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CBN to sanction local transactions in dollars

...as Committee retains MPR at 13% TOLA AKINMUTIMI Emefiele

Vol. 5 N0. 1076

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s part of efforts to stem the incidence of speculative trading in the foreign exchange

market and keep the nation’s reserves robust, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

3 DAYS TO GO

Jonathan leads in survey poll with 7.01%

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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Polls: Parties slam Jega over voting procedures Cast your votes and go home, again IGP tells Nigerians

OMEIZA AJAYI ABUJA

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t was a flurry of accusations and counteraccusations yesterday as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and some political parties bickered over the decision of the commission to change its earlier procedure on ballot paper sorting.

INEC had at an earlier CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

PDP procures judgement to disqualify Buhari –APC ...as party loses suit against its candidate

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L-R: Osun State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titilayo Laoye-Tomori; wife of All Progressives Congress, APC, vice presidential candidate, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo; Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun; his wife, Olufunso; wife of the presidential candidate, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, and wife of Rivers State Governor, Mrs. Judith Amaechi, during the APC South West Zone Presidential Women rally held at MKO Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta, yesterday.

Troops reclaim Borno town, foil suicide bombing attempt Political activities return to Yobe

150, including children, die as German airliner crashes

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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Polls: Parties slam Jega over voting procedures CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

meeting with political parties told them of its resolve to introduce two levels of ballot sorting after votes are cast.

While the first sorting

would ensure that wronglyplaced ballot papers in any of the three ballot boxes, each for House of Representatives, Senate and President, are picked and invalidated, the second level of

A woman who escaped from Gwoza among hundreds of women and young girls held hostage by Boko Haram with Sen. Mohammed Ndume at the senator’s house in Maiduguri, yesterday.

sorting would be undertaken to sort out the ballots by party and thereafter loudly count the votes scored by each party in the presence of the polling agents and observers.

However, at a National Stakeholders’ Summit on the 2015 General Elections held in Abuja yesterday, INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega recalled that in spite of the earlier agree-

A male terrorist suspect who disguised himself as a lady fully dressed in hijab nabbed by troops in Kwaya Kusar Market in Borno State.

Troops reclaim Borno town, foil suicide bombing attempt UBONG UKPONG AND INUSA NDAHI

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he Defence Headquarters, DHQ, yesterday, announced that the military has reclaimed Pulka, another town in Borno State, which had been under the control of the Boko Haram insurgents The DHQ also confirmed that it foiled suicide bombing missions in the state, as two female bombers blow themselves up, while a male suicide bomber, who disguised as female was arrested by troops.

A statement by its Director of Defence Information, DDI, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, in Abuja, said that Pulka was freed on Monday evening with troops taking full control, after a fierce battle with terrorists, who had been operating in the town.

Pulka, according to DHQ served as one of the terrorists’ major access to the Mandara Mountains and supply route out of the country and link towards Cameroon.

DHQ said: “Cordon and search has commenced after the air and land operation that overpowered the terrorists.

“Also in the mission area,

a male terrorist suspect, who disguised himself as a lady fully dressed in hijab was nabbed by vigilant troops as he made for a mission to kill innocent citizens in Kwaya Kusar Market in Borno State on Saturday.

“He is currently in custody and has already given useful information on the mode of their operations.

“In another development, the mission of two female suicide bombers was yesterday aborted by troops in Aouno, also in Borno State.

“They however succeeded in blowing themselves up with no military or civilian casualty as they apparently intended to.”

The DHQ assured that the mission against terrorism was continuing until the military rids the country of terrorists.

In a related development, Senator Mohammed Ndume yesterday expressed optimism that the military will liberate Gwoza from Boko Haram insurgents very soon.

Ndume, who represents Borno South in the Senate, expressed this optimism during a chat with newsmen in Maiduguri.

He said the military had demonstrated high sense of patriotism in its recent antiterrorism war.

“In the last five weeks,

the military had performed creditably by reclaiming 22 communities from the insurgents.

“I believe that the remaining communities will be reclaimed in the shortest possible time.

“Gwoza, which is the stronghold of the insurgents, will be reclaimed any moment from now, going by recent developments.

“I think that the soldiers deserve commendation for what they are doing,” Ndume said.

The senator also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for its efforts towards conducting free and fair elections.

“INEC is ready to conduct free and fair elections.

About 80 per cent of voters have collected their Permanent Voter Cards in readiness for the polls,” he added.

Meanwhile, political activities have picked up in Gujba and Gulani local government areas of Yobe State, recently liberated by troops from the control of Boko Haram insurgency.

Members of All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state have led a campaign train to the troubled Bara, headquarters of Gulani local government, which clearly attested to the re-

turn of peace in the area.

Residents, who lost homes and means of livelihood, have also cried out for help.

A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Khadijat Bukar Abba Ibrahim said at the resumption of plenary, billed for 31st, March, she will table a motion for the provision of adequate relief materials to the affected persons.

The lawmaker also said she will press for huge presence of security operatives to the area so as to check future occurrence as well as special grand for reconstruction of destroyed houses, even as she praised the gallantry of security forces for the return of peace to the area.

Also speaking, a member of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Abdullahi Kukuwa, pleaded with concern authorities to allow elections to be conducted in the area instead of relocating polling stations to neighbouring Fika local government.

He expressed sadness with the devastation caused to houses and other valuables and expressed the hope that government at all levels and donor agencies and individuals will come to the aid of the affected persons.

ment, the commission had since written a letter to all the parties intimating them of the new change.

Explaining further, the INEC boss said: “A representative of one of the political parties had drawn the attention of the commission to the legal implication of invalidating such ballot papers. And you were all there and we said we would go back and consult our legal department. They said we should not do that.”

In the letter, INEC said having consulted with its legal department as well as its consortium of six Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SANs, it has decided to amend Paragraph 26 of the Approved Guidelines and Regulations for the conduct of the 2015 General Elections on Sorting and Counting of Ballots and Recording of votes.

As part of the amendment, INEC said at the close of voting, the Presiding Officer shall, “Sort all wrongly deposited ballots and transfer them into their appropriate ballot boxes.”

Jega said one out of four INEC personnel in each Polling Unit has also been designated to ensure that ballot papers are dropped appropriately.

However, many of the parties, including All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Citizens Popular Party, CPP, the Progressives Peoples Alliance, PPA, said they never agreed with INEC to amend the sorting procedure.

They said there was never a time they agreed on the new procedure, but accused INEC of merely kowtowing to the demands of a singular party to change the process.

On the fidelity of the electoral process, Jega said the commission as a human organisation has done its best and that the onus is now on other stakeholders and all Nigerians to ensure free, fair and credible elections.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police, IGP, Suleiman Abba has again restated his earlier warning to Nigerians not to clog around polling units on election day.

He said they must go away after casting their votes.

This came even as Mr. Abba has ordered restriction of movement on the two election days.

He said as part of efforts to ensure adequate security across the country on Saturday March 28 and April 11, he has ordered the restriction on vehicular movements from 8.00am to 5.00pm on the two days.

“This total restriction of movements order applies to all, except for ambulances, fire service trucks and others on essential duties,” the IGP said.

Consequently, he advised travelers and citizens who intend to use roads on these days and hours to plan alternative times for their traveling.

While expressing his regrets over the inconveniences that road users and the general public may encounter as a result of the restriction, the IGP appealed for the understanding and cooperation of the citizenry, as the restriction is done in the nation’s interest.

He assured that adequate security logistics and manpower have been strategically deployed to achieve a most conducive electioneering atmosphere.

In this regard, policemen for election duty have been properly trained, briefed and sensitised on their roles as stipulated in the Electoral Act. They are expected to be professional, non-partisan, civil but firm in their approach and relation to the public.

On his directive to voters, Mr. Abba who was also at the National Stakeholders’ Meeting on the 2015 General Elections said he has issued his own “advisory” to voters and so it was left for them to heed or discard.

He said staying behind could prompt one to commit one of the several electoral offences listed in the electoral law.

According to him, the success of the polls depends on maintenance of law and order adding that the police is determined to ensure hitch free elections.

All Progressives Congress, APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP had criticised the order credited to the IGP and urged their supporters to disregard the order.

But the police boss in his presentation insisted that staying around could be tempting for the voters to fall short of the nine elecCONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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Photo News

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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L-R: Chairman, Arik Air, Mr. Arumemi Johnson; President/CEO of CFM International, Mr. Jean-Paul Ebanga, and Deputy Managing Director, Arik Air, Capt. Ado Sanusi during a visit to Arik Air corporate headquarter in Lagos, yesterday.

L-R: Director, Policy Competition and Economic Analysis of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Ms Josephine Amuwa; Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management of NCC, Dr Okechukwu Itanyi, and Partner and Head, Telecoms, Media and Technology Management Consulting, KPMG Nigeria, Mr Joseph Tegbe, at a forum on determination of cost-based transmission cable pricing in Nigerian telecoms industry organised by the NCC in Lagos, yesterday.

L-R: Director, Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP), Parminder Vir; Founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation, Tony O. Elumelu; CEO, Tony Elumelu Foundation, Reid Whitlock; and CEO and Founder of Java Foods, Zambia and member, Selection Committee of TEEP, Monica Musonda during official announcement of selection of the first 1,000 African entrepreneurs for the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) in Lagos, on Monday.

L-R: Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Danladi Kifasi; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Dr. Godknows Igali; Minister of State for Power, Mr. Mohammed Wakil and former President-General, Trade Union Congress, Comrade Peter Esele, during the 3rd graduation ceremony of NAPTIN Graduate Skills Development Programme in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

National News

PDP, Jonathan procure judgment to disqualify Buhari –APC Ise-Oluwa Ige and Obiora Ifoh and Francis Suberu

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ll Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday alleged that its presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, would be disqualified before Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.

The party alleged that already, a court judgment had been procured to that effect, adding that the deployment of soldiers across the country was meant to clamp down on protesters and create confusion, which ultimately would lead to another election postponement or an Interim National Government.

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement in Abuja, however, warned against any attempt to stop its presidential candidate.

It said, in addition to

•party loses bid to stop suit challenging candidate’s eligibility other reasons, the sixweek postponement of the elections may have been used by those who never wanted the polls to hold, in the first instance, to shop for such a satanic judgment.

He said: “If it is true, as it is being widely speculated across the country, that the Jonathan administration has procured a judgment to disqualify the APC presidential candidate on Wednesday (today), when the Federal High Court in Abuja is expected to rule on the issue, then it portends a great danger for our country.

“Anyone, who will disqualify a presidential candidate on the eve of an election, can only have one and only one purpose for that: to trigger chaos and pandemonium across the country. “Perhaps, this is the reason for the deployment of troops across

the country to crack down on possible protests and create confusion.

“Then, those who orchestrated the disqualification will simply use what they expect to be angry reactions nationwide as an excuse to postpone the elections again, thus triggering a constitutional crisis, the end of which no one can predict.

“This is why we are hoping that good reason will prevail and nothing will be done, deliberately, to plunge Nigeria into crisis by the same people who have always been quick to say their political ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian.”

Meanwhile, APC yesterday lost in the bid to stop the Federal High Court in Abuja from examining the merit of a lawsuit challenging the eligibility of Buhari for the poll.

A legal practitioner, Mr.

Chinwike Okafor, had initiated the lawsuit against Buhari to truncate his presidential ambition.

In the suit, he had claimed that Buhari perjured, having claimed to have attached his academic qualifications, particularly, his school certificate, to his form, which was submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, when he knew that they were not attached.

Both APC and Buhari had appeared in court with separate preliminary objections to the hearing of the suit.

They had contended that they were not served the court process as required by the principle of natural justice and the rule of the court.

Although Okafor got the order of the court to serve the process in the case through substi-

tuted means, Buhari had brought an application to set the order aside.

He contended that as far as he was concerned, there was no suit before the court for determination.

Buhari is being represented in court by former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN. Besides, both INEC and APC are also contending that assuming without conceding that they were properly served the court process, the issue in dispute was perjury, which they claimed is a criminal offence.

They invited the court through the preliminary objections they filed to the hearing of the suit to hold that the suit was wrongly commenced by way of originating summons.

They further argued

that criminal case could not be commenced by a way of originating summons.

Chief Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, is representing APC in the case.

Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, representing Okafor, had urged the court to throw out the two applications for a number of reasons, including that the court did not need them as parties in the suit to determine the merit of the case.

Presiding judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, in a considered ruling, rejected the invitation of APC and Buhari to that effect.

The judge also reserved ruling till this morning in two separate applications by two individuals including a pro-democracy activist, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa seeking to be joined as defendants in the suit.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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CBN to sanction local transactions in dollars CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

CBN, yesterday said a sanction regime against individuals and organisations using the dollar for local transactions would soon commence.

This is just as the apex bank retained the Monetary Policy Rate, MPR at 13 per cent, while other monetary policy interest rates remained unchanged at the end of its two-day Monetary Policy Committee’s meeting concluded in Abuja Addressing journalists at the end of the Committee’s meeting, its Chairman and CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said that since the currency for doing business in Nigeria remained the naira, the bank would beam its regulatory searchlight on areas where people are making demands for foreign currency as payment for services with a view to dealing with such abuses as appropriate.

The Governor, who alluded to possibilities in which landlords and school proprietors were asking for payments amongst other dollar- transactions, said the bank would like to advise those who are involved in the unwholesome practices to desist from them or be ready to face the full weight of the law.

Speaking on the current foreign reserves of $30bn, the seasoned banker assured that given the pressures and vulnerabilities the economy has contended with over the past couple of weeks, the reserves was still at a level that can fund imports for about five to six months and support business and the economy.

To keep the reserve robust, Emefiele said CBN would canvass the need for stakeholders in the economy to imbibe fiscal discipline and as much as possible see what could be done to build up the excess crude account.

He hinted of the bank’s determination to begin to taking certain actions that will nip the unneeded demand in the bud.

On the activities of the Bureau De Change, BDCs, in the forex market, the Governor rated the market as shallow, when compared to the interbank market in terms of percentage of the foreign exchange market.

He added that since the BDCs market remained very insignificant and it deals with transactions are

not documented, CBN will not be looking at the world outlook for the Naira by looking at the BDC rate.

To move the financial system forward, Emefiele said the CBN would appraise the outlook based on the interbank market exchange rate at N198 to the dollar, expressing the believe that “given the pressure that we have seen in the market such as the drop in crude prices and the pressure that has come with it, adjusting the exchange rate to the current level I will say is okay is sufficiently appropriate.”

He explained further that a number of proactive steps would be taken to deepen the foreign exchange market, improve supply, and look at areas where demand pressure and inefficiencies can come from and mitigate them.

According to him, the apex bank will soon begin to take actions to control big demand that is not beneficial to the economy.

On allegations that the apex bank was prioritising the sale of foreign exchange amongst other monetary policy imperatives, the Governor said: “There is nothing like prioritising sales of forex to foreign investors.

CBN on a daily basis or as it deems fit sells foreign exchange to people who have effective demand.

“But what we have done consistently is to make sure that for the foreign investors, we have made a promise to them that it is a free entry and free exit market.

That whenever they decide to come and invest in Nigeria and whenever they want out of the market they should be unhindered.”

Meanwhile, the Monetary Policy Committee at the end of its meeting retained the MPR, which is the benchmark interest rate on banks’ lending at 13 per cent and left unchanged the Cash Reserve Ratio, CRR, on Private Sector deposits at 20 per cent; CRR on Public Sector deposits at 75 per cent; and the liquidity ratio at 30 per cent.

Emefiele said: “We will continue to monitor the liquidity in the system particularly during this election season. In the course of time, the CBN will be taking certain actions, we don’t know what yet, but it depends on the size of the liquidity, the rate at which people use liquidity to target the real sectors of the economy or they

use them for what I call the unholy attitude of attacking the currency, depending on the direction that we see people move, we will react appropriately but interest rate outlook for now still remains tight.”

The Committee also

noted that while the ugly developments at the global international oil market continued to affect government revenues and reserves accretion and impacted negatively on capital flows, the financial system remained stable with key financial

and macroeconomic indicators showing robustness.

Consequent upon this, the Committee directed that the CBN should adopt all necessary measures to improve the resilience of the financial system as well as the overall economic envi-

ronment and function of the financial markets.

The Governor said the CBN had taken necessary steps to deepen the market, increase the level of transparency and liquidity and improve the ratings of the financial system by global agencies.

L-R: Representative of National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen J.B. Samuel; Inspector General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba and INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, during a National Stakeholders Summit on the 2015 elections in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

Polls: Parties slam Jega over voting procedures CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

toral offences that could be committed around the polling units.

The IGP who quoted the nine offences from section 129 (1) of the Electoral Act emphasised that; “Loitering without lawful excuse after voting or after being refused to vote”, constitutes an electoral offence that the law enforcement agents will not take lightly.

Mr. Abba was however silent on other provisions of the Electoral Act. Specifically, section 61 (1) of the Act vested the power of arrest at the polling units in the respective Presiding Officers.

According to the section, “The Presiding Officer shall regulate the admission of voters to the polling unit and shall exclude all persons other than the candidates, polling agents, poll clerks and persons lawfully entitled to be admitted, including accredited observers, and the Presiding Officer shall keep order and comply with the requirements of this Act at the polling unit.

“The Presiding Officer may order a person to be removed from a polling unit, who behaves in a disorderly manner or fails to obey a lawful order.”

In defence, Abba said anyone dissatisfied with his un-

derstanding of the relevant provisions of the electoral law can go to court, saying at the end of the day if there is any breach of security, he is the one that would be held accountable.

He explained that the police have reviewed the performances of security agencies in the previous elections and is prepared to ensure hitch free elections.

According to him, among the strategies adopted is enhanced synergy in the operations of all the security agencies, saying three security personnel would be deployed to man each of the polling units across

the country.

“Similarly, we will provide security to almost 9,000 collation centres across the country, including the national collation centre where the presidential election will be announced.”

He further explained that security will not end with protection of INEC officials and its equipment but everybody who will be involved in the process.

“Apart from the three personnel at the polling units, intervention teams will also be on ground in case there is need for intervention,” he added.

Jonathan leads in survey poll with 7.01%

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poll result released yesterday by the Nigeria Polls and Survey group has put the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, ahead of his closest rival, All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, General Mohammed Buhari, with a slight margin of 7.01 per cent in a nationwide poll conducted by the reputable group of social scientists.

According to a release signed by the coordinator of the group, Dr. Ayo Alao,

results from the poll are based on a five item questionnaire administered on a total 10,294 registered voters, selected from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, of which 6,592 were males and 3,702 were females.

He explained that the questionnaire sought to elicit information on respondent’s knowledge of political parties, possession of PVCs, awareness of the election date, willingness to vote during the election and the respondents’ preferred presi-

dent candidate in the 2015 presidential election.

The group, in the release, said a total 5,508 respondents indicated their intention to vote for PDP presidential candidate, compared with 4,786 respondents who favoured APC presidential candidate, General Buhari.

The data analysis shows that PDP candidate, may likely have a better showing in next Saturday’s presidential election in South-South, South-East and the FCT while APC’s Buhari may poll more votes in North-

West and North-East, with South-West and North-Central being largely the battle grounds that may swing victory either way.

A new dimension to the social class dynamics is the fact that enthusiasts for the restructuring of the Nigerian state in this category may find exciting, the steps just taken by President Jonathan to ensure the implementation of the recommendation of the National Conference. This would be a plus for the president’s candidacy.

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National News

Femi Oyeweso ABEOKUTA

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ith less than a week to the presidential election in Nigeria, former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday warned those contemplating military coup in Nigeria or handing over to military personnel to desist from doing so, as such was no longer fashionable.

Obasanjo stated this while hosting South West women wing of the All Progressives Congress, APC, led by Hadjia Aisha, wife of the party’s presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, who paid courtesy call on him after a rally in Abeokuta, the state capital.

The former president said the warning became necessary in view of rumour of a military coup in Nigeria, which has been going on in recent times.

He equally advised those contemplating the idea of any likelihood of handing over to an Interim National Government, ING, to discard it, as such was no longer in tandem with the realities of governance in modern day world.

Obasanjo, who said Nigeria had gone beyond the rumour of any unconstitutional arrangement of governance, particularly the ING, also

…says Nigeria can’t afford to drag Africa backward emphasised that such act would undermine the integrity of Nigeria among the comity of nations.

He, however, expressed hopes that the country would survive the rumour of handing over to the military.

Obasanjo explained that the international community, particularly the African Union, AU, would not recognise any government that emerges in Nigeria without following due process stipulated by the nation’s constitution, stressing that Nigeria has all it takes to set the pace for other African countries to follow.

The former president stated that government of the United States of America, USA, as well as government and people of Ghana, which currently chairs the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, were keenly interested in what happens to Nigeria at this election period.

“We have the goodwill of many people: I watched last night President Obama talking about our constitution, I watched our brother from Ghana, the current

Strike: Doctors in Lagos hospitals offer emergency services

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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Obasanjo rues military coup, ING

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keletal activities were yesterday being rendered in both the Federal and state government-owned hospitals in Lagos as the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, embarked on sympathy strike with their colleagues.

NMA, Lagos State chapter had directed its members in the Federal Government-owned hospitals to join the sympathy strike.

The doctors in the employment of the state government had on March 16, embarked on an indefinite strike over the refusal of the government to accede to their demands.

The issues in contention include the continued employment of doctors as casual workers and nonemployment of resident

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

doctors in the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja.

Others issues were the alleged non-payment of their salary arrears for May, 2012, and July, August and September, 2014 due to the “No Work, No Pay” policy of the state government.

The NMA Chairman in the state, Dr Tope Ojo, on Monday directed his members in both the federal and state government-owned hospitals to run only emergency services during the sympathy strike.

Visit to LASUTH, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi-Araba and Federal Neuro-Psychiatry Hospital, Yaba, showed that the doctors were only attending to emergency cases.

ECOWAS chairman, talk about our constitution, they are all interested, they all wish us well, should we wish ourselves anything less?

“I do hope we will get things right. A lot of rumours are flying around;

I think we have gone away from the rumour of Interim Government because that is not in our constitution.

“I hope we will soon go away from the rumour of handing over to the military because the military

is not meant to run affairs of a nation in terms of government.

“And the intentional community will not condone it, particularly the AU, where we have a situation. We have said and it is part and parcel of the

Constituting Act of the AU; any government that is brought about not on the basis of the constitution will not be accepted, will not be tolerated and will not be a member of the AU until that government is dismantled.

Founder, Ramotu Ibironke Babalakin Foundation, Dr. Wale Babalakin (right) and officials of the foundation during a prayer session with representative of 10, 000 beneficiaries of free eye surgery/treatment in honour of the Emir of Zaria, Alhaji Shehu Idris, who celebrated 40 years on the throne, yesterday.

Court orders NCC, telecom firms to pay APC N500m damages Commission appeals ruling Wale Igbintade and Isaiah Erhiawarien

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Federal High Court sitting in Lagos yesterday ordered the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to pay N500 million as damages to the All Progressives Congress, APC, for unlawfully banning the party’s presidential campaign fundraising platform.

Justice Ibrahim Buba gave the order while delivering judgment in the suit filed by APC against NCC and five others.

The damages are to be paid jointly and severally by all the respondents, namely: NCC, Etisalat, MTN Nigeria Limited, Globacom Limited, Airtel Nigeria Limited and

Visafone Communications Limited.

Justice Buba in his judgement held that APC was protected by the constitution to demand for the enforcement of its fundamental right once violated.

The court rejected NCC’s counter affidavit and held that its actions were illegal and unconstitutional.

APC had in its motion on notice claimed that the said platform was to operate till February 12, when campaign activities for the presidential election were to stop in line with Electoral Act and the election time-table.

The party is also demanding the sum of N25 billion damages from the defendants for violating the fundamental rights of

the party and its members.

The party claimed that since the platform was suspended, it has been unable to disseminate or receive information from its supporters via the SMS code 35350.

APC also alleged that while its platform was suspended, NCC allowed that of President Goodluck Jonathan to run flawlessly.

The party stated that it created a “premium SMS code 35350” through which willing donors could contribute to its presidential campaign fund, and that within hours of its creation, it was getting about five messages of N100 each every minute, and that a total of 5,400 messages was received, but NCC in a January 19 letter, directed all telecoms service providers “to avoid running political advertisements that will

portray them as being partisan.”

APC further claimed that NCC had approved the short codes 6661, 662, 6663 and 6664 for the Goodluck-Sambo Presidential Campaign fund raising, and that since its platform was unjustly suspended, its members, supporters, sympathisers and others who wish to donate towards its presidential campaign have been incapacitated.

Besides, the party claimed that the code’s suspension has inhibited its financial capacity to effectively prosecute its presidential campaign.

It added that NCC’s directive contravenes its right to freedom of expression guaranteed under Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution arguing that NCC’s directive is discriminatory.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News 7

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Polls: Soldiers begin deployment nationwide Boladale Bamigbola OSOGBO

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ome armed military men were yesterday seen in some states, including Lagos and Osun, in readiness for the March 28 poll.

Checks round Osun capital, Osogbo, revealed that armed military men arrived the state yesterday. They were sighted in front of the state secretariat, Abeere, checking vehicles moving into the state.

Car owners were made

to open booths of their cars for proper checking, while military men at Agunbelewo area, were also checking vehicles entering into the state from Ogbomoso axis.

A top security source, who preferred anonymity, told newsmen that more

military men would arrive in the state by tomorrow when campaigns would have ended.

He also urged people not to panic over the presence of the military men, stressing that their presence would only guarantee a peaceful poll.

Increase airport surveillance, NCAA orders FAAN …set to audit Arik Air

Olusegun Koiki

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igerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has ordered the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, to enhance security activities at all the nation’s airports, especially the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, in order to forestall further stowaway incidents.

The agency said it has taken measures to embark on the specific security audit of Arik Air, which has over time been involved in stowaway incidents.

Director-General,

NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman, disclosed this in Lagos yesterday in an interaction with aviation correspondents.

Usman, however, noted that stowaway was a global phenomenon, but the regulatory agency would ensure that such incidents were reduced to the barest minimum in the industry.

He added, “All airlines have therefore, been advised to ensure increased security presence around their aircraft when not in operation. This should be done round the clock.

“Our policy is to continue to work with all relevant stakeholders in the industry to ensure secure

and comfortable flight operations in Nigeria.”

It would be recalled that a suspected stowaway was earlier in the month found dead in the belly of an Arik Air aircraft at MMIA, Lagos.

The stowaway was discovered during routine inspection of the United States-bound aircraft.

The deceased was found in the belly of an Airbus 340 aircraft with registration number CSTFX. Recently, no fewer than four stowaway incidents have been recorded on Arik aircraft.

In October 2012, a stowaway got on the undercarriage of Arik Air aircraft to New York from MMIA

Elections should reinforce national development, unity –Editors’ Guild

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igerian Guild of Editors, NGE, yesterday appraised the coming elections and praised the electorate for maintaining the peace despite acrimonious campaigns by politicians.

The guild, in a statement signed by its President, Femi Adesina, said with the election coming on Saturday, without any postponement again, Nigerians can now go to the poll and elect their leaders in an atmosphere of peace, especially as the security concern earlier expressed is being dealt with.

The statement said: “The six weeks postponement window has allowed our armed forces, in collaboration with a multinational coalition from the sub-region, to deal devastating blows on insurgents in the North East of the country. We salute

the gallantry of the forces, which has made the region more conducive for voting in elections.

“We observe that the campaigns, rather than focus on issues that are germane to our national life, have rather dwelt on individuals. And it was done in such bilious and acrimonious way, whipping up negative emotions and sentiments, emphasising our fault lines as a people.

The NGE condemns such in no unmistakable terms.

“We, however, commend the electorate for keeping their heads, and urge them to do the same all through the elections.

“The stakes are high in the elections, no doubt, but voting to elect leaders is an integral part of democracy. Without a free and fair voting process, we can’t say we have a democracy. We, therefore, do

not believe that a country should die because it held elections.

“On the contrary, elections should strengthen democracy, and reinforce national development. In view of that, we do not agree with any group or interest threatening fire and brimstone over the outcome of the elections.

Nigeria belongs to us all, and is greater than all.

“The onus is on all stakeholders to comport themselves decently and in order in this season.

INEC, political parties, politicians, the electorate, security agencies, the media, etc. must work for the overall good of the country. Unbridled partisan considerations can only open the door of Armageddon, and when such is opened, nobody can determine who enters through such infernal door.

with the alleged aid of some security personnel and ground handling companies at the airport.

The unidentified stowaway’s corpse was discovered when the aircraft returned to Nigeria from New York by its personnel on routine checks in Lagos. Local medicine and a bible were found on him.

Again, on Saturday August 24, 2013 at Benin Airport, a 13-year stowaway boy identified as Daniel Oikhena hid under the undercarriage of the airline’s aircraft from Benin to Lagos.

Urhobo monarchs, clergy shun Jonathan, Ogboru xx

Theophilus Onojeghen WARRI

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head of this Saturday’s presidential election, monarchs of the 24 kingdoms and prominent clerics of Urhobo extraction in Delta State yesterday stayed away from a ceremony billed to endorse President Goodluck Jonathan and governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Great Ogboru.

The Urhobo effort and endorsement of candidates for the general election was led by the Joe Omene splinter Urhobo Progress Union, UPU. National Mirror learnt that the monarchs and clergy, who are stakeholders in the Urhobo governorship ambition christened “Uvwiamuge Declaration,” decided to boycott the ceremony following recent happenings, which led to the splitting

of Urhobo apex sociocultural umbrella, UPU, into two factions.

The endorsement ceremony that held at Urhobo Cultural Centre, near Agbarho, had no traditional ruler in attendance; a situation many believed was a setback to the endorsement that was supposed to have the backing of the monarchs and Christian leaders.

Despite their absence, the UPU factional leader went ahead to declare President Jonathan and Ogboru as the endorsed candidates of Urhobo nation in the coming general elections.

Omene urged all Urhobo to vote for the re-election of Jonathan and Ogboru as Urhobo-endorsed candidates.

He said: “Just the way we embarked on the Uvwiamughe declaration today, we are embarking on the Uvwiamughe endorsement and it is on this endorsement all Urhobo will abide.”

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Osun monarchs deny endorsement of presidential candidate …ask subjects to vote based on conscience BOLADALE BAMIGBOLA OSOGBO

S

ome prominent traditional rulers in Osun State yesterday dissociated themselves from the purported endorsement of a particular presidential candidate by monarchs from the state, urging their subjects to vote according to their

conscience.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting of monarchs at the palace of Akinrun of Ikirun, Oba Abdulrauf Olayiwola Adedeji, the royal fathers also advised people of the state to resist any form of inducement during the polls.

The traditional rulers present at the meeting

included Timi of Ede, Oba Munirudeen Adesola Lawal; Akinrun of Ikirun, Oba Olayiwola Olawale Adedeji; Olokuku of Okuku, Oba Abioye Oyebode Oluronke II; Aragbiji of Iragbiji, Oba Abdulrasheed Ayotunde Olabomi; Olunisa of Inisa, Oba Joseph Oladunjoye Fasikun II.

Others were Elende of Eko-Ende, Oba Rauf Adebayo Olaniyan; Oloyan of Oyan, Oba Kelani Adekeye Oyedare; Onirun of Oke-Irun, Oba Isaac Adetoyi Adetunlurese; Elerin of Erin-Osun, Oba Yusuf Omoloye Oyagbodun.

Stating the position of the monarchs, Oba Rauf Adedeji said their concern remains good

governance.

He said the monarchs would support only government that would better the lives of Nigerians, saying “it is our wish and prayer that whoever emerges winner would bring life more abundant to our people.”

Omission: Court joins APC, Buhari in suit against INEC WALE IGBINTADE

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L-R: Former Registrars, West African Examination Council (WAEC): Alhaja Mulikat Bello, Chief Shiaka Esezobor and Dr. Sylvia Boye, during the 20th Annual Endowment Fund lecture at the council’s headquarters in Lagos, on Monday. PHOTO: TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE

Lagos to experience 260 days of rainfall FRANCIS SUBERU

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agos State government has predicted that the annual rainfall for 2015 will be 1,824mm, translating to about 260 days of rainfall.

Commissioner for Environment, Tunji Bello, disclosed this yesterday at a news conference on the 2015 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction in Alausa, Lagos.

The commissioner said

it has been predicted that Lagos will experience a rainy season of between 245 and 260 days, with the maximum annual rainfall around 1,824mm, explaining that this maximum rainfall would be experienced within and around Marina area of Lagos Island.

He added that in general, this year’s rainfall has been predicted to have a delay onset of about 2-13 days, with Lagos, Ondo, Ogun and some states to

have more pronounced delay onset by 8-13 days.

“An early cessation of rainfall is predicted for most parts of the country. However, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ondo, Akure, among others, are predicted to have later than normal cessation as they would experience more growing season.

“In Lagos, onset dates range between March 26 and April 2, while the season ending is predicted to range between December 3 and 11. NI-

MET’s day and night temperature derivations in March shows that the northern part of the country will be colder during the day while the south will be warmer,” he said.

The commissioner noted that it was equally predicted that the southern states would be warmer than normal at night, saying however that Lagos Island and its immediate environs would be colder than normal.

Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday joined the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, as co-defendants in a suit filed by the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, against the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. The UPN had filed the suit to compel INEC to list candidates of the party for March 28 and April 11 general elections.

Justice Okon Abang in his ruling held that assuming without deciding that the suit succeeds, the implication would be that all the electoral materials already printed and distributed by INEC in preparation for the elections would have to be destroyed and new ones printed.

The judge pointed out that the suit was filed by UPN on February 25 after postponement of the initial February 14 presidential election, and that the suit came up for the first time in court on March 6, a period of 21 days to the rescheduled presidential election.

“The applicant (UPN) cannot create problem for this court and indeed the

Protect your votes, Fashola charges electorate FRANCIS SUBERU

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overnor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has described those asking the electorate to stay 300 metres away from polling units after casting their votes as election riggers, adding that the Electoral

Act does not forbid voters waiting after election until votes are counted.

Fashola, who spoke at the All Progressives Congress, APC, gubernatorial rally at Shomolu yesterday, advised Lagosians to cast their votes and stay close enough to see how the votes are being counted.

He said: “Cast your

vote and stay where you can see how the voting process is going on. It is not only the political parties that have interest in the election process. Citizens who aren’t affiliated to any of the political parties also have interest in the outcome of the polls.

“Asking the electorate to stay 300 metres away from

the polling units is like asking one to stay away from the polling units three times the length of a football field. And one cannot see whatever is happening. Those who said that plan to rig the election. “The Electoral Act says that once the voting is completed in each of the polling units, the electoral

The royal fathers also warned law enforcement agents that will work during the poll against “unwarranted arrests and harassment that may lead to disenfranchising anybody from exercising his or her fundamental human right.”

officer must count the vote and announce the result to the residents. And that is how it is stated in the electoral law. If the residents are not there, who will the electoral officers announce the result of the election to? Stay close to the polling units and don’t disrupt the election process.”

entire country. The court cannot command the impossible. The plaintiffs cannot file this suit 21 days to the election and expect that it must be heard and judgment delivered before the election.

Justice Abang stated that even if the plaintiffs have no claim against the APC, but the outcome of this suit will affect the party because it is about an election which the party is participating.

The judge then ordered that APC and Buhari should be joined as second and third defendants respectively to the suit.

The judge also ordered the plaintiffs to amend the processes in the suit to reflect the additional defendants and serve same on the parties within three days.

“This is a pre-election matter and it can be heard after the election,” Justice Abang ruled.

Buhari’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun commended Justice Abang for the ruling, saying the court had made a statement to those playing game that the judiciary “cannot be used to scuttle Nigeria’s democracy.”

But UPN’s lawyer, Akinwale Ekunnisi, urged the court to discountenance Olanipekun’s allegation, adding that UPN had every right as a political party to participate in an election.

The UPN had filed the suit seeking an order of Justice Abang compelling INEC to list its presidential candidate and other candidates for the March 28 and April 11 general elections.

But, APC in its motion stated that as a major political party in Nigeria, any decision in the matter may affect the interest of the party, hence the need for the motion for joinder.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South West

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Buhari’ll protect national integrity, women’s right –Wife P …Jonathan’s wife woos Ondo women

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Why Jonathan’ll lose in S’West –Buhari campaign

FEMI OYEWESO AND OJO OYEWAMIDE

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ife of presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Hadjia Gogo Aisha Buhari, yesterday assured that her husband, General Muhammed Buhari, will protect the interest of women and children in Nigeria from falling prey of all forms of violence if elected as president of Nigeria at Saturday’s presidential election.

