonji.Estate survey or from Benin city Answer to this question will be provided next week please bear with us.

You can send your questions to dayobenson@yahoo.com or 08056180119 (text only)

Gbenga Oyebode, NBA chair on session on Business Law and Wilson Iorshe

A session of the participants at the opening ceremony.

C M Y K

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 43

C M Y K

44—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

NHRC solicits for improve funding of prison, speedy trial

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

T

HE Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Prof. Ben Angue has taken the campaign for the observation of every Nigerian human rights to the four walls of the Nigerian prisons.

Flagging-off the national campaign for human rights audit of the Nation’s prisons from the Kirikiri maximum prison, Lagos recently, Professor Angue condemned the number of inmates on awaiting trial saying that “standing for trial for more than five years without judgment, is no longer a fair trial.”

This came as the majority of the in-mates who had the opportunity of speaking one on one with the visiting team, which included representatives of the National Assembly, Lagos State Attorney General, the state police commissioner and senior officials of the NHRC said their major problems were that of slow and sometimes unfair judicial process as well as the subhuman condition in the prison.

Although, a visit to the inner walls of the prison, especially the Kirikiri maximum prison, showed a departure from what is obtained in the nations prisons in term of cleanliness compare to situation years back.

This was as a result of the “operation health for all” being carried out by the inmates and coordinated by the wardens.

In his reaction to the complaints of the inmates, the NHRC executive secretary urged the judiciary to address the problem of prolonged trial to ensure fairness.

According to him, the prisoners had the right to life and deserved to be taken care of, noting that a country’s human rights index in most cases judged by the condition of its prisons.

“A trial is no longer fair when it goes on for too long. For instance, a trial spanning 11 years could affect the witness’ ability to recollect what transpired during the incident.

“If after 11 years, such a person is found not guilty, how would you compensate the person for the years lost? Some inmates are innocent, many of them are victims of false allegation or were arrested by the police during raids and branded as armed robbers. I’m not saying criminals should go scot free but the innocent ones should not be criminalised.

“The cost of N200 for the daily feeding of an inmate is too low and government needs to increase funding. Some prisoners need to be on special diet due to health conditions and it is their right and a C M Y K

The NHRC executive secretary, Prof. Ben Angue (middle) being assisted to cut the tape to declare prisoners' human rights and liberty. human rights.” always unbearable. One night I The inmates who were jubilant almost died but for one of the on the visit of the Rights doctors that gave me an Commission during the injection. commencement of the 2012 South- “I’ve asked for inhalers and West Zonal prison audit, said, other drugs but they said they many of them had been awaiting don’t have any. As I am talking trial for years. They added that to you, non of my relatives visit some of the convicts were facing and I don’t have anybody in health challenges due to lack of Lagos” health facilities in the prison.

Majority of the inmates also One of them, who is on a death complained of the slow judicial row, Matthew Nwokocha, an process. One Ogechukwu asthmatic patient, complained that Obioma, who narrated his due to the stuffy nature of the cells, ordeal, said, “I was brought he had had frequent asthma here in 2005 for robbery and attacks, only he was saved by conspiracy and was taken to whisker. He said the prison’s Ebute Meta Magistrate’s Court medical unit had run out of but I haven’t been to court since inhalers on several occasions. then.”

He narrated his ordeal, “I was Another inmate, Emmanuel sentenced to death in Imo State in Uzor, said he had been on trial 2006 but was transferred to Kirikiri. for 11 years despite the fact that When I get asthma attacks, it’s witnesses had yet to come

forward.

Paul Samuel, has this to say,“I was brought to Kirikiri for alleged robbery in 2005. I was arraigned in Yaba Magistrate’s Court 4 but the Director of Public Prosecutions has yet to issue advice.”

The Controller of Prisons, Abayomi Oguntuase, urged the government to offer free healthcare to inmates.

“The issue of treating inmates for free has become pertinent.

When we don’t have funds, taking an inmate to hospital becomes a problem,” he said.

On congestion, Oguntuase said it was majorly caused by the awaiting trial persons. He said, “The medium prison for instance, has had no less than 2,400 inmates at any point in time this year as opposed to its capacity of 1,500. The cells are no longer conducive for habitation.”

Speaking on the health facility, Hemeson Edwin, one of the doctors at the prison, said there was need for the government to increase funding especially in the area of health.

Though, he said some non governmental organisations and religious bodies have been on hand to help. He added that the prison authorities usually paid for treatment of inmates referred to hospitals outside the facility, but that due to lack of funds, all inmates eat the same food even though some of them

need special diets due to health challenges.

He added, “All patients, including the diabetic ones are made to eat the same food because that is what we can afford. Inmates who have been referred to hospitals are also made to pay. Recently, a female inmate gave birth through caesarean section and has been bleeding since. We took her to a government hospital and we were made to make down payment.

“When prisoners die, we are also made to pay mortuary fees.

The only hospital that gives concession as regards corpses is the Isolo General Hospital and that may soon end because there are moves by the state government to privatise that as well.”

Some of the old inmates pleaded with the government to release them as they no longer posed a threat to society. One of such inmates, Steven Ojoko, convicted of robbery, said he had been in Kirikiri for 34 years.

Another inmate, Edet Akpan, 52, who has been in prison for 30 years for robbery and another inmate incarcerated in 1984 for attempted robbery, Ibrahim Lasisi, urged the government to release them.

Though, he was not brought out to meet the delegation, the oldest inmate was said to be 82 years.

NASS Resolutions are persuasive morally, not constitutionallybinding Continues from page 42 A.G FEDERATION (2002) 5 NWLR (pt.763) pg.264; ADISA V. OYIWOLA (2000) 10 NWLR (pt.674) pg.116; A.G ONDO STATE V. A.G. FEDERATION (2002) 9 NWLR (pt.772) pg.222; A-G ONDO STATE V. A-G FEDERATION (2002) 1 NWLR (Pt.772) pg.222; A-G ABIA STATE V. A-G FEDERATION (2002) 6 NWLR (Pt.763) pg.204; ABACHA V. FAWEHINMI (2000) 4 SC (pt.11) pg.1.; BALONWU V. GOV. ANAMBRA STATE (2009) 18 NWLR (Pt.1172) pg.13 In the case of A.G. ABIA STATE v. A.G. FEDERATION (2003) 1 S.C. (Pt. II) 1, the Supreme Court, adumbrated, per Belgore, J.S.C, thus; “The principle behind the concept of Separation of Powers is that none of the three arms of government under the Constitution should encroach into the powers of the other.

Each arm - the Executive, Legislative and Judicial - is separate, equal and of coordinate department and no arm can constitutionally take over the functions clearly assigned to the other. Thus the powers and functions constitutionally entrusted to each arm cannot be encroached upon

by the other. The doctrine is to promote efficiency in governance by precluding the exercise of arbitrary power by all the arms and thus prevent friction.”

