Monday, february 9, 2015 NEWEST

Textile development fund disbursement hits N60bn EXCLUSIVE OLUFEMI ADEOSUN AND ABOLAJI ADEBAYO Aganga

Vol. 5 N0. 1044

T

he Federal Government has at December last year disbursed N60bn from the N100bn Textile Development Fund provided for the revival of the nation’s cot-

ton, textile and garment sector, National Mirror’s investigations have confirmed.

But industry operators are lamenting that despite the desirability of the gov-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

47 DAYS TO GO

'INEC leading Nigeria to June 12 scenario'

Monday, February 9, 2015

P.50

N150

Poll shift: May 29 handover won't change –Jonathan APC: It's setback for democracy, INEC bows to pressure –Buhari

PDP hails decision US, ACF, others react

OBIORA IFOH, FRANCIS SUBERU, ODINAKA URUAKPA, OLUFEMI ADEOSUN, DENNIS NAKU AND CHRIS NJOKU

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday restated his commitment to the sanctity of May 29 as the terminal date of his first term in office.

He made the clarification following the postponeCONTINUED ON PAGE 2>>

Osun guber poll:

Omisore appeals, restates confidence in judiciary

P.10

THE

L-R: Former Gombe State Governor, Danjuma Goje; APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, during a world press conference on the postponement of 2015 general elections, in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

BUSINESS SECTION

NIMASA deploys satellite, patrol vessels to monitor nation's waterways P.A5

Ondo PDP candidates appeal contempt ruling ...wants case transferred to another judge

Free inside

How frequent anger damages the heart –Study

P.5

P.3

2

News

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Poll shift: May 29 handover won't change –Jonathan CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

ment of the dates for the general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11, In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President appealed to all stakeholders to accept the adjustment of the election dates by INEC in good faith According to him, the electoral body has a responsibility to conduct credible elections in which every Nigerian of voting age is afforded the opportunity to exercise his or her civic right without hindrance.

Jonathan stated that this was not a time to trade blames or make statements that might overheat the polity, but a time to show understanding and support the electoral commission to conduct the elections successfully.

He explained that his understanding is that INEC’s decision ought not to generate acrimony since it acted within its powers under the law and in consultation with all relevant stakeholders.

The President called on the international community, civil society and the electorate to support the administration’s commitment to a free, fair, credible, and nonviolent electoral process.

Jonathan had also reaffirmed the commitment of his administration to the May 29 handover date when he met with United States Secretary of State, John Kerry on January 25 in Lagos.

But the All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday described the decision by INEC to postpone the general elections as a major setback in Nigeria’s democracy.

APC National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, in a statement in Abuja said: ``We just heard in the news that INEC has decided to postpone the February general elections by six weeks.

“The postponement, INEC says, is based on the advice by security chiefs that they cannot provide security for the elections nationwide because of commitment of its resources to fight insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country.

“This may constitute a setback for Nigeria’s de-

mocracy; our party will meet in an emergency session to study the implications.

“We want to appeal to Nigerians to remain calm and desist from violence.

“We want to assure all Nigerians that the APC will not abandon its commitment to change and will sustain the struggle to establish a new Nigeria.’’

INEC had on Saturday announced the rescheduling of the general elections from February 14 and February 28 to March 28 and April 11, 2015, citing advice from security agencies.

INEC Chairman, Prof.

Attahiru Jega, said the presidential and National Assembly elections earlier slated for February 14 would now hold on March 28, while governorship and House of Assembly polls previously scheduled for February 28 would now hold on April 11.

However, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, hailed the decision and asked the electoral body to ensure that Nigerians had a credible election that would produce results acceptable to all.

The party also said it would collaborate with the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation to support the process of Permanent Voter Cards collection so that no part of the country would be deliberately manipulated into a position of disadvantage through low percentage rate of PVCs distribution and collection while the other part of the country recorded between 80 and 98 per cent collection.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Director PDP Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, said nothing short of 100 per cent of PVC collection would be acceptable to the party.

He said: “Our belief is anchored on the international and domestic desire for a credible poll. We, therefore, encourage and support INEC to do all that they need to do to ensure that we have a credible election that will produce results that are acceptable to all.

“We are constrained to point out the fact that one of the things that INEC must do is to ensure that it establishes a strategy and

process that will result in the equitable and prompt distribution of the Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, to all registered voters who have not collected them up till this time."

He said if what he read in a national newspaper was true, INEC must quickly set out to ensure the production of its training manual, recruitment of 700,000 ad hoc staff, training of presiding officers, deployment of

printers for voter registers, which were said to still be in Abuja, printing of voter registers by the resident electoral commissioners, provision of full complement of ballot boxes and distribution of the balance of card readers to many states that were yet to get them.

“The credibility, acceptability and success of the forthcoming elections are, therefore, dependent on two things: firstly, 100 per cent

or just below 100 per cent distribution of the PVCs to eligible registered voters so that no-one or no groups of people are disenfranchised.

“Secondly, the deployment of adequate security forces before, during and after the elections who will ensure that the electorate are able to go out to perform their civic responsibility of voting on the election days,” he added.

The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, expressed dis-

appointment with the shift.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Muhammad Ibrahim, ACF said that although it appreciated the security concern adduced as the reason for the shift, there were, however, assurances by security chiefs that the election would hold as scheduled.

“The political parties and NGOs embarked upon vigorous campaigns and CONTINUED ON PAGE 4>>

General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye (middle) during the dedication of All Christians Praise Centre donated to the church by Ejemu family in Ila Orangun, Osun State, yesterday.

Textile development fund disbursement hits N60bn CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

ernment’s intervention to revitalise the ailing companies, the impact of the disbursements was yet to be felt as most of the entities remain operationally comatose.

Giving insight into what happened over the years on the fund’s management during an interview with our correspondent, Bank of Industry, BoI’s, Executive Director, Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs, Mr. Waheed Olagunju, confirmed that the bank had disbursed N60bn to various beneficiaries in the textile sub-sector.

According to him, the N100bn was originally raised by the Debt Management Office, DMO, from the domestic market in form of loan, but the amount has now been converted to the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, MOFI’s, equity share in the BoI. He said the conversion of the N100bn to equity raised the MOFI’s share in the Bank of Industry to about N137bn, adding that the

undisbursed balance still remains in the vaults of the BoI. The BoI’s director, however, said that he could not immediately confirm the number of beneficiaries as at the time of filing this report.

Reacting to the BoI’s claim on loan disbursement, the General Secretary, National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, Issa Aremu, said that the bank should avail the public with the impact assessment of the loan on the sector.

He, however, conceded that some of the beneficiaries of the loan had started using it to beef their businesses.

Aremu, who is also a Vice-President, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, noted that the problem in the sector transcended the issue of finance, adding that some other constraints confronting the sector included counterfeiting, smuggling and epileptic power supply.

He explained that rather

than using the loan to expand the frontier of their production, beneficiaries were using it to fight the other problems not related to finance.

He said: “The problem confronting the textile subsector transcends finance. It also includes the problems of smuggling, counterfeiting and poor power supply.

“After getting the loans, the beneficiaries also use the money to fight some of these identified challenges rather than using it to expand the frontier of production.

“The cost of these other problems and the unfair trade practices have not made the impact of the intervention fund to be maximised,” Aremu added.

According to him, the challenge for the industry players and policy makers is how to fashion out ways of addressing the problems within the context of the new cotton and textile policy.

National Mirror gathered that since the inaugu-

ration of the fund in 2010, less than 10 per cent of the operators were able to access the loan from the BoI due to stringent conditions attached to its disbursement.

Our investigations revealed that hitherto, most of the real operators, who are members of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, were restricted from accessing the loans due to the conditions attached which some of them confirmed were not feasible for them to meet.

An official in the textile and garment section of MAN told our correspondent that that the association was still gathering some crucial information which when properly developed could help them in accessing the loans.

One of the major grouses of industry operators is not necessarily the modalities of disbursement of the fund, which they alleged did not allow the entry of new companies and allow CONTINUED ON PAGE 4>>

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

3

PAGE

Monday, February 9, 2015

Good Health

FRANKA OSAKWE

I

f you are one of those that yell and smash things around at every little provocation or get repeatedly furious at every turn of event on a daily basis? then it’s time to keep that temper in check – at least for the sake of your heart!

A new study found people who experience severe anger outbursts more at risk for stroke, heart attack and other cardiovascular disease, after two hours of the outburst, compared to those who remained calm.

The research published recently in the European Heart Journal, analyzed nine studies of anger outbursts where patients who had had heart attacks, stroke and related problems were reported for over two decades. The studies found that in the two hours after an outburst of anger, the relative risk of heart attack and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) - when the heart muscle doesn’t get enough oxygen-rich blood, increased by nearly five times, while the risk of ischemic stroke and cardiac arrhythmia increased by more than three times.

According to the study, a person with preexisting heart disease or cardiovascular disease has greater risk of incurring an attack, than a person without cardiovascular disease or risk factors.

“If we look at somebody at higher risk for having cardiovascular events, and they get angry multiple times a day, this can lead to 650 extra heart attacks per year out of 10, 000 a year,” says Dr. Murray A. Mittleman, senior study author and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School “When we look at a person who is relatively low risk, but if they do have these episodes of anger fairly frequently, we estimate there would be about 150 extra heart attacks out of 10,000 a year”, he says.

Another compendium of 44 studies published recently in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, also showed that anger and hostility are significantly associated with more heart problems in healthy people, as well as a worse outcome for patients already diagnosed with heart disease.

The study showed that chronically angry or hostile adults with no history of heart trouble were 19 percent more likely than their more calm peers to develop heart disease,

Frequent anger damages the heart –Study ...It causes wear and tear on the heart and cardiovascular system

while patients with heart disease, who exhibited angry or hostile temperaments, were 24 percent more likely to have a poor prognosis.

The researchers also found that anger and hostility seemed to do more harm to men’s hearts than women’s.

So how exactly does anger contribute to heart disease?. According to experts, while it’s fairly ok to be angry once in a while, it becomes unhealthy when it is done frequently and at high level.

“We are talking about people who seem to experience high levels of anger very frequently,” says Laura Kubzansky, PhD, MPH,

DID YOU KNOW?

Musical training protects the brain

S

cientists have found some of the strongest evidence yet that musical training in younger years can prevent the decay in speech listening skills in later life.

According to a new Canadian study led by the Rotman Research Institute (RRI) at Baycrest Health Sciences, older adults who

had musical training in their youth were 20% faster in identifying speech sounds than their non-musician peers on speech identification tests, a benefit that has already been observed in young people with musical training.

The findings are published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Among the different cognitive functions that can diminish with age is the ability to comprehend speech.

Interestingly, this difficulty can persist in the absence of any measurable hearing loss. Previous research has confirmed that the brain’s central auditory system which supports the ability to parse, sequence and identify acoustic features of speech -- weakens in later years.

an associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health in Cambridge, Mass., who has studied the role of stress and emotions on cardiovascular disease.

The key here is “high” levels. Moderate anger may not be the problem, according to Kubzansky. In fact, expressing anger in reasonable ways can be healthy. “Being able to tell people that you’re angry can be extremely functional,” she says. But explosive people who hurl objects or scream at others may be at greater risk for heart disease, as well as those who harbor suppressed rage, she says. “Either end of the continuum is

D

rinking red grape juice or wine -- in moderation -- could improve the health of overweight people by helping them burn fat better, according to a new study coauthored by an Oregon State University researcher.

The findings suggest that consuming dark-colored grapes, whether eating them or drinking juice or wine, might help people better manage obesity and related metabolic disorders such as fatty liver.

Neil Shay, a biochemist and molecular biologist in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences, was part of a study team that exposed human liver and fat cells grown in the lab to extracts of four natural chemicals found in Muscadine grapes, a dark-red variety native to the southeastern United

problematic.”

According to Jerry Kiffer, MA, a heartbrain researcher at the Cleveland Clinic’s Psychological Testing Center, emotions such as anger and hostility quickly activate the “fight or flight response,” in which stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, speed up heart rate and breathing and resulting in a burst of energy.

“While this stress response mobilizes you for emergencies, it might cause harm if activated repeatedly. You get high cortisol and high adrenaline levels and that is the cardio toxic effect of anger expression.

“It causes wear and tear on the heart and cardiovascular system. In fact, frequent anger may speed up the process of atherosclerosis, in which fatty plaques build up in arteries. The heart pumps harder, blood vessels constrict, blood pressure surges, and there are higher levels of glucose in the blood and more fat globules in the blood vessels. All these, scientists believe, can cause damage to artery walls.

And anger might not be the only culprit.

In Kubzansky’s own research, she found that high levels of anxiety and depression may contribute to heart disease risk, too. “They tend to co-occur,” she says. “People who are angry a lot tend to have other chronic negative emotions as well.”

A Nigerian cardiologist and associate professor at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Dr. Amam Mbakwemn agrees with the studies. According to her, emotional stress such as intense anger or pain is capable of altering the way the heart functions and subsequently increases the risk of heart disease.

“When a heart is under emotional stress, it can set up a state of cardiac hyperactivity which can potentially lead to sudden death or cardiac arrest in a predisposed individual”, she warns.

Dr, Mbakwem suggests that in order to reduce the risk of heart issues, people should learn to cope with issues, exercise daily, eat healthy and stay away from smoking.

Moderate drinking could reduce fat

States.

One of the chemicals, ellagic acid, proved particularly potent: It dramatically slowed the growth of existing fat cells and formation of new ones, and it boosted metabolism of fatty acids in liver cells.

These plant chemicals are not a weight-loss miracle, cautions Shay. “We didn’t find, and we didn’t expect to, that these compounds would improve body weight,” he said. But by boosting the burning of fat, especially in the liver, they may improve liver function in overweight people.

4

Photo News

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

L-R: Managing Director, Azman Air, Alhaji Mohamed Abdumunaf; Chief Executive Officer, BiCourtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), Mr. Christophe Penninck,and Head of Aeronautical Services, Mr. Raphael Uchegbu, at BASL’s 2015 Appreciation Dinner, in Lagos, recently.

L-R: Managing Director/CEO, Bank of industry, Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa; Nigerian Ace Musician/BoI Ambassador, D’banj; Executive Director,SME, BoI, Mr Waheed Olagunju and General Manager SME, Mr. Ganiu Mohammed, at BoI Capacity Building Session for Business Development Service Providers, in Lagos, at the weekend.

L-R: GMD/CEO, UAC of Nigeria Plc (UACN), Mr. Larry Ettah; GMD/CEO Flour Mills of Nigeria, Mr. Paul Gbededo; Executive Director, Corporate Services UACN, Mr. Joe Dada and Managing Director, UPDC, Mr. Hakeem Ogunniran, at UACN’s 2015 Business Retreat in Lagos, yesterday.

L-R: Head, Corporate Affair, Heritage Bank, Mr. Fela Ibidapo; Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti and Executive Director, Heritage Bank, Mrs. Mary Akpobome, during the Bank’s donation of Patrol vehicles and other security gadgets to the Police Command in Lagos at the weekend.

National News

Textile development fund disbursement hits N60bn CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

the moribund ones to be revitalised, but the repayment terms.

The Director-General of Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association, NTMA, Mr. Jaiyeola Olanrewaju, told National Mirror that the factors retarding the growth of the industry were beyond the modality for the disbursement of the loan.

He disclosed that none of the companies that were fortunate to get the loans had been able to repay.

Olanrewaju, who could not ascertain the number of beneficiaries of the loan across the sector, said only about 10 – 15 textile companies had benefited from the loan, adding that the loans given to those companies ranged between N2bn and N2.5bn, depending on their production capacity.

He, however, explained that some manufacturers, whose production capaci-

ties cut across the whole value chains, had the opportunity of getting more but that none had been known to get more than N2.5bn.

The NTMA boss noted that BOI’s modalities for the disbursement of the loan, based on established production capacity, had been keeping new companies away from the industry as only those who have 100 per cent manufacturing equipment can benefit.

He added that since the inauguration of the fund in 2010, only three textile companies, out of the scores that shut down or collapsed, had been revived without any new plant established over the years.

Olanrewaju also identified high cost of production and unavailability of market for the locally produced fabrics as amongst the major challenges that compounded the problem facing the sector as more than 80 per cent of the textile materials used in Nigeria were

foreign products.

According to him, those materials, which come into the Nigeria markets through uncontrolled borders as smuggled goods, have made it practically difficult for local textile manufacturers to compete in the

market and made it difficult for those that have accessed the loan to pay back.

Despite the lapses in the fund’s disbursement, the NTMA boss, however admitted that the fund had helped in stabilising

the industry by helping to keep some workers on their jobs as against the past era of mass retrenchment by many companies, Olanrewaju also clarified that contrary to some media reports that the Federal Government had released

another fund for the industry, what the government did was the inauguration of a new National Cotton, Textile and Garment, CTG, policy aimed at stimulating and enhancing growth and development of the industry.

Poll shift: May 29 handover won’t change –Jonathan CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

sensitisation programmes on the need for free and fair elections.

“Unfortunately, seven days to the election, the hopes of Nigerians were dashed by the same military authorities, despite INEC’s submission of their preparedness and its determination to conduct a free, fair and credible election.

“ACF and indeed all Nigerians have no option but to accept the security reasons advanced by INEC and to have faith in our security agencies determination to bring an end to this insur-

gency.

“ACF particularly welcomes the collaborative effort of our neighboring countries (Chad, Cameroun and Niger) to rid the NorthEast region of the Boko Haram insurgency as promised by the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh,” ACF said.

US disappointed – Kerry

The United States said it was “deeply disappointed” by the election postponement announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, therefore, warned the Federal Government against using “security concerns as a pretext for impeding the democratic process.”

INEC bows to pressure – Buhari

The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Party, APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday said that the autonomy of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had been gravely compromised by its decision to postpone the general elec-

tions by six weeks.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja, Buhari also warned against any further postponement of the election in future.

He, however, cautioned Nigerians against taking actions that could further endanger the democratic process.

While calling on his supporters to remain calm but resolute, the APC presidential candidate said: “This postponement, which comes on the heels of the bogey of the National CONTINUED ON PAGE 5>>

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Monday, February 9, 2015

5

Poll shift: May 29 handover won't change –Jonathan CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

Security Adviser that half of the registered voters were being disenfranchised, was exposed as a crude and fraudulent attempt to subvert the electoral process.

“The PDP administration has now engineered a postponement, using the threat that security will not be guaranteed across the length and breadth of Nigeria because of military engagement in some states in the North-East.

“It is important to note that although INEC acted within its constitutional powers, it is clear that it has been boxed into a situation where it has had to bow to pressure. Thus, the independence of INEC has been gravely compromised.”

Buhari said as a Nigerian and a presidential candidate in the elections, he shared in the disappointment and frustration of the decision to postpone the election.

“This postponement, coming a week to the first election, has raised so many questions, many of which shall be asked in the days ahead.

“However, we must not allow ourselves to be tempted into taking actions that could further endanger the democratic process.

“Our country is going through a difficult time in the hands of terrorists. Any act of violence can only complicate the security challenges in the country and provide further justification to those who would want to exploit every situation to frustrate the democratic process in the face of certain defeat at the polls.

“If anything, this postponement should strengthen our resolve and commitment to rescue our country from the current economic and social collapse from this desperate band. Our desire for change must surpass their desperation to hold on to power at all cost.

“We are clearly dealing with people who feel they can get away with placing their personal interest over those of our nation and its citizens. What is at stake is the very survival of our country. We must not allow this temporary delay to abort this great opportunity.

“While I share the pains and frustrations of my fellow citizens over this development, my deep faith in the

democratic process assures me that this country, with your support, will overcome.

“We must remain resolute and rise above all provocations. We must continue to trust in the entire democratic process and in INEC, which has been brought under so much pressure in the last few days.

“Our trust can only serve to encourage the electoral body to remain steadfast and remain committed to the rule of law.

“I wish to state strongly that our party will not tolerate any further interference with the electoral process. The rescheduled elections of March 28th and April 11th, 2015 must be sacrosanct.

“Nigeria is definitely greater than any of us, and much more important than our individual ambitions.

“Before us there was Nigeria, and long after we are gone there will still be Nigeria.

“Let us continue to do our part to make it the great country that it should be. We must rescue our dear country. God being on our side, we shall salvage Nigeria together,” Buhari said.

FG, PDP ambush INEC –Fashola

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola said the postponement had further diminished the credibility of the Federal Government both locally and internationally.

The governor said that no serious nation would postpone elections the way the Federal Government had coaxed INEC to do.

Fashola said this after he collected his PVC at Surulere, Lagos.

The governor added that he believed INEC was ambushed by the Federal Government and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, saying many Nigerians must have been disappointed by the decision.

“I think the reality is that INEC was ambushed by the PDP and the Federal Government and I think Nigerians must be disappointed.

“But I use this opportunity to appeal to Nigerians to remain calm, especially to the supporters and members of APC. “This is just a matter of time and the momentum of

change is already on and the momentum is a Nigerian people’s momentum, but it’s just that it would have consequences for us as a nation, the credibility of our governance is regrettably diminished.

“I don’t know any serious democracy in recent times that have set dates and then changes them, except perhaps the last one was when a British Prime Minister

backed down from elections, and you know what happened in the end, he was still defeated.

“I think that when a country sets in motion a process like this, it ought to know that there would be political and economic consequences and that is why investors watch what is going on and the global community,” Fashola said.

Agbaje hails INEC

Gubernatorial candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, yesterday commended Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for postponing the general elections.

He argued that many Nigerians would have been disenfranchised had INEC gone ahead to conduct the

election stressing that Nigeria was a large country that could not afford to get the electioneering process wrong.

This was even as the pharmacist averred that the call from certain quarters for the resignation of the INEC Chairman, Prof.

Attahiru Jega, was not necessary.

According to him, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 8>>

L-R : Executive Director, Marth Iyayi Development Foundation, Mr. Uchenna Onyeizu; member, Board of Trustees, Mr. Chinedu Onyeizu, and another member, Mr. ChimaogeThomas, during a press briefing on Jonathan Transformation Agenda in Abuja, yesterday.

PHOTO: ROTIMI OSASONA

Ondo PDP appeals contempt ruling

T

he Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, faction in Ondo State yesterday said that it would appeal the ruling last Friday of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, against contempt of court charges.

The appeal is expected to be filed today.

The Chief Olu Ogunyeled party is of the opinion that Justice Ademola erred in law to have presided over a case in which his order was violated. This point was well canvassed before the trial judge in the course of the hearing for contempt.

The party has insisted that since Justice Ademola’s order is the one being complained of, he has no moral right to preside over the complaint and ought to have transferred the case to another judge to protect the integrity of the judiciary.

“The case is such that the order was made by the same judge who also sat to hear the complaint about the breach of his order.

“Since there are many judges in the Federal High Court, the appropriate thing to do is to transfer the case to another judge,” the candidates said.

They also insisted that the case is that of contempt and civil disobedience to court order and not about which candidates’ names should be used for election among the contending parties.

They added that they will pursue the appeal to the Supreme Court.

Justice Ademola had ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, not to do anything in respect of PDP candidates for elections in the state until it ruled on committal proceedings before it.

The judge reminded INEC of the earlier order made by the vacation judge to the extent that INEC should not take any further step that will render nugatory other judgements of the court when delivered.

Both PDP and INEC had addressed the court extensively on which application

to take between the preliminary objections brought by the PDP on motion for committal by the old PDP candidates.

Counsel to the old PDP cited Supreme Court decision to the extent that when a civil and criminal contempts are before the court, the court must dispose off the criminal contempt before continuing with the civil case.

The PDP lawyer had argued before the court by a way of delayed tactics, urging the court to take preliminary objection application before the contempt proceedings.

The lawyer, who argued that he was not served despite the publication in newspapers of the order of the court, was asked by the presiding judge how the PDP came with motion to discharge an order he was not aware of.

The lawyer who confessed that the case was above him asked for one day adjournment to enable his senior, Raji, SAN to help.

Barrister Oloyede, law-

yer to Ondo old PDP candidates urged the court to continue and rule on the criminal contempt since a violation of the court order is taken serious anywhere in the world.

He reminded the court that the violation is disrespect to her majesty and that no court will take it lightly if her order was breached.

Justice Ademola in the interest of justice adjourned the matter till today for the hearing of the committal proceedings brought by the old PDP candidates.

The court had stopped both INEC and PDP from dealing with any other group, other than the Chief Olu Ogunye-led executive in the state.

Justice Ademola, who expressed displeasure with the development in the matter, rejected an invitation by the alleged contemnors to examine the merit of the case first before countenancing the committal proceedings maintained against them by the Ogunye-led exco.

6

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Reactions to Poll shift

Shift won’t halt wind of change –ASUU Kemi Olaitan IBADAN

A

cademic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has enjoined Nigerians not to be frustrated by the poll shift but mobilise to collect their Permanent Voter Card, PVC. Ibadan zonal coordinator of ASUU and Chairman of the University of Ibadan chapter, Prof.

Segun Ajiboye, made the plea on behalf of the union.

He said hiding under

security ruse will not help the cabal to frustrate the genuine efforts of Nigerians seeking change.

His reaction tallies with that of ASUU President, Dr Nasir Fagge, who charged Nigerians not to be discouraged but use the 2015 polls to usher in new crop of leaders that are interested in the people and development of Nigeria.

While condemning the poll shift by the electoral umpire, Ajiboye said the decision is a serious setback for Nigerian democracy.

He urged Nigerians not to agonise but organise towards ensuring the new set of leaders that will emerge in the country are those with genuine interest for the Masses.

He said, “Hiding under this security ruse will not help the cabal trying to frustrate the genuine efforts of Nigerian seeking desperately for a change.

We condemn the shift in the polls but however encourage Nigerians to keep calm in the face of unnecessary provocations by the ruling cabal. The decision

is a serious setback for Nigerian democracy. But we should remain steadfast.

This is time- buying game.

It will not work. Let us organise and not agonise.”

The ASUU president in a telephone chat, said the just concluded national symposium of the union at University of Abuja titled ‘Towards issuebased and violence-free 2015 polls,’ resolved that the challenge is for Nigerians to be active in ensuring the emergence of a leadership with focus on the people and its institutions.

– Ex-Kogi NBA chair Wale Ibrahim LOKOJA

F

ormer Nigerian Bar Association, NBA chairman, Kogi State chapter, Muhammed Musa, has accused security agencies of trying to scuttle democracy by compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to postpone the general elections.

Musa, who stated this in Lokoja, noted that the

Chris Njoku OWERRI

A

group, Christian Citizenship Network International, has thrown its weight behind the military and Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for shifting the election, saying it would protect the country from election violence.

Executive Director of the organization, Rev.

postponement was a calculated attempt by the security agencies to frustrate INEC since they were aware of the timetable over a year ago.

He said for the past four to five years, Boko Haram has been there which led to the declaration of state emergency in the North East, arguing that all these years the military did not declare any day to fight Boko Haram headon except now on election day.

Emmanuel Ihim, who stated this while briefing newsmen in Owerri, Imo State capital yesterday, commended the postponement, saying it will curb violence that would have erupted had the election held on February 14.

He said apart from preventing violence, the shift would also ensure ample opportunity for people that are yet to collect their permanent voter cards to do so.

–Ondo APC L-R: Chairman, Board of Trustee, Centre for Women Empowerment and Community Development, Dr Musa Moda; Deputy Director General, Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation, Prof Tunde Adeniran, and Director General, Peoples Democratic Institute, Dr Lanre Adebayo, during a one day forum to publicly present PDP Manifesto 2015-2019 to the Nigerian Civil Society in Abuja, at the weekend. PHOTO:ROTIMI OSASONA

Poll shift won’t save PDP, says Buhari/Osinbajo campaign

C

OORDINATOR of Buhari/Osinbajo Campaign Organisation, Lagos office, James Faleke, yesterday condemned the postponement of the general elections by six weeks as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, last night.

The INEC chairman had cited security rea-

son for the shift. He said the national election, formerly fixed for February 14, will now hold on March 28, while state election moves from February 28 to April 11.

But Faleke said the postponement could endanger the nation’s budding democracy and diminish the reputation of Nigeria in the comity of nations.

Faleke, who chairs

the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption, National Ethics and Values, ascribed fear of defeat at the polls by its architects, for the postponement.

The lawmaker accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of intimidating and blackmailing the electoral body into submission.

He, however, stated

that “PDP has only succeeded in pushing forward doom’s day; six weeks cannot make up for the pains of six years.

Nigerians are wiser and would be fooled.”

Faleke, who is APC candidate for Ikeja Federal Constituency, urged those who are yet to get their Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, to take advantage of the shift window to do so.

Borno PDP lauds INEC on postponement Inusa Ndahi MAIDUGURI

P

eoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Borno State yesterday commended the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, for shifting the 2015 general elections.

Leader of the party and Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil, stated this in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Olawale Rasheed, in Maiduguri.

Wakil explained that

going ahead with the polls on the original date would have amounted to great error.

“The INEC action has confirmed its readiness to ensure hitch-free conduct of the elections. It also shows that the com-

mission is responsive.

“Going ahead with the elections will have amounted to grave error, considering the outcry over PVCs. There was also the problem of insecurity, training of adhoc staff among others.”

Ojo Oyewamide AKURE

A

ll Progressives Congress, APC, in Ondo State has described postponement of the general elections as a palace coup against the people of Nigeria.

In a statement yesterday by Vice Chairman of the state APC Campaign Media and Publicity, Kunle Adebayo, the party warned that nothing

L

should be done to truncate the country’s democracy.

Adebayo, who said the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was pressurised against its will to shift the polls, lamented that the electoral umpire could succumb to pressures.

He noted that in practical terms, the postponement would weaken the trust and confidence of Nigerians in Prof. Attahiru Jega and the commission.

–APC

agos State chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, has described the postponement of the 2015 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as an affront on Nigerians and serious threat to democracy, which Nigerians must rise up against in protest.

The party described as laughable and cheap insult

the excuse that a four-yearly general election was being postponed a week to the exercise on the pretext that the Army was embarking on a six weeks exercise against insurgents.

It said the decision was an annoying blackmail on the sensibilities of Nigerians and showed a government desperate to remain in power when it was obvious Nigerians no longer wanted it.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

7

Monday, February 9, 2015

Reactions to Poll shift

Postponement coup against democracy –Rights group

…wants NSA, service chief sacked, prosecuted

Francis Suberu

T

hough Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, said he had consulted widely before coming to terms with the February 14 and 28 gener-

al elections postponement, the decision, accoding to a civil society group, is a slap on the faces of Nigerians and a coup against the country’s democracy.

The rights group, Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate, CPPM, condemned in strong terms the post-

ponement of the elections, saying it was an assault on our national dignity, integrity, provocative and invitation to anarchy.

In a statement signed by its Executive Chairman, Nelson Ekujumi, CPPM, said the grounds for the postponement are unacceptable and must be

resisted by all legitimate means possible.

In the light of the aforesaid, the group demands the immediate reversal of the decision as well as the immediate resignation of the National Security Adviser and the Service Chiefs, just as it demanded their prosecution.

Cleric blames security agencies for shift Ojo Oyewamide AKURE

T

he Vicar, Chapel of the Annunciation, Archbishop Vining College of Theology, Akure, Ondo State capital, Venerable Ayodeji Fagbemi, yesterday blamed security agencies for postponement of the general elections to March and April.

He said the shift of the election, earlier scheduled for February, was an indictment on the security operatives who failed to do enough to prepare for the general elections.

The Vicar noted that several Nigerians had divergent views on why the

elections must hold or be postponed; assuring that the church would continue to pray for peace to reign in the country.

Fagbemi, spoke in an interview with reporters, shortly after an interactive sermon with members of his congregation on a topic: The Role of the Christian Politicians in Politics.

The cleric, who said churches, could not afford to fold their hands and act as observers while things go wrong in the country, cautioned clergymen from endorsing candidates, saying they should rather challenge them and make them accountable and responsible to the people.

Shift no threat to APC chances –Osun Dep Gov. Boladale Bamigbola OSOGBO

O L-R: Director, Support Group of Buhari 2015, Mr. Maurice Evey; National Coordinator, Mass Movement for Buhari 2015, Mr. Kenneth IbeKalu and Vice Chairman, APC North West zone, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadiri, during a meeting in Kaduna, yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

UPN condemns INEC over postponement Femi Oyeweso ABEOKUTA

O

ne of the political parties in the country, Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, has condemned the decision of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to reschedule the general elec-

tion earlier planned to hold February this year.

The governorship candidate of the party in Ogun State, Rotimi Paseda, made his position known while speaking with journalists over the weekend at Sabo area of Sagamu shortly after he was installed as the Garkuwa Hausawa of

Ogun by the Council of Hausa Chiefs in Ogun State.

Flanked by three other UPN governorship candidates of Sokoto, Honourable Umar Farouk, that of Zamfara State, AbdulRahman Umar as well as that of Kano State, Yahya Molid Kyabo, Paseda said his condemnation of the

postponement of the election is the position of their party, UPN. He said rescheduling of the election would impact negatively on the integrity of the commission as well as give room for insinuations that Professor Attahiru Jegga is being manipulated.

Security factor mere smokescreen- Don Sekinah L awal

P

rofessor Ishaq Akintola, Director, Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has described reasons for the shift of election dates by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as a mere smokescreen.

In a release made available to National Mirror, MURIC said the postponement was unnecessary because countries like Iraq,

Afghanistan and Pakistan, which are ravaged by worse security situations, have successfully conducted general elections and did not succumb to security threat.

“We strongly suspect that the security factor is a mere smokescreen. The real raison d’etre lies in the imminent defeat of the ruling party. Having read between the lines, the ruling party has been running from pillar to post looking for the magic

wand. They turned to litigation after the main opposition candidate’s certificate imbroglio failed.

The attempt to hoodwink the Council of State also hit the rocks. The military option is the ace.”

According to him, the real reason is the urgent desire of the ruling party to buy time and keep stalling until a sinister plan matures.”Resorting to the use of security agencies after the Council of State had rejected a postpone-

ment exposes the low level the Federal Government has sunk.

The group asserted that the reason is weak and unfounded as it is the Nigerian army that is involved in the war against the insurgents, not the police.

“Civilised countries do not involve the military in elections. This is strictly a police constituency. This is why the use of soldiers in earlier elections in Ekiti and Osun was roundly condemned by Nigerians.”

sun State Deputy Governor, Mrs Grace Titi LaoyeTomori, has stated that the shift in dates for general elections would not have negative effect on the chances of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Osun State.

Speaking in Otan Aiyegbaju, headquarter of Boluwaduro Local Government area of Osun State, while joining Catholic community to observe the annual “Oke Maria” pilgrimage, Laoye-Tomori, however, called for sustained prayers for peace

during the elections in Osun and the country at large.

While condemning terrorism ravaging some states in the North, the deputy governor also described the act as “desecrating humanity by killing innocent people”.

Similarly, two civil society groups based in Osun State, Osun Civil Societies Coalition, OCSC, and Centre for Sustained Dialogue, CSD, accused leaderships of the Nigeria security agencies of engaging in partisanship and acting the script of President Goodluck Jonathan by forcing the postponement of the general elections.

IYC, others endorse shift Theophilus O nojeghen WARRI

A

s more reactions continued to trail the postponement of this month’s general election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over security concerns, the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, the umbrella body of Ijaw youths worldwide has okayed postponement of the polls.

IYC in a statement released by its spokesman,

Eric Omare, commended the electoral body for the shift in date, noting that the six weeks would avail INEC the opportunity to be fully prepared for the elections.

It however, called on INEC to display utmost transparency in its preparation towards the rescheduled dates to enable all Nigerians to be fully aware of challenges that might be confronting the commission to avoid unnecessary tension as was noticed in the postponement.

8

News

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Poll shift: May 29 handover won’t change –Jonathan CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

L-R: Wife of former Governor of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi; Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Ekiti State, Most Rev. Felix Ajakaye; celebrant/former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; and another former Governor of the state, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, during Fayemi’s 50th Birthday Thanksgiving at St. Martin’s Cathedral, Isan-Ekiti, yesterday.

We’re yet to endorse any presidential candidate —LP OBIORA IFOH ABUJA

N

ational Chairman of the Labour Party, LP, Alhaji Abdukadir Salau, has said his party will soon settle for one of the two leading presidential candidates, President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, or General Muhammadu Buhari, of All Progressives Congress, APC. Salau, who in an interview with journalists at the weekend in Abuja insisted the party had at no time pitched tent with President Jonathan, however, said the it was not in a hurry to make the endorsement.

According to the LP chairman, even if it remains 48 hours to th e presidential election, the leadership of LP can still tell their supporters who to vote for.

“We are already assessing the situation, looking at the manifestos of the two political parties. Other political parties will come together, assess the situation, which of the two political parties promises better life for Nigeria and Nigerians, which of the two parties promises peaceful coexistence in Nigeria, which of the two parties actually believes that the unity of this country is paramount,” he said.

When asked about the chances of his party in the coming elections vis-avis defection of governor Olusegun Mimiko to ruling PDP, Salau said LP is now stronger than when Mimiko was there.

He said: “Despite the fact that Mimiko decamped, we have more Senators in the senate, there are more members in the House of Repre-

sentatives than we used to have, there are more members in the various Houses of Assembly.

“When Mimiko decamped, the entire Ebonyi decamped to Labour Party.

In River State, we have five good governorship candidates with bright chances, in Cross River State , we have a sitting senator who has moved to the Labor Party.

“So, why we lost Mimiko, it didn’t have effect on the national body. The only place we felt we have lost somebody was only in Ondo State, it didn’t have effect in all other states so his lost is a gain to the Labor Party.

We are comfortable and our party is to produce at least fifteen governors and today like I said earlier, we have individuals whose backgrounds are appreciated

by Nigerians and in their

states, whose background indicated that they have contributed to their community, their society and their states.”

On the recent accord signed by the presidential candidates to ensure that the coming elections are violence-free, the chairman believed that both APC and PDP presidential candidates were deceitful.

“The recent accord sign was deceitful, from the angle of the PDP and the APC, they do not believe in the peaceful coexistence of this country. They do not believe in the peaceful coexistence, unity of this country because they are selfish. Their utterances in recent times to say the least, is very unfortunate, they do not believe what they claim to preach, so their signature is just an appendage that there will be peace,” he said.

Private jet operations: Ministerial C’ttee begins verification today OLUSEGUN KOIKI

A

s the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, is set to ground some private jets, whose operators use for commercial operations, the Ministerial Committee on Aeronautical and Nonaeronautical charges commences verification of the operators today.

A source close to the Ministry of Aviation confided in our correspondent that the committee, headed by Mr. Ahonsi Unuigbe, would commence interrogation of

the private jet owners today in order to put an end to illegal hire and reward by the jet owners.

The source told our correspondent that the essence of the interrogation was to know the number of the jet operators who have complied with Friday’s deadline of NCAA and those who have regularised their operating licenses within the last 72 hours.

The source said that as from today (Monday) any jet operator who failed to comply with the directive would be grounded, while the operating license re-

voked by the regulator.

However, as at the time of compiling this report, it was not clear if any of the 22 companies listed by NCAA on Friday had complied with the directive.

NCAA had listed 22 foreign registered private companies as those who violated their certificates.

The companies are Air First, ANAP Business Jets, ATT Aviation Support Limited, AVJET Corporation, BUA Group Limited, Chrome Air, Delmon Aviation./C&K, Dominion Air, EAN Aviation Limited and Executive Jets.

Others are Ferry Aviation Development Services, Gitto Construzioni, Grenfact Ventures Limited, Gyro Air Limited, NAMCO Nigeria Limited, Orlean Investment West Africa, Prime Air, Project Eagle Air Limited, Southern Air, SWAT Technology Limited, Tag Aviation Limited and Toucan Aviation Support.

The agency came up with the 22 names after a long hours meeting among its management staff at its headquarters at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, MMA, Lagos on Friday.

country has committed enormous investment for the preparation of the general elections Agbaje spoke with journalists during a church service to conclude the twoday international crusade organised by The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministry, LCCRM, headquarters, Ijesha, Lagos.

He said: “If we are not ready for elections, then the best thing to do is to postpone for as long as we are not contravening the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Also it is obvious to many of us that there are things that still need to be put in place. Don’t forget that elections were for just next Saturday and many people are still complaining that they have not got their Permanent Voters’ Cards, PVCs, which is important.

He argued that the security situation in the North East was not too good for election.

Election postponement, a great setback –TUC The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, described the shift in the general elections as a great setback capable of truncating the nation’s fledgling democracy.

TUC in a statement by the President, Bobboi Kaigama and the Secretary- General, Musa Lawal, said that the news of the postponement came as a rude shock not only to Nigerians, but also the entire world.

It said even though the shift in the polls could be misconstrued by a lot of Nigerians and major opposition party, there was the need for the people to remain calm.

The statement reads in part: “The postponement may be construed as a great setback and capable of truncating the frail peace the country has at the moment.

“It will be very difficult to convince the opposition parties and many Nigerians on the sincerity of the act, yet we sue for peace and appeal to all to take it in good faith in the interest of our country as March 28 and April 11 set for the elections are around the corner.

“The congress appeals to all Nigerians to remain calm and desist from vio-

lence and any activity that would compound this development.

“We believe that Godwilling the dates chosen will come soon and the elections will be held. It must be noted that it is better to be late than to be the late.”