Aisha gave the assurance while addressing the gathering of women and party loyalists at APC’s South West women’s rally held at M.K.O. Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, yesterday.

Buhari’s wife, who lamented the fate of parents and school girls

abducted almost a year ago from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, also said her husband’s administration will have zero tolerance for domestic violence against women and children.

She restated that General Buhari had earlier at a town hall meeting in Lagos told some professional women that domestic violence or violence against women in any form will not be accepted under his regime.

The APC presidential candidate’s wife was accompanied by wife of APC’s vice-presidential candidate, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo; APC National Women leader, Ramotu Tijani; South West Zonal Women leader, Kemi Nelson; as well as wives of governors of Adamawa, Kwara, Benue, Nasarawa, Imo, Rivers, among oth-

ers, to the event organised by wives of governors of South West.

Earlier in his address, Governor Ibikunle Amosun tasked women not to fall for the propaganda of some political parties, who may approach them to sell their permanent voter cards, PVCs. Amosun noted that women were higher in numbers than their men counterpart, adding that the Buhari/Osinbajo presidential ticket remains the best that should happen to Nigeria as a country, for now.

Meanwhile, First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, yesterday begged women in Ondo State to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan in Saturday’s general election.

She said the president had done enough for women in the country to deserve their votes.

Mrs. Jonathan spoke in Akure, the state capital, at

COREN accredits ABUAD engineering faculty ABIODUN NEJO ADO EKITI

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ouncil for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, has given 100 per cent accreditation to the seven Engineering programmes of the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, ABUAD. Founder of ABUAD, Chief Afe Babalola, said that apart from the accreditation, COREN also praised the quality of equipment at the institution’s College of Engi-

neering.

Babalola, who spoke during a reception in his honour by ABUAD family to welcome him back from the United Kingdom, where he received Doctor of Law (Honoris Causa) of the University of London, described the feat as product of determination, industry and integrity.

He also disclosed plan by the council to award ABUAD the best in engineering faculties.

Babalola, an alumnus of the University of London, was on March 11 con-

ferred with the honour to become the first African to be so honoured.

The legal luminary, who said ABUAD had been a vanguard of change, expressed delight that the exploits of the university were being recognised all over the world, including UNESCO and the University of London, which described it as one of the best in the world.

The ABUAD founder dispelled insinuations and rumours that the institution had increased school fees.

the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, national women rally.

The president’s wife appealed to women in Ondo State not to disgrace her by voting for all PDP candidates in the coming elections.

According to her, the people of the state had been longing for a federal polytechnic for more that 20 years, but it was the Jonathan government that acceded to their request.

She said: “Don’t disgrace your Mama. Don’t forget your Mama. I kneel down for you to vote PDP candidates. I have come to plead with you to vote for Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

“In Ondo, for 20 years, you have been crying for a federal polytechnic. But it is PDP government, this government, Goodluck’s government that found it fit, that found it worthy to give our children another school.”

resident Goodluck Jonathan was yesterday told to forget the votes of the South West despite his repeated trips to the zone and the series of parleys he held with groups during such visits.

The Buhari/Osinbajo Campaign Organisation, which gave the sweeping verdict, said the president erred by thinking the votes of the South West people was for sale.

According to the Lagos State coordinator of the organisation, Abiodun Faleke, people in the region will not vote for a president who has no record of kept promises.

Faleke, a member of the House of Representatives, who is seeking re-election from Ikeja Federal Constituency, reminded the president that a promise he made on the power sector on August 12, 2010, has not been fulfilled five years after.

The lawmaker recalled how President Jonathan

promised that Nigerians would enjoy stable power beginning from 2012 at the launch of the Roadmap for Power Sector Reforms at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

“Precisely, Mr. President said: ‘By God’s grace,

by December 2012, Nigeria will not only celebrate one day of uninterrupted electricity supply, but we would celebrate one week, one month and so on of uninterrupted electricity supply,” the Buhari campaigner said.

Reacting to President Jonathan’s frequent trips to Lagos since postponement of the general elections from February 14 to March 28, Faleke said the people will still not vote for the PDP, even if the president moved the seat of power to the Centre of Excellence.

“It doesn’t matter how many weekends the president spends here in the South West; it doesn’t also matter how much he gives out to individuals, APC will still defeat him.

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Expulsion: Court adjourns N100m suit against Ikoyi Club till April 29 WALE IGBINTADE

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Lagos State High Court yesterday adjourned further hearing in the N100 million suit instituted by an ex-Entertainment Chairman of Ikoyi Club 1938, Mr. Gbenga Gbadesire, against Registered Trustees of the club, till April 29, 2015.

Gbadesire had taken trustees of the club to court, claiming N100m damages over alleged unwarranted

or un-procedural expulsion from the club.

Hearing of the matter was stalled yesterday following a letter dated March 19, 2015, addressed to the court by the claimant, urging the judge to allow media coverage of the proceedings.

When the matter was called, the trial judge, Justice Karfeel Dawodu, asked the claimant’s counsel, Mr. Olubusola Ashiru, if he was aware of the letter and what purpose it was meant to serve.

But, Ashiru told the court that he was appearing in the matter for the first time, adding that the said letter was not written on the advice of his chambers.

Also responding, the defence counsel, B.A. Onuoha, equally expressed surprise at such a letter.

In the circumstance, Justice Dawodu said she did not feel comfortable to go on with the proceeding, adding that the matter would be further adjourned.

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Interested candidates should send their CV with current telephone number to: bodejohnson2009@yahoo.com or call 07066178740.

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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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Wednesday March 25, 2015

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Politics

Senators in last ditch efforts to return

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can’t rule Nigeria GMW calls for peaceful polls Dictator again –Adesiyan Olajide Omojolomoju

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socio-political group, the Goodluck Mandate Worldwide, GMW, has called on the electorate to participate fully and peacefully in the coming elections, to ensure they get the leadership they desire.

GMW National President, Prince Ani Chidiebere, made the call at a media briefing in Lagos, where he also called on members of the group in diaspora to come home to contribute their quota to the development of the country.

He explained that the group which was set up in 2010, primarily to promote good governance, and sensitise the people on the need to campaign for cred-

ible leadership, which will guarantee development at the grassroots.

He added that this was why GMW campaigned vigorously for the election of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 because it believed he deserved to lead the country.

The event was also used to distribute a number of materials from the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, TAN, to GMW coordinators for onward distribution to members at the wards.

The items included hundreds of bags of rice, thousands of t-shirts and caps, umbrellas and plastic tables, with a message that the beneficiaries should do all they can to ensure victory for President Jonathan at the poll on Saturday.

Prince Chidiebere said

GMW has structures at the ward and local government levels, with over one million supporters and coordinators that ensure its messages get to the grassroots, adding that its membership spreads across different social and ethnic divides, including members of the Arewa, Ndigbo, Yoruba and several non-governmental organisations.

Prince Chidiebere however stated that GMW’s love and passion for President Jonathan inspired it to return in force to mobilise its members to ensure Jonathan wins a second term in office.

Debunking insinuations that TAN is biased towards one ethnic group, Chidiebere said that GMW, working with TAN, is affiliated to several ethnic groups and

market leaders among others who were represented at the press briefing.

One of the beneficiaries, who simply gave her name as Mrs. Adejumo stated that her group was happy with the gesture, adding that they had initially been discouraged after working for the success of Jonathan the first time.

Chidiebere who called on voters to ensure they have their Permanent Voter Cards, PVC, saying that it is the only way they can be sure of engaging meaningfully in the political process of choosing a leader at the poll.

He also called on Nigerians to cast their vote for the umbrella at all levels, noting that it is capable of taking the country to the Promised Land.

South West Coordinator, Buhari/Osibajo Presidential Campaign, Governor Rauf Aregbesola addressing supporters of the All Progressives Congress, APC, during the party’s presidential, national and state of assemblies electioneering campaigns, at Igbaye, Odo-Otin Local Government Area, yesterday.

Victor Udoh

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olice Affairs Minister, Alhaji AbdulJelili Adesiyan, has said that a dictator would not rule Nigeria again having experienced it in the years past.

The minister stated this yesterday while addressing people of Ede in Osun State during the continuation of house-to-house campaign for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan, saying that General Muhammadu Buhari is a dictator which is known to all Nigerians.

He stressed that no Yoruba man would allow a dictator who does not believe in democratic governance and the rule of law to lead them again.

He said: “I want people to go out en mass and vote for Jonathan and other PDP candidates in the forthcoming election so that they will end All Progressives Congress, APC deceit and propaganda in Osun State. I am sure they will not allow a dictator to come and govern this country again because as I said on several occasions, the evils that the men do live after them.

“By the time they were committing their atrocities, they never knew there will be today, today has finally come, and they

3 DAYS TO GO

have to pay for their misdeeds in the past.

“That was why the leadership of Yoruba and Afenifere who believe in the prophesy of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, will never do anything than to vote for Jonathan come March 28.

“I’m calling on the people of Osun State and Nigeria as whole to re-elect President Jonathan. You should not be scared with the creation of State Boys in the South-West states, the law enforcement agency will be on the ground to protect lives and property.”

While educating the public on the usage of the Card Reader, Adesiyan said whoever has a genuine Permanent Voter Card, PVC, is eligible to vote.

He stated further on the card reader: “It is very important to point out that the card reader is not to disenfranchise anybody, it is meant to authenticate the genuineness of the PVC and we know that in some cases it has failed the people because of the nature of the fingers and the technology itself.”

Lawmaker empowers constituents, drums up support for Jonathan, Isiaka

Ayo Esan

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he lawmaker representing YewaSouth/Ipokia federal constituency of Ogun State in the National Assembly, Hon. Abiodun Akinlade, has canvassed support for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of Saturday’s election, saying that the transformation agenda of the

president will be complemented when re-elected at the poll.

Speaking in Idiroko, Ogun State, on the occasion of the graduation of students from the free Information Communication Technology, ICT, scheme he initiated, Akinlade, who is also the chairman of House Committee on Science and Technology, said that there is nothing meaningful the All Progressives Congress,

APC, can offer the populace, adding that the PDP remains the party to beat.

The gathering, which was also used to commemorate Akinlade’s 48th birthday, had over 1000 constituents of the lawmaker smiled home with one form of empowerment or the other.

About 350 young secondary leavers graduated from his free ICT scheme, 300 women, youth and the aged got free medical services,

250 people benefited from the free eye glass scheme and no less than 500 farmers went home with dualpowered tractors to ease farming in the domain.

Speaking while presenting the tractor to farmers, Elder Joju Fadairo; former state chairman, Ogun PDP, who represented Ogun PDP gubernatorial candidate, Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, described Akinlade as a rare gift to Nigeria, Ogun State and

Yewaland in particular.

Also, the Oba of Ikoland, Oba John Olakunle Ojo while presenting the free eye glasses to beneficiaries, said Akinlade is the best thing to have happened to Ogun West politics, adding: “Akinlade is our son, we love him, we will continue to stand by him and we assure him of our unalloyed support come Saturday when we will all go to the poll. He has been providing dividends of democracy

to our people and he has proved not to be a desperate politician.”

The lawmaker, who is PDP candidate for YewaSouth/Ipokia federal constituency, said: “My people have been languishing in hardship as the state government under Ibikunle Amosun has neglected us, that is why I implore you all to vote for PDP from Presidency to Senate, to House of Representative in the forthcoming elections.”

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Politics

3 DAYS TO GO

Wednesday March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Senators in last ditch GEORGE OJI previews the chances of some of the less than 50 per cent of the current 109 senators, who managed to grab return tickets at the last December political parties’ primaries, in this Saturday’s National Assembly elections.

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ncidentally, most of the casualties at the last political parties’ primaries, who could not win return tickets to the red chamber of the National Assembly, happen to come from among the stocks of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, senators.

Unlike the PDP, many senators of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, particularly those from the North were able to grab return tickets with minimal difficulties.

Some political analysts have attempted to explain this political phenomenon on the absence of internal democracy in the opposition APC, where strong and powerful party chieftains take sole decision as to who gets what political office without little or no opposition from party members.

Unlike the APC, in the PDP where some party chieftains attempted to impose senatorial candidates on the people, such attempts were thoroughly resisted, which resulted into serious opposition, leading to the fragmentation and factionalisation of the PDP. While some of the senators managed to wrestle their seats back, others did not, and out of frustrations, opted to join other political parties to actualise their senatorial ambitions.

Since the end of the parties’ primaries, the senators have, literarily speaking, been in the jungle, canvassing for support and votes to enable their re-elections. This Saturday, the popularity and mass acceptance/ appeal of the senators will be put to the acid test when they will file out to be voted for or otherwise by their senatorial electorate.

Smart Adeyemi - Kogi West The journalist-turned politician will be making a third attempt at returning to the Senate under the platform of the ruling PDP. He was first elected in 2007 and re-elected in 2011. Adeyemi’s election to the Senate was predicated on the political understanding of his senatorial zone, which permits a maximum of two tenures. It was in respect for this political arrangement that Senator Tunde Ogbeha served for only two tenures and voluntarily gave way for Adeyemi to replace him.

Now, Adeyemi who is currently the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has stubbornly refused to abide by the zone’s gentleman agreement and is in the race for the polls for the third time.

Although, he faces stiff opposition from Hon Dino Melaye, who is also running for the same senatorial district under the APC, the odds seem to favour Adeyemi to return.

Enyinnaya Abaribe - Abia South The lawmaker from Ngwa extraction of Abia State, is the only senator who managed to regain his return ticket from the state.

His political opponents attributed this to alleged blackmail, where Abaribe was accused of lying to PDP chieftains in the state that President Goodluck Jonathan asked the party to grant two senators from every state automatic tickets to return to the Senate.

Mark

The lawmaker, who has spent two tenures in the Senate and chairs the Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, was originally in the All Peoples Party, APP, before he defected to PDP. Political watchers of Abia State politics believe that Abaribe may not have any problem with his re-election because of the blind followership of the people of the state to the PDP and President Jonathan.

Abaribe will be a major beneficiary of the Saturday presidential and National Assembly election, where Abia people are expected to vote en mass for President Jonathan and the PDP.

Bukola Saraki - Kwara Central The former governor of Kwara State and former chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, is seeking re-election to the Senate on the platform of the APC. The first time he was elected to the red chamber in 2011, Saraki emerged almost seamlessly on the platform of the PDP. This time around, the stakes are more complex for the lawmaker. Notwithstanding, Saraki is not expected to encounter serious difficulty in his re-election, especially as he would not be contesting with a very strong opponent from PDP. Saraki is already looking ahead to contest the office of the Senate President with Mark in the event that the opposition APC maintains a lead in the Senate.

In 2011, when he first came to the Senate, Saraki was one of the former governors, including Danjuma Goje of Gombe State and Abdulahi Adamu of Nasarawa State, who eyed the office of the Senate President and indeed, schemed for it, but was frustrated by the Senate rule on ranking, which disqualified him from going ahead to contest for the office. This time around, observers believe that nothing will stop Saraki from contesting for that position, especially if APC emerges with majority members in the red chamber.

Ike Ekweremadu - Enugu West Ekweremadu will be making history if he is returns to the Senate on Saturday as

Ekweremadu

Akume

Since the end of the parties’ primaries, the senators have, literarily speaking, been in the jungle, canvassing for support and votes

to enable their reelections the only senator from Enugu State, albeit, the entire South-Eastern zone who would be elected to the National Assembly for a record fourth time, since the current democratic dispensation began in 1999.

The lawmaker went through serious political battle before he was able to wrestle the return ticket from Governor Sullivan Chime, who also wanted to graduate to the Senate at the end of his eight-year tenure as the governor of Enugu State.

Although Ekweremadu did so much to provide quality representation to the people of his senatorial zone, he too will be a beneficiary of the blind support of the Igbos for President Jonathan. All things being equally, Saturday’s election will just be a fait accompli for Ekweremadu.

Gilbert Nnaji - Enugu East A Prince of Igwe Nike, Enugu, Nnaji’s election to the National Assembly, first as a member of the House of Representatives and later as senator is believed by political pundits as dependent on the grace of his late father, who enjoyed grassroots support in the zone.

Nnaji was almost elbowed out of the race during the PDP primaries, but because he wisely teamed up with Ekweremadu, he too also enjoyed the political understanding that saw Ekeremadu reclaiming his ticket. Although some members of his con-

stituents would attest to a number of constituency projects and programmes, Nnaji falls within the class of senators who provided lack-luster performance in the Senate, where the lawmaker neither makes intelligent contributions on the floor of the Senate nor provides quality over sight functions as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Communication.

Notwithstanding, like Ekweremadu, the coast is as good as very clear for Nnaji to return to the Senate for the second time.

Hope Uzodinma - Imo West All things being equal, Uzodinma will likely not encounter serious problems at the Saturday polls. The lawmaker who is going for his second term in the Senate is one of the close confidants of the Senate President, David Mark, which conferred on him, the special privilege of being one of the green horn senators to chair one of the ‘A’ class committees, Aviation.

A chieftain of the ruling PDP, Uzodinma is believed to be eying the Government House, Owerri. Observers believed that he would have thrown his heart into the ring for the Government House this year, but Uzodinma read the political handwriting of the state well and decided to postpone his gubernatorial ambition to an auspicious future time.

Emmanuel Paulker - Bayelsa Central The lawmaker, who chairs the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream), is believed to be one of the blind supporters of President Jonathan, which earned him a return ticket to the Senate at the December, 2014 PDP primaries.

Paulker who also chairs the Senate joint committees of Petroleum (Downstream and Upstream), Gas and Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Services, which conducted public hearing on the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, is alleged to have been involved in massive corruption, which for more than one year stalled legislative work on the PIB. Paulker’s return ticket to the Senate angered a large population of the state, par-

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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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From The Civil Service Nwankwo pledges commitment to citizens improved health P.42

Legislative institute partners celebrities on election monitoring •Deploys 143 observers in 23 states GEORGE OJI ABUJA

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L-R: Managing Director/Chief Executive, Bank of Industry, Mr. Rasheed OlaOluwa; Minister of State Trade and Investment, Mr. Kenneth Kobani and National Vice Chairman, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Engr. Umar Saidu Bamalli, during official launch of Development Bank of Nigeria by President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, yesterday.

NIHOUTOUR bags IATA best training institute award JOEL AJAYI ABUJA

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he National Institute for Hospitability and Tourism NIHOTOUR, has been recently conferred the best institute training provider in Africa under the International Air Travel Association (IATA) for its leading role in the hospitability and tourism industry in Africa.

Award was presented to the NIHOTOUR last week in Abuja; the conferment of the award to the institute is in recognition of its commitment to the effec-

tive and efficient service delivery in hospitability and tourism industry in Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

Speaking recently, in her office in Abuja, the Director General of the National Institute for Hospitability and Tourism NIHOUTOUR, Mrs. Chika Balogun noted that her greatest desire is to be able to train and expose more Nigerians towards the industry taste here in Nigeria and abroad.

According to her, my vision for NIHOTOUR is for us to become the very best training provider for the hospitability and tourism

Over 23 million children are hungry in Africa —Minister P.41

Akinwunmi Adesina, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development

in Nigeria and possibly as Africa as a whole with global bench mark in practices and for us also to be world class regulator of the hospitability and tourism industry as it pertain to Nigerians and Africa as a whole.“In trying to be effective and efficient, we have become ICT compliant, we did not have that before, but now we have full ICT compliance at headquarter and to replicate in other campuses.”

She added that: “the secret for the award was that I have the best staff and the best trainers that is the secret, NIHOTOUR is a little known jewel in

the crown and by the grace of God I am sure very soon people will be able to see that jewel understand that jewel, I have excellent staff who are very good trainer they are highly motivated and they will do the job for free that is how motivated they are with what they do.

“We are very proud of the award as the best IATA training provider in Africa in the year 2015 we are extremely proud of it and I think this will be a signal to all tour operators and tour agencies to send their staff to NIHOTOUR to get trained and re-trained.” She said.

Water Aid launches Healthy Start campaign P.42

he National Institute of Legislative Studies (NILS) has enlisted the support of some Nollywood, Kannywood and soccer celebrities to monitor the 2015 general election.

At the pre-election strategy meeting of the observers, the celebrities and the management team of the institute, which took place at the institute’s headquarters in Abuja on Monday, the Director General of NILS, Dr. Ladi Hamalai urged the observers to approach the task of the election monitoring with all the seriousness it deserves in order to come up with a very authentic and credible report of the outcome of the polls.

NILS is the intellectual arm of the National Assembly, which supports the lawmakers and their aides in the area of training, research and human resource development. Hamalai disclosed that in line with the mandate of the institute, NILS had carefully selected 143 observers to cover 23 states of the federation in addition to five celebrities.

According to her, “It is one of our objectives, if you look at the act setting up the institute it is specified that we should monitor, not observe the election.

Another provision in the act said that the institute should as much as possible research and also advocate

PTDF boss tasks PTDJ board on novel ideas

P.16

the culture of democracy and legislative partisan procedure,” stressing that, “All we are doing is to fulfill the mandate of the institute.”

Reacting to the suggestion by one of the participants that the election monitoring ought to be geared towards targeting the election of the lawmakers, the DG explained that there was no need customizing the process to suit the legislators. She7 noted that the act establishing the institute requires it to research into democratic governance and advocate democratic good governance in the country.

According to her, election and electoral processes are part of the key most critical factors in determining the quality of democracy in the country, as a result, the institute is there to observe and to see how the processes are being conducted; whether they meet the institute’s standards or not.

Commenting on the role of the celebrities in the election monitoring exercise, Hamalai explained that, “The celebrities that are with us are there to assist us mainly in the advocacy beat. After the elections there are certain programmes that we have on elections, on democracy, on good governance, on legislative practices and procedures that they will participate in. So we will have a number of programmes we will be conducting with them.”

Femi Ajayi, Executive Secretary, PTDF

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Civil Service

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

NTDC, Cote d’Ivoire sign pact on tourism development JOEL AJAYI ABUJA

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L-R: Marketing Manager, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Prince Abiodun Olatunbosun; Deputy Registrar, Mrs. Dayo Buluro; Head of Lagos Office, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Otunba Jide Adebayo; Managing Editor, Mr. Yusuf Zango and Chief of Staff to NIPR President, Mr. Willy Ogbidi, during the visit of NIPR officials in honour of a former Managing Director of NAN, the late Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, to NAN office in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

PTDF boss tasks PTDJ board on novel ideas CHIDI UGWU ABUJA

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he Executive Secretary, Petroleum Technology Development Fund, Mr. Femi Ajayi has challenged the expanded board of the Petroleum Technology Development Journal (PTDJ) to contribute novel ideas for the overall improvement of the internationally-revered journal.

The Executive Secretary, who gave the charge during the formal inauguration of the new editorial board of the PTDJ recently, said the agency aims to come out with a journal that is more widely read, patronized and cited by the oil and gas global community.

“My vision of the PTDF is more generally acceptable journal that is more widely read, more widely patronized, and more widely cited by the oil and gas global community. I dream of a PTDF that is an intellectual meeting point and melting pot for oil and gas industrialists and petroleum faculty members.

While I salute the vision, hard work, dedication and professionalism of the pioneers and other stakeholders that have taken PTDJ to this enviable and commendable status and

height, I believe there is still plenty of room for improvement” he said.

Ajayi enjoined the board not be afraid to aim at a journal that is intellectually deep, academically rigorous as well as professionally sound without being technically pedantic and brain-splitting.

He urged the board members to always make commercializable research findings a preference for articles of publication, as well as strive to provide insights into new methods, inventions and innovations in the oil and gas sector.

National Mirror recalls that PTDF also recently inducted 217 beneficiaries of its 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 Masters of Science, MSc, and Doctor of Philosophy, PhD, scholarships.

Ajayi, said that the new beneficiaries had brought the number of recipients of the scholarship programme to 2, 974 since it began in 2000.

“Today, we are inducting 217 scholars, including 170 fresh MSc scholars, four deferred as well as 43 fresh PhD scholars,” he said.

He said that no fewer than 500 candidates sat for the examination, out of which 217 were selected.

According to Mr. Ajayi, PTDF has so far sponsored the training of 2,412 MSc

students in Petroleum Engineering, Gas Engineering, Geo-Science, Off-Shore Engineering, Geology and other oil and gas-related courses. He said 488 PhD scholars were also trained in relevant fields overseas since the inception of the Fund, adding that some of the old beneficiaries were engaged in the oil and gas industry and the academia.

“The Fund has also trained 74 university lecturers under its University Lecturers Skills Enhancement Training Program, a train-the-trainer programme, in Newcastle, United Kingdom and Grenoble in France.

“Twenty others will be leaving Nigeria for Grenoble, France in September this year,” he added.

While explaining that the programme could not hold last year due to financial challenges, Mr. Ajayi commended President Goodluck Jonathan for his timely intervention in providing fund this year. He explained that the prevailing trend in the petroleum industry had exposed the wide gap between technology advances in the global scene and the limited capacity of Nigerian professionals.

According to him, nonavailability of some core courses in Nigerian uni-

versities which are relevant to oil and gas sector, necessitates the need to send Nigerians abroad for studies in such areas. He said that on their return, the beneficiaries were expected to fill up the skills gap in the industry “in the area of state-of-the-art technologies”.

“One of the main objectives of the Overseas Scholarship Scheme is to encourage and stimulate continuous learning and technology development in the petroleum industry,” he said. “It also aims to expose Nigerians to the latest technological advancement in the global petroleum industry.

“It seeks to accelerate the development of local capacities in an international competitive environment thereby enhancing local content participation,” he said.

While congratulating the recipients, the executive secretary advised them to be diligent in their studies, and reminded them of the need to return home after their studies to help in building the country.

“There is actually a bond for the PhD students although we have not been enforcing that bond because we believe that you should be patriotic to serve your country,” he said.

igeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) and Ivory Coast embassy in Nigeria have signed pact to mainstream tourism industry as a major revenue earner in the two countries.

The areas of partnership includes Model Fashion parade, Opening of UNIWAX Boutiques in the Nigerian biggest Cities Lagos and Abuja, Invitation for Tourism fair, Organization of pilgrimage in Côte d’Ivoire, dying textile industry, Agriculture and sport tourism.

This is coming shortly after the failing oil price, s in the international market which is a wakeup call for Nigeria to mainstream tourism as a strategic sector in the national economy that will increased the GDP as well as creation of job.

The Director General of NTDC Mrs. Sally Mbanefo stated this when she played host to Ambassador of Cote d’Ivoire, Mrs. Toure Kone Maman in her office in Abuja. According to her, Nigeria’s long years of over dependence on oil revenue

affect adversely her investment in tourism which ought to be her main source of revenue considering her vast tourism potentials.

“I am expecting establishment of a formal cooperation framework between the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation and its Ivorian counterpart which is Côte d’Ivoire Tourisme, through the signing of an Agreement aiming not only at encouraging close interactions between both institutions, but above all strengthening relations and partnership between the businessmen of our two countries in the tourism sector and making their people becoming more closer.

“Nigeria’s population is an asset for tourism which must be explore for economic gains adding that it was regrettable that less populated countries were making it big from tourism.“Take for instance, Gambia with a population of 1 923 088 has 17.7 percent contribution to its GDP, Egypt, 13 percent, Kenya, 12 percent and Nigeria with a population of 170,000 people has only 4 percent of contribution to its GDP from tourism”.

NPC tasks Defence Intelligence School on strategies ADEOLA TUKURU, ABUJA

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hairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Chief Eze Duruiheoma, has called on officers of Defence Intelligence School to bring their knowledge and experiences to bear towards fashioning out strategies and tactics in tackling the nation’s security challenges.

Duruiheoma gave this charge yesterday in Abuja during the visit of the participants of the National Security Training Seminar to the Commission, argued that such move would facilitate the creation of enabling environment for investment and good governance.

According to him, security of lives and property is the primary responsibility of government which is key to national development, adding that political stability is a direct function of the prevailing secu-

rity situation.

“The security situation of a country not only determines the extent to which national potential for growth would be realised, but also the capacity of the country to attract foreign investment” he added.

Lamenting the myriad of security challenges bedeviling the country with their attendant implications on the population, Duruiheoma maintained that proper understanding of the population dynamics in terms of fertility, mortality and migration is required in addressing them.

He expressed optimism that the insight gained during the visit would provide proper and deeper understanding of the challenges facing the nation and how best it can be handled, even as he appealed for support from all stakeholders towards the conduct of a credible population and housing census next year.

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Dangling poisoned carrot of an Ibadan State KINTOKUNBO A. ADEJUMO

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here have always been some asinine, farcical and insincere features to the politicking and electioneering in Nigeria. Nothing has ever been normal or straightforward with politicians; they are not only involved in one corruption scandal or the other, they are equally involved in bloodletting and mudslinging. This particular trait of “insincere, do-or-die politics” is unique to Nigeria. Please, I stand to be corrected and educated.

Let me state from the onset that my sympathy lies with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), so most of what I will be saying will of course be biased against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But what I say should be weighed and balanced with truth, common sense and sincerity of purpose, because I have no other reason than to say things the way I see them.

In my Oyo State, and in Ibadan in particular, the PDP and its gubernatorial candidate and other aspirants are on a downward trend, and one of the causes of their demise is their outright lies, deceit and sincerity in their promises to the people. I listen to their campaign jingles and other electioneering gimmicks, and I could not but help marvel at their inanities, and how their mediocrity shows through every time. I am not even worried by their

reputation for insincerity anymore; it is the quality of their deceitful claims.

The PDP jingle on radio stations (I never watch the TV stations), sponsored by an Ibadan daughter who happens to be a junior minister in President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet, makes claims of improved agriculture, an effective, efficient and easily accessible healthcare delivery system, building and reconstruction of roads, empowering of women, improved electricity supply, enhanced youth employment, refurbished and standard airports and improved rail transportation, etc.

I have absolutely no problem at all with these, after all, politicians must say anything to get votes and even the opposition are not immune to such lies too, except that, again, I marvel at how people are wont to believe their own lies, and wallow and exult in them. My problem with this jingle is the dangling of the carrot of the creation of an Ibadan State, if Mr Jonathan is re-elected. This outright deceit is too much for me to take.

With others asking for Oduduwa State in Osun State, and Ijebu State in Ogun State, and who knows how many others such small states to be carved out of the 36 existing states, it becomes pertinent to ask the disseminators of these lies how and why President Jonathan intends to prioritise the creation of an Ibadan State, assuming he can single-handedly do this or push a bill through in the Na-

OF WHAT USE HAVING IBADAN STATE NOW WHEN IT WILL END UP ALWAYS GOING TO

ABUJA TO BEG FOR

A MEAGRE MONTHLY ALLOCATION?

tional Assembly, over the others.

We should also ask the Oyo State Coordinator of President Jonathan’s Campaign, what mileage or advantage this will be to the whole people of Oyo State, comprising the Ibadans, Oyos, Ogbomosos, Ibarapas and the mighty Oke Ogun (the peoples of Iseyin, Shaki, Okeho, etc.) if, as a campaign slogan, she is asking for the Oyo State people to vote for Jonathan, and at the same time telling them that their state will be split up and Ibadan excised from the rest of them, giving the Ibadans an advantage, which they already enjoy anyway, as the most populous and most metropolitan and developed of the people of Oyo State?

The Coordinator of President Jonathan’s Campaign in Oyo State is a very brilliant and educated lady. I respect her for that. She was encouraged by her father to go into politics. Her father is a renowned international jurist and lawyer, one of the best Nigeria has ever produced, and had been in one way or the

other in every government, military or civilian of Nigeria since independence.

Ironically, Ibadan, let us face it, owes its development and prominence in the world, greatness and even its current and future political, technological, economic and aesthetic sustenance to nonindigenes. As of today, that remains the fact. Looking back at the history of the city, and that is what obtained. However, it is a very lucky city, in that every nonindigene wants to be associated with it; wants to live and work and trade in it. Even the white colonial masters preferred to make it their headquarters and this transferred to post-independence prominence in every area of endeavour in Nigeria.

This is not to say the Ibadan indigenes are not themselves forward-looking and hard-working or progressive. They are, but the development of Ibadan, which would have been the highest in Nigeria, had been unfortunately held in-check, and sometimes sabotaged or truncated, in recent decades due to the self-aggrandisement and egocentricity of some selfabsorbed Ibadan elites.

So, this poisoned carrot of an Ibadan State is bound to backfire. It will not work. Yes, I don’t mind an Ibadan State, but of what use having Ibadan State now when it will end up always going to Abuja to beg for a meagre monthly allocation?

Adejumo wrote from Ibadan, Oyo State via akinadejum@aol.com

Abia 2015: Ikpeazu’s independence is unassailable CHINYEMIKE TORTI

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n spite of the huffing and puffing of certain cash and carry analysts, who view the Abia political scenario from a blinkered perception, pundits are unanimous in their view that Dr Okezie Ikpeazu is the candidate to beat in the Abia 2015 governorship election.

This is because the well rounded intellectual and gentleman, who reeks with humility, is an epitome for the classical Athenian democracy.

Long before the PDP party primaries was mooted, Okezie Ikpeazu embarked on a wide ranging all-inclusive consultation with Abia political stakeholders, including youths, market and trade groups, whom he engaged on democratic strategies that will help build the environment for government which delivers services to its citizens effectively. He also rubbed minds with them on how to kick start a reform agenda, based on citizens’ own assessment of democracy. The net result was an effective seepage and networking into the grid of grassroots of party organs and the civil society.

Unlike some aspirants and Abuja political big wigs who threw their hats into the ring with the misconception that money and influence peddling would swing the magic, Okezie took his time in marketing his candidacy and agenda until he won the critical mass, hearts and minds of Ndi Abia. It was a fait accompli that at the PDP primaries,

IKPEAZU’S DIAGNOSIS OF THE STATE OF INFRASTRUCTURE IS DELIVERED WITH A CLINICAL PRECISION Okezie Ikpeazu was the candidate to beat. It was not a surprise, therefore, that he trounced all the contestants.

Ever since his emergence as the PDP gubernatorial candidate, there has been this beer parlour swan song making the rounds of Ikpeazu being the blue eyed, rookie and anointed boy of the incumbent Governor TA Orji. Unfortunately some sections of the mainstream and social media have trumpeted this hocus pocus.

No matter what divide of the political spectrum it is viewed from the mantle of leadership has fallen on an urbane biochemist, toxicologist and pharmacologist, who bagged a doctorate degree before his 30th birthday, and in spite of that he naturally symbolizes discipline, humility, erudition and human understanding. It behooves on all Abians to give him all support because for a lecturer who has done four duty tours in Nigerian Ivy League universities, it is not in his character to horse around a godfather, real or imagined.

Okezie admits, without any fear of contradiction that Governor Orji has earned enormous goodwill and he has carried himself as a gentleman.

But Okezie’s development template will emerge with a meticulousness akin to Orji, but shall be powered with a faster tempo on account of his younger age. He will hit the ground running with a people-centred plan. Abia in the main is concentrated by nationals with capacity in various areas whose dexterity is second to none in commerce, engineering, intermediate technology.

So in the years ahead, an Ikpeazu’s administration will leverage on these advantages to make sure that the state’s economy rests on strong pillars of trade and commerce, small and medium scale enterprises. As a minor oil and gas producer, he would not allow the consciousness of petroleum revenues to be on the front burner of economic planning.

The geographical coordinates of Aba also constitutes the fulcrum of Ikpeazunomics - a paradigm that derives its essence from the centrality of ENYIMBA City. If you look at Aba for example, it is at the confluence of about seven other cities in the SouthEast and South-South. The city is about 30 minutes drive to Ikot Ekpene, Port Harcourt, Owerri and Umuahia among others. The strategic location of this city makes it what honey is to ants - it attracts people. So he would leverage on this strategic geographical location to reinvigorate trade and commerce and build industrial clusters.

Ikpeazu’s diagnosis of the state of infrastructure is delivered with a clinical precision. He magisterially declares

the truth about a comatose drainage system that has remained unmanned and not serviced because it is located on sub-soil. Once you have a subterranean underground drainage system, it must be maintained. You must go through it every year. And it has been left for almost 50 years and some people have also constructed buildings across the drainage system.

His two pronged options are predicated on draining and deflooding. The strategy is to use open drainage channels. Should we continue with the underground system, then we have to get experts to open the underground drainage for it to enter into the Aba River. It may not be environmentally sustainable. So we are thinking about a secondary water plant around Aba River that would capture the storm water, treat it up to secondary level and then return it to the river so that aquatic life can thrive.

The dynamics of OKEZUO ABIA 2015 is not an appendage to any godfather-godson syndrome. Rather it can never be distracted by the ranting of detractors.