PRESIDENTIAL, NOT PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT Sieving from the above, it is abundantly clear that the powers of the Legislature under our present jurisprudence to pass a resolution with regards to how an elected Executive President can exercise his executive powers is nonexistent. Thus, attempting to do so, is tantamount to a gluttonous and insatiable quest for power. This is because, Nigeria is not operating a Parliamentary system of government where the resolutions of Parliament (particularly in the United Kingdom) are equal to law.

There seems to be a deliberate attempt on the part of some members of our Legislature to misunderstand the workings and tenets of the Presidential system of government (as against Parliamentary system of government) with separation of powers being the focal theme.

Under the Parliamentary system of government, resolutions alone are enough to oust the government. If the Parliament passes a resolution of no confidence, or refuses to pass an important Bill such as the budget, then the government must resign so that a different government can be appointed, or seek a Parliamentary dissolution so that new general elections may be held with a view to reconfirming or deny the government’s mandate. This is not so under our own constitutional democracy anchored on Presidentialism where the various powers of the various arms of government are clearly spelt out. The sooner our Legislature understands this, the better for the country.

Resolutions are therefore merely persuasive, morally, nudging, but not constitutionally binding. Acts of the National Assembly are binding because they have the force of law having been assented to by the President.

CONCLUSION Nigeria operates a written and rigid constitution which clearly spells out the powers of the various arms of

government. It is unconstitutional in any and every way, for any arm of government to usurp the powers of any other arm.

Such, usurpation, whether advertently or inadvertently, is indefensible and unpardonable because it can lead to political bedlam and instability. Thus, it is submitted that any attempt by some members of the National Assembly to sponsor any Bill to the effect that resolutions will become binding on the Executive (as reported by the Dailies) is tantamount to unnecessarily stirring the hornet’s nest; is completely alien and antithetical to the Presidential system of government practised every where and is a blatant attempt to distort the tenets upon which the Presidential system of government is founded. It will amount to trying to induce the tenets of Parliamentary system of government through the back door, therefore, making our governmental system, the voice of Jacob and the face of Esau!

Mike A.A. Ozekhome, SAN, is a Lagos-based legal practitioner.

44 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

C M Y K

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012—45

NHRC solicits improved funding of prison, speedy trial

BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH

T

HE Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, Prof. Ben Angue has taken the campaign for the observation of every Nigerian human rights to the four walls of the Nigerian prisons.

Flagging-off the national campaign for human rights audit of the Nation’s prisons from the Kirikiri maximum prison, Lagos recently, Professor Angue condemned the number of inmates on awaiting trial saying that “standing for trial for more than five years without judgment, is no longer a fair trial.”

This came as the majority of the in-mates who had the opportunity of speaking one on one with the visiting team, which included representatives of the National Assembly, Lagos State Attorney General, the state police commissioner and senior officials of the NHRC said their major problems were that of slow and sometimes unfair judicial process as well as the subhuman condition in the prison.

Although, a visit to the inner walls of the prison, especially the Kirikiri maximum prison, showed a departure from what is obtained in the nations prisons in term of cleanliness compare to situation years back.

This was as a result of the “operation health for all” being carried out by the inmates and coordinated by the wardens.

In his reaction to the complaints of the inmates, the NHRC executive secretary urged the judiciary to address the problem of prolonged trial to ensure fairness.

According to him, the prisoners had the right to life and deserved to be taken care of, noting that a country’s human rights index in most cases judged by the condition of its prisons.

“A trial is no longer fair when it goes on for too long. For instance, a trial spanning 11 years could affect the witness’ ability to recollect what transpired during the incident.

“If after 11 years, such a person is found not guilty, how would you compensate the person for the years lost? Some inmates are innocent, many of them are victims of false allegation or were arrested by the police during raids and branded as armed robbers. I’m not saying criminals should go scot free but the innocent ones should not be criminalised.

“The cost of N200 for the daily feeding of an inmate is too low and government needs to increase funding. Some prisoners need to be on special diet due to health conditions and it is their right and a

The NHRC executive secretary, Prof. Ben Angue (middle) being assisted to cut the tape to declare prisoners' human rights and liberty. human rights.” always unbearable. One night I The inmates who were jubilant almost died but for one of the on the visit of the Rights doctors that gave me an Commission during the injection. commencement of the 2012 South- “I’ve asked for inhalers and West Zonal prison audit, said, other drugs but they said they many of them had been awaiting don’t have any. As I am talking trial for years. They added that to you, non of my relatives visit some of the convicts were facing and I don’t have anybody in health challenges due to lack of Lagos” health facilities in the prison.

Majority of the inmates also One of them, who is on a death complained of the slow judicial row, Matthew Nwokocha, an process. One Ogechukwu asthmatic patient, complained that Obioma, who narrated his due to the stuffy nature of the cells, ordeal, said, “I was brought he had had frequent asthma here in 2005 for robbery and attacks, only he was saved by conspiracy and was taken to whisker. He said the prison’s Ebute Meta Magistrate’s Court medical unit had run out of but I haven’t been to court since inhalers on several occasions. then.”

He narrated his ordeal, “I was Another inmate, Emmanuel sentenced to death in Imo State in Uzor, said he had been on trial 2006 but was transferred to Kirikiri. for 11 years despite the fact that When I get asthma attacks, it’s witnesses had yet to come

forward.

Paul Samuel, has this to say,“I was brought to Kirikiri for alleged robbery in 2005. I was arraigned in Yaba Magistrate’s Court 4 but the Director of Public Prosecutions has yet to issue advice.”

The Controller of Prisons, Abayomi Oguntuase, urged the government to offer free healthcare to inmates.

“The issue of treating inmates for free has become pertinent.

When we don’t have funds, taking an inmate to hospital becomes a problem,” he said.

On congestion, Oguntuase said it was majorly caused by the awaiting trial persons. He said, “The medium prison for instance, has had no less than 2,400 inmates at any point in time this year as opposed to its capacity of 1,500. The cells are no longer conducive for habitation.”

Speaking on the health facility, Hemeson Edwin, one of the doctors at the prison, said there was need for the government to increase funding especially in the area of health.

Though, he said some non governmental organisations and religious bodies have been on hand to help. He added that the prison authorities usually paid for treatment of inmates referred to hospitals outside the facility, but that due to lack of funds, all inmates eat the same food even though some of them

need special diets due to health challenges.

He added, “All patients, including the diabetic ones are made to eat the same food because that is what we can afford. Inmates who have been referred to hospitals are also made to pay. Recently, a female inmate gave birth through caesarean section and has been bleeding since. We took her to a government hospital and we were made to make down payment.

“When prisoners die, we are also made to pay mortuary fees.

The only hospital that gives concession as regards corpses is the Isolo General Hospital and that may soon end because there are moves by the state government to privatise that as well.”

Some of the old inmates pleaded with the government to release them as they no longer posed a threat to society. One of such inmates, Steven Ojoko, convicted of robbery, said he had been in Kirikiri for 34 years.