A mark of failure by FG –MOSOP

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, yesterday described the poll shift as a mark of failure by the Federal Government just as a group, the International Society for Justice and Human Rights, also flayed the decision.

MOSOP said if INEC had said all along that it was prepared for the polls and the Federal Government through the National Security Adviser said it was not ready, it meant something was wrong.

Spokesman of MOSOP, Mr. Bari-ara Kpalap, said security was not part of the duties of INEC. “It (the electoral umpire) only shifted the election as result of pressure from the Federal Government because INEC has been saying it was ready.”

Chancellor of the rights group, Dr. Omenazu Jackson, explained that the poll shift showed Nigeria as a nation that did not take things seriously, especially against the backdrop that millions of naira had been spent for the preparation of the poll.

It’s welcome development, says Ihedioha Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, described the election postponement as a welcome development and in the best interest of Nigeria.

Ihedioha said this yesterday while addressing the congregation at the Cathedral of Transfiguration, Anglican Church, Owerri, Imo State.

He said: “The postponement will reduce tension in the nation and indeed enable the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to provide Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, to Imo State electorate and other Nigerians who would have been disenfranchised if the elections were held as earlier scheduled.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News

Monday, February 9, 2015

9

Probe staff on PVC distribution, PDP urges Jega Obiora Ifoh ABUJA

P

L-R: Senior Vice President, Babcock University, Prof Iheanyichukwu Okoro; Speaker, Prof Ademola Tayo,his wife, Grace; President/Vice Chancellor, Babcock University, Prof James Kayode Fayemi, and the Orangun of Oke-Ila Orangun, Oba Adedokun Abolarin, at the 2nd inaugural lecture of Babcock University Administration, in Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, at the weekend.

More revelations on rigged Ekiti guber coming –Fayemi

Abiodun Nejo ADO EKITI

F

ormer Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, yesterday said more revelations would soon be released to complement the audio tape on how he was rigged out of office last year.

Fayemi, shortly after a church service to commemorate his 50th birthday at his Isan Ekiti hometown yesterday, spoke on the audio tape trending on social media on how some Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stalwarts and military allegedly rigged him out of power.

The audio tape allegedly recorded Governor Ayodele Fayose; former Minister of State for Defence, Mr Musiliu Obanikoro; Senator Iyiola Omisore; Minister of Police Affairs, Mr Jelili Adesiyan; and military officers discussing how to rig the Ekiti governorship election last year.

The former governor said: “It should not be a surprise to anybody that such happened because what I said after the election was not different from what is unfolding now.

“You know that I said I accepted the outcome if truly it was the wish of Ekiti people because I was privy to a lot of things that happened that put a question mark on the conduct of the elec-

tion. But more revelations will come in few days,” he said.

This was as the All Progressives Congress, APC Publicity Secretary in Ekiti, Taiwo Olatubosun, said the audio clip vindicated APC’s claim that photochromic ballot papers were used to fix election in the state.

Olatunbosun, in a statement in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, said it was shocking that principal participants captured in the video clip “did not hide their evil plot as they spoke freely of an elaborate rigging without knowing that they were being recorded. ”It was shocking that one of the participants spoke of how he must deliver on the assignment given to him by the ‘President’. The fellow said ‘I am not for a tea party but to deliver on the president’s assignment,” the APC spokesman said.

But Minister of State for Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, described the audio clip released by the APC suggesting the use of military to rig the governorship election in Ekiti as a failed attempt to rewrite history.

In a statement in AdoEkiti yesterday, Adeyeye said: “No amount of campaign of calumny and blackmail can erase the fact that Ekiti people willingly elected Governor Fayose.”

The minister stated

that it was funny that the same people who castigated Ekiti people for voting Fayose because of “stomach infrastructure” are now saying that the election was rigged.

He said it was the APC that plotted to manipulate the election, using information technology and thuggery, but the heavy presence of security agents foiled the plan.

Adeyeye, who said Fayose did not hold meetings on how to manipulate the election with anyone, added that “the APC people know where to go if they have evidence that the election was rigged.”

He said: “It is foolish for anyone to be crying that an election was rigged eight months after the election was held. This is more so that there was an election petition tribunal where the evidence ought to have been presented.”

While faulting the audio clip, Adeyeye said: “In this age of Information technology, it is possible to even manipulate videos not to talk of audio. It is possible to make someone who cannot speak French to appear on video speaking French.

“It is also possible for voice of someone who died 10 years ago to be manipulated such that he will appear as speaking on current issues. GSM providers are doing it by making ones voice to appear like that of a celeb-

rity.

“Therefore, APC should take this their socalled audio clip to court where it will be subjected to proper scrutiny both legally and technologically rather than using the media to promote a dead issue.

“Most importantly, the APC should stop wasting its resources on mundane issues concerning the Ekiti election because the people clearly voted for Fayose and rejected the APC and its candidate, Kayode Fayemi.”

eoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to investigate the level of involvement of some of its staff on the lopsided distribution of Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs. The party made the call in its reaction to postponement of the general elections to March 28.

The party through Chief Olisa Metuh, PDP national publicity secretary, stated that while it supported shifting the polls over security concerns in the North East, the time-lag provided ample opportunity for the electoral umpire to look inward and probe staff on their roles in the PVCs debacle.

INEC chairman, Prof.

Attahiru Jega, had relied on powers of the commission as provided by section 26 (1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (As Amended) and on advise of security forces over their inability to provide adequate security for the election, in postponing the election.

He added: “INEC must also use this period to attend to our earlier call to address the

issue of denial of PVCs to non-indigenes in select states.

“This is especially as the INEC chairman himself acknowledged that only 45,829,808 representing 66.58 percent of the total number of registered voters have received their PVCs. “The INEC itself has confirmed that as at last week, well over 2 million voter cards were either not yet delivered to INEC by its contractors, lost or stolen.

“For instance, we are aware that in Borno State, 90 percent of the PVCs were handed over to state government officials, who distributed them by proxy contrary to laid-down procedures.

“Also, in Owerri North local government of Imo State, the LGA of our National Woman Leader, only new registered voters have received their PVCs. Citizens with old voters card have not had any replaced and this scenario abounds in other places.”

Metuh stressed that PDP hoped that INEC would use the period to ensure that all identified irregularities were eliminated to guarantee that registered voters across the country received their PVCs urgently.

Striking Ado poly workers ordered to resume today Abiodun Nejo ADO EKITI

G

overning Council of Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, has ordered striking workers of the institution to resume at their duty posts unfailingly today.

The council also directed full-time students to resume today for normal academic activities.

The order followed indefinite suspension at the weekend by the council of all trade unions as well as student union activities in the institution.

A statement by Governing Council Chairman, Sir Victor Ebomoyi, said the decision was taken by the

council after a review of series of disturbances by the staff unions, which had disrupted normal academic activities over the last three years.

Ebomoyi said: “All staff are hereby warned that failure to heed this directive is tantamount to an act of gross misconduct.”

It would be recalled that the industrial action embarked upon by the three labour unions in the institution since January 5 over sundry welfare issues had paralysed academic and other activities in the school.

Ebomoyi said that the council “in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Section 5 (1) of decree 33 of 1979, and other enabling

laws establishing and governing the management of the polytechnic, in a unanimous decision directed the indefinite suspension of all forms of unions (staff and students) activities forthwith.”

He stated that the directive was a consequence of the “unbridled strike actions and violent protests by these unions which have not made it possible to graduate any student in its full time programmes since 2012 and Serial infringement of the Public Service Rules.”

He added that other reasons for the action included “polarisation of the Students’ Union and Trade Unions into pro and antimanagement.

10

South West

Monday, February 9, 2015

Omisore appeals judgement, restates confidence in judiciary BOLADALE BAMIGBOLA OSOGBO

P

eoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in the August 9, 2014, Osun governorship poll, Senator Iyiola Omisore, yesterday said he would explore the option of appeal, following dismissal of his petition by the election petition tribunal hearing matters relating to the poll.

Omisore, in a statement

he personally signed, copies of which were made available to newsmen in Osogbo, restated “abiding faith in the Nigerian judiciary to do justice at all times without fear or favour”, adding that the pronouncement of the tribunal has not and would not shake his belief in the judiciary, even if there was no option of appeal.

The statement reads: “The preceding political activities of the ruling party in the state hours before the judgement which went in

tandem with the party elements’ prediction, necessitated the call on the National Judicial Council, NJC, to take another look into the bewildering scenario which was now being interpreted by our opponents as a call for the probe of the judges.

“Going by the laws guiding elections in the country, two layers of appeal are still available to us, which we are currently exploring.

“I want to speak again on the judgement of the Osun

State Election Petition Tribunal again due to the deliberate mischievous twist being given to my initial reaction to the tribunal’s pronouncement and the political activities preceding and succeeding it, by the elements of the ruling party in the state.

“Contrary to the lies being peddled by elements of the ruling party in Osun State, I hold the judiciary in high esteem and trust in its ability to dispense justice,” he said.

L-R: Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun; Mr. Owolabi Bankole, and Chief Alani Bankole when the governor visited the Bankole family to condole with them on the demise of Chief Bankole’s wife, Adunni, at their Abeokuta residence, yesterday.

ASUU demands reversal of UniOsun VC’s suspension BOLADALE BAMIGBOLA OSOGBO

N

ational leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday demanded immediate reversal of the suspension of Vice Chancellor of Osun State University, UNIOSUN, Professor Bashir Okesina, and two other principal officers of the institution.

As fallout of the simmering crisis that has pitched the governing council and the management of the university against each other, the pro chancellor of the institu-

tion, Professor Gabriel Olawoyin, had recently suspended the three principal staff for allegedly defrauding the university.

Other officers of the institution suspended apart from the Vice Chancellor, are the registrar and bursar. The affected officers have also been directed to appear before a panel set up by the council to investigate allegations of financial impropriety levelled against them on Monday.

However, addressing a press conference in Osogbo yesterday, ASUU National Chairman, Professor Nasir Fagge, whose address was read by Professor Segun Ajiboye, the coordina-

tor of ASUU, Ibadan Zone, said the pro- chancellor does not have power under the law that established the university to suspend the vice chancellor.

Accusing the chairman of the governing council of victimising its members, Fagge also decried setting up of a parallel investigative body by Olawoyin, when visitor to the university and Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola had already instituted a visitation panel headed by the Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, FUTA, Akure, Professor Gregory Adebiyi, to investigate the matter.

He then urged governor Aregbesola to immediately inaugurate the visitation panel and also reverse the order suspending the vice chancellor and others, to allow them have access to their offices and get relevant documents to prove their innocence in the matter.

In his remarks, ASUU’s National Treasurer, Dr. Ademola Aremu, urged the state government to ensure prompt payment of salaries and other entitlements of the union’s members working in the institution, alleging that government currently owes them two months salaries.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Buhari’s group alleges plot to rig polls OJO OYEWAMIDE AKURE

B

uhari/Osinbajo Presidential Campaign Council in Ondo State has alleged that Governor Olusegun Mimiko and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are plotting to manipulate the rescheduled general elections in the state.

The organisation claimed that a total sum of N750 million had been set aside by the governor to prosecute the plot.

Its coordinator, Ife Oyedele, at a press conference yesterday in Akure said the ultimate goal of the plan was to cause confusion during the voting process and ultimately disenfranchise thousands of legitimate voters.

According to him, details of the plan, consisted of mobilisation of party thugs specially hired hoodlums to induce and violate innocent voters on the day of the election.

Oyedele said the specific plan included the recruitment of 50 persons per each of the 3,009 polling unit who would be paid N50, 000 per person while 30 persons had been recruited at each of the 203 wards at N30, 000 each.

He claimed further that three coordinators were also being hired in each of the 18 local government areas at N100, 000 each.

The coordinator said: “The jobs of these hoodlums, tagged as party canvassers, who are already ongoing in the rural areas, is first to, in the name of the government, induce rural voters to submit their voters cards for a monetary price. They are also paying the sum of N2, 000 to each voter for access to copy the VIN and other bio data of the voter on the Permanent Voters Card, PVC. “The objective is to clone the voters’ cards and mobilise for its use so that the cards can upon attempted use on Election Day, be invalidated by INEC’s new technology; the card readers which ultimately invalidate the original voters data and cards after.

“Second, the paid party agents are to embark on house to house campaign intimidating voters with

false information and alarm about the danger and violence waiting to happen on the election date. The ultimate goal is to undermine security, dissuade voters and ensure voter apathy on the Election Day. “It is important to note that such unnecessary and desperate action by the PDP as well as the spontaneous reaction by the public and opposition party can only and is indeed escalating security anxiety in the state.

“The essence of this conference therefore is to put INEC and security agencies as well as the public on notice of these evil plans.

We are shouting for the whole world to hear and bear witness against both INEC and security forces in the matter of this sophisticated rigging plan.”

Oyedele, recalled that similar occurrence happened in the 2012 governorship election when one month to the election, the state government embarked on what it called state wide citizens data capture programme otherwise known as “Kaadi Igbe Ayo”, saying at the end, over 150,000 of its entries found their ways into INEC’s voters’ register used for the election in Ondo State.

He noted that the election petition tribunal as well as the Court of Appeal both sitting in Akure, established in their separate judgments that over 100,000 strange, unauthorised and illegal names were discovered in the INEC Register used for the election.

“We wish to say to Nigeria that the magnitude of the monetisation of the now postponed elections as currently being planned and gradually executed by the PDP government in Ondo State is such that is designed to cause confusion, breed tension, violate peace and ensure security threat to the entire process.

“No one should be in doubt that like its national body and the Presidency, Ondo State PDP and Governor Olusegun Mimiko, having seen the handwriting of the voters on the wall, is doing everything possible including taking advantage of this black market postponement to frustrate the electoral process,” he said.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

South East

Monday, January 9, 2015

11

PDP will sustain democracy –Chime DENNIS AGBO ENUGU

E

L-R: Inaugural lecturer, Prof. Gab Agu and wife, Lolo Edna; Vice-Chancellor, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Prof. Cyprian Onyeji and Registrar, Mr. Chris Igbokwe, during the institution’s 21st inaugural lecture in Enugu, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Ebonyi backward under Elechi –Egwu …says indigenes rejected gov in 2007 ALIUNA GODWIN ABAKALIKI

W

ife of former Ebonyi State governor, Mrs Ukamaka Egwu, has revealed that Ebonyi people rejected Governor Martin Elechi in 2007, just as she accused him of increasing poverty and underdevelopment in the state under his reign.

Mrs Egwu disclosed this at the weekend while ad-

dressing Peoples Democracy Party, PDP, faithful at Onicha Local Government Area of the state. She said people of the state have under Elechi’s administration in the past eight years suffered lots of setback and undue hardship.

“When Elechi was nominated in 2007 to succeed my husband, Dr Sam Egwu, many stakeholders rejected him, but my husband persuaded them. It is unfortunate that he has failed

our people. Many have suffered so much since eight years ago. No one can boast of valid development in the state.”

She accused Elechi of failing to erect infrastructures that would promote the state’s economy, adding that Elechi also failed to assist when gunmen kidnapped her brother.

“When my husband traveled to USA and my brother was kidnapped by kidnappers, I called Elechi

as chief security officer to assist, but he failed. I called the wife, but both of them failed to ensure my brother’s release. Then, I called Engr Umahi, deputy governor; he responded quickly and ensured my brother was released by paying a ransom,” she said.

Egwu’s wife further called on Ebonyians to vote for Umahi, the PDP governorship flag-bearer, noting that not only is he the best candidate in the election, but would bring greater development to the state and its people if elected.

3,000 Imo APC members defect to PDP CHRIS NJOKU OWERRI

M

ore than 3,000 members of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Amazi Ehiorie, Mbaise, Imo State, defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at the weekend.

The new members, who were given PDP membership cards, bangles, T-shirts and umbrellas, pledged loyalty to the party, promising to do their best to ensure President Goodluck Jonathan and the governorship candidate, Emeka Ihedioha, get maximum votes during the election.

Leader of the defec-

tors, Chief Bishop Nwachukwu, at the rally ground said after evaluating the parties they decided to join hands with PDP to fight “oppression and deceit in governance in the state.”

He noted that the state, particularly Mbaise people, had benefitted so much from the PDP-led administration at the federal level, adding that the Jonathan administration has touched lives in various positive ways.

Receiving the defectors, Minister of Education for State and Deputy State Coordinator, Presidential Campaign Organisation, Prof.

Viola Onwuliri, com-

mended them for taking such a bold step in their political decision.

She noted that the President had done so much for the state and Nigeria in general, stressing that aside special scholarship for Nigerian students, equipping schools across the country, allocation for education tripled from N224 billion to N634 billion.

According to her, over N9 billion was spent on 500 primary health centres across 36 states and the FCT as well as upgrading, equipping and supplying drugs to 500 Primary Health Centres across the six geo-political zones, which she said created over 5,000

jobs for health workers under SURE-P for health projects.

She said the Federal Government privatised four power generation companies and 10 power distribution companies, completed power plant in Egbema and constructed power plant in Imo State to improve power generation from 200mw to 10,000mw in three years.

While calling on the electorate to vote massively for Jonathan and other PDP candidates across the country, she said if the president is re-elected more youths and women would be appointed, and agricultural sector would become the economy’s mainstay.

nugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, has hailed the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the only viable political party that would guarantee sustenance of democratic dividends in Nigeria.

Chime spoke at the weekend during the party’s campaign rally at Enugu North local council’s headquarters. He said despite postponement of the general elections by six weeks, PDP would surely win in the state and national levels having delivered on its promises through his (Chime) four-point agenda and the transformational agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The governor frowned at some former members who, unable to realise their personal ambitions in PDP, defected to other political parties to contest the forthcoming elections, stressing that “as far as Enugu

State was concerned, such persons are wasting their time.”

He also noted that PDP in the state has no agreement with any political party, other than voting for PDP during the elections. He therefore, urged the people to vote massively for PDP during the elections.

Governorship candidate of the party, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, also canvassed votes for PDP candidates, noting that the party and its presidential candidate, deserve votes for the huge investments in South-East such as construction of Enugu international airport, Onitsha sea port and second Niger bridge.

Other speakers at the rally included Senator Gilbert Nnaji, the party’s candidate for Enugu East Senatorial District; Chime Oji, candidate for Enugu North/ South Federal Constituency, and Phillip Nnamani, candidate for Enugu North constituency.

Anambra to build 20,000 shops at Trade Centre

A

nambra State government and Bukham Group yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, to develop 20,000 shops at Anambra International Trade Centre, Oba, near Onitsha.

News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, said Governor Willie Obiano and Bukham Chairman, Bukham Hassan, signed the document.

In the agreement, the group, a real estate developer, agreed to build 20,000 shops, including 2,000 warehouses and hotels.

The group is also to build a primary school, a cinema house, police post, health centre and fire station in the project that is expected to be completed in five years.

Represented by Mr Ifeatu Onejeme, Commissioner for Industry, Trade and Commerce, at the MoU signing, Obiano said the government would build access roads to the centre from Onitsha-Owerri road and Oba. The governor noted that the centre would attract infrastructure, boost the

economy and continue to generate employment opportunities for the community and its environs.

“Trade and commerce development is one of the core pillars of our administration and what we have done today speaks volume of the strong desire to make the state a major commercial hub in Africa.

“The government has agreed to fence the market centre, connect it with electricity as well as ensure adequate security.

“With this agreement, the developer (Bukham Group) has assured that the market centre will be inaugurated in March with 1,700 shops placed on offer for the public,’’ Obiano said.

The governor revealed that N3 billion had been set aside for infrastructure development at the centre.

The group chairman said the phase 1 of the project was nearing completion and would be inaugurated this March.

“The project will gulp about N100 billion and it has been bankrolled by Bukham Group and Enterprise Bank Plc.

12

South South

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

We’ll participate in postponed elections —Ogoni DENNIS NAKU

PORT HARCOURT

O

goni people in Rivers State said they will participate fully in the 2015 general elections, despite its inability to produce someone from the area to succeed incumbent Governor Rotimi Amaechi in May this year.

The Ogoni ethnic nationality had threatened to boycott the poll during the 19th anniversary of the death of renowned environmentalist and Ogoni hero, Ken SaroWiwa and eight others on November 10, 2014.

But rising from an Ogoni General Congress held at Bori, traditional headquater of Ogoniland, weekend,

the people said though they did not realise their project to ensure that an Ogoni man succeeds Amaechi in May 29, 2015, they will vote in the poll.

This is as the people resolved not to adopt any particular candidate for any elective position, urging its indigenes to vote according to their conscience.

The Ogoni people also resolved to set up a committee comprising representatives of traditional rulers; elders and chiefs; youths and women as well as a representative of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, to study a proposal of intent to explore oil in its community by Belema Oil Producing Limited.

President of MOSOP,

Mr. Legborsi Pyagbara, who made the position of the Ogoni’s known after the congress, said the decision will enable the people to freely exercise their fundamental human rights of freedom of choice and association.

Pyagbara said: “In arriving at our decision here today, the Ogonis have resolved to fully participate in the 2015 general elections.

Eligible Ogoni’s will vote for any candidate of their choice in any elective position.

“Although we did not achieve our aim of having an Ogoni to become the governor of Rivers State in 2015, we are confident that we are closer now than we were before in having an Ogoni as the governor of

the state.

“The Ogoni agitation against political marginalisation has been widely acknowledged. We have demonstrated that we cannot be ignored in the political space. We are sure that our position will be taken into consideration in the next governorship election.

“We are closer to attaining our set objective of producing a governor of Ogoni extraction for Rivers State,” he said.

He said MOSOP will set up a committee to study all proposals by companies that are interested in oil prospecting in Ogoniland and make recommendations to the congress for further consideration and approval.

Many Ogoni indigenes

Members of the Nigeria Bar Association, Sapele branch, during electoral sensitisation campaign in Sapele, Delta State, on Saturday.

Emerhor promises new deal for Isoko nation THEOPHILUS ONOJEGHEN WARRI

G

ubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Delta State, Olorogun O’Tega Emerhor, has promised monarchs and leaders of Isoko nation, that his administration would ensure rapid development in the two council areas of Isoko.

Emerhor also told the monarchs that his government would bring back the lost glory of Isoko nation if voted into power through the appointment of their sons and daughters, and citing of industries in the

area.

The APC candidate spoke at the weekend at two separate events with Isoko traditional monarchs at the Palace of the Odion Logbo of Oleh Kingdom, HRM Anthony Onovughe Ovrawah, and President General of Isoko Development Union, IDU, Major General Paul Omu (rtd).

He said Isoko nation has been relegated to the background in the political scene and development of the state stressing that he has come to liberate them from the shackles of misrule of the ruling political party, PDP. The renowned business

mogul turned politician reminded the people of Isoko that the candidate that the PDP is projecting is being sponsored by questionable individuals in the state, saying that if power is given to the PDP, the state will continue to suffer for the next eight years. He said “this is a dangerous precedent that should not be allowed to happen in the state.”

The APC gubernatorial candidate said he will introduce a system of government whereby local government councils will be operating based on budgetary allocations the same way the states are doing. He said that

the present government has consistently failed the people because it lacks visionary leaders who can’t recognise that the people should determine the kind of projects government should bring to their various communities.

Responding on behalf of the Isoko traditional rulers, the Odion Ologbo of Owhe Kingdom, HRM Okpozo 1, said they will no longer support any political party because all the political parties that they have supported in the past have failed them as none of them fulfilled the promises they made to them when they were campaigning.

present at the congress, however, spoke in favour of Belema Oil Producing Limited.

Some traditional rulers, chiefs and groups in Ogoni had last week, at the palace of the Chairman, Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers, King

Godwin Ginuwa, endorsed Belema Oil Company to replace Shell to prospect for oil in Ogoniland.

But MOSOP dissociated itself from the said agreement, saying it was not privy to the said endorsement, necessitating the Ogoni general congress.

Allison-Madueke’s N70m largesse splits Bayelsa PDP OSAHON JULIUS YENAGOA

P

alpable tension is currently brewing among the leadership of Bayelsa State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as plot thickens to remove the state party chairman, Colonel Sam Inokoba.

This is a fallout of his alleged involvement in diversion of N70 million provided by Minster of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Allison-Madueke to support the party in hosting the recent presidential campaign rally in the state.

Those plotting to remove Colonel Sam Inokoba (rtd), accused him of allegedly diverting N40 million out of the N70 million, provided for the party and also had a substantial share from the remaining N30 million, unknown to members of the State Working Committee, SWC, of the party.

The move to remove the party chairman is already creating tension among his loyalists and aides of Governor Seriake Dickson.

Those calling for the removal of the chairman attributed the incident where Sam Inokoba collapse during the presidential rally to the pressure created over the alleged diversion of fund.

The discovery, that the sum given to the party was N70m and not N40m, was made during the PDP presidential rally which was attended by the minister.

Attempts to get the state PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osom Macgbere and the personal Media Aide to the Party Chairman, Mr. Nelson proved abortive as they refused to respond to text messages or telephone calls.

It was however, gathered that the plot to remove the

party chairman has received the endorsement of the state governor, Seriake Dickson.

The governor, according to party sources, has had a difficult time with the party leadership under Inokoba during the party primaries in the state.

Inokoba, according to some aides of the state governor, was accused of questioning the leadership role of the state governor during the state and National Assembly primaries which led to the upholding of the policy of zoning initiated by the state governor.

Though the governor successfully won with his “restoration” boys winning party tickets.The PDP Chairman, and the state governor, were reported to have traded words over choice of candidates during the last party primaries in the state.

The alleged action of the party chairman, according to source, led to the positioning of King Serena Dokubo –Spiff, a former boss of the state governor, who recently surface in Yenagoa, threatening to go to any length to protect his ‘trained son’ as the deputy chairman of the party.

The Okpoama born former deputy chairman was lured away from his position within the party with the state Assembly ticket of Nembe constituency.

According to party source, the newly appointed deputy chairman of PDP, King Serena DokuboSpiff, is expected to emerge as Acting Chairman if Inokoba is removed.

Serena Dokubo-Spiff a legal practitioner, recently launched a campaign organisation known as Brass Restoration and Actualisation Vanguard, BRAVO, to support Dickson administration in the state.

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

13

Politics

PDP destroying our candidates’ posters, billboards –APC VICTOR UDOH

L

agos State All Progressives Congress, APC, has decried the way and manner billboards and posters of its presidential and gubernatorial candidates, General Muhammadu Buhari and Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, and others were being destroyed by those it described as Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, thugs, calling on the Nigeria Police to act fast and stop the brigandage.

Lagos APC spokesman, Mr Joe Igbokwe, said this yesterday at a press conference he addressed at the party secretariat on ACME

Road, Ikeja, warning that civility was not sign of weakness, adding that a stop needed to be put else APC supporters could be forced to react as there was limit to tolerance.

He said: “We warn that the PDP should not mistake our resolve to keep the peace as a necessary condition for the long desired change Nigerians are longing for, as a sign of submission and docility. We warn that we may be forced to react if pushed to the wall and the perpetrators of this ongoing deliberate brigandage will be held responsible for this.

“We call on the Lagos State Police Commissioner and his command to act

quickly and decisively to stop this brigandage, for we cannot continue to complain while the PDP is deliberately allowed to breach the security and peace of Lagos. We warn that Lagosians will not tolerate this criminality any longer. We leave this as a last warning.”

Igbokwe said the conference was called to draw “attention to the orchestrated and quite provocative vandalisation of APC posters, billboards and banners all over Lagos by thugs and hoodlums sponsored by the PDP.” He said the despicable act occurred in places like Gbagada, Third Mainlaind Bridge, Osborne and the Island, Ikorodu Road, among

others, lamenting that the police had failed to act in spite of series of official complaints made to that effect.

He added: “These thugs are masquerading as members of the illegal Federal Task Force in Lagos and have thrown decorum to the dogs by the way and manner they are pulling down the posters and billboards of our candidates all over Lagos, even in Lagos State roads.”

Igbokwe recalled that the problem became more pronounced since the state Commissioner of Police made an intervention on the matter, which he said was squarely within the jurisdiction of LASSAA, add-

ing: “We have had cause to raise alarm that PDP was inciting and inviting a war in Lagos by the reckless way and manner they have been destroying APC banners, posters and billboards all over Lagos.

“We just got a report that about 50 thugs and hoodlums working for Mr. Jimi Agbaje are currently on Osborne, with dangerous weapons and removing the posters of our governorship candidate, Mr. Ambode and our presidential candidate, General Buhari.

“We had expected the police to at least, pretend to be unbiased and stop this brigandage but alas, they have looked sideways and pretended as if nothing is amiss.”

Alleging that PDP, last Wednesday mobilised its members and thugs and held road users and traffic on Ikorodu Road for eight hours on the pretext of having a rally and in the process, targeted all APC billboards and posters on the road for destruction and removal.

47 DAYS TO GO

He said that the party was “yet to see any police action against such act of recklessness and rascality but this was the same police that threatened to arrest LASSAA officials for regulating indiscriminate defacement of Lagos with posters and handbills.”

He said: “We have been making this known to law enforcement agencies and the world while the acts continue to increase and PDP annoyingly continue to poke hands into our eyes in an open invitation to confrontation.

“We know the game plan of a party that sees an end to its rule and will do everything to pull down the house on everybody. This has been thus far, the restraining force we have leveraged to rein in our agitated members who have barely tolerated this provocation.”

Election postponement, not a setback –NDF ADEOLA TUKURU ABUJA

Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, SAN (2nd left), the All Progressives Congress, APC, gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (3rd left), Iyaloja General of Nigeria, Mrs. Folashade Tinubu Ojo (left) during the Endorsement Rally by the Amalgamated Foodstuff, Ram & Cattle Dealers Association for APC candidates at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos, yesterday.

EZEKIEL TITUS BAUCHI

H

undreds of angry youths yesterday stage a protest against Bauchi State governor, Isa Yuguda, during his campaign rally in Bogoro Local Government Area.

The irate youths had displayed placards with the inscription: ‘Release Our Sons from Prison’, ‘Re-open Government Girls’ School, Tafawa-Balewa’ among others Leader of the youths, Mamaki Kyauta advised Yuguda to either release the innocent young men in detention and re-open the GGSS,

Youths protest detention of colleagues in Bauchi •Ask for re-opening of girls’ school Tafawa-Balewa or bury his senatorial ambition.

He said: “Its very unfortunate that Yuguda had inflicted suffering in our areas; instead of consolidating on the dividends of democracy, his government has only succeeded in under-developoing our area and now same Yuguda is seeking to completely destroy us.”

It would be recalled that since 2012 and 2013, Yuguda ordered the indefinite closure of the only girls’ school in Tafawa-Balewa and relocated the council headquar-

ters saying it was done to ensure peace even though since then there has been persistent security challenges The youths berated Yuguda, who had several times pardoned even insurgents from detention, but refused to release innocent youths from the local government.

Frowning at the situation where no single project was executed in Bogoro, they accused Yuguda of facilitating the suspension of the lawmaker representing the council in the state Assem-

bly, Hon. Rifkatu Samson Danna, for kicking against his move to relocate the council headquarters.

Kyauta said Yuguda should not think of getting a single vote from the axis, especially since he has denied the area dividends of democracy.

He said: “Let me assure Yuguda that none among his political aides in the areas will win a single unit for him during the election as youths are ready to resist any attempt to vote him to the Senate.”

A

civil rights organisation, National Democratic Front, NDF, has called on Nigerians not to see the election postponement as a setback, but a unique opportunity to make a mark in our democratic journey as true giants of Africa.

NDF was reacting to the announcement made by the Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Attairu Jega, to postpone the general elections to March 28 and April 11, due to the security situation in the country.

Commending INEC’s decision to postpone the polls, describing it as a patriotic decision in the interest of the nation, NDF coordinator, Comrade Philip Agbese, speaking in Abuja yesterday, said Jega’s decision has cleared the air on some of

the allegations that he has been procured to do the bidding of a particular ethnic group and certain political actors.

He added that it has shown his interest in respecting the rights of about 22 million other persons who have a right to vote and be voted for at the polls.

Commending what it termed the remarkable improvement in inclusive democratic ethos like listening to the voices of the majority of political parties who overwhelmingly voted for the postponement, NDF acknowledged INEC’s respect for human lives going by the concerns raised by the security chiefs.

He said: “Jega has proven to the world that he is a man with conscience. He has shown uncommon love for popular views and his concern for the lives and property of the common Nigerian.

14

Politics

Monday, February 9, 2015

47 DAYS TO GO

OLAYINKA OYEBODE

I

t was a warm afternoon at the OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa, sometimes in March, 2013. Dr Kayode Fayemi and I were returning to Lagos after receiving the Samsung award for Best State Government in ICT Education at an impressive ceremony in Cape Town.

Mr Governor, as he is fondly called, had sought to spend some time at the business class lounge of the South African Airline, and because we were engrossed in a discussion, together with another official of the administration, Muyiwa Ogunmilade, he had urged me to come along.

After going through my boarding pass and discovering that I was billed to fly the economy class, the female SAA official politely stopped me from entering the lounge.

JKF’s attempt to convince her to allow me in order for us to conclude our discussion was met with a straight face by the official.

The waitress however said I could be allowed in if the Governor and Ogunmilade could present their gold cards. Pronto, they both brought out their gold cards. Having confirmed the cards, the official was about giving another condition when the activist in JKF came out. He politely asked that his card be returned to him and told the officials that he would rather take a walk around the airport with me rather than being denied my company at the lounge.

I made a futile protest against his decision to abandon the lounge because of me, knowing he needed to catch some rest. But he simply said: “No, Yinka, it doesn’t worth it. What is the big deal about the lounge.

Don’t worry, let’s just take a walk around before boarding time”.

Thus we left the lounge and spent about half an hour buying books at a particular

Fayemi: Celebrating a change agent at fifty books store at the airport and the remaining time was spent strolling around before boarding time.

That South African experience was for me perhaps the most humbling experience I have had as an adult. It was a lesson in simplicity and leadership taught in the simplest manner imaginable. It also typifies the experiences of many who have come in contact with Dr Fayemi whether in the classroom, newsroom, lecture room, political rallies, in the trenches or in the hallowed chambers of the Ekiti State Executive council where he presided over the affairs of the state, together with his carefully selected team for four impactful years.

Fayemi in and out of office believes in two things - service and justice. He believes life is worthless without service to mankind.

On justice, Fayemi is a firm believer in that timeless Latin legal phrase: Fiat justitia ruat caelum - Let justice be done though the heavens fall. He remains today one of the few Nigerian politicians that have really tested the country’s legal system in the bid to determine some knotty issues.

For those who have followed his trajectory right from his students activism days through pro-democracy agitation and the current political participation, JKF is guided by the social democratic principle of lifting the weak and vulnerable in the society.

His four years stint as Ekiti State governor witnessed sincere and consistent effort at banishing poverty and sickness.

This was because he knows too well that a poor society is a sick and sickly one. His genuine concern include how transactional politics can be replaced with transformational leadership. How institutions of state can be strengthened in order to ensure effective service delivery. Whereas his critics would readily fault these ideas, describing them as lacking in immediate political gains, yet, JKF earns their respect for his commitment to these ideals.

FROM THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE COUNTRY AND BEYOND COME FIFTY GBOSAS FOR THIS INNOVATOR, DEMOCRAT His penchant for development and insatiable desire to get the government to provide for the weak and vulnerable in the society led to some policies including the social security scheme which pays N5,000 monthly stipends to elderly indigent citizens above 65 years; free and compulsory primary and secondary education; computer per child initiative in the public secondary schools; comprehensive renovation of all public schools and hospitals; free health for the physically challenged, children under five, pregnant women and elderly citizens among others. The need to spread development across the nooks and crannies of the state also led to the introduction of five kilometres road project implemented yearly in all the council areas. And when you add this to the structured empowerment programmes for the youths and women, you have a government that had something for everybody under JKF. As Fayemi attains the golden age today, it is obvious that the energy and wisdom to run even a more impactful race in the second half of the century are bubbling in him like an hyper-active volcano.

Born on February 9, 1965 into the family of the late Chief and Mrs. Francis Falade Fayemi, a native of Isan-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area, he had his elementary education in Ibadan before attending

Chidoka mobilises PDP candidates, royal fathers for peaceful poll CHARLES OKEKE AWKA

F

ew days after the Court of Appeal delivered a judgment which tentatively settled the issue of Anambra Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidates for the coming elections, key leaders of the party led by the Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka and the Director of Dr Jonathan-Sambo Campaign Organisation, Anambra State, Chief Okey Ezenwa, have charged candidates of the party to brace up to deliver victory for it during the elections fixed for March 28 and April 11.

Addressing PDP candidates who have been cleared

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

to take part in the elections following the recent Court of Appeal judgment in Awka, yesterday, Chidoka stated that with the latest development in the party, it has become a big challenge for the candidates to work for the victory of PDP in all the elections.

Speaking as PDP leader in Anambra State and flanked

by Ezenwa and other key Anambra PDP stakeholders, Chidoka said that they decided to re-engineer the party so that the voters would give their candidates maximum support and ensure that the party comes out top at the end of the elections.

He also disclosed that the import of yesterday’s stakeholders meeting with PDP

candidates was to put PDP machineries in to active duty, adding that they have brought their candidates together to get victory in all ramifications.

Charging the candidates, which include those running for House of Assembly, Senate and the House of Representatives to work hard for victory, Chidoka said: “We have to work ward to ward and communities to communities to ensure that our people gets their permanent voter cards, PVCs, and that those voting, should vote for PDP.” He disclosed that Igbos are supporting the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan, because they are Republicans who cherish

their fundamental freedoms and human rights that would create the enabling environment for their entrepreneurial ability to thrive and prosper.

Chidoka’s clarion call for the PDP candidates to work towards achieving victory for the party, came at a time he has mandated Anambra traditional rulers to ensure that peaceful elections are conducted in their various communities.

Chidoka who spoke to traditional rulers from the Central senatorial zone in Obosi, shortly after the stakeholders’ meeting, directed the royal fathers, among whom were: Igwe of Obosi, Igwe Chidubem Iweka.

Fayemi

Christ’s School, Ado- Ekiti for his secondary education between 1975 and 1980.

John Kayode Fayemi received his first degree in History from the University of Lagos in 1985, a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), in 1987 and a doctorate in War Studies from the King’s College, University of London, England in 1993, specialising in civilianmilitary relations and defence planning.

Even with what some might consider as his foibles, there is no doubt that in JKF the researcher, the teacher, the activist, administrator and strategist come together with all the ideas that can help us change the way we think and act about leadership, scholarship, political tolerance, social justice and human capital development.

From the four corners of the country and beyond come fifty gbosas for this innovator, democrat and change agent- above all, an Omoluabi - as he joins the golden club today.

Oyebode is former Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ekiti State

‘Election postponement doesn’t portray Nigeria in good light’ JAMES DANJUMA KATSINA

T

he postponement of the general election by six weeks does not portray Nigeria in good light to the international community.

Katsina State All progressives Congress, APC, chairman, Dr. Mustapha Inuwa stated this in a brief interview with National Mirror yesterday.

Inuwa said the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had prior to election date shift, indicated on more than one occasion its readiness to hold the elections.

Wondering what happened that the electoral body

would make a turn- around about a week to the polls, only to tell Nigerians that the exercise had been shifted for six weeks, Inuwa said international community would not see the development in positive light, even as he accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP-led government of posing a threat to democracy.

He said the postponement was reminiscent of what happened in the 2011 general elections when the PDP rescheduled the polls in other to suit its selfish interest.

He said the PDP found out that it would lose the election and that as way of finding an escape route, decided to force the electoral body to shift the elections.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Views

Monday, February 9, 2015

15

Security concerns on upcoming polls Mirror of the moment ABDUL-WAREES A SOLANKE korewarith@yahoo.com, 08090585723 (SMS only)

I

t is ever necessary to ask essential questions when completing a project to serve as a checklist of expectations to be met so that the project’s success shall be assured. Taking the knocking general elections as a project of national strategic importance, therefore, and considering security as a crucial component of the necessary for its success, I here present a mirror manufactured through the joint facilitation of two workshops by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Nigeria and INEC in 2010 and 2012.

The 2012 edition of the workshop with the theme, Security Challenges of Election Management: Matters Arising From 2011 and Anticipating 2015, was held in Abuja on August 2012 to review the security plans of the 2011 elections and prepare for the 2015 polls. Arising from the 2010 edition was the establishment of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security. As crucial as security is, I have heard less of the activities of this committee, which ought to be as prominent as INEC and the political parties. Given the recommendations that emerged from the two workshops, I am also forced to ask whether

INEC and all the stakeholders are truly committed to security during the general elections, starting 12 days from today.

At that workshop, INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega had rightly observed that security was indispensable to the conduct of free and fair elections. “From the provision of basic security to voters at political rallies and campaigns to ensuring that result forms are protected, the whole exercise is circumscribed by security considerations,” Jega said. Professor Lai Olurode, a National Electoral Commissioner and chairman of the board of the National Electoral Institute also noted pungently that managing election security is a cousin of managing election.