Torti is a public policy analyst and management consultant Send your views by mail or sms to PMB 10001, Ikoyi, or our Email: mail@ nationalmirroronline.net mirrorlagos@ yahoo.com or 08164966858 (SMS only). The Editor reserves the right to edit and reject views or photographs.

Pseudonyms may be used but must be clearly marked as such.

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Editorial

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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All the Facts, All the Sides A PUBLICATION OF GLOBAL MEDIA MIRROR LTD BARRISTER JIMOH IBRAHIM, CFR PUBLISHER

SUNDAY OLAJIDE MANAGING DIRECTOR/CEO SEYI FASUGBA DAILY EDITOR GBEMI OLUJOBI SATURDAY EDITOR AYO OLESIN SUNDAY EDITOR BEN MEMULETIWON GENERAL EDITOR DOZIE OKEBALAMA COORDINATOR, EDITORIAL BOARD CALLISTUS OKE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR ISE-OLUWA IGE ABUJA BUREAU CHIEF AUGUSTUS IMEKAN ACTING HEAD, GRAPHICS

The unforgivable split in NLC leadership

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any believe it was a devastated Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, the immediate past president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), that was trying to defend the indefensible, especially the intrusion of obscene politics, into the ‘family politics’ of the NLC, which recently culminated in the emergence of two rival factions of the leadership of the central labour body in the country. We have the Comrade Ayuba Wabba of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), who was declared the new NLC president in Abuja penultimate Saturday faction and that of Joe Ajaero of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), elected into the same position in Lagos last Thursday. Both Wabba and Ajaero are now laying claims to the national leadership of the body. Of the 43 unions affiliated to the NLC, Wabba is controlling 18, while Ajaero is enjoying the support of 23.

“What I do know is that elections of the NLC always come with lots of interest from different stakeholders, particularly government. One of the major reasons we decided to draw our election back (to hold it before the national election) was to lessen the level of interference, especially from government”, was how Omar reportedly reacted to the NLC’s debacle. He cannot fool

IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT A BREAK-UP OF NLC WAS BREWING, PARTICULARLY AFTER ITS FIRST

SCANDALOUS DELEGATES’

CONFERENCE HELD IN ABUJA ON FEBRUARY 12, 2015

Nigerians. It was obvious that a break-up of NLC was brewing, particularly after its first scandalous Delegates’ Conference held in Abuja on February 12, 2015 that ended up in a free-for-all, with some delegates shredding ballot papers and destroying ballot boxes following allegations of election irregularities and the production of multiple ballot papers to favour a particular candidate.

Recall that the Omar-led NLC invited President Goodluck Jonathan, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim and the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, to the botched February conference. Also invited was former NLC President, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, now Edo State Governor, who not only physically graced the occasion, but did so accompanied by General Muhammadu Buhari, the

All Progressives Congress’ (APC) presidential candidate. Aired live on the Africa Independent Television (AIT), the event provided ample opportunity for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition APC to shop for votes.

Perhaps more importantly, it buttressed an NLC balkanised along partisan lines.

Omar was absolutely right when he made reference to government’s interference in NLC elections. But he sounded hypocritical when he suggested that the NLC decided to hold its own poll before the nation’s general elections purportedly to lessen government’s interference. It was, nonetheless, fair enough that the NLC invited the ruling party as well as the opposition for the sake of balance. But the union had better options which it should have explored because of the political mood of the nation and for strategic reasons.

One is not extending invitation at all to the Federal Government and the opposition APC. The other is inviting them on the condition that they attend strictly as mere observers with no privilege of speech making. But Omar and the team that organised the first NLC poll did nothing of such, and thus turned the delegates’ conference into a campaign shop for both the PDP and APC, and by extension a battle field

ON THIS DAY

for rival partisan factions of the NLC. The bitterness and acrimony carried over from the first congress must have sustained the antagonisms which cumulative effect is the splinter leadership that now exists in the labour house. The first time the NLC had its ranks divided was in 1978 when a similar delegates’ conference held at the popular Saidi Centre in Benin, the Edo State capital, produced the Comrade Takaya Shammag and Comrade Ali Chiroma factions.

With the shameful spectacle that the NLC factionalised leadership now represents, on what credible moral pedigree can the union stand to challenge any government in power for perpetrating electoral frauds and other atrocities? The answer is none! In truth, the NLC as a body has lost the strength to bargain and fight for the collective welfare of Nigerian workers. It is, therefore, very imperative that the rival factions quickly find ways of resolving their differences so as to forge one strong and united leadership. Using the law court to do just that might not be a bad idea. The alternative will be a two faction leadership that may end up as mere tools in the hands of the Federal Government in industrial relations matters.

Worse still, the two factions will be a huge disappointment to Nigerian workers.

March 25, 1975

March 25, 2006

March 25, 2006

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot dead by a mentally-ill nephew. Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (April 1906 – March 1975) was the King of Saudi Arabia from 1964 to 1975. As king, he was credited with rescuing the country’s finances and implementing a policy of modernization and reform, while his main foreign policy themes were pan-Islamism, anti-Communism, and proPalestinian nationalism.

A gunman killed six people before taking his own life at a party in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington, United States. The mass murder was committed by 28-year-old Kyle Aaron Huff. On the morning of the ill-fated Saturday, Huff entered a large party and opened fire, killing six people and wounding two others. He then killed himself as he was being confronted by police.

Protesters demanding a new election in Belarus, following the rigged Belarusian presidential election, 2006, clashed with riot police. Opposition leader, Aleksander Kozulin, was among several protesters arrested. Kazulin (born November 25, 1955 in Minsk) is the former leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party and one of the candidates who ran for the office of President of Belarus on March 19, 2006.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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Health & Wellbeing Nigeria has no designated port for health activities –Director, Port Health 22

Water, Sanitation: Nigeria not on track 21 –UNICEF

L-R: Dr. Khaliru Alhassan, Honourable Minister of Health (middle); Ms. Myriam Sidibe, Director for Social Missions Africa, Unilever (5th right); Mr Robbert deVreede, Vice President Marketing, Unilever Nigeria (4th R); Dr. Bode Ijarogbe, President, Nigerian Dental Association (6th L) and a cross section of children at the World Oral Health Day Celebration organised by Pepsodent and NDA in Lagos, recently.

y a D h t l a e H l a r O d l Wor

FRANKA OSAKWE

A

y a w a e l i m s s e k a t y a c e d Tooth ldren —Experts i h c from

s Nigeria joined the rest of the world to mark this year’s World Oral Health Day (WOHD), the high rate of untreated dental carries (tooth decays) about 90 percent of reported cases, remains the major concern for stakeholders.

Indeed, the theme for this year’s WOHD, “smile for life”, is a sad reminder that not so many Nigerian Children are able to smile confidently for fear of displaying either decayed, badly discoloured, lost or probably disfigured teeth.

Data from the Federal Ministry of Health has shown that there is a prevalence of about 6.5 to 22.5 per cent of dental carries in Children and over 95.6 per cent of early childhood carries are untreated.

“This rate of untreated tooth decay in Nigeria is worse, compared to the global average of 35 per cent. Aside this, we also have a lot of periodontal diseases in Nigeria. Periodontal disease (gum diseases) has been found to be common in 79 to 90 per cent of the Nigerian population and it is being linked to systemic diseases”, explained Dr. Oyinkan Sofola, a Consultant Community Dentist, Preventive Dentistry Department, Lagos University Teaching Hospital.

According to the World Dental Federation (FDI) such poor dental health is closely linked with With frequent sugar consump-

tion.

In its recent release on WOHD, FDI President Dr Tin Chun Wong identified sugars as the main cause of tooth decay and urged individuals to consider their impact on oral health.

“When you eat or drink something sugary, the bacterium in the plaque (the sticky film that keeps forming on your teeth) feeds on the sugar and releases acid that attacks teeth for about one hour. Frequent consumption of sugar allows prolonged acid ‘attacks’, weakening the protective outer layer of the teeth.

Speaking about this process, Dr Jaime Edelson, Chairman of the FDI World Oral Health Day Task team said that sugar reacts with bacteria in the mouth, which together form an acid that damages the enamel. “When this keeps happening, a hole is formed in the tooth, which then requires By paying close attention to how often we are consuming sugary foods and drinks, the number of acid attacks on our teeth can be reduced”, he said.

A major highlight of the World Oral Health Day in Nigeria was a special event aimed at introducing oral health hygiene to children organised by Unilever Nigeria

Limited, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Dental Association (NDA). The event, tagged ‘brush day and night campaign’ , had over 1,500 children from different primary schools in Lagos all gathered to take the smile pledge to brush day and night.

Explaining about the theme for this year’s WOHD, The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Khaliru Alhassan, at the event, said that ‘Smile For Life’ has a double meaning, ‘lifelong smile’ and ‘celebrating life’, adding that the aim was to wish everybody lifelong healthy smiles at all ages.

Describing the mouth as the gateway and mirror to the body, Dr. Alhassan urged Nigerians to take a paradigm shift from limiting dentistry to only the treatment of diseased teeth and care of the mouth.

“I am particularly pleased with today’s event which showcases the dividends of stakeholders’ participation and has put Nigeria on the world map through the smile pledge taken by about 1500 kids to brush day and night aimed at a cavity free Nigeria,” he said.

Dr. Olabode Ijarogbe, President, Nigerian Dental Association explained that the emphasis on children at the event was because children are more teachable and it is easier to imbibe the culture of oral

health to children than adult.

He said the WOHD is important because 90 per cent of the world’s population will suffer from oral diseases in their lifetime, many of which can be avoided with increased governmental, health association and society and funding for prevention, detection and treatment programmes.

In his speech, Mr Robbert deVreede, Vice President Marketing, Unilever Nigeria said the event was a way of giving back to the Nigerian public.

“We have set a global ambition to reach 100 million children by 2020 and 10 million of them is coming from Nigeria. In effect, the number we aiming to reach in Nigeria is the largest in Africa.

“We see the terrible picture if we don’t care for our mouth. So it is a step in the right direction that 1,500 children gathered today to pledge to brush day and night. We know that children have the future and can act as change agents to make their parents brush day and night. By the end of 2015, we would have reached one million children in Nigeria.

“The programme is tailored in such a way that children not only learn how to brush properly but also why it’s so important, information which they can then share with the rest of their family,” he said.

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Health & Wellbeing

Nutrition for Health Chizoba Benson chizobanwobu@yahoo.com 08120807588 (sms only)

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hen choosing rice go for the healthy whole grain - brown rice. It has only the inedible husks removed but the bran and germ layers are left on the grain and this contains significant dietary fiber and including vitamins and minerals which aids digestion of food and removal of toxic wastes from the body. On the contrary, white rice, after milling, the rice is polished resulting in a seed with a bright, white, shiny appearance.

A diet based on unenriched white rice leaves people vulnerable to various kinds of diseases. Unfortunately, most people still consume white rice instead of brown rice probably because they are ignorant about its health benefits and for others; they prefer white rice because it is attractive.

A study conducted by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “brown rice is the top choice in terms of both nutritional and other inherent healthy benefits”.

Brown rice is a good source of phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are compounds naturally found in plants that have antiinflammatory properties and tend to act as an antioxidant. It is a good source of selenium and manganese.

Selenium helps reduce risk of developing c a n c e r, heart disease and ar thritis.

Manganese helps the body synthesize fats and maintains the nervous system.

Brown rice is a good source of magnesium, a mineral that is essential to bone health. The B complex vitamins especially vitamin B1, B3 and B6, promotes energy and nourishment to the skin.

Abundance of minerals in brown rice helps to nourish the hormonal system, heal wound and regulate blood pressure.

Brown rice also contains iron which enriches the blood; phosphorus and potassium which helps maintain hormonal balance. Consuming rice could be a good option for hypertensive individuals because rice contains low–fat, low-cholesterol and low-salt. Researchers say that “whenever rice is used as the main

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Brown Rice vs White Rice food, there is corresponding benefit of low youthful vitality and a very low rate of hypertension”. The fiber content of brown rice makes it soothing for digestion and aids bowel movement. Inadequate intake of fiber is associated with increased constipation, hemorrhoids, colorectal cancer, etc. Brown rice cereal or brown rice itself is the perfect baby’s first food due to the dense natural nutrition and fiber it contains. This is a much better choice than refined white rice cereal products as rapidly growing babies and toddlers require nutrient rich diets to help maintain rapid growth cycles. Brown rice is an excellent food choice for those suffering from diabetes because it stabilizes blood sugar levels.

Studies show that “those who consume one half cup of brown rice daily reduce their risks of developing diabetes by 60%”. Brown rice is the perfect accessory for candida yeast infection treatments given that high glycemic and otherwise sugary/starchy foods are prohibited during most candida treatments. Brown rice helps an individual maintain a healthy weight gain. A study conducted by Harvard researchers shows that “women who incorporate whole grains, such as b r o w n rice, into their diet were more likely to maintain a healthy b o d y weight”.

Brown rice reduces the risk of childhood asthma.

Studies show that “fruits, vegetables and even dairy do not have much of an effect in reducing asthma, but whole grains and fish do”. Rice powder can be dusted and used on skin inflammation such a burns, small pox, measles, prickly heat, etc.

It is vital to note white rice has been stripped off its nutrients during the refining process, manufacturers must have added unnatural fortifications such as glucose, and other additives in the form of synthetic vitamins or iron so it can be marketed to the public as a “nutritious” food. Brown rice is a healthy option for all, so do not wait until you are diagnosed with an ailment before you start eating healthily!

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

The Health Beat Sam Eferaro

eferaro@yahoo.co.uk 09096500076 (sms only)

Prescription for Prof. Jega (2)

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ust as I observed in 2011 when Prof.

Jega had to postpone the election and all hell was let loose in every part of the country, the INEC boss seems to be on top of his game. Yes, the beards have fully turned grey but the man does not look like someone under any pressure. Just as I did four years ago.

I’ve scrutinised his face for traces of wrinkles and tell-tale signs of stress and from what I see, at least on television, it seems the man is enjoying good health.

I watched closely for signs of palpitations, or stress anyone in his shoes would be going through right now, and just as I observed in 2011, it seems to me we will not have to bother about placing an ambulance on standby at the INEC headquarters on Jega’s account.

For a man the rumour mongers claim has been slated for a sack, a man whose efforts to give the nation another credible, free and fair election can never be good enough to be accepted by the gladiators, I think Jega is again showing evidence of a a strong heart.

He’s ever so calm, even in this charged and turbulent election campaigns. Of course, as I observed in my first prescription for him, he must indeed have a strong heart to take in all the threats, insinuations and spurious allegations from the political parties, especially PDP and APC which are now dagger drawn and beating the war drums every minute.

The D-day is less than 72 hours away and I wish I could be as calm as Prof. Jega. I wish Nigerians could look forward to a peaceful and crisis-free election on Saturday as Jega’s demeanour seems to assure. I really wish we will all congratulate ourselves for a keenly contested election at the end of the day as the winners and losers embrace and we all move on with our lives.

Back to Jega, even with his calm disposition, I believe he’s fully aware that he’s about to play another role, a crucial one at that, in the history of this great nation. Of course, like everyone else, he will want to be judged fairly and be placed on the right side of history. And I think he knows he only needs to do the right thing to achieve this, no matter the hell being raised by the politicians now. Like I said in the last election.

The fireworks are just beginning.

He will feel the heat proper as the election progresses up till the end when the losers will go for his juggernaut. And that is why I want to give him exactly the same prescription I gave him in 2011. As I stated then, his doctors will probably not be thinking about my kind of prescription right.

They will, most likely, only want to ensure that he remains on his feet throughout the election period, not suffering from any of those deadly stress-related ailments, which is fine.

Again, I’m not qualified to prescribe necessary drugs to help him cope with the heat of the INEC assignment so I just have to leave that to his doctors.

But my own prescription will still come in handy. It is what Jega needs to have a glorious and enviable place in our history. It is what he needs to help make this country take its rightful place in the comity of nations.

Dear Prof, like I told you four years ago, this is the time to give all you have. I’m repeating my prescription again: Even if you have to work 48 hours a day shedding every drop of your blood and sweat, you must ensure that you give Nigeria a credible, free and fair election. You must ensure that only the people we chose, not those who are hell bent on forcing themselves on us, are allowed to rule our beloved country in the next dispensation.

Forget the name calling, threats and unfounded rumours about your person and office. The same politicians that are ever not satisfied with any step you take now, will sing your praise to high heavens if you deliver. As I said in 2011, if you get it right, Nigerians, no matter what they say or feel about how you will conduct the election now, will acknowledge you as a hero and saviour of our time if you can make this election free of the type of rigging, fraud and shame that has dogged previous elections in the past. You will see, if you give us a credible election, our people will throng the mosques and churches to thank the Almighty God for making you a Nigerian, a rare gem, a valiant son, an incorruptible public servant, a patriot and... just think of all those familiar flowery terms we use in this country to flatter people. You got some of the remarks in the last election and I’m sure this year’s election will even attract more of these, considering the fierce campaigns. So, you can’t afford to fail This is my simple prescription. Again as I said during the last election, it is the only prescription for now that has more tolerable side-effects than you can ever imagine if you fail. Prof, I wish you luck!

Jega

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Health & Wellbeing

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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Water, Sanitation: Nigeria not on track –UNICEF STORIES BY MARCUS FATUNMOLE ABUJA

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igeria is currently not on tract on water and sanitation,

the United Nation’s Children Fund, UNICEF, has said.

The organization stated this in a statement made available to National Mirror by its Communications

Consultant in Nigeria, Geoffrey Njoku, to mark this year’s World Water Day. According to UNICEF, the challenge of water and sanitation is enormous worldwide, adding that

nearly 2.5 billion people around the world still “do not have adequate toilets and among them one billion defecate in the open.”

It explained further that given the enormity of chal-

L-R: Initiator, Project Smile, Dr. Amy Traore-Shumbusho; Project Technical Director, Dr. Dada Ayodeji and Project Consultant, Olusayo Odunsi, during Project Smile 3.0 Media launch on World Oral Health Day in Lagos.

NCH tasks FG, states on polio, others

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he National Council on Health, NCH, has called on the federal and state governments in Nigeria to step up their commitments to general health services for the country.

NCH made the call recently in a communique issued at the end of its Special Session in Abuja. The session, with the theme, “The National Health Act: Foundation for Improving Performance of the Health

System towards Universal Health Coverage, UHC,” was organized to review health conditions in the country.

The communique said Council directed the Federal Ministry of Health to proceed with the implementation of the Saving One Million Lives program for results in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

All states of the federation and the FCT were urged to utilize the opportunity to

design and implement plans towards addressing the priority health needs of mothers and children in their territory, according to the communique.

The NCH commended efforts being led by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on the Ebola Virus Disease, including ongoing research activities and efforts at facilitating the implementation of the Post EVD Containment Preparedness Plan, recently launched by the Federal

Government.

“Council therefore urged the States to ensure the strengthening of their systems for epidemic preparedness and response to guard against re-introduction and or unlikely future outbreaks. Council approved for the detailed documentation of the process, mechanism, system and resources utilized in the containment of EVD in Nigeria in the national archives, for posterity,” said the communique.

... Japan supports Nigeria with N18.6bn loan for Immunization

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he Federal Government said Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA, had expressed readiness to support Nigeria with a repayable loan worth 18.6billion to boost its efforts on immunization.

The loan would be paid in 20 years, with a grace period of seven years, according to a statement made available to National Mirror by Head, Public Relations Unit of the National Primary Health

Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, Mr Sa’adu Salahu, recently.

The statement stated that Nigeria’s out- going JICA’s Country Chief, Tetsuo Seki provided information on the loan while presenting evidence of the loan’s release to the chief Executive of the NPHCDA, Dr. Ado Muhammad, in his office in Abuja.

“Mr Seki recalled that the loan’s agreement was signed last year by Nigeria’s finance

Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and JICA’s leadership.

“He disclosed that apart from the loan’s package, JICA had supported Nigerian’s immunizations programmes in the last 10-years to the tune of one hundred million dollars.

“In his response, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Ado Muhammad expressed Nigeria’s

gratitude to JICA not only on polio eradication but also for routine immunization.

“Dr. Ado assured JICA’s leadership that the loan will be used most efficiently for the purposes intended.

Mr. Tetsuo Saki, the outgoing JICA Country’s Chief is expected to leave Nigeria at the end of April while Mr. Hirotaka Nakamura is the new replacement,” the release concluded.

Ondo plans community-based health insurance for residents –Commissioner

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ndo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Dayo Adeyanju, has said the state government was planning to make community-based health insurance programme available for all in the state.

Adeyanju stated this recently during an interview

with National Mirror at the Special Session of the National Council on Health in Abuja.

He said government of the state had made the programme available for people between ages five and 18, as out-patients.

His words: “Looking at the NHIS, first and foremost, what I always tell people is

that when you take care of the women and the children, the remaining is little, and you have less percentage. For us in Ondo state, looking at the universal coverage, we do five to 18 out-patient. But, we don’t do the admission. In our community-based health insurance, those are the

things we are now looking at.

We do geriatric. We are now looking at between 18 and 70 to see how we can get them to key into the communitybased health insurance, and then be able to sustain everything that we are doing to ensure that everybody have access to health.”

lenge worldwide, the Millennium Development Goal targeted halving the percentage of the global population without access to safe water and over 110 million people without access to improved sanitation. “Nigeria is currently not on-track with regard to its attainment of Water and Sanitation targets,” UNICEF said.

“The poor bear the greatest brunt of this lack of access to water and sanitation. For women and girls, collecting water cuts into time they can spend caring for families and studying. In insecure areas, it also puts them at risk of violence and attack. UNICEF estimates that in Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking to collect water.

“For children, lack of access to safe water can be tragic. On average, nearly 1,000 of them die globally every day from diarrhoeal

diseases linked to unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, or poor hygiene,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, UNICEF said some 2.3 billion people had gained access to improved sources of drinking water since 1990, adding that through its efforts and support from European Union, EU and UKAid funding in Nigeria, 2.5 million people had gained access to safe water in rural areas in the country.

“This year’s theme on World Water Day, which falls on 22nd March, is “Water and Sustainable Development”. The theme aptly encapsulates the overarching role of water in our lives, be it for human consumption, food production, for health, for power generation, for industry and for the sustenance of nature as a whole, without which life would not exist.”

Pay attention to your oral health –Expert tells Nigerians SEKINAH L AWAL

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n Orthodontist, Dr. Amy TraoreShumbusho, has called on Nigerians to pay more attention to their oral health as a result of the rising cases of dental flaws and pains those affected go through in the society. According to her, apart from the psychological effects of having to live with a bad dentition in the face of rejection, the dangers to the general health of the individuals could be severe.

Speaking during the media launch of Project Smile 3.0 on World Oral Health Day, Dr.Traore-Shumbusho, who is also the Principal, Smile360 as well as the initiator of Project Smile, said that the 2015 edition of Project Smile, an initiative which seeks to impact the lives of those individuals unlucky to be affected by dental flaws, is being redesigned to allow more contestants to stand the chance of benefiting from the free smile makeover program that is worth millions of naira.

Season three of foremost Smile makeover initiative, Project Smile kicked off

against the backdrop of the World Oral Health Day on March 20, 2015, an international day to celebrate the benefits of a healthy mouth and to promote worldwide awareness of oral health issues and the importance of oral hygiene.

Dr. Traore-Shumbusho said that Project Smile 3.0 is revised in scope and content with adequate plans being put in place to accommodate more winners, make greater impact in the society, and create opportunity for wider participation from others in the oral health care industry and individuals through the newly introduced ‘Adopt-aSmile’ initiative.

“The World Oral Health Day is a parallel platform; hence it serves as our launching pad for the Project Smile initiative as it is a day set aside by the World Dental Federation to give attention to oral healthcare and dental matters and issues on a global scale. Last year, on this platform, we said that we would Celebrate Healthy Smiles as a demonstration of the WOHD theme in 2014. We have done that by transforming the lives of 9 young men and women who never thought they could have a confident smile.”

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Health & Wellbeing

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Nigeria has no designated port for health activities –Director, Port Health is done, it opens for you a very big opportunity to generate money.

Right now, they could go to neighbouring countries and get those certificates. And, when they come to Nigeria, they are not obliged to; because we are not designated and listed by WHO. If you google, you will not see any Nigerian port that has been designated for port health activities.

If that is done, it immediately gives you the opportunity to not only certify international ships, you also charge for that. And, that is huge revenue.

There is no World Health Organization’s certified port for health activities in Nigeria, which could help the nation generate money from vessels and aircraft, says Director, Port Health Services of the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Sani Gwarzo, in this interview with Health Reporter, MARCUS FATUNMOLE. He also speaks on the gains the nation’s ports have derived from the Ebola virus disease. Excerpts: Why do we have port health officials at the nation’s ports?

Like you said, port health, they are port health staff. And, all those staff are stationed in the points of entry or points of exit. We call them POE, be they airports, seaports and ground crossing. Wherever you go, you need port health staff.

Ideally, in any port setting, the first agency that a traveler encounters when going out of a country is the port health team, who will certify that the person is fit to travel and also has the necessary documents for travelling.

Likewise, any person coming into the country, the first desk that they encounter is the port health desk. There are several agencies in the ports, but each time, they have to be given a clearance, that is for the ground crossing. For the airport, it is the same thing. If you look at any airport arrangement, you will see that the first agency to encounter is the port health team who will take the travel history, take the health status of the traveller, and then, determine the risk level of the traveller, and then advice on the track of protocol for care or next action that will be required.

The same thing with the seaport, whenever a ship berths into a country’s water, the first agency that goes on board to screen is the port health officers.

So, they virtually do what I can describe in a nutshell, the port health service is there to facilitate healthier, safer and easier trade and travels.

How many ports of entry do we have in the country?

We have documented, where we have our staff, either directly sitting down on a permanent basis, or given a cover to that location on ad-hoc basis, about 180 such ports in the country, where port health staff are stationed.

Out of these, 24 are airports, about 45 are seaport, jetties, waterways, water-fronts etc. the remaining are ground crosses.

The ground crosses also range in categories from very big ones to minor footpaths.

The nation’s borders are very porous, how do you think you can effectively handle the borders?

Yes, I hear people say borders are porous. And, when you ask them, their definition of porosity is that there is no gate closing the place until you come and knock, then somebody opens the gate for you. That is not porosity. For us, once a port has been identified, personnel have been stationed and they are doing their work, that border cannot be considered to be porous. But, if it is unmanned or undocumented, that is when you can call it porous.

And, fortunately, the major ports where people come into the country are really manned and cannot be subjected to that description of porosity.

Would you say you have enough staff covering these 180 ports in the country?

Yes, we have a large number of places to be physically present in. We have a huge number of staff as well to complement the delivery of services in those locations. As it is today, we have over 700 people working under the port health services. Depending on the size of the port, we allocate staff. We also give them adhoc duties and make them viable to cover some other adjacent locations. That is not enough; we still engage the services of volunteers.

Across the network, we have almost 300 to 400 volunteers that are stationed mostly at the airports, especially, because of this Ebola...

There is an approval for us right now. Employment is going on right now. Process of employment is in top gear to add to number of staff. By the time we have that, we are likely to see a tripling of the number of staff.

What changes would you say Ebola virus disease has brought to our nation’s health?

Is there no specific amount you generate now?

No. but, the potentials are ever increasing and we can easily utilize them.

Gwarzo

IF YOU GOOGLE, YOU WILL NOT SEE AN ANY

DESIGNATED NIGERIAN PORT THAT HAS BEEN DESIGNA FOR PORT HEALTH ACTIVITIES The sad event of Patrick Sawyer’s arrival in Nigeria and his introduction of the epidemic of Ebola was a sad one, devastating, very serious one. But, it also came with a lot of lessons that we’ve learnt. The worst for you is to have a difficult situation and you don’t learn lessons. I must say that we’ve learnt lessons. And, I think we’ve come out of the epidemic of the crisis much stronger than we would have been if he had not even come to Nigeria. Then, I will give you several fronts to it. Locally, in Nigeria, our staff strength, our equipment, our logistics, everything that has to do with the port health services has never seen this kind of tremendous goodwill and support, funding, and even highest level of political support that we’ve seen after the Ebola epidemic. That is the residual benefit of the sad situation.

The handheld infrared thermometer is no more being used by major institutions as obtained when the country battled the Ebola virus. Isn’t government worried about this?

Initially, when you saw all those internal institutions using the handheld devices to screen people in mass gatherings or places where people congregated, it was a very good practice. We encouraged it. We even supported some of them with training and equipment. That was when we had Ebola cases.

That was when we still had some contacts that were being traced.

We no longer have Ebola case in Nigeria. We no longer have suspected individuals who may be carrying the Ebola virus, but not showing. So, that is what we refer to as internal threat.

Internal threat of Ebola is no more. So, it is not necessary for agencies internally to continue to do that. But, in the borders, it is very important to do that because we still have external threat of Ebola, especially, around the sub-region.

How much do you think the Port Health can generate annually, especially now that the country is faced with dwindling oil revenue?

The port health service is one agency that I am confident that if adequately funded and supported, cannot just only rely on government funding. Over time, the division can generate sufficient internally-generated revenue for government. We have that potential. But, right now, those potentials, because they are untapped, I will give you one good example: any ship that comes to Nigeria, there are documents that we sign for them. But, Nigeria does not have a designated port yet.

When you say designated port, it is a technical term that when you fulfil certain services that you deliver to the ships and the aircrafts, you can now charge them some money. As soon as that

There has been allegation and reports that your staff increase the official price of the Yellow Card. Is it allowed by government?

We have not received any formal report of our staff increasing (the price); but we know of touts that are touting fake Yellow Card.

Each yellow card that you see in the field now is different from any Yellow Card we’ve ever issued in the country. It is security-printed.

It has about nine to eleven security features in it that are hidden.

Ordinarily, you will not be able to see them.

And, they are more, depending on the level of authorization.

There are more than even you can pick if you meet a fake Yellow Card. We’ve centralized the process in order to remove the issue of fake; in order to ensure that all Yellow Card is issued by authorized issuing centres. And, each issuing centre has a code. If you check your Yellow Card, in addition to the authentic Yellow Card you have, you have a code written on it. The moment I see that code, I can tell you precisely who signed it in the country.

Not only is the office given a code, the signature templates are recorded. So, we know all these details. But, where does the problem lie? The problem lies where we still have people that tout.

Somebody out of ease will rather pay N5000 or N10,000 for Yellow Card than go and get from an authentic government office. But, one agency is helping us sort out that problem ICPC. Over the last one year, ICPC has apprehended a lot of people, brought their details here, charged the people to court. I am sure some of them are still in courts because of faking Yellow Card.

Mirror Wednesday, March 25, 2015 National www.nationalmirroronline.net

2015: Celebrities preach peace at conference

23

Arts Lounge

26

I desire being in Hollywood films –Baaj Adebule 25

Condemnation trails DSTV’s new price regime Beginning from April 2015, the over two million subscribers to DSTV satellite TV services would be made to pay slightly higher following a new price regime announced by the company. ISIGUZO DESTINY reports that the new development is forcing Nigerians to seek cheaper alternatives.

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here are indications that subscribers of DSTV may opt for cheaper alternatives with the increase in the prices of subscription which some subscribers feel is very high owing to the present economic situation that is rocking Nigeria. National Mirror’s Friday Flavour had reported on the 13th of March that subscribers are groaning over the soaring DSTV charges and from investigation, they may be dumping the satellite television services of DSTV a subsidiary of MultiChoice Africa, owned by South Africans.

Speaking with a DSTV subscriber who begged for anonymity, said he can no longer afford the services of Multichoice and that he has resolved to look for cheaper alternative since the services are almost the same. He frowned at the hike and blamed government institutions who have failed in the regulation of prices of goods and services which has warranted DSTV to hike the prize of their services without recourse to the economic implication on Nigerians.

According to him, “I agree that DSTV is a great brand, but in the face of the present challenges confronting most Nigerian families, TV is luxury and this may not be the time to cough out such huge sums in the name of watching TV. Thank God that that the Nigerian market has various alternatives from which one can choose. Basically, the new development calls for this.”

Jimoh Ganiyu, the Hall Chairman of Henry Carr Post Graduate Hostel, at UNILAG, subscribers of DSTV while speaking in a phone interview berated DSTV and averred that the hike will affect the Hall’s subscription of the DSTV. He said they may dump them if their plan to subscribe for a year before April 1, when the new charges will commence fails. He revealed that that he may rush and subscribe to avoid paying the new price at least for a year.

Mr Francis Ezeugwu who had spoken with Friday Flavour concerning this issue also told Arts Lounge that his subscription with DSTV is a forgotten choice. He reiterated that he cannot afford to pay the new charges with so many other issues confronting him now. Saying he has resolved to look for cheaper alternative especially,

Viewing centre powered by DSTV signals

In the face of the present challenges confronting most

Nigerian families, TV is luxury and this may not be the time to cough out such huge sums in the name of watching during this period of Easter holiday as his children will be coming back home.

Dr Alwell Ekpendu also known as Igwe, a specialist in Environmental Toxicology told Arts Lounge that he suspended his plans of subscribing to DSTV when he learnt of the new subscription tariff. When we inquired to know if he has plans to continue with the subscription, he said he will not since there are cheaper alternatives.

Arts Lounge contacted Denrele, a TV presenter and comedian who also works with DSTV to know if the hike in prices of DSTV subscription has affected the level of subscription for their satellite TV services, he said he did not think so, that since he works with DSTV that he may not be the right person to answer the question. When Arts Lounge sought to speak with MultiChoice PRO, a staff of MultiChoice who identified herself as Caroline Ogwumba said she does not know if the hike has affected their product. She pressed on Arts Lounge to tell her if the subscription of their product has declined and later referred us to their press release. When we insisted on knowing how their product

TV

is faring in the market, she feigned ignorance and insisted we go to the press release.

The hike in DSTV subscription charges has raised concerns over the ability of Nigerian’s price regulating agencies in carrying out their duties. MultiChoice Africa on the 3rd of March announced their increase of the DSTV premium which is $77 (N11, 650) to $81 N13, 980).

Arts Lounge in an investigation also gathered that certain pecuniary factors make DSTV brand seem insurmountable for the meantime in the Nigerian market.

This includes their ‘understanding with the powers that be in the country’, whom they often grant their services free of charge.

“It is believed in some quarters that MultiChoice may be giving her services free to key government functionaries and others who matter in Nigeria. In fact, I doubt if the state legislators and their national counterparts ever pay for subscriptions in their official quarters” a source revealed.

Ugbe, MD MultiChoice

With this development, DSTV may be at the verge of losing the potential of the Nigerian market with her over 150 million population. They may lose favour with the Nigerian subscribers who believe the increase is economically disadvantageous to them. Arts Lounge checks revealed that already, there is a surge towards other alternatives as these other television satellite providers are recording successes with the increasing number of Nigerians, seeing them as viable options. “This seems to be a healthy development as service providers will learn not to take Nigerians for a ride, other markets must key in to provide a competitive environment which at the end will enhance services of satellite TV and make them affordable”, a source said.

Meanwhile, the strong hold of DSTV seems to be their franchise with the English Premiership, which Arts Lounge gathered has given them an edge over other alternatives.

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Arts Lounge

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

VOICES

Evolution of music in Nigeria Sierra Coppage

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he music of Nigeria includes different kinds of folk and popular music.

The folk music is influenced by the ethnic groups in the country. Many of these ethnic groups have their own instruments, songs and techniques.

The 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria influence folk music. Most of the traditional music from Nigeria and throughout Africa are almost always performed to mark a ritual such as a wedding or funeral. Many Nigerians, children and elderly, play instruments for their own amusement. However, solo performances are not common.

One common type of traditional Nigerian music is work songs. These songs are used commonly by workers in fields, river canoes and other fields. Women also use work songs for house work which includes cooking and cleaning. In northern parts of Nigeria some farmers may work together; the host farmers must supply music.

In African Theatre call-and-response is very important but it is also a format for music. The Call-and-Response Choir has a lead singer and a chorus. Sometimes the choir uses instruments and some in some regions emphasis is put on the drums.

IGBO South-east Nigeria is where Igbo people are located. They play a variety of folk instruments and are known best for their adoption of foreign styles. Igbo is known for the instrument the zither, 13th stringed called an obo. Aside from the zither, the Igbo also play slit drums, flutes, lyres, udus, xylophones and more recently imported European brass instruments.

YORUBA Yoruba music is spiritual in nature and devoted to Orisha of Yoruba mythology.

The Yoruba has big tradition of drumming.

Dundun, is a type of music played with an ensemble that uses a particular type of drum. Iyalu, is the leader of the dundun assemble, uses the drum to talk. Much Yoruba music has become an important aspect of modern Nigerian popular music.