Another inmate, Edet Akpan, 52, who has been in prison for 30 years for robbery and another inmate incarcerated in 1984 for attempted robbery, Ibrahim Lasisi, urged the government to release them.

Though, he was not brought out to meet the delegation, the oldest inmate was said to be 82

NASS Resolutions are persuasive morally, not constitutionally binding Continues from page 42 A.G FEDERATION (2002) 5 NWLR (pt.763) pg.264; ADISA V. OYIWOLA (2000) 10 NWLR (pt.674) pg.116; A.G ONDO STATE V. A.G. FEDERATION (2002) 9 NWLR (pt.772) pg.222; A-G ONDO STATE V. A-G FEDERATION (2002) 1 NWLR (Pt.772) pg.222; A-G ABIA STATE V. A-G FEDERATION (2002) 6 NWLR (Pt.763) pg.204; ABACHA V. FAWEHINMI (2000) 4 SC (pt.11) pg.1.; BALONWU V. GOV. ANAMBRA STATE (2009) 18 NWLR (Pt.1172) pg.13 In the case of A.G. ABIA STATE v. A.G. FEDERATION (2003) 1 S.C. (Pt. II) 1, the Supreme Court, adumbrated, per Belgore, J.S.C, thus; “The principle behind the concept of Separation of Powers is that none of the three arms of government under the Constitution should encroach into the powers of the other.

Each arm - the Executive, Legislative and Judicial - is separate, equal and of coordinate department and no arm can constitutionally take over the functions clearly assigned to the other. Thus the powers and functions constitutionally entrusted to each arm cannot be encroached upon

by the other. The doctrine is to promote efficiency in governance by precluding the exercise of arbitrary power by all the arms and thus prevent friction.”

PRESIDENTIAL, NOT PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT Sieving from the above, it is abundantly clear that the powers of the Legislature under our present jurisprudence to pass a resolution with regards to how an elected Executive President can exercise his executive powers is nonexistent. Thus, attempting to do so, is tantamount to a gluttonous and insatiable quest for power. This is because, Nigeria is not operating a Parliamentary system of government where the resolutions of Parliament (particularly in the United Kingdom) are equal to law.

There seems to be a deliberate attempt on the part of some members of our Legislature to misunderstand the workings and tenets of the Presidential system of government (as against Parliamentary system of government) with separation of powers being the focal theme.

Under the Parliamentary system of government, resolutions alone are enough to oust the government. If the Parliament passes a resolution of no confidence, or refuses to pass an important Bill such as the budget, then the government must resign so that a different government can be appointed, or seek a Parliamentary dissolution so that new general elections may be held with a view to reconfirming or deny the government’s mandate. This is not so under our own constitutional democracy anchored on Presidentialism where the various powers of the various arms of government are clearly spelt out. The sooner our Legislature understands this, the better for the country.

Resolutions are therefore merely persuasive, morally, nudging, but not constitutionally binding. Acts of the National Assembly are binding because they have the force of law having been assented to by the President.

CONCLUSION Nigeria operates a written and rigid constitution which clearly spells out the powers of the various arms of

government. It is unconstitutional in any and every way, for any arm of government to usurp the powers of any other arm.

Such, usurpation, whether advertently or inadvertently, is indefensible and unpardonable because it can lead to political bedlam and instability. Thus, it is submitted that any attempt by some members of the National Assembly to sponsor any Bill to the effect that resolutions will become binding on the Executive (as reported by the Dailies) is tantamount to unnecessarily stirring the hornet’s nest; is completely alien and antithetical to the Presidential system of government practised every where and is a blatant attempt to distort the tenets upon which the Presidential system of government is founded. It will amount to trying to induce the tenets of Parliamentary system of government through the back door, therefore, making our governmental system, the voice of Jacob and the face of Esau!

Mike A.A. Ozekhome, SAN, is a Lagos-based legal practitioner.

46—Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

BITS

Lagos and Edo both Action Congress, ACN, states also have mega schools just like the PDP government in Rivers state.

However, this is not all there is to a pro-working class government.

Youth employment remains as issue. The youths have to be engaged in sustainable jobs. Efforts should be made to boost the economy of the state. Housing, Education, Health care, new roads, infrastructural development and other pro-people programmes must be priortized by the Mimiko administration.

Guideline on casualisation in Maritime industry underway

T

Cases of casualisation

There are less reported cases of casualisation, but a lot of contract staffing is going on in that sector and very soon we are coming to regulate that sector the way we did in oil and gas sector and the way we are now doing in the banking and telecommunication sectors, so that there will be basic guidelines that will take care of those cases of contract staffing in that sector.

The regulation and the guideline, according to him is necessary because of the economic importance of the sector to the development of the country, saying that Maritime Workers occupy a very strategic position in the economic development of the country and have contributed immensely towards it.

Speaking, President-General of MWUN, Comrade Anthony Nted, said the welfare of members was the central activity of the union. He said:“the Union has also embarked on other social/ welfare schemes for the workers in the lower income bracket who constitute the vast majority of terminal operations workforce.

NLC president, Abdulwaheed Omar

Task ahead of Mimiko

Gov Segun Mimiko of Ondo

Labour Party victory: Matters Arising

BY FUNMI KOMOLAFE

T

HE re-election of Gover nor Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party, LP, by voters in Ondo State has brought to the fore, a number of issues.

Not a few people believe that the Governor deserves to win and this was confirmed by voters who with their mandate called on Dr. Olusegun Mimiko to serve them for another four years. The people have spoken.

For organized labour and the working class, though a sweet victory, but it has also thrown up a number of issues.

Emergence of Labour Party However, first, let us put the victory in historical perspective. During the centenary anniversary of May Day; precisely May 1st 1986, the then president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Ali Chiroma, presented an address, titled “Labour in Politics, Politics in Labour” .

Chiroma used the opportunity of the May Day rally held at the then National Stadium Surulere, to express the desire of the working class to float Labour Party. It should be noted however that before Chiroma, heroes, heroines, activists in the labour movement had expressed this wish.

Late Paschal Bafyau as president of the NLC was passionate about achieving this goal. Many times, the labour movement tried to float the party, many times the ruling class in Nigeria worked against this objective.

Organised labour got it right

during the tenure of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as president of the NLC. The international community shared this vision of the labour movement in Nigeria and quite of number of international non-governmental organizations including Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, FES, and the American International Labour Solidarity Centre, gave moral and financial support to the NLC to put in place a Labour Party.

The leadership of the Labour Party was put in place during the tenure of Adams Oshiomhole as NLC president.

Pro-labour individuals work against LP: However, the governorship election of Ondo state was fought bitterly

,

HE Federal Government has given indication of its plan to issue strict guidelines to regulate and curb the prevailing issues of contract staffing and casualisation in the maritime industry, even as the Maritime Workers union of Nigeria, MWUN said welfare of maritime workers remained central objective for its existence.

Speaking at the commissioning of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria liaison building , Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu said though, cases of casualisation were less reported in the sector, cases of contract staffing are very prevalent and of concern to the government.