Mike Igini, a resident electoral commissioner in Cross River State had also deduced that the greatest threat to the current democratic dispensation in the country is election insecurity, stressing that “any election management body truly concerned about securing elections must focus on software issues like building trust of stakeholders, ensuring the fidelity of technology used in the election process, educating the voters and other role players in assuring security and the institutionalization of a credible process through a reliable legislative electoral framework managed professionally with integrity and impartiality.“ Bringing some insight from Kenya, Lilian Mahiri-Zaja, the vice chairperson of the East African’s Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission, observed that a major challenge which has remained per-

THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ENSURING SECURITY OF ELECTIONS IS NOT THAT OF INEC ALONE, BUT

A MULTI-STAKEHOLDER IMPERATIVE FOR ALL sistent across Africa’s quest for improving democratization processes is ensuring that political campaigns, election logistics and voting processes are characterized by high level of security without which free and fair elections would be a mirage.

According to her, election security defined public and observers’ perceptions of the electoral process, without which free and fair elections cannot be guaranteed, adding that democracy could neither prevail nor flourish with security. She outlined the dimensions of security in the electoral process to include the electoral commission, the electoral commissioners, permanent and temporary staff; logistics ( movement of equipment, materials and personnel throughout the country), voting stations during preparations, during the actual polling, and in the counting and announcement of results; logistic infrastructures; tallying stations when transporting and receiving results; members of the public during campaigns, voting and throughout the process and data collection, and reliability of processes of transmitting results.

The connotation of security during elec-

tions in Nigeria is that there is possibility of violence and it has to be contained; disruption of polling to be prevented and stealing or hijacking of electoral materials to be averted. Latest media report has hinted of the Federal Government’s commissioning of over 2,500 patrol vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers for the police in preparation for the general elections is an overt hint of looming election violence.

Speaking at the commissioning of the vehicles, the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, declared that the police are “better prepared to present a stronger challenge against all forms of crimes which have been threatening public security and safety in the country”. According to him, the new patrol vehicles would strengthen the operational capacity of the force and boost its readiness for the elections.

Ideally, in a mature democracy, the concern is usually about the effectiveness of logistics to ensure that electoral staff and materials are mobilized and delivered on time to their designations and the results are compiled and announced without delay. So far, every indication is that the nation has not learnt from the past when elections were considered a do or die affair. So, when we should be simply concerned with the smoothness of the electoral process, the nation is enveloped in apprehension.

Let me conclude this piece with this assertion: The responsibility for ensuring security of elections is not that of INEC alone, but a multi-stakeholder imperative for all.

What goes around comes around (11) SANDRA AKUOMA

W

hat I have in mind to do in the conclusion of this series is to illuminate how we can attract good karma in our lives. One of the golden rules is make kindness a way of life, something of a religion. Be compassionate to everyone and everybody including, animals, plants, nature. Treat our earth with care and try and recycle, as much as possible. Look at global warming; see the negative effects greed, selfishness have on our planet. Also remember to live from a place of compassion. Mahatma Gandhi declared: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” If drawing good karma into your life is your desire, you must first practice what you hope to receive.

Also remember this golden rule: Treat people as you love to be treated. Karma is simply about being kind; not just for a moment but always throughout one’s life - in every aspect of our living, in every relationship, in the way we conduct our business, in all our interactions.

Funny thinking there are many opportunities to create good karma when driving, especially in Lagos where our patience constantly wears thin. Giving way to someone on the road, slowing down when someone wants to overtake you, curbing the sense of annoyance that arises when someone drives badly or

THE BEST WAY TO USE KARMIC LAW IS TO STEP BACK AND WITNESS THE CHOICES YOU ARE MAKING EVERY MOMENT inadvertently knocks you, these and other aggravations, could create good karma.

Every time you give way to someone, you can take great satisfaction in knowing that by just curbing your impatience you have created good karma.

Find out ways to give back to society doing some voluntary work or donating to a good cause where possible. The act of giving is a wonderful way to create good karma — generosity creates the good karma for one to enjoy the generosity of others. When you donate to a charity that does good work you are expanding your store of accumulated karma associated with feelings of compassion. Always donate with a generous mind — give happily and with absolutely no trace of reluctance. The purer the motivation that accompanies your act of giving the more powerful is the act of charity. If you cannot afford to donate money, donate your time and effort, or your skills or contacts. These count as much as cash.

Holding on to resentment and seeking

revenge only causes you more pain and robs you of your peace, leading to ill-health and high blood pressure, etc.

There is a saying that if you seek revenge it is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die. When you forgive you are at peace and you feel more positive, and a burden is released That way you can attract good karma to yourself because you have a better state of mind.

If you are grateful for little things like being alive, good health, you have a job, you have bills to pay, you have a business, etc you will start attracting good things in your life. If you focus on what you have instead of what you don’t have you find life more interesting and happier. Remember what you give your attention to grows. Gratitude is so important to our state of wellbeing.

In every moment, we have access to infinity of choices. Some choices are made consciously, while others are made unconsciously. Unfortunately, a lot of our choices are made unconsciously, and therefore, we don’t think they are choices; yet, they are. How you respond to situations is your karma, how people treat you is their karma; so you have a choice to be angry, happy, peaceful.

The best way to use karmic law is to step back and witness the choices you are making every moment. When you make any choice, ask yourself two things: “What are the consequences of this choice?” and “Will the choice I’m making bring happiness to me and to those around me?”

If you want to transform your karma to a more desirable experience, look for the seed of opportunity within every adversity and tie that seed of opportunity to your purpose in life. This will enable you to convert the adversity into a benefit, and transform the karma into a new expression.

Begin by asking yourself, “What message is the universe giving me? What can I learn from this experience, and how can I make it useful to my fellow human beings?” For example, if your health was affected for not having work/ life balance, perhaps the message is that you need to slow down and be more attentive to your body by eating right, exercising and having some time for yourself.

I always say life is a journey and Rome was not built in a day. It is consistency and practice that will get you there. Putting all these tips into practice, you keep attracting and sending good karma until it becomes part of your life experience.

Ms Akuoma wrote from Lagos via sanlifepointers@hotmail.com and can be reached through 08165583876 (sms only) 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.

16

Editorial

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

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 FIDELIS LEMCHI OWOAMANAM GM, ENERGY NEW PRESS GABRIEL SUNDAY HEAD, GRAPHICS

Bird flu: FG could do better than compensation

E

xactly nine years after Nigeria experienced the spasms of the outbreak of Avian Influenza (bird flu, the nation’s poultry industry is once again reeling from the effects of another outbreak of the disease. As at last January 29, 12 states - Kano, Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Delta, Edo, Plateau, Gombe, Imo, Oyo, Jigawa and Kaduna – were reported to have been affected. Expectedly, the Federal Government, through the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has marshaled a concerted national action involving all the 36 states of the federation and other stakeholders, to stem the ugly tide. This newspaper commends the steadfastness of Dr. Adesina and his progressive leadership role in the nation’s agricultural sector.

This latest development was discovered in two poultry farms and live bird markets in Lagos and Kano states. Giving the crisis update, Dr Adesina reported that 232, 385 had been exposed to the disease as at the last count with recorded 51, 444 mortality. Kano State led with 136,905 exposed birds with 17, 987 mortality, while Lagos State has 38, 845 with 4, 732 mortality.

Amidst this gloom and anxiety, the FG has packaged a compensation of N145.14 million to 39 poultry farmers in the affected states. We consider this gesture

as both a strong incentive for the poultry producers to report their sick birds to the appropriate authorities and an economic safety net that will mitigate their loss.

However, with about 150 million fowls, we think Nigeria has sufficient incentives to be proactive in her approach to issues affecting poultry farming in the country in particular, and agriculture in general. With several faculties of agriculture in the nation’s existing universities, at least four federal universities of agriculture, in addition to research institutes of agriculture, the country ought now to be on top of the challenges facing the agriculture sector of the economy. Serious countries of the world spend billions of dollars planning for potential influenza pandemics, such as buying and stockpiling relevant drugs, running disaster drills, and developing strategies for tighter border controls.

For example, Mr. George W. Bush, as US president, unveiled the National Strategy To Safeguard Against The Danger of Pandemic Influenza on November 1, 2005, backed by a request to Congress for $7.1 billion to begin implementing the plan.

Similarly, on January 18, 2006, donor nations pledged US$2 billion to combat bird flu at a two day International Pledging

SERIOUS COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD SPEND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS PLANNING FOR POTENTIAL INFLUENZA PANDEMICS Conference on Avian and Human Influenza held in China.

We expect Nigeria, given her status as West African regional leader, and her membership of the West African Network on Avian Influenza, whose formation was sponsored in 2006 by the United Nations, to galvanise the region develop an appropriate strategic enforcement framework for combating the scourge. Though the present outbreak is limited and the risk minimal, nothing should be spared in our drive to arrest it. All the nation’s governments should take both the upstream activities of the poultry industry, such as feed and drug supply, and its downstream activities, like marketing of the poultry products, very seriously. Effective and appropriate monitoring of this value chain is necessary for the early detection of outbreak.

Though H5N1 bird flu virus strain is said to be epizootic (cannot be transmitted from birds to man or vice versa)

ON THIS DAY February 9, 2013 Germany’s education minister, Annette Schavan, resigns today after Heinrich Heine University, Duesseldorf, decided to withdraw her doctorate, finding that she plagiarised parts of her 1980 PhD thesis. The resignation of the minister, who has held the position since 2005 and was considered close to Chancellor Angela Merkel, was seen as an embarrassment government and ruling party in an election year.

Letters tothe theEditor Editor Letters to

February 9, 1998 Georgian president, Shevardnadze, survives assassination attempt, when a bomb exploded near his motorcade. The former Soviet foreign minister, escaped with only cuts from flying glass. Shevardnadze, best known for helping to carry out the perestroika reforms of Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, has been trying to restore stability to this nation, which has been torn apart by rising crime and a separatist rebellion.

and also cannot survive when airborne and humans cannot infect other humans easily, Nigerians should be sensitized to the likely danger of a possible threat of mutation and human pandemic. A study conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1999 to quantify the economic impact of pandemic influenza in the country confirmed such possibility. It assumed that any pandemic would cause between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths, about 700,000 hospitalizations, 40 million outpatient visits and 50 million additional illnesses.

It estimated the value of economic losses at between $100 and $200 billion. And in China, the H7N9 bird flu virus strain outbreak between 2005 and 2006 infected 131 humans with 36 fatality and led to $6.5 billion loss.

What this suggests is the need to eschew complacency in Nigeria. For this reason, therefore, officials of the Customs Service and Federal Ministry of Health should step up control efforts at our borders with neighbouring countries to ensure that birds or any other livestock coming into the country are certified healthy.

We call for nationwide sensitization of the people to the appropriate measures needed to mitigate any negative consequences.

x February 9, 1990 The Constitution of Namibia is ratified and would be effective on 12 March 1990, just before its independence from apartheid South Africa on 21 March 1990. The country has a mixed legal system of uncodified civil law based on Roman-Dutch law and customary law. Before her independence, Namibia was named German South West Africa. The Constitution has since been amended on two occasions, in 1998 and 2010.

A2 18

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Cover

Oil Market Crisis:

Nigeria, others adopt survival strategies

As the crisis in the global oil market associated with dwindling demand in the face of increasingly elastic supply remains unabated, many oil producing countries are responding to its fiscal challenges in their domestic economies with hybrid monetary and fiscal policies strategies. In this report TAYO ELEBIJO appraises the developments in the market and implications for affected countries’ economies. or over six months now, the international oil market has been thrown into a tumultuous fiscal crisis, with prices of commodities tumbling irretrievably and posing serious risks to oil producing countries’ economies. For Nigeria, the crisis has remained a major setback to various government’s efforts to sustain the GDP growth trajectory and keeping the macro economy stable on long term basis.

But then, rather than succumbing to the fiscal threats triggered by the global oil market, Nigeria and other countries caught in the seemingly suffocating fiscal web have over the months been tinkering with the existing fiscal and monetary policies as well as introducing new measures to mitigate the impact of the revenue challenges associated with the lull in the international oil market on the economy.

Indeed, the global oil market is glutted once again in what industry analysts have seen as one of the inevitable vicious circles that producers experience from time

F

to time.

There are more producers now than ever before. More countries have found their ways into the international oil stage. The competition now is stiffer than it used to be. The OPEC member at a time had to contend with the competition from the non OPEC members who were fewer in number and production capacity compared to that of the OPEC members. Today, The Unites States of America who few months back were tied to the apron string of Nigeria in terms of oil supply, are themselves now a major player in the international oil market. And it did not take them long to find the market for their oil. Surprisingly, the US Shale oil is believed to be lighter than the Nigeria Brent crude and invariably, better. But recent development in the US may counter the craves by the US Shale oil investors to continue to produce as there have been protests in states where the Shale oil is being produced on the ground that the chemicals used in producing the

Shale oil through the process of fracking, is dangerous to health.

On Thursday last week, oil price quickly rallied to $56 from $45, stakeholders are however of the opinion that the price move was as a result of the protests in the US as well as the war in the Middle East ; Iraq, Libya and Syria. But the Saudi Arabia’ s official oil price sales to Asia is said to be the lowest over a decade meaning that the Saudis are already preparing for the battle for market shares ahead of its other members in the OPEC. Oil rose towards $56 a barrel on Thursday, recovering from part of the previous session’s drop, although traders and analysts said the prospect of a further, sustained rally from near six-year lows looked weak.

Crude snapped a four-day winning streak on Wednesday, when the U.S. government said crude inventories increased by 6.3 million barrels, rising for a fourth consecutive week to hit a record high.

While the global market has

A swamp drilling rig

Diezani Alison-Madueke, Petroleum Minister

more than enough crude, a collapse in Libyan production and a raid on an oilfield by gunmen, plus an attack on a tanker off Nigeria renewed concern about threats to supply.

Brent crude rose to $1.57 to $55.73 a barrel, having fallen more than a dollar intra-day ear-

lier and settling 5.5 percent lower on Wednesday. U.S. crude added $1.20 to $49.65.

“There’s more and more money coming in on the long and the short side, and I think the result of that is we’ll probably see increased volatility,” said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at Petromatrix.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Hamm

“If we start to have more problems in Nigeria, then it starts to reduce the spare capacity that there is and then it’s harder to make the case that oil should be at $30.”

Oil began to rise last week from near-six-year lows, in part due to a downturn in U.S. rig

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

activity that could eventually dampen rapid growth in shale oil production, only to tumble on Wednesday.

Other participants said it was too soon to expect a sustained price rise. “There’s no basis for a sustained recovery at the mo-

ment,” said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank.

Christopher Bellew, a senior broker at Jefferies Bache, also did not expect prolonged gains.

“I think prices will consolidate around these sorts of levels before moving lower. It takes a lot of time for fewer rigs to translate into lower oil production,” he said.

A workers’ strike in the United States at nine plants, including seven refineries accounting for 10 percent of the country’s refining capacity, added to concerns over crude demand.

Saudi Arabia’s move to slash the price it charges in Asia for its oil this week to the lowest in more than a decade is the latest aggressive action by Gulf states to defend market share in the world’s top oil consuming region.

A price war between producers has raged since Saudi Arabia and its Gulf OPEC allies last November who chose to keep their oil supplies open in a bid for market share over price, sending oil

prices down more than a third to under $50 a barrel in just two months.

Middle East exports to China, by far the region’s biggest importer, increased 2.5 percent to around 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd) between December and January, with the market share improving to 53.9 percent from 52.2 percent in December, according to estimates by Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts “The Gulf states seem to be in this for the long haul. I think they will continue to make their crude competitive regardless of what happens in the market,” said Richard Gorry, managing director of energy consultancy JBC Asia.

Saudi exports to China rose by 13 percent in January from the previous month, as the Asian country took advantage of low prices to stockpile, Reuters data shows.

Oil prices began tumbling in June 2014 when traders reacted to rising output around the world at a time of slowing demand, though have staged a partial recovery from six-year lows last week.

The increase in shipments has come mostly at the expense of producers such as Nigeria, Angola and Venezuela - and to a lesser extent Colombia and Brazil - which in recent years have boosted exports to Asia after U.S. import requirements were curbed by the shale boom.

Shipments from West Africa to China fell around 6 percent in January, while those from Latin America dipped 9 percent, the data shows.

Saudi Arabia cut its monthly oil prices on Thursday for Asian buyers to the lowest in at least 12 years, while raising prices to Europe and the United States.

Asia is the only major consuming region in which the Gulf dominates supplies. In Europe, Russia is the biggest supplier while the shale boom has sharply reduced U.S. import need.

Where would Nigeria be in the whole price and market share diplomatic schemes? A top oil dealer who pleaded anonymity told Business Courage that Nigeria has not gotten there yet. “Nigeria needs to put a lot of things in place for it to be respected in the international community. We are talking of money here, everybody needs money. It depends on who you know and if the person or country does not have oil to sell. Now, oil will be used in the international community to measure best practices, unless of course one wants to sell its oil at a much lesser price, that would be the only way to go”, he said.

A3 19

The analysts at Bernstein Research figure that if oil were to stay at $65 per barrel for 2015, it would mean a 50 percent reduction in oil company cash flow and precipitate a 35 percent overall cut in capex. Bernstein’s crew doesn’t think 2015 will be that bad, however. And neither does Harold Hamm, the CEO of Continental Resources, regarded as the man with the largest oil wells in the US, said “I still think this is a short term move,” he says.

“This is the Saudis trying to cut the legs out from under people.”

If the Saudis are trying to take market share from the U.S. producers, why not just come out and say it? “There’s more going on,” says Hamm. He sees the Saudi move not to cut oil production not as an attack on American producers (the U.S. is Saudi’s protector after all) but more as a volley launched at its true religious and political rivals Iran and Russia. “This is about taking away capital,” says Hamm. “It’s their way of waging war.”

There’s a wildcard that Hamm sees creeping to the top of the deck. And it’s labeled “The law of Unintended Consequences.”

Low prices have turned the ruble into rubble, while Iran needs much more oil revenue to keep its economy afloat. Venezuela too is teetering on the edge of collapse, while Libya remains a basket case. It wouldn’t take much of an oil supply disruption in any of those countries to send prices right back up to match long-term marginal costs of around $100 a barrel.

It’s all about steering around the potholes while keeping an eye way down the road. Which is why Hamm continues to back lobbying efforts aimed at getting the new Congress to lift the crude oil export ban. “We need to be competing for markets in Asia,” says Hamm. He’s already started. In October Continental cut a joint venture to drill for natural gas in Oklahoma with SK Group, one of Korea’s largest conglomerates, biggest oil refiner, and a natural future customer for American crude oil.

It’s all about steering around the potholes while keeping an eye way down the road. Which is why Hamm continues to back lobbying efforts aimed at getting the new Congress to lift the crude oil export ban. “We need to be competing for markets in Asia,” says Hamm. He’s already started. In October Continental cut a joint venture to drill for natural gas in Oklahoma with SK Group, one of Korea’s largest conglomerates, biggest oil refiner, and a natural future customer for American crude oil.

BC

A4 20

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News Nigeria slashes 2015 budget as oil price slumps further

N

igeria has more than halved capital expenditure to less than 10 percent of 2015 spending, axing badly needed infrastructure investment due to the collapse in the price of oil, the country’s main source of revenue, according to the full budget submitted to parliament.

Even though Nigeria’s capital spending seldom materialises as planned, shelving projects such as port upgrades and roads will only perpetuate the inefficiencies that have plagued Africa’s most populous nation and biggest economy for decades.

The capital expenditure is put at N387bn ($2bn), or 8.9 percent of total spending of N4.357trn.

This is a significant drop from the 2014 spending plans in Africa’s biggest oil producer, when capex, or capital expenditure, accounted for 23.7 percent of projected government outlays.

It is also only just over half the N634bn that finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in her December budget presentation, said would go on capital expenditure and related items.

Budget office director general Bright Okogu said the reductions were the direct result of the halving in the last six months of the price of crude, which normally accounts for 80 percent of the cash flowing in to state coffers.

“The capex was severely affected by the huge reduction in revenue,” Okogu told Reuters, adding that it was easier to wield the axe on infrastructure projects than Nigeria’s notoriously bloated bureaucracy.

He said wages were difficult to cut and “you cannot reduce staff numbers overnight”.

Despite the overall capital expenditure reduction, spending on military equipment was set to rise slightly, reflecting the need for weapons to counter Boko Haram Islamist militants in the northeast.

The National Assembly is expected to start discussing the budget later this month and it is likely to be passed sometime in March, regard-

L-R: Rasheed Mohammed, Executive Director, Mikado Nigeria Ltd; Bryon Kennedy, Global Trainer, USN, Mike Ojeme, MD/CEO, Mikado Nigeria Ltd and Donovan Dunn, African Development Manager, USN during the media parley and introduction of Ultimate Sports Nutrition (USN) Brands to Nigeria by Mikado Nigeria Ltd held in Lagos recently.

less of who wins the presidential election on Feb. 14, though supplements could be added. One such could be for military equipment if Nigeria secures a loan of up to $1bn, which President Goodluck Jonathan requested last year.

The oil-price slump has hammered Nigeria, whose currency has hit a series of record lows against the dollar in the last three months despite the central bank burning through 20 percent of its reserves to prop it up.

The government’s benchmark oil price for this year’s budget is $65 a barrel, a figure the finance ministry says will not be changed despite crude falling as low as $45 a barrel in January.

As well as knocking this year’s overall growth forecast, the impact is being felt in the construction sector, where sources say infrastructure projects that were already moving at a snail’s pace have been put on ice for this year.

Construction firms have halted work on roads, rail-

Okogu

ways and bridges, firing up to a third of workers and maintaining only skeleton crews.

One industry source said Ministry of Works disbursements for a major highway were less than 3 percent of the project’s value.

“At this rate it will take 33 years to complete,” the source said.

The same source put layoffs nationwide at 20,000, while another said at least 5,000 had been let go in the Abuja area alone, a worry for Jonathan ahead of the election, when he faces an opponent accusing him of squandering revenues from high oil prices over the previous three years.

Despite the capital expenditure reductions from December, N2.62trn, or 60 percent of total spending, continues to be ear-marked for recurrent expenditure, essentially the day-to-day cost of running the government.

National Assembly spending is also in line with last year at N150bn, suggesting Nigeria’s political elite are being spared any belt-tightening.

However, doubts are creeping in that the government will be able to meet even its day-to-day obligations should crude prices remain low for months on end.

“We’re paying salaries but it’s going to catch up,” said Bukola Saraki, a senator from the central state of Kwara. “We were struggling to pay at even $80-$90 a barrel. By June it’s really going to start biting. You’ll really see the effect of the low oil

price.” You’ll really see the effect of the low oil price.”

Dealers said Italian oil company ENI was also in the market on Wednesday, selling $24m to some banks.

FG set to enforce standardisation of electricity materials, installations

M

ohammed Wakil, Minister of State for Power, last week said that Federal Government was set to enforce quality control and standard of electricity materials and installations Wakil gave the assurance during the official commissioning of the Remodelled National Metre Test Station and opening of the Technical Inspectorate Service Field Office in Lagos.

The minister said that President Goodluck Jonathan had successfully reformed the generation, transmission and distribution sub-sectors, adding that government was now focusing on effective delivery of safe and reliable electricity supply to Nigerians. ``We are resolved to enhance consumers and investors’ confidence and certification through sustained inspection, testing and certification of electrical materials and equipments. ``Electricity materials should be of the high quality and specification, all categories of electrical installations, power systems and network

must be properly planned, designed and exulted before use. ``Gone are the days of sub-standard equipments and installations which compromised safety of Nigerians.

More pointedly manufacturers of fake power equipment are hereby put on notice. ``The long arm of law shall caught-up with those endangering lives of innocent citizens. Nigerians not only want adequate power supply but also safety and reliability,’’ he said.

Wakil said that the significance of safety and quality control informed the establishment of Electricity Management Services Limited, EMSL , adding that the agency had grown to an emerging giant. ``I am happy to note that EMSL has within this short period achieved remarkable successes which included the remodeled meter test station and others at Kaduna and Port Harcourt. ``The technical inspectorate service field offices of EMSL have detected defective power equipments in many zones,’’ he added.

Peter Ewesor, the Managing Director, Electricity Management Services Limited, EMSL, said that the remodeled national meter testing station would be saddled with the roles and responsibilities of enforcement of technical and safety standard.

Ewesor said that others role would include technical inspection, testing and certification of all categories of electrical materials and equipments and electrical installations.

He said that in line with EMSL mandate and regulations, no electrical installation or network could be put into use unless it has been tested and certified fit for use by the engineers and techni-

Wakil

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

cal officers of EMSL. ``Over 10,000 substandard meters have been rejected for not having anti-energy-theft protection. These types would have led to high commercial and collection losses for the investors. ``We have rejected over 5,000 meters having terminal connections that were out of specifications. This would have led to risk to workers and staff of the utility companies and possible burning of the meters on installations,’’ he said.

The EMSL is a pivot part of the power sector that provides technical support service of enforcement of technical standard, safety and specification in the power sector.

Al-Makura

Al-Makura donates ICT centre to Bingham varsity

G

overnor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State has called on the people to support his administration beyond 2015 in order to enjoy more dividends of democracy.

He made the call while inaugurating the Information and Communication Technology, ICT, Centre he donated to Bingham University, Karu, on Thursday.

Al-Makura said the donation was a fulfilment of his promise to assist the institution with the centre in order to improve upon the standard of education in the state and the country at large. ``I built and equipped e-library with ICT facilities across the state in order to enhance learning and teaching. ``My Government has been fighting corruption, poverty, hunger, unemployment and youths and women restive-

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

ness, as well as boosting socio-economic activities. ``I am delighted to open this ICT centre with modern facilities donated to the university as part of my administration’s commitment to the development of computer education in the country”, AlMakura said.

According to him, the role of ICT in the development of any society cannot be overemphasised, adding that one cannot be successful in life without having the knowledge of computer.

He called on the lecturers and students to use the ICT centre to enrich themselves with modern knowledge in their interest and for the overall development of the country.

He urged the people to live in peace and tolerate one another irrespective of ethnic, religious and political affiliations.

Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of university’s council, Prof. Gomna Dogara, thanked Al-Makura for the gesture and promised proper use and maintenance of the centre with a capacity for 200 people.

Osibanjo calls for redesigning of electronics to reduce e-waste

A

n expert in environmental protection, Prof. Oladele Osibanjo, lsat week called for redesigning of electronic gadgets to reduce e-waste.

Osinbajo, the Executive Director, Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Training and Technology Transfer for the African Region, BCCC-Africa, made the call at a workshop in Lagos.

The workshop was on the Persons in the Port, PIP, Project.

Osibanjo

It was organised by the United Nations University, UNU/Solving the E-Waste Problem, in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Environment.

Osibanjo said that e-waste could be reduced through recycling of waste. ``Electronics need to be redesigned so that we do not need to throw away an old thing but replace a bad part to enable it to continue to function. ``We can also go for green redesigning for re-use to make the product to last longer and serve better. ``The best way to manage electronics is to repair, refurbish and re-use,’’ the director said.

He noted that electronic gadgets had short life span, adding that it was a reason for increase in e-waste.

The expert suggested that the Federal Government should introduce regulations and advocacy to reduce ewastes. ``The government should ensure that producers of electronics must have a take-back system and have programmes for re-use and refurbishing of products sold. ``They must also provide e-waste collection centres for recyclers, with guidelines and monitoring,’’ he said.

In her keynote address, the Minister of Environment, Lawrentia Mallam, said that the workshop was aimed at gathering information on how to tackle importation of Used Electrical Equipment, UEEE, and Waste Electrical Electronic Equipment into Nigeria.

She was represented by a director in the Ministry, Dr Idris Goji.

The minister expressed optimism that the workshop would assist in getting appropriate data to strengthen national policies on importation.

According to Mallam, the data would assist in curbing dumping of e-waste in Nigeria. ``Dumping of e-waste in Nigeria and improper management practices are well publicised by international media, showing Nigeria as a dumping ground for used and unserviceable electrical and electronic equipment. ``If e-waste is adequately managed in Nigeria, more than 50 per cent of problems associated with it would have been solved,’’ she said.

She said that the ministry had developed a draft policy and prepared guidelines and a strategic action plan on the management of e-waste.

She also said that e-waste management regulations had been prepared by the National Environmental Standard Regulation and Enforcement Agency,NESREA. ``The regulations have been approved and are in force,’’ Mallam said.

Association wants FG to check illegal sand dredgers

T

he Dredgers Association of Nigeria has appealed to the relevant Federal Government’s regulatory agencies to curtail the activities of illegal sand dredgers over uneven dept of waterways.

Richard Ntang, Executive Secretary of the association, said in Lagos that illegal sand dredgers were dredging the nation’s waterways recklessly.

Ntang said that the call became necessary because irregularity of depths made the waterways dangerous for transportation and aquatic operations.

He urged the National Inland Waterways Agency, NIWA, and Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals to effectively tackle the nefarious activities of the dredgers, especially in Lagos State.

He said, “Unlicensed operators have caused havoc to the even dept of nation’s waterways.

“Unsafe dredging activities pose threat to the safety of lives and the environment because it can cause a canoe or boat to capsize at will”.

He stressed that sand dredging business had become more challenging as most operators found it difficult to pay their bank loans due to proliferation of unlicensed dredgers.

According to Ntang, sand dredging is a capital intensive business; the equipment are costly; we import our spare parts; foreign exchange has gone up due to devaluation of the Naira.

“Wages have increased and cost of diesel is still high.

Most of us are working with bank loans which are becoming difficult to service due to recent development.

“Sand now sells for N1,500

A5 21

per cubic metre from the N2,300 it sold some years ago, but the unlicensed dredgers sell below N1,500 per cubic metre of sand.

“This has made breaking even difficult,” he said.

When contacted, Muazu Sambo, Lagos Area Manager of NIWA, said that the agency would always ensure best practices were maintained through appropriate monitoring.

“We will not support illegality. We will work in conjunction with other regulatory agencies to control the activities of the operators.

“The authority will ensure the issues are tackled within the confines of the law,” Sambo said.

Akpobolokemi

NIMASA deploys satellite, patrol vessels to monitor nation’s waterways – Official

T

he Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, said on Thursday it had positioned a radar and deployed patrol vessels to monitor and safeguard the country’s waterways.

Capt. Warredi Enisuoh, the Director, Shipping Development of NIMASA, said in Lagos that the moves were aimed at preventing the uncontrolled entry of foreign ships to Nigerian waters. ``The problem is that we have a lot of foreign ships coming in carrying foreign guards. ``There is reason to believe these foreign guards are trained in handling of arms; no doubt about it. ``This poses a danger to our own security. As you well know, a whole lot of arms

A6 22

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

News come in and found themselves in the hands of people, possibly not even trained to handle them legally. ``We don’t know whether this is a new frontier in the business. ``We do not have the capacity to monitor everything, but we will do all we can to help our forces prevent anything of such entering into this country. ``No waterway in the world is safe; every country is got the responsibility to protect their own waterways, depends on the type of challenge that you have. ``We can’t shy away from the fact that we do have those challenges; and that is why the Director-General of NIMASA (Patrick Akpobolokemi) decided to embark on monitoring the Nigerian waters via satellite through radar and also the deployment of patrol vessels out there. ``And it is out of the actions of this particular access that we’ve deployed the intelligence screening that these people are present in our waters and that’s the reason why we have detained quite a lot of the ships.`` He urged legal practitioners, who usually defended persons alleged to have committed crimes within the nation’s waterways to do so with caution.

Arik Air commences Lagos-Abidjan flight Feb. 16

A

rik Air says it will start scheduled flights from Lagos-Abidjan, Ivory Coast via Cotonou in Benin Republic from Feb. 16.

Chris Ndulue, the airline’s Vice-President, told aviation correspondents in Ikeja on Thursday that the flights would be four times a week.

The flights will be operated on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, he said. ``The Lagos-Abidjan service will be operated using the airline’s state-of-the-art Bombardier CRJ900 configured to carry 10 Business Class and 64 Economy Class passengers from Feb. 16. ``On Mondays, the outbound flight will depart the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, at 2.45 p.m. (local time) and arrive at Cotonou International Airport

Ndulue

at 3:15 p.m. (local time). ``The flight then leaves Cotonou at 4.00 p.m. (local time) and arrives at Felix Houphouet Boigny International Airport, Abidjan at 4.20 p.m. (local time),’’ Ndulue said.

According to him, the inbound flight will depart Abidjan in the evening to Lagos through Cotonou.

The vice-president said the commencement of the flights was because Abidjan had become the preferred destination for Nigerian businessmen and women. ``Arik Air’s venture into the commercial city will make life a lot easier for its passengers.’’

MAN expresses concern over increase in electricity tariff

T

he Manufacturers Association of Nigeria,MAN, Kano state branch, has expressed concern over what it described as indiscriminate increase in electricity tariff.

Alhaji Safiyanu Baba, the Chairman of the association, Sharada/Challawa branch, made the complaint while briefing newsmen in Kano on Thursday.

He said that the new tariff as released by Kano Electricity Distribution Company and the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, indicated that customers in Kano would pay higher than those in Lagos.

He said that the implication was that the production cost of goods in Kano would be very high as the cost of energy would be raised by about 48 per cent higher than that of Lagos. ‘’This means most of the finished goods in Kano will be more expensive than those

produced in Lagos area, where energy cost is cheaper,’’ he said.

According to him, the percentage in the tariff review from 2014 to 2015 indicated that Kano Disco increased by 47.73 per cent while Ikeja Disco increased by 28.83 per cent. ‘’There is no justification in this review because the tariff increase of 2015 does not reflect on what is in the MYTO II. ‘’After all, it is an injustice on the part of NERC for the customers in areas where the DISCOS are not performing to be made to pay higher tariff,’’ he said.

He therefore called on NERC to reconsider the tariff review and stay within the provisions of the MYTO II which would take effect in June 2015.

He also called on the Federal Government to do something urgently to save the industrial sector in Kano from total collapse. ‘’we also wish to notify the Federal Government to either do something about this issue or the industrial sector in Kano will be under threat of extinction,’’ he added.

FG will soon inaugurate Sapele power plant to boost electricity supply – Sambo

V

ice-President Namadi Sambo said on Wednesday the Federal Government would soon inaugurate the Sapele Power Plant to boost electricity supply across the country.

Sambo made this information known at the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential Campaign Rally

Sambo

in Asaba, Delta. ``You all know that President is addressing the issue of power supply and I’m pleased to inform you that the new NIPP power plant in Sapele is now 100 per cent completed and it will be commissioned soon. ``In addition to the EastWest road contract, President has approved the contract for a new coastal railway line with fast train that will come from Lagos to Benin to Asaba to Onitsha to Yenagoa and to all the South-South and South-Eastern states. Thank you very much, Mr. President.`` He expressed gratitude to the people of the state for coming out en masse to welcome President Jonathan and urged them to vote massively for PDP candidates during the elections.

The Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Ahmed Mu’azu also thanked the people of the state for their loyalty to the party and for turning up as a group to welcome the presidential campaign team.

He said Jonathan had performed creditably and, therefore, deserved to be reelected on Feb. 14 Speaking at the rally, the Minister of Finance and Coordinator of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the Jonathan-led administration initiated numerous economic empowerment programmes.

She said the programmes would ensure the development of infrastructural facilities nationwide

Tax Appeal Tribunal adjourns N65m suit filed against FIRS

T

ax Appeal Tribunal, Abuja, has adjourned till April 7, a N65m suit filed against the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, by Gazprom Oil and Gas Nigeria Limited.

The N65m suit is an appeal filed by the company to discharge VAT re-assessment notices charged against it.

Nnamdi Ibegbu, the Acting Chairman of the tribunal, on Thursday in Abuja, gave FIRS seven days to file the reply to Gazproms’s appeal.

The two VAT re-assessment notices were issued by the respondent on the appellant on March 5, 2013, in the sums of US $339,168.87 and Euro 50,894.96 (N65m).

Folajimi Akinla, Counsel to Gazprom, expressed dissatisfaction over the delay to the reply on their appeal.

Barry Chukwu, Counsel to FIRS, who recently took over the case, pleaded for time to file a reply.

BEDC blames loadshedding on supply shortfall

B

enin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) said that it received 240Mega Watt, MW, from the national grid instead of about 900MW required by the company to serve Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti states.

The electricity firm, said this in a statement signed by Chief Corporate Service Officer, Kunbi Labiyi, explained that this under-supply was responsible for the load shedding among customers in the four states.

The statement signed

by Kunbi Labiyi added that some demonstrators who besieged the company understood the challenge when these facts were presented to them “and realized there was no basis for their demonstration.”

The statement entitled: “Report on Demonstration to Benin Disco Office,” read: “At around 9.30am this morning (Monday), there was demonstration from persons who claimed to be residents from areas behind Ogbe stadium (Benin City) under Etete environs. Their complaint was hinged on the 12 hourly load shedding arrangement currently being enjoyed by their area. This implies that they are not happy that they are getting 12 hours power supply daily.

“The Load shedding arrangement is a result of inadequate power supply and was further occasioned by the reduction in generation leading to a drop in the allocation from TCN to BEDC.” She said: “Presently, BEDC receives 240MW from the national grid to cover Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti states, which is far lower than what the four states need. BEDC currently has capacity to take three times the power provided. Edo state enjoys the 44% of the amount received presently, while 56% is shared by the Ekiti, Ondo and Delta States. BC

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

A7 23

Brand Watch

Gloomy valentine sales hit traders Just few days to valentine, the general mood in the country appears completely devoid of the usual enthusiasm as traders in the country who had banked on the lovers’ day celebration in making brisk sales after the very low Christmas sales, are also lamenting low patronage ostensibly as a result of the forth coming presidential election which has cast a shadow of anxiety on the country.

By Adejuwon Osunnuyi

V

alentine’s Day is right around the corner. It is one day several couples and lovers eagerly look forward to. Aspiring lovers are not left out. It is being celebrated big time in many countries around the world by both the young and young at heart.

Precisely, this Saturday, February 14, Nigerians would be joining the rest of the world in celebrating the Feast of Saint Valentine.

Understandably, this world renowned day of love accounts for an enormous portion of the money spent on gifting every year.

Reports show organisations such as the courier companies, airlines, retail shops and hospitality centres utilise the peak season well, as they make good sales.

For instance, in the United States of America, it is expected that shoppers would spend as much as $19 billion on Vals day gifts this year, at an average of $142 per person (that is about N27, 000). In Nigeria, it is estimated that well N350 billion is expected to be spent on gifts for Val day.

However, as this season of love approaches, this year’s Val day clashing with Nigeria’s presidential election coming up this Saturday February 14 is said to be having its hard toll on businesses especially gift shops.

With just a few days to Valentine, traders in major markets in the country who had banked on the lovers day celebration in making brisk sales after Christmas period are lamenting low patronage ostensibly as a result of the forth coming presidential election.

Reacting recently to the development, in an interview, the CEO of Slim Steve Entertainment, Stephen Chikoma, said that INEC should have put Valentine’s Day into consideration while plan-

Shopping mall decorated for valentine

ning the elections, adding that the elections have made this year’s celebration a bad one for most youths and couples in Nigeria.

ChiKoma, who runs the indigenous entertainment outfit that is targeted at youths in terms of innovation, stressed: “I am a youth and I know what I’m talking about. It is not well planned because if the government knows that Valentine’s Day is a day set aside for the youths, even married couples, they will have a rethink before fixing the polls on that day. Being a day for the general elections have already marred the day since there will be restriction of movement.

“As it is now, youths are complaining that since the government has spoilt their show, they too are not going to vote on that day. That means the elections will be affected since the youths who form the large chunk of the nation’s population are already having some reservations about the elections. They are the leaders of tomorrow and you know what that means when the leaders of tomorrow are refusing to exercise their franchise. But as for me, I will go out that day to vote and return to my family since there will be no movement.”

It would be recalled that INEC had in January 2014, released the timetable for the 2015 general elections scheduling the Presidential and National Assembly elections for Feb 14, 2015 while governorship and state assembly elections are to hold on Feb 28, 2015.

Speaking in an interview on the development, the Chief Press Secretary to the commission’s Chairman, Kayode Idowu said that the date was a coincidence, saying “When the commission

was taking that decision, it never even occurred to the leaders of the commission that it was Valentine’s Day. According to him, “But then, it is a day for showing love and if we can show love that will discourage people from fomenting violence.

“That will discourage you from being hateful towards another person on that day. It will make the election peaceful. So, it is a good coincidence. ’’ Urging Nigerians to be guided by the meaning of Valentine’s Day to make the election peaceful, he noted, “The message of the day is to show love for one another and therefore, there is no basis for violence, acrimony and being unruly because that day is a day for showing amenable conduct towards others. So, that should guide the behaviours of voters as they go out to vote.’’

When our correspondent visited several shopping malls in Lagos, most of the traders spoken to complained bitterly about poor sales.

At the Ikeja Shopping Mall, Monalisa Samson, a shop owner said this year’s lovers’ day has lost its glamour as a result of the election coming up.

“During this time of the year in the past, retail and clothing shops would be a hive of activity as many people come out to buy goods for their loved ones. But this year, business has been very dull.” She noted.

At Apongbon area of Lagos Island, a manager with an indigenous clothing shop, Bukola Arogundade said while she had hoped that many people would troop out to do shopping for their loved ones especially after the dull Christmas sales, not many people have been coming to buy

anything.

“We are just hanging in there.

People are no longer buying clothes for Valentine like they used to do.”

“I am not looking forward to this Valentine at all. Don’t you know that there is no movement on that day? When you buy gift for your loved one, it is supposed to be given him or her on that day as a surprise. But as you can see, with the election falling on the same day, it means no movement,” said Oscar Amaechi, a banker.