HAUSA With use of Muslim influence since the 14th century, Hausa music uses free rhythmic improvisation and the Arabic scale. Music is used for celebrations such as births, circumcisions, and marriages.

In the area, Hausa ceremonial music is

well known and dominated by families of praise singers. All instruments played by the Hausa are percussion such as the tambura drum and the elongated kaki trumpet.

Children’s Music Nigerian children have their own singing tradition which usually includes singing games. Most of the games use calland-response and archaic language. The Children also use instruments such as the un-pitched zithers and drums made from tin cans.

Theatrical Music Most tradition Nigerian music is used in theatrical productions. Puppet shows are a part of tradition Nigerian theatre. Many theatre groups travel across the country and many productions grow bigger. Most of the productions use European instruments, film extracts and recorded. In the world of Nigerian Opera different styles of music are used.

instruments; trumpets, horns, clarinets and whistles.

In the 1920’s, Nigeria and nearby countries of Liberia, Ghana and Sierra Leone spread some of the earlier styles of popular music. The earliest styles were palm-wine music and highlife.

Other styles like apala derived from traditional Yoruba music.

Other styles of music were incorporated by the 1960’s such as Cuban American. Since then, new styles have evolved in the 20th century, which include waka music, Yo-pop and Afrobeat.

After WWII, Nigerian music incorporated new techniques and instruments into their styles.

Some electric instruments were imported from Europe and the United States.

The artist IK Dairo incorTraditional Instruments porated genres of music Nigerian traditional music uses a valike soul, funk and rock riety of instruments. Some of the instrun’ roll into jùjú. Popu1980s. ments like the xylophone are used across lar music became very A d e West African, while Muslims, Southern or popular on the top of w a s East African, Europe and the Americas inthe Nigerian charts in the fluence some other instruments. In the ear1960s. Despite the popsigned ly development of Nigerian Music, brass ularisation of to Island instruments and woodwinds played a vipopular tal role. Later importation of instruments Records music such as the electric guitar helped popularin 1982 tradiize jùjú music. and hoped tional String Instruments and others to replimusic The most common string instrument cate Bob w a s in the central part of the country is the Marley’s s t i l l musical bow. The musical bow can either success.

Coppage w i d e spread. be plucked or struck. It is also associated The album JuJu Music sold way In the 1970s three Nigerian artistes with songs involving agriculture and songs more than expected in both Europe and were very popular: Ebenezer Obey, King that express social concerns. Other instruthe United States. At the end of this decade Sunny Ade and Fela Kuti. At the end of this ments include a raft-zither, arched harp, a other styles emerged like Yo-pop, gospel decade the styles of Yo-pop and Nigerian bowl-resonated spike-fiddle and the spikeand reggae, which pushed jùjú out the way. reggae started to evolve. lutes, which are played by the Hausa and However, jùjú still remained popular in the Musical artistes Obey and Ade started Kanuri. Some instruments used that are 90s along with the wide spread of hip-hop to expand outside of Nigeria in the early not string include the brass and woodwind music.

Nigeria produced many classical composers during the 20th century. They inhe ethnic groups in igeria clude Akin Euba, Godwin Sadoh, Fela Sowande and many more. Sowande founded influence folk music ost of the the Nigerian art music tradition and was one of the first African composers in Westtraditional music from igeria and ern Classical tradition. *Coppage is a graduate from The throughout frica is almost always Pennsylvania State University, with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. performed to mark a ritual

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N

Memorable Reads you enjoyed lately?

Lola Shoneyin and then I read Kaine Agary’s novel, ‘Yellow Yellow’, and I enjoyed it tremendously but for now I am not reading any novel because what I do now is more of academic work but once in a while I still get back to reading.

Who is your favourite author?

That is difficult to tell right now because I come across different works Which Nigerian authors have

What do you find intriguing about these novels?

They are so down to earth, they tell stories for me that are so realistic they are talking about people that you think that you know them one on one and I also had occasions to feel that way about just a few works, when

Prof Duro Oni

Playwright/Academic

I was a child I was reading books like James Hardly Chase and I was a voracious reader when I was in school. I read all of the works of Shakespeare; I enjoyed the Shylock Holmes series. But these days I don’t have the time, as I am trying to beat deadlines.

What is your annual budget for books?

There is no budget for books.

When I get into a book store, I am always looking for something, I like some autobiographies, like ex-president Clinton’s book and also Hilary Clinton.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Arts Lounge

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

25

ARTISTE UNCENSORED

I desire being in Hollywood films–Baaj Adebule A runner-up in the 2011 edition of Mr Nigeria starred in the multi-award winning series, Tinsel, five years ago. But his debut film, ‘Seeing Betrayal’ is set to captivate everyone.

Olawale Oluwadahunsi

H

is easy going, down to earth mien makes it easy for him to be approached despite his busy schedule. Describing himself as an ambitious realist with strong passion for the arts, the third runner up of the 2011 Mr. Nigeria edition asserts his personality as this.

“I’m more or less an open book most of the time. Not as complicated as most actors, so I’d love to be described as a, straight forward kind of individual. I say what I mean and I mean what I say. A man of his words so to speak, except when I’m being sarcastic of course, which I hear is relatively usually the case.

Actor, model, Television VJ and just recently a film maker, from Ogun State, Baaj Adebule is also a graduate of Economics from Covenant University. How did his love for acting begin? He goes down memory lane to about five years ago.

“It all started in 2010; I got an opportunity to start living my dreams of being an actor as I featured on Mnet’s Award winning TV Series, Tinsel. This made my family and friends really proud. Especially for having such a big start. However afterwards, I kind of disappeared for two years to improve and discover what I really want from life. Began home schooling myself by reading, watching, acting, and training videos and write ups off the Internet. Returned fully in 2012 and thus far I have featured on various movies and TV series like; Studio, Deadline, A Perfect Plan, Happy Family, Two Sides of a Coin, Honeymoon Hotel, Four Crooks and a Rookie, Heaven’s Hell, Lekki Wives Season 3, 7 Inch Curve just to mention but a few. My filmmaking debut

was some weeks back, as I produced, directed, and starred in the Film “Seeing: Betrayal” also starring heavy hitters like Ani Iyoho and Rachael Emem Isaac.

Baaj, in his mid-twenties, who ascribes his current filmmaking debut experience as the best moment of his career also reveals that his greatest aspirations will be starring in a Hollywood movie with his role models.

“I’ve always had a passion for the arts especially acting and film making for as long as I can remember. Even as a young boy, I craved to star in these movies and give the audience the same feelings I get when I watch them. Watching my role models like Leonardo Di Caprio, Denzel Washington, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, e.t.c... They were and are like gods or super humans or aliens to me.

“As an actor in Nigeria, I have day dreamed starring in a Hollywood movie alongside my role models. Till then, I am aiming at being one of the best actors and filmmaker Africa has ever seen. I want a child somewhere, someday to be inspired and motivated to become an actor because he got to witness my work in the industry. I want to play my role in taking the film industry in Nigeria to the next level. I am constantly learning and working hard to improve myself as an actor and also planning to study acting and film making abroad.

“I am a huge admirer of theatre. I remember the first ever play my Mum, Tinu and I attended at the National The-

learn from the directors and your costars. My mother has always been the kind of person who believed I could achieve anything and everything I want as long as I believe in God, myself, stay true and worked hard for it. She’s always there to guide, motivate, pray, rally and push me right back up when I’m down”

atre thanks to the invites from my uncle Mr Mufu Onifade. I was blown away; I was absolutely mesmerised by the acting, the story and the expression of life on stage. I’m happy it’s getting bigger and better in Nigeria as well. It’s definitely a branch of the arts that has been somewhat underrated in recent times so I’m glad it’s making its way back to the top where it belongs The soft spoken Adebule said that he still improves on virtually every part of himself, mentally and physically while also giving his mum kudos for being his sure guide as an actor.

“I still read up on acting, script writing and film making. I watch and study movies and other actors set. There’s always something to

I want a child somewhere, someday to be inspired and motivated to become an actor because he got to witness my work Adebule

MIDWEEK JUMP Open Mic Night with Lolo

L

olo is the host of the Open Mic Night where lyricists, poets, rappers, and those well versed in spoken word perform to a live audience. Come experience and listen to great minds interpret the society, lay path to a better way for Nigeria or just talk about love in a heart wrenching way.

The event begins by 7pm on Thursday, 26th March, 2015 at Bogobiri, Ikoyi, Lagos State. Admission is free.

The Jaja Band at Bogobiri

J

oin Jaja and his band today, at the beautiful Bogobiri. A good way to relax after work or indulge in a weekly event during the week. They have a choice range of drinks and small chops to enjoy while listening to the live band.

The event begins by 7pm on today, 25th March, 2015 at Bogobiri, Ikoyi, Lagos State. Admission is Free.

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Arts Lounge

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

FAR AND NEAR

2015: Celebrities preach peace at conference

At the Peace Conference

Regina Otokpa

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rganisers and participants of the 2015 Peace Conference has urged youths to eschew all ploys of violence and engage in meaningful and productive ventures during the forthcoming elections.

Peace Ambassador Agency, organisers of Miss Ambassadors for Peace Nigeria and World Miss Ambassador for Peace, is a youth driven agency dedicated to promote the culture of peace at all levels through peace education campaigns across various educational levels within the country and Africa at large.

Tagged: ‘The Role of the Nigerian Youths and the media in the forthcoming general election’ participants at the conference stressed the issue of youth restiveness while appealing on Nigerians to come out en mass to vote the right candidate of their

choice peacefully.

Speaking at the event, the Performing Musicians Employers’ Association of Nigeria(PMAN) Governor, Collins Adeyemi urged the youths not to be used by wicked politicians to ferment trouble, but encouraged them to see such forum as a means of shaping their future ambitions.

Also speaking, a leadership development consultant, Linus Okorie, implored the youths to take the responsibility of transforming the country into their hands by choosing to lead rather than react to situations with propensity to heighten the cloud of hate hanging in the atmosphere this electioneering period.

“Our people must take the responsibility of the transformation of our Nigerian state in our own hands. If we don’t react, nothing negative will happen to our country. Elections are just around the corner, what it means is that we must as young

people all over the country play our most significant role to cast our votes peacefully and not react no matter what happens”.

Okorie however lamented the volume of wrong message on the social media which according to him, was culpable of instigating violence.

“You can never talk about progress and peace in a nation when the young people are not properly groomed and empowered to think differently because if you go into the social media, one of the things that you will see going on is a huge level of the wrong messages running all over the place, people always commenting on issues they know nothing about, there is hate in the atmosphere in our national life”.

Earlier, the boss of Peace Ambassador Agency, Kingsley Amafibe, said that statistics has shown that over 1000 youths lost their lives to violence related activities during the 2011 elections.

He maintained that the agency was fighting hard to protect the interest of youths in the country adding that peaceful co-existence was the key to putting an end to all forms of crisis in the country.

Amafibe urged the youths to stand against any form of violence in the forthcoming elections, engage “in activities that will drive towards achieving positivity and growth” and called on electoral bodies and security agencies to ensure that the forth coming general election was violence free.

“Anyone who wants to lure you into any electoral violence must be met with stiff resistance. Peace must be our watchwords because social media is a tool for positive interaction”. Dorothy Njamaze a guest, stressed the need for youths in Nigeria to have more power in the running of the nation as they were the strength of the nation.

At Ojukwu’s book presentation in Abuja Regina Otokpa

I

n a convivial atmosphere, lovers of books, friends, colleagues and family, came together that afternoon to launch four books published by the Force Public Relations Officer, Ag CP Emmanuel Ojukwu at Sheraton Hotels Abuja.

It was a classic event that witnessed four sessions of book reading from a chapter from each of the books by selected persons, to give an insight to the audience on the literary richness of each book being launched.

Dressed in his ceremonial regalia, Ojukwu, the author, a psychologist and a pastor among other things, beamed with smiles as he presented four books namely; the Power of Focus, Sunset for Mr Dobromir, a Whiff of Kahara and Beneath the Sagging Roof, officially to the public.

Responding to questions from the media over the absence of a security book among the books published and launched, the author maintained that each one of the four books has an element of security in them.

He said: “Each of the books touches on human development issues, each of them touches on life and security is part of life so all my writings reflect my background,

Emmanuel Ojukwu

where I am coming from, where I am going and where I am going. There is an element of security in each of the books. You become insecure if you don’t know where you are going; you become insecure if you allow the roof to cave in on you”.

Also, responding, the resident pastor Shepherds House, Tajan Moltok, pointed that the author was a psychologist who believes that making an impact on the life on an individual was the best way to solving bigger situations, especially security issues.

According to Moltok, publishing a book

on security was not beyond the capacity of the author who he stressed has so much to offer, but in time, the author would avail his audience with more books especially on security.

“This is just the beginning and I believe that so much are still on the way. He is a writer, an author and we expect more books but I believe that if not sooner but later a book on security, he has so much to offer us in the area of security. We look forward to books that deals with a society faced with security issues but so far so good he wants to deal with human beings.

“He is a security operative but before he became a security man he was a psychologist and psychologists believes in building a human being. If you build a person, the person will behave well in the society but if you attack the problem the person has not changed. So he wants to change the person, a Nigerian, our perspective, the way we do things and I believe that is why he came out these books”, the pastor added. He further charged Nigerians who have formed the habit of reading to continue the act, and to those lagging behind, Moltok challenged them to inculcate the habit saying “there is so much we need to learn from books, there is so much we need to uncover from books”.

Flawless set

‘Miss Flawless’ parades Orjiekwe, Effa

M

imi Orjiekwe needs no introduction in the showbiz circle, even as her astonishing tapestry of success makes it possible in breaking new grounds for her. At the moment, she plays the lead of most high budgeted home videos, though other acts compliment her enthralling features for successful interpretations of what the script and storyline entail.

Interestingly, within the past year, she featured in most trending and now selling movies. Such includes; Wrong Selfie, Island Babes, Educated Housemaids, Youngest Don, All My Ladies, Ghost In The Palace, Dirty Marriage, Secondary School Girls and many others.

Moment count for her is Miss Flawless, a movie that tells the story of a working class lady, who believes she has all it takes for any man to bow and adore her. Out of self-disregard and negligence, she lost hook of what a woman wants, happiness.

Plateau gospel musicians dump Lalong James Abraham

P

lateau State chapter of the Gospel Music Association of Nigeria(GOMA) has dissociated itself from the claim of endorsement for the All Progressives Congress APC Governorship candidate in the state, Barrister Simon Lalong.

A video CD purported to have emanated from the association endorsing the APC Governorship candidate has been in circulation in the state State President of GOMA,Mr Timothy Goman Timtala who addressed a press conference in Jos, said no such endorsement took place.

The President pointed out that the objective of coming together as an association was to profess Christ and to promote gospel music and not to engage in politics While he urged members of the public to disregard the Video and its and all the misleading statements and misdirection that the said material may have caused, the musicians also warned those responsible to desist from such act and warned that any further defamation in order to smear the image of gospel ministers on the Plateau will be met with drastic action.

Business Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Why we limit our investments in power, petroleum –Unity Bank MD

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Dwindling revenue: NAGAFF urges members to shun fraud 30

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Stakeholders intensify calls for PIB passage, pipelines’ security

CPC decries consumer rights abuses in key sectors … plans prosecution of erring entities

TOLA AKINMUTIMI

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“For instance, in the telecommunications sector, consumers still contend with drop calls, unsolicited texts/calls, poor network and credit wipe-off, while in the aviation sector, regular delays/cancellation of flights without notice, damage/loss of baggage without compensation, still occur”, Atoki added Expatiating further on the pervasiveness of abuses in the affected sectors, the CPC Director General pointed out that in the banking sector, there were regular Automated Teller Ma-

chine, ATM, dispense error cases with prolonged resolution period; Point of Sales (POS) terminal issues; and unexplained debit on customer accounts among others.

Similarly, she also lamented the outrageous estimated billing, non-provision of transformers/ meters, wrongful disconnections and inadequate/erratic electricity supply all of which, she noted, usually contribute to consumers’ frustrations in the power sector.

Atoki noted that consumers of Satellite Television Services were also grappling with regular

disruptions, wrongful disconnection, poor service delivery and lack of redress for complaints.

She explained: “In the area of land transportation, overloading, non-refund of money when vehicles breakdown and use of dilapidated vehicles add to the burden of consumers of public transport services. In the property and real estate sector, developers still fail to keep to agreement terms, tie down consumers’ deposits for prolonged period and sometimes deliver substandard houses to consumers.’’

he Director-General of Consumer Protection Council, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, has decried the high rate of consumer rights abuses in the telecommunications, aviation, banking and power sectors of the economy.

Atoki said the prevalence of consumer abuses in different sectors of the nation’s economy had resulted in a situation where consumers were not getting value for their money and entities engaging in such despicable acts going unpunished.

To reverse the ugly trend, she hinted that the Council had adopted the strategy of criminal prosecution or litigation of recalcitrant businesses to achieve satisfactory redress.

The CPC boss disclosed this on Monday in Lagos, during a public lecture on “The State of Consumer Rights Protection in Nigeria, organised by the Centre For Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos.

She said: “In Nigeria, market failures manifest in different ways with varying degrees of negative impact on consumers. While the free market is currently operational in Nigeria, all forms of consumer abuse still pervade virtu- L-R: Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company Mr Osagie Okunbor, Minister of Industry, Trade ally every sector of the economy, and Investment Mr Olusegun Aganga and SPDC, Government Relations Manager Mrs Morenike Adewumi during a Meeting between SPDC and the Minister in Abuja at the weekend.

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA denying consumers their rights.

Electrical products counterfeiting high in Nigeria, others - Survey TOLA AKINMUTIMI

S

chneider Electric, the world specialist in energy management, has released its first survey on electrical counterfeiting products ever conveyed in Africa, with Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, amongst countries with high rates of counterfeited products in their markets.

The survey took place in eleven

African countries: Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. More than 500 “high level” officials and professionals were contacted by 37 African trained investigators. They answered a total of 8.185 questions.

“For the first time, all stakeholders of the African electrical market will be able to move forward, based on a solid picture of reality”, says Tracy Garner, Anti-

Counterfeiting Global Manager.

Based on the results, the first conclusion is that counterfeiting of most common electrical products is widely spread in all African countries, representing 40% to 80% of their markets. Cables, breakers, sockets, switches and extension cords, are the five most counterfeit electrical products (in that order).

According to the survey, China remains the main source of electrical counterfeit goods entering the continent, accounting for 75

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per cent of the answers, followed by the rest of Asian countries.

It also reflected that locally manufactured counterfeits originate mostly from Tanzania, Nigeria and Ivory Coast.

“Now, having measured the impact of counterfeits on African economies and users’ safety, the urgency to act is real. Schneider Electric is committed to do its best in answering professionals’ demands and expectations expressed in the survey”, concludes Tracy.

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AIRLINES’ FLIGHT SCHEDULES Dana Air Abuja-Lagos 9am, 1pm, 5.28pm daily Lagos-Abuja 7am, 11am, 1.23pm,3.30pm daily Lagos-PH: 7.20AM, Ph-Abuja9.54am, Abuja-ph: 3.30pm and Ph-Lagos: 5.28pm daily Lagos-Uyo: 9.20am, Uyo-Abuja: 11.07am, Abuja-Uyo 1.05pm, Uyo-Lagos: 3pm daily Weekends Lagos-Abuja: 7.02am, 9am, 3.30pm Abuja-Lagos: 9am, 2.20pm and 5.28pm Lagos -Phc: 11.07am Phc-Lagos: 1.05pm Phc-Abuja: 12.51pm Abuja-Phc: 10.50am Lagos-Uyo: 9.18am Uyo-LOS -3.03pm Uyo-Abuja: 11.07am Abuja-Uyo: 1.05pm

Aero Contractors Lag-Abj: 06.50, 13.30, 16.30, 19.45 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun), 12.30 (Sun) 16.45 (Sat) Abj-Los: 07.30, 13.00, 19.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat, 10.30, 14.30, 19.30 (Sun, 18.30 Sat) Lag-Benin: 07.45, 11.00, 15.30 (Mon-Fri/Sat/ Sun) 12.30 (Sun 15.30 (Sat) Ben-Lag: 09.15, 12.30, 17.00 (Mon-Fri/Sat/Sun) 17.00 (Sat) 14.00 (Sun)Lag-Owe: 7.45am, 2pm daily

Med-View Airline Lagos- Abuja (Mon-Fri): 07.00, 08.50, 12.00, 16.30. Abuja- Lagos (Mon-Fri): 09.00, 14.00, 15.00, 18.30. Lagos-Yola (Mon-Fri): 8.50am. Yola-Lagos (Mon-Fri): 13.00. Lagos- PHC (Mon-Fri): 17.00. PHC-Lagos: 19.00. Abuja-Yola: 11.00. Yola-Abuja: 13.00.

Lagos-Abuja (Sat): 08.00, 08.50.

Abuja-Lagos (Sat): 10.00, 15.00.

Lagos-PHC (Sat): 17.00. PHC-Lagos (Sat): 19.00. Lagos-Yola (Sat): 08.50. Yola-Lagos (Sat): 13.00

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Executive Discourse

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Why we limit our investments in po The Managing Director of Unity Bank, Mr Henry Semenitari, speaks on why the bank refused to venture into the energy sector, its return to profitability and the need to raise more capital this year.

JOHNSON OKANLAWON reports.

The bank’s profit was negative in 2013, could you explain the performance so far?

We have tried to increase the level of confidence with the banking public. Again, confidence is not how much you speak or how much you advertise every day. It is the quality of what you bring to bear in terms of shareholders’ value. And to the best of our ability, we have begun in that long distance race. It is a journey, we are not there yet. We are still far from there. But I think we have found our bearing in terms of how we are going to navigate to bring proper shareholders’ value. Our relationships have come through major establishments, government agencies that manage and regulate major developmental sectors and private sector, oil and gas, ports authority, maritime and infrastructural development agencies. The bank is rated third under the CBN Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) with a total disbursement of N26.1bn on about 65 projects. As you can see, we are at an advanced stage in accessing the Small and Medium Enterprises, SME, special intervention fund from the CBN. Disbursement is about to commence.

It is being fine tuned to meet the credit expectation of ordinary man in the street. We have also gone with some improvements in accessing Tier II capital by obtaining seven- year $70m loan from AFREXIM Bank and one year $50m loan from the same AFREXIM Bank. Again, these are attestations to an institution they think it deemed worthy to access capital. You don’t access capital if you don’t meet the risk assessment criteria from investment credit institutions like AFREXIM Bank. We recorded a tremendous growth from a loss position of N33.64bn as at December 2013 to a profit position of N12.02bn before tax as at the end of third quarter in September 2014. We also recorded some basic improvements of 37.2 per cent in operational efficiency with a cost-to-income ratio reduced from 95.7 per cent as at December 2013 to 60.03 per cent currently.

Again when we begin to talk about operational efficiency, it speaks to you where our thought processes are emanating from.

The bank itself was recently recognized as one of the top 100 businesses in Nigeria by the Federal Government. This recognition came from a very detailed screening, undertaken by the Financial Reporting Council, FRC, Nigerian Investment Promotion Council, NIPC and the Federal Ministry of Trade. These were the three institutions that went through the

xxx

Semenitari

detailed review exercise at which we made the top 100 companies, precisely we are at number 60.We are very strong because only 14 banks made the list.

The bank also joined the Nigerian Stock Exchange 30 index (NSE30). Everything we do boil down to number, which is the most critical thing in determining the life expectancy or insolvency of an institution.

Our gross earnings in third quarter of 2014 rose by 6.05 per cent to N48.1bn, from

N45.4bn in comparison to the third quarter of 2013; net interest income improved by 23.36 per cent, we did go from N20.8bn in third quarter of 2013 to N25.7bn.Total operating income improved by 22.86 per cent to N35.06bn, compared to N28.5bn in third quarter of 2013. Total operating expenses reduced by 22.13 per cent. It went down to N20.9bn in comparison to N26.8bn during the corresponding period in 2013. Profit before tax improved by 897.56 per cent to

WHERE EVERYBODY IS GOING, WE DON’T GO; WHERE PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING, THAT IS WHERE WE GO. THAT IS WHY WE ARE NOT CAUGHT IN THAT POWER ASSETS WEB

N12.02bn, coming from N1.2bn in 2013.

Profit after tax improved by 858.84 per cent to N11.02bn from N1.15bn.

Could you explain the bank’s contribution to SMEs in terms of loan?

The most important parameter for us, in terms of looking at our business fabric, and which will remain our watchword as a bank is to sustain the weighted average cost of funds, the truth is that if you sustain the average cost, your profit is going to rise, no matter the business you run. The weighted average cost of funds is so critical for the life of a retail enterprise. We have come from a long range to five per cent as against 6.8 per cent of 2013. The industry average is 5.5 per cent.

In the best practice environment, the ability to price money is very critical. What do you do as a bank? We don’t print money, we don’t own money. It is the money that

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Executive Discourse

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ower, petroleum –Unity Bank MD a depositor gives to me that I give out to a borrower at a margin. If I take money at a wrong cost, I give it out at a wrong price, which is where default starts. Eighty per cent of those defaults are from the fact that the cost of borrowing is abnormal. Most times, it comes from the cost at which I will price money. Indeed for us, going by the tempo we are going by 2017, our average cost of fund will be about two per cent.

It is achievable if we continue to drive low cost. That is where we are. It is a very important index. The next is cost to income ratio, which has a relationship with contribution as well; a relationship to work done as a function of what are you gaining from work. What have we done here? We have gone to 60.03 per cent, industry average is 71.5 per cent. Here we are coming from a negative, same network, same people. It is all about how you have decided to do your work better. Net interest margin improved to 66.3 per cent. This is better than the industry average of 63.5 per cent. Again, there is a link with your average cost of fund. That is why we have to put in order of flow. Earnings Per Share (EPS) improved by 28.76 kobo, coming from 4.40 kobo in third quarter of 2013. And the market capitalization was N58.5bn.

What is the percentage of the bank’s non-performing loans?

Now one albatross that hit most institutions with legacy background like ours is non-performing loans. We are back on aggressive recovery drive. On the recovery side, I want to thank the media for assisting us through media education; advertorials, encouraging people to realize that borrowing money is not a crime, but when you don’t repay your debt, it becomes a crime.

Our non-performing loans have gone down from over 50 per cent, say half the entire loan book we inherited, to 20.43 per cent.

The impact of the recovery drive will be felt more in the coming years which will improve our non-performing ratio and our projection is that, coming December 2015, it will get to 10 per cent. I believe it is achievable. And by December 2016, we would be below five per cent, which is the regulatory standard.

The bank doesn’t invest in the power sector like others, why?

If we go back memory lane, the telecoms started with investments briefings

by MTN, Econet to the Nigerian partners.

General Obasanjo brought them. That is how you transfer technology all over the world. Now MTN came with its muscle and had some Nigerians to partner with in terms of local content. Airtel, with all its change of names-it has answered five names now, but just because of expertise in muscle, the change of names and ownership has not affected its performance. It came with requisite skills. Today, it is with one of the biggest names and brands called Airtel. A successful brand manned by Nigerians. It is doing well. Etisalat! Well, we don’t need to speak more about the Arab world. It is also doing well. The only one that was delayed, that was local, is the one struggling more. There are certain things you must be prepared for. If you are not

prepared, learn from those who have got it right. That is why it is called technology transfer. It is a process and choice.

Now when power came, it was the reverse (case). Power is even more technical, more demanding than telecoms. If you go to the telecoms, you see Hitachi, Sony, just name it. You go and buy power plant, you say I am Iheanyi, a Nigerian; a former bank MD, a former this, a former that. You now go to G8, they would just goggle you. That is all you are. Why would they listen to transfer their technology to you? But if you open it up to investment great companies, they would come to Nigeria .If you recall the indigenization decree by the military, it just created certain percentage of wealth for our people. It is still there in Ghana. It is what has metamorphosed today into the local content. If you have asked those investment great companies to come in, then you say 30 per cent of it must be owned by Nigerians, they would always understand.

So part of the gap, with due respect, for us, we did not see diligence in terms of those who were coming to play in that game.

If you check, Kano Disco, under (the defunct) Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), with even the so-called bad workers used to generate N3bn in collections of bill. Today it is under N1bn. So when government owns something, it would be doing well. But when it becomes (private property under the) so-called quasi-privatization, the sale drops. Something must be wrong somewhere. I don’t know the answer.

And knowing where we are coming from, as rightly said by someone on the non-performing loans, we will not.., in fact, we will show unintelligence to rush into a ticket where we cannot see diligence. A supervisor of mine in the 90’s would say ‘any credit you cannot see from A to Z, stay away. If you are not making money, don’t lose money’.

And so, we did something predictably. That is why you didn’t see it (power) discussed in any acquisition. We partially supported

Semenitari

one, not fully, based on other relationship we have in that company. That is why in all those power assets, we escaped it. For us, our strategy is simple: Where everybody is going, we don’t go; where people are not going, that is where we go. That is why we are not caught in that power assets web. We are not blaming those who are caught, but it is the question of doing your homework well. When it is properly legislated, we will come in. It is an important sector for this economy. Don’t forget, loan is shareholders’ money. The write-down we took was what took us to negative. That was why we went to raise capital.

How much was raised and what are the investments?

On capital raising, we embarked on desired capital raising exercise. It was inevitable after such write-downs to N33bn loss.

There is no way you could tell anybody that your capital is inadequate. With goodwill, part of building back the franchise is to ensure that you gain confidence in the Nigerian public and the existing shareholders.

There were two options: do we go by way of rights or public offer? Offer by rights would be shorter since we have existing shareholders across the country. And successfully, we got N40bn, N20bn from private placement and N20bn from rights. We got over-subscription of N950m, which we have to return. Because it is rights and not public offer, we will have to go through pro-

WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, SUBSIDYRELATED DEALS HAVE NEVER BEEN OUR ATTRACTION AS AN INSTITUTION

cesses to list it again.

After that write-down, we had a deficit in capital honestly speaking. But today we are no more in negative, which is the most important thing. We are clearly above board and we will be in surplus. Our rights will raise for us a balance sheet fabric to protect the institution. We inherited very good technology and we are not going to spend a dime on technology again. The money raised will remain there as a killer to support the balance sheet. For us, it is a balance sheet savings. We will go for more in 2015 by way of Tier two. We will come for something that will protect the institution further. We will work harder to get retained earnings. As part of our plan, this year, we are not paying dividend. Conservatively, our profit will go into retained earnings to improve our capital.

What is the bank level of investment in the oil and gas?

In the oil market space, again we did sit down and took a cursory look at the downstream business that was booming at the time. It was a big boom backed by subsidy.

And wherever you hear ‘subsidy’, it is not a substitution. Any prudent finance guy would wonder how subsidy is forming a major source of loan repayment. There is nowhere in the world where you are looking at subsidy instead of cash flow as a means of loan repayment. You even begin to look at the people: young school leavers, they were all at the PPPRA (Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency).It was everybody’s journey. You also have to know, there are three Cs in credit. It is character, character, and character. There is nothing else. You evaluate the human beings before the money. With all due respect, subsidy-related deals have never been our attraction as an institution. We are not in any; we never went into any of those deals, again, as a result of our credit discipline.

There is an adage that says when a snake bites you, next time you see a wall gecko, you will reach for a gun. We were terribly bitten over the years. So we will never do well for shareholders if we begin to run a rat race on the loan side.

In banking industry, there is nowhere in the world where your strength is competing on loan book. The truth is that we couldn’t dimension the risk as an institution.

So we became shy because of poor predictability around the downstream magic.

We have few in our book if you see their business, they have come of age: from one filling station to five, to 10. By the time they went into downstream, even when it was truly independent, they were with us. They are still there and we support them. All the margin magicians you know of, we never knew them, we couldn’t dimension whom they were. We asked questions what were you doing before? Nothing! All they said was that I knew somebody in Nigerian National Petroleum Commission, NNPC; I knew somebody in Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR; I knew somebody in PPPRA! Everybody knows somebody. Is that why you will give billions of Naira to somebody because I know somebody? Will the man be there for life? So we couldn’t go into I know somebody credit.

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Business News

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

2,000 groups apply for MSMEs Devt Fund in Zamfara

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Otunba Nurudeen Ojora-Adejiyan, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Teachers Establishment and Pensions Office (right) presenting Support Our Schools Award for PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge to Mrs Yomi Ifaturoti, Corporate Affairs and Administrative Director of PZ Cussons Nigeria at the weekend.

Dwindling revenue: NAGAFF urges members to shun fraud FRANCIS EZEM

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ational Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders NAGAFF has warned its members against any attempt to indulge in fraudulent practices in the process of delivery of their consignments, saying that such a person would incur the wrath of the Nigeria Customs Service, which is currently facing worsening dwindling revenue from imports.

Records show that import volumes into the country has declined by more than 30 per cent, which most stakeholders attributed to the decline in the value of the naira as well as the political and economic uncertainties that have characterised the country, especially in the last few months as part of the build up to the general elections.

Founder of the association, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, who spoke in Lagos, observed that the declining import volumes is currently putting pressure on the revenue of the service, which its gets seven per cent of as its statutory funding from the Federal Government “It is very clear and obvious to practitioners that cargo throughput has drastically reduced in the Customs Ports, leading to low collection of import duty. It is also obvious that the Nigeria Customs Service is not leaving any stone unturned with a view to blocking all loopholes that may lead to revenue leakages”, he observed.

According to him, the service may likely become stricter over cases of over-invoicing, wrong classification, under-declaration, concealment, and wrong classification, among several other

import related fraud that might further pose a threat to its revenue collections in the present circumstance.

Citing the recent suspension of some officers, he noted that the Service from every indications is starting with her officers over any infraction leading to revenue loss, a development that led to the suspension of a number of officers while many others are being investigated to determine their culpability with a view to taking disciplinary actions against them.

He also noted that in the case of the importers and agents, the service might rely on the provisions of the relevant sections of the Customs and Excise Management Act CEMA, which prescribe very serious sanctions on erring importers and agents.

“What we see coming from the service in due course is that it might invoke the relevant sections of CEMA to deal with issues of concealment, false declaration, wrong descriptions of import,

over invoicing, under valuation and under invoicing of imports”, he noted.

Specifically, he cited sections 46, 47, 164 and 154 of the Act, which deal with untrue declaration in general, attract severe punishment including but not limited to seizure of import and prosecution of offenders.

Aniebonam also noted that this warning had become necessary because it is the duty of the association to inform members from its strategic position, disclosing that the Customs Intelligence Unit CIU may have changed its operational methods by seemingly returning to the basic tactics of playing along with the importer or agent and later reporting any suspected infraction.

He said: “With this development, agents may wish to understand that there is no need to short-change the processes and procedures because such criminal acts would ultimately be reported and culprits punished”.

bout 2,000 groups have applied to access the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises MSMEs Development Fund in Zamfara State, the Project Leader, Special Purpose Vehicle [SPV] for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund [MSMEDF] in Zamfara State, Hajia Fatima Umaru Shinkafi, has disclosed.

She also disclosed that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released N220bn for the development of the MSMEs in the country and Zamfara is among the first three states to qualify after Delta and Akwa Ibom states.

She added that the objective of

the N220bn fund set aside by the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] is to provide medium to long-term, low-interest funds to the MSME sub-sector of Nigeria’s economy, saying CBN has mapped out a window for the guidelines for all states to access the funds.

“Sixty percent of the funds is targeted at women entrepreneurs who are the engine room for speedy economic growth, wealth creation and national development, hence pegging the interest rate at two percent and repayment period of one year for micro finance and five years for medium enterprise,” she said.

BATNF restates support for small farmers DAVID AUDU

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he British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) has reiterated its commitment to government’s poverty alleviation schemes with its strategic investments targeted at smallholder farmers.

The investments are aimed at improving their productivity and socio-economic well being their agricultural activities.

General Manager, BATN Foundation, Abimbola Okoya, while speaking at an interactive session with the company’s stakeholders to map out new strategies to boost agricultural productivity with a focus on better ways of enriching smallholder famers, said that their activities are focused on where they could achieve the most impact in the agriculture value chain.

“The British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation has recorded remarkable milestones through the deployment of strategic intervention schemes focus-

ing on provision of potable water supply, vocational skills development, agricultural development, and environmental protection since its establishment in 2002,” said Ms Okoya, while addressing stakeholders at the conference which held in Ibadan, Oyo State at the weekend. “These interventions have transformed lives of beneficiaries through capacity building initiatives and creation of enabling environment for smallholder farmers to effectively distribute their agricultural produce,” she added.