Presently, the minister said the government was doing the same in the banking sector and the communication sector, assuring that it would be extended to the maritime sector, which would be the focus of his ministry from now.

Chief Wogu said: “Casualisation in the oil and gas industry has been taken care of by my ministry and we are working on the Banking sector and the Telecommunication sector. By the nature of the job, Maritime Workers Union, apart from being in the public sector, they are also in the private sector.

The campaign was so bitter that people who ordinarily should be working together in the interest of the masses viciously antagonized one another.

Critics of Governor Olusegun Mimiko claimed there was nothing ideological about his government yet Dr. Mimiko was a radical student activist.

Though, they claimed that some of his projects should have been executed by local governments, the Mimiko administration is credited with the introduction of the Abiye project; a maternal health programme which has reduced the maternal mortality rate in Ondo state.

The Abiye project has earned the state government the rec-

The campaign was so bitter that people who ordinarily should be working together in the interest of the masses viciously antagonized one another

by the parties involved. People who ordinarily should be supportive of the working class vehemently opposed the LP launching their missiles from other political parties.

It was difficult for people familiar with the labour movement in Nigeria to find ex student activists, a former General Secretary of a senior staff association, individuals mentored by late Dr. Ola Oni and other true progressives launched such vicious attacks on the LP on whose platform, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko contested the governorship election.

,

ommendation of the World Health Organisation, WHO. NLC, TUC support While campaigning for Mimiko , the NLC and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC commended him for paying the national minimum wage and ensuring job security.

According to NLC president, Abdulwaheed Omar, the Mimiko administration had not had cause to right-size or down-size workers.

Putting it bluntly, he had not retrenched workers.

The administration is also credited with the establishment of mega schools.

For now, Mimiko in his post election speech promised to focus on youth employment programmes.

The election has been won and lost It is time to move from contestation to consultation and cooperation. True progressive elements must be seen to be working together and not at cross purposes. The re-election victory of Olusegun Mimiko is a dream come true for organized labour which marks its centenary anniversary this year.

What is expected of true progressives is cooperation. The support that progressive individuals in ACN) gave to Mimiko during his struggle to reclaim his mandate remains commendable and should encourage the politicians to work together rather than work bitterly against one another.

N

o doubt Governor Mim iko popularly called Iroko was rattled. Though, the Iroko could not be uprooted, it lost some of its branches to the election.

The Governor is reminded that even an Iroko tree as gigantic as it is, cannot make a forest.

For Governor Mimiko and the Labour Party, the struggle must be intensified.

The dream of the labour movement is to have a party that would stand the test of time. A party that would be ideologically focused executing pro – peoples’ programmes and not one that provides a platform for any disgruntled politicians who merely use the Labour Party as a platform win elections.

For now, the people of Ondo state have made a choice with their votes with great expectation from Olusegun Mimiko and the Labour Party. Neither the governor nor the party can afford to disappoint the people. The struggle continues.

It is time to work harder.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 47

48 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 Edited by MCPHILIPS NWACHUKWU 08026350360 E-mail: chimeena@yahoo.com tival Galvanised by the soared profile, the fair side of the 2012 festival also witnessed momentous trading. The Atlantic Hall of the Hotel Presidential was swallowed by several stands. And from everywhere, buyers and knowledge seekers flocked the trade fair to strike bargains. Items that dominated the week long trading include books ranging from basic education to tertiary, literature on various fields of study and writing materials.

Also on display were new electronic study aids and handy information processing and communication gadgets. Far from being all books, this year’s book fair also attracted business solution services providers and ICT experts including the Indian Institute for Hardware Technology (IIHT).

Third from left: Nobel Laurate, Wole Soyinka and other participants at the event.

Transforming their businesses

Port Harcourt: Festival of book from World Book Capital P

ENULTIMATE week, two milestone events in Port Harcourt, River State contended for public attention. One was the general anger and despair that trailed the the gruesome murder of the University of Port Harcourt students by irate blood sucking mob of the University town of Aluu.

Second was a festival, whose elevated expectation almost became marred as a result of that brutal murder. The festival was the 5th edition of Port Harcourt based Rainbow book club.

History made, honour gained.

The memorable appeal of the 2012 Garden City Literary Festival was not unexpected after the organisers made a big lift of the event’s profile with UNESCO’s anointing of Port Harcourt as the World Book Capital 2014.

Foundation nominee After 1996 successful launch of UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day, the global body in 2001 laced it with the World Book Capital City recognition, adopting Madrid, Spain as the foundation nominee. Since then, interest groups the world over have contended for the global recognition which a winner enjoys for two years.

In 2004, Mrs. Koko Kalango introduced the Rainbow Book Club in 2004 for a rebirth of robust readership culture in Rivers. Building on the rapid public acceptance, she established it as a global feast which attracts literary giants, publishing investors, educational stakeholders and lovers of literature to share ideas, challenges and motivations at

growing the industry and reducing illiteracy.

Towards the 5th edition just ended, the originator with sustained backing of the Rivers State Government, moved to take the initiative to the next level by presenting a bid among other contenders from around the world, to make Port Harcourt the World Book Capital 2014. Kalango’s bid carried the day, beating contenders from all continents of the

,

By EGUFE YAFUGBORHI

Capital 2014, Soyinka returned to Port Harcourt as the focus of the 2012 festival. At the public presentation of “Port Harcourt as the World Book Capital 2014 being highpoint of the 2012 celebrations, Soyinka who bared his pain over the Aluu Killings and the rage of Boko Haram in Nigeria underscored the value of the feat in fighting the nation’s drift into evil and deepened man’s inhumanity to man.

With Port Harcourt already living the reputation of World Book Capital, coming celebrations of the Garden City Literary Festival promise more global appeal till 2014

world to win for Port Harcourt, the honour of the World Book Capital 2014. Her bidding theme to drive the 2014 activities of the UNESCO course, Books: Window to our world of possibilities, underscored the act of reading books as a weapon to conquer illiteracy, transporting the reader through new worlds of new concepts and ideas. The feat ranks Nigeria as the second country in all Africa to gain the status, coming behind Egypt which previously enjoyed the status.

The nation reacts: The Port Harcourt Literary Festival had in previous editions hosted literary giants including Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, Kenyan author and critic, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Africa’s Eagle on World Literature, Chinua Achebe, Ghanaian playwright, Ama Aita Aiido and African/American Civil Right campaigner, Jesse Jackson.

This year, in euphoria of the successful bid for World Book

,

Soyinka noted, ““Boko Haram and all organisations, all movements that wage war against books, against literacy, against education and enlightenment in any form, have declared war, not on the state, but on humanity itself and in spite of such setbacks, in spite of such horrors, we have the responsibility to support and sustain efforts such as that being made by Rainbow Club and allied societies and organisations.”

Congratulating Port Harcourt for hosting the World Book Capital for 2014, he said the development had brought honour to the nation and Africa in general.