“I sell Valentine flowers, gift items, and any other things one needs for the lovers day festivities, but I can tell you that the sales are poor,” Musibau Akande, a trader at the Arena,Oshodi market said.

“Few people are coming around to patronise me and I can say to God be the glory but it is low sales we are experiencing at the market.”

Investigations revealed that many businesses, which might be affected on that day, are majorly eateries, hotels, parks, as well as cinemas. It is very certain that the restriction of movement would make most of these places where young people go to catch fun would be under lock and key.

However, despite the low sales, some traders are optimistic that many people might still patronise their stalls.

“You know the way our people are, it may not seems like they are buying valentine gifts or shopping for the festivities yet, but give them time. When it is like two days to the day, then you will see a mad rush for items,” Alice Omonidada, a trader at the Arena Market, Oshodi, said.

However, with the Valen-

tine’s day coming up in the next few days, online stores are trying hard in order to make brisk business. Noticeably, as this season of love approaches, Nigeria’s largest online mall, Konga.com has been pushing hard on this front, offering various deals related to Valentine’s Day products (such as jewelry and clothing) as well as the chance to win various prizes, like a stay at a quality hotel, dinner for two or full body massages.

In its bid to attract customers, last week, Konga had a 1 day special event aptly named “Love Boom,” in which drastic sales of up to 50 per cent off took place, with name brands like Dainty Sole, Spotted and Le Rouge appear in.

Konga’s buyer protection promise and phenomenal delivery times will attract customers to their store rather than others in order to receive their gifts in a timely and professional manner.

According to Konga.com’s Head of PR, Olatomiwa Akande, “Valentine’s Day is all about love, and at Konga.com we know how much Nigerian shoppers love to get the trendiest fashion items and styles – at great prices,” This is what the Konga ‘Love Boom’ Sales is about. We want our customers to let go of their Valentine budget worries and be free to express how much they love the special people in their lives.

With its Vote 4 Love sales, Jumia, another online retail shop also offered its customers exciting Valentine day sale where customers can expect to get special gifts for that special someone at special prices! Customers will also have the chance to vote for the products they most desire with the chance of winning it for free.

Speaking ahead of the February 4th Vote 4 Love Valentine day store, Jonathan Doerr MD Marketing Jumia said, ‘We can confidently say that all is truly set to make this Valentine’s Day the most memorable one for Nigerian shoppers. In the spirit of love, we at Jumia have also decided to shower our customers with a show of our gratitude for their continuous patronage and pride in us’ “As we count down to Valentine ’s Day on the 14th of February, Jumia will be playing Cupid’s role in making sure love is definitely in the air. Be rest assured that whatever gift item you wish to celebrate that special one, Jumia will have it at the best price you can imagine.”

“That is not all; Jumia will also be offering amazing freebies to those who shop in the Valentines store come February 4th with customers standing a chance to win a Michael Kors bag, an iPad, a Smartphone and a luxury Armani watch” BC

A8 24

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Brand Watch

Nigerian Idol auditions train lands in Ibadan Stories by Adejuwon Osunnuyi

T

he city of Ibadan and its residents witnessed the beautiful atmosphere of fun and excitement as the nation’s leading TV Reality music show, Nigerian Idol began a two-day auditions hosted inside the prestigious Kakanfo Inn Conference Centre situated at old Ring road.

Hundreds of contestants, all

aspiring to become next Nigerian Idol superstar, thronged the venue intending to impress the Show’s celebrity judges with their performances for tickets to participate in the second stage of the competition featuring top 100 acts pooled from the various auditions centres across the nation.

The Ibadan auditions proved all the worth for the efforts by the organisers as it produced seven Golden Tickets, the highest recorded

from any centre in the on-going season 5.

Beside this, the Centre had on parade more number of contestants with better chances of making the top 100 cut.

It would be recalled Ibadan is the only new Centre among the five to host the season five auditions. Others include Benin, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Lagos.

Meanwhile, the auditions train moves to the Dream Studios, Lagos between February

7 and 9 for the final leg of the auditions, which have been successfully concluded in the other four centres.

Nigerian Idol is in its fifth season after a successful debut in 2010 won by YekaOnka. In the following years, it has grown in popularity and followership on the basis of the unique platforms it offers to young Nigerians with exceptional music talent.

It is the only music TV reality show in Nigeria with a global appeal that currently cuts across 46 countries.

Nigerian Idol focuses on discovering Nigerian youths with talent in music and giving them a unique platform to take shots at stardom.

The eventual winner goes home with N7.5 million cash reward, a brand new car, a

recording deal with Universal Music Company worth N7.5 million and some high-end devices.

The first runner up gets N1.5 million, a Galaxy Tab, a phone and an iPod while the second runner up gets N1 million, a Galaxy Tab, a phone and an iPod. All other finalists will also receive N100, 000.00, a Galaxy Tab, a phone and an iPod. Nigerian Idol season five is sponsored by leading telecommunications operator, Etisalat, Dabur toothpaste and ECommerce platform, Payporte and will feature such enthralling performances which were the hallmarks of past winners among whom are YekaOnka, Mercy Chinwo, Moses Adigwe and Zibili Evelyn who goes by the stage name Evelle. BC

Val Day: Close-Up unveils Cupid game for consumers

C

L-R : Director, Drug Evaluation and Research, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Titilope Owolabi; Director, Port Inspection Directorate, NAFDAC, Maureen Ebigbeyi and Director - General, NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii displaying the fake Alomo Bitters confiscated from a counterfeiter at a media briefing on the activities of the agency in Lagos recently

Jumia launches official Apple store

J

umia Nigeria has rolled out their official Apple store online, becoming the first online retailer to be authorized by Apple to sell their products.

According to the online store, now that it sells official Apple products, they are anticipating even more enthusiasm and excitement from their collective 4 million followers on social media than ever before.

Macbooks, iPhones, iPads, and more are now just clicks away with the convenience and ease that only online shopping can offer.

The collaboration between Jumia and Apple also signifies the quality and authenticity of products available on the site.

The retail giant expects that the official authorization will alleviate shoppers’ fears of purchasing fake Apple products online.

Nigerians no longer have to be burdened by fears of using their hard earned cash to purchase a fake, stolen or reworked Apple device, let alone delivered to the convenience of their home or office, according

to Jumia.

Speaking on the launch of the iStore on Jumia, Jeremy Doutte, managing director, Jumia Nigeria said, ‘The collaboration between Jumia and Apple is a thing of beauty and can best be described as a big win for innovation and authenticity. Nigerians no longer have to be burdened by fears of using their hard earned cash to purchase a fake, stolen or

Doutté

reworked Apple device. Above all our continued commitment to seeing the Nigerian customer get top quality and premium retail keeps driving us to push new boundaries and break new frontiers’.

Jumia acknowledges that their customers have high expectations, and are upholding their reputation with the official Apple store.

They are looking forward to meeting their shoppers’ demands for authentic Apple products at a fair price, while continuing with their fast deliveries and reliable customer service.

Jumia further said it is confident that this new development will put smiles on the faces of Apple loyalists and tech lovers alike nationwide.

Jumia is Africa’s leading online shopping destination.

Customers across the continent shop amongst the widest assortment of high quality products at affordable prices – offering everything from fashion, consumer electronics, home appliances to beauty products. BC

lose-Up, a premium brand from the stable of Unilever, has launched a new campaign, Cupid Games, to win over the youth.

The Cupid Game, which signed on A-list musical stars Yemi Alade and Davido as campaign ambassador for the game, is expected to challenge young people to express themselves to loved ones without feeling timid.

Top 10 creative participants will be rewarded with exciting prizes like Beats by Dre headphones and get invites to cupid games grand event where they get to hang out with Davido and Yemi Alade.

The grand prize winner will go home with a brand new MV Agusta Brutale 800cc power bike, second and third will get a pair of personalised Apple

Mac Books and Ipads respectively.

The Brand Building Director, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Mr David Okeme, during the launch said the Cupid game is an engagement platform by Closeup for young adults to connect and show their loved ones how much they care, especially at valentine.

Also, the Category Manager Oral Care, Oiza Gyang, added that Closeup Cupids Dare Game is a conversation starter meant to get people closer while demonstrating the extent they would go for love.

Close-up, over the years, has been able to reinforce its understanding of Nigeria’s oral care needs and re-state its commitment towards sustaining its position as the best oral care product in the market. BC

Huawei extends managed services with Airtel Nigeria

H

uawei has announced the extension of its strategic partnership with Nigeria Bharti Airtel (Airtel) by expanding the managed services coverage to the capital city Abuja and surrounding Federal Territory.

The extension IS expected to improve network quality and enhance the Airtel customer experience in the region.

Previously operated by a different Managed Services Provider (MSP), this extension of Airtel’s managed services coverage demonstrates the strong partnership between Huawei and Airtel.

Huawei said it would support Airtel in achieving its busi-

ness objectives supported by its capabilities including employee management, operation support service (OSS) tools, as well as standardized delivery platforms and processes (MSUP).

Huawei has partnered with Airtel in Nigeria since 2011 and provides managed services on 2G and 3G wireless networks, microwave transmission networks and core networks, across 60 percent area of the country.

Managed services is widely used by Communications Service Providers (CSP) in Africa, and has seen an average growth of 52 percent from 2012-2014. BC

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

A9 25

Global News

McAdam

Verizon to sell wireline operations, towers worth $15.6bn

V

erizon Communications (VZ.N) said it would sell wireline assets to Frontier Communications (FTR.O) for $10.54bn in cash and sell and lease cell phone towers for around $5 billion to American Tower in a deal that will help it pay off recent wireless spectrum purchases.

The transaction is the latest in a series of non-core assets that Verizon has sold in recent months to reduce debt and raise cash for investments.

The Frontier sale is expected to close in the first half of next year and is subject to regulatory approval, the companies said.

Frontier will nearly double its size by buying Verizon’s local wireline operations in California, Florida and Texas, including 3.7 million voice customers, 1.2 million video customers and 2.2 million broadband connections.

“Over 50 percent of these networks are fiber to the home so these are outstanding assets in high growth areas,” said Frontier CEO Maggie Wilderotter in an interview.

Boston-based American Tower said Verizon would lease over 11,300 towers and sell 165 towers for $5.06bn.

Verizon also announced plans to buy back shares worth $5bn.

The largest U.S. carrier by subscribers, Verizon purchased 181 licenses worth $10.4bn in a government sale of wireless airwaves for mobile data that closed last week. That came on top of $130bn it spent in 2013 to buy from Vodafone (VOD.L) the 45 percent in its wireless unit that it did not already own.

The company will use capital raised in these two transactions to invest in upgrading its network, deliver shareholder returns and repay debt, Chief Executive Lowell McAdam said on a call.

The company has been doubling down on its wireless business while spending less on broadband Internet and

telephone services.

Verizon did a similar deal with Frontier in 2009, when it sold 4.8 million rural phone lines to Frontier for $8.6bn in stock and cash. Frontier will receive a $1.9bn tax benefit as part of the transaction.

Shares in Frontier rose more than 5 percent after closing at $7.70 in trading after market close on Thursday.

Shares in Verizon and American Tower were relatively unchanged after closing at $47.86 and $99.59 respectively.

Verizon was advised by Credit Suisse, Guggenheim Securities and PJT Partners on the wireline sale, while its legal adviser on the Frontier deal was Debevoise & Plimpton. On the tower deal, Verizon was advised by TAP Advisors, Guggenheim and JP Morgan.

Frontier was advised by J.P. Morgan while its board was advised by Greenhill & Co, and its legal adviser was Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

World can’t rely on U.S. to carry economy forever-Canada

T

he United States is carrying the world economy at the moment but that is not sustainable, and other major nations must shoulder more of the load, Canadian Finance Minister Joe Oliver said on Friday.

Oliver said in a speech that the world economy is off to a rough start in 2015 and that “kick-starting global growth will be front and center” at a Group of 20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank chiefs in Turkey next week.

“Though America is carrying the world economy at the moment, that is simply not sustainable. We need key pillars of global growth to reassert themselves,” Oliver told a meeting of mayors from the Toronto region.

The G20 came into its own during the 2007-09 financial crisis when it put together a global stimulus package, but it is now facing the more delicate challenge of arriving at joint

Oliver

action when economies are running at different speeds.

“The euro area is confronting flat growth and deflation.

Beyond Europe, the growth rates of key emerging economies – China and India – are losing steam,” Oliver said.

“Geopolitical crises – in Ukraine, Iraq, and Syria – pose serious risks, complicating the recovery.”

Lenders renew appetite to take-andhold leveraged loans

E

uropean banks are experiencing renewed appetite to put money to work and are increasingly taking and holding larger positions in leveraged loan deals.

Recent years have seen banks reducing holds in deals thanks to pressure on balance sheets and capital restraints.

But with balance sheets looking healthier and customer deposits coming in, banks are now more willing to underwrite deals and take larger holds to increase income from higheryielding assets with lower default risk.

“Banks have gained more approval to put balance sheet to work,” a loan banker said.

The increasing momentum is affecting both commercial banks and investment banks.

Commercial banks are now willing to take larger holds, having scaled back to about 20 million euros ($22.79m) to 30 million euros for relationship clients during the crisis from around 40 million euros to 50 million euros pre-crisis. Some investment banks, which traditionally do not operate on a take-and-hold basis, have also committed to large portions of recent deals.

“Goldman Sachs has been notable. JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch also have balance sheet appetite,” the banker said.

A 108 million pound ($165.06m) Term Loan B paying 550bp, which formed part of a wider US dollardenominated financing for Vista’s acquisition of ACS, was mostly preplaced with Goldman Sachs. Meanwhile, half of a 237.5 million pound first-lien loan backing Cinven’s acquisition of Northgate Public Services was pre-placed with lead banks Goldman Sachs, Bank of Ireland and Credit Agricole.

“Banks need to create profits and want an opportunity to deploy capital, so when opportunities present themselves banks will go into more positions. Banks that take deposits will lend,” a second banker said.

HOME SUPPORT Banks are eager to invest in good assets and also to

support deals in their home market.

Earlier this week, Bank of Ireland and Goldman Sachs agreed to acquire a portfolio of Irish commercial loans with a face value of 540 million euro from Danske Bank, through their balance sheets. Bank of Ireland will acquire 274 million euros of performing loans, while Goldman Sachs will acquire 266 million euros of loans.

“Leveraged finance has come out of the crisis pretty powerfully. European banks realize that leveraged finance is a core asset as it is high yielding, involves a sponsor group they trust and has a good default rate. Banks have wanted to maintain the same balance sheet for leveraged finance and in many cases, grow it,” an official at a European sponsor said.

Banks’ growing appetite is proving popular with sponsors eager to receive large commitments from supportive banks but the ability to take and hold large portions of loans could upset the supply/demand dynamic as investors see a squeeze on paper. On the upside, banks that take and hold portions of loans are expected to support the syndicated parts of loans in the secondary market.

Direct lenders are expected to be hit hardest as banks take deals that otherwise could have reached the shadow banking sector.

“Direct lenders will need to do lending that banks won’t do, such as stretching leverage,” the sponsor said.

Kaeser

Siemens CEO draws restructuring to a close with 7,800 job cuts

S

iemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser applied the finishing touches to his overhaul of the German industrial group with the announcement on Friday of 7,800 job cuts designed to streamline management and speed decision-making.

The roughly 2 percent cut to

the trains-to-turbines group’s global workforce will generate productivity gains of about 1 billion euros ($1.14bn) by the end of 2016, Siemens said, as the company strives to close a profitability gap with rivals such as General Electric, GE.N, and Switzerland’s ABB The profit margin at Siemens’ industrial businesses fell to 10.2 percent in the past quarter, from 11.3 percent a year earlier, against 14.3 percent at ABB and 18.6 percent for GE’s industrial division.

“This completes the restructuring of our company,” said Kaeser, who took over in a boardroom coup in 2013 and outlined his vision for the company in May last year.

A senior company source said that the group’s portfolio restructuring is also mostly complete.

Since Kaeser took over, Siemens has agreed to buy U.S. oilfield equipment maker Dresser-Rand (DRC.N) and the turbines division of Rolls Royce RRL.L. On the disposal side, it has shed its hearingaids unit, exited its BSH household appliance joint venture [ROBG.UL] and is hiving off its healthcare operation as a standalone business.

REINVESTING Siemens said it would reinvest the billion euros of productivity gains in the growth areas of supplying electricity for industrial projects, automation and digitalization, 800 million euros of which will be split evenly between sales operations and research and development. The rest will be invested in fixed assets.

About 3,300 of the jobs cuts, which Siemens said should be completed within two years, will be in Germany, where the company employs 115,000 people. Siemens pointed out that it had hired more than 11,000 people since the start of its financial year in October and said it would avoid compulsory redundancies.

The company source said the restructuring costs for the job cuts would be in the midto-high hundreds of millions of euros.

Siemens, the products of which once included nuclear power plants, personal computers and semiconductors, has shed more than a dozen businesses since the turn of the century, many in the consumer sector where it struggled to connect with customers or where margins were driven down by Asian competitors.

At its height in 2001 Siemens employed almost half a million people and had annual sales of 87 billion euros. At the end of the past financial year, its 343,000 employees generated sales of 72 billion euros. BC

Business Courage

Patrice Motsepe:

Focused, successful Patrice Motsepe started d his life in Soweto, a place where e he was born. It was a place where ere vicess of all sorts were common. n. It was also a place where mining was a common occupation ion among the youths. While e most youths were contented nted with the wages from mining, ning, Patrice Motsepe wanted d more; he wanted to be a top notch in the society.

His discerning mind chose ose e mining, leaving the vicess that were a common sight ht in Soweto where he was growing up at the time and even jettisoning his father’s er’s grand plan to make him inherit the liquor retail business. Today, he is the he chairman of Africa Rainbow bow w Minerals, South Africa’s largest mining company y and the 6th largest in the e world. Reports, Tayo Elebijo ebijo

G

rowing up in the Soweto ghetto hetto of South Africa a may have set many black South outh Africans youths s back, but not Patrice Motsepe, pe, a man who today y seems to have rewritten the e negativity attached d to Soweto as a place where one could ld actually be tough-e ened, and rise from society decay to become one of the most celebrated personalities in the world. Patrice Motsepe, mbition to get to the po-must have been nursing a strong ambition used mind certainly led d sition he finds himself today. His focused d them well when such h him to take his chances and utilised chances came his way. rn on the 28th of Janu-Patrice Tlhopane Motsepe was born otsepe, a school teacherr ary, 1962 in Soweto to Augustine Motsepe, uo selling business which h who later ventured into the Spaza liquo

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

was popular with the black mine workers at the time. He was said to have learnt the basic rudiments of business as well as mining while helping out in his father’s Spaza shop. He is married to Dr. Precious Moloi Motsepe. Motsepe’s father named him Patrice after Patrice Lumumba, an African independence leader and the first Prime Minister of the Democractic Republic of Congo.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Swaziland and a law degree from the University of the Witwatersrand and became the first black partner in the law firm Bowman Gilfillan in 1994, the same year Nelson Mandela was elected the country’s first black president. He specialised in mining and business law at a time when the new government had begun the process of promoting black empowerment and entrepreneurship. Motsepe soon founded a mining services venture to clean gold dust from inside mine shafts, implementing a system of worker remuneration that combined a low base salary with a profit-sharing bonus management formula.

However, in 1997, with gold prices at a low, just as the oil prices are now in the international market and the shares prices at their low now in the country, he purchased marginal gold mines from AngloGold under favourable finance terms. This was repeated in a string of deals which led him to set up a firm to begin buying the operating mines that would later become the source of his wealth as well as make him the first South Africa’s richest black man. In 1999 he teamed up with two of his associates to form Greene and Partners Investments.

Motsepe won South Africa’s Best Entrepreneur Award in 2002. In 2004 he was voted 39th in the SABC3’s Great South Africans (SABC being South African Broadcasting Corporation, the government funded state broadcaster).And in 2008, he was 503rd richest person in the world, according to the Forbes

‘

Ranked as the 4th richest South African and 14th richest African by FORBES, the 52-year-old billionaire founded and chairs African Rainbow Minerals, a leading publicly traded diversified mining and minerals firm in South Africa

‘

A10 26

World Billionaires List.

He is the founder and executive chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, which has interests in gold, ferrous metals, base metals, and platinum. He also sits on several company boards including being the non-executive chairman of Harmony Gold, the 12th largest gold mining company in the world, and is the deputy chairman of Sanlam.

In 2012, Motsepe was named South Africa’s richest man, topping the Sunday Times’ annual Rich List with an estimated fortune of R20.07bn ($2.4bn).

He has pledged $1 million to help combat Ebola in West Africa. The mining magnate is also the first African in 2013 to sign the Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, in which he promised to give at least half his fortune to charity.

Married to Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsep, Patrice Motsepe has become the top notch he has always wanted to be from the dregs of Soweto to a billionaire mining giant.

Today he’s the biggest single shareholder of the world’s fifth-largest gold mining company. His firm, African Rainbow Minerals, controls 19.8 per cent of Harmony. His family trust owns 43.1 per cent of ARM. Motsepe also has a stake in Sanlam, a listed financial services firm.

Patrice Motsepe and his wife, Dr. Precious MoloiMotsepe recently purchased a sprawling luxury retreat in the super prestigious residential suburb of Bishopscourt in Cape Town for a record price of 68m Rands about $6m.

Nestled against the backdrop of Table Mountain, the luxury estate reportedly includes a main bedroom suite with ‘his and hers’ dressing rooms and bathrooms coupled with a separate lounge with a fireplace; there are five additional en-suite bedrooms with dressing rooms and all the rooms in the main house lead to a terrace / balcony with spectacular views of the surrounding terrain. The upscale Bishopscourt home which has a lift between floors, also features an opulent lounge, a formal 24-seat dining room with a spacious open floor plan gourmet kitchen with separate scullery; a cigar lounge, a climate-controlled wine cellar; state-of-the-art theater, a music room, a billiard room, a gym and a 10-bay garage with a separate bay to have cars washed. Sitting atop 12 000 square meters of land, the baronial-style mansion also

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

has a flood-lit tennis court, pavilion, swimming pool with a multi-million rand landscaped garden that consists of “predominantly” indigenous flora. Additionally, there is a house for an estate manager; the property requires approximately R30,000-a-month for upkeep and maintenance.

“I think Mr. Motsepe wished to purchase this property as it is extraordinary and designed and built to the highest quality finishes,” said McFarlane. According to the brochure provided by Seeff Property Services, in addition to the spectacular views from the Table Mountain skyline, the world-famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and Constantia Wine Valley are just down the road from the Bishopscourt mansion.

Motsepe’s upscale Bishopscourt mansion is just one on a growing list of super-luxury homes in Cape Town owned by a number of foreign buyers from the United Kingdom, Germany and the U.S, celebrities, industry captains and according to McFarlane, “late President Mandela also owns a property in this prestigious area.” South Africa’s as well as the continent’s growing influential and super-rich have also been buying up luxury homes record numbers within the region in recent years.

Ranked as the 4th richest South African and 14th richest African by FORBES, the 52-year-old billionaire founded and chairs African Rainbow Minerals, a leading publicly traded diversified mining and minerals firm in South Africa. Motsepe who maintains primary residence in Bryanston, an upper class, wealthy residential suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, is also the owner of the Premier Soccer League club Mamelodi Sundowns.

One of Motsepe’s sisters, Bridgette Radebe, who’s married to transport minister Jeffrey Radebe, heads a mining company and is said to be among the wealthiest black women in the in South Africa.

In 2002 when it was listed on the JSE Security Exchange, African Rainbow Minerals joined with Harmony Gold Mining Limited. and the company’s name changed to ARMgold. Motsepe is also the founder of African Rainbow Minerals Platinum (Proprietary) Limited and ARM Consortium Limited, which later equally split ownership with Anglo American Platinum Corp Ltd. From Since 2004, he has been a non-executive director of Absa Group. In

‘

My dad said one day,We make so much money when you’re behind the counter you should take over the business when you grow up. But it was hard work, from 6am to 8pm.

I soon realised I needed to choose a career that would keep me away from that shop

‘

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

2005, Motsepe was Chairman of Teal Exploration and Mining Incorporated. Motsepe is also chairman of UbuntuBotho Investments, Non-Executive chairman of Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd. and deputy Chairman of Sanlam Ltd. Motsepe has been president of South Africa’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Motsepe founded Business Unity South Africa, BUSA, the first non-racial, united and recognized business organization in South Africa and serves as its President.

He was employed for approximately 4 years by McGuire Woods LLP, a law firm in Richmond, Virginia, USA. In 1994, he founded Future Mining (Proprietary) Ltd., which grew rapidly to become a competitive contract mining company. Since 1990, he has been a Member of the Council of NAFCOC, and in 2002 President of NAFCOC. He served as a Non-Executive He has also been a Member of NED-

LAC, which is South Africa’s primary institution for social dialogue between organized business, government, labour and community on issues of social and economic policy, since 1994. He was voted Sunday Times South Africa’s Business Leader for 2002, and also voted South Africa’s best entrepreneur for 2002. In the same year, he was voted by the Chief Executive Officer’s of the top 100 companies in South Africa as South Africa’s Business Leader of the year.

From 1991 to 1992, he was a visiting attorney with McGuire Woods Battle and Boothe under an American Bar Association programme. He serves as President of Chamber of Commerce and Industry South Africa. He served as Senior Vice President of the Chamber of Mines and is a Global Leader of Tomorrow of the World Economic Forum, WEF. Motsepe began his business career as a child when he would wake early to help

A11 27

his entrepreneurial father by selling liquor to mine workers at his father’s shop. “I must have been about eight when my dad said one day,We make so much money when you’re behind the counter you should take over the business when you grow up. But it was hard work, from 6am to 8pm. I soon realised I needed to choose a career that would keep me away from that shop!

That’s how I came to decide when I was only eight years that I’d become a lawyer.”He went on to earn a BA from Swaziland University and a LLB from Wits University.

He is married to Dr. Precious Moloi Motsepe with 3 children. Motsepe’s father named him Patrice after Patrice Lumumba, an African independence leader and the first Prime Minister of the Democractic Republic of Congo.

Harmony Gold Mining Company specializes in turning old digs into new digs.

Harmony is South Africa’s largest gold miner, after acquiring ARMgold in 2003, and the sixth largest in the world.

The company buys mature gold mines with lagging production and turns them into low-cost, high-productivity mines. It had 2003 revenues of $1.2 billion and has 50,718 employees. Between 20042005, he was former NonExecutive Director, Barclays Africa Group Limited; Deputy Chairman, Member of Committee of Non-Executive Directors, Member of Nominations Committee and Member of Human Resources & Remuneration Committee. BC

A12 28

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

ThebuddingEntrepreneurs

The budget

watchdog The quest to make profit propels the establishment of most companies, but for Oluseun David Onigbinde, the quest to ensure prudence, accountability and optimization of available resources by the government remains the motivation that led him into his own brand of entrepreneurship.

Oningbinde’s specialization is budget analysis and this he has done with some level of perfection, earning him the sobriquet “budget watchdog”

By Tayo Elebiju

M

artin Luther King Junior had a dream that one day the black Americans will be treated as equal with other Americans; a period where they wouldn’t be discriminated against or judged by the colours of their skin. The dream, many argued, was fulfilled when the present President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama became president.

Similarly, John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy also charged the citizens to think of what they can do for the country and not what the country can do for them. However, that is a submission, many in Nigeria will fault.

For many, it is not only a search of what the country can do for them but what they can milk from the country in the name of sharing the national cake.

However, a young entrepreneur, Oluseun Onigbinde, had a dream of ensuring transparency and accountability in government through the effective use of available resources to meet the basic needs of the citizens and minimize wastage. He also saw the need to educate and inform the citizen about the country’s budget and how it affects every member of the society.

This led him to the establishment of BudgIT, a company dedicated to the analysis of budget through creative use of government data by either presenting them in simple tweets, interactive format or infographic displays. Onigbinde believes that equality and open access to governance is entrenched in democracy and its institutions and as such, budgetary information as a vital asset needs to be understandable and accessible to all Nigerians.

BudgIT offers mobile and on-

line solution to trigger discussions around the budget and take the budget beyond a news item to a focal point of debate among Nigerians. The company believes that in a democracy, every citizen has the right to know how his/her taxes are expended in the delivery of public infrastructure and services in order to enhance accountability and transparency in government expenditure.

“The whole idea is to make government more accountable, responsive, and transparent and provide efficient services for people. The budget of a country speaks volume of what the direction government activities will take. It is a guide to the income and expenditure of the government and by extension, the country because for every spending of government, there is an appropriation for it in the budget,” he said.

According to him, “When I began this, I also discovered that most citizens don’t have knowledge of the budget. So if you don’t have knowledge about how government spends money or plans policy, you will just be complaining that government has failed to do this or that in your areas but unknowingly to you, those things are not budgeted for by government. So the whole idea is about budget communication and budget understanding,” Oningbinde disclosed to Business Courage.

He argued that the ignorance of the populace about budget is affecting the public perception of governance as most Nigerians are unaware of the activities of the tiers and arms of government; and which of the tiers or arms is to handle a particular project, thus making it difficult for the electorates to demand dividends of democracy from

Onigbinde

their leaders right from the grassroots level to the national level. And in order to pass the message across to the populace, putting into consideration the illiteracy level in the country, BudgIT uses common ICT tools which include the web, phones, sms, cartoons, printed text among others.

Starting the business like every other one, had its challenges, especially with the fact that

BudgIT started as a non-profit business set-up but the money was not the major challenge.

The idea of BudgIT was appreciated by a local organisation, CoCreation Hub, which financed it with 5, 000 pounds at the initial stage. However, the real challenge was getting data as Onigbinde argued; most government institutions are always unwilling to release data or information that will help in analysing the

budget effectively.

Coupled with this, is the apathy from the citizenry who are of the opinion that having a comprehensive knowledge of government’s spending is of little benefit to them. Most citizens, he said, care little about government budget or how it affects them. He submitted that most often, media releases of the Nigerian budget only have the macro figures as the finer details that trickle down to the citizens such as neighbourhood projects are not fully explained, stressing that the maze of millions and billions in the “thick” budget documents tend to confuse and it is difficult to put in clear context, how public funds are actually spent.

The graduate of Electrical/ Electronic Engineering also believed the company needs more money to help it spread its message, though, he acknowledged that he is getting international sponsorship and support from individual who are more than happy to see Nigerians get involved in the way their resources are spent.

Recalling how his journey to BudgIT started, the 2012 Ashoka Fellow, who spent three and half years in an old generation bank told Business Courage that he was in his office ruminating about what he can do to make a difference. “Then, an idea that I can do something about the budget of the country kept flicking through my mind. So, I made little research to see if someone was doing something like it and discovered that there was only one person in Finland doing

Management Principles

Best practices for family businesses

D

ebt managing, cash handling, and long-term planning are three problem areas all family-business leaders can improve by revamping operations Most articles and books written about family businesses have focused on the various thorny problems and emotional entanglements that come from working with family members. Less focus has been placed on the unique business challenges that stem from the fact that most family businesses are relatively small or medium-sized and do not always have the best possible operating practices in place.

In fact, most of the operating practices a typical family business uses come from inherited wisdom, the school of hard knocks, and from textbook business principles that do not always take small business realities into account. But most of the challenges family business owners and managers face stem from the fact that ownership is highly concentrated, and usually in the hands of the people who are running the business. These leaders tend to operate in relative isolation and do not often receive independent input.

However, if family-business leaders could step back from the day-to-day of running the business and look behind the scenes, various problematic business areas would emerge that need to be addressed with a set of best practices. And those family businesses that employ best practices are often the ones that survive and thrive.

This column offers three best practices for problem areas unique to small family businesses.

Creating a debt management system: This important best practice relates to a family’s attitude toward debt. Most accepted principles about debt come from the people who are trying to sell money, and they may not have the business’s best interests in mind. These principles focus mostly on securitization and not as much on ability to repay. But debt is one of the few things that can kill a business and this fact needs to be acknowledged.

Bottom line: A system must be set in place to ensure debt is managed effectively.

Managing cash: In a small business, the manner in which cash is used is a potential lightning rod of conflict for family members. That’s because most financial reporting systems are not formatted

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

A13 29

ThebuddingEntrepreneurs something similar. I conceptualize the idea and got the right support and mentoring from Co-creation hub. So, I am just like a steward and if I fail to do it, someone else will. I believe I am making my little contribution in my own way.”

Although Onigbinde got the support of his father and Co-creation hub at the start, but the journey was tough, especially with an apprehensive mother who felt he was biting too much at an early age. His mother felt that he should spend more time in the bank, earn more money rather than jump into an uncertain future at the early stage of his life- to her; it was an expression of a dream too early.

“My father was supportive while my mother was apprehensive.

She felt it might be too hasty and I should take my time before quitting the banking job but after few months, she understood it. When I left it was tough but it was courage and the support I had from people

that got me going. But with time, I realised that I was not making more money in the bank and more so with more money come more responsibilities. Throughout my stay in the bank, I was not promoted, so I needed to do something that brings happiness and fulfillment,” he said.

Onigbinde believes that happiness matters in whatever one chose to do in life and the need to stand out from the crowd and do something different, which he labeled being “a drop-out”. “At some point in life, you need to be a drop-out; not that you leave school but chose a unique path different from the crowd. You need to find your clear path in life, otherwise, you will continue to be in the crowd- doing what everybody is doing with little or no fulfillment at all,” he added.

A winner of The Future Awards as well as the Nigeria Internet Group Prize for social entrepreneurship, Onigbinde argued that

Onigbinde (standing) with the BudgIT team at work

to highlight what happens to cash in the course of operating the business. It is fairly common for family-business owners to reach the end of the year and have substantial earnings but no cash, having lost track of the cumulative effect of decisions made about cash throughout the year.

Also, some owners are not sufficiently educated on the differences between expenses, cash outlays, accruals, balance sheet changes, capital expenditures, principal payments, and other aspects of accounting.

Bottom line: Family-business leaders should place a high priority on cash management and ensure the company has a positive cash flow after all its obligations are met. They should take any largerthan-usual distributions out of the company after all the cash needs of the business and tax obligations have been satisfied. No one should ever borrow money to pay distributions to family members.

Long-term planning: Having a smart business plan provides great benefit to the family in terms of communicating direction and establishing expectations. It is also good for the business to align resources and provide a foundation for delegating authority and responsibility. The business plan does not have to be as elaborate as one might find in larger enterprises. It should spell out long- and short-term strategy. It should contain a multiyear financial forecast including a balance sheet, a profit-and-loss statement, a capital-expenditure plan, and a cash-flow forecast.

If possible, the financial forecast should break down the overall business into its various lines and establish a net-before-tax number for each. This will put the spotlight on aspects of the business that are doing well vs. those that are not.

Bottom line: Once developed, the plan should be communicated to everyone and reviewed monthly. It should clearly answer these questions: Where are we going? What’s expected of me? How does my contribution fit into the overall strategy?

As noted earlier, most family-business owners operate in relative isolation and employ practices that are often based upon information that may not be relevant. Adapting these operating practices into best practices will contribute significantly to a family business’s long-term business success. BC

until one chose a definite path, it will be difficult to succeed as an entrepreneur, stressing that there is a lot of competition in almost every human endeavour. He submitted that gone are the days that being a graduate was a big deal but today, with the number of graduates annually, it will take an extra skill to get job for those seeking employment while it will also take the same extra to make a difference and stand out as an entrepreneur.

“The space for employment in the country is very small because there are limited jobs. You are a graduate, so what? Nobody will give you a job because you are a graduate but because you have an additional skill that will aid the development of the organisation or company. So you need to find something different to do or something trending that will give you the edge over your peers,” he said.

He recalled that it took him over three months in search of an infographist to work with but could not find one, until recently when he got someone that can be managed for the position. “This is something that has being trending for like five years plus now and very few have acquired the skill. And you also need to be sincere with yourself, what if the job does not come, what are you going to do? You cannot afford to waste your years in higher institution of learning by looking for job; you can simply create your little space and maximize it,” he said.

He counseled on the need to stay focus on a particular idea, especially for young entrepreneur, noting that doing ten things or pursuing ten ideas at a single time makes one end up doing little or nothing at all. He added that the ability to master an idea or skill makes one an authority in it.

“There is the need to have passion for what you are doing and stay focus on it. More than ten ideas do cross my mind on a daily basis but I have chosen this. When you dedicate yourself to a particular idea and skill, you earn excellence in it, thus opening doors for you because nobody wants to associate with a shabby job,” he added.

Well, in less than two years, BudgIT has opened doors for him as he has been able to take his message to the government through the Minister for Information and Communications Technology, Omobola Johnson and her counterpart in the ministry of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, though, he acknowledged that it will take time to effect changes to the bureaucratic nature of governance in the country. He has also been able to lecture close to one hundred thousand Nigerians and Non-Nigerians about the performance of the Nigeria budget.

However, BudgIT is not all about government alone. He also consults for organisations and companies in analysing their budgets and mining data just as he was doing during his days in the bank. BC

Personal Finance Personal loans: to lend or not to lend?

L

ending and borrowing money from a bank follows procedural guidelines that have evolved over centuries. Personal lending, that is making or taking loans with friends and family, has been going on for just as long, but firm guidelines haven’t developed because each circumstance is unique. There is, however, a way to make family loans safer and more secure for all parties involved.

Always remember the time value of money, which states that money available at the present time is worth more than the same amount in the future due to its potential earning capacity.

This core principle of finance holds that, provided money can earn interest, any amount of money is worth more the sooner it is received.

Everyone knows that money deposited in a savings account will earn interest. Because of this universal fact, we would prefer to receive money today rather than the same amount in the future.

Reasons Against Personal Loans There are strong reasons against giving a personal Loan Definition | Investopedia to family or friends. The biggest has to do with your own personal finances. Most people aren’t really liquid enough to lose that money, and by assuming that all the money loaned will be lost, you’ll quickly realize what size of loan you can reasonably make.

If you’re dipping into a retirement account, emergency fund or other necessary fund to make the loan, it’s not a loan you should be making.

Family strife, tax problems and complacency - especially complacency - are some of the other things to worry about. If your family or friends come to you for loans simply because you lend at a low (or no) rate, you are hurting your own finances to subsidise theirs.

The Difference Between a Loan and a Gift The reasons against personal loans often evaporate in the face of emotional considerations, when one of your loved ones “needs the money.”

In this case, you have to make a clear distinction between a gift and a loan. A gift has no expectation of repayment; a loan should be paid back in full, including any interest, and must be written down.

Ask questions Before you give them the keys to the safety deposit box, however, you’re entitled to ask some questions: What is the money for?

Regardless of whether the loan is large or small, you have a right to know how it will be used. If the reason doesn’t sit well with you, point your prospective debtor to the nearest bank.

How long will it take to pay back?

If the loan is a bridge loan to the next paycheck, you may feel comfortable with a zero-interest, no terms handshake. If the loan is of a significant size or will take more than a month to pay off, get it in writing. Memories of the original agreement usually fade over time, so you will need documentation. BC

A14 30

Business Courage

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Monday, February 9, 2015

ThebuddingEntrepreneurs

Lead to improve common heartbeats BUSINESS KLINIC

With Mamora Victor Mamora is a system thinker and advisor whose belief and activator leadership strengths are directed towards improving workers perspective for city and enterprise development.

e-mail: olusegunmamora@gmail.com

Christian centre, Lagos south west Nigeria, which organisation direction is raising role model in the society. The leadership effort is simply to help align people experience to his or her common heartbeats, which are to live purposefully, succeed, and become role model in the society. In the last twenty years, Daystar has improved on helping many workers and volunteers experience their heartbeat for success in businesses and fulfillment in their private lives.

Business leader should realise that her private heartbeat to achieve business success is dependent on how she cares about the heartbeats of an average employee in her organisation. What really are the heartbeats or the driving impulse of an average worker that business leader need to improve on?

This is important because common heartbeat is simply the unifying force of both entrepreneur and his team members.

First: Improve on workers heartbeat for career focus Upward mobile people working in any organisation are quick to resign their posi-

T

tion the moment the business managers threaten their career focus. Recently, I read on one of the globally recognised recruitment portal the feedback of employees of one of Nigeria top five banks on how their career focus is being threatened by distractive activities. They claimed that being involved in distractive activities and using such as basis for their promotion against their professional skill for which they have been employed is eroding their confidence in the bank. The implication of this is that the commitment to creativity on core responsibility will wane. Rather than commit to the business objective they will be committed to activities for their exit. In the end, the strategy that does not recognise this vital impulse of the working team, which is career focus, is not sustainable.

Second: Improve on workers heartbeat for fulfillment Why do a lot of young people flock into faith base organisations to volunteer their time, skill, and spend personal money to achieve these organisations objective? The simple

‘

In the business environment where the leader synchronises the heartbeat of workers towards personal, products and services improvement then, corporate success is inevitable

‘

“B

ecome wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces”-King Solomon of Israel Dear entrepreneur, if your business is falling apart faster than your ability to stabilise it, then review your sources of your advice for your business decisions. You need to flow with people whose heartbeats for improvement is moving them in the direction of both personal and business success. When the heartbeat of an entrepreneur is not tending towards consistent improvement, then it becomes very difficult to synchronize the heartbeat of workers for the corporate improvement. Such a business leader will be preoccupied with dissonance activities rather than resonating the mind of the workers towards the corporate success.