The conferees discussed proactive approaches to increasing crop yield and enhancing natural resource through capacity building, technical assistance from reputable enterprise-based organisations as well as paving ways for easy access for the distribution of agricultural produce.

Okoya said: “This strategic meeting with the technical partners becomes necessary due to BATN Foundation’s yearning for sustainable agricultural development.’’

Rivers gets Fitch’s AA- rating DENNIS NAKU

PORT HARCOURT

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nternational credit ratings agency, Fitch has placed Rivers State’s Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at ‘BB-’, affirming its National Longterm rating at ‘AA-’ with a stable outlook.

Fitch also commended the administration of Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi for reducing the debt level of the state, while continuing with

development projects and maintaining investments.

The ratings released on March 20, reflected Fitch’s expectations that Rivers State will continue to report a solid operating margin in the medium term, mainly driven by growing non-oil revenue.

“This will be partially offset by decreasing transfers received in reflection of lower oil price although the budget should continue to be balanced due to flexibility in expenditure.”

According to Fitch’s base case

scenario, “the operating margin will stabilise at 60 per cent over the medium term (preliminary figures show 58 per cent in 2014).

Internally generated revenue (IGR) is forecast to rise towards 30 per cent of total revenues and exceed NGN100bn by 2016, or about NGN8.5bn per month, up from NGN84bn in 2014.

“Backed by 2014 preliminary figures, IGR is expected to continue rising also due to more sophisticated collection, alleviating Rivers’ dependence on oil revenue. Fitch forecasts oil

revenue would represent 65%70% of annual revenue in the medium term, compared with 75%-80% in 2011-2013”, the rating firm added.

The report affirmed that, “The administration significantly reduced Rivers’ debt levels to NGN51bn in 2014, from NGN106bn in 2013, using the current surplus generated, asset disposal proceeds and capital transfers amounting to almost NGN60bn, while maintaining investments at NGN160bn in 2014.’’

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business News

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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Real estate sector has untapped N2trn facility in pension fund -Alaka SYLVA EMEKA-OKEREKE

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Lagos-based mortgage banker and property developer, Reverend Wale Alaka, has said that, the nation’s real estate sector could access over N2 trillion through the pension funds.

Alaka, who made the disclosure during an interview with National Mirror in Lagos, said

the sector has huge untapped funds, adducing that it could be tapped through the pension funds.

Regretting that operators in the sector are not aware of such facilities, he said he got the knowledge when he attended the World Bank conference, adding that he would soon educate the operators on how to tap the funds. ‘’If these facilities are effec-

tively tapped, the nation’s real estate sector would witness rapid growths, thereby contributing immensely to the Gross Domestic Products, GDP, of the country. ‘’Let me tell you, I got this experience when I attended the World Bank conference last time.

If the Primary Mortgage Institutions, PMI, get this funds at a low interest rates, you can only imagine how much we can generate from it’’, he noted.

According to him, this will be a big booster to the PMIs as they hardly survive due to paucity of funds as well as poor structures, noting that every business must have its structure.

Urging the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to bailout the real estate sector as it is in other sectors, Alaka said, such move would only reduce the 17 million housing deficits in the country, but create employment opportunities for the teeming youths. ‘’With the real estate sector growths, many artisans will be employed and the nation’s economy will improve. Let me tell you that, there is great potential in the sector. Money is in the sector

and it has not been tapped’’, he stated.

He however listed the challenges in the sector; to include issuance of Certificate of Occupancy, C of O, and land tenure system, noting that favourable land tenure system and prompt issuance of the C of O would accelerate the ability of people to acquire and sell their property.

While also advocating for the Nigerian Property Exchange market, he said, ‘as we have the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, market, we can as well, have the Nigerian Property Exchange, NPE, market. The same way the NSE is working will also be the same way, the NPE will work’’.

700,000 farmers to get improved cassava ISAIAH ERHIAWARIEN

A Chief Executive Officer, Oando Gas and Power, Mr. Bolaji Osunsanya (left) receiving 2015 Nigeria Oil and Gas Award for Excellence from Board member, Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation, Dr. Peter Madu at the Nigeria Oil and Gas Gala/Award night in Abuja.

Media agencies challenge Google, Facebook over adverts DAVID AUDU

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ome local and foreign media organizations have formed alliance to challenge social media over advert placements.

They include Guardian, CNN International, Financial Times, Reuters and the Economist.

According to them, they are creating programmatic advertising alliance to challenge the behemoths like Google, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Dubbed the Pangaea Alliance, the programmatic network unites the audiences of all the publications, enabling advertisers to buy ads across the sites in one place via the Rubicon Project technology platform.

“As the world becomes more complex and networked, Pangaea will give advertisers a single programmatic solution for driving influence at scale, allowing them to get through in an increasingly fragmented market, using the latest ad serving technology,” Tim Gentry, global revenue director at Guardian News said.

Due to be launched in beta in

April, the alliance is designed to give advertisers the ability to tap the first-party data of all the publisher partners to deliver highlytargeted campaigns. It will offer a range of advertising formats, including display and native ads.

“The data is crucial. One thing we can do together is share firstparty data with each other and create unique, compelling audience segments,” Gentry told The Wall Street Journal. “For example, subscription information from one publisher might be combined with behavioral information from another to create a detailed profile of a user that an advertiser is willing to pay a premium to reach.”

By merging their audiences, the publishers are betting they will be better-positioned to compete against the likes of Google, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The move gives advertisers much more reach, as well as maintains quality ad inventory, according to the media companies. Depending on its success, other publishers are bound to join.

“The quality of the Financial Times audience is what our adver-

tisers buy,” said Dominic Good, advertising sales director at the Financial Times. “Pangaea is an exciting initiative that strengthens premium publishers’ proposition by guaranteeing a trusted advertising environment, building significant scale and sharing smart targeting abilities.”

bout 700,000 farmers will get improved vitamin A cassava stems for this year’s planting season while over 300 processing centres for vitamin A cassava will be established The initiative is part of the HarvestPlus Nigeria agenda 2015 of ensuring that ensuring that at least three million Nigerians consume vitamin A cassava products this year.

According to the Country Manager of the company, Paul Ilona, the agenda also include reaching out to over 50 million Nigerians with information on vitamin A cassava initiative.

Speaking at a three-day workplanning/review meeting held at Owerri with its 16 partners from four target states of Imo, Benue, Akwa-Ibom and Oyo as well as stakeholders in the agricultural

sector, Ilona said that the meeting was held to prepare the farmers for the 2015 planting season.

While declaring the work-planning session and Vitamin A Cassava products exhibition open, Imo State Commissioner for Agriculture, Chief Frank Ibezim, said the State will support the agenda and ensure that Nigerians have access to healthier and more nutritious foods through the vitamin A cassava initiative.

He called on HarvestPlus and partners to sustain the fight against hidden hunger, poverty reduction and empowerment of small and medium enterprises, SMEs. Highlights of the three-day meeting include visits to local processors of Vitamin A Cassava as well as fabricators of cassava processing equipment in the state.

The team also paid visits to Amauzari Vitamin A Cassava model village under the management of Forward Africa, one of the partners in Imo State.

Airtel offers 200% bonus on recharge ISAIAH ERHIAWARIEN

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ustomers on the network of mobile network operator, Airtel Nigeria are to receive 200 percent bonus to call all networks when they recharge line with airtime worth N200 and above.

The package is part of its latest promo tagged Smart Connect and comes with a special offer of a 4-in-1 family pack, which contains four SIMs for just N100.

Unveiling the product at the Company’s Headquarters in Lagos, Airtel’s Chief Commercial Officer, Maurice Newa, explained that the new package is a

glowing testimony of the Telco’s commitment to continuously empower customers with a wide variant of products aimed at helping them stay connected to their families and friends at affordable rates.

He said the offer is uniquely designed to enrich telecom users in Nigeria by offering them exciting bonuses on recharges adding that there is no limitation on how bonuses are used as it can be used for calls, SMS and data across networks.

Newa said the 4-in-1 pack will further deepen friendships and family ties saying that the product which will help people stay connected on its network is fo-

cused on family and friends and is another avenue for Airtel to provide its customers with the utmost best.

“At Airtel, we listen to our consumers and we will continue to do our utmost to meet and even exceed their expectations. By providing value for money airtime packs, we are empowering individuals, families and businesses across this great nation to stay mobile and enjoy the exciting Airtel offers,” he said.

In addition, Smart Connect allows customers to add Family and Friends on the Airtel Network and offers as much as N200 FAF bonus on recharges of N200 and above weekly.

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Business News

IMF boss reiterates economic ties with China

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anaging Director, International Monetary Fund, IMF, Ms. Christine Lagarde said China’s ongoing reform efforts would strengthen the partnership between the IMF and China.

She said the implementation of structural reforms as outlined in the third Plenum Blueprint is underway, saying the process would lead to slower, safer, and more sustainable growth with focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, which would impact positively on China, the citizens and the world.

China’s reform centres on promoting good governance through strengthening the legal framework and cleaning up the air by curbing pollution and preserving the environment.

“During my meetings with Chinese government, we also discussed the delays in implementing the IMF’s 2010 quota and governance reform. I share the authorities’ view that every effort should continue to be undertaken to ensure that these reforms can be made effective as soon as possible.

“I had also a series of very interesting meetings in Beijing and Shanghai with a broad section of Chinese society, including young entrepreneurs, financial sector practitioners, accomplished Chinese women, and students at Fudan University, where I had the opportunity to engage with them in a conversation on creating new ingredients for growth and success.’’

Bloomberg budgets $100m for healthcare in dev. countries

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loomberg Philanthropies has partnered Australian government to launch a health initiative worth about $100 million for developing countries.

The Data for Health initiative would enable 20 low-and middleincome countries to vastly improve public health data collection.

Each year, the World Health Organization, WHO, estimates that 65 percent of deaths worldwide, about 35 million of them are not recorded yearly, saying million more deaths are not documented.

This gap in data creates major obstacles for understanding as well as addressing public health problems.

The Data for Health initiative seeks to provide governments,

aid organizations, and public health leaders with tools and systems to better collect data and use it to prioritize health challenges, develop policies, deploy resources, and measure success.

Over the next four years, Data for Health aims to help 1.2 billion people in 20 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America live healthier and longer.

“Reliable data is absolutely essential to problem solving, and nowhere is it more important than in public health,” said Michael R. Bloomberg.

“This new programme will greatly enhance our understanding of the public health challenges we face and greatly improve our ability to address them.’’

Analyst predicts Apple will hit a $1trn market cap

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s Apple gets ready to launch its first new product in five years, Cantor Fitzgerald is raising its price target to a level that would make Apple a $1 trillion company.

People first started talking seriously about the potential for Apple to become a trillion dollar company in February when shares reached news highs, surpassing the $700 billion market cap level. The current stock price of $127 a share gives the company a valuation of $744 billion. Cantor analyst Brian White currently has the highest price target on Wall Street.

It’s not just the launch of the Apple Watch that has White so bullish. He’s also optimistic about Apple’s iPhone portfolio

in China, which he says is poised to benefit from a new upgrade cycle following the expanding 4G network, as well as potential new areas of interest such as an electric car. To top that off, he believes Apple will continue to return cash to shareholders, with more coming next month.

“We believe the combination of these forces will drive the market to reward Apple’s stock with an expanded P/E multiple, and we are raising our 12-month price target to $180 (~$1T cap; from $160).”

According to Bloomberg data, 70.7 percent of analysts have buy ratings on the stock, while just 3.4 percent recommend selling. The average 12-month price target is $140.08. Here is a look at Apple shares over the past year.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Poor communication, threat to Africa’s growth potential –Research

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espite the vast opportunities that Africa is presenting to various brands and businesses, communicating with the continent’s one billion consumers can be a challenge due to the various cultures, political situations and language barriers that exist.

The Head of Advertising and Public Relations for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, Megan Collinicos, warned that should messages and channels not be correctly targeted and adapted for this growing market, the success rate of businesses expanding into the African region is significantly diminished.

Citing the recently released Nielsen’s Emerging Market Insights research(2), which highlighted that consumers in Africa were very receptive to marketing messages, with about 48 per cent of those interviewed confirming that advertising has significant influence on their purchase de-

cisions, Collinicos reported that the research also revealed that 38 per cent of respondents were motivated to buy a specific product due to promotional activities The research also showed that 34 per cent will buy more of or give preference to products from companies that they know engage in corporate social responsibility programs or practices.

“Companies should therefore be innovative when it comes to marketing on the African continent, as consumers in these regions are relatively open when it comes to non-traditional channels. It is also key to have individual strategies for the different regions in Africa, as what may work in Nigeria will not necessarily work well in Uganda or Zambia.

“As we are present in every country in Africa, we have worked hard to understand each individual market and develop individual strategies to suit

them. We have seen some of our greatest success from street activations where we engage in fun activities with the general public.

This is especially effective in cities where the traditional advertising landscape is already cluttered. Our service promise is ‘Excellence. Simply Delivered’ and therefore we aim to centre our communication messages and actions around shipping and delivering with excellence.

That way it gives the consumer a clear idea of what we do – this enables us to combine brand awareness with brand association, so when consumers need to send a package, they think of DHL,” adds Collinicos.

It would be recalled that the African Development Bank has reported that on the back of economic growth in various African territories, rising real incomes will lead to higher consumer spending, which is projected to almost double in the next decade.

Senior Corporate Communication Officer, Yola Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Kingsley Nkemneme (left) and Public Affairs Officer, Mr. Aliyu Ardo, addressing newsmen on reasons for poor power supply in the company’s area of coverage, in Yola, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

US Congress examines tax frauds

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t a Senate Finance Committee hearing penultimate week, there were calls for increased multi-agency cooperation in the United States to combat the various schemes and scams prevalent during the US tax filing season.

In his opening testimony, the Committee’s Ranking Member, Ron Wyden (D – Oregon), said that “scam artists are now stealing Americans’ identities and personally threatening them on an industrial scale, while directly robbing them of their hard-earned money.

Given the sophistication of this criminal activity, and the fact that a lot of it comes from overseas, this looks to me like an emerging type of organized crime.”

“In my view, part of the challenge is getting states, internet

tax services [providers], and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on the same wavelength,” he added.

“Everybody’s got to communicate and work together to make sure criminals can’t just nimbly slide from one jurisdiction to the next.”

That recommendation was picked up during the testimony of Timothy Camus, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations for the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

To date, TIGTA has received over 366,000 reports of telephone scams. As of March 9, 2015, over 3,000 individuals are reported to have been victimized and lost a total of USD15.5m, averaging over USD5,000 per victim. In addition, nearly 300 of these victims also provided sensitive identity information to the scammers.

However, scamming is already the subject of an ongoing multiagency investigation, and TIGTA has issued warnings and multiple press releases to the media in conjunction with the IRS and the Federal Trade Commission on the issue.

Camus also disclosed that the IRS continues to make improvements in its identification of identity theft in tax returns at the time the returns are processed and before fraudulent tax refunds are released. For example, it has taken steps to prevent more effectively the filing of identity theft tax returns by locking the tax accounts of deceased individuals to prevent others from filing a tax return using their name and social security number.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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EnergyWeek Funding for N39bn coal-to-power project underway

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Operators should eliminate unnecessary costs –Access bank

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NASENI boosts power with 4,000 solar panels

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Stakeholders intensify calls for PIB passage, pipelines’ security The nation’s economy has witnessed untold problems as a result low crude oil prices, pipeline vandalism and limited export, especially since the last quarter of 2014.

UDEME AKPAN and CHIDI UGWU report that there is a great need to tackle issues such as economic diversification, pipeline vandalism and petroleum industry bill, PIB.

Oil Vessel

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hen the oil and gas conference started in Abuja, the Federal Capital territory last week, there were indications that discussions would revolved around key issues, including low crude oil prices, pipeline vandalism, oil theft and Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB. The reasons were not farfetched. First, these and others constitute the central themes of developments in the industry. Second, efforts targeted at tackling them have not been able to completely eliminate these issues. Third, they have collectively impacted negatively on the industry and economy of the nation.

Expectedly, stakeholders from different nations and professional backgrounds panned their searchlights on these and other issues. For instance, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-

Madueke noted that globally, oil prices have been sliding to levels last seen during the peak of the financial crisis in 2008 resulting from a weak global economy, strong dollar as well as an over supplied oil market.

She maintained that crude oil prices have dropped by 60per cent from about $110 in June 2014 to $40 by January 2015. The Minister remarked that Brent is currently trading at between 50 and 60 dollars per barrel

and there is limited visibility as to how this will evolve going forward.

“Most analysts agree that as oil producers, we should brace up for extended periods of lower prices and increased price volatility. The resultant effect is that Companies are slashing capital spending in 2015 as a response to this dramatic collapse in oil prices. According to Wood Mackenzie, relative to 2014, a total of US$120 billion

THE GOVERNMENT IS COMMITTED TO ENSURING A CLEAR AND TRANSPARENT FISCAL RULE OF GENERAL APPLICATION WITH APPROPRIATE INCENTIVE TO THE INVESTOR AND COMMENSURATE ECONOMIC RENT TO THE STATE

(24%) has been cut from the 2015 upstream budgets of some 116 companies. This can go up to as much as 40per cent,” she added.

The Minister remarked that it is obvious that many oil producing countries including Nigeria are facing declining government revenues due to low oil prices and this will pose challenges to funding of projects.

She observed that the state of our industry is one that is responding to the dramatic events mentioned above. Alison-Madueke stressed that in the Nigeria Upstream sector, there is a renewed impetus in managing cost, compressing contracting cycles, vigorously addressing the menace of pipeline vandalism and associated crude oil theft as well as the pursuit of the passage of the PIB. CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

34

Energy Week

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Stakeholders intensify calls for PIB passage, pipelines’ security CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 “In the Midstream, new gas pipelines are being constructed in furtherance of the Governments gas development initiatives.

Furthermore, the oil product pipeline network is being rehabilitated whereby critical segments that were once not in use are now operational. In the downstream sector, products supply and availability has been sustained. NNPC’s Retail network has continued to expand in order to improve product availability. However, all of these accomplishments are now been challenged by the current low oil price environment which is characterized by dramatic revenue declines. This means that flexibility in capital expenditure and funding in general will be further constrained in 2015,” she added.

She added that the persistent depressed oil prices may limit industry scope to maneuver in growing long term production and reaching the target of 4.0Million barrels of oil per day. The Minister said that under a sustained low oil price, industry must challenge itself to raise funding for projects in order to meet these targets. She maintained that this will call for radical changes in the cost environment, improved contract/project management and innovative financing mechanism.

“In the event of moderate oil prices recovery, we would still require innovative funding and greater private sector involvement across the hydrocarbon value chain.

Nevertheless, at a high oil price, we must maintain a prudent and incentive based fiscal environment that will prevents the return of high cost of production currently experienced in our industry,” she stressed.

She remarked that the passage of the PIB remains critical. The Minister noted that the government is committed to ensuring a clear and transparent fiscal rule of general application with appropriate incentive to the investor and commensurate economic rent to the state. She added that with this balance of objectives, Nigeria can grow production to meet its target of 40billion barrels of oil reserve and 4million barrels of oil per day by 2020.

“Furthermore, Nigeria’s commitment to fiscal stability in its oil and gas sector remains unflinching especially as our historical antecedents clearly demonstrate this.

The current market reality of low oil price presents opportunity for us to improve efficiency in our operations. As we deliberate on this and other issues in this year conference, I would like to assure you of Nigeria’s commitment to a vibrant oil and gas industry,” she maintained.

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National petroleum Corporation, Dr. Joseph Dawha also maintained that with past lessons the nation should be in a position to tackle the challenges. “Just as there has been a dynamic shift in our industry in the past six (6) months, this occurrence is not new as 1986 and 1998 and 2008 were landmark years. The lessons of the past ought to enable us to respond decisively with this new norm. NNPC on its part is anxiously awaiting the passage of the PIB which will engrain in law a new commercial orientation that would enable a fit for purpose National Oil Company whether in austere times such as this or in better times,’ he added.

Jonathan

Alison-Madueke

Dawha

Wale Tinubu

The Chairman of Oando Energy Resources, Mr. Wale Tinubu said that oil theft has affected the nation in many ways. He said about 30 per cent of the nation’s 2.2 million barrels daily output is stolen and export illegally to operate illegal refineries and export to foreign markets.

“Oil theft in Nigeria is believed to be about 6 -30 percent of the country’s daily production. Nigeria currently imports petroleum products even though it’s the 13th largest oil producer,” he said. Tinubu advised the government to create bi-lateral relations with growing energy dependent economies such as India & China in order to attract more patronage for its crude oil and gas as well as ensure improved regulation and attractive fiscal terms to encourage foreign investments & confidence in the oil industry,’ he said.

He remarked that government should also ensure efficient security measures are in place to prevent bunkering and oil theft in the nation, adding that Nigeria should

adopt and implement adequate measures targeted at eliminating gas flaring in the nation. “Gas flares the second largest amount of gas in the world. Flaring about 18 per cent of the associated gas Nigeria lacks proper gas distribution and transportation systems,” he said. He said over 70 per cent of Africa’s population has no access to electricity, which acts as a fundamental brake on development in the region.

“Nigeria has the largest gas reserves which are sufficient to power up the country and still export energy to other African countries,” he remarked. He said turbines should be established at gas flaring sites to convert gas to power at various oil producing areas. Tinubu said efforts should be made to open new markets for the nation’s oil as crude oil and petroleum products exports to USA have dropped by 67 per cent to 33 mbls in 2014.

“Nigeria’s oil production has remained stagnant since 2010 as foreign investments inflow have reduced over the last 5 years

MUCH GREATER VOLUMES OF OIL ARE DISCHARGED INTO THE ENVIRONMENT AWAY FROM

SPDC FACILITIES THROUGH ILLEGAL

REFINING AND TRANSPORTATION OF STOLEN CRUDE OIL

32 per cent,” he said. He said given the importance of crude oil derivative products, crude oil must be refined into consumable products to maximize revenue generation for stakeholders, including the government.

Tinubu also called for urgent development of the power sector, especially through increased supply of gas to thermal plants. “Over 70per cent of Africa’s population have no access to electricity, which acts as a fundamental brake on development in the region,” he said.

He said the government and others should make massive investments in gas infrastructure including pipelines, compressors, gas tanks and gas refineries for processing and delivery of gas to the end user. “Nigeria has the largest gas reserves which are sufficient to power up the country and still export energy to other African Countries,” he added.

Shell also made it known in its latest report that crude oil theft; sabotage and illegal refining are the main source of pollution in the Niger Delta today. It maintained that in 2013 the Nigerian government estimated crude oil theft and associated deferred production at over 300,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). The company has it that intentional third-party interference with pipelines and other infrastructure was responsible for around 75% of all oil spill incidents and 92per cent of all oil volume spilled from facilities operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) over the last five years.

“Much greater volumes of oil are discharged into the environment away from SPDC facilities through illegal refining and transportation of stolen crude oil. In 2013 the number of spills from SPDC operations caused by sabotage and theft increased to 157, compared to 137 in 2012, whilst production losses due to crude oil theft, sabotage and related temporary shut-downs increased by around 75%. On average around 32,000 bopd were stolen from SPDC pipelines and other facilities, whilst the joint venture lost production of around 174,000 bopd due to shutdowns related to theft and other third-party interference. This equates to several billion dollars in revenue losses for the Nigerian government and the joint venture,” it narrated.

The company remarked that operational spills (those caused by corrosion, equipment failure or human error) accounted for around 15per cent of the total volume of oil spilled from SPDC facilities in 2013. The company maintained that the number of operational spills over 100kg was 30, down from 36 in 2012 and 63 in 2011. It disclosed that the volume of oil spilled due to operational causes increased to 0.4 thousand tonnes.

“Despite these efforts the menace of theft and sabotage persists, with long-term social, economic and environmental implications persist. Only a concerted response by all stakeholders, including government, communities and civil society can end it,” it narrated.

However, Nigerians and even foreign nationals are waiting to see the measures that the winner of the nation’s Presidential elections would deploy to address these and other issues in the important industry.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Funding for N39bn coal-to-power project underway

Energy Week

Cartel puts oil demand growth at 1.17 mb/d

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CHIDI UGWU ABUJA

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here are indications that plan for the funding of the N39.810billion coal-topower project are being perfected by relevant authorities.

According to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), the African Development Bank is planning to inject $200million (about N39.810billion) as Partial Risk Guarantee for operating coal-powered plants in Africa.

Recall that with recent vandalism on gasto-power infrastructures in Nigeria, attention is being shifted to using coal and other renewable energy sources to generate electricity.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) recently granted 1,200megawatts (mw) licence for Ezuma Ltd to generate electricity with coal. The Ministry of Power has also signed over 10 pacts with investors on building coal and solar plants across the country.

Managing Director of NBET, Mr Rumundaka Wonodi said the African Development Bank (AfDB) is to commit $200million to providing Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) to develop coal-to-power in Africa.

“I know that it is a number that is about $200 million,” Wonodi confirmed.

He said, “It is welcome news and you know that we are also working with the World Bank for Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) to support the projects that we undertake.

“The AfDB which is African, understands that Africa needs power from every source that it can, is supporting coal, we welcome that and they offered to provide it in support of some the projects that we are working on like the Zuma energy if they feel that it is nec-

Oil vessel

essary and some of the other coal projects that we see around the country,” he said.

NBET also said eight Distribution companies (Discos) have submitted their Letters of Credits (LCs) so far since the Transition Electricity Market (TEM) commenced since February 1.

Three Discos are yet to post their LCs as required for contractual electricity trading in the ongoing TEM implying that NBET and the Market Operator (MO) may not have a guarantee when the defaulting Discos fail to remit their monthly tariff collection by 100percent as demanded by TEM. “Currently, we have about 8 of the Discos that have posted their LCs which shows that they are comfortable and confident that this market can take off the way it was designed to be,” Wonodi said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Mining and Steel Development, Architect Musa Mohammed Sada has revealed government’s readiness

to stop illegal mining in the country.

Sada said this in Abuja when he visited the Tongyi Allied Mining Limited headquarters to familiarise with the operations of the company.

The minister said, “The purpose of visit to Tongyi Allied Mining Company is part of government’s transformation of the mining sector in line with the present administrations agenda.”

“We are accessing the mining businesses in Nigeria, Tongyi is a pioneering mine in the country which is in line with Mr. President’s agenda for the economy and to access mining companies that are doing business and to stop the menace of illegal mining in the country.”

He said that visits to mining companies in the country are some of the ways to check the menace of illegal mining in the country, adding that illegal mining denies the country of its expected revenue and economic.

into Nigeria’s natural gas distribution grid.

“Total is first to achieve flare-out in its offshore operations in Nigeria. The Phase 2 field development project marked a new chapter in the growth of Nigerian local content and in Total’s support for host communities,” it maintained.

The company maintained that before Ofon Phase 2, never had so many components of a Total project been manufactured locally in Nigeria.

It stated that Total brings international contractors together with local businesses and communities to accelerate technology transfer, training and the hiring of local workers.

“Five of the seven main Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts for the project were awarded to Nigerian businesses. For example, the piping and topsides to retrofit the existing facilities were fabricated locally,” it disclosed.

It added that more importantly, the Ofon Living Quarters, providing safe and comfortable accommodation for staff working on the site, was wholly built in-country. This achievement is a first in Nigeria.

The company stated that the ultrafiltration package filters seawater to remove suspended particles as small as 0.01 microns.

“The seawater is then piped to the deaeration tower before being routed to the water-injection systems for injection into the reservoirs. At a working production rate of 1668m3/hr under vacuum, the seawater deaerator removes dissolved oxygen (to a level of only 20 ppb),” it stated.

It maintained that the availability of the seawater treatment system is essential for Ofon field water injection.

The company maintained that if water injection is shut down, oil production will be directly affected by the resulting reduction in reservoir pressure.

“The removal of dissolved O2 by the deaera-

Total to eliminate gas flaring at Ofon

T

otal has intensified its efforts to eliminate gas flaring at its Ofon Phase 2 through harnessing of associated gas for productive purposes.

The company maintains that its aims at eliminating three million cubic meters per day when all twenty-four new Ofon2 wells are on stream.

“Consistent with applicable Nigerian legislation and Total’s stringent safety regulations, this example of sound environmental stewardship is helping Total to uphold its commitment to reduce the amount of associated gas flared on its operated sites. Indeed, the cessation of flaring on OML102 accounts for a 10per cent reduction in overall E&P flaring by the Group,” it disclosed.

The company said associated gas from Ofon is being piped more than 70 kilometers to the Amenam offshore gas hub.

It maintained that from there, the gas is exported to the onshore Bonny LNG plant and fed

Commodity

Units

Price

Change

% Change

Time(ET)

Crude Oil (WTI)

USD/bbl.

47.38

+0.81

+1.74%

14:31:12

Crude Oil (Brent)

USD/bbl.

55.17

-0.15

-0.27%

14:10:28

TOCOM Crude Oil

JPY/kl

43,080.00

+790.00

+1.87%

14:36:00

NYMEX Natural Gas

USD/MMBtu

2.74

-0.05

-1.69%

14:10:31

Source: Bloomberg as at March 23, 2015

35

he Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC has put the 2015, global oil demand growth at 1.17 million barrels per day, mb/d.

The cartel said almost half of 2015 oil demand growth is projected to come from China and the Middle East.

It maintained that non-OPEC oil supply growth in 2014 is now expected at 2.04 mb/d, following an upward revision of 0.05 mb/d from the last report, mostly due to strongerthan-expected growth in 4Q14.

“In 2015, non-OPEC oil supply is projected to grow by 0.85 mb/d, unchanged from the previous assessment. OPEC NGLs in 2015 are forecast to grow by 0.19 mb/d. In February, OPEC crude production declined by 0.14 mb/d to 30.02 mb/d, according to secondary sources,” it maintained.

The Organisation disclosed that product markets continued strengthening in the Atlantic Basin in February.

“The more bullish sentiment was fuelled by the heavy maintenance season and some outages in the US, at a time when colder weather boosted demand for heating fuels.

Meanwhile, the Asian market maintained most of the previous month’s recovery with support from stronger light distillate demand, which allowed margins to remain healthy,” it added.

It maintained that dirty tanker spot freight rates were mixed in February. VLCC and Suezmax rates encountered declines, mainly on the back of low activity and holidays in the east, while Aframax freight rates increased partially as a result of a tightening positions list, weather conditions and port delays.

However, OPEC mebers, including Nigeria may witness prolonged low crude oil prices for their crude oil grades as supply from non-members have risen to six million barrels per day, bpd.

The Secretary General of the cartel, Dr. Abdalla S. El-Badri said at the 19th Middle East Oil & Gas Conference, Ministerial Panel Session, Manama, Bahrain yesterday that there has been consistent increase in nonmember supply since 2008. tion tower and by O2 scavenger injection makes reservoir souring less likely; failure of the de-aeration system can therefore promote bacterial activity which will negatively impact the reservoir. Sodium hypochlorite injection and periodic biocide treatment both help to prevent the growth of bacteria and other organisms in the seawater system and should be constantly maintained, it disclosed.

It stated that Total is significantly curbing energy consumption and Greenhouse Gas emissions offshore by reusing the heat from gas turbine exhaust gases.

The company disclosed that waste heat recovery is an innovative technology used for the first time for shallow offshore oil facilities in Nigeria.

“The three Waste Heat Recovery Units (WHRU) on the new process platform will capture waste heat from the exhaust gases of the three gas turbines. The temperature of the exhaust gas stream can reach as much as 500°C, and this thermal energy will be recovered to heat water to a temperature of 170°C for use in separating associated gas from the crude oil produced,” it added.

36

Energy Week

NNPC completes PHRC/ PPMC depot roads

A

s part of its Corporate Social Responsibility to its stakeholders, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has completed the rehabilitation and reconstruction of several kilometers of internal access roads at Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) as well as Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) Depot in Onne.

Commissioning the roads, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Joseph T. Dawha noted that the roads would go a long way to promote safety and reduce the spilling of petroleum products on asphaltic surfaces and increase daily evacuation of petroleum products from 210 trucks to 260 trucks per day.

Represented by the Group Executive Director, Engineering and Technology, Engr. Adebayo Ibirogba the GMD said that the deplorable condition of the roads made loading operations at the depot a night mare to the Petroleum Tanker Drivers and had led to several industrial actions which obstructed the smooth evacuation of petroleum products from the depot in the past.

He noted that with the completion of the roads, tankers could now evacuate about nine (9) million litres of petroleum products on a daily basis from the depot adding that at peak the loading bays can service 350 tankers per day.

The NNPC helmsman revealed that the installed operational storage capacities of the PPMC depot, Port Harcourt are 6.94 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit, 2.44 million litres of Dual Purpose Kerosene and 3.2 million litres of Automotive Gas Oil. The GMD said the NNPC remains the only integrated Oil and Gas Company in the country that has the capacity to produce crude oil, refine crude oil and sell same through its network of pipelines and depots across the country stressing that the refinery and the depot remain crucial value chains to the core business objective of the Corporation.

He noted that the NNPC would ensure that the ongoing rehabilitation and Turn Around Maintenance of the refinery is carried out with every sense of responsibility in order to produce petroleum products that meet the specification of its numerous customers.

The Ex-Chairman of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers of the PHRC/ PPMC depot in Onne, Comrade Clement Oziri applauded the NNPC management for rehabilitating the road adding that the initiative would eliminate loading gridlocks with associated safety hazards.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Operators should eliminate unnecessary costs – Access Bank STORIES: UDEME AKPAN

O

perators have been tasked to eliminate unnecessary cost of production as part of best practices in the oil and gas industry.

The Executive Director (OIL&GAS), Access Bank Plc Mr. Elias Igbinakenzua said this aims at ensuring that resources are properly utilized in the industry.

“I talked about global best practice and must look at where we are going to operate as a firm with the best practice. Today, we have inefficiencies in the system and we can’t live and be okay with that. We want to identify what is making our production less efficient and see how we can team up and reduce inefficiencies,” he said.

He said, “When we say oil is costing $15 per barrel to produce, we are talking about removing the associated costs responsible for the inefficiency such as the militancy in the Niger-Delta, the issue of down times and all that.”

He said after the removal of these undetermined costs elements, it would be possible to ascertain the real cost per barrel of crude oil.

“That is what we are aiming to

achieve. If you look at the cost issue, Saudi Arabia is producing for less than $10 per barrel. Even Ghana here, the cost of production per barrel is not as high as the cost production of oil in Nigeria. So, a lot can be done. I am not blaming the oil company for what we have today but I am saying as a system we are still inefficient and we must work together to minimize inefficiency so that we can have a going concern that is sustainable,” he said.

He said the CBN during the last quarter of last year issued a circular that Banks total loans for the Oil and Gas sector should not exceed 20per cent of their portfolio.

“Before then, the policy was that a bank could finance 20% downstream, 20% midstream and 20% upstream. And because the circular was issued towards the end of the year, virtually all the banks could not comply with that policy. The CBN had to suspend the policy for now,” he said.

He said, “So as at today the old policy is still what is applying which means as a bank, you can lend 20% downstream, 20 % midstream and 20% upstream. The limited factor

Pipeline

today is the bank’s single obligor limit. That is to say a bank cannot lend to one obligor, 3 % of the shareholder’s fund. And today! we have banks that have up to N500billion insured in the shareholders funds.”

He said the CBN two weeks ago said, Nigerian banks are well capitalized, that shows that Nigerian banks are actually strong enough to support the sector.

“Yes and rightly so because the oil and gas and the power sectors have issues right now. You are aware of the drop in crude prices and if an oil company is not effi-

cient, then the drop in price of crude can make their loans to start going bad,” he said.

He said, “So, if banks have not gotten their borrowers to edge their risk, then they are exposed. Once a bank goes down it affects the entire industry because there is what we call the ‘Contagious effect’. We have banks that are very important in the system, if anyone is brought down because of Oil and Gas then the whole industry will be contagious.”

He said the whole of Africa have only 8% of the global oil reserve and Nigeria has 2.25% of the reserve.

SPDC completes sale of OML 18 T he Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, SPDC, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell), has completed the assignment of its 30per cent interest in oil mining lease (OML) 18 and related facilities in the Eastern Niger Delta.

Its interests in OML18 were assigned to Eroton Exploration & Production Company Limited. Total cash proceeds for Shell amount to $737 million.

This divestment is part of the strategic review of SPDC’s onshore portfolio and is in line with the Federal Government of Nigeria’s aim

Oil workers at work

of developing Nigerian companies in the country’s upstream oil and gas business.

Shell has been in Nigeria for more than 50 years and remains committed to keeping a long-term presence there – both onshore and offshore.