For being in tandem with the Bring Back the Book project, an initiative of President Goodluck Jonathan to stimulate reading culture in Nigeria, the Port Harcourt World Book Capital project also earned support of note from the President, according to the organisers. Earlier at the launch of the Bring Back The Book in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the Pres-

ident in a statement had, “Welcome UNESCO’s recognition of our collective efforts to revive the reading culture. I congratulate The Rainbow Book Club for the vision in moving the now historic bid for a Nigerian city, Port Harcourt, to be the World Capital for books, in the year of our beloved nation’s centenary.”

At the interactive session which focused on Women In Literature during this year’s festival, Governor Rotimi Amaechi who had been the big mentor of the organisers said, “The Rivers State Government’s partnership with the Rainbow Book Club continues to bear fruits and I am greatly pleased that our collaboration has resulted in Port Harcourt being chosen by UNESCO as the 2014 World Book Capital City. I am sure the continued success of the Garden City Festival played part in helping us achieve that honour.”

The trade beat of the 2012 fes-

Caleb Okon, Technical Trainer with IITH gave their end impression. “The primary value in the fair for us is to announce our presence in Port Harcourt, letting people know how we can transform their business with our ICT solutions. We are in over 250 countries of the world and have been confined to Lagos, Abuja.

We have just been established in Port Harcourt and it feels good to be part of this fair. Knowing ICT drives just about any business endeavour today, we have been able reach out to stakeholders in the book and education industry. It has been a time well spent.”

With Port Harcourt already living the reputation of World Book Capital, coming celebrations of the Garden City Literary Festival promise more global appeal till 2014 and certainly beyond.

And the honour, as have been noted by President Jonathan, Wole Soyinka and other notable figures, will not only raise the profile of Kalango’s Rainbow Book Club, or Port Harcourt and Rivers State as host alone. It is a credit to an entire nation.

From India, Enebeli Elebuwa thanks Delta State Govt

V

ETERAN actor, Enebeli Elebuwa popularly known as Andrew Checking Out whose career was put on hold by a devastating stroke last year said he is getting better. He spoke on telephone Friday, October 12, 2012 from his hospital bed in India to Oji Onoko, a journalist who has been monitoring his recovery since Delta State government moved him to Abuja in June this year.

In a voice reminiscent of his great acting days, Elebuwa who hails from Utagba-Uno in Ndokwa West local government area of Delta State, said he owes a debt of gratitude to the Delta State government which has been taking care of him since the debilitating illness started in November last year. He recalled that the State despatched its Commissioner of Culture and a renowned actor himself, Richard Mofe Damijo, RMD, to him at the Surulere hospital, Lagos where he was initially admitted immediately after with enough funds that took care of his treatment there and the two other hospitals he was referred to.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012—49

State Police 'll make Govs dictators — Atunwa, Kwara Speaker SPEAKER of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Mr Abdulrasaq Atunwa, is a close associate of the immediate past governor of the state, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, under whom he served as Commissioner for Information and later Finance.

Atunwa sought the 2011 governorship ticket of the PDP but gave in after the party leadership in the state inclined itself towards the incument governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed. The speaker, who turned 43, last week, spoke with reporters in Ilorin on a range of issues including autonomy of the legislature, the spate of instability in State Houses of Assembly among other issues. Excerpts:

W

HAT is your take on the clamour for financial autonomy to state Houses of Assembly?

I am happy with the progress so far made in the on-going constitution amendment process. I am happy that financial autonomy for Houses of Assembly is also taking priority in the amendment. If Houses of Assembly are seen to be autonomous, it means they are independent and they will be able to carry out their functions without fear of the executive. The incident in Kogi State buttresses the point.

It would then make you ask the question, in relation to State Police. If Executive Governors wield so much power and then you add to that the control of security forces, including State Police, they will transform from a democratic existence to what I will term executive dictatorship. We must avoid such an occurrence.

So, I don’t believe Nigeria is ripe for state police.

We all cite the example of the US. In US, they started as separate states but later came together to unite as United States. In Nigeria, the opposite is the case. I believe that one unified Police Force under the Federal Government suffices for Nigeria. State police portends more danger than the security problems it is meant to solve.

How do you see the impeachment of the Speaker of Kogi State House of Assembly?

It is with grave concern that the news of that purported impeachment reached me and many other speakers in the federation. It is troubling that speakers of State Houses of Assembly in Nigeria now seem to be easy targets and seem to be endangered species as they are being impeached willy-nilly. In the past 12 months or so, about five speakers have been impeached. It happened in Kano, Adamawa, Niger (twice in one week) and Kogi. It is troubling, it is bad for our polity and it is bad for democracy in

Nigeria that state parliaments are becoming increasingly volatile.

If there is no stable leadership in the first arm of government in any state, that state becomes precarious and if it is happening and we allow it to be happening unchecked throughout the federation, we will be creating rooms for more instability in our democratic existence. The parliament is a place to be revered.

It is a place that requires utmost stability and it should not be toyed with. I understand the motion was raised on the floor of the House of Representative on Wednesday and a Committee has been set up as a fact-finding committee to look into what occurred few days ago in Kogi State House of Assembly and report back.

So, I would not want to delve into the matter but what we do know is that 17 members ought to impeach Abdullahi Bello, the Speaker and replace him with Lawal. We read in newspapers

,

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI

*Atunwa the stabilizing factor because ministers can come and go, secretary of state can come and go, and commissioners can come and go but the parliament remains and must be stable.

I will urge all players in our democratic experiment not to toy with the Houses of Assembly, particularly the leadership, the House of Assembly is not an appendage of the Executive

that the impeachment notice was signed by 13 members out of the 25-member House.

The Constitution under Section 92 is quite clear that you can only remove a speaker of House of Assembly by 2/3 majority. And 2/3 of 25, is 16 and half or thereabout. So, you need at least 17 members to remove the Speaker.

If it is correct, the 13 members who signed in the newspaper communiqué did not make the required number prescribed by the constitution. I don’t want to dabble into whether it is right or wrong, but I raised this, because it’s now a concern to me as a legislator and a concerned citizen of Nigeria because if this goes unchecked, then our democracy will begin to falter.

The parliament worldwide is

,

To recall a member of parliament, for example, is one of the most stringent things you can ever do. And the Constitution deliberately did that so that there is stability in this type of government. I will urge all players in our democratic experiment not to toy with the Houses of Assembly, particularly the leadership. The House of Assembly is not an appendage of the Executive.

It is not there as a subordinate to the Executive. It is there as an arm of government created by the Constitution to carry out constitutional functions as the democratic representative of the people.

The security situation in Nigeria is becoming very worrisome, what is the way out?

One should be concerned

really; we are fast developing into a state of anarchy. It’s a product of what the society has become or is becoming.

We have to be tough on the perpetrators, but we must also be sincere in addressing the causes.

Our security problem may not be unrelated to the lack of adequate economic growth in our economy.