One study, in the United States, showed that even when a pair of strangers had never met before and did not talk, they would liked each other more if both simply walked in the same direction together rather than in different direction. In the same way, when a business leader is able to influence workers to move in a common business direction, then it creates a common heartbeat to achieve the business objective.

Another study discovered that married couples that commute in the same direction rather than different direction are more satisfied with their relationships.

In the business environment where the leader synchronises the heartbeat of workers towards personal, products and services improvement then, corporate success is inevitable.

The responsibility of business leader, among others, is to identify and improve on common heartbeat of the workers in the enterprise. A leader must be able to ask question such as “What are my work team members common driving impulse?”

What is the workers common heartbeat that when satisfied will influence them to put in more energy into corporate business direction?”

Direction is important to success in life and business.

It means path on which both intrinsic and physical energy is focus to achieve success. A business leader’s responsibility is to recognise these sources of motivation and a common heartbeat among the workers.

An example is Daystar star

answer, among others is that, it connects with their heartbeats fulfillment. They see themselves being involved in work that transform human lives, improve community and put smile on people’s faces as just satisfactory.

As business a leader, you must recognise the fact that many of these young volunteers in the faith based organisations working with your enterprise still hold this belief and have the heartbeats to touch lives through products and services; through your profits and wealth building businesses. A smart business leader would be doing himself a lot of goods by leveraging on this belief system.

This strategy is what many entrepreneurs, such as Bill Gate, have adopted to connect with the heartbeats of their employees. The workers generate the wealth in Microsoft Corporation

Motivational Business Quotes

he competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time. – Henry Ford The good or ill of a man lies within his own will. – Epictetus I have known not a few men who, after reaching the summits of business success, found themselves miserable on attaining retirement age. They were so exclusively engrossed in their day to day affairs that they had no time for friend making. – B.C. Forbes The cynic says, “One man can’t do anything”. I say, “Only one man can do anything.”

- John W. Gardner I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity. – Oprah Winfrey

If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example. – Ingvar Kamprad Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations.

– Steve Jobs You’ve got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It’s called perseverance. – Lee Iacocca The desire of knowledge, like the thirst for riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it.

– Laurence Sterne Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were.

– David Rockefeller BC

that is touching lives of poor in many parts of the world via the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation. The workers know this and are proud of it.

As business leader, it is important to communicate the value and importance of your business services and products to your environment and to the consumers. You should also let the workers know they are making great things happen for the people every day they come to work.

Third: Improve on workers heartbeat for reward and career development My advice for entrepreneur is that, rather than give out high salary figures, they should show- case career development programs. People who do not embrace career development opportunity, as they will for salary, hold very little relevance to an enterprise. The reason is that, most professional skill improves every 24 hours, hence the need for continuous improvement in knowledge of one’s profession; knowledge keeps one relevant in the work place.

LinkedIn, a professional website with largest presence of professionals in the world provide platform for many professionals to compare and mirror their professional progression.

Many workers are being wooed into organisations where workers are better rewarded and career development is provided.

As a business leader, if you will retain your best talent,then you need to impress upon them that you recognise and intend to meet their heartbeat for career development and reward their contribution to the enterprise.

When you constantly improve on this, then your organisation’s image will consistently attract good talent.

Lastly, dear friend, my encouragement is for you to tap into the common heartbeat of workers who make things happen for your business and leverage on it to motivate them into unleashing their creative powers for your organisation’s benefit. Everywhere in the world, the desire to maintain focus, make progress in career, find fulfillment in life and get rewarded for effort are common heartbeats of workers. This simply means you must improve your leadership skills to recognise these facts and make sense of them. You are doing great work as business leader already but you can always improve. Cheer up! BC

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

A15 31

How cloud reduces IT costs In order to cut cost to the bottom line and improve operational efficiency, moving to the cloud has been identified as the best option for most businesses

By Adejuwon Osunnuyi

W

hile small businesses today are looking for ways to improve productivity and collaboration while reducing IT costs, however, it has been observed that many lack the time and resources to obtain the technologies the world’s leading businesses use every day.

However, according to experts, cutting bottom-line costs to the business along with making operations run as efficiently and effectively have been observed as one of the possible first steps towards shoring up defences.

In these tough economic times, if any company is asked if they could save money a year per employee, it has been noted that most likely they would jump at the chance.

However, Information technology, simply know as IT has been identified as a big upfront cost while having to manage it on a daily basis could increase spending and distract business managers even further from their core focus - making money.

But the good news is that the business approach to IT is being redefined by the Internet. Email, documents, calendars and other business communication tools are increasingly being delivered and hosted online via a trend known as ‘cloud computing’.

To many, cloud computing is here to stay. The shift to the cloud is being driven by ubiquitous web access and speedy networks as well as attractive service tariffs that appeal to both large and small organisations.

While this is just the starting point, however, Cloud opens up new opportunities, new ways of working and new business models.

Cloud computing is a simple concept: applications and data are delivered over the Internet via a third party. It’s a transformational, disruptive technology which is having a big impact on the way the world of IT works and the way businesses run IT. Cloud computing has many key benefits, but two stand out –

firstly, cost savings. Once you’re hooked up to the web, the cost of buying licenses, purchasing servers and maintaining them is reduced because it’s possible to effectively ‘rent’ business applications from a third party.

From a budget perspective, it has been observed that it brings predictable costs for IT and dramatically reduces spending on traditional desktop software.

Secondly, there are productivity gains to be made from running your business via the cloud.

Key to this is the shift towards a more collaborative way of working. While we need to share information and work with others to get things done, the Internet allows you to do this in a way that hasn’t been possible before.

With the cloud computing, a business owner in Lagos could chat with one of his managers working from Abuja as they work on the same spreadsheet at the same time. Also, an onthe-road sales team can meet on a single document in the cloud to plan the next quarter’s budget. Getting access to information instantly, from wherever you might be, on whatever device you need it is crucial. After all, the geographical and mobile nature of business doesn’t change just because credit is harder to come by.

While some business owners could be hesitant to transfer their entire IT infrastructure to the cloud: hosting their data with a web-based provider can represent a shift in thinking about control and security of data, however, it is important to remember that the business of the key cloud computing providers who host the data depends

Alarape

on offering a secure environment for it. They invest more time and money in protecting their customers’ data than any small organisation could possibly afford; in fact, it is one of the most important factors considered when developing new products that handle personal and business data.

With Microsoft Office 365, which brings together Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Lync in an always-up-to-date cloud service, changes seem to have evolved.

Today, over five million businesses are currently using the Google Apps productivity suite which provides online email,

instant messaging, documents, video and much more. Many of these companies are businesses who have seen that this model makes economic and business sense, making them save time and money and improve how they work together securely as they look more agile, flexible, competitive and innovative.

Google Apps offers simple, powerful communication and collaboration tools for any business - all hosted by Google to streamline setup, minimise maintenance, and reduce IT costs. “You’ll save costs by avoiding additional hardware or software and Apps is built with the latest technology to secure your data.” An expert who works

with Microsoft noted.

With Google Apps for Business, one can focus on innovation, productivity and strategic IT thus making sharing of information and collaborating realtime innovative.

Organisations that have adopted Cloud computing claim to have cut their IT costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Those savings are one of the main attractions of Cloud and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), as they enable organisations to shift their IT capital expenditure (capex) to operational spend (opex). This is due to SaaS services, rather than end users, being responsible for owning, managing and maintaining the hardware, software and licences, and employing the required IT expertise.

One business that has seen impressive cost savings from Cloud computing is Jaguar Land Rover. According to Jeremy Vincent, CIO at Jaguar, “We switched our entire global organisation of over 15,000 users to Google’s Gmail, Calendar and Contacts in one weekend in December 2010, saving around £1.75 million in total one-off migration costs as we separated from our former parent company.”

“Now almost five years in, we have a truly enterprise-wide common critical business application which is delivering benefits continuously, especially as we turn on more Google applications and as Google continuously improves its product set.”

Another cloud adopter is Imagination, a UK marketing and communications agency that began the deployment of Google Apps in February 2010, completing the first phase of the migration in just six weeks.

Matt Ballantine, Imagination’s CIO, says, “We estimate that by moving to the cloud we will save £410,000 in IT support costs over three years and this figure increases to £3 million if we include the cost of software licences, consultancy and additional staff.”

Imagination employs over 450 people, with 14 permanent offices across the world, and numerous temporary offices springing up to accommodate large projects. Wanting the flexibility that SaaS offers, it investigated the various cloud-based services available, including those from Microsoft and IBM, before choosing Google Apps for Business.

Google itself has produced an online cost calculator which is available at www.gonegoogle. com to help prospective cloud users calculate the potential Continued on pg A16

A16 32

Business Courage

cost savings from moving to the cloud.

Implementations such as these show that Cloud applications are suitable for a wide spectrum of end users with different roles and levels within the organisation. A growing number of organisations are replacing their desktop-based office productivity tools, such as word processing, presentation and email, with web-based SaaS versions of them.

According to analyst firm Radicati Group, Google Gmail mailboxes are predicted to grow from 236 million by year-end 2015 to 453 million in 2017, which indicate the appetite that businesses have for Cloud service adoption.

In addition, the Internetbased nature of these applications facilitates collaboration on documents, shared calendars and online communication.

Some IT users have opted for a blended approach of web-based and traditional desktop applications, with many enterprise software suppliers including Oracle and SAP creating SaaS versions of their business products.

It is also becoming easier to blend enhanced office productivity apps for some workers with basic email for others because SaaS services can be adopted and scaled up quickly, giving certain functionality to some users and not to others.

In theory, Cloud providers can provide many of the business tools and templates that exist in a lot of organisations, introducing more and more functionality over time. The level of functionality varies depending on the services firm and its applications, withfor example some SaaS providers offering more sophisticated editing or collaboration features than others.

However, in terms of compatibility between different suppliers’ office applications, the systems are looking very promising. For example, Google Docs supports Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel files, StarOffice documents, OpenDocument Text and Spreadsheet formats, Rich Text Format, Comma Separated Value files and text files.

According to a recent report, though Nigerian businesses still lag behind, with only 36 per cent of them currently using the Cloud, 44 per cent of Nigerian businesses say they will embrace the Cloud in this year.

The report of a study conducted by World Wide Worx and Cisco shows that the total of businesses using country in Nigeria will increase to 80 per cent by the end of 2016 indicating considerable investment in cloud within the year.

Commenting on the trend, Oluyomi Alarape, datacenter solutions manager, Microsoft West Africa Limited, highlighted that the economy of scale inherent in Cloud Computing drives the IT industry, in particular, to contribute national development,

Monday, February 9, 2015

Technotalk

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

with Esther Ozue (ozueesther@nationalmirroronline.net) 08059234648 (sms only)

Managing your blog/website using the wordpress app on your iphone/ipad

O Vincent

employment generation, and reduction in cost of doing business.

According to him, companies presently spend 45 per cent of their IT budgets on hardware and software solutions, 25 per cent on facilitates, 15 per cent on operations and the remaining 15 per cent on power generation. “These can be reduced up to 30 per cent, 35 per cent, 70 per cent and 90 per cent respectively via the processes of virtualization and Cloud Computing,” he said.

Alarape advised companies to be weary of the traditional systems of data storage and management which do not only occupy scarce spaces but drain companies’ purses.

Meanwhile, key among the findings include that the rapid adoption of Cloud Computing in Nigeria and other African countries can be found in the growing confidence that IT decision-makers have in the environment. Even where confidence is not high, distrust in Cloud has almost entirely disappeared.

Apparently, World Wide Worx and Cosco found that approximately 17 per cent of data center traffic will be fueled by end users accessing clouds for web surfing, video streaming, collaboration and connected devices, all of which contribute to the Internet of Everything, which is the networked connection of people, data, process and things.

The Cloud in Africa: Reality Check 2013 research study1 was conducted among a small but representative sample of senior information technology decision-makers in medium-sized and large companies.

The most significant finding from the study was that, while South Africa currently leads the continent in Cloud uptake, it is about to be overtaken, dramatically, by Nigeria. “Cloud computing is the next big step in

the evolution of computing and the Internet,” said David Meads, Cisco’s Vice President for Africa.

“The broadband revolution sweeping Africa and the continent’s reputation for innovation add up to tremendous appetite for services that will drive this evolution. Looking ahead, the Internet of Everything represents the largest online trend today. As more people, things and devices connect to the Internet in Africa, more data from more places will be introduced across corporate and service provider networks, which will open up new opportunities and increased demand for the Cloud.”

“The fact that no one is expressing doubt about the reliability of the Cloud means that the final pieces of the puzzle are falling into place,” said Arthur Goldstuck, managing director of World Wide Worx.

“People all over the world continue to demand the ability to access personal, business and entertainment content anywhere on any device, and each transaction in a virtualized, cloud environment can cause cascading effects on the network,” said Meads. “Because of this continuing trend, we are seeing huge increases in the amount of cloud traffic globally within, between and beyond data centers over the next four years.”

While a significant 44 per cent of Nigerian businesses are willing to embrace, only 24 per cent of organizations in Kenya and only 16 per cent in South Africa said they will be taking up Cloud.

The survey showed that 57 per cent of decision-makers across the three countries had high confidence in the security of the Cloud, while a further 34 per cent were neutral – meaning they would wait and see, but were not negatively disposed towards it. Only 1 in 10 respondents did not trust security in the Cloud. BC

nce a blog or website is published online using the word press software; creating and publishing new content, managing visitor comments, tracking traffic, promoting website/blog content, and other tasks can easily be handled from anywhere using the free word press app for the iphone/ipad.

With your iphone/ipad being able to be used to take and edit photos; shoot and edit video; record and edit audio; and manage facebook, twitter, google+, linkedIn, you-tube, and other online social networking accounts, also offers a powerful and very viable mobile blogging/ website management platform.

To find the wordpress app, launch the app store from your tablet and within the search field, enter the keyword wordpress, or visit this direct link. If your goal is to create content and handle basic blog or website management tasks from your iPad, the official wordpress app should meet your needs.

When you launch the official wordpress app for the first time, you have two options - create account or sign in. By signing in, you can use your ipad to add or edit content and manage the online presence on an ongoing basis.

Setting up a new blog or website using wordpress. com can be done within a few minutes. Hosting your own wordpress blog or website using the tools available from wordpress.org is a slightly more in-depth process but once the setup is done, managing the blog or website using any computer’s web browser, or your tablet (with a specialised app) is a straightforward process.

On the left side of the main wordpress app screen is the main menu. From there, you can explore the wordpress blogosphere using the app’s reader, read notifications and manage various aspects of your own blog/ website. For example, to create a new post from scratch, tap the add Post (plus sign shaped) icon displayed near the bottom of this listing and to edit an existing post, tap on the posts menu option. A list of previously published posts immediately displays within the main area of the ipad’s screen.

It is also possible to create a text-based entry using any other word processor on your tablet, such as pages, and then copy and paste the text into the wordpress app.

Inserting digital photos, video clips, audio clips, graphics, or other content can be done using one of the command icons displayed near the bottom-right corner of the new post screen. To preview your post before publishing it, tap the preview icon which allows you to access and edit details related to the post, such as its status, visibility, and post format. It is also possible to select a time/ date when a newly created post will be published.

Once an entry is created and formatted on your tablet, press the publish button to publish the content online within your blog or website. This process happens in a matter of seconds, depending on the speed of your Internet connection.

Another useful set of tools built into the wordpress app allows you to monitor real-time blog/website traffic by tapping on the status menu option. With this you will be able to determine how many people have viewed your blog in a particular day, week, or month, discover what countries your visitors are from, what content they viewed, and what search engine and keyword(s) were used to find your content.

If you have been thinking of becoming a blogger or want to manage a new website, the wordpress platform offers you several advantages by helping you to become a mobile blogger whereby you would be able to manage all aspects of your blog/website on the go using this specialised iphone/ipad app. BC

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

A17 33

Expert identifies six loses from poor customer service Stories by Adejuwon Osunnuyi

B

usinesses could suffer losses in six major areas from failures in customer service delivery, an expert has noted.

Ajay Bakshi, Vice President Customer Service of Airtel Networks Nigeria, who made this known at the 4th CEO Breakfast Forum of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Nigeria chapter, held in Lagos recently, said firms could suffer losses in the area of losing current customers, potential customers, future customers, employees, lose of profit and sales as well as lose of reputation.

According to him, customer service is at the heart of every business, the reason experts across the world have declared 2015 the Year of Customer Service.

Speaking on ‘Managing Customer Service Impact on Reputation and Bottomline’ at the IABC event, Bakshi

described customer service as not just a fad but also a critical business tool that could make or break a company.

Bakshi, a Six Sigma Black Belt in Quality Assurance, listed three building blocks for effective customer service delivery.

These, according to him, are finance, training and the working environment of the organisation.

According to him, companies must pay closer attention to employee engagement and retention as one wrong communication from an employee could cost companies dearly in lost customer goodwill.

Employees are critical pillars of customer service, he added, but noted the global decline in employee engagement.

“For me, the engaged employees are the most important because they are the frontline staff who interface with customers and thus bring in the profit.

So everything should be done to keep them happy; to make them understand the vision and mis-

Bakshi

sion of the company to be able to reflect that in their dealings with customers,” he stated.

The Airtel Customer Service Director, who leads a team of 140 associates to manage customer service interface for the Nigerian arm of the fourth largest telecommunications company in the world, called on customers- facing compa-

nies to pay equal attention to grooming and retaining “engaged employees” as they do to customers and buyers experience programmes.

Bakshi said that Airtel spends a minimum of six weeks to train new customer service and interface personnel.

“They learn what to say, but more importantly what not to say as wrong communication could turn customers off more easily.” He said.

IABC Nigeria chapter president, Chido Nwakanma said the association’s choice of the theme of reputation and the sales function fitted in with the election season in Nigeria.

Nwakanma observed, “A general election is above all a referendum on service delivery, a choice by the electorate of who would best deliver service.

Service is at the heart of the governance process. The social contract involved in elections and governance involves managing expectations on service delivery.”

He said that service is at the

heart of the definition of the 4Ps by customers as well as by the electorate. The 4Ps for customers are about Purpose, Performance, Price and Presentation.

IABC Nigeria, Nwakanma added, invited Bakshi as an expert to speak on the nexus between customer service delivery and reputation.

IABC Nigeria said communication and communicators have a major role to play for good or ill in the conversations around the 2015 Nigerian General Elections. The association said it would organise a Media Parley involving experts to do a post mortem of the role of communication in the elections after the general elections.

The IABC Breakfast Forum is a thought leadership platform that enables communication professionals and business leaders share ideas and interact to enhance leadership communication and stakeholder engagement. Airtel Nigeria sponsored the 4th CEO Breakfast Forum. BC

Intel to acquire Lantiq to broaden offering to other markets

I

ntel Corporation has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Lantiq, a leading supplier of broadband access and home networking technologies.

The transaction is expected to close in approximately 90 days.

The acquisition is expected to expand Intel’s success in the cable residential gateway market and broaden its offering to other gateway markets, including DSL, Fiber, LTE, retail and IoT smart routers.

Smart gateways and intelligent access networks are important elements in Intel’s efforts to make everything smart, connected and best with Intel.

Kirk Skaugen, Senior Vice President and General Man-

ager of Intel’s Client Computing Group stated, “By 2018, we expect more than 800 million broadband connected households worldwide; Intel has been a global leader in driving broadband into the home and to connected computer devices.

The combination of our cable gateway business with Lantiq’s technology and talent can allow global service providers to introduce new home computing experiences and enable consumers to take advantage of a more smart and connected home.”

The combined team would have a comprehensive range of connectivity solutions and home cloud technologies for OEMs, service providers and

companies innovating new applications for the home.

Together with Intel’s IoT solutions, Intel Security products and Intel-based client devices, Intel can deliver exciting new connected experiences for consumers.

Also speaking about the acquisition, Dan Artusi, Chief Executive Officer of Lantiq said, “Intel and Lantiq share a common vision about the evolution of the connected home and the intelligent network,” said. “Together we can drive the transformation of the broadband customer premises equipment (CPE) as it becomes a smart gateway that connects an increasingly diverse roster

of devices and services in the home.”

Lantiq is based in Munich, Germany, and is a leader in state-of-the-art broadband access technology. More than 100 global operators have deployed Lantiq’s DSL solutions.

Lantiq has over 2000 patents related to broadband communications and offers technologies including xDSL solutions with vectoring and G.Fast; fiber-based technologies such as Fiber to the Distribution Point (FTTdp) and GPON; comprehensive gateway home networking and DSLTE systems; ultra-efficient network processors; and comprehensive Ethernet and voice solutions. BC

skaugen

ChamsMobile partners Skye Bank on Virtual Visa Card In Nigeria

Ashaye

C

hamsMobile and Skye Bank Plc have signed an agreement to launch

a Virtual Visa Card in Nigeria – an entirely digital payment card for online and mobile use.

Virtual Visa Card programs have had great success in Asia and Europe, and this new program will expand financial inclusion to millions of Nigerians.

The new Virtual Visa Card will be available in March from ChamsMobile & Skye Bank.

Gavin Young, deputy managing director, ChamsMobile, said that he was excited to partner with Skye Bank on the new virtual payment solution, which was developed with the company’s international joint venture partners Bancore and Global Technology Partners (GTP).

According to Young, with the Virtual Visa Card offering

on mobile phones, millions of Nigerians will have access to payments and make purchases, along with a range of other services, by using a Visa card from their phone & other electronic devices, with the benefit of access to the global digital economy.

“E-commerce savvy users can shop securely online and those without a formal banking relationship will suddenly have the means to make their money work for them and move towards financial inclusion,” he said.

Also speaking, Akinwale Ojo, head, E-Channels, Skye Bank Plc, said, “the bank chose to work with ChamsMobile, and its card processing partner GTP, based on careful

consideration of the benefits all parties could bring to the table and in consideration of how the bank could best serve the millions of Nigerians with this product, and particularly those who may be financially excluded, requiring a low cost yet fully inclusive financial services offering.”

On his part, Ade Ashaye, country manager for Visa in West Africa stated: “Our strategy of bringing world class innovation to Africa continues to make shopping online and via traditional channels much more convenient. Visa’s Virtual Card will make a real change to the lives of Nigerians by helping them to safely access the digital economy and participate in ecommerce.”

ChamsMobile is a CBN licensed Mobile Money Operator who offers financial services and a safe and innovative ‘bank-like’ mobile platform experience, enabling any Nigerian to be financially included and to participate in the global economy.

Skye Bank PLC has evolved into one of the top financial institutions in Nigeria, after its very seamless consolidation exercise in 2006.

With a cumulative wealth of experience that spans over 50 years, Skye Bank is historically one of the oldest banks in Nigeria and West Africa.

Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. BC

A18 34

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Behind d Wheels This page is open to sponsorship

Autocare How to choose auto parts online

T

here are several advantages in buying auto parts online. Firstly, you get lot more choices in terms of price and quality. Secondly, the exact auto part that you are looking for may not be available in your local store, while there are many e-commerce stores to choose from that deal with the sale of auto parts. Finally, you would be spending lot of time travelling to get a component you need from a brick-and-mortar shop. This can be completely avoided when you shop online. Here are some tips for choosing auto parts online.

J

aguar launched its cheapest ever car, the first new model in a range designed to widen its appeal to women and younger drivers and take on bigger rivals such as BMW, Audi and MercedesBenz.

The 2016 Jaguar XE is the topend S model and comes with a 340-horsepower, supercharged V-6 engine, an eight-speed automatic transmission and rear-wheel-drive.

Jaguar said the XE sports sedan, to be priced at 27,000 pounds in Britain, would be the first model in the XE series. It is seeking to challenge a luxury car market long dominated by German cars such as the BMW 3 series, priced from 23,550 pounds in Britain, as well as Audi and Mercedes-Benz models.

Analysts believe that it’s hugely important for Jaguar to expand its lineup and compete across a wider span of the luxury segment and if anyone is going to get out there and change the landscape of this segment and really push the other guys, Jaguar was the one to do it.

Sales at Jaguar Land Rover rose 19 per cent last financial year, helped by demand from China, and it has been rewarded this year with 3.5 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) of investment.

Nick Miller, chief program engineer of the XE series, said the XE sports sedan would expand the reach of Jaguar, traditionally associated with older, wealthier men.

“We think the customers are y to be y g , earlier in likely younger, their life stage, they are more likely to have chil-

dren ... they are more likely to be female,” he said.

After years in the doldrums, Jaguar has enjoyed a new lease of life since it was bought by India’s Tata group in 2008, along with fellow British automaker Land Rover.

Miller added that Jaguar’s return to the entry-level luxury market, which it exited in 2009 after ending its X-type production, was possible through economies of scale and a purpose-built new frame using some recycled aluminum.

“Recycling does allow you to reduce the cost of the aluminum,” he said, with the metal to form 75 per cent of the car body’s surface area, the highest of any similar vehicle according to the company.

The XE sports sedan, a fivedoor model with a sleek design in red seen in photos released to the media, will be Jaguar’s most aerodynamic car thanks to a smooth underfloor that reduces drag and a rear end to increase downforce, the auto-maker said.

The car and subsequent models in the series to be detailed at the Paris motor show in October are part of a two billion pound investment program at Jaguar.

Sales were up 41 per cent in 2013, though they’re down slightly for 2014. Despite last year’s growth, Jaguar sells only a small fraction of the number of vehicles that Mercedes or BMW sell in the U.S. each year.

Moving into the compact car segment is essential for Jaguar to boost p sales and p profits. Small sports sedans are the larg-

est luxury segment in the U S sellU.S., ing around 670,000 units in 2013.

Higher volume models like the XE and an unnamed compact crossover due in 2016 will help Jaguar become a more approachable brand with a lower entry price point than it currently has. Automakers relish the idea of using entry-level models to pull in first-time buyers who, they hope, will then stay with the brand as their tastes and bank accounts mature.

“The XE is a natural extension for Jaguar and a way to really open up the brand to the next generation of buyers,” Gutierrez said.

The automaker could easily sell between 20,000 and 30,000 XE sedans a year, giving it a huge boost over the nearly 17,000 cars it sold in 2013.

Designers started with a clean sheet of paper when they set out to build the new XE. “In the past, our company never had a blank slate,” Curry said. “We had an awful lot filled in that you had to work around. This really is a no-compromises approach.”

The styling of the XE will look familiar to fans of Jaguar’s midsize XF sedan. Low-slung headlights give the face a scowl, while the long hood and short trunk lid lend it a coupe-like profile. Overall, Jaguar played it more conservative with the XE than some of its competitors.

“We don’t make cars that date too quickly,” Curry said. “This is not a Lexus IS with very aggressive details on it. Our car will have a more timeless look.” luxury comDespite room in the luxu new and pact sedan segment for a n unique player like Jaguar, the XE isn’t a guaranteed success success. If the demand isn’t up to J Jaguar’s and the expectations an automaker is automake forced to use heavy incentives to sell the XE, it could hurt autothe for maker years. BC

Know your vehicle’s model and make: Most automobiles have several variants, and each of these variants has auto components that are different. For example, even if make and model are the same between two cars, the different versions would mean that at least, a few components being used are different. It would be advisable to study the user manual well before embarking on any online purchase.

Knowledge of automotive terminologies: For a layperson, the various terms for auto components used may be confusing .It pays to clarify with an expert or using the internet, failing which the entire transaction may become a waste of time and money. Understanding the components of the automobile and the various roles that they play would be extremely useful to anyone interested in online shopping.

Unavailable parts: It is quite possible that some parts that you are looking for is not available in market early years of launching a vehicle’s launching. In that case, the only option is to look for a dealer who has these parts. Normally the components become available in the aftermarket once the automobile is on the road for a few years.

Specifications check: All automotive components have very clear specifications. In case you purchase a wrong component, which may be just a little different from your actual requirement, you are left with a big headache of replacing the same with the right one. In that case, you would have to be dependent on the returns policy of the particular website and also the waiting time could be significant.

Unbranded auto parts: Some components that can be purchased need not be from original auto parts manufacturers. These are also called generic parts and work with different automobiles.

When you are purchasing generic parts, do look out for elements like warranty and also the track record to ensure that you get the best value for your money.

Review and ratings: One thing that is a must while purchasing online is to search the internet for reviews and ratings of the online auto parts dealer. It would be preferable to find out how other customers have used the products and services of the online dealer and who have the same make and model as yours. This would give you a true sense if you are making a correct choice.

Automotive discussion forums: There are several automotive forums on the internet, comprising car lovers who can give a lot of useful tips and suggestions on car maintenance. It is also a great place to find out about the parts you want and where you can buy them at a competitive price BC

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

FMBN seeks N250bn recapitalisation for effective service delivery

A

lhaji Gimba Kumo, the Managing Director, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, FMBN, said the bank planned to recapitalise to a tune of N250bn over its current N5bn base.

Ya’u Kumo said this on Wednesday at a send off and welcoming party, organised by the FMBN, to bid farewell to the retired directors and to welcome the new ones on board.

He said the N250bn recapitalisation would be a 50-time increase on what it used to be, thereby giving the bank a large capacity to handle its challenges of lack of fund.

He said that this was necessary in the medium-term, to place the bank in a better stead to take on more mortgage requests and also explore more funding options. `` A lot of progress has been made towards the recapitalisation of the FMBN and very soon it would be concluded. ``What I have requested for is N250bn which I know will

leave the bank in a better position to mobilise long term funds for the housing sector as a whole. ``Discussions have been going on between the bank and the Federal Government, although there are a lot of competing needs like security, infrastructure, education, health. I know it would be granted.’’

He said that the current capitalisation wasgrossly inadequate for the level of financial responsibilities required to carry out its mandate with effectiveness.

He said that the exercise would put the bank at par with similar institutions of developing countries in worldwide.

He said that the Federal Government was serious about transforming the housing sector. ``I am hopeful that the recapitalisation of FMBN will be approved and the necessary capital will be injected into the

Kumo

bank.’’

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who was represented by Rev. Ugo Chime, an estate developer, urged the new directors of the FMBN to work hard to deliver on the mandate of the bank.

Ekweremadu urged them to encouraged the issue of affordable housing, to reduce the deficit to the barest minimum.

Chief Bisi Ogunjob, the Chairman of the FMBN, called on the staff to support the management, to build an institution that would serve the needs of housing in the country.

Ogunjobi said it was only a united FMBN that could work towards bridging the gap in the housing sector.

He commended the retired staff for their effort towards building the current FMBN while urging the new directors to improve the bar.

Responding on behalf of the retired directors, Mike Nwogu commended the FMBN for the initiative. ``I am very thankful for this event; this is indeed the first in the history of the bank to honor its staff; so it’s a new dawn in the history of the bank and we are happy.’’

He congratulated the new directors and urged them to continue the good work to make FMBN deliver on its mandate. BC

Skye Bank intensifies focus on retail, commercial banking

By Johnson Okanlawon

A

s Skye Bank Plc assumes the status of a mega bank following its acquisition of Mainstreet Bank Limited, it will place strong emphasis and focus on retail and commercial banking as a way of bringing about a healthy deposit mix to bring down its cost of funding.

The new business strategy will also allow the bank to reduce the volume of public sector deposit and term deposit at its disposal for enhanced profitability and business sustainability.

A statement from the bank quoted the Group Managing Director, Timothy Oguntayo, as saying that the acquisition

of Mainstreet Bank and the attendant synergies between the two institutions had given it the competitive edge in the industry.

According to him, the edge will allow it to deliver quality customer service and high returns to shareholders The bank boss said the acquisition had also provided the bank the opportunity to optimize cost, assuring that the bank would leverage its superior information technology to block leakage as well as pursuing aggressive expense control.

Specifically, he said the bank would continue to upgrade its information technology continually, while also promoting the usage of point of sales terminals and auto-

matic teller machines to serve its teeming customers.

Assuring of seamless integration, Oguntayo said the bank has put in place measures to grow its balance sheet as well as create value for its shareholders.

Similarly, the bank’s branch network is now 450 compared to 260 branches before the business combination with Mainstreet Bank.

Oguntayo also explained that the increased branch network would make access to the bank’s services easier as branches are now easily accessed.

He added that the bank’s combined automatic teller machines network is now 815 from 600 prior to the acquisition.

Nigerian interbank rates rise on CRR withdrawal

N

igerian interbank lending rates climbed 6.5 percentage points on Friday to 15.75 percent on average from 9.25 percent last week, after the central bank debited commercial lenders’ account to meet the banks’ cash reserves requirement (CRR) this week.

Traders said the central bank withdrew about 167bn

($861.7m) on Wednesday, draining liquidity.

Nigeria’s central bank requires commercial lenders to set aside 75 percent of public sector and 15 percent of public sector deposits in liquid cash in their account with it. The regulator debit banks accounts every months to enforce this requirement.

Banks’ cash balance with the central bank dropped to about 64.6bn on Friday, compared with N393bn last week.

“We see rates rising further next week due to anticipation of further liquidity drain from NNPC (the state-owned energy company) cash withdrawal and funding for bond sales,” one dealer said. BC

A19 35

Nigerian naira ends lower despite central bank intervention

N

aira ended weaker against the dollar on Wednesday despite the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, selling U.S. currency towards the close of trading to boost liquidity.

The bank has been intervening almost daily in the interbank market since the start of the year as liquidity is very low due to depressed foreign investment as Nigeria’s economy has been hit by plunging oil prices. That has sent the naira to record lows.

On Wednesday the bank intervened just minutes before the close of trade, sending dealers scrambling to buy dollars from the interbank market and getting different rates.

As a result, dealers quoted a closing range for the naira, of 190.10 to 192.40 to the dollar, rather than a single rate.

Dealers were quoting the naira at 192.30 to the dollar just before the intervention. On Tuesday it closed at 189.15.

The naira has remained under pressure as the price of oil, Nigeria’s main export has plunged. The currency has stayed well below a trading band of 160 to 176 to the dollar, set after the central bank devalued the naira by 8 percent in November. BC

Nigeria raises N192bn in treasury bills

N

Oguntayo

Oguntayo said the bank has strongly established its presence in the South South, South East and the North through the acquisition and promised the customers of better days ahead.

Currently, he said the customer base of the bigger bank stands at five million, while efforts are still on to increase the figure.

The doyen of the stockbrokers, Sam Ndata, commended Skye Bank over the acquisition of Mainstreet Bank and for informing the brokers of the developments in the bank.

He also lauded the transparency and openness of the bank which he said would help the market to take informed investment decisions. BC

igeria sold N192.39bn ($1bn) worth of treasury bills with maturities of between three months and one year at lower yields compared with its previous auction, the Debt Management Office said on Thursday.

It said yields on the 3-month tenor paper attracted 10.98 percent at an auction on Wednesday, 0.22 percentage points lower than 11.20 percent fetched at the last auction on Jan. 21.

The yield on the 6-month paper fell 0.29 percent to 13.9 percent against 14.19 percent at the previous auction, while the 1-year paper fetched 14.30 percent, 0.26 percentage point lower than 14.56 percent at the Jan. 21 auction.

Total subscription fell to N461.91bn compared with N611.2bn demanded by investors at the last auction. The DMO sold N45.17bn in the 3-month paper, N30bn in the 6-month note and N117.22bn in 1-year bills. BC

A20 36

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Nigeria loses N535.3m daily to pipeline vandalism, says NNPC

T

he Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, last week deplored the recent increase in attacks on crude oil and gas pipelines, saying that it adversely affected the nation’s economy.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Ohi Alegbe.

Alegbe said the nation lost about 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day to acts of vandalism on its pipeline.

Alegbe said the sudden increase in the activities of saboteurs around the TransForcados Pipeline and the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline in the last six weeks was shocking.

He said that the EscravosLagos Gas Pipeline was vandalised with four breaks over the weekend. ``The act had robbed the nation of several billions of naira

to the detriment of the national economy. ``NNPC loses between 50,000 and 60,000 barrels of crude oil and condensate on a daily basis to pipeline breaks,” he said.

At $53 per barrel, Nigeria loses about $3.2m (about N534.3m) per day to oil theft.

He said that there appeared to be a syndicate behind the economic sabotage.

Alegbe stated that most of the power plants, including those in Calabar, Alaoji, Omoku and Olorunsogo had been connected to gas.

He said that all the efforts of the Federal Government to construct unprecedented massive gas pipeline infrastructure were being sabotaged by pipeline vandals.

He said it was unfortunate that between January and early February 2015 alone, the Trans-Forcados Crude Pipeline was attacked and vandalised

four times.

Alegbe said that none of NNPC’s gas pipelines had been able to run two straight days without being brought down.

He said the corporation was exploring a number of options on how to tackle the pipeline vandalism menace.

He said the options ranged from an aggressive community engagement to installation of technological gadgets to stave off the vandals.

Alegbe said that each time a gas pipeline was brought down by the vandals, power supply across the country dropped which adversely affected economic activities across the length and breadth of the nation.

He called for a holistic approach to resolve the pipeline vandalism scourge.

Alegbe said this should include tightening of security and expeditious judicial enforcement, to end the menace. BC

Alegbe

Enterprise bank consumer fair continues across the country

A

Ahmed Kuru, Enterprise bank MD

fter recording a huge success with the first series of Enterprise Bank Consumer Fair, the bank is back on the road to extend the experience to customers in other parts of the country.

The Consumer Fair is designed to take the products and services of the Enterprise Bank Limited to the doorsteps of customers and other patrons by letting them interface with the bank and experience firsthand, the value offering right in the comfort of their environ-

ments.

The first phase kicked-off seven months ago (in July 2014) at the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos State and, subsequently, went round many other locations in the Lagos and South West area, including the Computer Village, Idumota Market, Dugbe and Gbagi Markets in Ibadan as well as the Oja Oba markets in Akure and Ekiti States before it was rested for the Christmas and New Year holiday.

With business activities

now gradually picking up across the country, the bank has kick-started the Consumer Fair train with a massive storm of the famous Aswani Market in Isolo and the Ikota Shopping Complex, Ikota, Lekki.

In the weeks and months ahead, the Enterprise Bank Consumer Fair will hit 38 locations nationwide including Alaba International, Onitsha Main, Balogun and Ladipo markets.

Other designated destinations are the markets in Calabar,

Uyo, Owerri, Aba and Awka.

A statement from the Corporate Communications Department of the bank, said the Consumer Fair strategy is designed to continually deploy new platforms of service delivery targeted at surpassing the expectations of customers anywhere they are in the country.

Enterprise Bank Limited is currently in a business combination exercise with Heritage Bank to serve its customers more satisfactorily in a strong, bigger and better bank. BC

SNEPCo donates audio-visual studio to College of medicine, UNILAG

By Udeme Akpan

T

raining of doctors has been made much easier at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, thanks to the provision of an ultra-modern audio-visual studio by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd (SNEPCo).

The studio will be used to record lectures and helps to provide a more learning friendly platform, making it easier for students to access information around the world.

“The project is another demonstration of our commitment to quality education,” said SNEPCo’s Business Relations Manager, Ijere Kanu, as he represented the Managing Director of the company, Tony Attah at the commissioning of the facil-

ity on February 5.

“It is our tradition in SNEPCo to ensure that Nigerians – individuals and institutions – benefit from our presence, and together with our partners, we will continue to expand opportunities for students across Nigeria as part of our broader corporate sustainability programmes.”

In an address he sent to the occasion, Group General Manager, NAPIMS, Engr, Jonathan Okehs said: “We will continue to support projects that will affect the lives and future of the citizens of Nigeria positively just as the audio-visual studio we’re commissioning.”

The Provost of College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Prof. Folashade Ogunshola, said: “A major goal in medical education is to improve team-

work and the love for lifelong learning. And research has shown that students cannot only learn by reading but also by audio-visual where they can interact and engage in intellectual discussions. This is where we need an ultra-modern audiovisual studio and we are grateful to SNEPCo and NAPIMS for helping to bring our dream to fruition.”

SNEPCo’s donation involves the provision of soundproof padding, high quality video and audio recorders, editing hardware and software, monitor, wireless microphones, speakers, air conditioners and general studio furniture.

SNEPCo also awards scholarships to Nigerian undergraduate and postgraduate students, and provides entrepreneurial and skill-acquisition

to promote self-employment among youths.

The College of Medicine at the University of Lagos has produced over 7000 medical, dental and allied health professionals in over 50 years of existence.

SNEPCo pioneered Nigeria’s deep-water oil and gas production at the Bonga field, a project that increased Nigeria’s oil capacity by 10per cent when output began in 2005.

At full output, Bonga has the potential to add more than 200,000 barrels of crude oil and 150 million standard cubic feet of gas to Nigeria’s daily production.

SNEPCo operations in the Bonga field, 120 km offshore in the Gulf of Guinea, have set new standards for the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

The skills and technology

used here have set Nigeria on a path to becoming a major offshore producer and to help meet rising energy demand long into the future.

Three hundred metres long and the height of a 12-storey building, its deck is the size of three football fields. It receives crude from production wells on the seabed.

The oil is processed onboard, stored and then sent to a single point mooring (SPM) buoy anchored nearby that is used to load it onto tankers for export.

When fully laden with oil, Bonga weighs 300,000 tonnes and is held in place by 500-tonne anchors linked by 20 km of mooring lines.