Through SPDC and its other Nigerian companies, Shell responsibly produces the oil and gas needed to help fuel the economic and industrial growth that generates wealth for the nation and jobs for Nigerians.

OML18 covers an area of 1,035 square kilometres and includes the Alakiri, Cawthorne Channel, Krakama, and Buguma Creek fields

and related facilities.

The divested infrastructure includes flow stations together with associated gas infrastructure plus oil and gas pipelines within the OML. The divested fields produced on average around 14,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (100%) during 2014.

Total E&P Nigeria Limited and Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited have also assigned their interests of 10% and 5per cent respectively in the lease, ultimately giving Eroton Consortium a 45per cent interest in OML18.

All approvals have been received from the relevant authorities of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

SPDC is the operator of a joint venture between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (55%), SPDC (30%), Total E&P Nigeria Limited (10%) and Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (5%).

The company maintained that Shell Companies have played a pioneering role in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry throughout its history.

It has it that Nigeria’s first commercial oil exports were from the Oloibiri field operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) in the Niger Delta in 1958.

“The first deep water production

was in 2005 from the Bonga Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel operated by the Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo),” it stated.

It maintained that SCiN have also been at the forefront of gas development and utilisation in Nigeria, producing and delivering gas to domestic consumers and export markets for over 40 years.

“Today SCiN produce oil and gas from land swamp and shallow water fields in the Niger Delta and from deep water reserves some 120 km off the coast. In 2013, Shelloperated ventures in Nigeria produced an average 693,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), with 535,000 boe/d from the SPDC Joint Venture and 158,000 from SNEPCo operated ventures,” it maintained.

It added that overall production was down from 949,000 boe/d in 2012, primarily reflecting the impact of oil theft, sabotage and related deferments.

“SCiN’s portfolio in Nigeria continues to evolve, and changes are designed to enable the Shell group of companies to remain a competitive player in Nigeria for years to come. Nigeria is a core part of the Shell group’s upstream business today and of its growth objectives in integrated gas and deep water,” it added.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Energy Week

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

NASENI boosts power with 4,000 solar panels STORIES: CHIDI UGWU ABUJA

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he Executive Vice Chairman of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Dr Mohammed Sani Haruna said it has produced over 4,000 solar panels locally in four years.

Dr. Haruna in a statement said the local solar panel agency in Abuja is a landmark for local content firms in the energy sector.

He said, “NASENI Solar Energy Limited, Karshi, the only manufacturers of Solar panels in West Africa, since 2011 has produced about 4000 pieces of solar panels.

“Nigerians can enjoy constant power generation since the country receives 5.535 Kwh per m2 per day of solar energy and an average of 6-9 hours sunshine per day,” he noted.

Engr. Haruna who commended the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) for pushing the local content law said it would encourage organisations like his to become major players in the power sector.

He said: “Available data shows that 60 percent of Nigerians living in rural communities do not have

access to the National grid, but with full patronage of NASENI 7.5mw Solar Panel which has local content, the epileptic power generation in the country will become a thing of the past.”The NASENI Chief said the section of the new law on contracts/ procurement gave a lot of hope to local producers.

Referring to the Regulation, he quoted: “All licenses shall give first consideration for goods made in Nigeria and services provided by Nigerian firms in award of contracts.

“All operators and project promoters shall consider Nigerian content when evaluating any bid at commercial stage and the bid containing the highest level of Nigerian content shall be selected.”

Meanwhile, federal government has also signed triple pacts with indigenous firm, Ezetech Ltd and two Chinese companies on the construction of solar-powered technologies across rural areas in Nigeria, statements said.

Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo while signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ezetech said the company will provide 250kilowatts (kW) – 1megawatt (mw) solar plants all over the country.

Solar panel

Describing the initiative, Nebo said, “the project should not be put in the archives” insisting that “we want to see action, because this things are do-able.”

Managing Director of Ezetech, Ezekiel Adeyemi said it has prototype 7.5kW solar-powered farm settlements in Ondo and 10kW in Ijebu Ode, assuring that the Company will showcase its expertise with world class technology.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Power, Hon. Muhammad Wakil signed pacts with two Chinese companies, Huawei Technologies of China and Bravos/Power China on

the delivery of solar power across rural areas.

Wakil said Nigeria’s power privatization is now a model to copy as the Ghanaian Minister of Power, Mr. Kwabena Donkor came last week to tap from the success achieved in Nigerian power privatization exercise.

Vice-President, Huawei Technologies, Richard Cao stated that the MoU was the outcome of the Minister’s earlier visit to China to woo investors into the Nigerian power industry. He said the company has capacity to provide solar power 24/7 to rural communities in Nigeria.

Firm gets license for 1,080mw power plant

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he Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr Sam Amadi has issued an on-grid 1,080megawatts (mw) generation licence to Oma Power Generation Company Limited.

The gas-fired power plant, Oma Power said will be located at OrgwuOgwe, Ukwa West, in Abia state.

Speaking during the ceremony at NERC headquarters in Abuja over the weekend, Dr Amadi described the granting of the 1080mw capacity licence as an ambitious project. “It is an ambitious venture, but doable,” Amadi said.

Recall that Egbin Power, which is located in Lagos, is the first genera-

Nebo

tion company in history to have been issued a licence of such magnitude.

Recently, NERC had issued a similar licence to Zuma Energy Nigeria Limited to operate a combined 1,200mw coal power plant in Itobe, Kogi state.

The company’s delegation was led by the Director, Business Development and Project Finance, Tim Onomiwu while other NERC officials at the event were the Commissioner, Legal Licensing and Enforcement (LL & E), Dr Steven Andzenge and Mary Awolokun, Health, Safety and Engineering (HS & E) Commissioner.

Mr. Onomiwu in his response assured the Commission that the licence terms will be adhered to.

He said the company’s development partners who are GE and Geometrics are negotiating project agreement and finances to ensure the takeoff of the project which will be built in three phases.

NERC also recently issued ongrid generation licences to Zuma Energy Nigeria Limited to construct four units of 300 megawatts coal-to-power plants in Kogi State at a total cost of $5bn (N1.2tn).

According to NERC, the firm was initially issued an on-grid

licence on September 20, 2011 to enable it to operate a 1,200MW independent power plant.

The Chairman, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, however, said that on July 31, 2014, the company submitted an application for an amendment to enable it to assign the licence to four different Special Purpose Vehicles to build a 300MW plant each.

“Following the completion of the application, the commission passed a resolution dated November 11, 2014 authorising the company to publish the statutory notices in line with the mandatory provisions of Section 70(2) of the EPSR Act. The commission on December 18, 2014 approved the recommendation to amend and assign licence No. NERC/LC/066 to the plants,” Amadi said.

The Chief Executive Officer, Zuma Energy Nigeria Limited, Dr. Innocent Ezuma, said it would cost the firm about $5bn to build the four plants.

“By the reason of receiving these licences, we must hit the ground running. Very soon, we will see the approval of a tariff for the four SPVs that will enable us execute the Power Purchase Agreements and by the end of this year, the groundbreaking of the first unit of the Itobe 1 coal-to-power 300MW plant in Kogi

State will be done,” he said.

On why the 1,200MW plants will be constructed in segments of 300MW each, Ezuma said, “Basically, it is for ease of implementation.

As you may understand, to build one megawatt coal power station, you will require about $3m. So, if you are building 1,200MW, you will require approximately $5bn, and this is a huge amount of money for any investor at this time when Nigeria is just beginning to tap into its coal resources.

“With the sub-division of these licences, it means that we can embark on two projects simultaneously at a time. The timeline for the construction of a coal-fired power plant is from two-and-half to threeand-half years.”

Ezuma said the equity for the plant had been over-subscribed by investors, stressing that the firm’s financial partners were aware of the huge capital outlay needed for the project.

He said, “Power plants are not funded solely. The development phase of a power plant is always funded by sponsors. But as I speak to you, Zuma Energy has invested huge sums of money in developing this plant up to this level solely.

37

Gulf of Mexico recovers after BP oil spill

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n the five years since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, scientific data and studies are showing that the Gulf environment is returning to its baseline condition, said BP. The Gulf of Mexico Environmental Recovery and Restoration report also indicates that impacts from the spill largely occurred in the spring and summer of 2010.

The report is based on scientific studies that government agencies, academic institutions, BP and others conducted as part of the spill response, the ongoing Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process or through independent research.

While individual studies are helpful, they tell only part of the story. This report, a wide-ranging compilation of reputable studies by respected researchers, provides a broader overview of the state of the Gulf environment.

“The data and studies summarized in this report are encouraging and provide evidence that the most dire predictions made after the spill did not come to pass,” said Laura Folse, BP’s executive vice president for response and environmental restoration.

“The Gulf is showing strong signs of environmental recovery, primarily due to its natural resilience and the unprecedented response and cleanup efforts.”

The report also looks at the largescale, BP-funded early restoration projects to speed the recovery of natural resources in the Gulf that were injured as a result of the spill.

Available data does not indicate the spill caused any significant long-term population-level impact to species in the Gulf. For example, NRDA data do not reveal ongoing adverse impacts to bird populations linked to the spill beyond the initial, limited acute mortality in 2010.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data show that fish populations are robust, and commercial landings generally have been consistent with pre-spill trends and ranges.

Findings published by a group of researchers, including scientists working with the NRDA trustees, show the accident did not affect most deepwater coral communities.

Several key factors lessened the spill’s impact. The spill took place in deep water, far offshore and in a temperate climate, allowing the oil to break down.

The type of “light” crude oil involved in this spill also degrades and evaporates faster than heavier oils.

At the same time, the massive offshore response and shoreline cleanup – for which BP spent more than $14 billion and workers devoted more than 70 million personnel hours – mitigated the damage.

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Energy Week

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

The World of Oil and Gas With

Dr. Ossie A. Esiemokai

Aristotle Onassis, the oil tanker billionaire

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he firmament of the ancient Greek world holds the most pantheon of gods and erudite philosophers. They include Athena, Pericles, Psdeoidon, Pluto, Archilochus, Euclid, Euripides, Plautus, Socrates, Aristotle. A Turkish-Greek tobacco merchant living in Smyrna, in what was then Anatolia gave birth to a son and committed hyperbole by giving his toddler the names of the two most prominent thinkers in Grecian history. He forgot to name him also after one of the gods. Pluto, the god of wealth would have sufficed.

The infant grew up to assume that role and create for himself a world where money could buy him anything but one. We would tell you our reader, which is that item of life. For his home he bought a whole island in the Mediterranean called Skorpio from his nation. He had other homes and ultra-luxurious apartments in Buenos Aires, Athens, New York, Paris and London(a 5-star hotel suite at the Savoy). For his yatch he bought a frigate from the Canadian navy and had it outfitted to lure in and keep the world’s dilettantes, sybaritically and hedonistically entertained or spoilt.

The bar stools were upholstered with the foreskin of whales!

For his women he had a Swede

femme fatale with some huge Europeanship-building connections; an Argentine opera singer who helped at inception to launch his brand of gold tipped cigar lines; a Russian ballerina; a two-bit actress in Hollywood(where else?); a sweet little Greek nubileTina, he married gave children and eventually drove to suicide. There was the most beautiful woman in the opera world of the sixties - Maria Callas, and the crown jewel was the Camelot widow of the assassinated President of the United States of America, Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy who became Mrs. J. Onassis. The pre-nuptial agreement included three million dollars for herself, one million dollars for each of her children and $150,000 shopping change for life. Great brands don’t come cheap. He even had the Greek inheritance laws changed to exempt her, after these payments, from his inheritance. He used to fly a Boeing 707 all alone or with a consort and two friends, like when he flew into Dakar, Senegal in 1973. Of course he owned Olympia Airlines, who owned the jet plane.

The art and science of making tonnes of money is often fortuitous.

After the World War II, Mr. Onassis went to defeated Germany to ex-

plore possibilities of building supertankers there. But there still existed a Potsdam Agreement forbidding that nation from building anything bigger than a mid-sized boat. But ship conversion was not included, so he brought over one of his whaling ships and started reconverting and by the time the Potsdam Treaty was scrapped on April 2, 1951, he had a great toe-hold in ship building in the yards at Hamburg and Kiel. Eventually, he pioneered the building of ultra-large super-tankers. Then he went over to Saudi Arabia where he tied up such monopolistic oil lifting deals with Saudi Aramco, that his brother-in-law started and stoked at great expense such venom, opprobrium and persecution in London and Washington that reveals the wanton, perfidious and night-of-the-longknives existence of business moguls of the world.

This Mr. StravosNiarchos was married to Onassis wife’s junior sister and also a prominent Greek shipowner. But in what ways they harmed each other covertly and openly would give brother-in-lawhood a bad name for life! The conspiracy to scuttle Mr. Onassis deal, called the Jiddah Agreement, was waged on all fronts with no holds barred. A commissioned coterie of shady ex-FBI men moonlighting as privileged private investigators went to work to rake in the muck on Onassis. And there was, believe me, this great muck to find and rake in. The materials ended up with the legendary Mr. Edgar Hoover, the long-serving FBI chief who leaked them to then Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Nixon knew one or two things about Ari and those were not pleasant things. He had previously served as a US Senator on the Senate Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigations, that had occasionally looked at aspects of how the Greek, married to an American citizen with US children, did business

THE CONSPIRACY TO SCUTTLE MR. ONASSIS DEAL, CALLED THE JIDDAH AGREEMENT, WAS WAGED ON ALL FRONTS WITH NO HOLDS BARRED

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Power plant

market share today, is overtaken by Australia (24per cent share of the market by 2035), Africa (21%), and the US (18%),” it disclosed.

It added that Asia is the largest destination for LNG, with its share in global LNG demand remaining above 70per cent.

“By 2035, China becomes the second largest LNG importer (12 Bcf/d), just behind Japan (13 Bcf/d). Europe’s share of global LNG imports rises from 16per cent to 19% between

2013 and 2035, with an additional 10 Bcf/d of LNG demand, it maintained.

Over the same period, GDP is expected to more than double, with nonOECD Asia contributing nearly 60 per cent of that growth.

Globally, GDP per person in 2035 is expected to be 75per cent higher than today, an increase in productivity which accounts for three-quarters of global GDP growth.

British Petroleum which confirmed this in its latest report disclosed that China and India are key drivers of non-OECD growth and are projected to grow by 5.5per cent per annum (p.a.) between 2013 and 2035.

“By 2035, they will be the world’s largest and 3rd largest economies respectively, jointly accounting for about one-third of global population and GDP,” it disclosed.

It maintained that as China’s level of productivity catches up with the OECD, its rate of growth is expected to slow from 7per cent p.a. in this decade to 4% p.a. in the decade to 2035.

“India’s growth moderation is

Onassis

and whether any of those methods and objectives are actually or potentially inimical to US foreign or domestic interests.

This grossly monopolistic Aristotle deal with the Saudis didn’t have the colors red, white and blue splashed on it. It was too blue and Mediterranean white to be trusted and left alone. It was also not in the interest of the Lion and The Unicorn and there was a Cold War going on. This man with the frame of a Roman-Greco wrestler would wield too much powers if left to his wiles. Now lets look at this secretively hatched Jiddah Agreement and what forebodingly caused all the ruckus and why it had to be scuttled by all means, fair and foul.

By one Mr. Peter Evans’ account;’ It called for Onassis to supply five hundred thousand tons of tanker shipping capacity towards the establishment of Saudi Arabian Maritime Company, or SAMCO. Headquartered in Jiddah and although, tankers owned and registered in the names of ARAMCO’s parent companies on or before December 31, 1953 would not be affected by the deal, Mr. Onassis would be free to take over from ARAMCO ships as at when they become obsolete.’

Left as it was drafted, this agree-

ment would have monopolistically given Mr. Onassis more than forty-five million tons of Saudi Oil to move per annum over the high seas within ten years of its signing. This is understandably not in the strategic interest of neither the US, Great Britain or even France and then West Germany.

It must be scuttled and in Britain they made the details to reach the parliament. The Americans first leaked the details via a covert/front newspaper published in Rome. The intrepid William Colby was then in charge in the central Company whare-house in Rome. From the raked together muck they found something to ground and cage Aristotle. Bail was granted him plus a $10,000 bond and the judge’s restriction was for him not to travel outside the United States. Then they placed listening devices in his New York pad and some in his Foch Avenue apartment in the tony-side of Paris.

Now they could audibly monitor how he brews his capers and his libidinous escapades in bed with the great Parisian broads. Eventually the deal was killed. And you thought that making money in the Oil and Gas business was as easy as singing in the church choir!

more gradual: slowing from 6per cent p.a. in this decade to 5per cent p.a. in the final decade. Primary energy consumption increases by 37per cent between 2013 and 2035, with growth averaging 1.4% p.a..

Virtually all (96%) of the projected growth is in the non-OECD, with energy consumption growing at 2.2per cent p.a,” it stressed.

It maintained that OECD energy consumption, by contrast, grows at just 0.1% p.a. over the whole period and is actually falling from 2030.

BP stated that the projected growth rate of global energy consumption is significantly slower than the recent trend (2.4% p.a. for 2000-13).

This slowdown is most marked in non-OECD Asia, where growth has averaged 7% p.a. since 2000 and is projected to slow to 2.5% p.a. between 2013 and 2035.

“This reflects the end of the phase of rapid growth in energy demand in developing Asia, cen-

tred on China, driven by industrialization and electrification. Slower economic growth and an accelerated reduction in energy intensity (as economic growth becomes less dependent on heavy industry) play roughly equal parts in explaining the slowing of energy growth,” it emphasized.

It disclosed that the fading impact of industrialization is apparent in the split of primary energy consumption by sector. Industry has been the fastest growing sector since 2000, averaging 2.7% p.a., but projected growth slows to 1.4per cent p.a.

BP disclosed that the ‘other’ sector (residential, services and agriculture) becomes the fastest growing sector, averaging 1.6% p.a. 2013-35.

“Transport continues to play a relatively small role in primary energy growth, growing steadily (1.2% p.a.) but accounting for just 15% of total growth during 2013-35. Coal suffers a sharp change in fortunes, from being the fastest growing fossil fuel since 2000 (3.8% p.a.), to the slowest growing fuel from 2013 to 2035 (0.8% p.a.),” it stressed.

LNG supply to grow by 48 bcf/d he global supply of Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG is to grow by 48 billion standard cubic feet per day by 2035.

The British Petroleum made it known in its latest report that overall, LNG supply grows by 48 Bcf/d by 2035, with Australia (16 Bcf/d) and the US (14 Bcf/d) each contributing around a third of that increase.

“African LNG supply, led by East Africa, increases by 12 Bcf/d. As a result, Qatar, which has the largest

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Dr. Ossie A. Esiemokai, Managing Partner, Atlantic Consulting is the author of ‘The Gulf of Oil’ which is now in print.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Industry & SMEs

39

Despite govt’s interventions, experts predict tough times for SMEs A combination of political and macroeconomic factors may well cost many SME investors’ projections of better returns on their investments in the 2015 fiscal year. Indeed, experts are convinced that the outlook for micro enterprises is not bright with the attendant negative implications for the overall performance of the economy in real terms. ABOLAJI ADEBAYO reports.

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espite government institutional and policies support to enhancing the capacity of small and medium scale enterprises, indications are that most of the micro entities may not meet investors’ expectations in a landscape laden with fiscal and other operational landmines, characterized by massive decay in infrastructure and high interest rate regime, at least in the current year.

This worrisome situation of the SMEs has continued to generate serious concern and skepticism amongst stakeholders, thereby raising a major question on whether or not the SMEs can add better value to ongoing national economic growth drive.

The concern is even more disturbing when comparing SME in Nigeria with other countries particularly where SMEs have become the most critical catalytic contributors to economic reconstruction and transformation.

The current problems have undermined the capacity of the economy and small and medium scale enterprises are seen as mechanism for intervention to addressing these long term problem of the economy.

Unfortunately, SMEs have not been able to propel economic growth and development which are quintessence of mitigating the effect of unemployment, and low standard of living on the economy.

The Chief Executive of Nextzon Business Services Limited, Wale Ogunsola, said 2015 means higher risk of failure and more opportunities for success in the sector.

He said despite the fact that the GDP moved by 79 per cent from $285billion estimates of 2013 to $509billion, re-based GDP has propelled Nigeria ahead of South Africa to number one in Africa and 26th largest economy in the World; growth remains strong at over five per cent per year. Strong growth seen from “new economy”

Small scale oil extraction machine

Cotton processing machine

EXPERTS ARGUED THAT THE REASON FOR UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIA’S ECONOMY HAS BEEN GROUNDED IN THE FACT THAT LESSER PEOPLE ARE INVESTING IN THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR According to him, the most challenges ahead of SMEs in 2015 including visibility, transaction size, individualisation, corruption, link to market, inability of SMEs to fund the actions required to make the investment-grade businesses, and access to patient capital among others.

The President Chairman of Council, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, NASME, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau said the challenges and the problem

of small and medium scale enterprises are tied to some economic variables and the challenges that generally characterized the nation’s economy.

Some of the challenges and problems, according to him, include high level of unemployment, high poverty incidence, and low industrialisation capacity, lack of finance, inconsistent government policies and inadequate infrastructure, lack of research and insecurity of the business climate among others.

The challenge of addressing the problem of hunger, poverty and unemployment is even more worrisome when considering the actualisation of the millennium development goals by the country.

Experts believe that if Nigeria is to achieve the millennium development goals, one of the sure ways is to enhance the capacity of its SMEs. The core issues identified by the millennium development goal such as hunger, poverty, literacy, maternal and mortality rate would not be achieved unless the problems of SMEs are clearly tacked.

Nevertheless, the internal characteristics of small and medium scale enterprises too have also interact with some economic variables to undermine the capacity of the economy. Issues of low level of entrepreneurial skills, poor management practice, inadequate equity capital and lack of information among other problems.

In spite of these problems and challenges, the NASME boss said the current eco-

nomic reform process ongoing in Nigeria aimed at reducing poverty, unemployment and strengthening of basic institutions and sub sector of the economy target at improving and enhancing the capacity of small and medium scale enterprises is beginning to show a renew optimism on small and medium scale enterprises as instrument of economic growth and development.

Small and medium scale enterprises have long believed to be catalysts for economic growth and national development both in developed and developing countries.

Although there are about 747 million SMEs in according to the statistics by the National Bureau of Statistics, stakeholders said a relatively small number of them are into manufacturing.

Researches by various SMEs bodies and organisations show that less than 15 per cent of SMEs in Nigeria could be found in production aspect of economy, rather they prefer to venture into distribution of goods.

The performance and effectiveness of small and medium scale enterprises as an instrument of economic growth and development in Nigeria has long been under scrutiny. This intense scrutiny has been against the backdrop of the low performance and inefficiency that characterise the subsector particularly in assessing its role on economic growth and development.

Experts argued that the reason for underdevelopment of Nigeria’s economy has been grounded in the fact that lesser people are investing in the manufacturing sector.

They said the country depended more on importation of processed/finished products/goods and that such attitude will continue to impact negatively on the economy of the country.

While they don’t deny improvement in the economy measured by the rebased GDP, they agree that the country is not advancing in term of economic independence.

It is suggested therefore that invigorating SMEs with strengthened commitment to economic reform would offer a turning point in facilitating the recovery of Nigeria economy and national development.

Trade Minister, Aganga

40

Cocktail

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Businessman arrested two years after reported death

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Florida businessman who was reported dead in Venezuela two years ago was arrested alive and well in North Carolina, authorities said.

Jose Lantigua, 62, former owner of two Circle K Furniture stores in Jacksonville, was reported dead while vacationing in Venezuela in 2013, leaving the businesses millions of dollars in debt.

Lantigua’s insurance companies filed a lawsuit alleging he had faked his

death, and the companies appear to have been proven right Saturday when Lantigua was pulled over with his wife in Buncombe County, North Carolina.

Florida Assistant State Attorney Joe Licandro said Lantigua is facing charges including insurance fraud regarding policies for seven companies worth a total $9 million.

Charlie Jimerson, an attorney for American Enterprise Bank, said Lantigua owes the bank more than $2 million.

‘Girl, 12, tried to poison mother twice for taking away iPhone’

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uthorities in Colorado said a 12-year-old girl was taken into custody on allegations she tried to poison her mother twice as revenge for taking away her iPhone.

The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said the girl’s mother noticed the smell of bleach coming from her smoothie shortly after she took away her 12-yearold daughter’s iPhone.

“It’s pretty scary.” Cmdr.

Heidi Prentup told KDVRTV. “She thought that her daughter had maybe just cleaned the glass and that there was still bleach left in it. Then she started feeling sick.”

Prentup said the woman’s sickness passed, but a couple weeks later she discovered another bleach odour coming from a carafe of water in her bedroom.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Oddities

Parents help pupils to cheat during state exams

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mages of Indian students blatantly cheating on school-leaving examinations under the noses of supervisors have gone viral, inviting ridicule on Twitter and exposing flaws in the much-maligned education system of an impoverished eastern state.

On Thursday, the Hindustan Times published a photo of dozens of men clambering up the wall of a four-floor test centre in Bihar state, perched on window ledges as they folded answer sheets into paper planes flown into classrooms.

“Should we shoot them?” asked Prashant Kumar Shahi, Bihar’s education minister, addressing a news conference after television news channels aired the incriminating photo and raked up the scandal.

“On average, four or five persons are helping each student use unfair means,” Shahi said, adding it was

impossible to curb cheating if parents encouraged their children.

Exams held by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) are viewed as makeor-break tests that could transform the lives of millions growing up in poverty.

Copying is rampant during state-run standardized tests and invigilators look

the other way when pupils consult peers via WhatsApp messages on phones or jot down answers from notes smuggled into classrooms.

More than 1.4 million students are taking the tests this week, crammed into 1,217 examination centres in Bihar.

Supervisors stationed at notorious test centres vie for the postings, enticed by

the prospect of bribes from parents eager to have their wards scrape through.

Cheating has been on the rise since the state government offered cash rewards of 10,000 rupees ($160) to lowercaste students who were able to answer about half the questions on their tests.

Parents scaling the walls of a school to help their children with answers to exam questions, in Bihar state, India

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Civil Service

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

41

Over 23 million children hungry in Africa —Minister ADEOLA TUKURU ABUJA

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inister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said over 23million out of 66 million children that go to school hungry in the world are from Africa but that the problem can be solved . He said the reality is that today

66 million school age children go to school hungry in the world and over 23 million of these are in Africa.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja during the High Level Policy Dialogue on Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture in Nigeria, Adesina said World Food Programme it will only take $3.2 billion a year to solve this problem and guarantee access to food to all the 66

million school age children in the world.

“While we build high rising buildings and skyscrapers, highways and massive infrastructure so badly needed to further spur growth, Africa is forgetting to feed its own children. Of the 21 countries in the world with prevalence of 40-60 % stunting growth in the world, 16 of them are in Africa.

“Not much progress has been made on reducing stunting on the continent, with the percentage of stunted children in Africa reducing from 47% in 1990 to 40% in 2011. The percentage of pre-school stunted children in Africa has increased from 14.5 million to 60 million and projected to rise to 64.2 million by 20,” he said.

He said for Africa to

address the challenge of malnutrition and stunting, there is an urgent need for Africa to produce more of its own food.

“Africa, which has 65% of all the arable land left in the world to feed the 9 billion people in the world by 2050 has difficulty feeding itself, spending $35 billion a year importing food that it can produce in abundance.

Africa has no business

Corps Marshal, FRSC, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi (3rd right); National President, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Musa Isiwele (3rd left), and other officials, after a joint news conference by FRSC and stakeholders in the transport sector in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Minister charges MDAs to brace up ahead of elections CHIDI UGWU ABUJA

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he Minister of Information, Senator Patricia Akwashiki has charged heads of parastatals and agencies in the ministry to brace up and manage some of the issues that may likely come up in the aftermath of the forthcoming general elections.

She spoke on the heels of media reports that some people are threatening violence and planning to announce fictitious results in the event that the elections do not favour their candidates in order to cause chaos.

It will be recalled that there was eruption of violence in the wake of the 2011 general elections when some miscreants took to the streets in some northern

states and destroyed life and property even before the results of the elections were announced by INEC. Senator Akwashiki who spoke to the heads of parastatals and agencies at their maiden meeting in Abuja, said as information managers, they should be a step ahead of those planning to foment trouble by sensitizing the general public on the need for peace during and after the elections.

The Minister, who noted from the briefings of the heads of parastatals and agencies that adequate funding had been the major challenge to their operations, pledged to drive a process that would attract more funds to the Information Ministry, which remained a vital tool in governance and democracy.

She, however, urged them to be more creative by churning out programmes

that would attract additional funds even outside of government’s coffers.

“I know we have a lot of problems, it is the general song everywhere. Once we don’t have enough revenue to go round, we are bound to have problems but I know that it is also in times of trouble and problems that people show their best. I believe we can look inward and outward as the case may be to get other sources or other means of improving ourselves and generating monies and revenues for us to work,” she said.

The Minister was of the opinion that if the Federal Ministry of Information was properly funded, there would be constant and sustained public information on government’s activities and programmes even before the electioneering.

She stressed that as a deliberate policy to guard

against misinformation by the political opposition, public information organs in the ministry should be given the wherewithal to saturate the media space with factual and verifiable information on government’s achievements and programmes and compete favourably with other private outfits.

Senator Akwashiki pledged her readiness to work with the heads of the parastatals and agencies to adequately inform the public on activities of government and also to improve the image of the country.

While presenting her brief, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Folasade YemiEsan, said despite the paucity of funds, the ministry initiated and implemented the Ministerial Platform and the National Good Governance Tour, as two key programmes, which

showcased the landmark achievements of the Jonathan Administration.

She said during the Ministerial Platform, ministers interacted with Nigerians about their stewardships on a multi-media platform to encourage feedback while the National Good Governance Tour was the physical verification and inspection of projects by the media and civil society to showcase ongoing and executed projects of government across the country.

Dr. Yemi-Esan said the Information Ministry also utilised the Social Media as a veritable platform for public communication and interaction.

She pledged the preparedness of the management and staff to work with the new minister to actualize the mandate of the ministry.

with importing food. Africa should become a global powerhouse in food, feeding itself and feeding the world,” he said.

He said Nigeria still has 37% of under-5 children that are stunted and that the regional disparities exist with malnutrition and stunting.

He further explained that the Northwest region has the highest level of stunting with 56%, followed by the North East with 42% and the North central with 29 per cent.

“The regions with the lowest levels of stunting are Southwest with 22%, South-south with 18% and the southeast with 16%.

Greater efforts are needed to drastically reduce these high levels of stunting.

“While increased access to food is important, several factors such as low incomes, lack of access to clean water, sanitation, and deworming and unbalanced diets worsen malnutrition and stunting.

“Therefore, solving the challenge of malnutrition requires an integrated approach and close partnerships across ministries of agriculture, health, education and women affairs.

“This is why the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has now prioritized the issue of nutrition. We will not only produce more food, we will work to ensure that we produce a lot more nutritious food and expand access to nutritious foods to children in particular.

“We have developed a new Food and Nutrition Strategy that will accelerate nutrition-transformative agricultural policy in Nigeria. The draft of this document will be presented and discussed today,” he said.

He revealed further that to expand access to nutritious foods, the country have prioritised bio-fortification.

“Much progress is being achieved as we have accelerated investments in biofortification through our national agricultural research institutions, in partnerships with international development partners, especially the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, the Global Alliance for Improving Nutrition, Harvest Plus and the International Potato Center,” he said.

42

Civil Service

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Nwankwo pledges commitment to citizens improved health MARCUS FATUNMOLE ABUJA

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ewly appointed Minister of State for Health, Eng. Fidelis Nwanko, has pledged to work with stakeholders in the nation’s health sector to boost health care deliveries in the country.

Nwankwo stated this when he assumed office

at the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja recently, according to a statement made available to National Mirror by Director of Information in the ministry, Mrs Ayo Adesugba.

The Minister replaced Dr. Khaliru Alhassan who was made substantive Minister by President Goodluck Jonathan.

“The new Minister of State was received by the

Water Aid launches Healthy Start campaign REGINA OTOKPA ABUJA

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s part of activities to mark the World Water Day, WaterAid has launched a four-year global advocacy programme tagged ‘Healthy Start’ campaign to show the devastating impact that lack of safe water and sanitation has on the health of children in developing countries, including Nigeria.

The Country Director, Mr. Michael Ojo speaking in Abuja, said ‘Healthy Start’ was naturally focused on improving the total well being of new births and young people, thereby giving the organization an opportunity to work more closely with relevant health agencies to ensure that health policies and programmes fully incorporate access to water sanitation and hygiene.

According to him, lack of access to safe water, basic sanitation and hygiene, was detrimental to the health of every child, especially children under the age of five, contributing to the high mortality and morbidity rates amongst children under this age range.

He disclosed that diarrhoea alone, claim the lives of about 100,000 every year while adding that over 60 million Nigerians did not have access to improved water sources and over 120 million lacked access to improved sanitation.

Ojo lamented that Nige-

ria was one of a handful of countries around the world where access to water sources and basic sanitation was falling rather than rising.

He said: “Diarrhoea is the biggest child killer in Nigeria and nearly 100,000 children under the age of five die of diarrhoea in Nigeria every year as a result of the nation’s poor levels of access to water and sanitation.

“This is invariably linked to the region’s under five mortality rate which is one of the highest in the world. Globally, around 1,400 children die everyday from diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation; that is one child every minute. Our children don’t have to die, we can and must do something about it”.

Ojo stressed that lack of clean water, basic sanitation and good hygiene would increase the rates of ill health, deaths and economic losses, due to unsustainable improvement in health and nutrition, adding that government has neglected the growing population to fend for themselves.

Disclosing the efforts of the organization to influence the health sector in integrating water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in their child health programmes and policies, he called on the health sector to give more priority to WASH to help in the reduction of child-ill health and death in the country.

honourable Minister and his management team.

“In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. linus Awute, on behalf of the management and staff of FMOH congratulated Dr. Alhassan on his new appointment and welcomed Engineer Nwankwo to the ministry. Mr. Awute said he was delighted to receive the new Minister of State who he described as a seasoned professional who has joined the Ministry at the appropriate time.

“Directors and key staff

of the ministry took turns to congratulate the Ministers and intimate the new minister on the mandate of the ministry and emphasised its relevance in the economic development of the country.

“Responding, Engineer Nwankwo thanked the Minister for the warm reception. He also pledged to work with the staff of the ministry to achieve the transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan in the health sector,” the statement said.

The Minister is expect-

ed to help address some of the health challenges facing the nation such as maternal and children deaths, huge malaria burden and HIV/AIDS. The country is also currently faced with increasing non-communicable diseases such as cancer, hypertension and diabetes among others, while it is on the verge of defeating the polio scourge.

Nwankwo, who is expected to remain in office till at least May 29 when the life of present administration will end, will be faced with nipping the

problem of inter-professional rivalries in the sector in the bud. He will also join other stakeholders to ensure the operationality of the National Health Act. He hails from Ebonyi state, home of the former Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, who resigned on the day the country was certified free of the Ebola virus disease – October 20, 2014, to contest gubernatorial seat in Ebonyi. He failed to get his party’s ticket at the primary.

L-R: Lecturer, Department of European Languages, University of Lagos, Prof. Timothy Asobele; Director-General, Consumer Protection Council, Mrs. Dupe Atoki and Dean, Faculty of Law, UNILAG, Prof. Akin Ibadapo-Obe, during a Public Lecture on ‘The State of Consumer Rights Protection in Nigeria,’ in Lagos, yesterday.

Nigerians clamouring for extension of Sure-P, GIS programme —FG BOLADALE BAMIGBOLA OSOGBO.

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he federal government has disclosed that Nigerians are clamouring for extension of its Sure-P, Graduate Internship Scheme, GIS, beyond this year.

Dropping this hint in Osogbo yesterday, the director, Graduate Internship Scheme, GIS, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr. Peter Papka, however added that further extension

may be based on testimonies of interns that have exited the programme after two years attachment to companies.

Speaking during the three-day exit training organised for interns employed through the scheme in Osun state, Papka, who was represented by Mrs. Olufunke Babalola, said the GIS has mandate to train 50, 000 graduates over two years, adding that half of the number have already completed their training, while 3,000 have

exited the programme.

He charged the interns to ensure that the trainings received add value to their immediate employers and the rest of the nation to address the missing link between school and workplace.

He expressed believe that the skills and experience acquired through GIS have placed interns in positions to contribute meaningfully to government’s Transformation Agenda and enhancement of national manpower de-

velopment.