People are now looking at various criminal means of achieving financial buoyancy. It is wrong, criminal and cannot be condoned in anyway whatsoever.

As long as there is lack of genuine opportunity for the youth and work force to achieve good means of livelihood, we would see more people turn to delinquent means of livelihood.

The wife of the Speaker of State of Osun was not kidnapped for any political reason, but because somebody wanted to make some money out of it and demanded ransom. We need to have a gender economic growth and create ample opportunity for people to have means of livelihood.

Secondly, there is a disconnect between getting rich and the institutional means to get rich. In other words, every Nigerian wants to live the dream and make money, but then, more frequently, many people want to get rich quick without hard work and

commitment but by delinquent means. It is a serious social problem.

As long as there is that breakdown, there is a problem.

We are not teaching our youths how to work hard and apply themselves patriotically to doing those things to advance society and themselves.

After the public hearing on the Kwara State 1999 Land Law issue nothing was heard again…

(Cuts in) The report on the Land Issue was presented, a public hearing was held on the Land Use Policy and Urbanization Order of the Kwara State, and Legal Notice was issued in September 2009.

We are all aware that it was being said as a result of that Urbanization Order of 2009 and its operation that it is inimical to the interest of the people of the state and that it has serious adverse consequences and no benefit at all. And spinning from that, some members of the public carried unsubstantiated rumours that the government had sold the Eid praying ground or part of Emir’s Palace and so on and so forth. But the report presented after the public hearing demonstrated that none of those rumours is true. No part of Eid praying ground or Emir’s Palace was sold.

50—Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

ONDO GUBER POLL:

Another proof of Jonathan’s commitment to democracy

BY REUBEN ABATI

A man of his words! A true sportsman!

A

S Nigerians continue to celebrate the success of the just-concluded governorship election in Ondo State, it is important to note that although the president would naturally have wanted his party, the PDP, to win the governorship election in the State, the fact that he has never abused the enormous powers of the presidency to influence the outcome of elections shows that he is a man of his words, a committed democrat and a President who believes in the rule of law and the supremacy of the will of the people.

Ahead of the Ondo State 2012 Gubernatorial elections, here is what the President said at the Democracy Park in Akure, Ondo State on October 13, 2012: “What we can guarantee the people of Ondo state is that the commitment of this present administration to ensure that Nigeria continues to remain high in the comity of nations in terms of how we select our leaders remains constant. It is going to be one man, one vote, one woman, one vote, one youth, one vote.”

While reacting to the news that some political parties were mobilizing thugs for the election, President Jonathan added: “I was told that some people are mobilizing thugs from everywhere, if they like they can go to anywhere to bring thugs, the Federal Government will not allow any thug to come out that day, and if you know you are a thug or

President Jonathan also commended the dutiful, patriotic and law-abiding electorate of Ondo State as well as the INEC personnel and security agencies who ensured that the elections were peacefully and successfully conducted in keeping with his Administration’s commitment to making elections in Nigeria progressively better organised and more credible.

As Governor Mimiko prepares for his second term in Office, the President has urged him to rededicate himself to work even harder to justify the trust and confidence reposed in him by the people of Ondo state who voted overwhelmingly for his re-election.

President Jonathan has assured Dr. Mimiko that the Federal Government will continue to engage constructively and positively with the Ondo State Government in collaborative efforts to achieve faster socioeconomic development and better living conditions for people in the state and all other parts of Nigeria.

Ondo Gubernatorial Election: Another bright moment for Nigeria! President Jonathan’s transformation agenda remains sure and steady.

*Jonathan your child is to be used as a thug, carry them away from Ondo state, because government will never tolerate any rubbish.

It will be free and fair election

and nobody will frustrate the commitment of government to project Nigeria truly and nobody will allow thuggery.”

The President made a similar promise, most recently in Edo

state. And he kept his words.

He has kept his words again.

Discerning Nigerians will readily admit that Nigeria’s electoral process has been truly transformed under President

New constitution should empower monarchs —

BY ANAYO OKOLI

D

O you support the agitation for traditional rulers to be given a role in the constitution?

There are many areas traditional rulers can function.

But most importantly, I will wish the new constitution to give monarchs, the power to nominate political appointees from their areas. I say this because traditional rulers live with the people and they know their subjects very well. They know who is good and who is bad, they are in a better position to know who will serve the people better. It is painful and disappointing that some people would be given political appointments to serve their people and such people may not even visit the community

Jonathan’s watch.

Apart from ensuring free and fair elections in Edo and Ondo as in every other part of the country, President Jonathan was also the first person to congratulate Governor Mimiko.

EZE Henry Chinyereuba Ezekwem, JP, is a first class traditional ruler in Abia state. He is the traditional ruler of Emede Ibeku in Umuahia North Council Area. He is also the Chairman of Ibeku Traditional Rulers Council. Excerpts: for one day. Some of them don’t even know the area they are meant to represent let alone knowing what the problems of the area are. They don’t know their traditional rulers and other stakeholders of the area where they supposed to serve.

But if the traditional rulers are given the power to nominate people from their domain for political appointments, they know who is who, they know their background, they know their lineage, therefore, they will be in a better position to nominate humble and good people from the area who will serve their people with sincerity

and human face. A situation where somebody who does not know anything about the area he/she is appointed to serve knows nothing about the place does not augur well for the people.

What is your reaction to the security challenges facing the country?

The anger of God is already against these people who go to churches and kill Christians and even Muslims in their places of worship. God is not happy with what is happening.

Look at what is happening in some parts of the country, especially the Northern part,

*Abati is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media Matters.

Ezekwem

the massive floods that has been devastating our country, killing and sacking people from their homes. This is as a result of God’s anger. Those who started Boko Haram and had been bombing and killing people in their places of worship have incurred the wrath of God, they are facing God’s music.

What do you think should be done to the oil marketers indicted in the subsidy fraud?

That is part of the corruption we are talking about. These people are not patriotic; they don’t wish the nation and its people well. That is why they embarked on cheating the nation and the people. I am in full support of giving them adequate punishment, but they should first be made to repay

*Ezekwem all the money they defrauded the Government.

50 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

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52—Vanguard , THURSDAY THURSDAY,, OCTOBER 25, 2012

Obama, Romney savour media endorsements W

ITH less than two weeks to United States Presidential election, media endorsements have started rolling in for President Obama and Mitt Romney ahead of the elections. Although, many believe newspaper endorsement does not help a particular candidate to coast home to victory, some feel it could help some undecided voters change their minds towards voting a particular candidate.

According to reports, some of the publications with highest circulation like Wall Street Journal and USA Today do not endorse candidates. Of all the big names in the media, only Los Angeles Times has so far endorsed President Barack Obama. So far, newspapers that have endorsed Mitt Romney include Orlando Sentinel, Tampa Tribune, Reno Gazette Journal and Columbus Dispatch.

For Romney, Orlando Sentinel is a big catch for him because the paper is the largest newspaper in Central Florida which is one of the swing states.