Constructing Bonga was an international effort involving thousands of workers across the globe. BC

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

A21 37

Nigerian naira ends lower despite CBN intervention

N

aira ended weaker against the dollar on Wednesday despite the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, selling U.S. currency towards the close of trading to boost liquidity.

The bank has been intervening almost daily in the interbank market since the start of the year as liquidity is very low due to depressed foreign investment as Nigeria’s economy has been hit by plunging oil prices. That has sent the naira to record lows.

On Wednesday the bank intervened just minutes before the close of trade, sending dealers scrambling to buy dol-

lars from the interbank market and getting different rates.

As a result, dealers quoted a closing range for the naira, of 190.10 to 192.40 to the dollar, rather than a single rate.

Dealers were quoting the naira at 192.30 to the dollar just before the intervention. On Tuesday it closed at 189.15.

The naira has remained under pressure as the price of oil, Nigeria’s main export has plunged. The currency has stayed well below a trading band of 160 to 176 to the dollar, set after the central bank devalued the naira by 8 percent in November. BC

Godwin Emefiele, CBN Boss

Rushed growth at Ecobank poses serious concerns – IMF

R

ushed growth and poor governance at pan-African lender Ecobank pose serious concerns, the International Monetary Fund, IMF, said in a report about banks operating across African borders.

The Fund said Ecobank Nigeria’s “relatively weak capital position remains a concern” and that rapid loan growth at the bank, which is a subsidiary of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, raises suspicion

of reckless lending.

A bank spokesman said that much of what the report said about Ecobank appeared to refer to events of last year, when the bank fired its chief executive Thierry Tanoh after months of turmoil over corporate governance.

“Ecobank has put in place robust structures to ensure its corporate governance,” said spokesman Richard Uku. Ecobank is one of the largest financial institutions in

sub-Saharan Africa and has a presence in 36 countries on the continent. Its assets in 2013 stood at $22.5bn, according to the company’s website.

The bank is appealing a court decision last month in Ivory Coast to award Tanoh $15m for defamation over a letter written prior to his dismissal. It is also appealing a Togolese court’s award of $11.6m to Tanoh for unfair dismissal. BC

Investors have large chunk of agric potentials in Nigeria – ES S aratu Umar, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, last week in Abuja assured investors of many agricultural potentials in the country.

According to her, the potentials include ready-made market for products after production or manufacture with over 170 million consumers in the country in particular and West Africa in general.

She said Nigeria as country had history of not having much natural disasters like earth quake.

She also assured prospective investors of 35 per cent investment return. ``The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission is a Federal Government agency in Nigeria, established to

encourage, promote, and coordinate investments in Nigeria. ``The agency provides services for the grant of business entry permits, licences, authorisations and incentives in a One-Stop-Shop environment. ``The services are provided in a coordinated, streamlined, efficient and transparent manner to meet the needs of investors,’’ she said.

She said that she received the Regional Block of Mayors and Local Government Chairmen of the Market of the Southern Corn, MERCOSUR, consisting of agricultural investors.

Umar said the team was led by Ignatius Kaave, Nigerian Ambassador to Argentina, to have insight and

Market Indicators for Week Ended 06-02-15 All-Share Index 29,562.07 Basis Points Market Capitalization N 15,302,002,595,795.98 Stock Updates GAINERS COMPANY

OPENING PRICE

CLOSING PRICE

CHANGE

DANGFLOUR

3.63

4.00

0.37

ACCESS

5.69

6.00

0.31

PRESCO

29.00

30.45

1.45

SEPLAT

318.00

333.90

15.90

30.00

31.49

1.49

BETAGLAS

LOSERS COMPANY

OPENING PRICE

VONO

CLOSING PRICE

CHANGE

1.17

1.07

2 ZENITHBANK

17.49

16.10

-0.10 -1.39

FLOURMILL

36.10

34.20

-1.90

JBERGER

44.89

42.65

-2.24

VITAFOAM

3.42

3.25

-0.17

Inter-Bank Rates TENOR

RATE%(PREV) 05-Feb-2015

RATE%(CURR) 06-Feb-2015

CALL

10.5000 - 10.5000%

10.5000 - 10.5000%

OBB

10.5000 - 12.0000%

10.2500 - 10.5000%

Primary Market Auction TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

RATE (%) 9.95

DATE

Umar

91-Day

21538.34

31-JAN-15

knowledge on investment in Nigeria.

She said the team met with relevant agencies like NAFDAC, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Corporate Affairs Commission and others.

She said that the 15-member delegation came from Brazil, Peru, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina and were in the country to assess investment opportunities. BC

182-Day

33783.25

10.1

2-Feb-15

364-Day

59081.14

10.35

2-Feb-15

Open Market Operation TENOR

AMOUNT (N’mn)

167Day

40000

11

RATE (%)

31-JAN-15

DATE

169Day

50000

11

2-Feb-15

170Day

70000

11

5-Feb-15

Wholesale Dutch Auction System AMOUNT OFFERED

MARKET DEMAND

AMOUNT SOLD

DATE

$500m

US$ 804,102,803.13m

US$ 499,939,154.55m

30-Jan-15

$350m

US$ 349,977,055.35m

US$ 349,977,055.35m

30-Jan-15

A22 38

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Guinness: Profit slides on operating expenses, other charges

By Johnson Okanlawon

G

uinness Nigeria has recorded another poor financial performance for the half year ended December 31, 2014. The brewing company posted growth in top line but decline of 32 per cent in bottom line, due to high operating expenses and financial charges.

Specifically, the company recorded revenue of N55.3bn in 2014, up from N52.7bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2013. Its cost of sale rose from N27.5bn to N29.5bn, leading to a margin increase in gross profit which grew from N25.3bn to N25.8bn.

Marketing and distribution expenses also grew from N12.5bn to N13.2bn, while administrative expenses similarly jumped from N4.9bn to N6bn. Operating profit fell 15 per cent, from N8.22bn to N6.97bn. However, finance charges increased 35 per cent to N2.71bn, from N1.95bn, which led to the company ending with a profit after tax of N3.39bn, compared to N4.99bn in 2013.

Analyst at FBN Capital, said the second quarter profit after tax fell 41 per cent to N1.9bn. Although sales grew 13 per cent to N34.2bn, a combination of factors including a gross margin contraction of 442 basis points to 44.4 per cent, a 20 per cent rise in operating expenses and a 34 per cent growth in interest expense resulted in profit before tax declining by 41 per cent year-on-year to N2.7bn.

“On a sequential basis, while sales increased by 63 per cent quarter-on-quarter, similar factors responsible for the year-on-year decline in earnings (mainly a gross margin contraction of 567 basis points quarter by quarter, a 45 per cent quarter by quarter rise in operating expenses and a 28 per cent quarter by quarter rise in interest expense) resulted in profit before tax and profit after tax growing slower by 37 per cent q/q and 29 per cent q/q respectively.

Compared with our estimates, sales beat by seven per cent,”

they said.

Business Strategy The company has been reaping the benefits of new products such as Origin Bitters and Origin Ready to Drink, introduced into the market recently with the improvement in revenue.

On a quarterly basis, the company’s revenue of N34.2bn in the second quarter to December 2014 is higher than N21.05bn and N30.35bn posted in the first quarter of the review period and second quarter of the previous year respectively by 62.6 per cent and 12.8 per cent.

Similarly, the latest quarter’s revenue is higher than the eight quarter average of N28.3bn by 21.1 per cent. “It also exceeded our estimate of N32.1bn by 6.6 per cent. If the improvement in revenue can be replicated in the quarters ahead, there will be positive impact on the full year numbers,” analysts at DLM Securities, an investment firm, said.

Operating expenses The company cost of sales increased despite decline in the prices of major inputs. For the review period, the company posted an increase of 7.4 per cent in cost of sales yearon-year to N29.5bn, compared to N27.5bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2013. The higher increase in cost of sales relative to revenue led to an increase in cost of sale/ revenue ratio to 53 per cent relative to 52.1 per cent recorded the preceding year.

Contrary to expectation, cost of sales was up in spite of decline in the prices of grains in the global commodity market which are major inputs in brewing both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. For example, barley and corn traded at average prices of $127/ tonne and $174/tonne in the review period. Also, the average prices of wheat and sorghum declined 15 per cent year-on-year and nine per cent year-on-year respectively.

Operating profit declined

Adetu

due to increase in running costs. For the review period, the company’s operating expenses of N19.2bn was up 9.8 per cent year-on-year, compared to N17.5bn recorded the preceding year. The higher increase in operating expenses relative to revenue led to a higher operating expenses/ revenue ratio of 34.7 per cent to 33.1 per cent recorded the preceding period.

On the whole, total cost rose to N48.7bn, up 8.3 per cent from N44.9bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2013, while total cost/revenue ratio stood at 88.1 per cent relative to 85.2 per cent in the half year of 2013. Therefore, operating profit was down 15.1 per cent to N6.98bn, compared to N8.22bn posted in the same period of 2013. The operating margin dipped to 12.6 per

cent relative to 15.6 per cent recorded in the same period of 2013.

First quarter performance The company recorded N1.96bn in profit before tax for its first quarter ended September 30, 2014, an increase of six per cent, from N1.87bn posted in the same period of 2013.

Also, the gross profit for the period rose to N10.6bn, from N10.5bn recorded in equivalent period of 2013, while total assets stood at N133.8bn, from N132.3bn it stood in 2013. There was also a slight reduction in the cost of sales with the figure falling to N10.5bn, from N11.9bn recorded in first quarter of 2013.

The results also showed a marginal increase in adminis-

trative expenses to N2.53bn, from N2.39bn, largely due to the company’s recent investment in transforming its route to consumer infrastructure.

Commenting on the results, Babatunde Savage, Chairman, Guinness Nigeria Plc, said the board is optimistic of sustaining the trend for the remainder of the financial year.

He said, “We are pleased to report a year on year increase of six percent in our profit before tax figure.

The board is confident that this heralds a return to growth for the company as we begin to reap the dividends from the investments that we have made in areas like our capacity expansion and route to consumer infrastructure.”

The Managing Director, Seni Adetu, “We are pleased to announce this turnaround in our financial results. In the period under review, we have remained focused on our strategic imperatives and this has translated into the increase in our profit before tax.

“Our cost of sales declined by 12 per cent year-on-year, with gross profit remaining flat in the quarter. We are also reporting a significantly higher tax number as a result of the tax incentives which was reflected in the numbers for the first quarter of the previous year following approval from the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, NIPC. “This will not recur going forward. Overall, we feel positive that with our core brands and great innovation backed by our strategic investments, we will continue to drive both top and bottom line growth.”

Company background Guinness Nigeria was established in 1962 and was the first country to have a Guinness brewery built outside of the British Isles. Nigeria now represents the largest market for Guinness by Net Sales Value in the world. Products from the brewer’s stables include Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, Malta Guinness, Harp Lager beer, SNAPP, Orijin Bitters and ready-to-drink amongst others. BC

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

A23 39

STOCKWATCH Stock Exchange weekly equities summary as at Friday, Feb 6, 2015 SECURITY

PRICE (=N=)

AGRICULTURE/AGRO-ALLIED Crop Production FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC 0.50 OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. 26.64 PRESCO PLC 30.45 Fishing/Hunting/Trapping ELLAH LAKES PLC. 4.26 Livestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. 2.20 CONGLOMERATES Diversified Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. 1.20 CHELLARAMS PLC. 3.95 JOHN HOLT PLC. 0.96 S C O A NIG. PLC. 4.44 U A C N PLC. 40.00 CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Building Construction Building Structure/Completion/Other COSTAIN (W A) PLC. 0.73 G CAPPA PLC 14.46 Non--Building/Heavy Construction JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. 42.65 ROADS NIG PLC. 6.29 Real Estate Development UACN PROPERTY DEV 11.94 Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) SKYE SHELTER FUND PLC 100.00 UNION HOMES REAL ESTATE INV 45.22 UPDCREIT 10.00 CONSUMER GOODS Automobiles/Auto Parts DUNLOP DN TYRE & RUBBER PLC 0.50 Beverages--Brewers/Distillers CHAMPION BREW. PLC. 6.57 GOLDEN GUINEA BREW. PLC. 0.93 GUINNESS NIG PLC 128.99 INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. 21.50 JOS INT. BREWERIES PLC. 2.02 NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. 141.81 PREMIER BREWERIES PLC 3.79 Beverages--Non-Alcoholic 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC. 157.20 Food Products DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC 4.00 DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC 6.90 FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. 34.20 HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC 3.14 P S MANDRIDES & CO PLC. 5.35 MULTI-TREX INTEGRATED FOODS PLC 0.50 NATIONAL SALT CO. NIG. PLC 7.55 N NIG. FLOUR MILLS PLC. 18.05 UNION DICON SALT PLC. 13.11 U T C NIG. PLC. 0.50 Food Products--Diversified CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. 39.00 NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. 8.05.00 Household Durables NIGERIAN ENAMELWARE PLC. 31.82 VITAFOAM NIG PLC. 3.25 VONO PRODUCTS PLC. 1.07 Personal/Household Products P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. 28.80 UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. 35.00 Textiles/Apparel UNITED NIG. TEXTILES PLC. NT FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. 6.00 DIAMOND BANK PLC 3.90 ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INC. 16.60 FIDELITY BANK PLC 1.27 GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. 21.00 INTBKPREF 13.50 SKYE BANK PLC 2.00 STERLING BANK PLC. 2.35 U B A PLC 3.42 UNION BANK NIG.PLC. 9.00 UNITY BANK PLC 0.50 WEMA BANK PLC. 0.94 ZENITH BANK PLC 16.10 Insurance Carriers, Brokers & Services AFRICAN ALLIANCE INS. COY. PLC 0.50 AIICO INSURANCE PLC. 0.81 CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC 0.90 CORNERSTONE INS. COY. PLC. 0.50 EQUITY ASSURANCE PLC. 0.50 GREAT NIGERIAN INSURANCE PLC 0.50 GOLDLINK INSURANCE PLC 0.53 GUINEA INSURANCE PLC. 0.50 INTERNATIONAL ENERGY INS. PLC 0.50 INVESTMENT AND ALLIED ARN. 0.50 LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. 0.50 LAW UNION AND ROCK INS. PLC. 0.50 LINKAGE ASSURANCE PLC 0.50 MANSARD INSURANCE PLC 2.96 MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. 0.50 N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. 0.59 NIGER INSURANCE CO. PLC. 0.50 PRESTIGE ASSURANCE CO. PLC. 0.55 REGENCY ALLIANCE INS. COY PLC 0.50 SOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC 0.50 STACO INSURANCE PLC 0.50 STANDARD ALLIANCE INS. PLC. 0.50 UNIC INSURANCE PLC. 0.50 UNITY KAPITAL ASSURANCE PLC 0.50 UNIVERSAL INS. COMPANY PLC 0.50 WAPIC INSURANCE. PLC 0.51 Micro Finance Banks FORTIS MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 5.42 NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC 0.89 Mortgage Carriers, Brokers &Services ABBEY BUILDING SOCIETY PLC 1.30 ASO SAVINGS AND LOANS PLC 0.50 INFINITY 1.45 RESORT SAVINGS & LOANS 0.50 UNION HOMES SAVINGS&LOANS PLC 0.50 Other Financial Institutions AFRICAN PRUDENTIAL REG PLC 2.75 CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED INS. PLC 4.00 DEAP CAPITAL MGT & TRUST PLC 0.70 FBN HOLDINGS PLC 7.00 FIRST CITY MONUMENT BANK PLC. 2.09 NIGERIA ENERYGY SECTOR FUND 552.20 ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. 0.50 SIM CAPITAL ALLIANCE VALUE 103.24 STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC 25.75 UBA CAPITAL PLC 1.45 HEALTHCARE Healthcare Providers EKOCORP PLC. 3.72 UNION DIAGNOSTIC &CLINICAL PLC 0.50 Medical Supplies MORISON INDUSTRIES PLC. 1.82 Pharmaceuticals EVANS MEDICAL PLC. 2.15 FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC 3.20 GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER PLC 40.10 MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. 1.50 NEIMETH INT PHARM PLC 0.74 NIGERIA-GERMAN CHEMICALS PLC. 6.32 PHARMA-DEKO PLC. 2.24

NOTE NT=Not Traded on 06-02-15

QUANTITY

52 WK HIGH

52 WK LOW

SHARES OUTSTANDING

EPS

MOV. (%)

Previous

100,000 386,040 76,967

0.66 42.45 48.58

0.50 23.30 20.89

2,200,000,000 476,955,000 1,000,000,000

0.10 6.73 2.75

0.00 -2.95 -6.77

0.50 27.45 32.66

75222

4.26

4.26

60,000,000

0.00

0.00

4.26

635,452

4.43

1.95

1,199,549,736

0.11

0.00

2.20

240,075 2,400 62,032 10,000 90,322

1.75 3.95 1.33 5.06 69.13

1.20 3.95 0.96 4.44 26.00

2,191,895,983 963,900,300 389,151,408 821,666,666 1,600,720,323

0.08 0.24 0.00 0.35 6.89

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 7.53

1.20 3.95 0.96 4.44 37.20

1,033,833 2,000

2.39 14.46

0.59 14.46

920,573,765 125,000,000

0.00 0.00

1.39 0.00

0.72 14.46

83,229 2,000

76.45 10.00

44.49 3.01

1,200,000,000 20,000,000

4.93 4.73

-4.99 0.00

44.89 6.29

173,495

20.80

8.09

1,375,000,000

1.66

30.78

9.13

2,000 135 135

100.00 45.22 11.02

90.25 45.22 8.55

20,000,000 250,019,781 250,019,781

11.75 0.75 0.75

0.00 0.00 0.00

100.00 45.22 10.00

145,506

0.50

0.50

4,772,528,415

0.00

0.00

0.50

139,035 2,000 37,269 462,651 150,000 1,151,337 2,000

4.63 0.68 277.00 27.00 3.20 178.00 0.97

2.23 0.68 186.00 5.23 1.61 72.50 0.93

900,000,000 272,160,000 1,474,925,519 2,112,914,681 562,000,000 7,562,562,340 126,000,000

0.00 0.03 9.46 0.25 0.00 5.08 0.00

16.90 1.09 -0.77 1.61 0.00 -0.15 0.00

5.62 0.92 129.99 21.16 2.02 142.02 3.79

31,310

188.52

74.97

640,590,362

2.69

0.77

156.00

480,767 1,137,926 178,441 958,110 146,997 2,000 1,406,190 18,574 2,000 146,997

9.95 16.20 95.00 6.60 5.66 2.70 0.00 43.96 4.22 0.88

2.28 3.64 52.50 1.91 5.66 1.00 0.00 20.41 4.22 0.50

5,000,000,000 12,000,000,000 1,879,210,666 7,930,197,658 40,000,000 3,722,493,620 2,649,438,378 178,200,000 360,000,000 1,233,375,004

0.00 0.91 3.79 0.51 0.08 0.00 0.00 2.50 0.00 1.13

33.33 1.17 -7.69 4.67 0.00 0.00 16.15 0.00 -49.58 0.00

3.00 6.82 37.05 3.00 5.35 0.50 6.50 18.05 26.00 0.50

369,118 255,501

55.49 1075.17

9.15 367.83

3,129,188,160 792,656,250

1.35 25.43

-3.11 #VALUE!

40.25 880.25

2,000 52,092 11,266

42.66 6.75 3.67

34.39 3.01 2.66

63,360,000 819,000,000 300,000,001

1.61 0.54 0.00

0.00 -16.67 32.10

31.82 3.90 0.81

395,808 762,575

53.00 68.00

22.07 22.56

3,176,381,636 3,783,296,250

0.70 1.44

-2.83 2.94

29.64 34.00

11,266

0.97

0.57

843,284,027

0.00

#VALUE!

0.97

6,952,371 7,443,990 966,817 4,399,347 14,046,504 4,986,686 4,986,686 3,902,811 17,151,524 274,926 13,139,962 1,018,390 5,939,300

11.70 9.27 17.05 3.20 29.05 13.50 10.17 2.91 8.70 13.09 1.92 1.75 22.75

4.76 2.01 9.97 1.14 11.64 13.50 2.73 0.97 1.64 1.96 0.50 0.50 11.70

17,888,251,479 14,475,243,105 9,873,614,567 28,974,797,023 29,146,482,209 13,219,334,676 13,219,334,676 12,563,091,545 32,334,693,693 13,509,726,273 33,675,576,085 12,821,249,880 31,396,493,790

1.42 0.90 2.81 0.43 2.10 0.71 0.71 0.54 0.67 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.09

15.83 8.94 2.60 1.60 4.84 0.00 0.50 1.29 -2.29 -5.26 -7.41 1.08 0.56

5.18 3.58 16.18 1.25 20.03 13.50 1.99 2.32 3.50 9.50 0.54 0.93 16.01

400,000 4,443,030 20,533,900 268,000 400,000 10,000 400,000 400,000 30,000 400,000 400,000 123,965 123,965 1,533,300 400,000 985,263 400,000 1,103,367 400,000 85,000 400,000 60,000 708,026 400,000 3,627 721,163

0.50 1.01 1.20 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.69 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.61 0.50 2.30 0.50 0.86 1.11 2.35 0.50 0.52 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.97

0.50 0.50 0.61 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.95 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50

400,000 686,300

6.00 1.15

0.00 1.00

300 1,000,000 260,365 260,365 1

1.51 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.99

1.33 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50

20,585,000,000 7,809,391,256 10,372,624,157 8,820,010,363 8,847,298,420 3,827,485,380 4,549,947,000 720,000,000 6,420,427,449 28,000,000,000 7,323,313,227 3,437,330,500 4,083,713,569 10,000,000,000 7,998,705,336 5,332,830,881 5,649,693,923 2,508,315,436 6,668,750,000 5,203,757,266 6,141,087,609 8,493,173,450 2,581,733,505 13,000,000,000 16,000,000,000 5,061,804,000

4,200,000,000 8,679,148,676 13,175,732,404 13,175,732,404 7,812,500,000

0.00 0.05 0.14 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.16 0.01 0.37 0.02 0.06 0.04 0.09 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.00

0.00 -19.00 -25.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.00 0.00 -78.45 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 27.59 0.00 -18.06 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -36.25

0.50 1.00 1.20 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 2.32 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 2.32 0.50 0.72 0.50 0.55 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.80

0.01 0.07

984.00 7.23

0.50 0.83

0.03 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.00

-15.03 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

1.53 0.50 1.45 0.50 0.50

34,660 1,608,408 70,000 69,684,902 966,817 400,000 34,660 34,660 446,392 446,392

4.32 3.51 2.02 19.60 8.30 552.20 0.66 103.24 16.00 3.03

2.40 1.31 2.02 8.50 3.04 555.20 0.50 98.33 6.40 1.38

5,100,846,808 1,333,333,333 32,632,084,358 16,271,192,202 2,500,000 3,608,657,661 3,608,657,661 18,750,000,000 18,750,000,000

400 4,300,000

5.31 0.50

5.05 0.50

498,600,908 3,553,138,528

6,780

10.54

7.39

152,178,750

0.06

-18.39

2.23

600 510,500 21,160 515,977 56,409 412,477 16,993

3.30 3.20 68.00 5.61 1.96 12.91 4.28

0.50 0.76 19.30 1.62 0.76 8.59 3.50

486,473,856 1,500,000,000 956,701,192 980,000,000 1,925,717,268 153,786,012 100,000,000

0.00 0.44 2.62 0.20 0.09 0.00 0.00

-54.64 59.20 -41.03 -37.50 -41.27 -14.13 10.34

4.74 2.01 68.00 2.40 1.26 7.36 2.03

N/A=Not Avialable

0.28 154.78 0.00 -61.54 3.03 -57.58 0.60 -74.82 12.65 110340.00 0.00 -3.85 0.00 0.00 0.87 -0.96 0.87 0.69

0.12 0.00

-13.89 0.00

2.76 1.57 1.82 16.50 8.30 0.50 0.52 103.24 26.00 1.44

4.32 0.50

SECURITY

PRICE (=N=)

ICT Computer Based Systems COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SLN PLC 0.50 Computers and Peripherals OMATEK VENTURES PLC 0.50 Electronic Communications Services MTECH COMMUNICATIONS PLC 0.91 IT Services COMPUTER WAREHOUSE GROUP 4.13 NCR (NIGERIA) PLC. 12.83 TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC. 1.77 Processing Systems CHAMS PLC 0.50 E-TRANZACT INTERNATIONAL PLC 3.39 Telecommunications Services IHS PLC 3.80 IHS NIGERIA PLC PREF SHARES 2.25 IHS NIGERIA PLC PREF SHARES2 3.08 MTI PLC 0.50 INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials AFRICAN PAINTS (NIGERIA) PLC. 2.72 ASHAKA CEM PLC 21.30 BERGER PAINTS PLC 9.00 CAP PLC 38.75 CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC 9.36 DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 159.80 DN MEYER PLC. 0.87 FIRST ALUMINIUM NIGERIA PLC 0.50 IPWA PLC 0.50 LAFARGE WAPCO PLC. 87.99 PAINTS & COATINGS MANFACT.PLC 1.50 PORTLAND PAINTS & PRDT NIG. PLC 4.03 PREMIER PAINTS PLC. 10.93 Electronic and Electrical Products AUSTIN LAZ & COMPANY PLC 2.09 CUTIX PLC. 1.54 NIGERIAN WIRE AND CABLE PLC. 0.50 NIGERIAN WIRE IND. PLC NT Packaging/Containers ABPLAST PRODUCTS PLC. NT AVON CROWNCAPS & CONTAINERS 1.59 BETA GLASS CO PLC. 31.49 GREIF NIGERIA PLC 12.08 NIG. BAGS MANFACT. COY PLC NT POLY PRODUCTS (NIG) PLC. NT W A GLASS IND. PLC. 0.50 Tools and Machinery NIGERIAN ROPES PLC 7.46 STOKVIS NIG PLC. 0.14 NATURAL RESOURCES Chemicals B.O.C. GASES PLC. 5.46 Metals ALUMACO PLC 7.75 ALUMINIUM EXTRUSION IND. PLC. 10.43 Non-Metallic Mineral Mining MULTIVERSE PLC 0.50 Paper/Forest Products HALLMARK PAPER PRODUCTS PLC. NT THOMAS WYATT NIG. PLC. 0.73 OIL AND GAS Energy Equipment and Services JAPAUL OIL & MARITIME SER. PLC 0.50 Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC 14.93 Petroleum &Petroleum Products Distributors AFROIL PLC NT BECO PETROLEUM PRODUCT PLC 0.50 CONOIL PLC 32.60 ETERNA PLC. 2.52 FORTE OIL PLC. 220.50 MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. 150.00 MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. 50.54 TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. 144.50 SERVICES Advertising AFROMEDIA PLC 0.50 Apparel Retailers LENNARDS (NIG) PLC. 3.15 Automobile/Auto Part Retailers R T BRISCOE PLC. 0.82 Courier/Freight/Delivery RED STAR EXPRESS PLC 3.80 TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. 0.95 Employment Solutions C & I LEASING PLC. 0.50 Hospitality TANTALIZERS PLC 0.50 Hotels/Lodging CAPITAL HOTEL PLC 4.28 IKEJA HOTEL PLC 3.67 TOURIST COMPANY OF NIGERIA PLC. 3.51 TRANSNATIONAL CORP. OF NIG.PLC 10.00 Media/Entertainment DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC 0.50 Printing/Publishing ACADEMY PRESS PLC. 1.18 LEARN AFRICA PLC 1.27 STUDIO PRESS (NIG) PLC. 2.30 UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC. 3.89 Road Transportation ABC TRANSPORT PLCPLC 0.55 Specialty INTERLINKED TECHNOLOGIES PLC 4.66 SECURE ELECTRONIC TECH.PLC 0.50 Transport-Related Services AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC 1.71 NIG. AVIATION HANDLING COY PLC 4.75 ASeM CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Property Management SMART PRODUCTS NIGERIA PLC NT CONSUMER GOODS Food Products MCNICHOLS PLC NT Personal/Household Products ROKANA INDUSTRIES PLC. NT HEALTHCARE Pharmaceuticals AFRIK PHARMACEUTICALS PLC. NT INDUSTRIAL GOODS Electronic and Electrical Products NT ADSWITCH PLC. NT NATURAL RESOURCES Metals W.A. ALUM. PRODUCTS PLC. NT OIL AND GAS Petroleum & Petroleum Products Distributors ANINO INTERNATIONAL PLC. NT CAPITAL OIL PLC NT RAK UNITY PET. COMP. PLC. NT UNION VENTURES & PET. PLC NT SERVICES Apparel Retailers UDEOFSON GARMENT FACT. NIG PLC NT Food/Drug Retailers and Wholesalers NT JULI PLC. NT ETF’s Sector ETF NEWGOLD EXCHANGE TRADED FUND NT

QUANTITY

2,635,500

52 WK HIGH

52 WK LOW

SHARES OUTSTANDING

EPS

MOV. (%)

0.80

0.50

2,960,000,000

0.10

-27.54

Previous

0.69

11,127

0.50

0.50

2,941,789,472

0.00

0.00

0.50

400,000

0.91

0.91

4,966,666,668

0.00

82.00

0.50

608 608 910

5.56 18.70 3.59

4.13 13.12 2.41

108,000,000 108,000,000 492,825,600

0.00 0.00 0.01

0.00 -31.39 -22.71

4.13 18.70 2.29

75,000 10

0.50 4.97

0.50 4.04

4,620,600,000 4,200,000,000

0.00 0.04

0.00 -2.31

0.50 3.47

2,948,970 400,000 2,948,970 400,000

3.50 2.25 3.50 0.50

2.46 0.50 2.46 0.50

4,400,000,000 4,400,000,000 4,893,594,400

0.00 0.00 0.00

0.00 0.00 0.00

3.80 2.25 3.08 0.50

400,000 250,093 11,065 26,316 148,744 1,236,867 10,000 400,000 192,063 802,171 400,000 85,000 400,000

3.32 30.00 12.57 43.98 15.49 132.51 3.51 0.75 0.99 56.50 3.36 5.28 13.40

2.86 9.10 7.27 14.50 4.20 95.00 0.93 0.50 0.91 37.00 0.52 2.27 10.93

260,000,000 2,239,453,125 217,367,585 560,000,000 1,241,548,285 15,494,019,668 242,908,200 2,109,928,275 513,696,000 3,001,600,004 792,914,256 400,000,000 75,000,000

0.00 2.14 1.09 2.28 1.47 8.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 4.10 0.26 0.23 0.00

-18.07 1.19 3.45 -11.23 1.63 -15.00 -33.08 -33.33 -47.37 -7.38 -55.36 -27.52 -18.43

3.32 21.05 8.70 43.65 9.21 188.00 1.30 0.75 0.95 95.00 3.36 5.56 13.40

200,000 127,593 400,000 400,000

2.00 2.50 0.73 2.58

2.00 1.33 0.50 2.58

510,396,608 2,220,000,000 15,000,000

0.03 0.11 0.00 0.00

4.50 -17.20 -31.51 #VALUE!

2.00 1.86 0.73 2.58

400,000 1,711 49,451 400,000 400,000 400,000 400,000

3.98 6.91 12.71 15.03 3.60 1.86 0.63

3.98 2.19 9.53 13.28 1.60 1.05 0.63

42,640,000 6,215,000,000 240,000,000 199,066,550

0.00 0.05 0.05 0.90 0.24 0.22 0.00

#VALUE! -7.02 138.92 -19.63 #VALUE! #VALUE! -73.12

2.58 1.71 13.18 15.03 3.60 1.86 1.86

20 400,000

8.69 0.42

8.26 0.14

265,409,280 2,918,000

0.00 0.00

-4.97 -63.16

7.85 0.38

25,000,000 683,974,528

55

9.20

5.70

393,120,000

0.76

-16.00

6.50

400,000 3,134

7.75 12.39

7.75 10.55

75,600,000 100,000,000

0.00 0.43

0.00 -0.67

7.75 10.50

400,000

0.50

0.50

4,058,989,226

0.00

0.00

0.50

400,000 400,000

3.22 1.38

3.22 1.38

50,000,000 220,000,000

0.04 0.00

#VALUE! -47.10

3.22 1.38

2,070,197

1.02

0.54

6,262,701,716

0.13

-3.85

0.52

3,826,888

24.80

10.94

2,262,711,568

1.73

22.38

12.20

400,000 51,000 131,435 347,923 172,212 19,625 1,540 25,864

20.71 0.70 41.89 5.59 28.69 163.50 72.00 240.00

20.71 0.50 19.61 2.12 9.12 111.51 32.29 125.00

125,487,475 3,716,976,579 693,952,117 1,249,162,828 1,080,280,628 300,496,051 253,988,672 339,521,837

0.00 0.00 0.47 0.61 0.00 6.11 3.62 14.63

#VALUE! 0.00 9.40 -8.36 465.38 26.05 39.85 -6.77

20.71 0.50 29.80 2.75 39.00 119.00 36.14 155.00

400,000

0.72

0.50

4,035,497,307

0.00

-30.56

0.72

400,000

3.48

3.48

0.19

-9.48

3.48

272,639

3.65

1.12

980,294,400

0.21

-43.45

1.45

327,998 11,300

3.67 6.40

2.11 3.28

589,496,310 198,819,763

0.58 0.25

-18.98 -9.52

4.69 1.05

100,000

1.64

0.85

865,808,912

0.08

0.00

0.50

400,000

0.75

0.50

3,211,627,907

0.01

-33.33

0.75

10,600 12,000 400,000 6,850,971

8.00 2.59 4.76 1.95

3.00 1.16 4.31 0.50

1,548,780,000 2,078,796,396 1,772,884,297 25,813,998,283

0.18 0.92 0.00 0.22

-5.93 364.56 368.00 669.23

4.55 0.79 0.75 1.30

10,000

0.50

0.50

8,000,000,000

0.00

0.00

0.50

96,084 295,845 400,000 51,408

3.68 8.00 2.92 6.82

1.64 1.94 2.78 3.09

403,200,000 771,450,000 425,641,111

0.14 0.29 0.01 0.50

-38.22 -20.63 206.67 -5.12

1.91 1.60 0.75 4.10

1,453,026

0.80

0.50

1,507,000,000

0.00

-25.68

0.74

342 400,000

5.15 1.88

4.90 0.80

236,699,511 5,631,539,736

0.00 0.03

-9.51 -73.40

5.15 1.88

231,753 290,942

2.78 11.75

1.54 5.15

634,000,000 1,230,468,750

0.38 0.81

-55.93 -29.53

3.88 6.74

222

1.43

1.04

45,000,000

0.12

#VALUE!

1.43

11,000

1.02

1.02

201,885,335

0.00

#VALUE!

0.97

500

0.60

0.60

30,000,000

0.00

#VALUE!

0.60

444

0.50

0.50

24,898,850

0.00

#VALUE!

1.43

333 500

1.4 1.88

1.3 1.63

125,005,250

0.00 0.00

#VALUE! #VALUE!

1.43 1.63

200

0.50

0.50

6,650,000

0.00

#VALUE!

0.50

200 20,000 2002 200

0.21 0.50 0.31 0.63

0.21 0.50 0.31 0.63

24,200,000 5,857,500,000 15,000,000 98,600,000

0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

#VALUE! #VALUE! #VALUE! #VALUE!

0.21 0.50 0.31 0.63

200 200 100

0.50 0.65 3.05

0.50 0.6 2.76

20,000,000

0.00

194,700,000

0.00

#VALUE! #VALUE! #VALUE!

0.63 0.63 2.14

100

2,706

2,422

#VALUE!

2,638.00

A24 40

Business Courage

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

41

Law & Justice nationalmirrorlaw@yahoo.com

I am firmly of the view that the governor under our constitution is not intended to be a dictator

–JUSTICE JUS MAMMAN NASIR- FORMER PRESIDENT, COURT OF APPEAL xx

Don’t appoint retired judges to handle election petitions –Adedipe 42

CJN, Justice Mohammed

Justice Uwais

Falana, Agbaje, others disagree on creation of Electoral Offences Tribunal How Enahoro was extradited, tried for treason 45

British courts can impose wholelife prison sentences –ECHR 46

Four years ago, the post-poll violence that followed the Presidential election in 2011 claimed the lives of more than 800 people, while about 65,000 persons were displaced in the country. FRANCIS FAMOROTI, Head, Judiciary, writes that lawyers have expressed divergent views on the relevance of the creation of a special body to speedily prosecute perpetrators of election violence.

D

uring the Presidential election in 2011, investigations and reports in the media showed that the postpoll violence claimed the lives of more than 800 people while about 65,000 persons were displaced in the country.

Prior to this incident, the Justice Muhammadu Uwais panel had in 2007 recommended, among others, the establishment of an Election Offences Tribunal to prosecute perpetrators of electoral violence and electionrelated crimes.

Although the Umaru Yar’Adua administration rejected this recommendation at the time, subsequent political violence, which greeted the announcement of the results of presidential elections in some states in the North and Akwa Ibom in April 2011, eventually convinced the Goodluck Jonathan administration that it was desirable to set up the tribunal.

And so the administration promised to take all necessary actions to establish the tribunal.

Some time in October 2013, the

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega also renewed calls for the establishment of the tribunal before the 2015 general elections.

Jega was quoted to have said that the tribunal would help restore sanity to the country’s electoral process and deter people from committing electoral offences.

According to Jega; “I was privileged to serve in the Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais-led Committee and I know we made a recommendation for the estab-

lishment of a tribunal to deal with the impunity in the way electoral offences are being committed in Nigeria.

“We need to do something unique and that is to establish an electoral offences tribunal which will be saddled with the responsibility of arrest, investigation and prosecution of offenders.”

Jega said that in the 2011 general elections, the commission detected 870,000 cases of multiple registrations out of the 73.5 million voters registered.

He, however, expressed regrets that only 270 offenders had been

SECTION 150 OF THE ELECTORAL ACT HAS EMPOWERED INEC TO DEAL WITH AND PROSECUTE ELECTORAL OFFENDERS. SINCE THE TRIBUNAL MAY NOT HAVE MUCH TO DO IN BETWEEN ELECTION PERIODS, IT SHOULD BE AN ADHOC BODY

prosecuted by the body till 2013.

Interestingly too, the United States last year, precisely on February 17, 2014 urged the Jonathan administration to establish an electoral offences tribunal ahead of the 2015 general elections.

According to report, ‘’The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ms Linda Thomas-Greenfield, made the call in Abuja at the opening of the Nigeria-U.S. Bi-National Commission (BNC) working group’s meeting on good governance, transparency and integrity.

She said “we stand with the Nigerian people who say loudly that they will not accept electoral tampering, overly heated rhetoric, vote selling or buying and violence. .

“I encourage Nigeria’s National Assembly to pass a legislation that will establish an electoral offences tribunal, a legislation that President Goodluck Jonathan proposed when he was Vice President.

“We hope that our continued electoral assistance will give the utmost support to the Nigerian people because they deserve nothing less than elections that reflect their will,’’ she said.

The U.S. Secretary of State CONTINUED ON PAGE 44

42

Law & Justice

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Don’t appoint retired judges to handle Some lawyers have argued that the 180 days time frame to hear and determine election petition is insufficient. Do you agree with this view?

I think 180 days should be sufficient to conclude a particular petition if there is a robust determination to so do. In other words, you do not give room for stay of proceedings. Whatever objection you have, you condensed them into the record. If for instance someone is raising either locus standi or jurisdiction issue or any objection at all, it is my view that they should all be taken together in the entire proceedings.

The idea that the tribunal will wrongly rule that it has no jurisdiction and the appellate court says it has jurisdiction, such cases pose some challenges. If a court wrongly but genuinely believe it has no jurisdiction and if on a proper interpretation of the law, the appellate court is of the view that the court has jurisdiction, the period the court will not be sitting should not be counted as part of the 180 days, so as not to shortchanged the petitioner.

I think that is where the interpretation has to be dynamic and creative. It should be 180 days of none-stop adjudicatory work.

Where the lower tribunal wrongly ruled that it has no jurisdiction or it grants stay of proceedings for whatever reason, maybe for two or three weeks, I think these weeks should be restored. It is not beyond lawyers to manufacture some objections that could be quite recondite and because of the dynamism of the law; you think you need to hear better opinion from the appellate justices.

A judge might not want to proceed. In such a case, the days spent at the appellate court should not be part of the 180 days. If we do that, I think 180 days will be sufficient.

So, how do you see the interpretation of the Supreme Court on the issue?

Well, the Supreme Court is the final court but it’s not infallible. Because the Supreme Court is not infallible, there is provision in the Supreme Court Act that permits a review of the proceedings of the court. And the court can set aside its earlier decisions that the court considers erroneous. I believe a constitutional court could be set-up, that is, a full court of seven justices. The court can invite views from intellectual lawyers and lawyers in practice to reconsider that interpretation. What I have noticed is that, it does appear that some lawyers and some judges, with profound respect to them think the constitution is like any other statute, which you have to interpret strictly.