Speaking on his experience during the training, an intern attached to a machine fabrication firm, Olatunde Gboyega, said the training had exposed him to the basic requirement to successfully run tools and machine fabrication company.

Another intern attached to a farm, Oloyode Ganiyat, said many of the participants would only need grants to establish companies of their own and employ job seekers.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday March 25, 2015

h efforts to return

Politics

43

governor to stop the same lawmaker, but that effort was stoutly resisted by Otu, who defied the governor and fought himself back to reckoning. This time around, after much struggles, the governor had his way and Otu was denied a return ticket. But Out, who draws his strength from his massive grassroots supports and appeals, decided to jump ship and defected to the Labour Party, LP, from where he is seeking a re-election to the Senate.

For Otu, Saturday’s election is going to be a very defining moment because it will determine his future political career.

George Akume - Benue North West

Saraki

ticularly, the youth, who believe that the lawmaker’s performance in the Senate for two tenures was below average and therefore needed to be changed with a younger and more energetic person.

The lawmaker according to political watchers of Bayelsa State may not encounter any difficulty being re-elected to the Senate, particularly since the election will come up the same Saturday as that of President Jonathan, his kinsman.

James Manager - Delta South The third term senator, Manager, will be gunning for history as he attempts to return to the Senate for the fourth time. He will be the only surviving senator from Delta State as none of his other colleagues got return tickets to the National Assembly.

Manager, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta, is believed to be eying the position of the Senate Leader, which is currently zoned to the South-South

by PDP. With Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba out of the way, Manager believes that as the longest serving senator from the zone, the position should naturally come to him. Manager will also be counting on his closeness to Mark as a serious factor for the office of the Leader.

Coming from the same political zone with President Jonathan, it is hoped that the lawmaker would not encounter much difficulties being re-elected to the Senate this Saturday.

Magnus Abe - Rivers South East Abe is one of the senators who has enjoyed astronomical rise to political power.

Once a councilor in Rivers State, he was shortly elected member of the Rivers State House of Assembly and later made a commissioner in the state and later Secretary to the State Government, SSG, before he ended up at the Senate.

A lawyer from the minority Ogoni ethnic nationality, Abe sparkled at the Senate, notwithstanding that he was a first timer to the Red Chamber. He also chaired an ‘A’ class committee – Petroleum (Downstream), where he very creditably acquitted himself.

Watchers of Rivers State politics believed that Abe was short-changed by Governor Rotimi Amaechi, when he denied him the gubernatorial ticket of the APC after all the sacrifices Abe made by putting his political career on the line and sheepishly following the governor to APC despite series of caution by his people.

Adeyemi

Even though Abe managed to get the senatorial ticket of APC, there are doubts if he would make it back to the Senate, particularly with the massive support of the people of the state for President Jonathan.

Oluremi Tinubu - Lagos Central Wife of the national leader of APC, Tinubu is not expected to encounter much difficulty in her return bid to the Senate. Even the first time she was elected to the Red Chamber, it was on a platter of gold, because the ticket was wrestled by Bola Tinubu over night from Muniru Musa and given to Oluremi, who eventually landed at the Senate with minimal efforts.

This time around too, the situation is not expected to be any different. Given the high stakes in Lagos State politics, Tinubu, whose political kingdom in the state is being challenged by the emergence of Jimi Agbaje as PDP gubernatorial candidate, is expected to put everything into the election to ensure that APC comes out successful at the polls.

David Mark - Benue South For Mark, Saturday’s election, to all intents and purposes, is a foregone conclusion.

During the PDP primaries in December last year, Mark was returned as the zone’s senatorial candidate unopposed. He is also expected to be elected in a landslide on Saturday with no serious opposition candidate from the APC from the zone.

Indeed, Mark is already on the path of making history as the only senator, who would be elected to the Senate for the fifth time, since the advent of the current democratic dispensation.

The lawmaker, who has already broken the records as the longest serving Senate President Nigeria has ever had for unbroken eight years, may extend that record to twelve years, if the PDP emerges with majority members in the Senate after the election.

This Saturday, the popularity and

mass acceptance/ appeal of the senators will be put to the acid test

Tinubu

Mark is expected to go for the office of Senate President for the third time after the eighth Senate is inaugurated and according to National Assembly watchers, he owes his stability as Senate President to his high intellect, high administrative acumen, maturity, proper appreciation of the rules of the Senate and the constitution of the country, as well as his humane attitude to governance.

Chris Ngige - Anambra Central The former governor, who was later booted out of office by the court for electoral fraud, came to the Senate for the first time in 2011. Ngige defeated the late Professor Dora Akunyili, who flew the flag of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, with a very slim margin to emerge the senator for the zone.

Currently, the vice chairman of Senate Committee on Power, Ngige will be facing very stiff opposition this time around in his bid for a second tenure at the Senate. The lawmaker’s stiffest opposition will come from Chief Victor Umeh, who doubles as the senatorial candidate of APGA as well as APGA National Chairman.

The contest for Anambra Central senatorial seat will also include Hon. Uche Ekwunife, who is currently serving out her second tenure in the House of Representatives.

Umeh will be counting on the support of the state APGA, which currently produces the governor of the state to ride to victory.

Besides, Umeh as a very dogged fighter who wrestled former Governor Peter Obi to retain his chairmanship of the party, will be falling back on that dogged fighting spirit to ensure that he wins Saturday’s election.

For Ngige, he sure will be haunted by the APC toga, which also made him lost the last gubernatorial election to Governor Willie Obiano. Ngige’s opponents are already using the APC to campaign against him as a party for the South-West, which represents Tinubu’s expanding political hegemony.

Bassey Otu - Cross River South Otu was one of the senators who suffered from the typical arbitrary and dictatorial attitude of Nigerian governors. Political watchers of the politics of Cross Rivers State believe that the lawmaker was denied a return ticket by Governor Liyel Imoke for no convincing reason(s) other than perhaps to halt Otu’s rising political profile in the state.

In 2011, similar attempt was made by the

Akume is making his third attempt at coming back to the Senate this time. The former two-term governor of Benue State was first elected to the Senate in 2007 on the platform of the PDP. In 2011, following his parting of ways with PDP, the former governor jumped ship to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, under which platform he was re-elected to the Senate and eventually elected the Senate Minority Leader.

Akume also doubles as APC leader in Benue State, where he arbitrarily appoints people to political offices. All things being equal, Akume is not expected to encounter much difficulties in his re-election bid come Saturday, particularly as people from his zone are very upset with the administration of Gabriel Suswan.

Barnabas Gemade - Benue North East No doubt, Gemade is going to have a very uphill task in returning to the Senate. The former PDP National Chairman and one time Works Minister was first elected to the Senate in 2011 on PDP platform. Governor Gabriel Suswan’s ambition to go to the Senate after his second term in office as governor of Benue State threw him on the war path with Gemade, who happens to hail from the same senatorial zone with the senator.

After all entreaties by PDP stakeholders from the zone for the duo to resolve the issue amicably failed, an open confrontation for the ticket ensued between the governor and Gemade, leading to the governor naturally having an upper hand. Gemade in frustration had to defect to the APC to actualise his senatorial ambition. Political pundits in Benue believe that Gemade has very little chance in to win Saturday’s election against Suswan.

Ahmed Makarfi - Kaduna North The former governor of Kaduna State is attempting to return to the Senate for the third time. Makarfi was first elected to the Senate in 2007 at the end of his two-term in office as governor under the platform of the PDP. In 2011, Makarfi was rigged out of the Senate by the candidate of the then CPC and founder of the Abuja-based Base University, Datti Ahmed. Fortunately for Makarfi, after barely a year, the court restored him to office.

The former governor, who is serving as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance is highly respected by his colleagues because of his mature conduct as well as intellect and proper grasp of financial issues.

With the reported wave being made by APC in the North, it is not really certain what the outcome of Saturday’s election would portend for Makarfi. Watchers of Kaduna State politics believe that, if the election would be based on performance, Makarfi will surely carry the day on Saturday.

44

Politics

Wednesday March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Nigerians in Germany endorse Buhari Olajide Omojolomoju

N

igerians living in Germany have endorsed the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, and his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, in the March 28 elections.

The endorsement was announced at a gathering at the Hochfeld Hall, Hochfeld, Duisburg, Ger-

many last weekend.

About 100 Nigerians were in attendance and they all pledged to ensure all their relatives back home vote for the APC ticket.

The Coordinator of the German chapter of the APC, Hakeem Fashola, said Nigerians living and working abroad are the ones who bear the shame of the failures of the current administration.

He said: “We are tired of being laughed at. Ev-

erywhere we go, we are reminded of how terrible the image our country and our president have over here. It is getting more and more difficult to hold your head up proudly and say you are a Nigerian.

See how they messed us up at the Chatam House when hungry young Nigerians were paid to come and protest against General Buhari. How embarrassing!

“Nigeria needs change

and in Buhari and Osinbajo, we can see that change.

Their plans to create jobs, provide electricity and end pervasive corruption are very detailed and they have the will to carry it through. By the grace of God, we will give them all the moral support from here and ensure that all our relations vote for them massively. We can’t miss this chance for true change.”

Fashola said members

of the group have donated vehicles, audio CDs, souvenirs and other items to support APC candidates including Femi Gbajabiamila and Desmond Elliot.

Secretary of the chapter, Mukaram Akorede, said: “Nigerians have a choice to make between voting for a party that has failed for 16 years or the one that has made Lagos the most attractive city in Africa. We must choose between the party that worships corruption or the one that has a plan to end it. I think Nigerians know who has allowed

3 DAYS TO GO

terrorists to kill so many people in the North and will choose APC and vote for Buhari.”

Mr. Akorede berated Nigeria’s leadership for failing to keep its promise to ensure that Nigerians in the Diaspora vote in the 2015 elections, adding that if Namibia could hold elections with their citizens abroad participating, Nigeria that claims to be the giant of Africa should be able to do the same.

General elections: Survey shows Nigerians will vote en-mass Ebere Ndukwu

A

era of garrison politics is gone and Nigerian people are now wiser and much more prepared to use their Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, to decide candidates of their choice and will not succumb to any amount of intimidation, coercion or use of crude implements to change their minds.

Agbese further maintained that the rules have not changed and will not change and therefore called

on the youths to rise up with their PVCs to defend their destinies on election days knowing well that these very element who could not stop God in 2011 have further diminished in character, morality and even financial source to challenge the popular wish of the people after four years.

He said: “To us at the NDF, this callousness and madness must be stopped immediately by the Police

and other security agencies even as we call on Tarzor to remain resolute in his commitment to our nascent democracy.

“We are also confident that the electorates would troop out en mass on election to vote candidates of their choices irrespective of the present threat and violence which some persons have already substituted for peaceful and intellectual engagements.”

head of the coming general elections, a survey released by the Cleen Foundation in conjunction with Afrobarometer, an African-led non partisan research network, showed that two-thirds or 65 per cent of Nigerians favour democracy as the best form of government, while 15 per cent approve military rule with majority willing to vote in the coming general elections.

Disclosing this at a public lecture titled “First Public Presentation of the Findings of Afrobarometer round six surveys in Nigeria,” Cleen Foundation Programme Manager, Nengak Daniel, said the survey showed that “ahead of the elections, key political office holders receive weak approval ratings on their perfor-

Ayo Esan

Perspectives for Community Support Brigade,” at the training programme for CSB, Lagos State director of NOA, Prince Waheed Ishola, said CSB has crucial role to play in this year’s election which kicks off on Saturday, saying however that the performance of its roles must be guided by good behavior.

He said for CSB to play its role of ensuring peace during the election, it must not engage in partisan politics; must ensure that electoral materials are escorted to only authorised designated centres; must be

properly dressed with tags or inscriptions of the CSB insignia to identify and differentiate them from those who are not on duty; must demonstrate high sense of professionalism; be polite, display calmness and respond to issues without exhibiting rudeness as well as be alert or vigilant to mitigate any trouble.

He further counseled them to ensure fairness to all persons/parties and must have basic knowledge of electoral offences in Section 129 of the Electoral Act. Acknowledging the fact that the brigade members

have been helping in sensitising the people on the need to be involved in the ongoing political process, especially with regard to the collection of the Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, and the need to eschew violence during the elections, Ishola said though a fraction of CSB members would be engaged during the forthcoming elections, but as a matter of fact, all CSB members are expected to continue unabated in performing their roles which are germane to having a successful conduct of elections in the state.

Accord Party gubernatorial candidate road’s show in Ibadan yesterday.

Violence: NDF condemns attack on Benue PDP guber candidate Adeola Tukuru ABUJA

N

ational Democratic Front, NDF, yesterday condemn in totality the attack by suspected All Progressives Congress, APC, thugs on the person and campaign train of Benue State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, gubernatorial candidate, Prince Terhemen Tarzor.

NDF National President, Comrade Philip Agbese, while reacting in a press release in Abuja described the unwarranted attempt on the lives of Tarzor and his supporters after a church service at Agasha in Guma Local Government Area of Benue as barbarism and animalism.

He callec for urgent action by security agencies as some persons have deployed anti-democratic forces to stop the wind of transformation blowing through the length and breadth of Benue State.

He said the promoters of violence in Benue state and other parts of Nigeria must be reminded that the

Lagos NOA, CSB, collaborate on violence-free election

L

agos State directorate of the National Orientation Agency, NOA, and the Community Support Brigade, CSB, formerly known as WAI Brigade, are collaborating on how to ensure a violencefree election.

To this end, a one-day training was organized by NOA for CSB members on violence free 2015 general election last Monday.

Speaking while presenting a paper titled: “Violencefree 2015 General Elections:

mance, and public perceptions are characterised by low levels of trust and high levels of perceived corruption” According to the study, four key findings indicative of the viability of the polls are voters’ willingness, possibility of electoral violence, security threats and the readiness of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Cleen Foundation, a non-governmental organisation promoting democracy and good governance, found that 65 per cent of the randomly selected Nigerians in the survey expressed willingness to vote.

However, of those who feel intimidation and violence, majority reject non-democratic alternatives.

Similarly, the survey submits that there are key risk factor requiring keen attention and action from security agencies.

It however, perceived that vote rigging or perceived rigging will be the major trigger of violence in the election especially, the presidential and gubernatorial elections.

It therefore recommends that “the role of vigilantes and other non formal security organisations operating outside the formal security framework should be properly defined and regulated to ensure that they complement rather than compete with, or oppose or other formal security agencies that have the constitutional mandate of providing security before and during the elections.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Capital Market

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Index up 0.3%, UBA leads gainers STORIES: JOHNSON OKANLAWON

F

or the third consecutive day, the equity trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange extended its bull yesterday after the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, maintained its stance on key monetary rates.

The All Share Index appreciated 0.27 per cent to close at 29,584.00 points, compared to the increase of 0.58 per cent recorded the preceding day to close at 29,505.47 points.

Market capitalisation gained N27bn to close at N9.87trn, compared to the

increase of N57bn recorded the preceding day to close at N9.85trn.

Stock analysts have attributed the rally to speculative activities of domestic investors who are taking advantage of attractive entry prices.

On the sectorial indices, the NSE 30-Index and the Banking Index rose 0.19 per cent to close at 1,340.47 points and 322.31 points respectively.

The Insurance Index increased to 143.62 points, up 0.10 per cent, but the Consumer Goods Index lost 0.02 per cent to close at 744.60 points.

The Oil and Gas Index shed 1.89 per cent to close at 343.90 points, while the Lotus Islam-

ic Index fell 1.05 per cent to close at 1,967.76 points.

The Industrial Index declined 1.05 per cent to close at 1,893.01 points.

The United Bank for Africa Plc led the gainers’ table with 27 kobo or 7.30 per cent to close at N3.97 per share, followed by FCMB Plc with 18 kobo or 6.87 per cent to close at N2.80 per share.

Honeywell Flour Plc rose 14 kobo or 4.90 per cent to close at N3.00 per share, while Dangote Flour Mills Plc gained 14 kobo or 4.84 per cent to close at N3.03 per share.

Skye Bank Plc added 11 kobo or 4.70 per cent to close

at N2.45 per share.

On the flip side, the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc depreciated N1.01 or 8.56 per cent to close at N10.79 per share, while May and Baker Plc dropped seven kobo or 4.73 per cent to close at N1.41 per share.

Seplat Plc fell N18.08 or 4.66 per cent to close at N370.00 per share, while John Holt Plc declined four kobo or 4.17 per cent to close at 92 kobo per share.

UACN Plc shed 71 kobo or 2.08 per cent to close at N33.49 per share.

A total of 211.4 million shares valued at N2.85bn were traded in 3,808 deals.

Wema Bank posts N2.4bn profit in 2014

W

ema Bank has declared a profit after tax of N2.37bn for the financial year ended December 31, 2014, an increase of 48.8 per cent when compared to N1.59bn recorded in the same period of 2013.

The bank recorded 58.8 per cent increase in profit before tax, from N1.9bn in 2013 to N3.09bn in 2014, while total assets up 16 per cent to N382.6bn, from N330.9bn in 2013.

Further analysis of the result showed that gross loans and advances to customers up 51 per cent to N149.3bn, from N98.6bn in 2013, while customer deposits was up 19 per cent to N258.9bn from N217.7bn in 2013.

Net interest income rose 31 per cent to N18.5bn, from N13.8bn in 2013.

Speaking on the result, the Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Segun Oloketuyi,

said that the bank continues to record year-on-year improvement in its financial performance.

According to him, the bank has improved significantly on its profitability and customer base despite shrinking margins and intense competition.

He added that the progress recorded is a result of the continued execution of threeyear growth strategy – Project LEAP. “Specifically for the 2014 financial year, the bank recorded a growth in profit before tax of 58.8 per cent from N1.9bn in 2013 to N3.09bn in 2014 on the same capital base, an indication of improved efficiency and better utilization of resources.

“The bank recorded a 19 per cent growth in customer deposit volumes largely from the commercial and retail segments of the market in spite of the tightened liquidity regime

exacerbated by the hike in cash reserve requirement. Our loans and advances to customers increased by 51 per cent guided by a strong risk management structure, which is evidenced by the level of non-performing loans at 2.49 per cent,” he said.

Oloketuyi explained that the bank has become a stronger, more efficient, resilient and customer-focused organization with a robust risk and governance structure.

He said, “We have used technology to our advantage, deploying in-branch solutions, mobile and internet applications and other social media tools to drive customer patronage and to reduce our cost to serve. We have continued to contain our operating expenses despite the increased inflationary environment while at the same time there was significant improvement in our feebased income lines.

“As we turn 70 as the premier indigenous bank in Nigeria, we are glad to unveil a new Wema Bank that responds faster and better to customers’ needs whilst adapting more quickly to the ever-changing dynamics of the industry. “ The bank’s boss noted that the differentiating factor of the bank is the agility in responding to constantly changing business environment, firm commitment to being the bank of choice and relentless determination to continue to raise the standards of customer service.

“We are focused on stepping further to becoming one of the most efficient mid-tier banks in Nigeria in no distant future. We are confident that we will sustain the momentum and improve on our profitability and volume growth in 2015,” he added.

Skye Bank floats N100bn commercial papers

S

kye Bank Plc yesterday formally launched the bid to raise some N100bn, about $500m, in short-term funds through the issuance of short-term commercial papers to investors.

The formal signing ceremony to kick-start the book building process for the issuance was held at the bank’s head office in Lagos.

The bank is raising N20bn under the first tranche of the N100bn domestic commercial paper issuance programme. The book building ends on Friday, March 27, 2015.

Under the terms of the issuance, the commercial papers carry a tenor of 90 days with an indicative yield of between 75 to 100 basis points

above the 91-day Nigerian Treasury Bill, NTB. The final yield will be determined by ruling quote from the expression of interests by the end of the offer period on Friday. The threemonth NTB opened at 14.21 per cent.

The commercial papers will be quoted on the FMDQ OTC Plc, the over-the-counter market for money market instruments. Minimum subscription is N5m with subsequent addition in multiples of N1, 000.

Speaking at a post-signing ceremony , the Group Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Timothy Oguntayo, said with the launch of the first series, the bank plans to raise the N100bn within a period of 12 months, although its

funding need will determine whether it will raise the entire or part of the full amount under the programme.

He noted that while the bank’s liquidity position is well ahead of regulatory requirement, the bank is issuing the commercial papers to support its liquidity as it continues to expand its transactions and opportunities to customers.

He added that the bank also opted for the commercial papers as part of its trailblazing efforts to deepen innovation and products in the Nigerian financial markets, noting that the bank was also the first to float and list a real estate investment trust (Reit) on the Nigerian stock market.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and FMDQ recently

introduced commercial paper issuance progamme.

Skye Bank is the first to issue under the dispensation.

Rate (%) Inflation

8.2

MPR

13

Crude oil price

$58.96

45

Source: NSE

Inter-Bank Rate Naira

US Dollar

$1

N197 Market indicators All-Share Index 29,584.00 points Market capitalisation 9.87trn

Stock Updates GAINERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

CHANGE

% CHANGE

UBA

3.70

3.97

0.27

7.30

FCMB

2.62

2.80

0.18

6.87

HONYFLOUR

2.86

3.00

0.14

4.90

DANGFLOUR

2.89

3.03

0.14

4.84

SKYEBANK

2.34

2.45

0.11

4.70

PZ

24.43

25.55

1.12

4.58

DIAMONDBNK

3.79

3.96

0.17

4.49

FIDELITYBK

1.35

1.41

0.06

4.44

FBNH

8.00

8.35

0.35

4.38

WEMABANK

0.92

0.96

0.04

4.35

CHANGE

% CHANGE

LOSERS COMPANY

OPENING

CLOSING

CCNN

11.80

10.79

-1.01

-8.56

MAYBAKER

1.48

1.41

-0.07

-4.73

SEPLAT

388.08

370.00

-18.08

-4.66

JOHNHOLT

0.96

0.92

-0.04

-4.17

UACN

34.20

33.49

-0.71

-2.08

OANDO

13.51

13.23

-0.28

-2.07

UBN

9.40

9.22

-0.18

-1.91

NESTLE

820.00

805.00

-15.00

-1.83

GUINNESS

129.00

127.00

-2.00

-1.55

UBCAP

1.38

1.36

-0.02

-1.45

FGN Bonds

Offer

Bid

Description

Price

Yield

Price

Yield

13.05 16-AUG-2016

1.40

96.59

15.83

96.74

15.70

15.10 27-APR-2017

2.09

98.71

15.82

98.86

15.73

16.00 29-JUN-2019

4.27

100.80

15.71

101.10

15.61

16.39 27-JAN-2022

6.85

102.49

15.77

102.79

15.70

14.20 14-MAR-2024

8.97

93.28

15.61

93.58

15.55

10.00 23-JUL-2030

15.33 65.00

16.25

65.30

16.17

Closing Market Prices of March 24, 2015

Treasury Bills Maturity Date

Bid

Offer

Exchange

Rates (N)

25-Jun-15

13.84

14.34

WAUA

270

24-Sep-15

14.83

16.03

USD

197

17-Mar-16

13.60

15.70

EURO

214

CFA

0.32

YEN

1.64

Tenor

Rate (%)

SWISS FRANC

202

O/N

10.6233

1M

15.4993

POUNDS STERLING

293

3M

16.4602

SDR

273

6M

17.3641

NIBOR

The Fixings of March 17, 2015

46

Capital Market

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Stock exchange daily equities summary Equities as at March 24, 2015 1st Tier Securities

1st Tier Securities Sector

Company name

No Of Deals

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded

Value of Shares(N)

Sector

Company name

No Of Deals

Quotation(N)

Quantity Traded

Value of Shares(N)

Monday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

47

Community Mirror The collapse of the economy has affected your business and we cannot allow the PDP to continue in power for another four years. It is time to say goodbye to a party that has reduced Nigeria to ridicule in the international community.

APC Presidential Candidate – General Muhammadu Buhari

Lagos donates 51 transformers to rural community FRANCIS SUBERU

T

he Lagos State Government yesterday handed over 51 transformers to rural, riverine and semi-urban communities across the 57LGAs/ LCDAs of the state to boost electricity generation and distribution in those communities.

Handing over the transformers the Honourable Commissioner for Rural Development, Pastor Cornelius Oyefolu Ojelabi said the transformers were made possible by the Honourable members

of the State House of Assembly who prevailed on the governor to accede to the request for the provision despite the fact that transformer procurement and distribution should not be the responsibility of the State Government.

He also noted that the Private Companies Eko Distribution Company, EKDC, and Ikeja Distribution Company, IKDC, are not capable to provide the needs of the people from several meeting held with them.

According to him, the two companies from meeting held with them disclose that they are in

need of transformers to effectively distribute power to the State.

He noted that the State Government over the years have been acceding to the yearning of its people by providing total rural electrification and transformers in its communities, schools, hospitals and other infrastructures despite the fact that it is federal government responsibility but when the federal government privatized power generation and distribution over 3years ago the State Government felt it cannot be providing infrastructures for private company’s business.

More so, when the over 10bil-

lion naira used in providing infrastructures over the years to aid power generation and distributions were not refunded by the Federal Government after privatization.

While urging the people to take ownership of the transformers that the Ministry will take to the respective communities immediately after the ceremony and install and connect to national grid, he assured them that the State Government will continue to cater for their needs till the last day of the administration as promised by the State Governor, Babatunde Fashola.

According to him, “A government that is providing an enabling and conducive environment for business to thrive and a safe community is worth supporting”.

He used the opportunity of the occasion to reel out all the developmental projects his Ministry and the State Government have been doing along the Badagry axis which included several roads, water and rural electrification projects both on land and in the riverine areas and urged the people to vote enmass for APC in the forthcoming election to continue to enjoy the dividends of democracy.

Man bags 6 months jail for stealing PVC, ATM cards RAIMO OLUOKUN

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28- year old man, Agocha Matthew has been sentenced to 6 months imprisonment by an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court sitting in Lagos or stealing a Permanent Voters Card, PVC and two ATM cards belonging to one Miss Bummi Agagu.

Magistrate Nike Olagbende in her judgment found the accused guilty of conspiracy and stealing lady’s handbag containing one emWrestlers entertaining a crowd at the Kwete Wrestling Festival in, Bachama Kingdom Lamurde LGA of Adamawa peror Armani wrist watch swatch State. irony watch, one Permanent Voter Card bearing the name FAMILY CHANGE OF NAME Agagu Olubunmi from PUBLIC NOTICE We, formerly known and addressed as (1) Onyekaba Peter Nwannediuto (2) Onyekaba Gladys Unoma (3) Onyekaba Tochukwu Gregory (4) Onyekaba Chigozie Jude (5) a Kia Soul Saloon car Chinazaekpere Chikaodiri Nuella (6) Onyekaba Chinemerem Anthony, The property known as No. 53 Egbeda Onyekaba now wish to be known and addressed as (1) CHIDIUTO PETER CHIMAOBI OKEREKE with registration num(2) CHIDIUTO GLADYS ULUMMA MARY (3) CHIDIUTO TOCHUKWU BEN Idimu Road, Idimu, Lagos, is the subject GREGORY (4) CHIDIUTO CHIGOZIE JUDE CHRISTIAN PAUL (5) CHIDIUTO ber FKJ 927 BT. CHIKAODIRI NUELLA (6) CHIDIUTO CHINEMEREM Other items stolen matter of a law suit between MOUNT CHINAZAEKPERE ANTHONY BEN VICENT. All former documents remain valid. Local Govt. Education Authority, ESUBEB, WTC Pls III, Madona University Elele, National Open University, are; First bank ATM GILGAL INVESTMENT LIMITED South Africa Country, Embassy and general public take note.

AND IMPERIAL HOMES LIMITED at the High Court of Lagos State, Ikeja Division (SUIT NO ID/ADR/21/15).

The general public is warned to desist from purchasing the property from Imperial Homes Limited (GT HOMES).

Dated the 25th day of March 2015 AKINYINKA KALEJAIYE Imam, Kalejaiye & Co Solicitors to Mount Gilgal Investment Limited 43b, Oduduwa Crescent, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE is hereby given to the general public that the INDEPENDENT MOTORCYCLISTS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (the group formerly known as ANACOWA, Ikorodu) has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration of its Incorporated Trustees.

The Trustees Are: (1) Mr. Murisiku Adejuwon, (2) Mr. Oluwashanu Awolesi, (3) Mr. Nosiru Akilo, (4) Bayo Ogunrinde, (5) Mr. Godwin Etim, (6) Mr. Olamilekan Obisanya, (7) Mr. Taiwo Ogunsanwo, (8) Mr. Durodola Alade, (9) Mr. Peter Nworie, Aims and Objectives 1. To secure and promote the individual and collective economic interests of voluntary members 2. To ensure the upliftment of the welfare and well-being of voluntary member operators.

3. To foster and promote interdependence and spirit of “one for all, all for one” among member operators, amongst other aims and objectives.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

Signed: TRUSTEES

card, Sterling Bank ATM and one Apple Ipad valued N750, 000.

The Magistrate held that the prosecution proved its case against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt adding that there was no doubt in the mind of the court that the accused carried out the robbery.

The defendant was arrested by a security man at No 2 bedwell road Ikoyi Lagos and when questioned where he got a lady handbag, he was unable to give a satisfactory answer.

Police prosecutor, Mr., Ishola Samuel, had informed the court that the defendant committed the offence on March 17, 2015, at about 11:15pm at No 5A Oba Adeyinka Oyekan Avenue, Ikoyi Lagos.

According to him, the defendant stole properties worth N771.000 thousand naira goods and other valuable items.

CHANGE OF FAMILY SURNAME EMEREUWAGINI: This is to confirm that this family names:- Emereuwagini Ozioma Ihunanyachukwu, Emereuwagini Rejoice Chinaecherem, Emereuwagini Precious Nzubechukwu, Emereuwagini Wisdom Chimankpam, Emereuwagini Miracle Chizurum, now wish to be known and addressed as MADUWUBA OZIOMA IHUNANYACHUKWU, MADUWUBA REJOICE CHINAECHEREM, MADUWUBA PRECIOUS NZUBECHUKWU, MADUWUBA WISDOM CHIMANKPAM, MADUWUBA MIRACLE CHIZURUM. All former documents remain valid. General public, take note.

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National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

World News Holding the (2022 Winter Olympics) Games in a frugal way is not a slogan, it’s a reality – Chinese Mayor Wang Anshun

49 PAUL ARHEWE

WITH AGENCY REPORTS

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irbus operated by Lufthansa’s Germanwings budget airline crashed in a remote area of the French Alps yesterday, killing all 150 people on board including 16 schoolchildren.

Germanwings confirmed its flight 4U 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf went down with 144 passengers and six crew on board.

One of the plane’s black box recorders has been found and will be examined immediately, France’s interior minister said.

The airline believed there were 67 Germans on the flight.

Spain’s deputy prime minister said 45 passengers had Spanish names. One Belgian was aboard.

Also among the victims were 16 children and two teachers from the Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium high school in the town of Haltern am See in northwest Germany, a spokeswoman said.

Investigators described a scene of devastation where the airliner crashed. Aerial photographs showed smouldering wreckage and a piece of the fu-

150 dead as German plane crashes on French Alps

Rescue workers and gendarme gathering after the crash in Seyne-les-Alpes French Alps, yesterday

selage with six windows.

“We saw an aircraft that had literally been ripped apart, the bodies are in a state of destruction, there is not one intact piece of wing or fuselage,” Bruce Robin, prosecutor for the city of Marseille, told Reuters in Seyne-

les-Alpes after flying over the crash zone in a helicopter.

French police at the crash site said no one survived and it would take days to recover the bodies due to difficult terrain, snow and incoming storms.

Police said search teams

WORLD BULLETIN Tunisia’s museum reopens after deadly attacks Tunisia’s Bardo museum held a ceremonial reopening on Tuesday a week after gunmen claiming alliance with Islamic State killed 20 foreign tourists in an attack aimed at wrecking the country’s vital tourism industry.

Several thousand Tunisians and foreign visitors to an international forum also marched in the capital Tunis to show solidarity with the Bardo victims who included Japanese, Spanish, Italians and Colombians.

Tunisia is keen to show it can recover from the attack which threatens to damage tourism and mar the country’s young democracy four years after a 2011 uprising ended the one-party rule of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. Last Wednesday, at least two Tunisian men opened fire on tourists as they got off buses at the Bardo, in one of the worst such incidents in the North African nation for a decade.

Security forces later shot dead the two men, who had been recruited at mosques in Tunisia and subsequently trained at a jihadist camp in Libya.

Tunisians carrying national flags and waving “Visit Tunisia” signs

would stay overnight at altitude.

“We are still searching. It’s unlikely any bodies will be airlifted until Wednesday,” regional police chief David Galtier told Reuters.

In Paris, Prime Minister Manuel Valls told parliament: “A helicopter managed to land (by the crash site) and has confirmed that unfortunately there were no survivors.”

It was the first crash of a large passenger jet on French soil since the Concorde disaster just outside Paris nearly 15 years ago. The A320 is a workhorse of worldwide aviation fleets. They are the world’s most used passenger jets and have a good though not unblemished safety record.

Germanwings said the plane started descending one minute after reaching its cruising height and continued losing altitude for eight minutes.

South Sudan’s parliament extends president’s term by three years

S

outh Sudan’s parliament voted yesterday to extend President Salva Kiir’s term in office by three years, after elections due to be held in June were called off and negotiations to end more than a year of internal conflict broke up without agreement.

Speaker Manasseh Magok Rundial said parliament overwhelmingly approved Kiir’s extension, as well as similar three-year prolon-

gation of parliament’s own term.

Thousands of people have been killed and more than a million have fled their homes since fighting between supporters of Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar erupted in the world’s newest nation in December 2013.

Talks between the two groups broke up nearly three weeks ago with no deal and no future date

set for their resumption, prompting the mediator to say leaders on both sides were failing in their duty to find peace.

The 270 members of parliament present voted on Tuesday to amend the country’s transitional 2011 constitution to extend the presidential and parliamentary term until July 9, 2018, with 264 members in favour and a handful opposing it.

In a roadmap to peace

agreed in February, Kiir and Machar had agreed the outlines of a power-sharing deal, and they had hoped to reach a final accord by the end of March.

But the talks appear stalled, and fighting continues.

The army said it had repulsed an attack by Machar’s rebel forces in southern Unity State yesterday.

“Rebel forces clashed with SPLA (army) forces in Nhi-

aldiu and Bentiu but SPLA defeated them. At the moment we are yet to establish the exact number of casualties,” army spokesman Col. Philip Aguer said.

In February, government spokesman Michael Makuei said that the proposal to extend Kiir and parliament’s terms was aimed at avoiding any power vacuum in the event that the government fails to reach a permanent deal with rebels.

THIS SPACE IS FOR SALE LOSS OF LEASE DOCUMENT We, Chukwudi Nwannor, Okechukwu Nwannor and Vincent Nwannor, native of Nibo in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State. Lost our Lease document Registered as No. 44/44/400 in Lands Registry Enugu. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME Formerly known and addressed as Oguntade Sofiat Yetunde, now wish to be known and addressed as OGUNLOLA SOFIAT YETUNDE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note

PUBLIC NOTICE CHRISTIAN BUSINESS MEN’S INITIATIVE

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE CLUSTERS APPLE OF HIS EYE MINISTRY

PUBLIC NOTICE

The general public is hereby notified that the above named Body, has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja for registration under part ‘C’ of companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

This is to inform the general public that the above named MINISTRY has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja for registration under part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

This is to inform the general public that the above named Ministry has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part “C” of Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

The Trustees Are: 1. Isaac Oluwagbemiro Ajonibode 2. Okhirhia David Osezua 3. Oluwemimo Irede Olatoye 4. Boluwaji Benjamin Awofolaju

—President —Treasurer — Public relations Officer — Secretary

Aims and Objectives: 1. To present Jesus Christ as savior and Lord to business and Professional men.