According to the newspaper editorial page, they said they believe Romney is a better choice for President and it is time for a change in the White House. ”Romney ’s business experience and record of leadership prepared him for the oval office” the paper said.

For President Obama, he has been endorsed by several American Newspapers including Denver Post, Salt Lake City Tribune, Cleveland Plain Dealer and Tampa Bay Times, Los Angeles Times among others. In what could be a major setback for Romney in his home state, the Salt Lake Tribune, the major newspaper in Utah his home state has endorsed President Obama.

According to the newspapers editorial, “Mitt Romney frequently shift positions on issues and his lack of details about policies during presidential bid makes him worthy distrust

es US tto o Vanguard arriv arrives cover elections

W

ITH less than two weeks to the U.S. Presidential election, Vanguard newspaper has taken the lead by sending two enterprising members of staff to bring Nigerian touch to the biggest political event on

Obama and Romney in final campaign blitz.

Minor candidates hold debate F

OUR third-party can didates , who were not invited to the presidential debates between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, have faced eachother in Chicago.

Tuesday’s debate was hosted by the Free and Equal Elections Foundation, a group promoting a more open electoral process, and moderated by talk show host Larry King.

“It’s a two-party system, but not a two-party system by law,” King said. Obama and Romney were also invited, but declined to attend. The participants included former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson, former Virginia congressman Virgil Goode, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, who ran against Romney in Massachusetts in 2002. When asked about the Pentagon’s budget,

during the debate, all four candidates agreed that military spending should be cut. Goode was perhaps the most circumspect; the other candidates called for big cuts. For instance, Johnson said military spending should be cut by 43 per cent.

Goode, who voted to authorise the war in Iraq in 2003, said: “If I’m elected president ... part of the cuts have to be in the Deparmtent of Defence. We cannot do as Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan suggest. I support a strong defence but we need to retrench rather than being the policeman of the world.”

In response, Johnson said: “The biggest threat to our national security is the fact that we’re bankrupt.”

He supports a 43 per cent reduction in military spending - 2003 spending levels, he pointed out.

Stein, the Green Party

Syria ponders Eid ceasefire

S

YRIA said yesterday its military command was still studying a proposal for a holiday ceasefire with rebels - contradicting international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi’s announcement that Damascus had agreed to a truce. The statement threw Brahimi’s efforts to arrange a pause in the bloodshed in Syria into even more confusion, as divided rebel groups fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad gave mixed messages.

The prominent Farooq Brigade, which operates out of the battered city of

Homs, said it would cease fire. The Islamist militant Al Nusra Front rejected the truce, saying it is not a group “who accepts to play such dirty games.” A previous ceasefire arrangement in April collapsed within days, with both sides accusing the other of breaking it.

Brahimi, the joint U.N.Arab League special envoy, had crisscrossed the Middle East to push the warring factions and their international backers to agree to a truce during the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

nominee, said: “A foreign policy based on militarism ... is making us less secure, not more secure. We need to cut the budget and bring the troops home.”Since 1988, candidates have only been invited by the Commission on Presidential

Debates to participate if polls find they have more than 15 per cent support.

So far, only one candidate has met that criterion, the billionaire Ross Perot, who debated Bill Clinton and George H W Bush in 1992.

earth.

The Deputy Chairman of Editorial Board Mr. Nnanna Ocherome, and Mr. Gbenga Oke, have been charged with the responsibility of covering the election from different location. Oke who has since landed in Texas, will move to Houston, with a huge Nigerian population while Ocherome will report from New York. Their coverage will be complemented by analysis by experts on international relation, especially on the future relations between Nigeria and U.S. In the post election years.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 53

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54 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012

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Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 — 55

Eaglets fly to Conakry from Cotonou T

HE U-17 National Team, known as Golden Eaglets, will fly into Conakry, capital of Guinea from Cotonou, Republic of Benin on Friday officials have confirmed.

Eaglets’ delegation of 18 players and technical and administrative officials will travel to Cotonou on Thursday and fly to Guinea aboard an ASKY Airline flight on Friday afternoon.

Already, the Nigeria Football Federation has put the Embassy of Nigeria in both countries on notice, as the Eaglets chase a spot in the last round of the qualifying campaign for next year’s African U-17 Championship in Morocco.

The Nigerian cadets missed the last two African U-17 Championships but an impressive tally of 83 goals in 18 matches, including friendlies, have marked the Class of 2012 as a squad to watch.

Nigeria won the first leg 3-0 in Calabar on Sunday, 14th October.

The Guinean Federation has confirmed that the second leg match will take place at the September 28 Stadium in Conakry on Sunday, starting from 4.30pm Guinea time (5.30pm Nigeria time).

A

F

BY BEN EFE

FTER being paired in a relatively easy group at the Nations Cup 2013 draws last night, Super Eagles coach , Stephen Keshi disclosed that his wards are just itching to play in the tournament.

Against all expectations the Eagles fell in the group C with defending Champions, Zambia, two timers Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.

An excited Keshi disclosed in Durban that there was so much en-

thusiasm among his boys to participate and win.

“The team just want to be here and do well.

Anything that comes our way, we will take it.

“We still have another two months wait, enough for us to put our acts together to win the tournament,” said Keshi.

Meanwhile Zambia coach Harve Renard will have to come to terms with the fact that the Chipolopolo are in the same group with the Eagles.

Bafana happy to avoid Eagles NO WAY: Two Golden Eaglets players sandwich a Guinean opponent during the first leg of the 2013 Africa U-17 championship qualifier in Calabar. Nigeria won 3-0.

Rufai thanks Nigerians

BY JACOB AJOM

F

ORMER Nigeria international, Peter Rufai has expressed gratitude to Nigerians, home and abroad who supported him when he had a brush with death recently. The former goalkeeper collapsed and went into a coma in his Surulere office office two weeks after the death of his mother.He regained consciousness the

following morning and was subsequently discharged from the hospital after doctors certified him okay.In a chat with Sports Vanguard Wednesday, the former national team captain said he was overwhelmed by the degree of support he received from Nigerians.

“I want to seize this opportunity to thank all Nigerians, my fans, home and abroad, my fellow ex-internationals

and footballers generally. I am deeply touched by their show of concern and prayers for me. I thank everybody,” Rufai said.

He also spare a thought for the late Sports Vanguard ace photojournalist, Sylva Eleanya who passed on Saturday night. “I pray God should grant him eternal rest and for Vanguard and his immediate family, the fortitude to bear the loss.

Retreat on sports: Kanu applauds President Jonathan ORMER Nigeria captain Nwankwo Kanu has praised President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR) for his huge support for and keen p e r s o n a l interest in Monday ’s one-day Presidential Retreat on Sports held at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.

The fleet-footed ace, who is also Nigeria’s Football Ambassador, said: “I am ultimately impressed by President’s Jonathan’s personal interest in Nigeria sports. He has shown several times that he is a lover of the youth and a lover of sports.