The Supreme Court is the organic law that sets the parameter for governance. So, its interpretation should be flexible enough to meet the demands of the time in which we find ourselves. I think this kind of dynamic approach is what informs why the American Constitution which is only eight pages long, with 27 amendments has served them for more than 250 years. If you interpret the constitution the way you interpret Rent Edict as some courts do, you will always have problems. The Supreme Court is far above, so its interpretations should be guided by more than ordinary rule of interoperation. For instance, the idea of 180 days that we are talking about, in ordinary statute, 180 days means 180 days. But, see

Ifedayo Adams Adedipe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), is one of the prominent lawyers in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. In this interview with WALE IGBINTADE, he speaks on the timeframe for the determination of election petitions in the country and the crisis in Rivers State judiciary, among others. Excerpts.

Adedipe

IN A CASE IN AKWA IBOM STATE WHEN VICTOR ATTAH WAS GOVERNOR, IT WAS SUCCESSFULLY ESTABLISHED THAT THE TRIBUNAL THAT SAT

OVER HIS CASE WAS COMPROMISED, TOOK BRIBE; THOSE JUDGES WERE NEITHER SUSPENDED NOR RETIRED what it has caused. The Supreme Court can revisit that interpretation.

Ahead of the 2015 elections, do you think the judiciary is ready to adjudicate on election petition disputes that may come up?

Why will the judiciary not be ready? I think the judiciary has always been ready.

The problem with our society is that we are looking for Angels among men. If you look at the fact that we have 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, I do not know the number of judges we have. Maybe we have about 500 jurists, it is bad to have a corrupt judge in the system, even one is bad. But we must adjudge the judiciary by the conduct of the majority of the justices, male and female who have discharged their duties very well. That majority are always ready and willing to serve this nation without blemish. So, I believe the judiciary is ready to adjudicate on election petition matters.

When you look at the role the judiciary played in restoring sanity in those tensed days, you will know that our judiciary has tried very well. In the last presidential election, the Supreme Court was divided in one case; it was ratio four to three. This was because of the use of ballot boxes that has no serial numbers and in violation of the Electoral Act. Three justices said they are nullifying the election while four said he would sustain it. That tells you that our courts are already alive to the responsibility. At this point I must comment on one case that has always cause me some worries and I believe is a slur in the integrity of judicial process.

It is a case in Akwa Ibom when Victor Attah was the Governor.

In that case, it was successfully established that the tribunal that sat over his case was compromised, took bribe; those judges were neither suspended nor retired.

I believe that wasn’t sufficient enough. But,

that is not the end of the matter, should their judgement be allowed to stand? I believe it shouldn’t. The Court of Appeal had already dismissed an appeal against the verdict of the tribunal. But it was later established that the tribunal was compromised and an action was taken. The Federal High Court said it has no jurisdiction and the Court of Appeal said yes, there is no jurisdiction and the Supreme Court lack the will to find jurisdiction and to ensure that, that type of situation is corrected. For me, it has always worried me, because when you do that kind of thing, what somebody needs to do is to bribe its ways and ensure that he gets a judgment. I believe when the integrity of a court is called to question, the Supreme Court should nullify the judgement and ensure that the beneficiaries are thrown out of office.

Do you agree that serving judges should be exempted from adjudicating on election petition disputes?

I am indifferent, quite honestly because when you go for retired judges, they have nothing more to lose. Serving judges could be dismissed if they are compromised.

But when a judge is already retired, he has nothing to lose. So we should use serving judges. If you look at the All England Law Report, you hardly find reported cases of elections issues. If the electoral process is transparent, chances are that it will not

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Law & Justice

Monday, February 9, 2015

43

election petitions –Adedipe be challenged. What we need to do is to reform the electoral process and there should be continue voters’ registration exercise.

If we keep updating our voters’ registers and the process is transparent, free and fair, fewer people will go to court. It is even dangerous to use retired judges, I would suggest that we use those that are still currently sitting and who are well- monitored.

What constitutional requirement must a presidential candidate satisfy before such candidate could be declared winner?

First, he must have a majority of lawful valid votes. Second, he must have a spread in the 36 states and must have minimum of 25 percent in at least 24 states. If these conditions are met then, he is validly elected.

Several months ago, some Judges in Ekiti State were attacked by hoodlums, but till today, no suspect has been charged to court. How do you see this development?

I have always held the view that the reason why we are not making progress is because of our utter disdain for the rule of law. We as a people believe that there are no penalties for wrong doing. It is regrettable; it is condemnable that individuals for whatever reason would desecrate the temple of justice. Between 1960 to date, have you heard of a single person arrested for political thuggery and tried? There is not a single one in the law report, so that attitude is what you see playing out in Ekiti State.

But, I think we should call a halt to it, the police should dust their files and whoever is responsible should face the wrath of the law. People should learn how to behave in civilised fashion. If people went to court to say a particular person should not contest election, they have a right. The judge who is to adjudicate the matter is constitutionally empowered to so do. The Police should live up to their constitutional responsibilities and duties. It is regrettable that nothing has been done so far but it’s not too late, because there is no statute of limitation in Criminal Law. That is why 40 years down the route you can still be held accountable.

A whole lot is wrong with us as a country but law and order is the first step towards

a civilised society. So when people assault judicial officers as it happened in Ekiti, everything must be done to bring them to book.

Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN has suspended its strike action, but some senior members of the Bar have faulted the judgment the union relied upon. How do you see that judgment?

I have not read the judgement, so I don’t know what the facts are. But, I believe there are ways of enforcing court judgement and I don’t think strike action is one of them.

We have the Sheriff and Civil Process Act that could be deployed.

What is the situation in Rivers State Judiciary now?

Since June till now, the courts in Rivers State have been under lock and key and the gates permanently welded and the country appears unconcerned. I want you to imagine the cost to the people. Judges would be paid for doing nothing and judiciary workers would be paid for doing nothing.

Litigants cannot go to court and businesses that require judicial intervention cannot be taken to court. Documents that needed judicial endorsements cannot have them and junior lawyers in particular are finding it difficult to make a living. Imagine a man and his wife who are lawyers, who are under five years are the Bar and have nothing doing because of ego issues. I believe that is a tragedy of unmitigated proportion and that it can happen in the 21st century Nigeria and the country pretends nothing is happening, this is a real tragedy.

We need to take a second look at our constitution. No governor should be allowed to exercise that type of authority. Nobody should be allowed to do that kind of things that is happening in Rivers State. It is dangerous, it unfair, it anti-people. There is no way to justify it that from June 6, 2014 and maybe until the governor leaves office, the court will remain under lock and key. Unfortunately that is where we are. A chief Judge is an administrator, for crying out loud, so what is the beef of the governor.

What is his problem?, I don’t know. What does the President of the Customary Court

THE COURTS IN RIVERS STATE HAVE BEEN UNDER LOCK AND KEY SINCE JUNE AND THE GATES PERMANENTLY WELDED AND THE

COUNTRY APPEARS UNCONCERNED.

JUDGES

WOULD BE PAID FOR DOING NOTHING AND JUDICIARY WORKERS WOULD BE PAID FOR DOING NOTHING of Appeal lose staying where he is? Whichever way you look at it the tragedy that is playing out in Rivers State shows the limitation of our elites, and the small-mindedness that informs their performance in public office. No political party should be allowed to do this type of things and get away with.

What is your take on standard of legal education in the country?

The way to answer that question is to look at what was obtainable in my days and what they have now. I attended the then University of Ife and we had Professors of law and quality lecturers. They were not the type who will ask students to look for handouts. We had law library where you will see all sorts of law reports and other quality law books. Today, we are in digital age, and you have digital professors and lecturers too. I have had occasions to take in some lawyers from our universities and students from the Law School to practice with me. Basically, in terms of the broadspectrum of knowledge, they are not doing badly. But, the materials may longer be there, which is the nature of our nation.

How many universities have up-to-date law libraries? Some legal practitioners have better libraries than some universities.

Despite concerted efforts by stakeholders, there is still delay in justice administration

in Nigeria. How do you think this can be resolved?

Let me give you an example, the average age of a case in this country from high court to the Supreme Court is probably 15 years. Five at the high court, five at the Court of Appeal and five at the Supreme Court before a matter is finally determined. I believe the Court of Appeal Act and the Supreme Court Act and Rules should be reviewed. It is not every matter that you take to the Court of Appeal, not to talk of every case been taking to the Supreme Court. For instance, why would you be allowed to take issue of land disputes from the high court up to the Supreme Court over an issue that has been determined again and again?

If someone still wants to litigate of such issues from the high court up to the Supreme Court, he should be allowed to exercise his right but he should also be made to pay the full cost. We need to deplore the disciplinary powers of the court to stop some of these abusive processes.

So, we must cut-down the number of appeals that goes to the Supreme Court.

Some issues have been thoroughly debated and decided that they should end at Court of Appeal and there would be no need to take them to the Supreme Court unless only on exceptional circumstances and that will be with leave of the Supreme Court itself.

44

Law & Justice

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

‘INEC should prosecute offenders in law court’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41 John Kerry who visited Nigeria last month had also urged the FG not to postpone or delay the poll declared that the United States would deny entry to anyone responsible for stoking violence during Nigeria’s election on February 14.

“Given the stakes it’s absolutely critical that these elections are conducted peacefully,” Kerry told reporters in Lagos after meeting President Goodluck Jonathan and main opposition rival, Muhammadu Buhari.

In the last election in 2011, when Buhari lost to Jonathan, three days of rioting killed more than 800 people and displaced 65,000.

“Nobody gains by violence, nobody gains by turning a political disagreement into a killing spree ... The proof will be in the actions that are taken in the course of the election and afterwards,” Kerry said.

He continues “Anyone who participates in, plans or calls for ... violence against the civilian population must be held accountable, including by ineligibility for an American visa,” adding that “Perpetrators of such violence would not be welcome in the United States of America.”

Before his departure, Kerry secured the commitment of Jonathan and Buhari to sign a non-violence accord.

When the National Mirror sought the views of some lawyers on the desirability or otherwise of the electoral offences tribunal, their reactions were diverse.

Lagos lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana, in an article said ‘’having signed the non-violence accord President Goodluck Jonathan should now proceed to institute the electoral offences tribunal’’.

He said the government should put an end to the official endorsement of politically-motivated violence in the country adding that ‘’if the FG is desirous of to maintain the status quo it is pertinent to note that section 150 of the Electoral Act has empowered INEC to deal with and

Falana, SAN

’IT IS BECAUSE THE FG AND ITS OFFICERS HAVE FAILED TO ACCEPT SOME OF THE UWAIS PANEL RECOMMENDATIONS THAT NIGERIA IS STILL DANCING IN CIRCLES prosecute electoral offenders. ‘’ Since the tribunal may not have much to do in between election periods, the SAN advocated that it should be an ad hoc body.

Falana said since INEC lacked the capacity to discharge the onerous statutory duty the NBA should take up the task of prosecuting electoral offenders throughout the country. He advised that the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA would be able to do carry out the task in collaboration with the Body of Attorneys-General and the Nigeria Police Force.

Other lawyers who spoke to the National Mirror on the issue included Mesrrs.

Fred Agbaje, Johnson Ezesoboo and Wale Ogunade.

Agbaje said that every suggestion given by the former CJN in his panel report was a waste, adding that’’ it is because the Federal Government and its officers have failed to accept some of his recommenda-

tions that Nigeria is still dancing in the circle. ‘’ Agbaje said that if the recommendations had been accepted, the country would have been out of mess and would have moved forward.

“They refused to accept the recommendations because of the skeleton in their governance. “he said Ezesoboo, said that it depends on the nature at which the tribunal is being set up. He observed that if circumstances warrant that such tribunal should be set up, its members might begin to behave in military manner.

Ezesoboo said that “electoral offences are very common in the country but how do we go about it so that we would not perverse justice while trying to correct situation?”

He said if the Electoral Offences Tribunal is however established,’’ it should

Lawyer’s club

Jokes

An honest lawyer An independent woman started her own business. She was shrewd and diligent, so business kept coming in. Pretty soon she realized she needed an in-house counsel, and so she began interviewing young lawyers.

“As I’m sure you can understand,” she started off with one of the first applicants, “in a business like this, our personal integrity must be beyond question.” She leaned forward. “Mr. Peterson, are you an ‘honest’ lawyer?”

“Honest?” replied the job prospect. “Let me tell you something about honest. Why, I’m so honest that my dad lent me fifteen thousand dollars for my education and I paid back every penny the minute I tried my very first case.”

“Impressive. And what sort of case was that?”

A gang of robbers broke into a lawyer’s club by mistake. The old legal lions gave them a fight for their life and their money. The gang was very happy to escape.

“It ain’t so bad,” one crook noted. “We got $25 between us.”

The boss screamed: “I warned you to stay clear of lawyers--we had $100 when we broke in!”

Eternal torment

A man was sent to Hell for his sins.

As he was being taken to his place of eternal torment, he passed a room where a lawyer was having an intimate encounter with a beautiful young woman.

“What a rip-off,” the man muttered.

“I have to roast for all eternity, and that lawyer gets to spend it with a beautiful woman.”

Jabbing the man with his pitchfork, the escorting demon snarled, “Who are you to question that woman’s punishment?”

Culled from Aha! Jokes; Lawyers Jokes.com

be supervised effectively so as not to suppress the people unnecessarily;’’.

Ogunade said that the electoral offences are provided in the Electoral Act and there are so many regulations that guide it.

Ogunade said all efforts should be concentrated on how the majority Nigerians would be able to get the permanent voter’s card PVC. According to him, ‘’People have been arrested in the past, what was done to them in that regard, it is when the political parties create rooms for crimes that that such tribunal is necessary but a situation where there is free, fair and credible election the is no need for such”.

“I think if there are cases of snatching of ballot boxes and other related offences should be taken to the normal law court for trial” he added.

Another lawyer, Mr. Olukayode Enitan said that if an Electoral Offences Tribunal could be created ahead of the election process, it would ensure speedy and expeditious hearing of election-crime related matters.

He, however said the time frame for the setting up of the tribunal is short just he queried, can such a Tribunal be set up within the time frame remaining for the holding of the 2015 elections? The short answer is NO!.

LEGAL TIPS

He squirmed in his seat and admitted, “My dad sued me for the money.”

Bar

Ogunade

Agbaje

Election offences and penalties

E

lection is a process in which people vote to choose a person or group of people to hold an official position. Election offence is a crime that breaks electoral laws and requires a particular punishment. *Penalty is a punishment that is given to someone for doing something which is against a law or rule. *Every registrant with a valid voter’s card is eligible to vote. However, there are rules guiding the electoral process and anyone who

violates these rules is liable on conviction to be penalized. *For instance, the enabling provision of the Electoral Act 2006, (as amended) prohibits disorderly conduct at elections. By that section, any person who at an election acts or incites others to act in a disorderly manner commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N100, 000 or imprisonment for a term of twelve months or both. * It is also an offence under section 136 when done on an election day,

to be in possession of any offensive weapon or wear any dress or have any facial or other decorations which in any event are calculated to intimidate voters or to snatch or destroy any election materials.

Punishment for these offences is N50, 000 or imprisonment for six (6) months.

Written by Francis Famoroti, Judiciary Editor. We welcome feedback and reactions from readers via our e-mail: nationalmirrorlaw@yahoo. com

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Law & Justice

Monday, February 9, 2015

45

How Enahoro was extradited, tried for treason FAMOUS CASES

Chief Anthony Enahoro was a First Republic politician, who was reputed to have sponsored the motion for the country’s independence in 1953. He was charged with conspiracy and treasonable felony along with some other AG leaders in 1962 and he escaped to the United Kingdom but was later extradited to Nigeria to face trial, writes FRANCIS FAMOROTI, Head, Judiciary.

L

ate elder statesman, Chief Anthony Eromosele Enahoro was one of the titans of the country’s struggle for political independence and lately, a chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition, (NADECO).

He trained as a journalist and was a close associate of the late founder of defunct Action Group (AG), Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the first Republic.

Enahoro became the editor of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s newspaper, the Southern Nigerian Defender, Ibadan, in 1944 at the age of 21, thus becoming Nigeria’s youngest editor ever. He later became the editor of Zik’s Comet, Kano, 1945–49, also associate editor West African Pilot, Lagos, Editor-In-Chief, Morning Star from 1950 to 1953.

As the Editor of the Daily Comet in Lagos, he published a key exposé of British colonial misconduct, earning a nine-month jail sentence for Sedition in 1946. In 1947, he again ran afoul of the colonialists with a speech denouncing police violence, for which he was clamped into another eight months in jail. His third detention by the British was also in 1949, after he chaired a lecture for the Zikist movement.

Unscathed by these experiences, Enahoro was elected to the Western House of Assembly and to the transitional parliament as a member of AG. In 1953, he moved the motion for Nigeria’s self-government in the Western House of Assembly, opposing the British “go-slow” policy. Though his motion was rejected by Parliament and the northern MP’s staged a walkout as a consequence of the attempt. The actual successful movement of the motion for Nigeria’s independence did not take place until 1958 but Enahoro’s motion appeared to have credited for spurring the eventual handover of state power on October 1, 1960. He served as a delegate to the constitutional talks which preceded flag-independence. In the Western Regional Government led by Chief Awolowo., he became Information and Home Affairs Minister and supervised the construction of the first television station in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service, WNBS and the first sports complex in the country, Liberty Stadium, in Ibadan. He was a foundation member of the Governing Council of the University of Ife. (now Obafemi Awolowo. University). When the Western Regional government was subverted in 1964, Enahoro and others were declared wanted and eventually jailed.

Sometimes in 1962, a crisis erupted in the AG when the leadership of the party was accused of plotting a coup against

Awolowo

Enahoro

ENAHORO’S ASYLUM REQUEST WAS REJECTED AND HE WAS EXTRADITED IN MARCH 1963.

AS SOON AS HE RETURNED TO THE COUNTRY, HE WAS TRIED BY A LAGOS HIGH COURT AND SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa led-Federal Government and threatened with detention. Put the other way, before Nigeria became a Federal Republic in October 1, 1963 with a new Republican Constitution, Enahoro had fled Nigeria to England in September 1962 after being accused, along with Awolowo of planning a civilian coup against the Federal Government.

In criminal charge No LA/68/C/62, Awolowo and 30 others who were arraigned in the treasonable felony trials in the country’s history were eventually found guilty and convicted.

Notable among them; are, Michael Omisade, Oladipo Maja, Samuel Onitiri, Samuel Taiwo Oredein, Lateef Jakande, Josiah Olawoyin, Olabisi Onabanjo, Alfred Rewane, Chike Obi, Joseph Tarka, Anthony Enahoro, Sam Ikoku, Sam Otubanjo, Ayo Adebanjo and James Aluko.

In September 1962, Enahoro fled Nigeria for London, travelling via Accra and sought political asylum. Nigeria requested Enahoro’s extradition under the 1881 Fugitive Offenders Act, preventing his application for political asylum.

Enahoro was arrested in London on

November 27, 1962, and as a “fugitive offender” moved to Nigeria on May 16, 1963 to face the treason trial, jailed on September 7, 1963, with Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Before his trial, the Nigerian government mounted pressure on the Labour Party-controlled British Parliament to extradite Enahoro by invoking the 1881 Fugitive Offenders’ Act. The London authorities detained him in Brixton Prison, United Kingdom.

“The Enahoro affair” triggered days of debate in the House of Commons, in 1963 as he battled against extradition.

His case was intensely debated in parliament until Harold Macmillan, the then British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, bowed to the majority’s argument.

“The Enahoro affair” became an issue of human rights versus the government’s pusillanimous wish not to offend Nigeria, and put the Tory prime minister, Macmillan, and his home secretary, Henry Brooke, in a difficult position.

He was extradited from the UK and imprisoned for treason. In 1966, he was released by the Military Government.

Enahoro’s asylum request was rejected and he was extradited in March

1963. As soon as he returned to the country, the politician who had earlier been charged along with others, was tried by a Lagos High Court and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment on charges of felony and treason in September 1963. The sentence was later reduced to 10 years on appeal.

He was released in 1966 by the General Yakubu Gowon military administration in 1967, and appointed the Federal Commissioner of Information and Labour. He served this position till the period of Nigerian Civil War and up till 1974. He served also as Federal Commissioner for Special Duties under General Murtala Muhammed regime in 1975 until the latter’s assassination.

During the Nigerian crisis that followed the 1966 coups, Enahoro was the leader of the then Mid-West delegation to the Ad Hoc-Constitutional Conference in Lagos.

Indeed, the story of his own escape to Britain and his eventual extradition back to Nigeria is retold in his 1965 book, Fugitive Offender.

As a leader of NADECO, the major pro-democracy organisation calling for actualization of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Moshood Abiola, he was in the forefront of campaign for the end of military rule in the country.

In 1996, Enahoro himself was the target of Abacha’s assassination squad, from which he narrowly escaped. His “offence” was to have offered to help convene a dialogue between the democracy movement and the junta. The same squad murdered Kudirat Abiola later that year.

Law & Justice

46

Monday, February 9, 2015

Florida S’ Court asked to define sexual intercourse UNITED STATES

T

he Florida Supreme Court has been asked to consider the definition of sexual intercourse in a case involving a gay man charged with not letting a partner know he was HIV-positive.

A report by ABC says Gary Debaun is trying to have a charge dismissed under a 1986 law designed to prevent the spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

Lawyers for Debaun argued that it’s illegal not to disclose an HIV infection before “sexual intercourse,” but that the definition only applies to traditional sex between

a man and a woman, not two men.

A lower court judge dismissed the charge against Debaun, but an appeals court reinstated it saying the law was clearly intended to include other sexual activity where there is a risk of transmitting the virus.

US President, Barack Obama

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

British courts can impose wholelife prison sentences –ECHR UNITED KINGDOM

B

ritish courts do have the right to impose whole-life tariffs on prisoners who are jailed for life, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.

The court had said in 2013 that whole-life sentences breached human rights because it was not clear if there was the chance of a review of such cases.

According to a report by BBC, Judges have now said this is not the case with a convict, Arthur Hutchinson, who challenged his wholelife sentence.

The European court had previously said there had to be the possibility of a review at some stage and that current laws allowing for re-

lease in exceptional circumstances were unclear.

The Court of Appeal in the UK then said in 2014 that the law in England and Wales “is clear as to ‘possible exceptional release of whole-life prisoners’”.

It said the justice secretary had the power to release a prisoner on licence if they were satisfied exceptional circumstances existed that justified it on compassionate grounds.

The Strasbourg-based court ruled that in Hutchinson’s case there had been no violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which relates to inhuman and degrading treatment.

The judges held “in the circumstances of this case where, following the Grand

Chamber’s judgment in which it expressed doubts about the clarity of domestic law, the national court has specifically addressed those doubts and set out an unequivocal statement of the legal position, the court must accept the national court’s interpretation of domestic law.”

In 2013, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled that whole-life sentences passed on the most heinous murderers were incompatible with human rights and amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment.

The reason was the lack of a proper review and so the lack of hope, however remote, of eventual release.

That caused political ructions. It was cited by the

British Prime Minister David Cameron

Conservatives in proposals published last year to scrap the Human Rights Act in favour of a British Bill of Rights and to ensure that Parliament was not bound

by Strasbourg rulings.

The whole-life sentence ruling, along with that on prisoner votes, were seen by many as examples of expansionist European judges straying beyond their original human rights brief.

War crimes: ICC set to deliver judgement in FNI leader’s trial THE HAGUE

T

he Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will deliver its Judgment on the appeal against the acquittal in the case of The Prosecutor v. Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui in open court on February 24, 2015.

Trial Chamber II had on December 18, 2012, acquitted Chui of the

charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity and ordered his immediate release. The Office of the Prosecutor subsequently appealed the verdict.

Chui, alleged former leader of the Front des nationalistes et intégrationnistes [National Integrationist Front] (FNI), was charged with a three count- charge of crimes against humanity (murder, rape and sexual slavery) and seven counts of

war crimes (using children under the age of 15 to take active part in the hostilities.

He was also alleged to have directed an attack against a civilian population or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities.

Besides, he was charged with wilful killing; destruction of property; pillaging; sexual slavery and rape) allegedly committed on Feb-

ruary 24, 2003 during the attack on the village of Bogoro, in the Ituri district of the DRC. Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui allegedly committed, through other persons, within the meaning of article 25(3) (a) of the Rome Statute: Three crimes against humanity: Murder under article 7(1) (a) of the Statute; sexual slavery and rape under article 7(1) (g) of the Statute.

ICC building

Subsidy scam: Group seeks speedy trial of suspected oil marketers RAIMO OLUOKUN

A

non-governmental organisation, African Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), has expressed concern over the slow space of prosecution of fuel subsidy cases in the various courts across the

country.

The organisation, which was worried about the snail-speed arraignment and prosecution of the suspects, also noted that for the past two years, the cases were still dragging in various courts with no assurance that such cases would be concluded soon.

Speaking at the street

rally organised by the group in Ikeja, the policy programme officer, Mr. Innocent Edemhanria, stated that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), had retrieved more than N5 billion from oil marketers, while over 400 suspected oil marketers are being prosecuted alongside their companies

in court.

Edemhanria said that no single individual or company has been convicted by the courts or the case being successfully concluded.

He added that “prosecutions have been hampered by a number of issues including delay tactics been employed by defence lawyers, the presentation of

inadequate evidence, procedural errors, failure of some suspects to appear in court, frequent strike actions by judicial workers, among others”.

According to him, “We are afraid that delay in the prosecution may pave way for suspects who have plenty money and powerfully connected may escape

justice even when it is often said that justice delayed is justice denied” he said “Our demand is that the Federal Government should speed up the prosecution of fuel subsidy corruption cases that are currently pending in courts where notable oil marketers and their companies are involved”.

I was fidgeting in court –Adenubi

M

y first appearance in court was during my national youth service in Lokoja, Kogi State.

My principal travelled and I had to attend court alone.

I was before a Magistrate’s Court. It wasn’t easy and I was fidgeting in court. The Magistrate had to asked me

to speak louder, because, I wasn’t having the confidence.

I made my mistakes and I learned from them. Shortly after that, there was an application I had to move.

But, because my principal was not available, I was sent to court to take a date but the Magistrate insisted

that I must move the application. The Magistrate knew that I was a new wig, but he wanted me to learn.

I had to move the application, it was not easy. After a while, I got used to the courtroom system and going to court was no longer a problem for me.

Grace Adenubi

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Law & Justice

Monday, February 9, 2015

47

Putting an end to political violence FEMI FALANA

A

fortnight ago, former SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Anan and Chief Emeka Anyaoku, a former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, jointly presided over the signing of a Non-Violence Accord by the presidential candidates of the political parties that are taking part in the 2015 General Election scheduled to hold in Nigeria next month. At the well- celebrated ceremony which held in Abuja the candidates of the two leading political parties embraced each other. While the media and several people were excited with the development I expressed the view that the so called peace accord would not stem the tide of political violence in the country due to the violent nature of the electoral system coupled with official impunity.

In a number of decided cases, the courts have held that candidates sponsored by political parties cannot be held vicariously liable for politically- motivated violence and electoral malpractice carried out on their behalf unless they can be directly linked with instigating or directing their supporters to engage in such criminality. Indeed, political leaders usually dissociate themselves from acts of violence by condemning the perpetrators. However, if the suspects are charged to court the leaders turn round to engage the services of lawyers to defend them. In many cases, attorneysgeneral are directed to file nolle prosequi to stop the prosecution of suspects who belong to the ruling parties. Hence, the cases of the hundreds of suspects charged to court by the Police for electoral offences committed during the 2003, 2007 and 2011 general elections were abruptly terminat-

ed in all the states of the federation.

In the last few months, Nigerian shave witnessed a reign of terror by armed thugs who have engaged in the bombing or burning of party secretariats, the destruction of vehicles belonging to political parties, the harassment of political opponents , the wearing of masks by “security personnel “at campaign rallies, the extrajudicial killing and brutal attacks of innocent people at party congresses and primary elections, the unprovoked assault on judges, the throwing of stones at leaders etc. In spite of the warning by the electoral officials the illegal use of official vehicles by public officers for political campaigns has continued. Top political leaders have continued to make inciting statements. A governor published a death wish advert which could have provoked ethno-religious riots. Another governor attended a meeting where ex-militants threatened to declare a war on the Republic if the President is “dethroned” in the forthcoming general election.

It is hoped that those who are beating the drum of war will be called to order by President Jonathan. After all, they never took part in the streets protests held in Lagos and Abuja which compelled the National Assembly to recognise Dr.Jonathan as the Acting President in May 2010. Neither did they blackmail Nigerians from all parts of the country to vote for the President in 2011. With respect to the stoning of President Jonathan during a political rally in Bauchi, last week, Governor Isa Yaguda has pointed accusing fingers at some unnamed members of the ruling party. This is a serious allegation which should be investigated by the Police with a view to bringing the culprits to book..

It is common knowledge that the bulk

EVENT

Dr. Taiwo Ipaye and Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe at UNILAG Alumni Association reunion dinner and award night in Lagos, recently.

Mr. Francis Ojo and former President, NBA, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN

HAVING SIGNED THE NON-VIOLENCE ACCORD PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN SHOULD NOW PROCEED TO INSTITUTE THE ELECTORAL

OFFENCES TRIBUNAL of the infractions of the Law highlighted above took place after the signing of the peace accord. The National Human Rights Commission has said that “signing a peace pact is easy; the more difficult part is to ensure that the political office seekers and their supporters work within the rules of engagement.” But office seekers and their supporters cannot operate within ‘the rules of engagement” if they are treated like sacred cows. It ought to be pointed out that executive immunity does not cover election petitions and electoral offences! In Turaki v. Dalhaltu (2003) 38 WRN 54 at 168 Oguntade JCA (as he then was) held that “If a Governor were to be considered immuned from court proceedings, that would create the position where a sitting Governor would be able to flout election laws and regulations to the detriment of other persons contesting with him. This will make nonsense of the election process and be against the spirit of our national Constitution which in its tenor provides for a free and fair election.”

Since ours is a country which claims to operate under the Rule of Law it is inexplicable that the suspects involved in sabotaging the electoral process have not been charged to any criminal court. The crisis of impunity in the land has been compounded by the partisan involvement of the authorities of the police, the armed forces and other security agencies in the political process. Although there are adequate and elaborate provisions in the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended and the penal statutes to deal with political violence and electoral malfeasance the managers of the neo-colonial state lack the political will to bring electoral offenders to book.

In 2007, President Umaru Yar’Adua admitted that the election which brought him to power was flawed. In a bid to sanitize the electoral system he set up the Muhammadu Uwais Electoral Committee. Among other recommendations the Committee called for the establishment of

Mr. Victor Eije and Mr Godwin Obla, SAN

an Electoral Offences Tribunal. The Yar’ Adua administration rejected the recommendation without any justification. However, following the political violence which greeted the announcement of the results of the presidential election in some states in the North and Akwa Ibom in April2011, President Goodluck Jonathan set up the Ahmed Lemu Panel to investigate the crisis. From the detailed report of the Panel, 943 people were killed while 838 others were injured. While the Federal Government has paid over N10billion as reparation to the victims of the riots, the 626 suspects who were arrested in connection with arson, culpable homicide and other grave offences perpetrated during the civil disturbances have been left off the hook on account of official impunity that has become the order of the day under the current political dispensation.

Convinced that electoral offenders ought to be prosecuted in order to stop electoral violence the Panel equally made a strong case for the setting up of “an autonomous and constitutionally recognized Electoral Offences Tribunal, but which may be an ad hoc body as it may not have much to do in between election periods.” In accepting the recommendation, the Federal Government undertook to take all necessary actions to establish the Tribunal. Although the recommendation was adopted in August 2012, the Tribunal is yet to be set up. Having signed the non-violence accord President Goodluck Jonathan should now proceed to institute the Electoral Offences Tribunal.

It is high time an end was put to the official endorsement of politically motivated violence in the country.

However, if the Federal Government is desirous to maintain the status quo it is pertinent to note that section 150 of the Electoral Act has empowered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deal with prosecute electoral offenders. But since the INEC lacks the capacity to discharge the onerous statutory duty the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) should take up the task of prosecuting electoral offenders throughout the country. To ensure the success of the proposal the NBA should be prepared to collaborate with the Body of Attorneys-General and the Nigeria Police Force. Unless electoral offenders are punished as envisaged by the Electoral Act and the Constitution the subversion of the democratic process will continue unabated.

Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria writes from Lagos.

48 48

News

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Monday, February 9, 2015

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Community Mirror It is on record that in 2013, President Jonathan, undermining the constitutional limitation, ensured that Nigeria attended an IOC meeting.

APC Vice Presidential candidate- Prof. Yemi Osinbajo

Father rapes 11- year- old daughter in Bauchi E zekiel Titus BAUCHI

B

auchi State Police Command has arrested a 45 -year -old man for allegedly raping her 11 years old biological daughter.

According to the suspect Abubakar Magaji, a resident of Liman Kagum in Bauchi LGA, he engaged in the ugly act because his wife left him.

Magaji, a father of four confessed to have had acanal knowledge with his daughter twice saying “I am ashamed of myself because it was

temptation that led me to do it.

“I divorced her mother and married another wife but unfortunately my wife also left me a month ago, so I needed a woman to be with, that was why I did it.”

Parading the suspect along others at the police headquarters in Bauchi State the Police Commissioner Lawal Shehu who expressed worry over the increasing rate of rape cases in the state vowed that all suspects would be prosecuted.

He said, “Since January,

we have arrested over 10 suspected rapists, only this week we recorded over five cases. It is worrisome that among the suspects arrested include a 45year- old man who raped his 11 years old daughter and two aged men who are between 45 to 54 years who raped teenage girls of between 12 years and 14 years.

“Any suspect arrested in connection to rape case will be charged to court and be prosecuted because rape suspect will not be bailable. Even when court is on strike, the suspects will remain in detention till court resumes.”

I’m still haunted by horrors –Mubi attack survivor Dare A kogun

O

ne of the survivors of the attack on Mubi town by the dreaded Boko Haram sect last year has said that she is still being haunted by the horrors that befell town.

The month of October will be indelible in the heart of residents of Mubi in Adamawa State, Nigeria as it rendered many homeless and many properties were set ablaze.

An account of the sorrowful Mrs. O Adenike spoke of the decimation of her household when the insurgents came like thieves in the night.

She said, “The attackers were masked men with weapons. At the time of the attack what was going through my mind was my four children and husband. This is a town we have lived all our lives, where do we start from. I could not find my husband and my four children throughout the moment of the attack. Our lives are in shambles, the attack was unexpected.”

This is one out of thousands of Nigerians that are displaced in the country of their birth, drowning in the river of tears as Eric Clapton sang in his song. The Boko Haram insurgents were forcing people to be-

lieve in their religious dogma.

A town of peace and tranquility suddenly turned to terrorists’ haven.

According to UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, some 13,000 Nigeria refugees crossed from Adamawa after the Boko Haram insurgents attacked and captured the town of Mubi late October.

It seems the Boko Haram sect has declared war on Nigeria’s government. What about the victims of war? Where do they go from here? Who will rehabilitate and compensate them?

How will they be integrated into the society? Is it not right if they seek political asylum in any other country?

Violation of human rights is of great concern to United Nations. Have these people not been badly treated in their own country? Who do we blame that Nigerians are fleeing to near and far countries? We have to speak on behalf of Nigerians living in these Boko Haram attacked territories. We should stand for what is right and is a noble cause.

A tabernacle in the time of distress is the only protection of human rights, be it as a war victim or a victim of any form of human rights violation.

Wife stabs husband to death in Yenagoa Debris of the electronic plaza located on Hospital Road in Eket, Akwa-Ibom State razed down by fire recently.

PHOTO: NAN

Osahon Julius

NSCDC arrests 5 suspects for raping 14-year-old in Lafia

T

O

fficers of the Nasarawa State Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC , have arrested five suspects for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl.

The State Commandant of NSCDC, Mr. Andekin Musa, while parading the suspects at the state headquarters, disclosed that the girl they raped hawks sachet water otherwise called ``Pure Water’’ in the same area.

The suspects according to him were labourers working at a construction site in Doma Local Government market.

He said four of the suspects

had on January 30, lured the girl into an uncompleted building beside the Doma market and took turns to rape her.

“The suspects raped her in an uncompleted building near the market. They lured her into the building saying they would buy her water but instead raped her,” Andekin said.

The commandant explained that the four suspects after their arrest implicated the fifth suspect who also confessed to raping the girl.

Musa said that officers of the command in Doma on a tip-off on February 1 arrested two of

the suspects near Tudun Laraba community in Doma.

He said that the other three suspects were later arrested on the same day from the Doma market.

“The rape took place on January 30, while their arrest was on February 1, they are all around and they have all confessed to committing the offence.’’ he said.

Musa said the suspects, Wada Mohammed (37), Tanko Adamu (36), Abubakar Ogachi (40), Yusuf Ogar (35) and Samaila Ali (35) would be prosecuted after investigation had been concluded.

YENAGOA

ragedy struck in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on Thursday as a housewife, Victoria Gagariga, stabbed her husband, Henry Gagariga, to death with a kitchen knife.

It was gathered that the 28 years old Victoria, killed 33-year-old Gagariga at their residence along Ebisam Road in Akenfa, a suburb of the state capital, Yenagoa.

She was said to have stabbed her husband who is a legal practitioner on the neck with a kitchen knife following a bitter quarrel over “a minor domestic issue” at the break of dawn on Thursday.

Sources said they had lived

together for some years before legalizing their union in Yenagoa last June, although it had not produced any child.

Gagariga was said to have given up the ghost at the hospital where he was rushed to after losing a lot of blood. His body had been deposited at an undisclosed mortuary in the state.

Victoria, daughter of a retired director in the state Ministry of Information from Brass Local Government Area of the state, is said to be a staff of the Bayelsa State Council for Arts and Culture while Henry was an indigene of Sagbama Local Government Area, also in the state.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Bayelsa Command, Asinim Botswat, confirmed the incident.

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

49

World News

Numbers of vulnerable young Muslims being radicalised by crazy stuff” on the Internet is frightening.

–UK’S PRINCE CHARLES

Somali PM urges US banks to unblock cash transfer PAUL ARHEWE WITH AGEN

S

omalia’s prime minister urged the U.S. government and U.S. banks to support money transfer firms that offer a lifeline for many in the wartorn Horn of Africa nation.

About 40 percent of all Somali families rely on remittances from another country, and the estimated annual total of $1.3 billion is more than all foreign aid and investment in Somalia combined.

Funds sent back home to Somalia are crucial for many families and businesses in a country that lacks a proper financial system due to the years of fighting.

Virtually all major U.S. banks have ended remittance services to Somalis in the United States because of regulations designed to stop money falling into the

hands of groups branded “terrorists” by Washington, such as Somalia’s al Shabaab.

Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said in a statement on Sunday he had spoken to American government officials about this “pressing issue” and repeated his calls to U.S. banks to reconsider their decision.

“I will seek to appease their concerns and I will do everything in my power to find a permanent, legitimate and transparent solution,” he said.

He said his government was committed to the restoration of security after decades of conflict, adding that economic revival was also required.

“Somalia also requires a robust financial and banking system in order to reassure the money remittance sector, governments and key stakeholders,” said the prime minister.

Sharmarke

Egypt to re-try Al Jazeera journalists

T

he retrial of two Al Jazeera journalists detained in Egypt will begin on 12 February, judicial sources said.

Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were sentenced to seven and 10 years respectively last June. A court ordered a retrial last month.

They were arrested in 2013 along with Australian colleague Peter Greste after being accused of collaborating with the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Greste was freed a week ago.

A decree issued by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi last November allows the deportation of foreign prisoners. Mr Fahmy, who held dual Canadian and Egyptian citizenship, renounced his Egyptian nationality this week in an attempt to secure his release.

Egyptian and Canadian officials had indicated that he would be deported to Canada.

Mohamed is an Egyptian who holds no dual nationality.

His wife said that the three journalists were tried together

and therefore should have been released together, and that she was astonished that the retrial should go ahead with Mr Greste already free.

The conviction of the journalists, on charges that included spreading lies to help a terrorist organisation, caused an international outcry. All three denied the charges against them and said their trial was a sham.

Fahmy’s high-profile lawyer, Amal Clooney, has written to

Egypt’s president, saying she plans to visit Cairo to discuss the case.

That would bring fresh headlines and a headache for the authorities who would like the Al Jazeera story to fade away, the BBC’s Orla Guerin reports from Cairo.

According to campaign group Reporters Without Borders, there are currently 165 journalists imprisoned around the world, including 15 in Egypt.

L-R: Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy were sentenced last June

‘Iran’s leader may accept fair nuke deal as talks proceed’

I

ran’s paramount leader suggested on Sunday he could back a fair nuclear accord with world powers in which neither side got everything it wanted, boosting Iranian negotiators under fire from hardliners at home opposed to rapprochement with the West.

“I would go along with any agreement that could be made.

Of course, I am not for a bad deal. No agreement is better than an agreement which runs contrary to our nation’s interests,” clerical Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement issued by his office carried by ISNA news agency.

But in a message that appeared to back up the conciliatory approach of President Hassan Rouhani, who revived diplomacy with Western powers soon after his landslide election in 2013, Khamenei said: “As the president (has) said, negotiations mean reaching a common point. Therefore, the other party ... should not expect its illogical expectations to be materialized.

WORLD BULLETIN Teen arrested in mall shooting, three victims hospitalised A teenager who police say opened fire at a Pittsburgh-area mall, shooting his intended target as well as two bystanders, was arrested early yesterday, and the three victims remain hospitalised.