2. To develop Christian business and professional men to carry out the Great Commission.

3. To raise disciples of Jesus Christ among business and professional men through sound biblical teachings.

THE TRUSTEES: 1. Chaplain Dr Adebisi Simon Ajibola —Suprintendent General 2. Mrs Mary Olufunmilayo — Adviser 3. Mrs Susan Abosede — Secretary 4. Evangelist Mrs Deborah Taiwo Adebisi —Treasurer 5. Prophet Kehinde Ola — Patron/Adviser 6. Richard Olafisoye — Board Member 7. Pastor Moses Adekanmi Odetunde — Board Member 8. Pastor Simon Yemi Ojedapo — Adviser

UPPEROOM GLORY LIFE WORD MISSION INT’L THE TRUSTEES: 1. Apostle Pita Onaivi 2. Pastor Mrs Feyisola Becky Onaivi 3. Rev. Elijah Ndukwe 4. Mr Umozayi Temitope Onaivi 5. Rev. Austin Aiyegbeni Enoch 6. Pastor Daniel Zagi 7. Evang. Cyprian Anaba 8. Pastor Olusegun Akinniran 9. Mr. Iliyah Majam

— Chairman — Secretary — Member — Member — Member — Member — Member — Member — Member

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To teach preach evangelise people for God and establish churches/worship centres 2. To establish ministerial school for training of Christ disciples 3. To assist the needy and physically challenged 4. To establish publication and distribution centres for tracts

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To preach and teach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ worldwide 2. To undertake missionary work globally 3. To teach the principle of the kingdom of God and the doctrine of Christ which is able to transform and to reunite the man back to his God in relationship to renew the face of the earth 4. To teach men to grow up in all things unto the fullness of Christ

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Aguiyi Ironsi Close, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Aguiyi Ironsi Close, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Aguiyi Ironsi Close, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication.

Signed: TRUSTEES

Signed: TRUSTEES

Signed: SECRETARY

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South East

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

49

NEWMAP inaugurates N283m Ajali erosion control Dennis Agbo ENUGU

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orld Bank-assisted Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, NEWMAP, has inaugurated the control of Ajali water works gully erosion estimated to gulp over N250 million.

The eight-kilometre-long erosion devastation was the second award among the 25 selected erosion sites that NEWMAP has penciled down for remedy in the state.

Handing over the site to the contractor yesterday at Nsude in Udi Local Government Area, Commissioner for Environment, Nnaemeka Chukwuone, said the Enugu government has approved a counterpart fund of N150 million out of the N700 million expected from it to supplement execution of the entire NEWMAP projects in the state.

The commissioner said it’s not only the engineering works of the erosion management that would be executed, but also a sustain-

able mulching of the site, planted with economic trees that would avert further degradation of the area.

Chukwuone noted that the project is dear to the state government because of the location of the water works from where pipe borne water is retriculated to Enugu metropolis.

Traditional ruler of the affected community, Prof.

Kenneth Onyia, who mobilised his subjects to the site, expressed gratitude to the funding partners, especially Governor Sullivan Chime for extending the benefits of his administration to the community.

He alerted that another degradation, the Okpuno erosion site, starting from the head water of Nyaba river located in his community, has now gotten to Okpuno village and poses more danger to his people than the Ajali erosion site.

Managing Director of the contracting firm, Frank Nnaji, promised to remedy the erosion site and expressed gratitude for being chosen to execute the job.

FG to extend aviation services to states Ezekiel Titus BAUCHI

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resident Goodluck Jonathan has said the Federal Government’s transformation programme under the aviation sub-sector is to ensure every state in the federation has a domestic airport.

The drive, according to the President, is to stimulate commerce and industry especially for states that produce items for exportation, saying the country would no longer export raw materials alone, but also processed items.

The President, who disclosed this yesterday while commissioning Bauchi International Airport and Special Hospital, explained that to meet these needs, the country required cargo airport such as the one in Bauchi.

He commended Governor Isa Yuguda’s government, saying, “We have been assisting state governments to do that, the governors are willing, so the Federal Government will also be keen on these projects.”

On the Specialist Hospi-

tal, the President expressed delight that the referral hospital was capable of handling a number of cases that usually take Nigerians out of the country.

On primary health care, Jonathan said the country was doing very well, which is why it was able to eliminate issues such as guinea worm from Ebonyi and other states.

He told the large gathering that government was committed to strengthening primary health and equally putting basic infrastructures for tertiary health, and okayed facilities in the Specialist Hospital.

Jonathan said in the next four years, Federal Government would set up a technical team to oversee running of these hospitals and lauded states where governors had put up many such “very fine hospitals, with modern facilities.”

“But equipment without proper management cannot help. As a Federal Government, we feel we must set up six zones for referral cases so that Nigerians rather than go outside, would go to these zones.

President Goodluck Jonathan (right) in a handshake with former President of Ohaneze Ndi’Igbo, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, during a meeting with Igbo Leaders of Thought and Elders Council in Owerri, yesterday.

INEC, police unfold plans for Anambra polls Charles Okeke AWKA

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arely four days to the commencement of this year’s general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the Anambra State Police Command yesterday unfolded measures to ensure peaceful and credible election on Saturday, March 28 and April 11.

The INEC said it would deploy the card reader machines across the entire 4,608 polling units in Anambra to audit the particulars of voters and ensure that those with permanent voter cards, PVCs, were actual owners who

Chris Njoku OWERRI

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hree days to the much-awaited presidential election in the country, ex-militant leaders yesterday paralysed vehicular movement in Owerri city, declaring their support for re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The militants, who laid down their arms in exchange for Federal Government’s amnesty, said save for President Jonathan many of them would have died in their agitation.

Marching through the streets of Owerri, the ex-agitators said the president’s amnesty programme had provided employment for numerous indigenes of the Niger Delta such as in aviation,

have come to vote at the proper place.

Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Edwin Ofor Nwatarali, disclosed this yesterday during the General Elections 2015 Stakeholders Forum at the Women Development Centre, Awka. He said the card reader, which would be used for the elections, would ensure that PVCs presented by voters were authentic and that they were in the right polling unit to vote.

Nwatarali, while explaining how the card reader would be effectively deployed for the elections, stated that in situations where the machine fails in its accreditation and au-

thentication functions, the concerned voter should go straight for manual accreditation for him/her to vote.

He stated that accreditation on election days would start from 8 – 12:30am, adding that it was the policy that every voter who had been at the polling unit before close of accreditation would be screened accordingly and allowed to vote.

Nwatarali, who urged the people to behave well and assist INEC conduct credible and crisis-free elections, contended that their desire was to ensure that at the end of the entire exercises, that the losers would congratulate the winners.

Anambra Commissioner of Police, Hosea Karma, said they have made arrangement to see that order prevails on election days.

Karma, who disclosed that armed security operatives would be deployed at all the polling stations and other strategic places, stated that enforcement of restriction of movement across the state would begin Friday evening, as part of measures to ensure peaceful elections.

He warned prospective trouble-makers that anybody found possessing weapon during election would be classified as an armed robber and treated accordingly.

Ex-militants adopt Jonathan

…say he has done more than past leaders where many operate as pilots and aeronautical engineers.

Addressing a joint briefing, national leader of the Urashi camp of the ex-agitators, Prince Emeka Igwe, and his Enyimba camp leader, Andrew Chidi, explained that the group under the auspices of ‘Friends of President Goodluck Jonathan 2015,’ was compelled to adopt the president as their sole candidate because of his impeccable record of service to the nation, especially the formation of amnesty programme that provided employment for many youths of the Niger Delta.

This, they noted, had restored peace in the oil

producing areas of Ohaji, Egbema and Oguta council areas.

They noted with satisfaction that the president recently granted extension of pipelines surveillance to Imo State, which would hopefully provide more jobs for indigenes of the state.

The group commended the Federal Executive Council for approving the recommendation of the National Conference, which among other things, recommended the creation of one state in the South East, stressing that this would bring more development to the zone. “We are here to tell ourselves the truth and to reward the man who

has paid us with a coin no leader ever did,” they said.

The ex-militants further commended the president for developing human resources in the region, which has now placed many youths in various institutions of learning.

They also cited a 330 mega gas turbine project at Mmaha Egbema, and a world-class youth skill acquisition centre at Abaezi Egbema, which is at 90 per cent completion. Among Jonathan’s giant strides that had endeared him to the people is the dualisation of two link roads to the oil-producing areas of the state, which traverses two oil-bearing areas.

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South south

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Heavy shooting as Jonathan visits Delta …$16bn EPZ project threatened Theophilus Onojeghen WARRI

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Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio addressing PDP stakeholders of Ukanafun/Oruk Anam Federal Constituency at Ukanafun Local Government Council Hall, yesterday.

Rivers guber candidates differ on fight against insecurity …outline economic plans

Dennis Naku

PORT HARCOURT

T

hree leading governorship candidates in Rivers State have expressed different views on how to tackle the increasing insecurity in the state.

This is as the trio decried the continued oil theft in the Niger Delta area and other parts of the country.

The governorship candidates were those of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Nyesom Wike, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr Dakuku Peterside, and their Labour Party, LP, counterpart, Prince Tonye Princewill.

The three politicians spoke at the Rivers Debate 2015 organised by the Stakeholders Democratic Network, SDN, and other agencies in Port Harcourt Monday evening.

The debate was aimed at providing a fair and balanced opportunity for the candidates to present their agenda to people of the state.

Wike, Peterside and Princewill, however, admitted that insecurity was as result of negligence on the part of the Federal Government.

Specifically, the APC governorship candidate, Peterside, said he would partner with security agencies to ensure a conducive

environment for investors in the state, pointing out that security was essential for economic growth.

He promised to create a platform that would establish security funds as well as support security agencies in the country for intelligence gathering in various communities across the state.

According to him, “our government would address the issue of poverty; involve stakeholders that would monitor intelligence gathering.”

He said his government will pursue a zero tolerance for crime in the state, adding that he would create cluster industry around Indorama Eleme Petro-Chemical Company and involve the youths in vocational skill to make them employ-

able and self-reliant.

On his part, Princewill (LP) regretted that communities were distanced from government, promising to decentralise some ministries out of Port Harcourt.

“I take the courage to stand before those who have godfathers in politics because promise without capacity is calamity,’’ he said.

But, Wike assured that if voted into power, his government would keep the environment safe by supporting and partnering with security agencies in their operations.

Wike also promised to implement relevant laws and make the judiciary work independently, regretting that insecurity was high in the state because it has been politicised.

Defence Ministry commissions 30 gunboats for JTF Osahon Julius YENAGOA

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s part of efforts to combat the increasing wave of oil theft, sea piracy and other forms of criminalities in the Niger Delta waterways, the Ministry of Defence, yesterday commissioned 30 gunboats for the operations of the Joint Task Force, JTF, nicknamed Operation Pulo Shield, OPS, at the Marine base of Bayelsa State Ministry of Trans-

port, Yenagoa.

Commissioning the gunboats, Chief of Defence Staff, Air Vice Marshal Alex Badeh, said the procurement of 30 gunboats by the Defence Headquarter for the JTF was to boost the war against illegal crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta region by men of the JTF, operation Polu Shield.

He warned all criminals indulging in crude oil theft and pipeline vandals in

the region to desist from the unpatriotic act or risk being flushed from the region.

The Chief of Defence Staff insisted that receipt of the gunboats has added impetus to the Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies’ campaign against oil theft and pipeline vandalism in Nigeria.

Badeh also said the fight in the North East against the Boko Haram insurgency, was also gaining mo-

mentum and achieving the desired results.

The Nigerian Navy, he said, has intensified its war against oil theft, which has remarkably curtailed the high level of crude oil loses.

Speaking at the event special guest and Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, called on international community to cooperate with the Nigerian government in tackling crude oil thefts.

resident Goodluck Jonathan will tomorrow visit Delta State to perform the groundbreaking ceremony of the controversial $16 billion Export Processing Zone, EPZ, now renamed Gas Industrial City, Ogidigben, and Deep Sea Port, Gbaramatu, in Warri South West area of the state.

This is even as heavy shootings were heard Tuesday morning around the venue of the ceremony by aggrieved youths suspected to be from Yokiri/Ogulagha in Burutu Council Area of the state.

National Mirror learnt that there had been heavy shootings in recent times along the creeks and that the shootings were not unconnected with the flagging off of the project, which almost led to

communal clash between the Ijaws of Gbaramatu kingdom and Itsekiris of Ugborodo.

Following this development, residents of the area were living in fears ahead of the president’s visit, saying that most troubling issues affecting the naming and ownership of the project had not been amicably resolved by the NNPC and the state government before the proposed groundbreaking ceremony.

Although, it could not be immediately verified whose interest the recent shootings represent, but sources said youths of Ogulagha kingdom were responsible over their exclusion as host community in the project.

It was gathered that fresh crisis could occurr after President Jonathan’s visit if all lingering issues were not urgently resolved.

Police arrest 92 cultists, 4 robbery suspects in Rivers Dennis Naku

PORT HARCOURT

P

olice in Rivers State yesterday said it has arrested 92 suspected cultists from different parts of the state, even as four armed robbers were also paraded.

Meanwhile, two persons were shot dead on Tuesday during a shoot-out by armed men in Okposi, near Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Identities of the victims, which could not be ascertained as at press time, were killed when the house of an aide to a Commissioner in Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s government was set on fire.

It was leant that one of the arsonists, who was later apprehended, confessed that he took the action because the commissioner’s aide did not include his name in the list of beneficiaries from the Subsidy and Re-Investment Programme, SURE-P. State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Ahmad

Muhammad, who disclosed this at a news briefing in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, said some of the crimes committed in the state had political undertones.

Muhammad, who confirmed the incident and the death of one person, added that the crisis was a fallout of violence in the area on Monday, even as he said that normalcy had returned following deployment of six policemen to the troubled area.

Meanwhile, the state police command yesterday paraded four suspected armed robbery suspects and 92 cultists at the Swift Operation Squad, SOS, in Port Harcourt, after they were arrested at different locations in the state.

According to the police image-maker, the four robbery suspects were nabbed on Monday, at Akpajo Police checkpoint, near Port Harcourt at about 4:30am.

He said the suspects were apprehended while returning to Port Harcourt from a robbery operation in Akwa Ibom State.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

North

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

51

Female escapee from Gwoza narrates ordeal ...says many women trapped INUSA NDAHI MAIDUGURI

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38-year-old woman, who escaped from Gwoza, yesterday said that hundreds of women kidnapped by Boko Haram sect were still trapped and kept in various houses in the town.

The woman, who did not want her name mentioned, escaped from the Boko Haram-held town on Monday.

She said since the capture of the town by the sect, many women in the town with other young girls suspected to have been relocated from Sambisa forest were brought in by the insur-

gents and kept under strict adherence to the doctrine of Abubakar Shekau, leader of the group.

Gwoza was declared Islamic Caliphate by Shekau immediately after taking over the town, with over 50 policemen still missing and scores of residents killed. It is located south of Borno State bordering Cameroun and Mandara mountains and about 250km south of Maiduguri, the state capital.

Narrating her ordeal to journalists in one of the Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camps in Maiduguri, the escapee said they were kept in

one of the beautiful houses in Gwoza, including some young girls brought into Gwoza by the sect from Sambisa forest.

On how she escaped from Gwoza, she said, when there was a blasts in the town close to where they were kept in captivity, many people scampered for safety, and that confusion two among the abducted girls died with two injured, adding that she escaped and later found herself in Madagali, before former governor of Adamawa State, Mr. Boni Haruna, assisted her by calling her brother in Yola, who came to

pick her up.

The mother of five stated that she was happy to come to Maiduguri and saw her escaped husband doing fine in one of the IDP camps, even though she could not disclose the whereabouts of her children.

“I thank God for securing my life from the hands of Boko Haram, we have been under their control in the last three months, they kept us with many young girls, they gave us food everyday, but they don’t allow us to go out, sometimes the leader will come around the place and preached their ideology to us.

L-R: Government Community Relations Officer, Abuja Region, MTN, Mr. Micah Michael; Gago of Oyifu Area, Anokwu, Chief Momo Omata; Head, Department of Works, Dekina Local Government, Kogi State, Mr. Amedu Friday; MTN trade partner, Mr. Isa Usman and Madaki of Anokwu, Mr. Pius Atadoga, during the commissioning of borehole-water project donated by MTNF to Anokwu community in Ayingba, Kogi State, yesterday.

Polls: Police ban quasi- security groups, fuel hawkers ABDULGAFAR OLADIMEJI KANO

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hairman, Kano State Security Committee on 2015 general elections, and Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, yesterday announced a ban on quasi-security personnel during Saturday’s poll.

He further declared that all roads leading into Kano would be closed to vehicular movements by 12 midnight Friday, adding that inter-local government movements within the state is also barred.

In his words: “No state government security agencies such as Hisbah, Karota, Vigilante, boys scout, man-owar, to mention a few, will be allowed to dress in uniform or be engaged in any activity in uniform on election day.

“No vehicles, motorcycles, tricycles or persons will be allowed to carry political party symbols or banners on election day. No person will be allowed to carry any bag, boxes or suspicious items close to any polling station and collation centres.

“Carrying offensive

weapons or items such as arms and ammunition, stones, knives, cutlasses, bows, axes, and arrows will not be allowed on the election day.”

“Road side hawking of fuel and gasoline would not be allowed a day to the election, election day and two days after the election,” he said.

He further said that after voting, no one is allowed at any collation centre at local government areas and state levels. Only election officials, accredited election observers, journalists and

party agents will be allowed to cover election activities at collation centres.

“Only accredited security agencies, observers and journalists will be allowed to move freely on election day.

The Joint Operation Centre for all security agencies will be activated on Friday to monitor the two elections.

“The centre would receive complaints and observations from members of the public and other relevant information through the following dedicated numbers: 08148888887, 08029292926 and 08099999110.

“It was as a result of a huge bang suspected to be bomb blast near our house that forced us to break the wall and escape, while two of the young girls died and two others sustained serious

injuries during the blast and shooting that engulfed the town.

“As I speak with you now, many of these young girls and women are still trapped in Gwoza,” she said.

Polls: Fulani endorse Buhari, El-Rufai …distance selves from Jonathan’s ‘dollar’ endorsement A ZA.MSUE KADUNA

T

he umbrella body of five million eligible Fulani voters under the auspices of APC, Fulani Nationwide Association, APCFNA, yesterday endorsed presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari, and Kaduna State APC governorship candidate, Nasir el-Rufai, ahead of the rescheduled elections.

Addressing a news conference in Kaduna, APCFNA President, Aliyu Shehu, said the endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan by one Bello Bodejo of Meyetti Allah Kautal Hore recently at Aso Villa was for his personal interest, adding that the mass of the people were not part of “the dollar endorsement.”

Shehu said even national chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Adamu Mu’azu, and political adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Prof. Rufai Alkali, who are Fulani, cannot deliver Fulani to PDP in Saturday’s presidential election.

He stressed that the support for Buhari and el-Rufai is based on their integrity, honesty and competence to salvage the country and Kaduna State.

Shehu, while calling on President Jonathan to be wary of fake endorsements by hungry politicians, said the PDP presidential candidate has failed not only Fulani people but the entire Nigerians irrespective of religion and tribe. He said, sentiment aside, even Niger Delta people would not vote Jonathan on Saturday due to impoverishment.

His words: “This large

crowd and I speak the mind of Fulani people nationwide. We represent Fulafulbe Development Association of Nigeria, FULDAN, Mobgal Fulbe and APC Fulani Nationwide Association. One Bello Bodeja in his personal capacity endorsed President Jonathan and promised him 50 million votes, but we don’t have 50 million voters for Buhari on Saturday and ElRufai on April 11 because the entire Fulani votes are not up to 50 million.

“We have over 5 million eligible voters with PVC for Buhari on Saturday and our Fulani people in Kaduna State will all vote for el-Rufai on April 11.

“Our endorsement of Muhammadu Buhari is not based on tribal sentiment.

We are following majority of Nigerians who believe that Buhari is not just for change but for integrity, honesty and competence to lead Nigeria.

“El-Rufai during his time as FCT minister transformed Abuja to firstclass city. We are not part of President Jonathan’s dollars endorsement by one Bello Bodejo, who claimed to be speaking on behalf of Fulani people. We don’t know him because we are grassroots Fulani.”

Shehu however called on Fulani voters to vote APC presidential candidate for peace, unity and development, noting that Jonathan has failed to address the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

“President Jonathan’s six years of rule have even increased clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

Many of our people and cows have been killed because of the failure of government.”

52

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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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53

Sport

The reason I want Yaya Toure in my team is very simple. He is simply the best player in his position –Inter Milan Coach, Roberto Mancini

AAG: Mbachu hopeful on Falcons

55

Friendly:

Eagles set to break Cranes in Uyo EVEREST ONYEWUCHI

S

uper Eagles will lock horns with the Cranes of Uganda in a friendly match later this evening at the magnificent Akwa Ibom International Stadium in Uyo, in which goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama is expected to make history.

Coincidentally, the first and last clashes between Nigeria and Uganda at senior level ended in 2-1 wins for the Cranes.

On March 14, 1978, Nigeria lost an Africa Cup of Nations semi-final tie to Uganda 1-2 in Ghana, with both goals scored by Phillip Omondi.

The last time both teams squared off was on June 2, 2007, the Cranes coming from behind to win 2-1 after John Utaka had put Nigeria ahead in a 2008 Nations Cup qualifier in Kampala.

In-between, Uganda won a friendly match 1-0 in Kampala on September 26, 1981; the Eagles won a Cup of

Nations qualifier 2-0 in Lagos on August 28, 1992 and both teams drew 0-0 in Kampala on July 17, 1993.

The two teams’ clash in Abeokuta on March 24, 2007 sticks in the memory: it took a last-gasp Nwankwo Kanu header for Nigeria to earn a 1-0 win.

Today’s encounter may equally go either way, especially as the Eagles are without a substantive coach, and have not played together since after their failed qualification bid to the last AFCON played in Equatorial Guinea last January.

Super Eagles captain, Enyeama, will be making history, winning his landmark 100th senior cap for the country in the match.

His previous 99 matches for Nigeria at senior level include a number of clashes with East African countries, including Ethiopia amd Kenya, but none against Uganda.

When Nigeria faced Uganda in the qualifying rounds for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, Austin Ejide was in goal.

Enyeama

NSC assures F/Eagles of W/Cup backing JOEL AJAYI ABUJA

T

he National Sports Commission (NSC) yesterday received the victorious Flying Eagles who qualified for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand and won a 7th African Youth Championship (AYC) trophy in Senegal last Sunday.

While welcoming the team at the Abuja National Stadium, NSC DG, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye, accompanied by Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) officials and the Chairman, House Committee on Sports, Hon, Godfrey Gaiya, congratulated Coach Manu Garba and his boys and assured them of the Federal Government’s readiness to continuously motivate them for future exploits.

Elegbeleye also informed the team that President Goodluck Jonathan would soon receive them at the Presidential Villa.

“It’s been my desire and that of our President to always produce the best sports men and women in all areas of our sport-

ing life. In the past four years, Nigeria has fared well in almost all sporting activities within Africa and beyond.

“Mr. President through his Special Adviser on Media has already assured the team that he will do everything possible to continue to support just as he has always done to make sure that they go and win the World Cup in New Zealand,” the DG said.

Earlier, Coach Garba and his Assistant Captain, Taiwo Awoniyi, had thanked the NSC and NFF for their support and assured of their readiness to make great impact at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Meanwhile, Hon. Gaiya has expressed happiness with the gradual development of the players and called for the invitation of some of them to the Super Eagles.

“We are so happy we were there in the UAE when the Golden Eaglets won the U-17 World Cup. I am so happy to see that most of you are still in this team; that is a spirit of continuity. I will not be surprised, therefore, to see you called into Super Eagles in the next few months,” the House Sports Committee chair said.

Sports

54

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Klopp

B

orussia Dortmund Coach, Jurgen Klopp, says his side will not rest until it has steered clear of relegation in the Bundes-

wary of relegation

liga.

A disastrous start to the season saw Dortmund prop of the league table at the end of January, Today’s fixtures yet a good run of seven unbeaten matches since Barcelona vstheMan City ten has pushed the side to tenth in standings, points above bottom-placed Stuttgart. vs Juventus Yet Klopp says Dortmund the uncertainty is not over.

“Only once it is impossible for us to be relegated will we start to focus our attention elsewhere,” Klopp said yesterday.

“We are now eight points above the relegation zone and are no longer in the thick of it.

“We managed to extricate ourselves from the quagmire. Our plan is simply to get more and more points on the board. Since the winter break we have picked up 18 points and lost on just one occasion.”

Dortmund’s fine run will be put to the test in their next two fixtures however, as the team faces table-topper Bayern Munich and third-placed Borussia Monchengladbach.

“It’s not as if we are guaranteed a maximum of six points from our next two Bundesliga matches,” Klopp warned.

Dortmund will host Bayern after the international break on April 4.

Jurgen Klopp

Dzeko

Nelspruit battle:

Hlatshwayo ready for Eagles AFOLABI GAMBARI

WITH AGENCY REPORT

B

afana Bafana defender, Thulani Hlatshwayo, is relishing his return to the national team to face Nigeria in the friendly scheduled for Nelspruit on Sunday.

Hlatshwayo was part of the Bafana squad that was knocked out at the group stage of this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, but a concussion against Senegal forced him out of the final match against Ghana.

“I am very happy that I have been given a chance again to represent my country and it’s always an honour,” he said

yesterday as the team resumed training.

“The Nigeria clash is going to be very interesting. You must remember we were the ones who denied them a chance to defend their AFCON title so they will be coming here wanting to prove a point.

“I think it’s a very important match where we need to do well.

It is going to be a very difficult match. It would be great to win, and not just win but also dominate them. This is a new era and we want to also make our mark.”

Meanwhile, Bafana Bafana are in Mbombela ahead of a friendly with Swaziland scheduled for today.

“It’s another tricky game but we have to take one match at a time,” Hlatshwayo submitted.

Kaka

Kaka B

eyes national team return

‘3SC, Crown deserve revival’

M Hlatshwayo

indful of the poor start to the Nigeria Premier League 2015 season by Shooting Stars of Ibadan, Oyo State Peoples Democratic Party’s gubernatorial candidate, Senator Teslim Folarin, has vowed to help restore the team’s past glory by prioritising players’ welfare if elected in next month’s poll.

Folarin, who made the declaration during a meet-

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ing with members of Oyo State Chapter of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan also expressed concern on the relegation of Oyo State-owned Crown FC of Ogbomoso from the top flight last season.

“When I recall playing in the final of the Nigeria University Games for the University of Ibadan in 1986, I cannot but conclude

that the welfare of players deserves prominent attention,” the politician said.

“I feel for the players’ plight at the moment and I think they deserve much better if we are to restore Oyo State’s football glory,” he added.

Shooting Stars have lost the first two games played so far in the Globacomsponsored Premier League to Wikki Tourists away and Heartland at home.

razilian playmaker, Ricardo Kaka, says he is still targeting a place in the national squad at the next World Cup in 2018.

The 32-year-old has featured just seven times for the South Americans since the 2010 World Cup, failing to make the squad for the 2014 finals. Although he was not called up to the latest Brazilian squad for the upcoming friendlies, Kaka says he is still eyeing a spot in the squad for the Russia World Cup. “It is in three-and-a-half years and if Dunga needs me I’ll be ready to play in the national team,” Kaka said yesterday.

The inspirational player, who now captains new MLS side Orlando City, says he is enjoying his new adventure in the United States where he scored the winner in the season-opener against New York City FC earlier this month.

“They joke with me saying, ‘Come and play for Chelsea or Arsenal’ but I am so happy here in Orlando,” the 2007 Ballon d’Or winner said.

The former AC Milan and Real Madrid star however spoke highly of Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho.

“Jose’s ambition for victory sets him apart,” Kaka said of the two-time UEFA Champions League-winning gaffer.

“He wants to win every game, so he prepares all the smallest details; in training, at the game, everything. I loved to work with him. He does better in extracting the best from players,” the gifted players added.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sports

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

55

AYC 2015:

Glo salutes gallant Flying Eagles Musa Mohammed

Mbachu

AAG: Mbachu hopeful on Falcons MERCY JACOB

F

ormer Super Falcons midfielder, Stella Mbachu, has said that nothing will stop the team from qualifying for the All Africa Games, despite walking tight rope after last week’s 1-1 draw with Mali in Bamako.

Mbachu, who made her last appearance for the Falcons in the Namibia 2014 African Women Championship before retiring, expressed optimism that the Edwin Okon-tutored ladies would prevail over Mali in the return leg next week.

“I think the Falcons are going to play like wounded lions to ensure they secure the AAG ticket because they are still nursing the pains of missing out in the last edition,” the Falcons’ heroine said.

“I have played against Mali before and I believe they can’t stand in the way of Nigeria to the Africa Games. I believe Coach Okon knows what to do to ensure we secure that ticket.

“All I want the players to do is to show more dedication and remain focused.”

On the forthcoming World Cup in Canada in October, Mbachu said: “There is a need for the NFF to organize friendly matches with the top countries in Europe in other to bring out the best in the Falcons.

“It is the only way we can break the jinx at the world level and I think the earlier the preparations start the better for the team’s fortune in Canada.”

N

igeria’s biggest corporate supporter of football, Globacom, has commended the Flying Eagles for winning the 2015 African Youth Championship trophy in Dakar, Senegal.

The national U-20 team defeated its Senegalese counterpart 1-0 in the final on Sunday to win the trophy for the seventh time, having beaten the host 3-1 in the opening Group A game in the bi-annual competition.

Nigeria scored the only goal of the match in the 20th minute when Benard Bulbwa col-

lected a pass outside Senegal’s penalty area and released a volley which left the Senegalese goalkeeper sprawling on the turf.

In a press statement in Lagos yesterday, Globacom commended the fighting spirit and doggedness of the Flying Eagles which saw them scoring a total of 12 goals and winning four out of the five matches played at the competition.

“We look forward to seeing the team excel during the forthcoming 2015 U-20 FIFA World Cup in New Zealand,” the statement said.

“We also commend the technical crew for bringing the best out of the team, while we believe the Super Eagles will benefit from the youthful squad in the nearest future,” it added.

Nigeria has been drawn to face five timechampions Brazil, as well as Hungary and Korea DPR in Group E of the World Cup starting late in May. Globacom is the major sponsor of Nigerian national football teams and the official telecoms partner of the Nigeria Football Federation.

…Gumel hails F’Eagles, D’Tigers

P

resident of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Engineer Habu Gumel, has congratulated Flying Eagles for winning the African Youth Championship trophy for a record seventh time as well

as Nigeria’s men’s Basketball team, D’Tigers, for winning the inaugural 4-Nation Challenge Series in South Africa.

Gumel who is also an executive Committee member of the International Olympic Commit-

tee, IOC, said that it was heartwarming to see Nigerian teams standing on the podium of honour.

“There are more huddles ahead but I know that with dedication, hard work and good

coaches, victory shall be guaranteed,” Gumel said.

Flying Eagles overcame host Senegal in the AYC final on Sunday while D’Tigers clawed their to victory in South Africa, beating Mozambique 72-59 in the final.

Why I supported Integrity Marathon–Folarin AFOLABI GAMBARI

O

utgoing Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin, has said his resolve to co-sponsor the 42 kilometer Splash FM Integrity Race is borne of the desire to entrench a better and fitter society.

“The theme for the race, namely ‘good governance, accountability and transparency in our governance’, was too attractive to be ignored,” the Oyo State’s Peoples Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate explained.

“I have also decided to cosponsor the race because of my belief that the philosophy of fighting ills in our society through sports should not be left to a person. Therefore I believe that in the quest for a better society, more people would still join by the next edition,” he added.

“Sports have provided the best platform to convey mes-

Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin (white cap) presenting a prize to the 2015 winner of Splash FM Integrity Marathon, Harris Ismail, last weekend in Ibadan

sage to large numbers of people and I pledge to give free reign to this philosophy if elected as governor of Oyo State this

year.”

The co-sponsor later presented cash prizes of N600, 000 and N400, 000 to winners

in the male and female categories Harris Ismail and Deborah Pam, both from Plateau State, respectively.

WORLD RECORD

Fastest 5 km skipping without a rope Vol. 05 No. 1076

N150

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

The fastest time to skip 5 km without a rope is 29 min 33 seconds by John Earney (USA) at California State University San Marcos in San Diego, California, USA on 14 July 2014.

Will rebranded Buhari demystify PDP?

I

n a few days from now, the presidential election will hold in all Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Observers will admit that this is the closest presidential poll since the return to civil rule in 1999. In all the previous elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convincingly won the highly coveted presidential trophy with landslides. In the 2011 elections, for example, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) came second, with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) coming a distant third and fourth respectively.

The other 16 parties only received honourable mentions. Interestingly enough, both candidates of ACN (Mallam Nuhu

Guest Columnist

Alex O. Akpodiete Atawa

Ribadu) and ANPP (Ibrahim Shekarau) have decamped to PDP, leaving Gen. Buhari as the only person from the opposition in the 2011 Presidential election that have not joined the ruling PDP. This action has not actually made the prospect of the PDP winning any easier, as would have been expected.

In 2003, Gen. Buhari, as ANPP’s candidate, lost to PDP flag bearer and then incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo.

In 2007, still as ANPP’s candidate, he lost again to PDP, this time with the late Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as its candidate.

However, in 2011 he left the ANPP to form CPC and contested for the third time, but coming second with 12. 2 million votes to the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan’s 22.5 million.

In the buildup to the 2011 election, Gen. Buhari did not campaign much in the southern parts of the country, and many pundits interpreted that to mean he felt he did not need the South. However, with the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the fusion of CPC, ACN, New PDP, ANPP and the Rochas Okorocha’s faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the dynamics of Nigerian politics fundamentally altered.

The merger and defections from the PDP have ostensibly given APC a majority in the House of Representatives. After the merger that some have called the coming together of strange bedfellows, APC needed to pick a presidential candidate that could hold his own against the candidate of the ruling PDP, incumbent President

WITH THE EMERGENCE OF THE ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC)…THE DYNAMICS OF NIGERIAN POLITICS FUNDAMENTALLY ALTERED Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The APC National Convention held in December 2014 in Lagos disappointed many watchers of Nigerian politics, who thought the party would have settled for a younger and more vibrant flag bearer without the baggage of military coup and alleged human rights violations.

I think the party must have seen something in the septuagenarian Buhari that the rest of the world did not initially see.

Nonetheless, the party must have also realized that their candidate needed repackaging and rebranding. Whether the rumours of the hiring of an American Public Relations (PR) firm for millions of dollars is true or not, no one can deny that the General has undergone some rebranding. The greenback paid must be working. The failure of APC to field a younger flag bearer has not become a death knell as some opponents hoped. It should be noted that Gen. Buhari, born 17 December 1942, will be 76 years old at the end of his first tenure, while Nelson Mandela was 76 years old (born July 18, 1918) when he became the first black president of South Af-

rica in 1994 and stepped down in 1999 at 81.

The General, who ruled Nigeria from December 31, 1983 to August 27, 1985, has faced the challenge of convincing Nigerians that he now believes in democracy er.

For the first time in his political life, Gen. Buhari has had to campaign for votes all over Nigeria, just like President Goodluck.

He has been in parts of Nigeria that he never would have thought of visiting. His new handlers must have read the pulse of the country. The garment of Islamic fanaticism may have necessitated this Sunni Muslim to choose a Pastor (like ACN did in 2011), in addition to fraternising with pastors and Christian religious organizations.

The selection of Pastor Tunde Bakare did not work for ACN in 2011 maybe because of his smaller congregation or the fact that Pastor Bakare was once a Muslim. This time around, the opposition went for a church with a larger congregation. Also, Gen. Buhari has been visiting various ethnic groups in Nigeria and even donning their clothes. The native of Daura in Katsina State has been seen wearing Igbo outfit, ‘resource control’ outfits, and even tying ‘Urhobo wrapper’, when he visited the indomitable Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) before the group’s current fiasco. The General has also changed his Hausa/Fulani regalia for a corporate suit, and even a tuxedo on at least two occasions.

All this recent transformational rebranding for a party with the change mantra as its USP tickles one’s imagination.

Anyway, Nigerians will know in a few days if the rebranding of General Muhammadu Buhari has worked.

My last line, vote according to your conscience, thus making judicious use of your PVC. Rev. Atawa, a public affairs analyst wrote from in Asaba, Delta State via Profatawa@gmail.com and can be reached through 08138391661 (SMS only)

Sport Extra

Technology won’t exceed goal line issues –UEFA

G

eneral Secretary of UEFA, Gianni Infantino, has ruled out the use of video technology in matches for anything other than goal line decisions.

West Brom defender Gareth McAuley was sent off

after just 89 seconds of the side’s 1-0 Premier League defeat at Manchester City on Saturday, despite the initial foul on Wilfried Bony being committed by teammate Craig Dawson.

However, West Brom will

not appeal against McAuley’s dismissal, though The Football Association is expected to switch the red card to Dawson.

The incident at the Etihad Stadium followed Wes Brown’s dismissal during

a 2-0 defeat for Sunderland at Manchester United on February 28, even though John O’Shea was the guilty party. The red card was subsequently overturned on appeal, and was not transferred to O’Shea.

Infantino insisted that further technology to assist officials was not on UEFA’s agenda.

“I think what is needed, in any case, is an appropriate debate on this topic,” he said.

Platini

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