“Anyone who is a lover of sports is a lover of the youth. And football is the King of sports.

Eagles’ can’t wait for SA 2013, Says Keshi

The President was very supportive of the i d e a of the Retreat and committed his time and energy to see to its success. This is no mean feat. I believe the whole country should appreciate His Excellency for this.”

Kanu, who captained the U-23 National Team to win the Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996 and also won 86 caps for the Nigeria senior t e a m , played in three FIFA World Cup finals – 1998, 2002 and 2010.

He added: “The Retreat was a very useful one. Most of the speakers contributed meaningfully and positively, to enrich a probable roadmap for the sustainable development of our sports.”

continued from B/P unveiled by former Zambian football great, Kalusha Bwalya, a deep breath and sighs were echoed in the arena as the South Africans desperately hoped to avoid Nigeria.

And luck shone on them as Angola, the 2010 hosts, were named as the final team for the group.

Earlier on, the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma had spoke of the honour

that the Rainbow nation felt on being given the hosting right for the continent’s premier soccer tournament.

“It is an honour for me on behalf of the government and the people of South Africa to join this special moment of the final draw for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

“With great excitement we are counting down the last 86 days before South Africa hosts the tournament for the second time.”

Good group but... continued from B/P granted. The former Eagles captain said that the coach Stephen Keshi-tinkered team should not underrate Ethiopia and Burkina Faso as both teams, were capable of springing surprises like Cape

Verde did to Cameroon.

“It is a good group by name but it is going to be difficult if we take our opponents for granted.

We should remember what Cape Verde did to Cameroon and take all games seriously. I believe they will qualify from that group”

Not an easy group

President Jonathan in handshake with Kanu Nwankwo at the retreat,

continued from B/P last night, Okpala said “I don’t think it is an easy group, considering the fact that Burkina Faso play hard football and have been to the last two editions of the tournament.

“As for Ethiopia, they seem to be returning to the glory days of their football. Ethiopia have a robust history in the

Cup of Nations and should not be dismissed with a wave of hand.”

Okpala said.

He reminded Nigerians that Zambia cannot be wished away either.

“They are the defending champions,” he said, adding, “as champions, they deserve all the respect. I repeat, the group is not an easy one.”

Gov’s Cup II: Nigerian players sacked

BY JOHN EGBOKHAN

N

IGERIAN tennis players were yesterday booted out of the Governor’s Cup Futures II, marking an end to their romance with the Interna-

tional Tennis Federation sanctioned point and prize money tournament.

In some of the second round matches held at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan., all the remaining Nigerian players in the men’s and women’s sin-

gles were roundly beaten by their foreign opponents, who are now through to the quarterfinal.

Lawal Shehu, Nigeria’s number one male player failed to shine as he was sent packing by tournament’s number three seed,

Kento Takeuchi of Japan, who won in straight sets of 6-1, 6-1. Number two seed, South African Ruan Roelofse defeated Clifford Enosoregbe 6-1, 6-1, while Sanni Adamu lost to Sherif Sabry of Egypt 1-6, 6-3, 2-6.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, OCT0BER 25, 2012

Bafana Bafana happy to avoid Super Eagles

BY JOHN EGBOKHAN

S

OUTH African foota l l fans yesterday heaved a deep sigh of relief after avoiding the Super Eagles of Nigeria b

2013 NATIONS CUP

It’s Nigeria vs Zambia!

•Ethiopia, Burkina Faso

BY JACOB AJOM

TODAY'S

appeared like the Super Eagles would be pitted alongside Bafana Bafana in Group A and as the name of the country was about to be Continues on Page 55

Not an easy group – Okpala S

UPER Eagles assis tant coach, Sylvanus Okpala has said that Nigeria’s group in the 2013 Africa Cup of Na-

tions is not an easy one as some people would say.

Reacting to the draw

Continues on Page 55

AFCON 2013 Groups

T

HE Super Eagles of Nigeria were yesterday drawn in Group C of the SouthAfrica2013AfricaCup of Nations in South Africa.

The group also comprise of the defending champions, the Chipolopolo of Zambia, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.

Host South Africa drawn in Group A will have to contend with Angola, Morocco and debutantes Cape Verde.

Four times champions, the Black Stars of Ghana were drawn in Group B alongside Mali, Congo D.R. and Niger.

Group D has tournament favourites, Cote d’Ivoire, Algeria, Tunisia and Togo.

The draw which held in Durban witnessed an impressive ceremony with performances from various groups including Nigeria’s pop star, Omawunmi

in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations draw held in Durban.

As the draw was nearing its conclusion, it

Group A

South Africa Angola Morocco Cape Verde

Group B Ghana Mali Niger DR Congo

Group C

Zambia Nigeria Burkina Faso Ethiopia

Group D

Cote d’Ivoire Tunisia Algeria Togo

Good group but...

— Chukwu F

ORMER Eagles coach, Christian Chukwu has described Nigeria’s group in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations draw as a “good group by name”.

Reacting moments after the Eagles were

PUZZLE

drawn to play against current champions, Zambia, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia in Group C, Chukwu, said that the group might become difficult if the Eagles take their opponents for

EASY DOES IT: Super Eagles players celebrate Afcon 2013 ticket.

Continues on Page 55 YESTERDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 4 Tolerate (5) 7 Stuffed (6) 9 Because (3) 10 Free (3) 12 Refute (5) 13 Responsibility (4) 15 View (5) 17 Certify (6) 19 Fastened (4) 20 Contradict (5) 22 Number (3) 24 Renovated (7) 27 Males (3) 28 Courted (5) 31 Dingy (4) 33 Reviser (6) 35 Command (5) 37 Incline (4) 38 Huge (5) 39 Obscure (3) 41 Employ (3) 42 Relish (6) 43 Card-game (5)

DOWN 1 Poise (6) 2 Real (6) 3 Girl’s (3) 4 Kind (4) 5 Handle (5) 6 Sicken (8) 8 Plunge (4) 11 Swelled (9) 14 Agitate (4) 16 Hash (4) 18 Pour (4) 21 Intrude (8) 23 Amphibian (4) 25 Require (4) 26 Entrance (4) 29 Speaker (6) 30 Leave (6) 32 Sham (5) 34 Flag (4) 36 Repose (4) 40 Insane (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Male 4, Sip 6, Cope 9, Owe 10, Catholic 11, Undo 14, Act 16, Stall 19, Insisted 21, Penal 23, Demotion 24, Terse 27, Tag 31, Chat 33, Initiate 34, Ewe 35, Bred 36, Dig 37, Lame.

How to Play Sudoku

THE VIGILANTE

DOWN: 2, Away 3, Echo 4, Selected 5, Pack 6, Count 7, Own 8, Pedal 12, Limit 13, Astir 14. Asp 15, Tenent 17, Acrid 18, Leant 20, Damaging 22, Log 25, Ether 26, Sited 28, Find 29, Pill 30, Stem 32, Awe.

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Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

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