Gunfire erupted inside the Macy’s department store at the Monroeville Mall about 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, sending panicked shoppers running. The gunman fled but police say they were able to identify him by matching surveillance video with images on social media.

Tarod Thornhill, 17, was arrested at a home in Brackenridge about 3:15 a.m. Sunday. He was being held at the Allegheny County Jail pending arraignment on charges as an adult of aggravated assault, attempted homicide and recklessly endangering other people.

Police Chief Douglas Cole said two men and a woman were shot, including the man who was targeted. He said the two men were in critical condition, while the woman was in stable condition.

“This was not random,” Cole told reporters. “We have evidence that leads to that.” He declined to elaborate.

In late December, hundreds of teenagers gathered at the mall and several fights broke out. The fights caused local officials and mall administration to agree on a plan to increase security there.

Leaders to hold Ukraine summit on Wednesday Efforts to broker a peace deal in Ukraine gained momentum Sunday with leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine announcing they aim to hold four-way talks this week, even as fighting rages on.

The plan for a meeting Wednesday in the Belarusian capital of Minsk emerged from a phone call between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The aim is to draw up a package of measures that revives a muchviolated September peace plan.

Preparations for the summit will take place Monday in Berlin with talks between senior diplomats from the four countries.

Ukraine’s Poroshenko raised the possibility that the meeting Wednesday could prove to be a breakthrough after months of futile diplomacy.

“They (the leaders) expect that their efforts during the Minsk meeting will lead to the swift and unconditional cessation of fire by both sides,” his office said in a statement.

50

Politics

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Jega leading Nigeria into worst catastrophe than June 12, 1993 –TRG OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU

A

group, Transition Resurgent Group, TRG, yesterday warned that unless something holistic is done to address the glaring deficiencies in the preparations for the 2015 polls, including conducting proper investigation into alleged collusion between Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega and some interests to favour a certain presidential candidate, Jega may be leading Nigeria into something worse than June 12, 1993 episode.

TRG declared that it no more had confidence in Jega unless he could clear his name on allegations leveled against him, including one by the Southern Nigerian Peoples Assembly, SNPA, that he attended meetings with leaders of Northern Elders Forum, NEF, where plots were hatched to compromise the

integrity of the electoral process in the country.

TNG, in a press conference jointly addressed yesterday in Lagos by Yinka Odumakin, Colonel Tony Nyiam, rtd, Comrade Ezike Ibuchukwu and Alfred Ilenre, reacting to the postponed general election said: “SNPA claimed further that Jega accepted a donation of 100 laptops for each state of the North from the Northern elders which were given to youth activists to compromise the registration process among legions of other charges.”

Prof. Jega had Saturday night announced shift of the elections earlier scheduled to hold on February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11, saying that the INEC shifted the exercise not due to non-readiness on its part but on the part of the country’s security apparatus, who said they could not guaranty security for the exercise.

Odumakin declared that it was quite obvious that Jega was not addressing

the core issue as he failed to take responsibility for obvious lapses that characterised the shoddy preparations for the now rescheduled polls.

He said: “He rather went ahead in his boisterous claims that the commission was better prepared to conduct the 2015 elections than it was in 2011 but for the insistence of security forces that they could not guaranty safety.”

Odumakin asserted that it was a clear sign of gross irresponsibility for Jega to say that his inability to distribute 23 million permanent voter cards, PVCs, excluding the numbers that had not been collected from the 45 million he claimed he had distributed, represented a better preparation, adding that perhaps, ‘preparation’ has a different meaning in the INEC boss’ dictionary.

He said that “much more surprising was the gusto with which he rolled out the high percentage of distribution of PVCs in insur-

gency ravaged states in the North East: Borno (68%), Gombe (78%), Yobe (79.4%) and Adamawa (80.9%) “Reasonable people are bound to wonder what magic Jega performed in war zone that he could not do in Lagos where PVC collection is at a ridiculous 38.39%.”

Accusing Jega of making wild claims about improvements in card delivery, Odumakin said “our investigations reveal that not a single new card has been delivered to many of the collection centres in Lagos in the last two, three weeks.

“There have also been claims of deliberate denials of cards to owners based on subjective factors which suggest deliberate plans to disenfranchise certain categories of voters their cards in the state due to the voting patterns in the 2011 elections.”

TRG also said it was not impressed by Jega’s arrogant waving off of weighty allegations made by the

L-R: South West Co-ordinator, National Youth Council of Nigeria ,Mr. Akin Alla; Comrade Gbadebo Fagbemi; Former Executive Chairman, Amuwo Odofin Local Government, Comrade Ayodele Adewale, and Comrade Kingsley Nwaze, at a stakeholders meeting on Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, collection, in Lagos yesterday.

Nigeria’s politics fast becoming a storm –CLEEN Foundation ADEOLA TUKURU ABUJA

A

non governmental organisation, CLEEN Foundation has said security threats influence Nigeria politics and are fast becoming the storms that must be dis encumbered through multi stakeholders corporation and collaboration.

CLEEN Executive Di-

rector, Kemi Okenyodo, during a presentation of the findings of the election viability poll and 9th security threat assessment in Abuja, said few days to the proposed election, the utterance of some political leaders and the manifestation of violence in some parts of the country even before the elections have heightened tension in the country.

In its reports, CLEEN

said some Nigerians have begun to relocate to other countries or to other parts of Nigeria as a result of this fear, adding: “There are strong indications that the activities of non-state actors particularly insurgency by the Boko Haram fighter and counter insurgency measures by youth vigilantes is intensifying.

“These attacks signify the control of the North-

ern section of the state by the Islamist fighters which when added to those parts of the state already captured in the Central and Southern parts amount to nearly half of Borno state” “The intermittent violence in Southern Kaduna in the North West zone remained unabated. Some of the ethno-religious contentions in the state have continued to simmer.”

Credible Alternative Alliance, CAA, led by former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa that Jega skewed PVCs’ distribution in favor of a particular candidate.

Insisting that all the 68.8 million registered voters must be given unfettered access to freely collect their PVCs and cast their votes as provided for in the constitution, TRG said it could be forced to take INEC to court if that condition was not met.

It said: “ Voters in the zones that tend to support President Goodluck Jonathan are massively disenfra-

47 DAYS TO GO

chised by the application of the so-called PVCs debacle, 40 to 50 per cent of voters in these regions will be denied their right to vote by INEC. “That is nearly half of the support base of the President, simply nullified by administrative failure prior to the election. By comparison, the zones that tend to support Muhammdau Buhari are handed a massive voter advantage, nearly 80 per cent of his support base will be allowed to cast their votes by INEC.

Group to Jonathan, probe forensic report EBERE NDUKWU

T

he Director General of Change Ambassador of Nigeria, CAN, Blessing Agbomhere, has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to prove to Nigerians that he is not corrupt by acting on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, forensic audit report conducted by the PriceWaterHouseCooper, which indicted the Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison Madueke, of unaccounted $1.48 billion.

Agbomhere, who is also the Executive Director, Gate Keepers Foundation, GKF, made this call during a media book launch on 100 reasons why the President should not be re-elected, entitled “TwoFaced Jonathan,” held weekend in Lagos, adding that the president is a complainer who uses complains to arouse emotions and sympathy from the people in order to use them to achieve his selfish and unholy desire for power.

He said: “In 2006, he complained he was being beaten and victimised by Dipreye Alamieyeseigha, a tricks he used to succeed him. He betrayed the people of Bayelsa State in total ruins. It happened again in 2010, when he complained about Umaru Yar’Adua and other elites including James Onanefe

Ibori.”

Also speaking at the event, national coordinator, All Progressives Congress, APC, Youth Vanguard, Bisiriyu Abdul Ghany, faulted the incumbent regime’s failure to fulfill the promises it made to Nigerians while assuming office in 2011.

He said: “The president came in 2011 and made a lot of promises to us but as I speak to you most of the promises he made are still the problems we are facing. Government have spent huge amount of money on electricity and we are still using generators virtual in every house in Nigeria. The hospitals he promised, we can’t find them today. We all have to join hands together to salvage this country. We have a better opportunity now; we have a better alternative.”

Calling on Nigerian youths to take the opportunity afforded them by the coming elections to effect change that will help salvage Nigeria, Ghany said: “Let us leave religion and tribal sentiment aside in choosing a right leader, a Nigeria of ours, a country without corruption with impunity, where people of different ethnic groups and religion can interact in unity and oneness. We should not allow religious sentiment becloud us in choosing the right leader in the forthcoming general polls.”

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

North

Monday, February 9, 2015

Kidnappers of Dariye’s father demand $10m

K

idnappers of Senator Joshua Dariye’s father, Mr Dariye Dafweng, on Saturday demanded $10 million as ransom before they release him to his family members.

“We have just confirmed that the kidnappers dropped a letter in which they asked for $10 million,’’ Maj.-Gen. Dave Enetie, Commander of the Special Task Force, STF, maintaining secu-

rity in Plateau State, told News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Jos yesterday.

He said the kidnappers also left telephone numbers to facilitate contacts with family of their victim.

“We are trying to get a copy of the letter and the phone numbers to help our efforts in securing the release of Dariye’s father,’’ he said.

Enetie said STF personnel had been dispatched

to nooks and crannies of the state to locate the kidnappers, in addition to the efforts of search teams combing neighbouring states.

Meanwhile, Mr Abu Emmanuel, Plateau Police Public Relations Officer, has said that the police had visited the site of the incident and even picked up shells of bullets shot by the gunmen.

“There is already a search and rescue team

and we hope we should be able to arrive at something as soon as possible,’’ he said.

NAN reports that Dafweng was kidnapped by gunmen, who had invaded the Dariye family compound, shooting sporadically and scaring away people The gunmen then took the old man, dressed him in women’s clothes, and sped off with him on a motorcycle.

51

Seven wounded in Katsina clash JAMES DANJUMA KATSINA

A

campaign rally by All Progressives Congress, APC, at the weekend in Majigiri village, Mashi council area of Katsina State, turned ugly with seven people getting injured following a clash.

The incident occurred when Engr. Mustapha Bukar, the APC senatorial candidate for Daura zone, alongside other party members, stormed the region to campaign.

Majigiri village is where former Government House Chief of Staff and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for House of Representatives, Salisu Yusuf, hails from.

Some of the villagers, who spoke with our correspondent, alleged they were attacked unprovoked

by APC supporters for failing to show support for the party’s candidates.

The incident also saw a vehicle, a local food silo and animal food reserve set on fire, while police that

accompanied the APC candidates fired several shots and canisters of teargas to dispel the clashing sides.

Yusuf described the incident in his village as unfortunate, adding that politics should not be seen as a door-die affair.

He wondered why candidates seeking votes from his community would allow the area to be attacked and their food storage facility burnt to the ground.

He however called on the police not to take sides but to ensure justice in the matter.

But Bukar, the APC senatorial candidate, said contrary to insinuation, it was his campaign train that was attacked when they were in the village.

“We were attacked. I wonder how we can attack a place where we went to seek their vote. We visited so many places like that.

“We greeted the village head and left for the location where we were to speak to the people. The police are in a better position to tell you what happened.”

Dangote to complete refinery, fertiliser plant

M L-R: Chairman, Adamawa State Positive Change Initiative, Alhaji Abubakar Kari; PDP gubernatorial candidate, Malam Nuhu Ribadu and State PDP Vice Chairman, Alhaji Jingi Rufai, during Ribadu’s endorsement in Yola, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

APC accuses Aliyu of siphoning LG funds PRISCILLA DENNIS MINNA

N

iger State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP administration of Governor Mu’azu Aliyu of siphoning local government funds meant for his Ward Development Programme policy, thereby further impoverishing the grassroots of the state.

The party therefore, called on Aliyu to account for the billions deducted at source from local government account, but not disbursed to the ward development committees over the years.

Expressing dismay, it said, “Our party’s governorship campaign team

has been inundated with complaints from the rural dwellers in the interior villages about the poor implementation of the programme, while government was making huge noise about its success on the pages of newspapers.”

In a statement issued in Minna by its state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa said although the concept of the ward development policy would have brought real development to the people if properly implemented, the administration allowed corruption to swallow its implementation across the state.

“Deductions were made every month from the accounts of the local governments but the money was not made

available to the projects.

We make bold to ask: Where did the deductions go? The truth is that the ward development project is an avenue for siphoning public money.

We call on the governor to give account of all deductions since the inception of the ward development project.”

In its reaction, the state government said the opposition is envious and intimidated of the policy.

The government stated the APC was only trying to present the project in bad light to score cheap political point and to also rubbish the globally acclaimed initiative of Aliyu.

“The WDP is gaining acceptance within and outside the country,” it said, adding that already

the state under Aliyu’s administration has set veritable example for today’s leaders to take development to the grassroots.

It added that funds for the project were well accounted for and monies spent so far well documented, adding that the state APC was again on an errand of blackmail to score cheap political mileage.

Aliyu

anagement of Dangote Group has said its focus now is to develop its multi-billion dollars new businesses to appreciable level this year to meet completion dates.

The group is putting in place infrastructures for business projects such as refinery, gas, fertiliser and rice production.

Speaking at the weekend on the International Business Cable Television Channel, CNBC, in Lagos, the Group’s Executive Director for Strategy, Portfolio Development and Special Project, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, said the company would launch all out to ensure the businesses come on stream as planned.

He said though a few of the new businesses have been redesigned for increased capacity, management expects all to come on stream as planned, inflation, exchange rate and increased bank interest rate notwithstanding.

Edwin said the Dangote Group business models were developed to be among the biggest in the world, adding that the company’s new technologies gives it

advantage over others.

He cited Obajana plant as the single largest cement plant in the world, and “our sugar refinery plant is the single second largest in the world,” adding “We are building 650,000 barrels per day oil refinery which will be the largest in the world, and our planned rice production would also be the largest in the world.”

Edwin stated that the company is focusing on its refinery timely delivery, fertiliser plant equipment already on ground and the gas production.

It would be recalled that Dangote Industries Limited, DIL, had signed memorandum of understanding, MoU, with Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, FMARD to invest $1 billion (N165 billion) for the establishment of fully integrated rice production and processing operations across Nigeria.

The signing of the pact, which was presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, and the planned investment are a response to the ongoing reforms of the president’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda, ATA launched in 2011.

52

Monday, February 9, 2015

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss. Kemakolam Odiwonma Judith, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Unoko Odiwonma Judith. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

ADEYEMI: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Adeyemi Bolanle Rukayat, now wish to be called and addressed as Mrs. Oladele Omobolanle Rukayat. All former documents remain valid. Sandtex Portland Paints and Products Nigeria Plc and general public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Olayemi Iyabo Olanike, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Olasunkanmi Iyabo Olanike. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

This is to confirm that the bearer of these names Benafugha Danumuwei, Benafugha Fatherson, Benafugha Fatherson .D. and Benafugha Danumuwei Fatherson refers to one and the same person. All documents remain valid. Niger Delta University and the general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

‎Formerly known and addressed as Miss Lilian Onyinyechi Ikpeogu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Lilian Onyinyechi Mme-Mme. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Ubochi Harita Ejiogu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Harita Ifeoma Emmanuel. All former documents remain valid. First bank and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Odumuwa Olufunmilayo Abosede Sarah, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Abayomi Olufunmilayo Abosede Sarah. All former document remain valid Ogun State College of Health Technology Ilese Ijebu and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

FADEYIBI: Formerly known and addressed as Feyikemi Adepeju Fadeyibi, now wish to be known, called and addressed as Feyikemi Adepeju Obayemi. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Sunday Modupe Oluwayemi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Olaoye Modupe Oluwayemi.All former documents remain valid. general public note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss. Chiadikaobi Okoye now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Chiadikaobi Emekwue.

All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Fiade Kemi now wish to be addressed and called as Mrs Ajibola Kemi. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHIDOBE: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Chidobe Esther Tochukwu now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Nwachi Esther Tochukwu. All former documents remain valid. PPSMB Enugu and General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

ATUANYA: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Atuanya Justina Ngozi now wish to be known and address as Mrs Okeke Justina Ngozi. All former documents remains valid. General public take note

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Nnebuihe Jombo now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Nnebuihe Okereke. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Bakare Titilayo Omolabake now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Azeez Bakare Modinah Titilayo Omolabake. All former document remain valid and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

This is to confirm that Akilapa Omowunmi is the same one person as Akilapa Omowunmi Grace,that henceforth wish to be known and addressed as Akilapa Omowunmi Grace. All former documents remain valid,Osun State Polytechnic, Iree and general public should please take note .

CHANGE OF NAME

ABERIBIGBE: Formerly known and addressed as Aberibigbe Adewunmi Oluwatosin, now wish to be known and addressed as Fajingbesi Adewunmi Oluwatosin.

All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Mr Babajide Samson Kelvin, now wish to be known and addressed as Mr Scofield Ojo Kelvin. All former documents remain valid.Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta and General public take note

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Egeni MaryJane Chidinma now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Anurugwo MaryJane Chidinma. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Lawal Aisha Iyabo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Sanuth Aisha Iyabo. All former document remain valid and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Maria Idoreyin Essien, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Maria Idoreyin Odungbesan. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

1X1 CLASSIFIED ADVERT SPACE FOR SALE

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.Mr. Patterson Onuegbu, 2. Ahanonu Fider Chuks (Hon), 3. Ven. Jonathan Chinenyenwa Nde-Ekechukwu, 4.Nwedike Solomon.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1.To promote the educational advancement of Ogwa People, 2.To promote social interactions of Ogwa Youths & its People.

3.To enhance Cultural understanding amongst Ogwa Youths.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar – General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, Maitama, Abuja within 28days of this publication.

SIGNED: MR PATTERSON ONUEGBU (CHAIRMAN) PUBLIC NOTICE THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Ben Chinweike Abraham 2. Ihuoma Adaku Abraham 3. Kenechukwu Chinedu David 4. Stella Chiamaka David

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1. To promote, defend and enforce the fundamental rights of socially disadvantaged and oppressed persons.

2. To monitor, observe and report on fundamental Rights compliance by groups, bodies and society.

3. To advocate for and work towards sustaining the rule of law in the society.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Mercy Gideon, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Mercy Ofordile.All former documents remain valid.National Youth Service Corps and general public should take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

NWANKWO: Formerly known and addressed as Mr Nwankwo Johnson Anene, now wish to be known and addressed as Mr Nwachukwu Anenenchukwu Victor Johnson. All former document remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

This is to inform the General Public that Nwankwo Elizabeth Ugochi and Ebere Elizabeth Ugochi refer has one person but now wish to be known as Ebere Elizabeth Ugochi. All former documents remain valid. Abia State Polytechnic and General Public take note

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Durojaiye Adesola Odunayo now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ozenua Adesola Odunayo. All former document remain valid and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

BALOGUN: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Balogun Idowu Victoria, wish to be addressed as Mrs Olakunle Idowu Victoria. All former documents remain valid.General Public note.

LOSS OF DOCUMENT

This is to inform the general public of loss of indenture of lease Reg. as No 15 page 15 in volume 508 belonging to Mr Joseph Okoli of No 4 Umeonye Street Achara, situates at Plot 14 in Block 43 of the Non Europeans Location Asata Enugu. If found contact the Ministry of Lands and Urban Development Enugu.

CHANGE OF NAME

ONABANJO: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Onabanjo Taiwo Onayinka, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Adegbesan Taiwo Onayinka.

All former document remain valid. General public should please take note

CHANGE OF NAME

ORJI: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Orji Maureen Chioma, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ekweozor Maureen Chioma, All former document remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Chinwendu Nwaogu, now wish to known and addressed as Mrs. Chinwendu Nnadozie Nwadiuko All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Aronimoh Olufunke Ayomide now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Osinowo Olufunke Ayomide All former document remain valid Babcock University Ilisan Demo and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Mrs Haksem Hellen, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Amafonye Hellen. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

LOSS OF DOCUMENT This is to inform the general public that the original Certificate of Occupancy in respect of plot No. BNB 8038 belonging to Agbo John Agbo is missing. Whoever finds it should contact Agbo John Agbo of No. 8 Ochoga Lane Otukpo and Ministry of Lands & Survey, Makurdi.

PUBLIC NOTICE ALASODUDU SCHOLARSHIP BURSARY AWARD FOUNDATION

This is to inform the general public that the above named Foundation applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for the Registration under part “C” of the companies and allied Matters Act, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE:

1. Mr Toyin Olagunju 2. Mrs. Carol Olagunju 3. Mr. Teniola Olagunju 4. Mr. Folarin Olagunju

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1. To make positive impacts in the area of education 2. To assist brilliant and talented indigent students 3. To promote harness and develop educational interest in youth Any objection to the above registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within twenty eight (28) days of this publication.

SIGNED: O. A. KOLAWOLE ESQ (SOLICITOR)

PUBLIC NOTICE UNLIMITED POWER OF CHRIST ASSEMBLY

RISE FOR RIGHTS

This is to inform the general public that the afore-named organisation has applied for registration to the Corporate Affairs Commission under Part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

This is to confirm that Azeez Rasheedat O.and Azeez Rasheedat Abimbola is the same one person as Azeez Rasheedat Abimbola, that henceforth wish to be called and addressed as Azeez Rasheedat Abimbola. All former documents remain valid. Osun State Polytechnic, Iree and general public should please take note.

Signed: Agbo John Agbo.

PUBLIC NOTICE

This is to inform the general public that the afore-named association has applied for registration to the Corporate Affairs Commission under Part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

Formerly known and addressed as Aina Oluwaseun Paulina now wish to be known and addressed as Ajewole Oluwaseun Paulina.All formal documents remain valid.Management of Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH)and general public note.

2X1 CLASSIED ADVERT SPACE FOR SALE

Formerly known and addressed as Etinabedia Bright Ogheneowgaga, now wish to be known and addressed as Obodoh Bright Ogheneowgaga. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

THE INDEGENOUS PEOPLE OF OGWA ASSOCIATION.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

This is to inform the general public that the above named church applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for the Registration under part “C” of the companies and allied Matters Act, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Pastor Emmanuel Unang Umoren Grace Jonah Inyang Alice Emmanuel Umoren Jane George Etim Aniebiet Udo Etim Elvis Jonah Inyang Nkoyo Okon Effiom Victoria Johnny Etukudo

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: To preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar – General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, Maitama, Abuja within 28days of this publication.

Any objection to the above registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within twenty eight (28) days of this publication.

SIGNED: GEORGE IBEKWE & CO 08033118037

SIGNED: PASTOR EMMANUEL UNANG UMOREN CHAIRMAN

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Oyelana Oladapo Mosunmola now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ogundipe Oladapo Mosunmola. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Awoyemi Damilola Hope, now wish to be addressed as Mrs. Adelowo Damilola Hope. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

ONWUBUALILI: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Onwubualili Felicia Ogochukwu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Okafor Felicia Ogochukwu. All former document remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

OKONKWO: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Roseline Obianuju Okonwko, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Roseline Obianuju Achuke. All former document remain valid. General public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

‎MOHAMMED: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Mohammed Hafsat Tani now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Abdulganiy Hafsat Mohammed. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

IWE: Formerly known and addressed as Miss Iwe Nwakaku Ijeoma now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Omerekpe Nwakaku Ijeoma.

All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Fashoyin Oluwaranti Morenike, now wish to be known and addressed as Ologunde Oluwaranti Morenike. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

Formerly known and addressed as Miss Liasu Temitope Christiana, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Dosumu Temitope Christiana. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

PUBLIC NOTICE WOMEN AND CHILDREN CONCERN FOR UPLIFTMENT INITIATIVE

This is to inform the general public that the above named Initiative applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for the Registration under part “C” of the companies and allied Matters Act, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE:

1. Mrs Adejoke Suliyat Fawemi 2. Mrs Adenike Kafayat Oguntola 3. Miss Taiwo Oluwaseyi Opejin 4. Kehinde Moruf Opejin

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1. To promote and coordinate an integrated national Advocacy for women and children 2. To provide welfare services to the upliftment of women and children.

Any objection to the above registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within twenty eight (28) days of this publication.

SIGNED: SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE THE CITY OF TRUTH DELIVERANCE CHURCH

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 The Companies And Allied Matters Act, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Pastor Imudia Onyeka Mike 2. Amaefula John 3. Shittu Regina 4. Nwibo Sunday 5. Onuoha Everestus Ndubuis

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1. To preach the word of god worldwide 2. To win souls for Christ 3. To minister deliverance to them that are bound in order to bring comfort and joy to them 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 BY: SECRETARY

Monday, February 9, 2015

I had looked forward to my return. But I didn’t really know it would be this explosive and this early

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sport

Fed Cup: Illness forces Serena’s withdrawal 55

–ARSENAL MIDFIELDER, MESUT OZIL

We missed

Yaya Toure, M

but...,says Pellegrini

anchester City manager, Man uel Pellegrini, rica Cup of Nat has confessed ions (AFCON) that while the that ended in Ba 2015 Aflasted, his team ta, Equatorial missed the serv Guinea last ni ices of its Ivor But Pellegrini re ght ian midfielder, fused to blame Yaya Toure. the continued ab season followin sence of Yaya fo g their 1-1 home r his team’s colla draw with relega The defending pse this tion-threatened English Premie H ul l City at the weeke r League cham Chelsea, have ex nd. pions are now ited the FA Cup seven points be at home to Cham four games with hind leaders, pionship side, M out a league win iddlesbrough, an , their worst su d have gone All this has happ ch run in over fiv ened while the e years. inspirational Ya phants of Cote d’ ya Toure was at Ivoire, who play the AFCON with ed the Final Mat Thirty-one-year-o the Elech la st night against ld Yaya is not ex th e Black Stars of pected to be avai but Pellegrini is Ghana. lable for Wedne adamant that Ci sday’s trip to St ty can prosper w “I always have th ok e City, ith ou t hi m. e same answer, you can’t have an us,” he told FIFA y doubt how im .com. “But we fe portant Yaya To el that every ga about one player ure is for me without Yaya . We must be a w e could win. It is creative team an against teams w not just d we must play ho defend with faster in the last men behind th than one indivi 25 metres e ball. I think th dual player.” ere is more of a problem On Chelsea’s ad vantage, he ad ded, “We’re no not concerned t thinking abou about the gap. t it. We’re We’re thinkabout how we ca n return to our normal pering formance. How we can score ag ain; how we can resolve th e problems othe r teams are presenting us. That’s more important than the ga p to other team s.”

Ogbeche sees red at Feijenoord

F

ormer Nigeria international striker, Bartholomew Ogbeche, was issued the marching orders as SC Cambuur lost 1-2 to Feyenoord in a feisty Eredivisie game decided at the

Stadion Feijenoord yesterday.

The forward was dismissed on the hour with his side trailing 0-2.

Cambuur went on to pull a goal back through Martijn Barto in the 62nd minute but the numeri-

cal disadvantage was too much to overcome.

Ogbeche was sent off for a high challenge on Feyenoord’s second half substitute, Anass Achahbar in the minute and was

promptly shown the red card by referee, Kevin Blom.

The 30-year-old who has scored 10 league goals this season has hit a lean spell recently, failing to score in almost a month.

Ogbeche’s last goal in the Eredivisie was scored against ADO Den Haag on January 17.

53

Bartholomew Ogbeche

54

Sports

Monday, February 9, 2015

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Friendly: ‘How Pillars FC beat Ghana U-23’

K

ano Pillars left-back, Isaac Loute, yesterday said his side worked hard to beat Ghana U-23 team in a friendly on Saturday in Accra.

Saturday’s clash was Pillars’ second in Ghana as they prepare for a CAF Champions League game against Malaika of South Sudan.

The Nigeria champions drew the first test match 2-2 with

Hearts of Oak. “It was a tough game as expected and we thank God for giving us the victory,” Loute said.

“We are so happy with the victory because we deserved it,” he added.

Midfield-

er Rabiu Ali scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot after a Ghanaian defender handled a goal-bound shot from Christian Obiozor.

The Okey Emordicoached team will face Malaika of South Sudan in the Africa Champions League first round on February 13.

Pillars’ captain, Ali

Super 6 fallout:

Glo hails MVP Awoniyi, commends LMC T

itle Sponsor of Glo premier League and the recent Glo Super 6, Globacom, has congratulated Flying Eagles striker, Taiwo Awoniyi, for emerging the Most Valuable Player at the Super 6 Championship staged in Abuja.

Awoniyi, a former World Cupwinning Golden Eaglets forward who scored in every match, pro-

JOEL AJAYI ABUJA

S

ix of the 14 home-based players have been invited from Kano Pillars by the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) ahead of the two legged Afrobasket 2015 qualifiers against Burkina Faso and the All Africa Games in Brazzaville.

The federation said yesterday that all invited players would camp at the Parkview Hotel Abuja while training would commence today.

“The team will be tutored Kano Pillars’ Coach, Sani Ahmed, assisted by Coach of the Union Bank Basketball Club of Lagos, Ayinla Johnson,” the NBBF said in a statement yesteday.

“Home-based players will however be joined by a number

pelled the Flying Eagles to the ultimate victory in the nine-day competition that also saw reigning Glo Premier League champions, Pillars FC of Kano, former champions, Enyimba FC of Aba, Dolphins FC of Port Harcourt, Warri Wolves and the national U-23 team as participants.

“We believe Taiwo Awoniyi deserves to be hailed after his

stellar performance in the Super 6,” Globacom said in a statement in Lagos yesterday.

“Considering his tenacity and consistency while in the national U-16 team which he has replicated in the U-20 team, we have no doubt that he will make Nigeria proud in the global football arena. We also believe that he will propel the Flying Eagles to success in the 2015 African Youth Championship holding in Senegal next month,” the statement added.

The telecommunications gi-

Afrobasket: Pillars dominate D’Tigers’ invite of international players in due course.”

The 14 players are Mark Mentors captain, Stanley Gumut, Abubakar Usman (Kano Pillars), Mathew Omonya (Kano Pillars), Ibrahim Yusuf (Kano Pillars), Abdul Yahaya (Mark Mentors); Moses Odaudu (Mark Mentors), Victor Anthony (Mark Mentors), Azuoma Dike (Dodan Warriors).

Others are Timothy Kwaor (Mark Mentors), Onyeka Okeke (Kano Pillars), Ibrahim Okpe (Lagos Islanders), Dele Ademola (Kano Pillars), Adeolu Ojo (Kano Pillars) and Abdulwahab Yakubu (Kano Pillars).

NBBF boss, Umar

Taiwo Awoniyi y

ant also commended organisers of the Super 6, the League Management Company (LMC) for their vision, saying Nigeria needs such competitions to improve on its football quality.

“We are delighted that the Su-

per 6 has especially prepared all the teams for the different continental competitions they are about to participate in and we believe Nigeria will benefit from the tournament ultimately,” the statement concluded.

Students get Ibile Games lollies

L

agos State Governor, Babatude Raji Fashola, presented Adidas Special Awards to four outstanding athletes at the closing ceremony of the 2015 Ibile Games in Lagos over the weekend.

The recipients are Yinusa Idowu, 16-year-old JSS 3 student of Mobolaji Bank Anthony Junior High School, Sabo, Yaba who won 5 gold medals in Gymnastics Junior Boys’ event; 13-yearold Morayo Okungbuwa, a JSS 3 student of Meadow Hall, Lekki who won 8 gold and 2 silver in Swimming Junior Girls’ category; Oluwadare Samuel, 15-yearold SSS2 student of Questland College, Idimu who won 3 gold medals in Chess Senior Boys’ event; and Ojo Franca Benson, 15-year-old SSS2 student of Ipakodo Senior Grammar School, Ikorodu who won 7 gold and 1 silver medal in the Swimming Senior Girls’ category.

Two most outstanding athletes (boys and girls) in each of

the 22 sports featured in the competition were also recognised by the Main Organising Committee (MOC) of the annual competition.

Governor Fashola enjoined the students to excel in their studies while commending the organisers for what he called good job.

MOC Chairman, Mr. Wahid Enitan Oshodi, who is also the Commissioner for Youth, Sports and Social Development, hailed the athletes’ spirit of sportsmanship, saying the competition had achieved its target of talent discovery.

Director of Sports, Lagos State Sports Council, Dr. Kweku Tandoh, also said: “We have further convinced that a deliberate and consistent schools sports development focus is the right way forward to sporting excellence.”

Queens College students thrilled the students and the invited guests to an exciting callisthenics display.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net

Sports

Monday, February 9, 2015

55

Fed Cup: Illness forces Serena’s withdrawal

Golden Eaglets during a recent game in Abuja

W

Niger 2015:

Eaglets, Fasbir clash in tune-up

R

eports yesterday indicated that the Golden Eaglets will face Fasbir Football Academy at the Giginya Memorial Stadium in Sokoto on Wednesday in their last warm-up match before travelling to Niamey, Niger Republic for the 2015 African U-17 Championship.

Coach Emmanuel Amuneke said it was imperative to play a local club partly as a token of appreciation for the hospitality showered on his players by Sokoto fans and football since their arrival on Friday.

“We are going to give our best

against Fasbir FC,” Amunekem said.

“WE also aim to use the game to assess the player’s readiness for the AYC,” the former Nigeria international added.

The Eaglets, who began preparation for the cadet continental championship last year, are yet to lose a match after 25 domestic friendly matches and had defeated Nigeria National League side, Sokoto United, 2-0 at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna on January 17.

Fasbir FC, owned by the Assistant Director, Legislative Budget at the National Assem-

orld number one, Serena Williams, was forced to withdraw from yesterday’s competition at the Fed Cup World Group II tournament in Buenos Aires, Argentina, due to illness.

With the United States already up 2-0 in its Fed Cup matchup against Argentina, and Serena Williams battling an illness, the United States decided to hold the superstar out of her matchup with Paula Ormaechea.

Williams, 33, was expected to help the United States clinch a spot in April’s playoff after defeating Maria Irigoyen 7-5, 6-0 on Saturday. But with the country owning a commanding lead over Argentina, forcing her onto the court at less than 100 percent was hardly necessary.

The younger of the Williams’ sisters has already gotten off to an excellent start in 2015, winning this year’s Australian Open title over world number Maria Sharapova. She has also decided to return to Indian Wells for the first time since 2001, when she won the title but was booed in the final and vowed never to return.

Organisers of the Buenos Aires match however said holding Williams out of play yesterday was precautionary, saying she would be back in the courts sooner than later.

bly and Chairman of Sokoto Football Association, Mohammed Nasir Saidu, is a strong side having lost just three games after 30 matches and was also recently forced to a 2-2 draw by NNL side Sokoto United.

“We are a young team formed about two years ago but we have been impressive too even against teams from Niger Republic and we will give the Eaglets a good game on Wednesday,” Fasbir’s Team Manager, Abdullahi Isah Ilyasu, said, adding. “Of course, we are also looking to use the game to expose our players.”

Cancer Day: Elegbeleye advocates ‘regular checks’ JOEL AJAYI ABUJA

A

s the world marks this year’s Cancer Day, Director General of National Sports Commission, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye, has urged sports stakeholders in Nigeria to wary of their health by ensuring regular checks.

Elegbeleye, who made the call over the weekend in Abuja where the Federal Ministry of Health

organized a novelty match to create awareness on cancer scourge, assured that the NSC would partner with relevant stakeholders to fight all manner of killer diseases.

“The Health Ministry’s initiative is laudable. If everybody is aware of the dangers posed by cancer, all of us will be proactive and check at appropriate times,” Elegbeleye said.

“I believe many people are dying of cancer but with regular tests, it can be reduced to the bar-

est minimum.”

Coach of the national U-23 team, Samson Siasia, who was also a guest at the event, commended the organisers for using footballand sports to create awareness.

“This is one deadly disease we all must rise up against,” Siasia said.

“It is an initiative we must identify with and I am proud to be involved,” the former Super Eagles striker added.

Serena Wiliams being led out of the court by medics yesterday

WORLD RECORD Highest scores Top Skater Fastest mile fifor reman’s carry

Vol. 05 No. 1044 Monday, February 9, 2015

N150

The highest scores for the 1997 arcade classic Top Skater were achieved by Tai KuangNeng (Malaysia). On the Easy/Novice course, Tai Kuan scored 1,160,526.

Jega and the problem of postponed polls

F

inally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rescheduled the general elections originally fixed for February 14 and 28.

The chairman of the apex electoral body, Professor Attahiru Jega, announcing the development in Abuja Saturday night, said the shift was necessitated by “security concerns”. Expectedly, there have been mixed reactions to what qualifies as a political shocker, so described because up till the last week to the February 14 original date of the first set of elections, Nigerians were being assured by INEC that the two dates were sacrosanct. What happened, how and why to warrant the shift would be in the public domain for a long time to come.

For over one month our political gladiators were out on the stump marketing themselves and their political parties

HeartBeat Callistus Oke

Callistusoke@nationalmirroronline.net 08054103275 (SMS ONLY) anthonykila@mail.com to Nigerians. They did so because they appreciated the fact that the electorates are king in a liberal democracy. Let me underscore this fact by this anecdote: The story was told of how Chief Obafemi Awolowo, during the build up to the 1959 general elections, forced the then Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Nigeria, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, by his aggressive campaign strategy, to go directly to northerners to beg for their votes. In one of such outings, the Sardauna, seeing himself covered with dust, quipped in exasperation: “I will never forgive Awo for this”.

The dynamics of election rituals have humbled our aristocrats; our big men of power have been turned into political beggars and made to look ordinary in order to connect with ordinary Nigerians.

For this year’s general elections, Nigerians have seen a poor imitation of great orators like ancient Greek statesman, Demosthenes; promises have become a highly discounted political commodity because of the way politicians peddle them; and of course, exhibition of impunity and political intolerance on the campaign trails have compromised the beauty of electioneering. And we have seen high dosage of disinformation and character assassinations.

This week Saturday would have been a day of Big Decision for Nigerians, and it would have ended the high tension that had built up in them. But it is not

WHAT HAPPENED, HOW AND WHY TO WARRANT THE SHIFT WOULD BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN FOR A LONG TIME TO COME going to be because INEC has invoked Section 26)1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) to cause a shift in the election schedules. Jega has rationalized the act by pleading the advice from the nation’s security chiefs and the National Security Adviser to the Council of State during its last Thursday meeting. Asking for the shift, the security chiefs were said to have made a strong case for an extension of six weeks to enable the military remove the security threat to the smooth conduct of the general elections in the North East part of the country, adding that they would not be available for the two days originally fixed for the elections!

Who will blame Jega for capitulating?

And if there is no way elections can hold without the military’s security back up, why would anyone call for his head? If the military chiefs have told the nation that February 14 and 28 form a critical component of their overall strategy to permanently remove the Boko Haram threat to enable Jega conduct his general elections, why would anybody standard on their ways?

Having said this, the entire scenario leading to the shift is a slap on the face of Nigerians. Unless Jega acted unilaterally in fixing the dates for the general elections, he should be roasted for the great embarrassment he has caused the nation.

He had repeatedly assured the world and Nigerians he was ready for the big task, which was why we have a lot of foreign election monitors and observers already in the country. Do we now have to tell them to go back and come again when we are ready? For sure, these foreign observers and monitors will go back with a wrong impression of our leaders.

Another immediate consequence of the postponement is elongating the traumas Nigerians have been exposed to since January 5 flag off of the presidential campaigns. A six week’s extension is a further sentence of Nigerians to a life of hypertension. And of course, the uncertainty in the nation’s business environment and its associated risks will linger.

On a final note, the military might have had their say and way on this all important political issue, they must be told that their intervention and the manner they went about it would have boomerang effects on them as an institution. For over five years, the nation has been under the throes of Boko Haram-induced insurgency with the military unable to offer effective counter-insurgency containment measures.

For them to appear to be raising the bar of counter-insurgency operations on the eve of the general elections and using that in a manner inimical to the political development of the country is to say the least unfortunate.

The damage has been done. However, Nigerians would only hope that the touted big counter-insurgency operations seen as necessary for crippling Boko Haram’s fighting power to remove the threat factor to the success of the general elections, actually turn out big.

Sport Extra

w

AFCON violence: Blatter blast ‘biased western media’

F

IFA President, Sepp Blatter , yesterday accused western media dramatising the crowd violence which marred the Africa Cup of Nations semi-

final between Ghana and Equatorial Guinea last Thursday.

Projectiles were hurled at players and supporters, a police helicopter was called to disperse

fans in the stadium and conflict continued outside the ground after the match which was delayed for over half an hour before Ghana won it 3-0.

“Good news is no

news, bad news is news,” an angry Blatter said at the AFCON venue.

“We only talk about the bad.

“I don’t see the negative side of African foot-

ball that the media presents.

“It’s normal, we criticise what’s good, never what’s bad. The unhappy role of the media is to assume and to forecast.

Blatter

Printed and Published by Global Media Mirror Ltd: Head Office: Mirror House, 155/161 Broad Street, Lagos Tel: 07027107407, Abuja Office: NICON Insurance House, Second Floor, Central Business District Area, Abuja Tel: 08070428249, Advert hotline: 01-8446073, Port-Harcourt Office: Suite 115, NICON Hotel, 6, Benjamin Opara Street, Off Olusegun Obasanjo Rd, GRA Phaze 3, Phone: 07032323254 Email: mail@nationalmirroronline.net.

Editor: SEYI FASUGBA. All correspondence to PMB 10001, Marina, Lagos.

Printed simultaneously in Lagos, Abuja and Akure. ISSN 0794-232X.